Category: Furniture
A simple yet effective way to improve the appearance of your home is to fit some new sofa slipcovers over your tired looking sofas. As well as sofa covers, all kinds of furniture covers for seats of all sizes and styles can be bought for an affordable price. Stretch slipcovers are designed to be really easy to fit, so you can transform the look and feel of your whole room within minutes. Fitting some ready made slipcovers can instantly disguise worn looking upholstery on your sofas and chairs, giving them a fresh new lease of life.
Slipcovers for sofas come in a huge array of colors and patterns, so you should be able to find something to compliment the existing decor and theme of your room. Choices range from country checks to floral designs, to contemporary prints or stripes. There’s also a wide selection of hard wearing but attractive fabrics, in anything from denim to chenille, faux leather or suede. Many modern sofa and chair covers are fully machine washable, so it’s not difficult to keep then clean. This is particularly good if you have pets or small children that might get dirt on your good quality furniture.
For a fully coordinated look, you may want to consider covering all the seats in your room. In addition to wing chair and couch slipcovers, there are loads of recliner, loveseat and ottoman covers available. One advantage of slipcovers over re-upholstery is that they can be removed and replaced any time you fancy a new look. For instance, you could alter the appearance of your home according to the change of seasons. Just by altering the look of your seats it’s possible to influence the mood of your entire room.
If you’re looking for an affordable and quick way to revamp your home, slipcovers could be the answer.
In a society where everybody wants to be one of a kind, it makes sense that unique items are sought after. It works the same way in the world of veneer, where the best woodworkers, designers, and architects very often ask for rare woods. Keeping this in mind, I will be speaking of five species of rare veneers. Each one has unique characteristics that make it an excellent choice for only certain types of wood projects.
1. Paldao Veneer. Very similar to Orientalwood and Australian Walnut (the names are interchangeable), Paldao is a very unique and rare veneer that has a nice-looking mottle figure. It also looks comparable to American Black Walnut, but the black stripe in the mottle figure and the more red tone sets it apart. Paldao is used often in the manufacturing of furniture.
2. Bosse Veneer. This species is actually a Mahogany relative and has a pinkish pale color. It comes in many figured varieties including Pomelle and Fiddleback. Bosse is also called Spanish Cedar the same exact species with a different name. It is also used heavily in the interior of boats.
3. Pecan Veneer. This wood is basically interchangeable with Hickory. While the two woods are a different species, even the most knowledgeable woodworker would probably have a hard time telling the two apart. Pecan and Hickory can be calico, or two-toned light and dark, colored. It can also come in a single color, either dark or light. Pecan has been used in many different types of projects, from drum sticks to vehicle bodies.
4. Butternut Veneer. This wood is similar to Walnut in its grain pattern, but the color is whitish, similar to White Oak Veneer. For this reason, it often is called the White Walnut. The name Butternut doesnt necessarily bring up images of a rustic-looking wood, but rustic is actually an accurate description. Despite its rare nature, the species is grown primarily in the U.S. It is used very often in boats for interior trim.
5. Avodire Veneer. This is a yellow-pale wood with a bit of black-colored mottle figure, coming from Africa. It has a wavy-style grain pattern, and many say it is comparable to Satinwood or Primavera. Avodire is an excellent choice for high-end architectural designs and furniture projects.
Innumerable studies have shown that a good night’s rest is vital to happy and healthy living. By applying these 8 Feng Shui Bedroom Tips don’t be surprised if you find yourself sleeping better, feeling more rested and refreshed than ever before.
These Feng Shui bedroom tips are all about attracting and channeling energy through and around the room. Done correctly this energy will work toward a health restoring, restful sleep experience.
Feng Shui understands that all aspects of life contain levels of energy. Science, within several independent studies, agree that “all matter in the universe is connected on the subatomic level through a constant dance of quantum energy exchange.”
In other words what scientists have discovered within the last few hundred years, the Eastern practice of Feng Shui has been applied for 1000’s of years.
So, let’s get started on creating the positive energy effects of getting a good night’s sleep by applying these Feng Shui bedroom tips.
Feng Shui Bedroom Tip 1: Rearrange Your Bed
The foot of the bed should not point directly to the door.
The door is the entry way for Feng Shui’s life energy. Blocking or stopping that energy with objects or doors will only create limited access or stagnant air pockets.
The goal is to allow the positive energy (known as Sheng Chi in Feng Shui) to easily move around the room and over your body as you sleep.
Position the bed in a way you can easily see but does not block the door.
Feng Shui Bedroom Tip 2: De Clutter
The fewer items you have strewn around the room the more conducive your room will be to peace, rest and sleep. Surface clutter goes beyond Feng Shui in that the subtle emotional reactions will agitate your inner space. But, with Feng Shui in the bedroom clutter acts as a energy breaker or blocker.
Imagine your room as a road. If you have to constantly maneuver around objects such as rocks, tree limbs, or animals…the drive becomes exhausting. If you can cruise down a clear country road for miles without distraction, the drive is relaxingly enjoyable.
Chi energy works in the same way, when the space is free of clutter. Remove everything under your bed to enable smooth flowing positive energy.
Feng Shui Bedroom Tip 3: Use Soft Edged Furniture
Anything with “points” is understood to generate Sha Chi energy which is the negative counterpart of Sheng Chi.
This type of energy drains and weakens. It’s the place of depletion, sickness and poverty. Symptoms of depression and sadness are labeled as Sheng Chi energy and will only get worse if you do not change the level of negative energy in your home.
Pointed edges from furniture, head boards or anything in the room that is pointing toward you as you sleep are referred to as “poison arrows”.
Evaluate the rooms layout and either replace your furniture with softer edged ones or reposition those points so they are not facing you as you lie on your bed.
Feng Shui Bedroom Tip 4: Close the Master Bathroom Door
Water is full of moving energy, when a master bathroom door is open it will attract and pull any positive energy quickly through the room and down the toilet.
Think of this as acting like electricity. By keeping the bathroom door closed it removes the leak in energy by limiting it’s access to energy draining water that is in the toilet.
Feng Shui Bedroom Tip 5:Move The Electronics
Keep computers, telephones, televisions, cell phones at least 5 to 6 feet away from the bed. These items give off electromagnetic fields (EMF) which will take a toll on your overall health and well being over time.
If you cannot move these due to a small spaced bedroom, try to separate or break up the path to these EMF waves by using a portable wall divider or large floor plant.
Feng Shui Bedroom Tip 6: Remove Activity
A desk with a computer or an exercise treadmill is a constant reminder of work or exercise. Remove any items that do not create the attitude and expectation of rest and sleep.
Once again if there is no room in the rest of your house, find a way to block or divide the visual awareness of these items also by using a large plant or room divider of some sort.
Feng Shui Bedroom Tip 7: Paint the Walls
Color effects your mood and emotions. By painting your walls a soft robin egg blue or warm neutral, the mood in the room will invite peace and slumber. Accent the walls with soft edged paintings with further soothing colors. Do not hang mirrors in your bedroom.
Feng Shui Bedroom Tip 8: Open Those Windows
If at all possible circulate fresh air through the bedroom each night. By circulating air you are circulating Cheng Shi in your Feng Shui in the bedroom.
These are just a few important steps to inviting the positive life changing power of Feng Shui in your bedroom.. By implementing these simple steps to bring Feng Shui into your bedroom you are well on your way to experiencing more success, improving your health and of course, getting a superior nights sleep.
The fascinating history of sofas and couches through the centuries and millennia show that these highly versatile and very commonplace items of furniture are far more ancient than we might think. In fact, some version of a sofa has been in existence going back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. In these times, there is almost no household that doesn’t have at least one of these items within it.
As far as were the word ‘sofa’ originated from, it can be traced back to the Arab language. It also is used to describe a piece of furniture in the Arab regions that is very similar to what eventually became our own version of a sofa. The Arab word is ‘suffah, ‘ and it’s easy to see how travelers in the 17th century — who brought the word back — eventually transformed it into an English word.
As a matter of interchangeability, ‘sofa’ and ‘couch’ are pretty much one and the same today. The French word ‘coucher, ‘ which refers to laying down or reclining, soon enough came to be changed in the English language to what we know today as ‘couch.’ It is historically amusing to note, however, that the French called their own version of a sofa a ‘canape.’
For anyone familiar with the English language, most people refer to small items of food — commonly known as finger food — as canapes. Still in all, it was mainly English builders and craftsmen in the middle 1400s that took the French word for ‘lie down’ and applied it to the version of a sofa that they were building. Soon enough, the English shortened that French word and it became ‘couch.’
These days, most people would mostly be unaware that the word for sofa comes from Arabic while the word for couch has its origins with the French, who have loaned many words to the English language. It is still even more surprising, though, that versions of sofas and couches go back a lot further back into human history than the middle 1400s, when the French and English began to develop their own couches.
It was the ancient Greek and Roman cultures that actually had a sofa of their own. Men would recline on these benches and eat their dinners or just spend some leisure time. And it was only men who were allowed to make use of these pieces of furniture. Women had to accommodate themselves to the idea of sitting or eating on chairs and at tables. It’s easy to see how this could be unfair today.
From pretty much the late 16th century, all of the most impressive sofa development has been done by craftsmen from Germany and England. It was they who figured out a way to construct a wooden frame and then pad that frame with substances that were on hand that were soft, such as feathers or items from the sea such as dried moss. These frames and padded materials were then wrapped and covered.
It is this era — the late 16th century — that most scholars attribute as the true start of the development of modern-day sofas. By the 1800s and 1900s the sofa was fairly ubiquitous in just about every lower or middle-class home, and has increasingly been looked at as part of regular family furniture. In fact, they rank just below the bed in household furniture importance, it seems.
Its challenging to find unique childrens furniture. High-quality pieces often fall into the conventional mode of solid-colored, traditional hardwoods. More modern variations might be affordable, but not heirloom quality. Children need size-appropriate furniture for comfort, as well as for decorative and functional abilities. With scaled-down table sets, rockers, storage chests and beds, children can make art, relax, read, play, and even clean up with ease along with a sense of personal style.
Finding furniture that is appealing to children and adults is not always easy, but a thorough Internet search offers some charming possibilities. The following childrens furniture is hand-painted, easy-to-clean, and built to last many years. Most pieces have multi-functional uses for extra value. One standout is a Rocking Horse chair that doubles as a toy. The child straddles the chair on its extra-large rockers and holds onto the horses handles for a fun ride. It comes in several delightful motifs including cowboy, carousel and royalty. Its a “lets pretend” toy, and quality furniture. Theres even a model with a seat in the back for a favorite doll to ride along.
Another clever idea is the Clothes Stand/Growth Chart. Its appropriately child-sized to encourage tidiness but also measure growth. The Sports-themed stand has a movable, measuring photo-frame for the childs favorite portrait. The theme is carried out with hockey-stick legs and pegs shaped like various sports balls. The Firefighter stand has a bell and a small, movable firefighter to slide up and down the pole.
A compact Butterfly Revolving Bookcase is a great addition for a little girls room. It only takes up twelve-and-a-half square inches of floor space, but with deep shelves and permanent butterfly bookends on top, it will hold a lot of favorite stories. Butterflies in pinks and plums with green accents are a favorite with girls.
Step stools are the unsung heroes of childrens furniture. They have to be tough but they dont have to be strictly utilitarian. There are step stools available that make sounds when stepped on. One is the Train Stomp Stool with an authentic steam-train whistle. The top opens for storing small toys. For bathroom dcor, the Toad Stool is a good choice. A bright green toad that “ribbets,” makes brushing teeth at the sink fun. The Under The Sea Step Stool has a double step and features lovely hand-painted sea creatures that are appealing to both boys and girls.