Posts tagged ‘ROR’

July 15th, 2008

Design Ideas: Choosing Wrought Iron Chandeliers

Wrought iron chandeliers are classic pieces that do not come and go with the latest trends. Wrought Iron has been around for a long time because of its durability, and can be mixed with many design styles.

A chandelier greatly enhances the appearance of any room. A few things you should take into consideration before choosing the best fixture includes the following:

Size
What is the size of the room where the chandelier will hang? The bigger is usually the better option, but not so large that it will over power the room. You want the perfect balance. The fixture needs to be hung at least 4 feet away from the walls.

If you are hanging the chandelier over a table in a dining room, the rule of thumb is to choose a fixture that is 12 inches smaller than the width or diameter of the table. You want to hang the chandelier between 30″-36″ above the table, so that it is not in the line of site of the people sitting at the table.

Wrought iron is heavier than most fixture material. Take this into consideration when choosing a fixture, as the ceiling electrical box will need to support the added weight.

Style
What is the style of the room where the wrought iron chandelier will hang? One of the benefits of wrought iron is its versatility. A simpler style chandelier, such as a square or rectangular base with candle style lamp shades is best combined with a contemporary or transitional look; while a grander fixture with heavy scrolls or multi-tiers is best in a more traditional look. Wrought iron is a timeless fixture material that will stay in style for years to come.

Maintenance
Wrought iron is an ideal fixture material because of its hassle free maintenance. For weekly cleaning, dust with a clean, soft cloth or the dusting tool on your vacuum. For a more thorough cleaning, clean with a cloth soaked in a mild detergent and water solution, baking soda and water (4 tablespoons baking soda in 1 quart of water), or an all-purpose cleaner solution; rinse and dry with a clean, soft cloth.

For added protection to wrought iron, apply a thin coat of paste or liquid wax with a clean cloth. Do not hang in a damp area or wrought iron can rust over time.

Julia Ritzenthaler is Owner of boutique online furniture stores, http://www.UniqueVanities.com, http://www.UniqeMirrorsOnline.com, & http://www.UniqueLightFixture.com. For more information about unique wrought iron light fixtures, visit us online or email us with your questions at uniquevanities@msn.com.

Tags: candle, design, free, lamp, ROR, test

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July 15th, 2008

Decorating Trends: Choosing Unique Dining Room Light Fixtures

The dining room light fixture serves two purposes. First, it provides light by which to dine by, but more importantly, it sets the tone for the homeowner’s personal style. A grand dining room light fixture is the first thing noticed when you enter the room.

The current trend is candle style chandeliers. They are usually made of hand forged wrought iron, and can be found in single, double and even triple tiers complemented by candle style shades. Candle style shades can vary across designers. Options include resin candle shades that have the look of dripping wax. Onyx style candle shades are unique because of the beauty of natural stone mixed with wrought iron. There is also a line of shades made from real paraffin wax. These shades have the look and feel of real candle wax, but are specially formulated to accept low voltage light bulbs for the convenience of electricity using a light switch.

Some chandeliers are designed to use with real candles. Though they can be very beautiful, they are difficult to use as you need to hand light each candle and be sure to blow out when not in use. For most people, this is not very convenient.

When choosing a chandelier, you need to choose a finish that complements the other fixtures in the room. In example, you would not mix silver and brass in the same room. It is also important to match finish with the colors of the room. Cool tones are complimented by black or silver finishes. Warm tones are complimented by brass or gold finishes.

What is your dining room style? Are you more traditional or contemporary? Or are you going for an elegant look? Wrought iron chandeliers can compliment either a traditional or contemporary style, depending on the chandelier design. A more simple wrought iron piece would go well with the contemporary style, whereas a grand multi tiered chandelier would be considered a more traditional look. An elegant look would be a glass or crystal chandelier.

Though a chandelier is used as a light source, putting the fixture on a dimmer switch allows you to choose a fixture on looks first, while providing the flexibility of how much light the chandelier provides with the dimmer switch.

Lastly, be sure to determine if the chandelier you choose requires any special light bulbs, as they can be expensive and difficult to find. Ideally, the chandelier will come with the appropriate bulbs.

Julia Ritzenthaler is Owner of boutique online furniture stores, http://www.UniqueVanities.com, http://www.UniqeMirrorsOnline.com, & http://www.UniqueLightFixture.com. For more information about unique wrought iron light fixtures, visit us online or email us with your questions at uniquevanities@msn.com.

Tags: candle, candles, design, flex, ROR

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April 18th, 2008

Create the Illusion of More Space with Color and Light

There is nothing less inviting than a tiny, cramped, dark little room in the house or apartment. Obviously, the first thing that needs to be done to make the room more pleasant is to get rid of the clutter. If there is a lot of furniture such as a bed, a couple of night stands and dressers crammed into the space, have a yard sale and replace the furniture with two or three basic units that have hidden storage compartments. This will immediately transform the small room. Once there is some elbow room to move around, color and lighting will go a long way in creating the illusion of more space in a small room.

Sunlight Works Wonders

Get rid of any dark, heavy window curtains. A light window blind or lace curtain will make a tremendous difference. If an outdoor streetlight is a problem and the room needs something heavier to block light at night time, try a white or pastel shade. The shade can roll up during the day to allow more natural light into the room.

Be Cool With Color

Painting a small room in white might help make it seem larger, but white is not the only color that can add depth to a small space. Warm colors have a tendency to make the walls seem closer than they really are, while the cool colors create an illusion that the walls are farther away. Light and ‘cool’ pastels, particularly those that match or ‘flow with’ the color scheme of the hallway or other attached space, can also add a sense of spaciousness to a small room. A white ceiling, complimented with a light colored flooring, will add depth.

Examples of cool colors include:

* Blue
* Green
* Violet
* Neutral colors such as white, silver or gray

Examples of warm colors are:

* Red
* Yellow
* Orange

In a larger room, the warm, fire-like colors can add a sense of comfort, but if it is a small room, they will create a sense of confinement.

Direct the Light to Create a Sense of Space

Lighting can be focused to cast shadows or highlight a ‘focus point’ in the small room. Shadows can add a sense of depth, making the room appear larger. The ‘focus point’ is something like a beautiful work of art or colorful rug that the eye naturally goes to when entering the room. When a focus point is created, the first impression is about the focus point, not the size of the room.

Portable lamps or accent lighting are flexible so that the lighting can be moved around until the right effect is achieved. Floor lamps, table lamps or torchiers are available in many colors and styles to compliment the interior decorating scheme.

Mirrors are said to create the illusion of more space in a small room, but poor use or placement of the mirrors can defeat the illusion. A large framed mirror may be more helpful than mirroring an entire wall.

When furnishing a small room, futons are an excellent alternative to traditional furniture. Since they are flexible and serve dual purposes, you will not only conserve space, but you may save money. Whether it is a faux chest of drawers, a chair set, or sleeper couch, Futon Heaven’s Gallery features a huge selection of furnishings and accessories that will give you decorating ideas. Visit http://www.futonheaven.com and take a look around.

Tags: flex, lamp, ROR

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April 15th, 2008

Interior Decorating on a Budget

When it comes to interior decorating on a budget there are a lot of ideas that are both simple and inexpensive that will liven up a room without breaking the bank. Many couples have a desire to decorate their home so that it looks antique, modern, and beautiful. However, they are surprised to find enormously high prices on the items that they would like to have. It is possible to go cheap and without looking cheap.

Even if you are completely redesigning a room or house, interior decorating on a budget is not only possible but is easily done as used house parts will save you a lot of money. Many times all you have to do is ask a local contractor for the ideal place to locate these items. A high quality door, windows, used sinks and other items bought secondhand are much cheaper and will provide a more efficient match the period of the home. There are plenty of antique and discount stores that offer a lot of good products on items that you may want to try to incorporate into your home. Most of the time their prices are an absolute steal!

When interior decorating on a budget the flea markets, auctions, yard sales and online retailers such as eBay, offer the perfect opportunity to find quality used home furnishings. Many of us have a home filled with a few family heirlooms, flea market or tag sale finds, and possibly one or two treasures from a quick dumpster dive. In these cases you have to figure out how to combine high and low design pieces to create a unified and polished look for your home.

When buying used furniture, finding a matched set can sometimes be difficult. Just remember to try and balance color and scale, while at the same time sticking to a theme. One of the first thing that you will want to do is identify a color theme. Then think about fabrics, candles, flowers, pictures. You may want to see what is available for you in accessories before you try and tackle the color scheme. In addition, you can easily mix and match colors, patterns, and items.

Buying products secondhand is a key component of interior decorating on a budget. You might be surprised to learn that mismatched items can actually enhance a room’s decor. Mirrors, candles, and photo frames are all cheap items and can make any home look lovely. Drive through your neighborhood or online and you will find a variety of unique decorating options.
Whenever there is a budget, imagination is the key to success. Always look for detail pieces or find new uses for traditional items.

You can save much more money by doing it yourself decorating and it can be both enjoyable and rewarding. Try to think about all the things that you would like to see in your decorating and then identify those things that you can make yourself. There is a lot of things that you could do to help lower the costs of your decorating bills, but use the tricks that everyone uses so as not to re-invent the wheel.

For more information about Interior Decorating visit our comprehensive website at “Budget Interior Decorating for the Beginner”

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April 10th, 2008

Getting Rid Of Tree Parasites

Within the wonderful world of trees lies another world – that of the organisms which harbor in trees as pests and parasites. Of these there is no end in numbers or variety. New home owners are scarcely to be blamed for becoming dismayed, as they often do, upon encountering one invader after another for the first time. This writer’s counsel to clients undergoing such baptism has always been: Cheer up, few kinds of attack on trees are fatal. Study of the trees’ foes-learning to anticipate and counteract them – is a sporting proposition in itself. You may lose a few skirmishes, but there is a great deal that you yourself can do to win this war. Only occasionally will an owner, particularly of young trees, have to call in a tree-service task force.

The trees’ invaders are from two kingdoms – the animal and the vegetable. The former are insects (and one bird) ranging from king-size larvae of the big moths down to microscopic mites, mini-wasps, and scale organisms no bigger than a pin point. The vegetable hordes are fungi, bacteria, and viruses. These are all primitive plant forms, but there is one plant parasite that is anything but primitive except in its role, assigned by mankind, as a love symbol. This is mistletoe, one of the deadliest invaders of all.

Mistletoe might well be spelled “missile toe,” for its first tiny rootlets have the power to insinuate themselves into the host tree’s living tissues like the fangs of a vampire. Its pallid, waxy berries, resembling seed pearls, are carried by birds and dropped into bark crevices where they germinate under protection of their own gum. Mistletoe cannot live in soil but must steal its nourishment from a host tree’s sap veins.

Where it fastens on, grotesque swellings ensue and the host’s deformed members writhe away from the vampire as if in horror. No amount of chopping-out short of limb amputation will eradicate the mature bushes. Fortunately for trees, and for the human kissing custom, and for Oklahoma whose State “flower” mistletoe is, the deaths it inflicts are slow and painless. Its glaucous clumps aloft even confer a macabre beauty upon the elms, hackberries, walnuts, gums, pecans, mesquites, and (rarely) oaks, which it reduces to skeletons.

Mistletoes abound from lower New Jersey to Key West, all across the South, and up the west coast into Oregon. In much of this range they are accompanied by an even more picturesque growth called Spanish Moss, a member of the pineapple family. This stringy, grayish stuff hanging from trees, making them look like shaggy Arthur Rackham wizards, is not a true parasite. It is a typical air plant, of which lichens and orchids are other examples. Air plants do not suck a tree’s life-juices but can smother it to death if allowed to run rampant.

Another conspicuous parasite, this a true one, is called witches’-broom. It shows up as dense, deforming twig clumps in hackberry, larch, and honey locust. It is caused by the sting of gall mites or by spores of a mildew fungus – maybe by both. Pruning is the only cure, if there is any.

Pruning or tissue surgery can sometimes head off one other class of parasite – the canker-forming fungi. Whenever such mechanical aids are attempted they should be followed up by feeding, usually with a high-nitrogen, to help the tree quickly seal off its canker lesions with healthy new cells before remnant fungoid mycelia (thread-roots) can spread, as in animals’ fibroid tumors. Getting rid of these parasites is critical if you want to have healthy trees.

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