Furniture Cowboy

In challenging economic times, many families are trying to decorate their homes for less. However, they still want to maintain a modern feel and purchase quality items. While shopping for home furniture, is it possible to find contemporary pieces that don’t break the bank?  The answer: absolutely! You just have to know where and how to look.

Start online

Don’t underestimate the power of the internet! Many furniture stores now offer an online shopping alternative, which means you can compare prices without having to leave the house. You can also “window shop” and browse more expensive designer stores for inspiration. Take those ideas to the budget friendly retailers, and you may find they offer very similar, but more affordable alternatives.

Determine your “must have” pieces

Maybe there is a sofa or coffee table that you can’t live without, as that piece will bring together all the elements of your new design. The key here is to remember that not all your pieces can be must haves! Decide on one or two signature items, and go from there.

Consider versatility

Some furniture pieces are multi-functional. An ottoman can double as a coffee table. A sofa might also be used as a pull out bed. This type of furniture has added value, as you are really getting two items for the price of one!

Be creative

Realize that some items may require you to put on your thinking cap! If you can’t find the right piece to fit your budget, it’s time to get creative. If you find furniture that has the right shape and size, you may be able to alter its appearance to fit your needs. Sometimes, all it takes is a good paint job and a little elbow grease and voila! Someone’s trash has become your treasure!

Shop around

Be creative in your search for furniture. Try a new store or designer, and be sure to look out for great sales! If you are purchasing more than one item, ask the store if there are any discounts on multiple pieces. Don’t be afraid to speak up and negotiate, and you may just walk away with a steal!

It may be a bit more challenging to find modern furniture on a budget, but you just have to know where to start. With a little help from the internet, and some genuine creativity, it’s possible to get the look you want for less.

Interested in more creative decorating ideas? Be sure to check out more furniture tips.

There’s no place in the home that holds more luscious memories than the diningroom. By all means, it must be made of good taste. You can’t imagine how a casual dinner can turn par extraordinaire with simply the right furniture in all the right places. After all, dinners are not just about food. They’re mostly about people who are happy to find the time to be together and happier for the comfort they have while enjoying each other. If this means anything to you, you don’t want to compromise, so make sure you’ve got the right diningroom furniture to make your dining memories perfect for a keeping.

You’ll want to begin with a scenario of things to come in this part of the house. Do you see a lot of dinner parties with friends and relatives within the next few years or will it be just you and hubby ever lost in each other’s gazes on candlelit evenings? You can anticipate the level of wear-and-tear and determine what materials should of. You’ll also want to consider the people who’ll be dining with you on a regular basis. Childless couples who would have mostly adult friends over may find it a fantastic idea to invest on expensive, delicate china. A growing family with progressively rowdy kids may not. When designing your diningroom, it is, therefore, important to anticipate its degree of use so you can make more suitable options.

Dining Room Furniture

Design is integral to any well-furnished space and should not be a problem unless it interferes with comfort. Between the two, comfort should have the upper hand. Your table has to provide “elbow room” of at least 25-32 inches horizontally and 30 inches across it. Chairs should be no less than three feet away from from the table so diners could conveniently move about their seats while dining at an ideal height of 29-30 inches – you don’t want to be slouching to reach your food or reach too high. Stability is paramount to all dining tables so whatever direction you’re taking with yours, Art Nouveau, Elizabeth I, Regency, make sure it holds up firmly from wherever angle you lean on it.

And when you’ve got a great-standing table, you’ll need chairs to match . A dining chair that comes straight up your back encourages you to sit up straight while something curved flows with the natural shape of your back. You’ll do great either way but a good chair will always have enough space between your thighs and the underside of the table with arms low enough to slide in without a scratch.

Storage plays an important role in your dining furniture and should receive considerable attention. Sideboards and dressers offer space for unused items and work great for freeing the room from clutter.

There are more dining furniture accessories you can add such as credenzas, china cabinets and curios, baker’s racks and even kitchen islands and carts, but as long as you put them all within that zone of harmony, expect your dining room furniture to make lasting impressions.

Please visit the contributing author- Furniture Monkey

In Just Five Easy Steps, You Can Give Your Living Room The Makeover It Deserves

We’ve all done it. You know, browsed through a high-end furniture store and dreamed of buying fancy new furniture to flaunt to your guests. But let’s face it: In today’s tough economic times, most homeowners simply don’t have the financial means to justify spending hundreds of dollars on one piece of furniture.

Not to worry. It’s likely you’ve seen episodes of HGTV’s Design on a Dime, TLC’s Trading Spaces and A&E’s Flip This House, but even still, you have no clue how to spruce up your living room for next weekend’s party at your place, all while on a budget. Feeling stressed? Don’t be. Follow these five simple steps to freshen up your living room, and you’ll be well on your way to achieving a lively new space that guests will envy.

Tip #1: Paint

By now, most homeowners know that painting is the easiest and cheapest way to improve the look of your home. Steer away from painting dark, bold colors on your living room walls; instead, use lighter, more refreshing colors. (Popular colors include light blue, light green, taupe and warm yellow.)

Best of all, paint is inexpensive. Think of your walls as a blank canvas: once you have your backdrop (i.e. paint), you will become inspired to make other changes and get creative. Take a look at the existing furniture in your living room, and flip through the pages of various design publications to get a better idea of which color will best suit your personality and your space.

Tip #2: Focus

The most important element of any room is focus. Ever been to a friend’s house and felt overwhelmed by his or her overly cluttered, disproportionate living room? All too often, people make the ‘wall-to-wall’ furniture mistake, whereby every bit of wall space is crowded with oversized furniture. What’s more, the walls are bland and the artwork is too small.

The trick is to buy furniture, artwork, accessories and the like with one item in mind, so that everything complements everything. With focus, comes balance. And that’s the key to a relaxing, cozy room. Have a favorite piece of artwork? An inviting fireplace? An antique chair? Use it as the room’s focal point, and decorate with it mind at all times. If you still can’t think of a way to bring ‘order’ into your living room, then try pulling the sofa away from the wall and make that the heart of your room. Be artistic—it’s okay.

Tip #3: Accessorize

Accessories are a great (and cheap) way to freshen up your living room. However, pay close attention: Don’t go overboard, because too many accessories translates into clutter. Stores like Ikea, Rooms To Go, Target and Home Goods have inexpensive knick-knacks that will liven up your living room on a dime. Additionally, there are plenty of useful websites that offer home accessories—from candles, to flowers, to picture frames and designer pillows. Always remember the old adage, less is more.

Tip #4: Organize

There is nothing worse than a living room that is jam-packed with unnecessary crap—not only for the occupants in the home, but also for guests. A cluttered home can cause stress and feelings of incompleteness, as well as make your guests feel unwelcome. If you’re not sure whether or not to keep it, then throw it away. It’s that simple. Chances are you rarely use it anyhow. Purchase stylish open shelves and storage containers, and put anything you don’t use every day away.

Tip #5: Function

Who says a functional space can’t be fashionable at the same time? Create a nice flow, and think about how people enter and leave the living room. De-cluttering any space is important, but making it functional is equally essential. Why not go one step further and make your functional area feng shui? (A simple Internet search on this term and you’ll be hooked on positive energy within the home!)

See? It’s not difficult or expensive to change your ordinary living room into an extraordinary space, all while remaining on a budget. You may even find your project fun and rewarding. Once you’re finished, it’s your turn to sit back, relax, and enjoy your new cozy living room!

Alison Adamo, editor of Celebrate Personal Improvement, recently improved the look of her own living room by utilizing the five aforementioned steps. After beginning the project, she was surprised at how much fun she had. Now, Adamo plans to spruce up her dining room… on a dime!

When thinking about purchasing items for kids decor, it’s important to keep in mind the durability of the item as well as how well it will suit the theme of the room. Many companies make cheap pieces that are perfect as part of a kids decor, and you don’t have to spend a lot of money to put together a room that your child will love well into their teen years.

One of the most popular pieces as part of a kids decor is the bunk bed. It can be used for sleepovers as well as when you have guests at the house. When the child grows older and wishes to remove some of the kids decor from their room, you can simply separate the bed into two twins and either put them side-by-side or store the extra bed in another room.

Another popular aspect of kid’s decor is decorating the walls and ceiling with murals, interesting pictures or decals. The light up solar system is a popular item often used in kids decor. You simply affix the assorted stars to the ceiling and walls and once the lights go out the room becomes a mini planetarium for your child to enjoy. If glow-in-the-dark stars and planets are the cheap version of creating kids décor then a custom created mural is the expensive alternative. Many artists are willing to work with you on creating a custom mural for your child’s wall and will then paint the mural for a fee. This can be an especially unique way of customizing your kids decor to suit his or her individual taste and style.

Some people choose luxury kids furnishings when they are first establishing their decor for a room, but the reality is that children are messy and clumsy and will probably damage any furniture in their room. It is important to design your kid’s decor with an eye to cost and simplicity if your child is very young. I know many children who have chewed through the bars on an Italian crib, ripped down a fancy set of custom drapes, or added their own artistic flair to the walls in crayon and marker. Don’t let this happen to your kids decor. When they are young, keep kids decor relatively inexpensive and easy. Creating unique kids décor can be as simple as outfitting the child’s bed with a funky quilt or special character sheets.

As children get older, they can have a voice in creating their own decor. Maybe they will want to help paint the walls in a special color or choose furniture that is interesting to them. This will enhance the time they spend in their room doing their favorite activities such as reading or drawing. When it comes to kids decor, the possibilities are endless.

One of the biggest decorating challenges I have run into is rooms for kids.  No matter how hard I have seen people try the rooms for kids always seem to have the doors closed when company comes over.  Decorating rooms for kids is such a challenge because kids want to have a say in what their room looks like, however that usually does not fit in with the décor in the rest of the house.

There are a number of ways of dealing with rooms for kids that can ease the conflict and not break your budget.  One idea is to look at a variety of option that you can live with and that coordinate with the rest of your home, and then let your child pick from those options.  This way the rooms for kids have their touch and choices and they also fit into your wants and wishes.  The main thing to keep in mind in decorating rooms for kids is that you want to keep things as simple for them as possible when it comes to maintaining a clean look in the room.  The fewer articles that are put in the rooms for kids the less they have to straighten out, dust and keep organized.  If you keep items at a minimum then when they add things to their rooms, as all kids are going to do, things will not look so crowded and messing.

One decorating idea that does not seem to last for long in rooms for kids is themed kids furniture.  For boys rooms, NFL furniture like the example pictured left is a good place to start.  It doesn’t have to be NFL themed, it should be your child’s favorite sport.  This can be a very expensive thing to do and as interests change with age the theme is no longer wanted.  Then not only do you have the expensive of re-doing the rooms for kids but you also have the theme objects to get rid of.  Have you ever thought about how many “theme” items are on garage sales?   Speaking of garage sales this is one very economical way of decorating rooms for kids and can be a fun outing with your child.  You can spend a morning picking up items together at a garage sale and then go buy paint and other accessories that are needed in the rooms for kids.

The more involved your child is in the process of decorating the room, the more invested they will be in keeping it clean and tidy.  Your do not always have to resort to painting when it comes to decorating.  If the walls do not need a fresh coat of paint you can change the look of the room by adding wall hangings.  One of my favorite things in decorating rooms for kids is framing the art work that they have done.  By using matting and frames and grouping pictures together you can create colorful and fun decorations, and it gets the art work off the refrigerator.  Kids often complain about having this work in their rooms; however I have seen many proud looks when kids see how matting and framing can transform even the simplest picture into a work of art.  Buying kids furniture and decorating rooms for kids can be a fun and inexpensive undertaking.  Enjoy the time with your kid.

A teenage drama queen demands a suite of her own

Something inexplicable happens when a 12-year-old girl turns 13. I’m not talking about the obvious physical changes she endures, like unsightly pimples and awkward body transformations (you know what I’m alluding to here). I’m talking about the need for independence and identity. My newly 13-year-old daughter was insistent (to the point where I was completely annoyed) on not only turning her bedroom into a ‘big girl’ space, but also getting a suite, complete with stylish sofas, funky lamps and a whole lot of pink.

After much thought and a pact that good grades were expected, I decided that a teenage suite might actually be a good way to keep my daughter and her friends out of trouble. After all, it’s their safety that most concerns me, right? Right. So my daughter and I headed to a friend’s house, who is an interior designer; there, we discussed the necessary elements that she wanted in her suite, including my desires for the area (namely budget concerns). From a queen bed fit for a teenage drama queen (and yes, dramatic should be her middle name), to sofas that would seat plenty of her girlfriends, we finally had an idea of what her suite would look like.

First came the paint, which was actually a good bonding experience for the both of us. We set aside a Saturday afternoon, complete with Cherry Cokes and Gobstoppers, and painted away. What better teenage-girl color to splash on the walls than… pink! Once the room reeked of fuchsia, it was time to start shopping for furniture. My daughter was determined to find pastel pink, velvet sofas-one of which would be a loveseat. Now this was tricky.

After what seemed like an eternity (well, a few weeks at least), we finally located the exact pink sofas she so desperately thought she needed (at this age, wants and needs seem to go hand-in-hand). We also bought a sassy queen-size bed with nightstands and dressers to match, a flat-screen television to entertain during those late-night sleepovers, some funky lamps and a shag rug (all pink, of course), and a bunch of fun accessories and knick-knacks. (I also bought her some ‘big girl’ makeup items somewhere along the way.)

Once we were finished, my teenage drama queen’s room looked, well, totally awesome. A few ‘OMGs’ and a hug later (yes, I was cool enough to get a hug!), we plopped on her sofas, turned on the TV and nodded in and out of sleep. Transforming her room into a suite was somewhat arduous, but making a teenager happy? Exhausting!

We all seek happiness through living in beautiful surroundings. It is part of our nature to appreciate beauty both indoors and out. It is something that has always been with us, regardless to whether we are enjoying the outdoors or spending time inside our home. We eternally value the joy we find in the beauty around us.

Bedroom Furniture Sets

Nowadays people not only look out for single pieces of Bedroom Furniture but also for complete Bedroom Furniture Sets, which can create sync between the bed set, and its surrounding furniture. Bedroom Furniture Sets have taken the American furniture market by storm, as there are diverse ranges of Bedroom Furniture Sets available and offered at various price ranges.

However, if there is anything that is not to be missed, that happens to be the solid maple bed sets, due to their elegance, style, functionality and non-toxic features. These Bedroom Furniture Sets are mostly hand-crafted for a long-lasting finish. Most of them usually include a bed frame, 6-drawer dresser, a mirror and two graceful nightstands. They primarily come in three categories, as Ash, Birch and Maple.

These days, traditional six-piece sets have been replaced by the seven and eight-piece furniture sets, such as those bedroom furniture sets found at Rooms To Go and other retailers. They are specifically crafted from classy and striking maple, rather than normal particleboard or thin layers. All the furniture in this bed set is polished with a non-toxic finish to provide a sound and tranquil sleep. All the Bedroom Furniture Sets available on the market are said to be free from any defects in material or craftsmanship. Normal Bedroom Furniture Sets usually have nightstands, chests, dressers, vanity cases and a jewelry chest. They are designed to harmonize with each other. Now you can easily find reasonable and fashionable Bedroom Furniture Sets at any furniture store.

Bedroom Furniture Sets can be classified in two categories: according to the finished form or according to the style. Bedroom Furniture Sets in finished form are basically available in oak, pine, cherry and many other forms. As far as styles are concerned they can be chosen from estate, mission, wall unit and many more. In short, we can say that there is something for everyone to choose from, with Bedroom Furniture Sets.

Bedroom Furniture provides detailed information about bedroom furniture, antique bedroom furniture, bedroom furniture sets, cheap bedroom furniture and more.