[reblogged from photobucket]

  Once you have decided that it’s time to redecorate, you can often be just itching to get started.  But hold on a minute; how much thought have you actually given to your new colour scheme?  You may have earmarked a gorgeous shade of paint, but will it go with the rest of the room?  If not, then it may end up costing you a small fortune to replace your carpet, furniture, ornaments and curtains!

   Now, I’m going to make a suggestion and you are probably not going to like it…  Why not just use neutral colours for your walls?  This may sound pretty boring, but it certainly doesn’t need to be!  White, beige or magnolia walls with white paintwork make a wonderful base for a room.  Think of them as an empty canvas; once they are finished you can add your own personal twist.

   Virtually any colour in carpets, roller blinds, rugs, furniture and fittings will go with these neutral shades.  All you have to do is to use your imagination!  Not only that, but it will all have a very spacious effect.  And if your room is not very large to begin with, then this can make it feel a whole lot less claustrophobic!

[reblogged from johnston.k12.ia]

  At one time, curtains were the only real option when it came to windows.  If you wanted anything different, then it was considered as being quite ‘specialised’ and it would often be fairly difficult to find what you were after.

  Well, thankfully those days are now gone!  In fact, the fitting of choice for most of today’s windows is roller blinds.  And there are a few very good reasons why…

• Practical.

They are so much easier to clean than curtains.  There is no having to take them down to wash; they simply need a quick wipe over now and again.  And that means not having to fiddle around with countless hooks!

• Modern.

If you are looking for a contemporary theme for your home, then this is definitely the right way to go.

• Variety.

You will find them in a wide range of colours so there will be no problems fitting them in with the rest of your colour scheme.  There are also several different styles to choose from such as; scalloped, plain or patterned!

• Light.

They will give your room a much brighter appearance because they block out a minimal amount of light.  You will rarely get the same effect when curtains are at the windows.

[reblogged from channel4]

  It’s amazing how much difference you can make to your home by spending a minimum amount of dosh!  A nice throw-over on that old armchair, a few scatter cushions, a different lamp shade; these are all inexpensive ways to give your rooms an even cosier and far more original look.

  Some people will buy up old furniture from second hand shops and then apply several hours of loving care.  A little sanding and re-varnishing can do wonders for shabby tables or chairs and it is also a very rewarding task; they will certainly have far more character than brand new items!

  You can also find plenty of inexpensive curtains and Velux blinds if you restrict your choice to the bargain section.  It is surprising how many nice designs can be found cheaply just because they do not fit in with the latest styles!

  Besides, it is so much nicer if your home is a little bit different to everyone else’s.  So many homes tend to have the same old selection of items.  Isn’t it nicer to have furniture and fittings that are not the same as everyone else in your street?

[reblogged from thebreakthrough]

  In the fickle world of home furnishings, fashions will come and go on a frustratingly regular basis.  For example, just about every wallpaper pattern that you see at the moment will be emblazoned with large, garish 1960s style flowers!  But this will only last for a year or so at the most.  In a way, it is quite a predictable business inasmuch as everything goes full circle.  Sooner or later the designs from five years ago will once again be the hottest look to have!

   However, every so often certain furnishings will come along that remain totally aloof from the shallow ocean of fashion.  This is because they are practical, timeless and will fit in with any style at all; plain wooden furniture, magnolia emulsion, roller blinds, woodchip wallpaper and corded carpet.  These are all safe bets if you are decorating a room.

   Why chase your own tail, redecorating your room every year to keep up with the latest trends?  By choosing wisely you can make your home look great… whatever the latest ‘modern look’ is.

[reblogged from 4.bp]

  Just what is it with moths?  If they love the light so much, then why do they sleep through the daytime???  DOH!!  At night, they all go nuts flying into to anything that’s bright.  They bash themselves stupid against windows, fly kamikaze-style into car headlights and set themselves on fire around candles.  Just how dumb can you be?

   But moths are not only dumb; they are also incredibly annoying…  When you go outdoors in the evening, you need to be constantly on your guard.  There you are in the back garden, about to light a cigarette and WHOOSH!  You suddenly get knocked off your feet by twenty moths that are in a mad rush to kill themselves with the flame on your lighter!

   Why?????

   Personally, I find moths incredibly irritating.  You can’t even turn a small lamp on without them bothering you!  And even after you have pulled down your roller blinds they are still out there…  They tap and thump against your window, desperate to get in and knock themselves senseless on your light bulb!

[reblogged from flickr]

  Have you ever noticed the way that people do really dumb things in creepy movies?  It is so tedious and predictable… but we still love to watch them, don’t we?

Something Nasty in the Cellar.

One character has already been murdered and the only place in the house where the killer/creature could be hiding is the basement.  So, what will the main character do?  Run from the property screaming?  Call the police?  Nope, he/she will wander down the stairs to the cellar!

Peepo!

Someone is prowling around outside and the star of the movie wants to know who it is.  She goes over to the Venetian blinds and makes a gap between the slats with her fingers, immediately alerting ‘the baddie’ to her presence at the window.  Why did she need to touch the slats???  They were already partially open!

Being Dim.

The main character has just got home and he knows there is a nutter/nutter monster somewhere in the family home…. so he goes through the whole house without turning on a single light!  DOH!

It’s Never Properly Dead.

When a movie heroine finally shoots a baddie or monster, it will never be totally dead.  This is an intrinsic part of a scary movie and is even included in the baddies’ acting contract.

So why must the protagonist walk over to the downed baddie/monster to have a closer look?  She knows damn well that it will grab her by the ankle!

[reblogged from allposters]

  Don’t you just love to get plenty of daylight in your rooms?  I just hate being in a dark house.  You sometime even need to put the light on just to read a book!  And I’m sure that gloom affects us on a subconscious level.  I don’t know about you, but I always feel happier when I’m sitting in a nice bright room.

  My home used to be a lot darker during the day until I got rid of our curtains.  It is so much better having Roman blinds at the windows instead of bulky old material!  Besides, they were really old fashioned and they made it look like my grandma’s house (no offence, gran!).

  Of course, when it is sunny I prefer to be outdoors anyways.  We don’t get many nice days and you have to make the most of them.  But when I am in the house I like to see what I’m doing without needing a torch to make myself a coffee!

[reblogged from wordpress]

  Our war on dust just seems to go on forever.  No matter how many times you get tooled up with the vacuum cleaner and feather duster it is always comes back with a vengeance within a few days!

  The trouble is that some household items actually attract the powdery menace.  Curtains are a prime example; they may look clean from a distance, but they are renowned for harbouring filth and dust mites in their creases.

  A simple answer to this problem is to fit velux blinds at your windows instead.  Blinds are ten times easier to keep clean.  Even the traditional Venetian style can be quickly sorted out within a few minutes of ‘Damp Cloth Therapy’!  You can even buy nifty little gadgets that are specifically designed to remove the dust from each of the slats.  These used to be quite a difficult accessory to track down, but loads of shops are selling them these days.

[reblogged from 3dtoast]

  When you are cooking a meal in the summer, it can get really hot!  That old saying is so true; ‘If you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen’!  The only problem is it isn’t always that easy.  You can’t just down tools in the middle of cooking a meal for the kids.  Well, you could do, but it wouldn’t be very nice.

  There are a couple of things you can do to reduce the amount of heat whilst cooking, but they are pretty much common sense; open the window and/or turn on the extractor fan.  Mind you, it is a good idea to block the sun out if you can.  Sunlight blazing down through the window is certainly not going to help matters any.  And I’m sure that sweating in everyone’s food is not good practice on a food hygiene level…

  It’s a great deal easier if you have roller blinds fitted in your kitchen; this way you can block out the sun and still have your windows open.  Curtains flap around too much and they can actually be dangerous when you are cooking.

  But whatever you do to make it cooler, you still cannot change the simple truth; the kitchen is the worst room to be in on a hot day!

[reblogged from 2.bp.blogspot]

  The best thing about having blinds in your home is that they are relatively inexpensive to buy.  Because of this, it is not such a big deal when you decide to change the colour scheme in one of your rooms.  Besides, a carpet and new wallpaper will cost you enough money as it is.

  There is also a wealth of colours to choose from, so you are never going to have any trouble finding something that you like.  And coupling this with the fact you can pick from a wide range of Roman, Aluminium, Venetian, Wooden or roller styles, you really are onto a winner in every way!

  It’s not difficult to see why so many people are choosing to have these at their windows instead of curtains, isn’t it?  If you change the colour of your room and have to buy new curtain fabric then it can often cost you an arm and a leg.