Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Continued from How to be Prepared for Furniture Shopping - Part One
Just because a piece of furniture is cheap, that doesn’t make it a good buy. Consider whether you will really like this piece of furniture a year down the road. If not, save your money and buy furniture that will last you longer.
Don’t ask too many people for their opinions. Only the people who actually live in the home should really have a say. Too many options might make you less able to decide what you really like. You and your family are probably the only ones who will be looking at this furniture every day.
If you can possibly manage it, shop for furniture on a weekday. On the weekend sales associates are swamped, and they aren’t able to give you as much time and attention as they would be able to give you on a weekday. If you are able to spend time with a sales associate who isn’t busy, they can often be quite helpful and save you time and money.
To get the best deal on furniture, wait for a sale. If you don’t want to wait, try asking the sales associate to knock a little off the price if you’re buying a set of furniture. Don’t expect a yes, but it can’t hurt to ask. Another option to save some money is to shop for used furniture. Some people are grossed out by this option, but there are consignment stores that have some awesome furniture that is used and looks new. I've also found nice used furniture on Craigslist for great prices.
If you don’t have the money for the furniture, don’t get sucked into financing plans. These are statistically good for the business and bad for the customer, otherwise the businesses wouldn’t offer them! You could easily get stuck paying ridiculous interest charges.
Happy furniture shopping!
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One huge advantage to slipcovers is price of course; it is much cheaper to cover several old pieces of furniture with matching slipcovers than to buy a new set. Or, if you have mismatched furniture to begin with, you can match them all with slipcovers. You can also try a bolder style or color when you’re buying slipcovers, since it isn’t too much of an investment if you decide you hate them.
Finally, make sure you have items on your wall that make you feel good and inspire you.
Everyone gets the craving for a midnight snack at least once in a while. It is very luxurious to be able to satisfy that craving with out leaving your bedroom. You could consider having a minifridge in your bedroom with a little pantry above it that might include a coffee maker for the morning.
Laying out the space in your bedroom for different activities can help the bedroom evolve from just a place to sleep, into a room to enjoy relaxing, working, or eating. The first step to doing this is to decide which activities, other than sleeping of course, you would like to do in your bedroom. For example, if you like reading, you can make a reading area by making sure there is one or more chair available for reading, possibly with a little table to keep books on or a glass of water. If you would enjoy coffee in your bedroom, set up an area for your coffee maker and a little table at which to enjoy your coffee.
Next, cut the decorative fabric about four inches larger than the plywood and then iron it. Lay the decorative fabric over your layer of batting and the staple it too around the back of the plywood headboard. This is the trickiest part, because you have to make sure the fabric lays correctly over the batting and foam and doesn’t have any wrinkles or uneven bunches.
First, measure your bed so you can decide how wide and tall you’ll need to make your headboard. Normally, a headboard is slightly wider than the width of the mattress, and about 8 inches of the headboard is seen above the pillows leaning against it.
Surprisingly, a larger piece of furniture used where you used to have several small pieces will make a room look bigger. They create a less cluttered, more open space, with large blocks of color. This makes the room look less busy and more comfortable.
Using a monochromatic color scheme will help to make your space look bigger. Stick with the colors from the previous tip to maximize the illusion of a bigger space. Try to choose furniture colors that are similar in color to your walls. If you choose contrasting colors it will break up the space and make it seem smaller, so make sure you do not pick colors that are too different. You want to focus on creating a simple, calm looking effect.
A simple ruler is helpful for many projects for cutting guides, measuring, and marking.
Blue painter’s tape is essential to have for any painting project to mask off areas that you don’t want to paint. I find that it works best if you pull the blue tape off while your paint it still wet. If you wait until it is completely dry to pull it off, you may have problems with the paint you just painted on the wall peeling off with it. Blue tape can also be used to mark the locations of studs, or even to protect floors from dirt and scratches when you are moving.
A flat head and Phillips head screw driver are very handy to have around for little fixes around the house. These can be used to tighten screws when kitchen cabinet hardware gets loose. It is also advisable to have a tiny set of screwdrivers to tighten eyeglasses or work on electronic equipment.
You could paint one wall a contrasting color. You could paint this wall a darker shade of the color it already is, or you could pick a color from a pattern in your couch to paint the wall. Another option is to paint the wall to match the new pillows you just picked up.
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When testing paint on your walls look out for factors that will make your test inaccurate. For example, if you are thinking of painting your wall tan, and the room is currently red, the red will reflect on the tan sample area and change its color. Brightly colored curtains can also reflect onto your paint sample and change the color.
While you are shopping around for paint, make sure to keep your samples grouped by the store you were shopping in. It is frustrating to get your samples out of order and forget where you need to go to get the color you choose. Another way to keep from getting frustrated is to measure the area you want to paint before you buy your paint. That way, you can buy the correct amount and not have to make another trip to the store for more paint, or to return unused paint.
It can help to look at the full sample strip of a color you are considering. That way, you can see the colors that will match your walls and have a better idea of whether this is really the scheme you want.
Everyone gets the urge for a midnight snack on occasion, so leave a few snacks and a bottle of water in the guest room. If you really want your guest room to be five star you can even leave a coffee pot in the room with powdered cream and sugar.
Guests will enjoy having a clock next to their bed, 
First of all, you want to make sure your guest bed is comfortable. If you can feel the springs or it is too hard, you may be able to get a simple egg crate pad to put on top, or a feather mattress topper if you can spend a little more. If your bed is just too saggy, you could consider an air mattress on top of a box spring instead, or even on the floor. It is also important to supply several different types of pillows, so the guests can choose one like they are used to. Attractive bedding can add a lot of appeal. You can iron the bedding to add a little extra appeal. Providing an extra blanket or two is a nice touch. It is also a good idea to have an extra set of sheets on hand, in case a guest needs to change them for some reason.
It is easy to add color with window treatments, and you can always change these easily if you tire of them. Modern art is another easy way to add a splash of color.
If you have several pictures that are the same size and you either don't have a frame, or you just want to dress up the picture even more, you can create a background frame. This is done by taping off an area on the wall where you are going to hang the picture, and painting the area a darker shade of your wall color. Make sure the area you paint is at least a few inches larger than your art on all sides. You can make this fake frame more detailed by making it two dimensional with other fake frames within your frame in different shades of the color scheme you're using.