Guest Post - 5 Practical Decor Items That You Can Put Around Your Home

When scrolling through the endless pages of amazon or searching the shelves of Kmart, you may begin to feel overwhelmed by all the options there are available for interior décor items. Well, look no further because in this article I will be addressing the 5 most practical yet aesthetically pleasing décor items, that can be placed around your home. 

With modern interiors rising in popularity, many developers are beginning to ask, “What should we fill our home with?”. Well don’t worry, we believe we have found the answers.

Seashells

In contrast to popular belief, seashells are not limited to beachside homes. They go perfectly with any home that centers around the color white. Seashells provide a relaxed feeling and can be paired up with other objects, such as coral. A well-placed seashell brings a beachy vibe into a room and makes the space feel coastal and beach-inspired. Furthermore, Seashells can be displayed in various ways, whether it’s in a frame, a vase/mason jar, or in a bowl. If you want to improve the interior design of your house, consider seashells.

Mirrors

Many of us use mirrors for basic things; makeup, teeth, getting dressed, etc. But did you know that mirrors can be used in a variety of ways to improve a space? Mirrors are commonly used to make spaces feel larger than they actually are. As a result, they are very popular in smaller spaces — such as apartments. And what makes mirrors so spectacular is their low prices. There is a wide selection of mirrors available, that can set you back less than $100. Furthermore, because all mirrors have the same function — to look at yourself —, designers have had to become creative. You will find mirrors in all shapes and sizes, whether they are large, small, wide, tall, you name it. For all these reasons and more, we suggest that you choose to spice up your home with a mirror.

Ceramics

Incorporating ceramics is a great way to add texture to your home. And because ceramics come in many different forms, there will always be one that will fit your home's aesthetic. Ceramics can be added to your home in various ways. For instance, a ceramic vase with a plant can be placed on a desk, to add depth and dimension to a room. Furthermore, you can purchase a black ceramic clock, which provides contrast to a white interior. These are just a couple of ways you can integrate ceramic into your house. But remember ceramic is a fragile material, so make sure it’s not anywhere it could get knocked!

Globes

Globes are a great way to complement surrounding décor items in the home. And because of the variety available, they go great on any stand/desk. Furthermore, globes are not limited to desks, many globes have stands that are over a meter tall! Moreover, Globes don’t have to display the earth. For instance, some may show another planet or constellations. Furthermore, globes are the perfect educational gift for a child, as they encourage children to learn about the earth and different environments. 

What makes globes so great, is what they bring to space. Some are designed to feel antique; others bring a feeling of charm. In addition, many go great in offices, as they bring elegance and look sleek.

Vinyl Records

Many of us have old Vinyl records lying around somewhere that are not being used. Well, you’re in luck! Vinyl Records can be placed all around the house to add nostalgia and depth. Moreover, they fit perfectly in a modern, or vintage-themed household. Furthermore, they go great as wall art. This is due to many Vinyls being brightly colored, which means they will be highlighted when put up against a white wall.

Summary

These were the top 5 Practical Décor Items that you can put around your home. Our list included various accessories, which should look great in any interior design. In addition, these décor items won’t cost you an arm and a leg to purchase, as most of the items can be found at very lost prices.

Author Bio:

George Dermanakis is the founder of The Paper Shredder Journal, a website that provides readers with reviews and tips about paper shredders. George is an expert at website development and has a mission to provide accurate, and informative information about paper shredders. 

Guest Post - How to Make Your Home Decoration Look Luxurious

It doesn't matter if you are making your home decorating stand out because you want to or because you are looking to be selling your home, making your home decorations look more luxurious is the way to go. It will freshen up your living space and make it overall a better place to live in. 

Add New Molding

If you think that your walls are really boring and bare there is nothing better that will add more luxury to them than adding crown molding. If you want to make crown molding add narrow strips that will frame your walls. 

Update Your Old Lighting Fixtures

There is nothing so simple yet so effective as adding new light fixtures to your home. It doesn't matter if you are updating your chandeliers or your lamps in the rooms, a new light will create a whole different look to your home. 

Don't Hold Back On Art

The simplest way to make your home feel and look luxurious is by adding amazing art to it. Hanging a large-scale piece of art on your wall will have a big impact on home decor. 

Add a Fashionable Rug

A lot of people don't really like to have rugs and think that they just aren't a sign of luxury. But they are wrong. Adding a fashionable rug where there is heavy foot traffic will not only make your floors look better but will make your home look more luxurious and put together. 

Create a Fun Accent Wall

Adding an accent wall to your home is one of the most popular ways of making it feel and look more luxurious. It doesn't matter if you choose to do it with a bold color, patterned wallpaper or even by adding a brick or wood wall, it is the way to go. 

Bring In Some Nature

A popular misconception is that you need to spend millions of dollars in order to create a luxurious home. Something as simple as adding plants will bring sophistication and a luxury feel to your home decor. If you would like to have a pop of color you can add reefer bouquets as well as plants that bloom. 

Make Sure Your Home Is Decluttered

There is nothing that will make your home look cheap and appealing than clutter. Therefore, make sure that your home is clutter-free. It doesn't necessarily have to be minimalist in order to look luxurious but you do need to ensure that it is decluttered. Pair down things that will make your decor feel classic and elevated. Having a clutter-free home will also help you be less stressed when you are home. 

Hang Nice Curtains

When you think about a luxurious home you are probably envisioning high ceilings and a room filled with natural lighting. But if your home wasn't built like that you simply can't change it. That is where this tick comes in, you can fool your eye to think that the feelings are higher. Make sure that you are hanging your curtains as close to the ceilings as you can so it will give you a loftier feel and it will draw your eyes up. 

Add Fun Tiles

There is nothing that will spice up your home than adding cool and eye-catching tiles. The key is to choose a tile that will make everything you own pop and make your home look custom made.

Update Your Hardware

If you are looking for a quick way to update your home and make it look more luxurious there is nothing better than updating your existing hardware. Go from installing new towel bars, door pulls, showerheads as well as even upgrading your toilet to a smart toilet.

Refresh Your Doors

If you want to add more pizzas as well as luxury is either painting or changing your doors completely. If you are someone who likes to change things up around the house repainting your doors is the best way to satisfy that craving. 

Get Fake Built-Ins

Having custom built-in furniture can both be a hassle and an expensive tough to do. But if you still want to have that lustrous furniture you can get fake built-ins., Choose warm wood tones as they will add more class and drama to your space. 

Play Around With Different Scents

While you can't really see smells, there is just something about scents that will elevate your home design and make it feel much more luscious. Add scented candles as well as diffusers that will add more ambience to your room. 

Add A Backsplash

When you are imagining a luxurious kitchen, they all usually have a fun backsplash. But you can add a backsplash to your bathroom or laundry room too. If a tile backsplash is too much for you, you can make it an accent wall with different materials or types of paint. 

Invest In Your Statement Pieces

There are some decor pieces that you will want to splurge on and that will make your home look super lustrous and not tacky. Invest in statement pieces such as chandeliers, tables or even sofas. The key is not to splurge on every single decor item because it will look really tacky and over the top. By choosing only to have statement pieces you are making your home look classy and luxurious. 

Incorporate Different Mirrors

The best way to make your home feel much airier, bigger and luxurious is by adding a lot of mirrors on the walls. A large mirror will reflect the back of your room therefore, it will make it appear much larger than it actually is which will make it more luxurious. 

Choose Neutral Walls

Where a lot of people go wrong is when they are choosing the color of their walls. Choose colors like beige or grey because it will make your home look fresh, as well as your decorations, pop. When you have neutral walls, you will be able to play with bold decorations pieces. 

Coordinate Your Finishes Instead of Matching Them

There are a few finishes that go well together, but there are more than just don't work together at all. Ones like hickory blends work with almost any other while cherry wood looks good with oak. Have some fun and mismatch your doorknobs from your cabinets. But keep in mind that you should either go with a real contrast or an exact match. Anywhere in between will make your home look tacky. 

Incorporate Real Stone

Something that we all know is that there is nothing that will make your home more luxurious than having real stone countertops. Real granite countertops are so much more luxurious than having acrylic or wooden ones. It can act as a great statement piece in your bathroom and kitchen as they are so unique and draw the eye to them. 

When you are decorating your home, it is important that you do it the way that you like it as you are the one who has to look at it. If something is not trending but you like the look of it, do it the way that you want. The most important thing is that you are pleased with the outcome of your home and that it looks luxurious to you. 

Author bio:

My name is Grace Wilson. I’m a 27-year-old biotechnologist and kind of a bookish girl. Surfing the Internet is my favorite, that’s why I’ve turned into blogging. Following a healthy mindset and lifestyle is what I consider my life principle. If interested, follow my Twitter.

Redecorating Your Home? 4 Ways to Make the Transition Complete

Everyone needs a little change in their surroundings sometimes. Redecoration is an easy way for you to keep things fresh and exciting. However, there are a few things people overlook when redecorating their homes that can give an extra pop to its new look.

Change Window Treatments

Most people know that painting a room in bright colors can make it feel bigger and brighter. Often, they miss that modifying their window treatments can have the same impact with less effort. If you want to substantially change their home, you can replace windows with new models that have internal privacy features. However, even switching out heavy drapes for gauzy curtains can bring more natural light into a room and help it feel less cluttered.

Replace Doors

Doors may be the most ignored part of a house. Most people don’t stop to think about doors beyond the act of opening and shutting them. The exception is when a door is squeaky, and even then, it just gets oil on its hinges. Replacement doors are a surefire way for you to make a big impact when redecorating your home. Changing a solid front door for one with a patterned glass window or switching out a patio slider for French doors can make a big difference in your home’s appearance.

Rearrange Furniture

Over time, everyone gets so used to their home that they can practically walk around it with their eyes shut. That means one of the most effective methods of redecorating is as simple as rearranging your furniture. Moving a couch from one wall to the other might not seem like a big change by itself, but by the time the rest of the living room furniture has been readjusted, you will see a remarkable difference.

Install Art

Thoughtfully considered art pieces are a wonderful way to develop your home’s theme. Rope accents, paintings of the ocean, and small ship statues can bring a sense of the beach into your home. Rustic wood carvings, pictures of mountains, and natural stone vases, on the other hand, help your house feel like a cozy cabin. Varying the artwork displayed throughout your home is guaranteed to make any redecoration a success.

No matter how you choose to redecorate, the most important thing you need to remember is that you should only make changes that you know will make you happy. A successful redecoration should always make you smile.

DIY Organizing Ideas on Creating Fascinating Rooftop Garden Designs

Living in the city has a lot of perks, but one thing surely we all miss every once in a while is nature. Fortunately there’s an easy solution for all you green-thumbs out there: create your own rooftop garden as your urban escape. Don’t worry, if you start small and build your way up one step at a time such project is absolutely feasible even for a newbie gardener. Let us guide you through the process:

Start Small – The Succulents

Succulents are a great choice as it comes to planning your DIY rooftop garden project. In their majority they require little maintenance, they could create fascinating texture designs, and many species are sturdy enough to endure the winter cold. 

Succulents will help you easily create a vast green carpet on your rooftop for they tend to spread widely if given a chance. Succulents are known to thrive on scarce soil and water, so they are pretty low maintenance plants. However, they love warm weather and sunshine. 

Think of the Jade Plant or the Lucky Tree as some call it. It is a fine-looking succulent that you could prune as bonsai when it grows a bit. In the winter it flowers - its branches get heavy with delicate white blooms.

When going for succulents you should keep in mind that some of them like Echeveria are not tolerant to winter frost. Thus you should be able to cover them or take them inside, if necessary. 

My personal favorite would be Haworthia – these succulent looks really elegant with pointy leaves and white delicate spikes. You could dedicate a planter to each Haworthia or you could let them live a life of their own in raised beds, where they could quickly shape up overlapping colonies.

Spice It Up – The Herbs

Planting herbs is such a rewarding experience – you get the zen feeling of keeping in touch with nature and you end up with your own fresh spices to add to your salad dressings and homemade meals. 

Can you see the mint, parsley, oregano, cilantro pots bursting into think scented greenery? Thyme and dill, and the best of them all – lavender, can you really resist the temptation of dedicating a couple of containers for them?

Just like succulents herbs are pretty much self-growers. An exception would be that on occasions a week or two after planting the seeds you might need to thin your herbs, but that’s about all the involvement required on your part. 

Go Greener – The Veggies

You are looking for organic veggies to add to your healthy diet? Grow them yourself then! Cherry tomatoes could be grown in pots, just as cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli and lettuce. Container vegetable gardening is just as fun as the real gardening, and it’s much easier if you are a novice in this game. Carrots, radishes, peas – you can grow it all on your rooftop.

If your rooftop temperatures are high, consider adding organic mulch to the surface of your containers in order to slow down the water evaporation. 

Add hanging baskets to your rooftop exterior where you could grow strawberries – a fruity touch to your garden in the midst of the vegetable kingdom would add a refreshing touch to it. Consider introducing even more colors to your garden by planting peppers. They love heat, so don’t worry about exposing them to direct sunlight.

Color It Up – The Flowers

The first thing that comes to mind you say: “garden” usually is blooming colorful flowers, right? You cannot forget about those, turn your urban escape corner into a mesmerizing oasis of wild climbing roses. Let a sea of colorful petunias cascade down from a number of hanging baskets. Are you looking for a fairytale rooftop landscape, by all means grow tulips – there is an awful lot of hues to choose from, be brave and allow yourself to go for contrasting colors for a more dramatic look. 

Daffodils on the other hand will give a more serene feel to your rooftop garden, which would be a nice change after the energizing tulips-rich view. 

Liven It Up – The Birds, Bees and Butterflies

And you can’t have flora without fauna, right – they both go hand in hand. Welcome natural musical background by inviting birds in your rooftop garden. Take time to add a few bird feeders. If you add a decorative fountain they’d love it and there’s a great chance that they’ll use it for taking refreshing baths. Is there anything more relaxing and endearing than watching singing birds playing in rippling water?

The humming bees will also follow bird’s lead if you have planted flowers in your garden. Butterflies would prefer to rest on flowers that are protected from windy weather, so make sure you dedicate a spot for them in your garden as well. 

Does it sound like a fascinating project already? There surely is a lot to be done, but who says you need to hurry? Pace yourself, add a planter at a time. In the end your efforts will be rewarded and you’ll feel proud having your morning coffee or tea in the peaceful green heaven you’ve created at your rooftop!