A Guide to Decorating Your Kitchen
April 28, 2011
Floors
Your kitchen floor covering is important. This is where you want good looks, practicality and comfort. You may do a lot of standing while preparing meals in this room. You want the floor to be resilient and easy to clean. This is where you might be feeding pets and children. Is this also a play area? Is this where you’ll be eating as well as cooking?
If you don’t like what’s on the floor, you can redo it. Here are your options: brick, slate, hardwood, linoleum, tile, carpet, vinyl, stone, terrazzo. Most floor-covering projects should be done by a professional. However, if your budget can’t handle this but your floor is really terrible, I would suggest putting down vinyl sheet flooring (which requires a professional) or vinyl tiles that are individually glued to subflooring, which can be installed by the do-it-yourselfer. If you think this is the old linoleum your parents or grandparents had in their home, you’ll be happy to know it isn’t. Vinyl flooring has come a long way. Aside from colors and designs, you can choose a pattern that simulates the look of wood, marble, tile or brick; sometimes it’s hard to distinguish it from the real thing.
A Splash of Color
Ceramic tiles come in a variety of colors, patterns and sizes, and there are tile shops all over the country. If you want to spruce up a dull kitchen, consider adding interest to backsplashes with tiles. You might also create a scene with tiles, such as a basket of flowers, or a grouping of fruit, on the wall in back of the range, for example. A visit to a tile center will stimulate your imagination, and you can learn a lot from the sales people, who are generally quite knowledgeable.
Counters
There are many material choices for countertops, and if you’re planning to redo yours, you will want to look into the advantages and disadvantages of those you are most attracted to. Favorites are Formica, Corian, butcher block, stainless steel and tile. You want your countertops to be practical for their specific uses.
Storage Space
The success of any kitchen is measured in adequate storage and this translates into proper storage for each work area of the kitchen. If there is an island, for example, you’ll want a drawer for utensils. Pots and pans should be close to the stove. An eating counter needs a drawer for linens and flatware. Food that doesn’t go in the refrigerator must be stored conveniently if you don’t have a pantry for this purpose. The sink needs a cabinet for cleaning supplies and a garbage pail.
How to Arrange Furniture in a Room
April 27, 2011
There are several things to keep in mind when thinking through the arrangement of furniture in a room. Remember, we’re doing this on paper; therefore, you may draw several different versions of the same room in order to get what you like for now. Once the furniture is actually in the room, you may move things around, but this is a good way to start thinking about what you’ll need.
Focal Point: You want to find a focal point such as a fireplace or architectural detail around which to make an arrangement of furniture. If a room doesn’t have a focal point, you can create one with a great piece of fur¬niture or artwork. The focal point is what draws you into the room.
Anchor: Place the largest piece in position first. It becomes your anchor. For example, in a living room it would be the sofa. In a family room it might be an interesting armoire or bookcase.
Balance: Arrange other pieces in relation to the main piece. Be aware of sizes and how they relate to each other. Then look at your grouping in relation to everything else in the room, and the size of the room itself. Vary the elements by using high and low, heavy and light pieces together.
Balance also relates to colors and patterns. For example, two chairs will balance a sofa. They can be placed at either end of a coffee table, next to the sofa or together, with a small table between, facing the sofa.
Traffic Flow: When you’ve arranged your furniture on paper, imagine how people will walk into and through the rooms. Do you like the flow pattern? If not, you can redirect the activities by shifting a chair, or making two separate conversation areas, for example. Look at the arrangements you’ve created and try to imagine being in the room, under different circumstances, by yourself, with someone else, with your family and with vari¬ous other people you might entertain.
Sometimes an arrangement of furniture doesn’t work for all situations. In my living room, for example, I have a few pieces that are light and can be moved around. I rearrange when I have to accommodate more than six people. You might want to consider a flexible arrangement for your way of living.
Variations on the Norm: There is no law written in stone that says you have to have a sofa in a living room. Two love seats opposite each other is my preference. You might have four comfortable chairs arranged around a low table, or a love seat opposite two chairs. Of course, the most common arrangement is a sofa against the longest wall, a coffee table in front of it and an easy chair at either end of the table. This is the most common because it works well for conversation. You can pull up two more chairs easily, and people can get up and walk around without disturbing each other.
When arranging furniture in a bedroom, draw the bed in different positions. Usually there aren’t many options for placing the bed, because of wall space. However, keep in mind that a bed can be placed across a corner of a room or under a window (although many people do not find this acceptable). Before actually putting the bed in position in the room, lie down on the floor where your bed will be to see how it feels. Once the carpeting was laid in our bedroom, and before a stick of furniture was brought in, we did just this, and it was immediately apparent that the bed would be facing the wrong way. We both felt more comfortable with the bed on the opposite wall where we had a much better view out the windows. According to the Eastern philosophy of interior design, the placement of bedroom furniture is crucial to your well-being.
Rules of Thumb: You’ll need a lane of about 3 feet for walking through a room without bumping into furniture. You’ll need 3 feet to open drawers, and 2 feet on each side of a bed. Place the coffee table between 1 and 2 feet from the sofa. You should have between 2 and 3 feet for pulling dining chairs away from the table. If you want to place a china cabinet or sideboard in a dining room, you should have 3 to 4 feet for passing behind the chairs when people are seated at the table.