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5 Tips to Cosy Up Your Home This Autumn


It's time to say cheerio to Summer, and hello to Autumn! No need to be sad that the season of sunshine is over, autumn can bring us so much warmth. The colours and freshness are bound to keep us in happy spirits for a while to come yet. Rich autumnal colours offer a great opportunity for a seasonal home makeover.
As the evenings are getting shorter and the temperature drops be ready to get your home cosy for the season. To make the transition for your home from summer to autumn, we have put together five simple tips.

1. Scented Candles: Nothing says Autumn like scented candles. Seasonal fragrances such as Orange and Cinnamon or Sandalwood are a perfect choice to fill your home with seasonal warmth. Dim the lights and let the candles set the ambiance as the evenings draw in. Light the fireplace and add candles throughout the house to ensure that all-round feeling of warmth.

2. Bring the outside in: Autumn is the perfect season to get outside. When out in the woods, collect yellow and orange colourful leaves, branches and pine cones to place around candles. Make beautiful Autumn settings this way. This is a simple DIY way to impress guests and family. Decorate the dining table, hallway or your living area with autumn candle arrangements that look great even when your candles aren't lit.
3. Flowers and plants: Treat yourself to fresh greenery and blooms regularly to enhance the fresh fragrances of Autumn, or better yet, pick your own flowers from the garden. Mix this with the aromatic candle scents, and Autumn is here.

4. Add little details: Add special details to every room in the house to create little autumn surprises everywhere. Don't just limit yourself to the main living space. Place small pumpkins or pine cones in bathrooms and on bedside tables add some scented votives for a warm feel.

5. Get everyone involved: Go out for a nice walk in the woods with the kids. When you get back home, kick off the wellie boots, cuddle up together with blankets and throws, draw the curtains, light the scented candles and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with all the family!

These are just a few simple and easy ways to cosy up your home for the autumn season that can be done on any budget. Other options to consider are using fabrics and accessories to add to your decor.

To buy beautiful luxury scented candles online in the UK, visit The St Eval Candle Company website. These candles have amazingly long burn times, and great reviews!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M._Ferron

How To Choose The Right Blinds For Your Bedroom



Occasionally, deciding which blinds are right for certain rooms in your home will come down to practical considerations - for example, wooden blinds are a no-no in a bathroom as are susceptible to moisture damage. This helps narrow down the search and makes deciding on which blinds to opt for a lot easier.

However, with certain rooms such as the bedroom, there are no practical limitations to choosing blinds - the decision ultimately comes down to personal preference. This means making the tough decision between venetian, roller or vertical blinds as well as sifting through the thousands of different designs, colour choices and materials. The lack of limitations makes the process of finding the right blinds a daunting one.

Given the personal influence behind most interior design decisions, there is no hard and fast method of finding the right blinds for a bedroom. However, there are certain advantages and disadvantages to each style of blind which should make finding the right ones for you significantly easier.

One of the most popular styles of blind is venetian, which consists of horizontal slats held together by vertical cords. The style allows for direct control over the amount of sunlight that is let through through your window via slat adjustment, as well offering a classic, aesthetically pleasing vibe to your home.

Venetian blinds tend to be a popular choice for bedrooms, especially wooden venetians. Wooden venetians can add a rustic, charming look to any room and tend to be more durable and easier to clean than other materials. However, do be aware that wood tends to be more expensive than other materials.

Vertical blinds are essentially the venetian style reversed, with vertical slats rather than horizontal slats. This style is easier to clean than the venetian style owing to dust not being able to gather on vertical surfaces but arguably offers a harder-edged 'office' style look than their horizontal counterparts making them less suitable for a relaxing bedroom design.

Roller blinds consist of a single sheet of material that can be rolled up and down. They're undoubtedly less versatile when it comes to managing sunlight levels but still offer a good-looking window covering solution. They're also less susceptible to breakage than other styles, making them ideal for childrens bedrooms.

When it comes to choosing the colour or pattern of your blinds, there's only one basic rule; match it to the decor of the room. There are literally hundreds of different shades and colours available, and enough patterns to cater for even the most unique of tastes - if you want to deck out your bedroom in entirely leopard print, there are blinds for that!

For an extra personal touch, you can even customise roller blinds with your own images. A photo from a summer holiday to rouse you on a cold Winter's morning or a picture of a loved one to send you to sleep with a smile; the only limit is your imagination.

Crucially, remember that you are choosing blinds for YOUR home. What works in one home may not be right for you so while it's important to keep tips such as those above in mind, don't feel restricted by them - choose the blinds you feel are right for you.

Christopher Joseph Smith is writing on behalf of Better Blinds, specialists in wooden blinds
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_Joseph_Smith



Blinds 4 Less
Quality Blinds, Shutters, & Shades
Proudly Serving Southern California since 1994
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(951) 924-9435

What Roller Blinds Can Offer Your Home


Hunter Douglas
Moving into a new home and finding the windows bare is an exciting experience for any budding interior designer; it's a blank canvas ripe for decoration. When it comes to choosing your window decoration, however, things can start to get difficult.

Curtains or blinds? It's a question many homeowners have asked themselves over the years and it's undoubtedly a question many future homeowners will ask themselves too.

While many people, usually older, are dedicated to the old school decadence a good set of curtains can offer, blinds have built up a strong following among young people looking for a more cosmopolitan look and families with pets or young children.

After pledging your allegiance to one of the two major styles of window dressing there then comes the problem of choosing which style of blind or curtain you want to have in your home. Blinds in particular offer a vast range of different options, from opulent real wood venetian blinds to vertical hanging blinds.

One classic style that occasionally gets overlooked when it comes to home decoration is roller blinds, which are more traditionally associated with a cold office setting rather than a warm homely setting. However, this style offers plenty of benefits.

The beauty of roller blinds lays in their simplicity - they aren't particularly complex and don't owe themselves to elaborate design quirks. Instead, they offer a simple solution that just about anyone can operate. There's none of the oft confusing leverage and cord systems associated with other styles; they're just incredibly easy to use.

This simplicity means that rollers are often a cheaper alternative to other styles. Don't mistake this lower price range for lower quality however; rollers can serve all the functions of other styles just as effectively.

Roller blinds arguably offer more variety than any other style too, thanks to their simple design. The material of a roller can be customised with a variety of different colours, patterns and designs - your imagination is more or less the limit of what is possible.

Just want a simple blue block colour blind? That's fine. Elaborate snakeskin? That's fine too. Some retailers will even allow you to customise your blinds with your own images so you can be reminded of a wonderful holiday or a family day out every time you shut the world out for the night.

The lack of gaps in rollers also means they offer a degree of privacy that Venetian or verticals just can't. With the right materials, rollers can also possess a blackout quality that makes them ideal for a home office or an entertainment room.

However, roller blinds won't be the right option for everyone. Compared to other styles, they're relatively hard to clean and one well-placed spillage can stain the material permanently which means you'll have to replace it completely.

It could also be argued that rollers aren't as 'homely' as other blinds due to their practical nature and traditional role in an office environment.

Nevertheless, they still offer an excellent range of benefits. So if you're considering a new look for your windows, keep roller blinds in mind.

Christopher Joseph Smith is writing on behalf of Better Blinds, specialists in Roller Blinds
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_Joseph_Smith


Blinds 4 Less
Quality Blinds, Shutters, & Shades
Proudly Serving Southern California since 1994
Free In-Home Shopping
(951) 924-9435

10 Ways Accessories Can Transform a Room


Want to perk up the color palette or personality of your home but don't want to redecorate every room? Here are ideas on how a few little touches can yield big results.

http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/home-makeovers/how-to-decorate-with-accessories-1210#slide-1

Why Choose Wooden Blinds?


Choosing a new set of blinds for your home can be a tough decision; it represents a balancing act between practicality and aesthetics, an eternal struggle between budget and opulence. The ideal blinds will strike a balance between all four of the aforementioned factors - but where does one find such blinds?
Blinds come in all shapes and sizes and a wide variety of materials, from plastic vertical blinds to aluminium rollers. One of the most popular styles, however, is wood.

Wood is something of a rustic material and can add a layer of class to just about any home. This is reflected in its pricing however; it costs more than your average blind but the benefits it offers arguably justifies the higher cost.

As alluded to in the previous paragraph, wooden blinds are probably the most attractive, offering a stylish edge over plain old fabric or metal. Rather than the somewhat corporate look these kind of blinds offer, wood offers a more homely and rustic aesthetic.

Wood comes in a range of styles too. Venetian styles are probably the most popular when it comes to wood, but the material offers itself to a plethora of other looks. Some of these are unique to wood, such as woodweave, which more than makes up for the styles the material doesn't owe itself to, such as rollers.
In practical terms, wood also offers distinct advantages over other materials. Wood benefits from being significantly heavier than other materials blinds are made from, and this means an increased level of privacy as it's more or less impossible to see through. The denser quality of wood also means that its heat-retaining capabilities outweigh those of other blinds.

Wood is also extremely easy to clean in comparison to fabric; for venetian blinds made out of wood, cleaning is as simple as taking a damp cloth to the slats and having the occasional dusting session. Woodweave is slightly harder to clean, but the difficulty of the process pales in comparison to detaching an entire blind from the window and sticking it in the washing machine, not to mention being significantly quicker than sitting and waiting for the blind to dry.

Homeowners who like to express themselves through redecoration on a regular basis can save money AND give themselves an extra canvas to work on by choosing wooden blinds. Unlike other materials, wood can be painted and varnished as and when you redecorate your home. This represents a far less expensive and time consuming process than picking out entirely new blinds.

Of course, wood isn't perfect and there are some rooms which wood doesn't owe itself to particularly well. Rooms which are subject to a lot of moisture and steam, such as bathrooms and kitchens, are definite no-go's for wood as the moisture can cause the wood to warp and crack.

However, for living rooms and bedrooms, wooden blinds are an excellent, long-lasting option. While the initial outlay for decking out your home in wood can seem daunting, think of it as an investment; after all, the amount you spend on replacing material and metal blinds over the years is likely equivalent to the single fee you'll pay for wooden blinds.

Christopher Joseph Smith is writing on behalf of Better Blinds, retailers specialising in window blinds, including wooden blinds
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_Joseph_Smith



Blinds 4 Less
Quality Blinds, Shutters, & Shades
Proudly Serving Southern California since 1994
Free In-Home Shopping
(951) 924-9435