Home Decoration Tips For Christmas

Christmas is that time of year we all wait for, a time for giving and receiving gifts. It is that time of the year when the whole family gathers together to celebrate this joyous occasion. What better time to do up your house than now.

You may want to change the whole look of the house, changing your rugs and even doing some refurbishment or just clean it up from top to bottom. To change the whole look, work should be started a month before Christmas otherwise a nice paint job should do the trick. A little creativity, planning before hand and color co-ordination with furniture and accessories should make your home attractive. Discard clutter or unwanted things from the house to show more open space. Furniture should be re-arranged to enhance the look of the place.

If your sofa appears too bland and you don’t want to spend money on buying one then you can buy beautiful sofa covers or get them made and still get the look you want. Some lace or showy curtains and a grand rug that covers the sitting area would gel well with the decor of the room. There are rugs especially designed for this occasion so you may want to want to get one of those for the Christmas period. Even if you do not want to get an area rug with a distinctly Christmas scene, you can still get one that features the colors of Christmas either in a monotone or an eclectic blend of red, green and white.

Since the living room and the dining room are the two places where guests will be entertained mostly during Christmas, these are the rooms that should be decorated the most though if you do have children they would surely insist on having their room decorated too for Christmas. The Christmas tree is the first thing I would recommend, to decorate your home, as it is the main thing that a child looks forward to on Christmas day. Decorations made in the shape of mistletoes and bells, snowmen and Santa are lovely to hang around in the house. Try your hands at making them and later they can be proudly shown off. Poinsettia’s, Christmas candles and stockings placed or hanging from the mantel, at this time of the year, would add a touch of glamour to the room. A big Christmas wreath with hollies, bows and ribbons would be a welcome sight at the door.

Decorating your home for Christmas doesn’t have to be stressful. There are many things you can do and items you can use to dress up your home for this wonderful season. One suggestion when decorating your home for Christmas is using ribbon. If you have a decorating theme for Christmas, regarding color, choose ribbon to correspond with your theme.

 

The dining room is another place where the family meets and so would be the next place to decorate. A beautiful centerpiece on the dining table would be the highlight of this room, arranged with fresh or artificial poinsettia’s and greens making it attractive. Christmas candles decorated with flowers placed on the table along with little Christmas sweets or chocolates in different shapes like stars, Christmas trees, snowmen, Santa’s, fruits, flowers, etc delicately placed in small baskets would look excellent, these come handy as ‘give-aways’ to adult guests especially since Christmas is the time for giving. Not forgetting your children and all the small guests who come by, at this time of the year, by placing fancy gifts near the Christmas tree

HGTV reaches 89 million households, “Devine Design”,

HGTV reaches 89 million households every week and over 800,000
nightly prime time viewers. The format of the show has been copied
several times and spin offs like Trading
Spaces, Extreme Makeovers. Viewers sit for hours watching
“Design on a Dime” “Devine Design”, “Landscapers Challenge”.
The home improvement shows just keep coming.

HGTV provides instructions for thousands of home improvement projects.
They provide video clips for everything from garden projects to
constructing a bed. HGTV is the one-stop resource for finding anything
you need for expert help with “doing it yourself” projects.
HGTV makes home improvement look easy and fun. HGTV gives viewers
new ideas and inspires the week end warrior to do some type of home
improvement project. HGTV mission is “to provide ideas, information,
and inspiration for decorating and home improvement”.

The impact that HGTV has on home improvement can be measured in these
statistics.
# Furniture sales grew by 75%, between Between 1995-2005
# Sales of home furnishings increased 97% in this same period.
These items included soft goods as well, carpets, lamps, area rugs,
linens, glassware
People all over the country are decorating their homes to look like
these superbly beautiful fantasy creations that they view on HGTV.
If you are not a “do it yourselfer” you can just imagine the way your
home might look when you go on tours of million dollar home all
across the country. You see people who look like you making grand
improvements to shacks that end up looking like your dream home.
HGTV has had a dramatic impact on the home improvement industry
because HGTV appeals to the age group of people who have the money
to pay for major home improvement projects. The demographics of the
typical HGTV is a female age 35-64 years old. Over 70% of HGTV
viewers are females.
That means that the female viewers are encouraging husband, fathers,
brother to do the work so they can enjoy the benefits.
The additional general consumer demographics for home improvement by
female indicate:
# They shop more often
# Visit more stores
# Spend more than the typical shopper
The target demographic for the Do It Yourself Website is:
# Homeowners
# Ages 25-54
# Incomes of $60,000
# Internet access
# Propensity for home improvement

The home Improvement Research Institute studies show that both men
and women are active participants in the planning of home improvement
projects as well as the purchase of those products used for
improvement.

Nice House Decoration Pictures

 

Do you really and truly want a small home? Over the years of helping people with their small

home designs I've noticed one thing. Small house plans grow.

"Oh, but I want this, too!" Yep, I've heard it over and over. It can takes real discipline to

keep that evolving house plan small. And working with an architect is not necessarily a

solution! Architects are often eager to design in that pantry, laundry, extra room or whatever

else you suddenly feel you just have to have!

What Do You Really Want in a Home?


You love the advantages of a small home design, right? The idea of saving money while building,

saving energy year after year, and the convenience of keeping that small home neat and tidy are

appealing benefits.

But, what are you willing to give up? You simply can't have the same number of rooms or the

same size rooms, or all the same features you're accustomed to in that larger home. Something

has to give. What do you really want in your home and what are your priorities? It comes down

to, what's a must, and what can go?

That Small House Plan Can Still Work

Once you figure your priorities and settle on what's important and what isn't, a good designer

can work wonders. But, you have to guard against getting "big eyes" and stick to your guns.

And, don't give the architect free reign.

If you know what you want, with clever design and a combination of functions in the home, you

don't have to do without. But, it may not be easy.

The Home Building Coach to the Rescue

I recommend getting yourself a home building coach. Industry professionals often hire

themselves out as a go between ... between you and your other building professionals like

contractors, architects, lenders, engineers, etc. This person can be especially valuable in

helping you devise your strategy concerning the design of your home.

No, the coach won't likely design your home, unless he or she happens to be your architect, but

they'll definitely be able to help you refine your goals and translate them into practical

approaches to help design your perfect small house design.

Get Those Benefits You're After

With the home building coach by your side, you'll have the support to stick to your guns and

create something that stays small, offers all the advantages of the home you want, and provides

style and beauty at the same time.

The small home is making a big comeback. We can point to several reasons for this. Economical

reasons head the list but people are keenly interested in efficiency, environmental

responsibility, and ease of upkeep.

What do you really save by building a small home? Let's look at this logically to see if

building smaller is, in fact, economical.

Small House Plans vs. Bigger House Plans

To be fair, the size of your home is dictated, in part, by the number of people to occupy it.

But, strictly from a standpoint of preferences, there are a few cost advantages for building

bigger.

BUILDING BIGGER HOMES

Larger homes often cost less per square foot to build:

* Contractors are already on the site and on the job and additional work while they're

already there is cheaper
* Bigger doesn't always mean more rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, etc. Simply expanding the

size of rooms is relatively inexpensive
* Materials purchases can cost less per unit, the more you buy and deals for quantity

purchases also help

BUILDING SMALLER HOMES

Building from a small home design house plan has its advantages:

* Shorter building times save interest charges on the construction loan
* Fewer bathrooms, windows, doors, fixtures, and other costly items
* Less expensive home design costs, lower taxes, and smaller permit fees

Comparing the Costs of HomeBuilding

Your small home is likely to cost more per square foot to build if we assume equal quality,

materials, and labor. Ten percent more is typical. So, let's say a 3,000 square foot home will

cost $100 psf for a total of $300,000.

To compare, if a 1500 square foot home can be built for $110 psf, that would cost $165,000.

Obviously, even though the cost per square foot is substantially higher, the overall cost to

build is considerably less. But, there's more to it than the upfront costs to build.

Life-Time Value of Small Home Designs

The lifetime value of a home considers the cost of maintaining the home over the years. Here

are some of the other economical advantages of a small home:

* Smaller homes can be more efficient/less wasteful
* It costs less to heat and cool a small house
* Replacement costs are less
* Utility bills are significantly less
* General maintenance requires less time and money
* It uses fewer natural resources both in construction as well as for your ongoing living

needs

If a small home fits your needs, you should pursue the idea wholeheartedly! For the

do-it-yourself "professional", the choice of a smaller home is a particularly wise one. The

more you can do yourself with friends, the more you'll save and the better off you'll be.