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Guide to wood for your bedroom furniture

December 27, 2011 By Jay Marsh

Wood is a fantastic choice when it comes to selecting bedroom furniture, or indeed furniture for any room of the house.

 

When it comes to the bedroom, choose beds, sofa beds, wardrobes and cabinets in wood for a classy and stylish look. You will find a wonderful range of wood bedroom furniture at Bensonsforbeds.co.uk and there are many different styles and designs to choose from.

 

When it comes to choosing the right wood furniture for your bedroom, it all depends on what your tastes are and what type of wooden furniture will look at home in your room. Almost any type of wood can be used in bedroom furniture, but some woods are more durable than others, and of course the appearance will vary, so it is a case of selecting the furniture that will meet all of your requirements.

 

These days, a lot of bedroom furniture is made from pine and ash trees, as they are the most abundant. Often, rarer woods will be combined with the more common woods in pricier bedroom furniture.

 

Just some of the woods you can choose from when selecting bedroom furniture are ash, beech, birch, cedar, elm, mahogany, oak, rosewood, sycamore, teak, hickory, cherry and walnut. And there are plenty more – the list goes on! The appearance, texture and grain of all of the different types of wood vary, and this will be reflected in the furniture made from each type of wood, so take your time to find something that you really like the look and feel of and that will fit well in your home.

 

You don’t have to stick to the same type of furniture throughout your whole house of course. You might decide to go for mahogany in the bedroom, oak in the living room and wicker in the conservatory. Create a different look in each room of your house by choosing beautiful furniture in a variety of quality woods.

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Furnish your home with things you love

December 23, 2011 By Jay Marsh

These days, a lot of furniture is cheap; very cheap. It’s well designed in concept, but has built-in obsolescence. It isn’t designed to last at all – it’s designed to look good for a few years until you get bored with the look and decide to completely re-design everything.

Perhaps this is no bad thing? We all like to redecorate and remodel our interiors from time to time, but when it comes to the main furnishings in a house; less is often more.

Just a few, good quality items, that you’ve thought long and hard about and fallen in love with will help bring you an inner peace and contentment that is as fundamental to human nature as making a home in the first place.

The other side of the coin; buying flimsy things in pretty colours and throwing them out a couple of years later to get the next trendy interior furnishing gadget is a mug’s game. But more to the point, you’re trying to swim against the tide of your fundamental evolutionary human behaviour of taking care of the things you love; furnishings aren’t just part of the interior of a house; they are the very essence of your home.

So getting the basics right and changing the relatively flimsy things around those basic quality items you love is the key to feeling contentment about the space you live in. The sofas, the beds, the tables and chairs, the wardrobes and other objects that you love for no logical reason are truly the fabric of your home. That isn’t to say you need spend a fortune. Instead, scour the sofa sales, for example, for a quality sofa you’ll love for decades, and go to the best sofa bed sale or kitchens sale, or dining furniture sales and buy the pieces you love cost effectively – then sit back and enjoy them for many years to come; that way – they’re part of you, and the fundament of your home – wherever your house is.

 

Filed Under: Decorating Tagged With: , , ,

Restyle your kitchen and dining room

December 13, 2011 By Jay Marsh

It’s often said that the kitchen is the room where everyone ends up at a party. Sure you might have a living room, a dining room and maybe even another reception room downstairs, but where do you find that you spend the majority of time at home?  Whether it’s the warmth of the oven, or the fact that other people are in there too, kitchens draw you in, especially if there’s plenty of space to sit and chat.

Consequently, people put a lot of thought and effort into designing their kitchens, not only to be functional for cooking, but also to be a nice place to spend time.  Depending on the shape of your kitchen, there’s a lot you can do to make it homely yet stylish.

In many modern homes, the kitchens and dining rooms are too boxy and small – brought together they give much more room and a feeling of space.

If you like the idea of having more of a living kitchen, why not take down the dividing wall and create an archway that delineates the areas without fully separating them? Unless you really know your stuff, this is something best left to a professional builder, who will know all about load-bearing walls and the like.  But it’s not a really complex job, and shouldn’t take too much out of a renovation budget.

Once you’ve got the heavy work done, it’s up to you to get creative with your decorating style.  A new room deserves some new furniture, but if the building work has gone over budget, then don’t despair.  There are so many ways to find reasonably priced furniture these days. You can buy a cheap dining table and chairs that are still good quality online or in any of the high street furniture chains.  And for your relaxation zone, it’s easy to find a sofas sale where you can pick up a little two-seater sofa that will fit nicely in the corner of your new living kitchen.

 

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Moving house and being green

December 6, 2011 By Jay Marsh

When you move home, it’s always a time for a good shake-up of your possessions – a lot of organising and de-cluttering.  Depending on the dimensions of your new home, some of your old furniture may not be going with you, so you need to decide what to do with the things you aren’t keeping.

While a couple of decades ago, the automatic instinct would be to take any unwanted items to the tip, today’s society is much more environmentally aware and conscious of such conspicuous waste.  So, when sorting through your possessions, think about where you might find new homes for the things you no longer want.

There’s always someone who would welcome hand-me-downs.  Think about the network of people you know – is there someone somewhere who is about to set up their first home?  Many young people forego items like sofas and just make do with not having certain furniture in their first flat, until they can afford it.  Your old sofa could be just what they need – and if they don’t like the look of it, it’s easy enough to disguise with a throw or cover, and make it their own.

Similarly, while you may be sick of the display cabinet you’ve had for the last twenty years, to someone setting up their first flat, it might be a welcome storage unit.

If you can’t find any friends of friends to pass things along to, then there are plenty of charitable organisations which will even come to your door to pick up unwanted furniture and take them off your hands.

It’s recycling on a large-scale – and just as valuable as sorting through your clothes and taking them down to the charity shop.  Then, when you buy any furniture for your new home, you can be doubly sure to pick items that have been manufactured using environmentally-sound materials.

 

Filed Under: Sustainable Furniture Tagged With: , , ,

Store more in your living room

November 30, 2011 By Jay Marsh

Most families, these days, are short of storage space. And where does the family spend most of its time when it’s together? In the living room of course. And it’s very often in the living room that we really need some additional storage – but we have the least availability of places to put anything.

But fear not; help is at hand.

There are lots of off-beat ways you can create a little more storage space where it really counts.

For example, why not get down to the furniture store and check out ways of filling up that useful space with something you can actually put things in?

Alternatively – get it built in if you’re not confident enough to do it yourself. Let’s say, for example, you have an empty bay window that isn’t quite big enough for a sofa. You could build in a window seat with storage underneath, whilst putting a few drawers in it as opposed to a lift-up lid would add more useful storage still.

You can also buy special sofas and chairs which have built-in storage space underneath, or maybe invest in a range of storage that will look streamlined in a light colour with room for your TV, books, DVDs, CDs and lots of other stuff all across one side of the room. This doesn’t look obtrusive but can be a Godsend for families in fairly small homes.

You can also make use of less “traditional” space. Have a look at a living room in a home where the owner/s purport to have no space and what do you see? Why, loads of space of course! So build shelves up walls or over doorways or buy furniture for the middle of the room with storage sections in it – attractive wooden boxes instead of coffee tables for example.

Generally – just consider all the available space without cluttering essential walkways and you’ll usually see just how much more is truly available.

 

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How to choose the best external doors

November 30, 2011 By Jay Marsh

One of the most important aspects of any home is the external doors. As well as having a big impact on the exterior of your property aesthetically, they play a very big role in terms of security.

 

You want the external doors of your home to look stylish, but be extremely secure, which means you’ll probably have to hunt around for the best ones on offer. A www.flooringanddoors.co.uk specialist is a great port of call when you’re looking for new additions to your home. There are so many different types out there, from patio doors to bi-fold doors, that you’re best off looking around to find one which suits your home.

 

You’re bound to want to find doors which come with the latest security features on them. But even if they don’t come fitted as standard, you’ll be able to find the right locks and bolts in most DIY stores. On your front door, you may also want to consider having a spy hole or a door chain with a limiter. This may make you feel safer in your property, as you’ll be able to deal with callers without opening the door fully.

 

As well as obviously providing a point of entry to your home, if you choose the wrong external door, it’ll also be an exit for warmth from your property! You want to find something which is designed to retain heat – particularly with winter almost upon us – so this is an important factor to consider when choosing a door.

 

The most difficult decision you’ll probably have to make it when it comes to choosing doors is what material to get one in. There is a vast array of materials out there, from uPVC to hardwood and the one you choose will almost certainly depend upon the décor outside your home.

Filed Under: Decorating Tagged With: , ,

Out With The Soft and In With The Shiny

November 30, 2011 By Jay Marsh

 

Many bedrooms in the average home are bordering on being rather girlie. They are decorated by women with themselves in mind and their other halves tend to just go along with whatever romantic frills and fripperies keep their loved ones happy. If in your house, however, the wife has gone a step too far with her desire for pink soft furnishings then perhaps it is time to redress the balance with a few stylish, manly touches. I’m not suggesting that you start again – I’m just saying man up and have a say!

 

Just because you introduce some macho elements to an interior design scheme it doesn’t mean that you lose the feeling of peace and calm relaxation. Metal bed frames for example are the ideal way to introduce a strong, central focus to the room – and if they make too much of a stark statement then by all means soften the look with cushions and throws. Another way to introduce interest would be to make a feature of an interesting light fitting – these can sometimes be almost like sculptures suspended in the air, and where better to display a piece like this than where it can be admired from the bed beneath it. Other accessories in metal can lend a hand too so shop around for the right look for you.

 

The bed is by far the most important item of furniture in any bedroom, so make the right choice at http://sleepmasters.co.uk and be confident that you can choose from a wide range that has something on offer for everyone. If you are a man living alone then frame your new bed with stylish metal work lamps, oversized metal framed mirrors or even metal bedside cabinets to see that bachelor pad chic really hit home. You never know, the ladies might just love it!

Filed Under: Bedroom, Decorating Tagged With: ,

What flooring should you go for in a Victorian home?

November 23, 2011 By Jay Marsh

If you’ve recently bought a new home, you probably paid close attention to the era it was from when you were choosing what to go for. Whether you did it consciously or not, you probably had a certain style of house in mind when you were property hunting.

 

And now you’ve moved into it, the question is, should you stay true to the style in the décor you go for in the house? If you’ve got a property from the Victorian era, you may well want to incorporate a mixture of modern and traditional designs throughout your home.

 

One good way of bringing something from the Victorian times into your property is through the http://flooringanddoors.co.uk you choose. You should try to be authentic when you’re deciding on the flooring you want. Typically, heavily patterned carpets were common place. Look for something in dark green or red, with floral or geometric designs on it. Or, if you’d prefer not to have carpets fitted, you might want to consider tiling. If you can find some Victorian-era designs, tiles, particular in the hallway of your home, could look very stylish.

 

When you’re looking for doors, there are plenty of Victorian-style ones to pick from. External doors during the Victorian times were usually painted or else, they were made from hardwood. If you decide to paint your door, you want to go for colours which complement the property and don’t look too garish. Try to find a door with glass panels – or even colourful stained glass – as these were particularly typical for the era.

 

If you’re keen not to embrace the Victorian period throughout your whole home, you should try to find some modern furniture so you have a good blend of new and traditional in your property.

Filed Under: Flooring Tagged With: ,

Bedroom Solutions for Your Family

November 21, 2011 By Jay Marsh

If space is at a premium in your house and you suddenly find yourself expecting another addition to the family then panic can really begin to set in! There are a few options of how to solve the problem – move house to somewhere bigger, extend or convert the attic, or simply make the most of where you are now.

 

If moving or grand scale renovations are not an option then you need to think about the best way to utilise your bedrooms. Do you need to have a swap around of who sleeps where? Could a downstairs room be converted into an extra bedroom? Try to think outside the box when you consider the options. One of the best ways to make the most of smaller children’s rooms is to buy bunk beds or cabin beds. There are lots of great reasons to do this including maximising storage space, increasing floor space for playing and making the environment more fun for the child.

 

www.sleepmasters.co.uk have a fantastic range of bunk and cabin beds, with something to suit the design of every kid’s bedroom. Use your imagination to accessorise too: how about a slide instead of a ladder, or a princess-style canopy suspended from the ceiling? Kits are available to convert the underneath of a cabin bed or top bunk into a play tent, and children will love the bespoke furniture which fits cleverly into the beds too.

 

Whichever way you decide to resolve your space issues the main thing is not to worry too much. If children end up sharing a bedroom they invariably enjoy it – remember all those happy holidays in a twin bedroom as a child yourself. Be happy and enjoy the family, that’s the most important thing, regardless of whether or not you live in a palace.

Filed Under: Bedroom

Guide to buying baths

November 21, 2011 By Jay Marsh

If you are looking to redo your bathroom, or the bathroom of a friend or relative, then the bath is one of the most important features to get right. After all, it takes up most of the room!

There is nothing like having a long, relaxing soak in the bath and feeling all the troubles of the day drift away, and so getting the bath right is important to make sure bath times are as enjoyable as possible.

 

Firstly, consider the colour scheme you wish to have in the bathroom. Will you go for a cool, aquatic colour such as blue, green or turquoise, or will you opt for a simple white or classic cream? Perhaps you’d like something a bit different, such as a daring red or vibrant orange? Whatever your tastes, you can find baths in every colour under the sun these days, so select something that expresses your personality perfectly and that will fit with the rest of the colour scheme.

 

Next, think about the size and shape of your bath. How much space do you have in the bathroom? Do you want a bath in which two people can easily fit and relax together? Or perhaps a small corner bath would better suit your requirements and the space you have available.

 

If you are less steady on your feet than you once were, have a physical disability or are buying for an elderly relative, consider walk in baths. Mobility-Plus does a great range of walk in baths with a variety of sizes, shapes and designs to choose from, so you needn’t compromise on style.

 

When buying a bath you should also consider additional extras. Many baths can be fitted with Jacuzzi or hydrotherapy spa functions, so bath time can be more luxurious than ever before!

Make sure when buying a bath that you purchase from a reputable company and choose products that come with a lifetime guarantee wherever possible.

Filed Under: Decorating Tagged With: , ,
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