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Top 35 Interior Design Blogs

By admin Tuesday March 9, 2010

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No matter how incredible the interior of your home looks, there’s always that nagging feeling that there’s some item out there that can complete the look. Whether you’re starting from the ground up or looking to improve on an already accomplished room, these interior design blogs can help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

Apartment Therapy – Helping people make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy by connecting them to a wealth of resources, ideas and community online.
Ikea Hacker – A blog dedicated to clever builders who repurpose Ikea products for use in their home.
The Style Files – Observations and ideas related to design, interiors, art and other life enhancing subjects are posted daily.
Grassroots Modern – Started to help those who are looking for a modern contemporary style at an affordable price.
2Modern – A wide-range of views and commentary focused on contemporary design.
Home Design Find – Our team scours the globe to bring you the best items for your home.
decor8– “As a writer and interior design consultant, I created decor8 to catalog beautiful finds and to inspire others.”
FURNISHism – The independent source of products, materials and inspirations for interior design.
Home-Designing – Provides ideas and inspiration for making your dream home.
zaINTERIORA – New trends, modern styles, evergreens, unusual approaches, or just successful combinations.
Best House Interior– Interior design, styles and decorating ideas.
H is for Home – Specializes in the unusual, the quirky, one off, handmade and vintage.
Homebug – Run by freelance interior design journalist and house-proud design nut, Zita Spring.
Shannon Fricke – “I created this blog as a kind of first step – an inspiration board for those of you who want to create a beautiful home but are not sure where to begin.
Capitvatist– A collection of desirable objects and designs that are not art nor concept neither theory nor dreams but real, practical, useful, buildable, livable and obtainable (ok-ok, obtainable is a “maybe”).
Desire to Inspire – A Canadian and an Australian trying to inspire the world one room at a time.
Decorology – “I’m a web designer by day, but I also love interior design, home decorating, and all manners of design in general!”
Willow Decor – Décor inspired by a love of European country and classic design influenced by Swedish, Belgian and Gustavian styles.
luxxury livving – Discovers new designs, designers, products and beautiful photos detailing a designer’s take on home décor, from the novice to the pro.
JuBella– Works to inspire sparks of ideas that will develop a need to create and/or share creative finds, ideas, and tips.
On Interior Design– Boston-based interior designer Abbey Koplovitz showcases ongoing projects, shares insider tips, and talks about what it’s really like to be an interior designer.
The Inspired Room – A happy mix of realistic interior decorating, simple homemaking, and inspiration for authentic living.
Rang-Decor– Exclusively for archiving and sharing interior design ideas from India.
Alkemie – Provides tours of various houses and locations with excellent interior designs.
Addicted 2 Decorating – An interior decorator in Texas shares her trials and triumphs with her own decorating projects, projects for clients, and other inspiring things found on the Internet.
The World According to Jessica Claire – Musings, favorites and more from a creative Canadian.
DesignTies – Two Canadian chicks making the world a prettier place one room at a time.
The Steampunk Home – Finding a way to combine the past and the future in an aesthetically pleasing yet still punkish way.
Room Remix– Provides you with decorating inspiration, practical decorating advice, creative ideas and resources, DIY ideas, before and afters, and helps you think outside of your current decorating box.
Stylish, Safe and Green – Shares some of the wonderful ways that the universal design community is improving the places that we live work and play in.
Dress Your Nest – Simple and straight-forward, affordable modern design advice.
The Peak of Chic – Musings on stylish living.
Beautiful Bones Design – A girl and her dog’s guide to livable, lasting luxury interiors.
Creative Home Expressions – A certified interior decorator shares tips, tricks, trends and whatever catches her eye.
Harmony and Home – Where balance, serenity and living come together.

image by Nanimo

Creating an Original Headboard on a Budget

By admin Thursday March 4, 2010

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Creating an Original Headboard on a Budget

If you would like to redecorate a bedroom in your home, and have looked around to get inspiration and original ideas, then you already know how a beautiful headboard can set the entire tone of a room and be a strong focal point if designed correctly. But what if you don’t have a high end budget, and still crave the high end look? Well, here is a unique option to get your headboard looking like a million bucks, without busting the budget.

The thing about a custom look is that it can be achieved with a little bit of work and an even smaller budget depending upon the fabric or, type of material you work with. The only tool you need to invest in to get you started on this project is a staple gun, and either the electric or manual one will work just fine so use what feels best for you.

Creating a Headboard Using Small Square Pre Made Canvases: If you go to a craft store you will find different sized pre made canvases that can be covered in a layer of batting and the material of your choice, and then hung against the wall next to one another to form a one of a kind headboard. You can use two rows that are as wide as the bed itself and just as high, or add a third or fourth row to create visual interest and complete the look. Here are the steps to follow if you would like to try this yourself.

Step One: Measure the horizontal width of the bed, and vertical height you desire to determine how many pre made canvases you will need to cover the area. Then, take measurements with you and go purchase your canvases.

Step Two: Go to a fabric store and pick out the batting and material you would like to work with. Use the measurements you came up with for your canvases to estimate the total amount of material needed and add on at least 2 to 4 inches on all sides to account for the extra you will need to wrap around the frames. You may look at suede or leather, or go with a fabric that has an interesting pattern or texture to compliment your design.

Step Three: Take and cut your batting and material to fit the size of each canvas, and be sure to leave two to four inches extra to accommodate wrapping around the edges. Take one side, wrap it, and anchor it with a staple or two. Then go to the opposite side and pull it as tight as you can and staple, and continue until you have all four sides tagged. You can add as many staples as needed to hold material in place and tuck the corner edges at an angle for a clean look. Repeat process till all canvases are covered.

Step Four: Once you have all canvases successfully covered, lay them out on the floor to get the best pattern or design, and then decide if you would like to hook them together to hang as one larger piece, or hang them up separately against each other. To hang as one unit, purchase small flat metal connectors and fasten to the backs of your canvases to connect to one another. Then mark on your wall the level you wish to hang your new headboard at, and stand back and enjoy. If you choose to hang each one independently you may use a nail or a screw, and place them to your specifications. When you have completed this step you are ready to see the finished product, a nice high end custom headboard for a fraction of the cost.

Area Rug Basics

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What can an area rug do for your home? Just about anything! Area rugs are interior design necessities, as they can define, decorate, complement and emphasize room design and furniture. Take a look at any interior design magazine or decorator’s portfolio – nearly 90% of the rooms use area rugs to pull [...]

DIY Projects – Take Your Time!

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I have a friend who, once a year or so, paints a room. She doesn’t necessarily paint the whole room: sometimes it’s just a wall, coloring it turquoise one year, canary yellow the next. She’s lived 25 years in the same small apartment, but every time she does this, it creates an entirely new mood [...]

Design Trends for 2010

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Every year the “experts” come up with design trends they feel represent the desires of the consumer when decorating their homes. This includes furniture styles, paint colors and fabric patterns. Following is just a sampling of what you may see in the upcoming year.

Fabrics: Pattern is back with a bang. Paisley, [...]

Design Ideas – Feather Boas and a Little Girl’s Room

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It may be surprising to think that a feather boa could create much of an impact as a design feature in a room, but it sure can if you let it do what it was intended to, which is to give your little girl’s room an added touch of fun and fancy.
Chair Rail: One of [...]