A FREE bi-monthly home decorating ezine!
published by KatieDid Design
September 2002, II
brought to you by KatieDid Design
http://www.katiediddesign.com
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September 25th, 2002 ------ September Issue, II ------
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Editorial
1. TIPS & TRICKS
- Look Up!
2. FEATURE ARTICLE
- Make Your Room Appear Larger
3. EZINE OF THE MONTH
- (surprise!)
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Hello Dear Readers!
It's finally starting to cool off!!!!! Hoorraaay!!!!
I am NOT a native Floridian, and seven months of summer is too much
for me. It is still up in the 90's every day, but at least it's not
staying up there overnight anymore. Early mornings and late evenings
are actually cool enough that you can step outside without instantly
sweating... that means that cooler temperatures are on the way soon!
(...hopefully... I'm afraid that maybe Hurricane Isodore is responsible
for the cooler nights, instead of the season.) Anyway, I CAN'T
WAIT for this next month to hurry by so I can open up my windows and
turn off the AC!
So all of you who are already enjoying fall, and even
winter, get some extra pleasure out of it for me, okay? (*smile*)
I've got some great tips and ideas this month, and
I'm re-printing an old article of mine that I haven't published since
March of 2000. So it should be new to the 14,000 of you who weren't
a subscriber back then!
Please also take a minute to check out the
advertisers... even those at the very bottom. The income they
provide pays for my website hosting and other basic services. Thanks!
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1. Tips & Tricks
- Look Up!
Do you look up when you decorate? If not,
you're probably missing out on great opportunities to add those
little "extras" that can make or break a home... those little things
that add individuality to our home.
Look up above your doors... is anything up there?
These are great places for pictures, floral arrangements, or a collection
of small plates.
How about the top of a bookshelf or armoire?
This is a great place for an antique vase or bust. Or how about
a small ceramic column. Even if there are fancy moldings
rising from the front edge, you can still allow something unique to
rise from one side up above the trim.
What about the top of your kitchen cabinets?
This is one of your best opportunities to add non-functional
decorative touches to your kitchen... to make it more 'homey' and comfortable.
How about a basket overflowing with greenery. Or maybe some plates
on plate stands would be nice. What decorative pieces can you
find that go with your kitchen theme?
Look up! Don't forget about all that space
up there. You'll make your home more comfortable, make it look
more "put-together," and have lots of fun!
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This article Copyright 1999-2003 - Kathleen Peters, KatieDid Design. Reproduced with permission.
Kathleen Peters - 'Katie' - is a custom window treatment and bedding designer,
and owner of KatieDid Design, her online shop. She is also the editor-in-chief
of Decor, Decorating, and Design, a free bi-monthly ezine filled with articles,
tips, and guidelines to help with your home decorating.
http://www.katiediddesign.com
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3. FEATURE ARTICLE
- Make Your Room Appear Larger
All of us have at least one room that is, shall
we say, a little smaller than we’d like. For some of us, our
whole house fits this description! Anyway, we can all take advantage
of various design concepts that fool the eye and make our rooms seem
larger.
The first and foremost guideline is to use light
colors. Light colors reflect light, while dark colors absorb light,
making the room look and feel smaller. This means to use dark colors
sparingly. If your colors are already dark, try to move the darker
colors to a ‘background’ role while maximizing your neutral white or
ivory. Here’s some examples. For walls, paint the main portions a light
shade of one of your colors, and use the dark colors in a border or
painted trim. Instead of doing your entire window treatments of dark
green, combine the green and ivory equally. For your fabrics, go for
prints that use light backgrounds. In the bedroom, use your darker
colors for valance, tiebacks, table scarves, accent pillows, and bedskirts;
and make the more prominent draperies, comforter, shams, tableskirts,
and sheets in your lighter colors.
There’s another trick that has to do with color.
Paint your wall trim and moldings a lighter color than your walls.
For example, if your like neutral linen-colored walls, paint your trim
a tinted ivory. This follows standard 3D rules - lighter objects appear
closer while darker or shadowed objects appear further away. When you
paint your moldings a lighter color, the wall appears further back
- thus making your room appear bigger.
Here’s another very effective strategy to apply
to your furniture arranging. Set some of your larger furniture
pieces at a diagonal. This works because the longest straight line
in any given room is it’s diagonal. When you place your furniture at
an angle, it leads the eye along the longer distance, rather than the
shorter wall. As an added bonus, you often get some additional storage
space behind the piece in the corner, too! You don’t have
to place the furniture at an exact 45 degree angle, often a lesser
angle looks best if you can balance the look with another furniture
piece. Here’s some ideas... - Pull one end of your sofa about 3 feet
away from the wall and angled toward your focal point and center of
the room. Place an armoire, arm chair, or other larger furniture
piece near the end that is against the wall, to help balance the look.
- Angle your bed so that it is coming out of a corner. Usually one
of the corners opposite the door is best. This also gives you more
available wall space for dressers and bed-side tables.
- If you have a corner that your furniture looks lost in, bring it
out at an angle. This will help soften the edges of your room and guide
the eye around.
This last design technique may sound contradictory,
but it works.... Upscale your furnishings! Yes, choose larger. The
trick to making this work is to choose fewer also. In other words,
instead of choosing a smaller sofa, loveseat, chair, coffee table,
and end tables to crowd into your living room, cut back and upscale.
Choose a larger set, but use only the sofa, chair, and one end
table. Instead off covering the walls with all your pictures, choose
a few of the larger pieces or arrangements and arrange them to compliment
your furniture placement. Instead of choosing an ordinary window
treatment, dramatize your window with floor-to-ceiling draperies that
extend beyond the window to make it appear larger. The result will
draw pull the attention toward the large furnishings, and away from
the actual small size of the room.
Have fun!
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This article Copyright 1999-2003 - Kathleen Peters, KatieDid Design. Reproduced with permission.
Kathleen Peters - 'Katie' - is a custom window treatment and bedding designer,
and owner of KatieDid Design, her online shop. She is also the editor-in-chief
of Decor, Decorating, and Design, a free bi-monthly ezine filled with articles,
tips, and guidelines to help with your home decorating.
http://www.katiediddesign.com
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3. EZINE OF THE MONTH
- This One!
I had a hard time finding a good ezine to recommend
this month, so I'm going to ask a favor of you instead. Can you
please take a moment to recommend this ezine to any friends of yours
who might be interested in home decorating? I'd really, really
appreciate it! (*smile*)
Thank you!
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Remember, if your decorating isn't fun,
it isn't worth it. So enjoy it!
--- Katie <><
KatieDid Design
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Published By:
KatieDid Design
- Custom Window Treatments & Bedding
http://www.katiediddesign.com
PO Box 381235
Murdock, FL 33938-1235
1-877-KATIEDID
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