Tips for bringing a touch of red into your home

FREE IMAGES With February right around the corner and Valentine's Day coming up soon, what better time to experiment with that powerful and passionate color: red.

 Artwork is a great way to test out red.

 Or a great statement piece of furniture.
2 above via Elle Decor

If you already use a color in your home that is complementary with red, adding a few accents will be easy and look thought out.
via Traditional Home

via houzz

Throws and lampshades are great budget friendly ways to bring a little love in the room without breaking the budget.

via houzz

A new piece of wall art can change up the room and adding a few pillows and a bench seat or stool can tie it all together!


Do you use red in your decor?

Elegant and sophisticated interiors with a fun modern twist

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The lines of this room are clean and classic, but the wallpaper and bright green also make it fresh.

I like symmetry in design as long as the objects used are fun and unstuffy.

The colors in the rooms above and below are so lush...if I lived in a colder climate I would definitely use them.

Acrylic chairs and pops of fuchsia make a traditional dining table fun.

all images via Ivy & Piper

Celebrations Special 18/10/2011

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A visually pleasing way of lighting lamps this Diwali.BE it be on a painted tile or by adding a bling extra to the handmade Diyas or by  adding that special touch by adding designs underneath the Diyas.

Diyas and a painted tile

inside icecream cups

the special touch with little beads

a handmade box and tealights in kumkum holders

patterns and paisleys

intermingling them with tealights and paisleys

that special touch to the decor

tealights  in silver glasses and some jewellery to the shine

Diyas and some handmade glitter coasters

Add caption

patterns in black chart paper

in the night only the patterns will stand out






As Sri stays in US and earthen and  brass diyas are not available easily,she has come up  with out of the box ideas.Thanks Sri for Sharing these.
Aren't we glad that we live in India?


Will come up with my Ideas for this Diwali...stay tuned...lots more..


Images courtesy Sri

Are ugly lamps bringing your room down??

FREE IMAGES I like lamps. 

They are so much more important than people give them credit for.  They are not merely for putting out light, they are also an important decorative accessory. 

A lamp and it's shape, color, size, shade and placement can make or break a room.

The biggest lamp faux pas I see over and over again is a too small lamp for the space or a lamp with too small of a shade for the base.  These lamp faux pas drives me nuts!

This shade is way too small for this lamp... but the crookedness and the big dent adds a nice touch.


Picture from Before & After ugly lamp contest

One of my design rules that should be common sense is that a lamp should never be in the shape of a person or persons...

I like to call this the "Brokeback Mountain" lamp. 


Picture from Before & After ugly lamp contest

Seriously?!  That is an actual lamp!  That ugly thing would definitely break the beauty of any room.
There are so many options out there to buy or re-make an inexpensive lamp that no one should have to live with either of those ugly things.

The thrift shops are full of old, cool shaped lamps that are just needing a can of spray paint and a new shade.

Check out these bad boys from the ugly lamp contest... I'm seeing them in a lovely shade of green apple...


Picture from Before & After ugly lamp contest

Wal-Mart has really improved their line of lamp bases with mix and match shades.  Most average size lamps are around 18.99 with around a $14.99 shade.  Target has a great selection too but come in a little pricier than Wal-Mart. 

TJ Maxx/Homegoods/Marshalls are great places to find unique and higher-end lamps for great prices.  Anywhere from $9.99 for small ones and larger ones are about $29 to $39. 

Since I like lamps so much and they are such an important design aspect of a room I get a little bent out of shape if my lamps don't look right. 

My family room lamps had been bugging me for a while...

I had some nice brushed silver bases that I bought at Wal-Mart several years ago.

They were fine but they were just missing something...

I decided that I didn't mind the base but the shade was BOOOOORRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG.... snooze.

I went "grocery" shopping at Wal-Mart and picked up a new lamp shade. 

This was a little more exciting but it was a little more formal than what I had in mind.  I ended up exchanging it for a drum shade (it wasn't there the first time I went or I would've bought it first!)

Much better!!  And, if you're still awake, you may have noticed this lamp is sitting on a different table.  I moved the set to my husband's man cave because I found some sweet lamps for a sweet deal for our family room!

These pictures just don't do these pretty lamps justice.  I might have to take some more tomorrow with better lighting.  The best part is that these shiny, lovely, sleek lamps were on clearance at Gordman's for $24 each AND they were 50% the clearance price.  I got them for $12 each!!! 

Woot, Woot!  You friends know how I love a sweet deal and this was a suh-weeet one! 

I love the sophisticated new look they add to my family room.  They are very Z-Gallery-esque and I'm loving it! 

Do you have any lamp faux pas in your house?  If so, you can fix it on the cheap... get going to Goodwill, no one deserves to live with bad lamps.

Linking:  Fireflies & Jellybeans