Interior Designer’s Best Kept Secrets to Make a Room Look Bigger

It is not challenging anymore to make a small room appear large. When a room is small, everything counts, and that is the basic reason why people look for ideas to make their small room look bigger. Today, it is easier to stretch out your small space to look large. The following are some clever tricks to achieve this goal without moving the walls:

De-Clutter the Room

A messy room with too much stuff spread around will make even larger rooms look small and cramped. Clutter is the first thing you should get rid of in order to determine the actual available space in your room. Clear the walk ways and get your needless collection out of the view. Arrange things neatly and keep any unnecessary things out of sight. This is the simplest way to open up the space and keep it in order.

Unify the Room

If your room has big windows that bring in the beauty of nature, unify the look of your room by bringing the sane colors in your room. This will expand the entire look and will make your room look neat and more spacious.

Use Right Colors

Colors like icy blues and cream shades are just few color combinations that can enlarge the look of a tiny room. Lighter colors have the ability to bluff the eyes by creating illusions. Rooms with lighter colors tend to look brighter and bigger. A combination of both bright and light colored walls will create a reflective feel, which will make the space look larger.

Use the Right Furniture

Stuffing up a room with huge and extra furniture will eat up all the available space in the room and will make it appear very small. It is highly advisable that you carefully choose the furniture for your smaller rooms. Since smaller rooms also lack storage areas, look for furniture that provides additional storage place along with fulfilling its basic purpose. Moreover, use same material and/or color of furniture to unify the look of the room.

Use Appropriate Lighting

Natural light gives personality to a room. Do not deprive your room of its character and let as much natural light in as possible. In case, there are no natural light resources in your room, use artificial lighting wisely to make your room appear brighter and bigger.

Use Mirrors

Mirrors create a reflective illusion in the room. This eventually opens up the tiny space in your room. Identify the focal point and adjust the mirror accordingly. Mirrors are also effective in reflecting both artificial and natural light, which makes the room brighter. Use mirror cabinets in the room, which will not only create additional storage space but will also make the space look uncluttered and large.

Chris has been working in the interior design industry for years. He specialises in frenchprovincial beds at christopheliving.com.au.

Decorate Your Nursery on a Budget

Every parent wishes to nourish their child with the best nursery available, but unfortunately not everyone can afford it. It is not necessary for you to buy one of those nurseries in some big brand’s show room; you can also develop your own beautiful looking comfortable nursery. Here are some tips to decorate a nursery on a low budget:

* Borrow From Friends

You should not feel shy to borrow something from your relative, friend or a neighbor that has no further use for them. You might find a complete nursery set resting in dust in their attics. Also, they will love to give it to you because in that way they can put something they bought to a better use.

* Make the Most of Sales and Discount Offers

Keep an eye on different baby stores, whenever discount coupons are distributed or sales are offered, rush to avail them. You can save a lot of money this way. You can also buy stuff in bulk.

* Buy Convertible Furniture

Convertible furniture is becoming more and more famous these days. It is aesthetically appeasing and in the price of one, you can use it in place of more than one piece of furniture.

* Put the Gifts to Some Use

When you throw parties for your baby, don’t forget to put before them the list of requirements of the nursery. This way, you can assign them to arrange larger baby gear collectively while others individually. This will not only relieve you from the task of decorating the nursery but this will also make them be a part of a bigger thing.

* Buy Everything that has Unisex Characteristics

Usually parents buy baby stuff colored blue for boys and pink for girls, but buying everything colored white, yellow or other unisex colors since this can save a lot of money in future, in case a baby of the opposite gender arrives.

* Decorating Walls

Usually parents have to hire people to paint or paste wallpapers, it is not a very tough job neither does it takes any special skills. Cut the cost where you can and paint or wallpaper yourself. Don’t forget to choose a unisex color.

Decorating walls also includes many things like picture portraits and faux frames. You can easily build your own accessories for wall decorations. Use shiny CDs, paint old picture frames, put in some natural touch with flowers and leaves, use china plates, stickers, posters and there are many more creative and beautiful accessories you can easily design yourself.

* Buy Things That are Timeless

You don’t want to buy something that will turn useless in a time of one year only. Always watch for something that will last longer and your baby will not reject after growing a little older.

4 Signs of Quality When Looking for a Mattress

 Studies suggest that on average, a regular human being spends around 1/3 of his life on the bed. What comes as a shock is that little research has been done on what type of mattress is best suited for sleeping purposes. There is also no way to know how a mattress affects a person’s health.

It is very important that no compromise is made on the quality of the mattress, considering the fact that a mattress that is used every day can last for eight to ten years. The better the quality of the mattress is, more comfortable and sound the sleep is. When shopping for a mattress, look for a few things that can help buy the best quality that can come in the allotted budget.

Firmness

It does not matter if one is buying an inner spring, latex or memory foam; the important thing is to buy a mattress that is firm but not hard. The firmness of the mattress determines the amount of support the spine can get throughout the night. It is believed that a mattress that moulds to the shape of the body is the best to sleep on (for example, the memory foam mattress).

Covering

It is said that one should not judge a book by its cover, however, when it comes to mattresses, the cover matters a lot. Check the stitches of the cover; there should be no broken stitches or overlapping stitches for that matter. It is also important that the mattress cover is not too loose or tight.

Cheap mattresses (foam or inner spring) have a vinyl covering that can crack, dry out or tear with the passage of time. With the increase in price, the covering also improves. It gets thicker and becomes more puncture resistant. Heavy mattresses tend to have better quality. That is usually because the foam is denser or the springs have been made with enhanced quality steel and provide a better cushioning.

Reliable Dealer

It is also better to buy a mattress from a reputable and reliable dealer. Why? Because the more value the dealer has in the market, the more important it is for him to maintain good quality. Another important factor is that this dealer would have done more research and testing compared to others and keeps only reputable brands.

Good Foundation

To achieve the best comfort possible it is important to change the foundation of the mattress as often as the mattress. Check the box spring or foundation of the bed when changing the mattress. Start at the head of the bed and come down placing your palms flat on the surface of the box spring. If the foundation or box spring seems to sag, then it is best that you change it.

Allan has been blogging about sleep related issues for the last 3 years. From review the benefits of foam mattresses, to sleep apnea, Allan has written a large amount of articles in various online and offline publications.

3 Steps to Home Safety and Security

For most of us the risks in our household are relatively small, but this does not mean that we can ignore them. Being prepared to act in an emergency could potentially save your life and the lives of others. Factors like installing a fire alarm and regularly checking it should be second nature to any home owner because awareness is everything. People often forget, however, that they need to know what to do and how to escape once they are aware of the emergency. This article will consider some of the ways that you can prepare to protect.

1.   Safety Outside

·         Don’t advertise who you are by putting your name on the letter box. Giving strangers too much information about yourself is never a good idea, particularly if you live alone. It is always important, however, to clearly advertise the house number because this will allow assistance to arrive sooner in an emergency.

·    Replace smooth or slippery pathways with rougher surfaces so they are easier to grip.

·         Garden tools are useful but it is important to keep them locked away when they are not in use. A hose could trip you up but a ladder or an axe could be used to break into your home.

·         Make sure the external lighting is good and preferably automatic so that it lights up if you or anyone else approaches the house.

·         Paint walls along pathways white so that they are both easier to see and less easy to sneak past unseen.

2.   Safety Inside

·      The first step of creating safety inside the home needs to be preventing unwanted visitors from entering. Installing a good home security system will act as a deterrent but it is important to secure windows and doors properly to prevent easy access.

·         Keeping floors clean so they are not slippy is important. A wet surface can quickly become extremely dangerous so seek non-slip surfaces where possible. Remember that soap quickly makes non-slip surfaces very slippy and be sure to rinse floors thoroughly after use.

·       Look out for frayed or damaged carpets. A frayed carpet, particularly in a doorway, can easily trip up the unwary. Get these problems fixed as soon as possible to avoid injury.

·    Install phones in both your bedroom and in the main living area. Your phones should always be accessible and properly charged so they can be used when necessary. It is also sensible to keep a list of emergency numbers by the phone in case you need to call for help.

·    Arrange the furniture so you have easy movement about the house. Creating unnecessary obstacles will merely hinder your ability to escape in an emergency.

·         Avoid using extension cords and replace any frayed wires immediately.

·         When removing plugs from the wall, pull them by the plug not the wire.

3.   Fire Ready

·       Plan your escape routes out of the property. These routes should be clear at all times and any doors should be easy to unlock from the inside.

·       Remember that smoke rises. Get down on your hands and knees to avoid inhaling smoke.

·       Know where you are going once you escape the house. It is important to get to a safe place where there is both warmth and a telephone so that you can contact the fire department.

·        Use the back of your hand to test the heat of doors when leaving. If it is hot then don’t open it because the fire is the other side.

Maintaining safety and security in your home is an ongoing effort. There are steps you can take to increase the safety of your home but it is most important to remain vigilant to dangers and use common sense to prevent accidents.

A Painting of a Golden-Hearted Lady

The Ragunan Zoo (Jakarta, Indonesia) has the world’s largest conservation center of primates, the Schmutzer Primate Center. Schmutzer name taken from the name of the late Mrs. Pauline Antoinette Schmutzer-Versteegh (1924-1998), a Netherlands-blooded painter and animal lover who had golden heart and loved Indonesia. She was pleased to donate all her estate to the establishment of this new primate center.

Previously, she also had donated several times her wealth for the construction of various cages at Ragunan Zoo, such as cages of lions, tigers, bears, etc. Thanks to her  generosity, Jakarta has the largest primate center in the world with ​​13 hectares area.