Does you home need a lift? Paint and wall paper borders are an inexpensive way to create a new look and add architectural detail to any room without intruding on your current overall design theme. Borders are easy to install, relatively inexpensive and can be placed in stairways, kitchens, dinning rooms, living rooms, family rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and around windows and doors.

Look in your local hardware or home improvement store for exciting paint colors that may have been returned or not mixed to a customer’s preference and discontinued or sale on wall paper borders. What a money saver!

You can use the paint for a one wall or wainscot accent. Place the border as a wainscot divider, around a door or window, create a series of gallery panels on a wall, use on the risers of the stairway, frame around a group of your favorite collectibles or a skylight, create your own headboard and use as a crown or base molding … to suggest a few.

Borders can be mitered for perfect corners or cut out different patterns that appear on the border and use them independently. Try it you will love it!

Want a quick room change or pick me up. Tired of your artwork but love the frames. Measure the picture size, purchase new prints or get creative and insert your own. If your decor lends well to abstract or modern art have your children paint sections of color on a canvas for a special unique and GREAT look. Voila!! A new appearance and feel to your room. Remember frames can be refreshed, renewed or completely changed with a small amount of paint.

Write for more detailed information. And remember, I always love to hear about your creative ideas.

By: Diane Cooper

You’ve repainted the kitchen, installed some tile for a backsplash, and even installed a new floor. But something is missing from your kitchen decor. You look around, and realize that none of the accessories match. Your kitchen needs matching accessories to look right, just like a new outfit. Try adding some matching accessories to your kitchen, and notice how it improves the appearance.

The first thing you should do, is to decide what theme or colors you need. Do you want a country cottage style decor? A rustic Tuscan look? Or a sleek modern look? Depending on the theme, you’ll need different accessories.

Take a look through some kitchen decor magazines if you can’t decide what you want. The internet is another good source for inspiration. Just browse around, and get an idea of what you would like in your kitchen. Once you’ve decided, then you can go to your local kitchen or home improvement store, to get what you need. The color choice should compliment the main color of your kitchen.

Sometimes, you may not even need to buy anything. Sometimes, just re-arranging what you have can create a new look for your kitchen. Look for groupings of odd numbers, rather than even. Vary the height and texture of accessories. Move things around until you get the look that you want.

Wall art, decorative baskets, plates, and trays can really add to the appearance. Just be sure that you know how to properly hang art pieces on the wall. In general, wall art should be hung, so that the center of the piece is at eye level. It should also be no more than seven to ten inches above the table. Try placing wall art in groups on the wall. Placing pieces in a rectangle, triangle, or circle helps to add more interest.

Shelves, and bakers racks often look too cluttered. Vary the heights of your cookbooks, but avoid putting small cookbooks next to large cookbooks. Often, you can make the books look more appealing by removing the dust covers. Organize the shelves, and decorate them with pictures, baskets, candles, and other small decorative items. Be sure to place them in groups of odd numbers. Clusters of 1, 3, or 5 items looks more natural than an even number. If there’s room, place some plants on the shelves and in the corners to add some color and texture.

Hang copper pans from a wire rack to add warmth and color to your kitchen. While you’re hanging things from the ceiling, add a plant or two to a bare corner of the ceiling, to give your kitchen a lived in feeling. You can grow herbs in decorative containers on the windowsill, to add some interest, and provide you with fresh herbs for cooking. Colorful bottles placed on the windowsill can also add a splash of color and interest to your kitchen. Canisters and cooking utensils can add life to your countertops.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to accessorize your kitchen. You can buy one or two items at a time, and add them to the counter or shelves, and then buy more as you can afford it. You can find some good deals for kitchen decor items at garage sales and flea markets. Take your time, and look around. Find the right accessories for your kitchen, and just be creative. After all, it’s your kitchen.

By: Tim Sousa

Grabbing your steaming cup of coffee you head into your office to begin your day. As you walk through the door you glance around at your walls with framed certificates, articles about your work, photos of friends and family. Your desk sits in the middle of the room with your computer, photos of your kids, yesterdays coffee mug (forgot that again!) and a stack of paperwork waiting for your attention. Off to one side of the room is a small coffee table and a couple of arm chairs. A few magazines litter the top of the coffee table. Resigned you head for the desk, sit down and think, if only I could walk into this office and feel like a king or queen everyday.

Well, you can! Stop wishing and start decorating! First things first. Something needs to be done about the walls. Let’s remove all the pictures and start with paint. If you are comfortable with doing things on your own, go to your local paint or home improvement store. Pick out some paint colors that you feel would suit the statement you want to make. You can choose some grays and blue grays, reds and burgundy, or as I would prefer you can go with shades of golden brown and tan. Next, pick a faux painting technique. Try ragging or sponging to get the “old wall” effect. Now that your walls have been painted let’s start looking at what you can hang on them. There are a variety of things available for this style such as tapestries, paintings, wall sconces, sword and dagger displays, shields, and axes. Don’t go overboard on the amount of decorations you put up. That will only make it look gaudy and make sure that the items you choose complement each other.

Next, you can dress up the furniture you already have or you can find new antique furniture to complement your style. Add a fluer-de-lis rug in complementary colors. In the sitting area, how about a medieval chess set for the coffee table? On your desk you can place a dragon letter opener, a medieval style box for cigars, or misc. items and other decor items that would not be in the way of your workspace. Now that you’ve finished, here is what you will see tomorrow when you walk in your office.

You grab your morning coffee and walk into your office. As you open the door you are greeted by warm walls graced with a tapestry of a castle in medieval England, light reflects off of swords and dragons mounted behind your desk. The sitting area invites you and a guest to play a game of chess. Your desk is gaurded by a dragon holding a miniature sword and another sitting atop a box daring you to have a cigar, your family smiles out at you from pewter frames. You sit down and flip on your computer, look around once more, and know that you are ready to conquer any job that comes your way.

By: Christy Tuller