Keep Your China Cabinet in Beautiful Condition
Do you appreciate your china cabinet? If not, perhaps you should. This item of furniture holds some of a family’s greatest possessions, like china dishes that may have been passed down from one generation to another, perhaps even through several families over time. Other special mementos, like framed photos, prized silverware, or even collections of some type typically fill a china cabinet. If you have one in your dining room, it may well be the center of attraction there, drawing everyone’s eyes to behold its beauty when they gather for holiday, celebratory, or routine meals. That’s why you want to take good care of this beautiful item to ensure it continues to hold valuable keepsakes and remain the focus of attention in your dining area.
Begin accentuating this beautiful wooden piece by clearing the clutter from its shelves and interior. Move books, mail, or other non-essential things to another part of the house. Clean out the inside, too, moving equipment manuals, insurance policies, or children’s toys from the interior and clearing the area for more relevant items. Then clean the cabinet from top to bottom, including the bottom and back. Dust it carefully, and then look for stains or spills that require special attention. Use a furniture crayon to cover scratches, and consider the application of furniture polish to keep it gleaming and protected from future spills.
Save the shelves for something of special significance, like a framed picture of your great-grandparents, especially if they were the original owners of the cabinet. Or you can feature a collector’s ensemble of tins, plates, or other memorabilia that will catch guests’ eyes. Of course, on the inside shelves you can settle your favorite china pieces, along with a drawer for the silverware. Arrange these in a sensible way so they won’t tip or fall. If you have glass doors on the top half of the cupboard, make sure the glass is secure, clean it if necessary, and stack visible items so they appear attractive and yet are secure. If all the china won’t fit, feature the most often used pieces or those that are most attractive.
Depending on the cabinet’s style, you may be able to nestle a corner cupboard into a perfectly fitting nook of the dining room. A freestanding cabinet can go against any wall where it won’t interfere with windows or vents. You may want to place a suitable dried flower arrangement, vase, or decorator accent on top of the cabinet, if it goes with your room’s décor. A matching sideboard, if you have one, can go into the same room against a different wall, perhaps one that faces the cabinet. You could get a matching dining room table and chairs, as well, for a complete ensemble.
Your china cabinet, or hutch, as some people call it, makes a great focal piece for any dining room or eating area. Give yours considerate attention to keep it looking and functioning its best for years to come.
Unique Picture Frame Design and Decor Tips
Most of us like to keep photographs of family, friends, and fun sitting around to remember those we love and the great times we’ve had. Although photo albums make a convenient place for storing the most special pictures that we want to preserve, our homes offer many alternative ways of displaying drawings, poems, decorations, and photos in attractive frame settings.
Determining where to place your framed pictures is one of the challenges involved with home decorating. On one hand, you don’t want to put up so many family pictures that guests get bored or feel that the host is self-centered. But on the other hand, family photos in individual or group shots can add a warm feeling to any room. The key is to strike a balance. Some families make a “wall of fame” display of loved ones’ photos in the family room, staircase wall, or another living space. Framed photos remind viewers that loved ones are special, and if they won’t be with us always, their images will remain for many years to come.
Another type of framed art that adds to a home’s beauty comes in a range of artistic wall hangings that are framed by coordinating frames of wood, acrylic, or metal. Typically, the frames will match household fixtures or furniture, or provide interest accent points for the rooms in which they appear. Delicate dried flowers, a child’s handprint, someone’s personal poem, or a favorite Bible verse make wonderful framed feature pieces for your home’s walls.
However, you need not restrict all your framed art for the walls only. You can set table framed pieces on the bedroom dresser, atop corner shelves, and even on the bathroom vanity. Coffee tables or end tables invite these special objects of interest, as do bookshelves, plant stands, and window sills. Kitchen counter space and dining room tables, when not in use, also provide great spots for cute curios. If you have collected several items over the years, you can get a lighted collector’s cabinet to keep the most attractive or recent on display for guests and family members alike.
If you are an arts-and-crafts kind of person, you can take a class on framing and learn to do it yourself. Then you can buy the materials on sale and put up any special wall piece that you want to preserve, whether it is a diploma, a watercolor, or a collage. You may even be able to sell your work at craft fairs. But if this isn’t your cup of tea, you can always pay to have certain pieces framed by professionals who work with these materials all the time. You can get a simple picture frame, with backing, of course, for wall or table use. Or you can request a matte finish to add dimension and perspective to your art piece.
Don’t overlook this exciting way of putting your family’s heirlooms to work as home decorator pieces. Start shopping for attractive, functional frames.
Fireplace Decorating Ideas For Your Home
Does your home have a fireplace that you are currently not using very often? Or are you thinking about adding a fireplace, faux or real, to one of the levels in your house? If so, here are some ideas for decorating your fireplace to bring out its natural beauty and charm.
How you decorate your fireplace will depend in part on the room where it is located. A bedroom fireplace may look quite different from one in the family room or den. Part of your decorating decision will be based on the room and its tone. For example, your bedroom fireplace should have a cozy, intimate look with a décor that is special for the occupants of the room. If one or both spouses like cats, use cat-decorated accent pillows with a matching throw for a rocking chair on the hearth. Add a coordinating mantel runner, and you have a total look, especially with a nearby wall picture or two of a related theme.
A living room fireplace can become the focal point of the area. Accompanying floral arrangements sitting in an unused fireplace center or on either side of the hearth add a warm touch. Fireplace tools, like tongs, a brush, and a poker for stirring the embers come in many designs and styles to match the room’s decorating scheme. You can get a Mediterranean, early American, or French provincial style to suit the mood of your living room. Adorn the mantel with period antiques or accents to add color and design.
Some people even have kitchen fireplaces on which they cook or hang decorator pots and kettles. Baskets hanging on the mantel and pewter urns across the top help to make that type of fireplace inviting and attractive. A cat, ceramic or otherwise, adds even more charm.
During the holidays, a fireplace offers the perfect place to hang Christmas stockings or holiday greeting cards. Some families stack gifts on the hearth or arrange Christmas decorations for a magical display area in keeping with the holiday spirit. Children sometimes put out a plate of cookies and a cup of cocoa for Santa. A wreath above the mantel is a nice seasonal touch.
When you arrange a fireplace in your den or home office, it could look semi-formal, with paperweights, books, and quill pens for effect. But it also may have accents like your favorite coffee cup, a planner, and an afghan quilt draped over a nearby rack when you stretch out on the leather sofa for a snooze or to catch up on your reading. Photos or busts of famous people and admirable mentors can round out the various types of décor you may want to include in your personal workspace area fireplace.
Your fireplace serves as the heart of any home, and particularly the room that it occupies. Use your creative talents to devise a decorating scheme to make your fireplace a showcase of the things that are special to you, as well as those that make a visitor feel welcome.
Simple Patio Walkway Design Ideas For Your Lawn
No matter what size lawn your property has, you may want to consider adding a patio walkway to make it more functional or attractive. A patio walkway shows the thoughtful attitude you have toward guests who may be using your yard as well as your interest in making the lawn look appealing and well-kept. One or more walkways between porch and shed, or garage and shed, or merely around the property’s perimeter provides a structured look to the property and provides easy access among the various outbuildings where people may be working and need to move heavy equipment around.
If your shed is several hundred feet from the house or garage, you may want to put in a walkway that will let you move the lawn tractor, wheelbarrow, or cultivator, along with other garden tools and lawn equipment, from the shed closer to the house where it will be used. If the shed is dark or filled to overflowing, it makes sense to move items like this to a well-lit garage, or your porch where you can lay out tools for doing a tractor tune-up or changing the oil, or simply clean up rakes, mowers, and trimmers before using them the next time. The walkway will let you move heavier items on a brick or stone path that can handle the weight, rather than pushing these things over the grass and possibly killing it or causing ruts, particularly on a rainy day.
When you clean out the garage, you may want to move some unused things to storage in your shed. Using the wheelbarrow to transport boxes, crates, and cartons for storage in the shed’s loft will be easier than trundling across the lawn, dodging rocks, hills, and pets that may be leashed outdoors. The patio walkway makes for smoother movement, decreasing the risk that something will spill from the wheelbarrow, or that you will drop anything that you may be carrying. Just be sure to keep the walkway in good shape by sweeping away crumbled stone and removing weeds every few weeks.
A patio walkway around your property’s borders is a great place to walk n indoor dog on a leash for its toileting needs. That way you know where the dog is toileting, and you will have fewer concerns about the kids stepping or rolling in it when they play in the other areas of the lawn. If it is big enough, the patio walkway around the yard’s edge makes a nice area for strolling after dinner or in the moonlight in nice weather, especially if the walkway is accented by birdbaths, flowerbeds, and ground lights.
Your yard walkway can make lawn work easier. It can help you move heavy objects to various points of your property with convenience and ease. It also adds an attractive focal point that you can design for outdoor beauty. Find out how to put in a walkway yourself or the cost of getting professionals to do it for you so you can enjoy the added value of this helpful design.
