Ecofriendlyflooring.com has some fantastic options such as bamboo, cork, tile, reclaimed wood, linoleum and they even will answer all frequently asked questions about each material.  Also, what is more amazing is, you can order samples of all of these options for only a couple of dollars.  When I ordered samples I received them in my mailbox literally the next day!  Not sure how they are so fast, but it is great.  The selections the have are beautiful too!

The cottage style home had a front porch with white rockers, vintage windows and white washed paint accented by light blue shutters. The homeowners had redone the inside. The walls were paneled with dark wood that matched the doors, molding and floors. The curtains were country-looking and ruffled like something you’d see from the 80’s. And the furniture was covered in tapestry-like cloth and brown leather.

Just like a cottage doesn’t lend itself to being decorated with dark wood and heavy furniture, a log cabin wouldn’t cut it with French Provencal décor. Although a unique style is encouraged, a conflicted exterior and interior design of a home is quite the opposite of what most people are decorating towards. If you’re like the majority of homeowners, you want your home to represent your personality while creating a consistent and balanced appearance from outside to indoors and from room to room.

So, how do you create a flow from outdoors to inside?

• House Style and Décor

Be sure to buy a home or choose a plan when house hunting, remodeling or redecorating in which the exterior’s style supports the vision you have for the interior decor. For example, you may love the exterior of a two-story clapboard home in a small town’s historic neighborhood. However, if you’re a minimalist who decorates with ultra-modern furniture and limits your color scheme to black and white, this may not be the house for you.

• Paint and Its Color

Choose colors inside and out that are complementary but not “matchy matchy” since that’s out of style. Coordinating colors are designer smart and visually appealing. Earth tones on your porch and trim will invite earth tones indoors. This isn’t to say you can’t add splashes of color. You just don’t want natural shades outside while bright hues dominate indoors.

• Details, Details, Details

Consider flooring, crown molding, built-ins, the height of the ceilings and the wall texture throughout a home that make it what it is. Look to see if that harmonizes with the outside trim, windows, decks and add-ons. If you want tile floors in your living area with great throw rugs everywhere, a home with a wrap-around porch is most likely not your best pick. However, tile would be the perfect flooring for a Spanish-style stucco house.

Images from http://www.trendir.com

There are plenty of options for redoing concrete that is already underfoot or for pouring new concrete floors and decorating as you go. Here’s an overview of concrete flooring options.

• Stains and Dyes
• Overlays
• Engraving or Etching
• Inlays
• Stenciling

Stains and dyes give you options to add color to that dull gray flooring. Acid stains, although colors are limited to mostly earth tones, offer a more natural look than dyes and water-based acrylic stains. Acid stains give a mottled look that when polished resembles expensive natural stones like marble and granite. Dyes are getting attention because of their broader selection of more vibrant colors and their claim of being easy to use. Water-based acrylic stains offer a wider variety in colors as well. Water-based dyes can look variegated, like stains, whereas solvent-based dyes are usually consistent in color.

A concrete overlay is basically resurfacing your concrete with more of itself. You can change the floor color with an overlay, add decorative finishes or create stamped concrete, also called patterned or imprinted. In this process, stamps are used on the concrete to make it look like something different, like bricks or stones.

Engraving or etching concrete floors is more permanent than overlays since the pattern will never chip off or wear away. That’s because it has been cut into the concrete. After the concrete has been colored and the design is cut out, the lines are uncolored and look distinctive like grout lines. Sometimes floor designers will fill the outline with resin to darken it and create a more dramatic look.

And while professionals are chiseling away at your concrete, why not cut a place for a tile design? Concrete inlays, a stunning and attention-grabbing look, are tiles that find their way into cut out places in concrete.

Finally, stenciling is another method of adding color and character to concrete floors. The stencil can be a free-flowing pattern or actually mimic a decorative item like a Persian rug. For the best of both worlds, concrete and comfort, fashion your floors so that the concrete design complements the coziness of your much-loved furnishings and rugs.

Resource:

http://www.concretenetwork.com/index-s.html

1. Drummond Home – Documents a remodel of a Mid Century Modern home in Kansas City built by Don Drummond.
2. home is a process – “The task of (re)building this house has been at times exhilarating, exhausting, educational, frustrating, and just about any other adjective you can think of. We hope you enjoy reading about it.
3. Kingswood Redux – Musing from a “modest modern” remodel of a 1958 split-level.
4. Apartment #412 – Transforming a small rental apartment on a tiny budget (lots of DIY and bargain hunting) into a stylish living space.
5. Door Sixteen – “My husband Evan and I bought this house in early 2006, and we’ve been renovating it ever since and slowly molding it into our vision of the perfect home.”
6. Aubrey + Lindsay – “We started this blog after we bought our first house so that family could watch from afar the plaster and dust flying through the air.”
7. Pineapples & Parquet – “Fixing up our home in Little Portugal.”
8. Our Castle – “We started gutting and renovating our 1920’s house on June 1, 2008. Join us on our renovation journey while we also adjust to life as parents.”
9. First Time Fancy – Follows the adventures of first-time home owners redecorating and renovating their 90 year old Toronto house.
10. Jen and Dave’s Reno – First-time home owners taking on some big renovations and doing most of the work themselves.
11. 416FixerUpper – “This blog will chronicle our adventures as we turn a 90 year old house in desperate need of repair into our home for the next few years.”
12. Rambling Renovators – “Tag along as we renovate our house, room by room, and learn how to use the new power tools along the way.”
13. Life begins at thirty, right? – A married couple set to work on their new house.
14. 247reno – The goal of this site is to show the realistic behind the scenes process of a renovation.
15. Young House Love – Two young people falling in love with their first house.
16. Picardy Project – “Bringing our storybook home back to storybook life.”
17. Making it Lovely – “I’ve been hard at work transforming my Oak Park, IL bungalow into a lovely home.”
18. Making Our Home – “Finding, purchasing, renovating, decorating and ultimately enjoying our first home together.”
19. 86′n It – “You can take the crack out of the house, but you won’t always find the pipe!”
20. re:habitat – Renovating a pre-1921 American foursquare / arts and crafts house.
21. House in Progress – “We call it home IMPROVEMENT because it can’t get any worse.”
22. Our New Old House – Renovation on a 1918 Craftsman bungalow that was last updated in the ’60s.
23. The Brick House – Renovating a mid century brick house in the middle of retirement hell. Making it awesome and doing it on a budget.
24. This Decrepit Victorian – “Follow along as we try to bring life back to a circa 1900 Victorian house in Richmond, Virginia.”
25. Tiny Old House – “I’m a lover of old, small houses on a shoestring budget with only a few skills in remodeling, an interest in environmental methods, a 1911 house that needs renovating, two curly puppies, and my loving husband.”

Image by Clearly Ambiguous

1. Dezeen – Our mission is simple: to bring you the best architecture, design and interiors projects from around the world before anyone else.
2. freshome – Our main mission is to inspire you, to give you ideas and make your home a better place to live.
3. Sub-Studio Design – A compilation of products, furniture, jewelry, architecture and artists that float our boat.
4. Contemporist – A daily source for architects and interior designers to discover new products and projects in the world of contemporary design.
5. dornob – Features creative contemporary designs and inspiration through images and ideas for modern design firms, professional and do-it-yourself designers.
6. BLDG BLOG – Provides intriguing details from the fringes of contemporary architectural practice in an accessible, thought-provoking, and highly entertaining manner.
7. archiCentral – Features interesting architectural projects from around the globe.
8. architechnophilia – Architecture is a beautiful thing to love and an even better thing to share.
9. CoolBoom – All the things you find in CoolBoom have gone through a selection to create a nice, clean and functional blog with a touch of distinction.
10. dsgnWrld – Math is easy, design is hard.
11. Homedit – Our mission is to inspire you, to give you ideas and make your home a luxury place to live.
12. Home Vaganza – Extravaganza of architecture design.
13. Home Design Find – Daily guide to products, trends, and ideas for your home.
14. +MOOD – An online design resource dedicated to everything relating to contemporary architecture, innovative interior design, creative products and all other aspects of design topics.
15. House Home Design – House and home design ideas.
16. Architectures Design – Explores emerging practices within architecture that aim to merge digital technologies & virtual spaces with tangible and physical spatial experiences.
17. Best House Design – Showcases some of the finest luxury homes in the world.
18. equipegregoire – Provides new and fresh home design ideas, home decorating ideas, and interior design with minimalist, modern, contemporary and luxury home / house and office design photos.
19. Zeospot – Home and interior design pictures.
20. House Design News – Collection of house design projects designed by architects all over the world.
21. The House Vote – A daily site where design items are presented to be voted on by you.
22. A Daily Dose of Architecture – (Almost) daily architectural musings and imagery from New York City.
23. Architecture (My Ninja Please) – One bloggers subversive take on the world of architecture.
24. anArchitecture – Aims to broaden the horizon of architectural design – pushing the boundaries of what architecture can be.
25. Archi-Ninja – The latest in architecture, design + technology, urban culture and music.
26. tropicalismo360 – Covers architecture and the full spectrum of strategies that influence and inspire me.
27. archiDE – Features cutting-edge architecture from various sites around the world.
28. Archimafia – Architecture is about man and environment, and the challenge of ideas beyond rules and boundaries.
29. [the belly of an architect] – Mainly focused on contemporary architecture and urban design, covering recent works from Portuguese architects as well as projects of international significance.
30. City of Sound – Dan Hill is a design and urbanist working at the forefront of innovative information and communication technologies since the early ‘90s.
31. DesignDuct – DesignDuct’s goal is very simple: to source for our readers the best of design from around the globe.
32. Karrie Jacobs – A blog about cities, buildings, and the spaces in-between.
33. The Straight Torquer – Modern architecture in Washington D.C.
34. Stair Porn – Showcases cool stairs from around the world.
35. Blue Ant Studio – An international collection of architecture and other interesting designs.
36. architectureyp – Architecture, urban planning, 3D rendering, design ideas, theories and style.
37. ArkitecTrue – A platform for all design enthusiasts to find a variety of items, from architecture to interior design to urban planning.
38. Marvelous Architectures – Every day some pictures and news of marvelous architecture around the world.
39. Stories of Houses – Features examples of dwellings from which we can all learn – both the clients during their contemplation about building a house, and the architects to understand and evaluate the life of the clients.
40. atelier a+d – Modern architecture and design.

1. The Kitchen Designer – One designer’s thoughts on the process of kitchen design as she explores fresh ideas, emerging trends, and redefines (or celebrates) tradition.
2. Amazing Kitchen, Kitchen Decor – Tips and decoration ideas for your kitchen.
3. Bathroom Decor – All about bathroom decoration, including interesting bathroom designs from all over the world.
4. KitchAnn Style – “With 15 years of experience I still think the kitchen is my favorite room. My strength and passion is designing.”
5. Kitchen Sync – “Some people jog to get their heart rates up…I design kitchens. After 25 years in the business, I wanted to give something back.”
6. The Conscious Kitchen – “In my path to explore my love of kitchens, I want to learn as much as I can from my own remodel.”
7. Kitchen and Residential Design – Notes and anecdotes from a real, live, professional kitchen designer.
8. Kitchen Design Notes – Follow one kitchen designer’s journey through trends, hot topics and remodeling advice.
9. Kitchen Details and Design – “Been in the kitchen and bath business for 10 years and learn something new every day!”
10. Kitchen-exchange – Straight talk by California Certified Kitchen Designer Peggy Deras. Visitors can ask questions on remodeling kitchens and browse archived questions and answers.
11. Gold Notes – Nuggets from the world of residential design.
12. Kitchen Clarity – Shares some of the pleasures and perils of kitchen and bath design, as well as highlighting some examples of great (and not so great) design.
13. Finished Kitchens – A collection of hundreds of kitchens from members who have shared their photos and detailed information about their own kitchen remodels.
14. Kitchen Design Secrets Revealed – An award-winning kitchen designer’s take on the industry.
15. European Kitchen Design – Created in order to put together as much information as possible about European kitchen design, European kitchen companies and the different kitchen brands that have been manufacturing custom kitchens and built-in kitchens in Europe for more than a century.

1. Apartment Therapy – Helping people make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy by connecting them to a wealth of resources, ideas and community online.
2. Ikea Hacker – A blog dedicated to clever builders who repurpose Ikea products for use in their home.
3. The Style Files – Observations and ideas related to design, interiors, art and other life enhancing subjects are posted daily.
4. Grassroots Modern – Started to help those who are looking for a modern contemporary style at an affordable price.
5. 2Modern – A wide-range of views and commentary focused on contemporary design.
6. Home Design Find – Our team scours the globe to bring you the best items for your home.
7. decor8– “As a writer and interior design consultant, I created decor8 to catalog beautiful finds and to inspire others.”
8. FURNISHism – The independent source of products, materials and inspirations for interior design.
9. Home-Designing – Provides ideas and inspiration for making your dream home.
10. zaINTERIORA – New trends, modern styles, evergreens, unusual approaches, or just successful combinations.
11. Best House Interior– Interior design, styles and decorating ideas.
12. H is for Home – Specializes in the unusual, the quirky, one off, handmade and vintage.
13. Homebug – Run by freelance interior design journalist and house-proud design nut, Zita Spring.
14. 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.
15. 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”).
16. Desire to Inspire – A Canadian and an Australian trying to inspire the world one room at a time.
17. Decorology – “I’m a web designer by day, but I also love interior design, home decorating, and all manners of design in general!”
18. Willow Decor – Décor inspired by a love of European country and classic design influenced by Swedish, Belgian and Gustavian styles.
19. luxxury livving – Discovers new designs, designers, products and beautiful photos detailing a designer’s take on home décor, from the novice to the pro.
20. JuBella– Works to inspire sparks of ideas that will develop a need to create and/or share creative finds, ideas, and tips.
21. 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.
22. The Inspired Room – A happy mix of realistic interior decorating, simple homemaking, and inspiration for authentic living.
23. Rang-Decor– Exclusively for archiving and sharing interior design ideas from India.
24. Alkemie – Provides tours of various houses and locations with excellent interior designs.
25. 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.
26. The World According to Jessica Claire – Musings, favorites and more from a creative Canadian.
27. DesignTies – Two Canadian chicks making the world a prettier place one room at a time.
28. The Steampunk Home – Finding a way to combine the past and the future in an aesthetically pleasing yet still punkish way.
29. 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.
30. 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.
31. Dress Your Nest – Simple and straight-forward, affordable modern design advice.
32. The Peak of Chic – Musings on stylish living.
33. Beautiful Bones Design – A girl and her dog’s guide to livable, lasting luxury interiors.
34. Creative Home Expressions – A certified interior decorator shares tips, tricks, trends and whatever catches her eye.
35. Harmony and Home – Where balance, serenity and living come together.

image by Nanimo

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.

How do they do it? Can you do it for your home? Absolutely! We’re here to help you do it, and here are some tips to get you started…

Getting Started with Size

Before you begin your search for the perfect area rug, determine the size you need, it keeps the shopping process more manageable. Get your measuring tape ready, and keep these area rug size tips in mind:

General Tips

For any room of the house, a good rule of thumb is to measure your room and choose an area rug that is approximately 24 inches shorter that the shortest wall of the room. For instance, if you have a 12 x 15 foot bedroom – consider an area rug that is 10 x 12 feet.

Each room of the house can benefit from an area rug, and yes, area rugs CAN be placed over wall-to-wall carpeting!

Living Rooms

Living room area rugs can help create conversation groupings, pull together a color scheme or just protect carpet or hardwood floors. Choose an area rug that goes with your furniture layout. If you have a smaller living room with one conversation area, then choose a larger area rug. If you have two or more seating areas in a larger living room or great room, use at least two area rugs to create a cozier room and define areas.

• To use an area rug to define a conversational grouping, there should be no more than two feet of empty rug extending out from behind the furniture.
• All furniture should have at least its front feet on the area rug.
• 8 x 10 foot area rugs tend to work for most living rooms.

Bedrooms

Area rugs are perfect for keeping feet from cold wood floors and makes bedrooms feel cozier. They also help define the focal point of the bedroom, which is almost always the bed. Some considerations for choosing area rugs for a bedroom:

• The rug should be under at least one third of the bed;
• Bedroom area rugs should extend at least 30 – 36 inches on the side of the bed;
• Runners on either side, even the end of the bed are an option as well.

Hallways

Runners over wall-to-wall carpet in hallways, and even on stairs, are perfect for keeping high traffic areas looking fresh. They also bring interest to ho-hum hallways. To choose hallway runners and rugs, a good rule of thumb is to choose a rug that allows about six inches of flooring to show on all four sides.

Dining Rooms

Dining room area rugs are perfect for creating an intimate dining area in even the starkest, unused dining area.

• Choose an area rug that all pieces of the table and chairs will fit on.
• Make sure to have plenty of rug around the table so chairs do not fall off the rug when pushed back.
• Measure your dining room table and add at least 40 to 48 inches to the measurement. Most dining rooms will need at least an eight foot wide area rug.

Step Two – Choosing the Right Type

Now that you have a size in mind, pare down your choices even further by choosing the right type of rug for your use. Quality area rugs are not only made in all shapes and sizes, but with different materials, and choosing the right material for the room will make your investment in your area rug pay off.

Natural Materials

Natural materials in rugs look lovely and tend to cost a little more. Choices in natural fibers include:

Wool: The highest quality natural fiber for rugs, wool is durable, crush resistant, soft and cleans well. Wool area rugs tend to be more expensive, but if you’re watching your budget, consider a wool blend as a budget alternative.

Cotton: Cotton area rugs are not as durable as wool, they tend to be better choices for smaller sizes and throw rugs.

Grass Rugs: If you’re looking for a simple, natural look for a room, jute, sisal, seagrass and bamboo rugs are perfect. They tend to come in more limited colors and patterns, but to spice up the look, most have great borders to add interest and color to the rug. Grass rugs offer a more casual look for rooms, but don’t add the warmth of wool area rugs and aren’t as stain resistant.

Synthetic Materials

Synthetics have come a long way in area rugs, and can offer the perfect budget flooring solution. Choices in synthetics include:

Nylon: The most popular in synthetic fibers, nylon is durable and virtually crushproof. It holds color well, and is non-allergenic and mildew and insect resistant. With easy maintenance and stain resistance, nylon rugs can look new for years.

Polypropylene/Olefin: Polypropylene, also known by a brand name of Olefin, is lightweight, durable, strong and inexpensive. Olefin rugs are the least expensive fiber for rugs, and it is not only used for interior floors, but outdoor area rugs as well. Olefin tends to ‘flatten’ more than a nylon or wool rug, and while it’s durable, it’s not as stain-resistant and long lasting as wool or nylon rugs.

Last but Not Least – Colors and Patterns

Now that you have a general idea as to size and fiber, you can get down to the fun of choosing an area rug. Some tips to get you started on your purchase:

• Darker area rugs tend to add warmth and intimacy to larger spaces.
• Lighter colored area rugs can help open up space in smaller rooms.
• Rugs with heavy patterns can help hide dirt and pet hair and do well in high traffic areas, such as hallways, living rooms and staircases.
• Braided area rugs are excellent choices for country and primitive décor.
• Oriental rugs and patterns look lovely in more traditionally decorated rooms.
• Area rugs with bold and geometric patterns do well in modern rooms.

Now, let’s get started in opening up an endless array of affordable and stylish decorating options for your home…

Another friend had an antique washstand in her bathroom, and had spent years searching for the right basin to use for a sink.  One night, while making dinner, an old wooden fruit bowl on her kitchen table suddenly caught her attention.   Inspired, she dumped out the fruit, drilled a hole in the bottom, placed the fittings, and with a bit of help from a plumber, the perfect sink was born.

Decorating doesn’t have to be a full-time project. It doesn’t have to be a sprint – or a marathon. And it certainly doesn’t have to involve a lot of expensive shopping, mixing, matching, comparing, and angst. Let it be fun. Be creative. Use things in a way that they were never intended to be used. When I was growing up, a friend’s parents owned an heirloom Turkish carpet way too large to fit any of the rooms of their apartment – so they hung it from the top of one wall and let it flow down to  cover the entire floor of their dining room.   The effect was breathtaking.

Let your imagination move you. Make it a part of your life.