HOME DECORATION USA

Do you want that vintage look for your home? That old world decor - those wooden beams and that oh-so-rich wooden flooring! If yes, then explore the usage of reclaimed wood. This type of wood is environment friendly, looks great and stable. Today, you have a few companies which supply reclaimed wood to help you realize your dream. There are companies online that offer reclaimed-wood flooring at exciting prices. These companies are suppliers of an array of products related to wood, like reclaimed wooden furniture, flooring, beams and so on.

These companies procure reclaimed wood from mills and factories belonging to the 19th century, grain elevators, wooden dams and barns found all over the USA. Keeping in mind the kind of look you want for your home, you may go for the wide plank flooring or the reclaimed strip flooring. You can also pick your choice from the numerous types of reclaimed wood like Hickory, Maple, Antique Oak to name a few.

To match up with your flooring and interiors, go for the reclaimed beams to create an unparalleled look! Barns of the 19th century, textile mills, warehouses and more are the sources from where these beams are obtained by the vendors. Further, these beams are available in various wood species including Wormy Chestnut and Heart Pine. Pecky Cypress is yet another variety of reclaimed wood used to build beams. Owing to its poriferous look, the wood features high in the list of architects and home decorators to produce a distinct look. It is also used across luxury houses, fishing and hunting inns for beautification purposes. The wood species is available in various sizes and lengths. Usually, a lead time of two to four weeks is required to get this particular variety of reclaimed wood.

The best part about purchasing reclaimed-wood from one of the reputed online vendors is ease of ordering. They also provide you dependable shipping and transportation service, making your buying experience an unforgettable one!

If you are still looking for a specific type of wood or a particular kind of look for your home; the vendor companies will provide you assistance to explore your options and help you get that desired look.

Create a trendy kitchen in one of this years hottest color schemes, Teal Blue and Lime Green! It's easy to pull off this hot new trend when you follow the tips and tricks outlined in this article.

The biggest concern that people have when considering this color scheme for their home decor, is "how do I pull this off, without it coming across busy and overpowering". This can be achieved by finding the correct balance in your home decor. You're not going to want to make everything in the room teal blue and lime green, the key is to incorporate those colors into a neutral base color scheme.

First you will want to start with a light color base on your walls. This can be achieved with a color of fresh white paint but I think that you can achieve a much more polished room design by choosing a faux wallpaper in a white or light cream. A metallic sheen wallpaper would set a fabulous tone for this room decor theme.

After you have your base layer completed it is time to bring color into the room. This can be done by using a bold stripe window treatment with dominant colors of teal blue and lime green. You can balance the strong visual lines of the window treatment by adding solid elements in the kitchen such as the back splash and the cupboard. The color scheme is carried throughout the room with small accents such as the cushions that atop your kitchen stools.

You can create an interesting visual focal point in your kitchen by designing your own kitchen island. This can be done by using two shelving units with a work surface placed across the top. This is a much more cost effective option for developing an island in your kitchen and you won't have to pay for custom woodwork.

Interior Designers USA

You may be bursting at the seams with natural talent, but if you want to become an Interior Designer in the US or Canada, you need to be licensed by the NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualifications). In the past, many individuals may have had the talent but not the financial resources to follow their dream of becoming a designer, but now a window of opportunity has been opened wide by a European organisation called Limperts Academy of Design...

In the USA & Canada, the NCIDQ are responsible for official licensing through their examination, which is required by anyone wishing to practice interior design in many states. Limperts Academy of Design offer a BTEC HND (Higher National Diploma)in Interior Design that meets the NCIDQ education requirements of 60 semester credits. Students can complete this program in as little as two years, and after gaining the specified amount of work experience they will be eligible to sit the NCIDQ examination. A significant benefit of the course structure offered by Limperts Academy of Design is that home study removes international borders and many obstacles that have previously existed. One such obstacle is the cost of education in the US, where a typical 2 year college course will cost in the region of $50,000. A similar college program in Europe will be a fraction of that cost and indeed, this HND in Interior Design is available for less than the cost of a typical semester in the US.

With financial barriers removed in this way, you have the opportunity to explore your natural talent and study while you continue to earn in your full time employment. Limperts Academy of Design also structure this particular program so that after successfully completing the first part of the program, students will be awarded a Diploma in Interior Design. This will enable you to begin building your work experience as you continue to study. The benefits of this approach are obvious and Limperts Academy are the only course provider to deliberately structure their courses this way and offer this level of flexibility. So you really can have your cake AND eat it!

Limperts Academy of Design specialise in professional design training programs that train students through home study. Their Head Office is based in Ireland and they have enrolled students in over 17 countries, helping them to achieve standards of excellence through distance learning that were previously described as "impossible". Their commitment to providing quality training programs has resulted in unique teaching and student support systems that produce unparalleled results. Principal Maria Flynn sums up their approach, "We don't just teach design, we encourage each and every student to access and nurture their own natural sense of flair and creativity. We also teach the technical and practical skills necessary to translate those design ideas into reality."

Differences Between Interior Design & Decorating

When it comes to home improvements, you often hear the terms interior decorator or interior designer. Usually these terms are interchanged, but did you know these two actually differ? Let us learn and differentiate the two, should you be interested to pursue a career in either one of them.

First let us look at what an interior designer does. They are the creative professionals who work on the structural aspect of a house. They need to make designs, sketches, plans under strict safety codes and regulations. But prior to this, an interior designer is required to take classes to get at least a diploma, better yet a bachelor's degree or even proceed for masters. After that, they are still subjected to licensing exams, which would allow them to work especially in certain states. Some interior designers who get enough education and experience can also proceed to work as certified architects.

An interior decorator on the other hand does not require that much formal training and a license in order to work. Their training demands are less rigorous. Some decorators are self-taught, as long as they have the right aesthetics to beautify a space, while others can opt to take short training programs or an associate's degree in a community college.

The nature of their work also varies in that an interior decorator is concerned mainly on the appearance of a space. This would include things like what colours the walls should be, what drapes would complement it, how many throw pillows to include, or should you be placing a carpet in the area. They can even change the floors or mouldings on the ceiling, but they cannot change any standing structure. Just as their title imply, they only make decorative alterations and improvements.

Interior designers work more closely with architects, although designers cannot alter or move load-bearing structures, they can change the non-load bearing fixtures in a space. To do this, they would need a design, which can range from a sketch to a plan which he can also render in 3D. They also work with other elements such as lighting, doors, or windows. It is also their job to see to it that a design falls within safety regulations.

A designer's concern is more about the total appearance of an area, including its architectural elements, while a decorator is limited only on good arrangements for a better living space.

If an interior decorator selects the kind of furniture to place in a room, the interior designer goes steps further because they know how to design, select materials and make furniture. Another thing is that an interior designer focuses on one area, while a decorator can work with various spaces.

These differences make it clear that an interior designer and interior decorator are two different professions. Although they are in the same ballpark, but they both play different games.

If you find yourself interested in the interesting and challenging field of interior designing, we at Raffles Design Institute can provide you with the best education and training. We prepare our students to be globally competitive through our industry relevant curriculum, intensive training programs, and experienced lecturers. We have a total of 38 colleges, in 35 cities, in 14 countries.

Interior Decorator Expert

So you're tired of looking at your house. It's looked the same for years and you just can't take it anymore. Should you sell it and find a new place to live? That's certainly one option, but if you happen to like your neighborhood then you could just do some home decorating and make it look like new. So if you've decided on the latter, you will need some interior decorating ideas.

Living / Family Room
It's time to get rid of the old sofa and, yes, even that favorite recliner that your father-in-law falls asleep in every time he visits. If new furniture is an option, great! But if it isn't, look for some great furniture covers. Furniture covers can change the whole look of a room for a fraction of the cost of new furniture, and the recliner will still be just as comfy. If you happen to have both a living room and a family room, try switching the furniture around. You probably spend more time in one room than the other and switching the furniture between the two rooms every so often will make them both last longer and give you a new look to work with.

Have your carpets cleaned and paint the walls. Don't be afraid of color! The best interior decorating experts will tell you that white walls are boring. Take a swatch from the furniture, or a throw pillow, and find paint that matches one of the colors in it. Make sure not to use the primary color of the furniture on the walls, you don't want them to blend. You do want good contrast. Get some new window dressings and nic-nacs and your room will look like brand new.

Kitchen
Interior decorating in the kitchen is a bit more difficult, but there are a few ways to make it look new. Start with some new window dressings, a throw rug under the table, and a nice new border on the freshly painted walls. If that's not enough, you could paint your cupboards and install new handles and pulls, or remove the upper cupboard doors if it's not too much of a mess inside. This will make your kitchen look much larger and more open. A nice, new faucet goes a long way in a kitchen, too.

Bedrooms
Clean the carpets and paint the walls. Replace the window coverings and the bed linens, and rearrange the furniture. You're not just sleeping in there, right? We all know that the bedroom is often our only retreat, so you want to make it a nice, new room to relax in. Put a comfortable chair and a small bookcase near a window and make a nice reading corner. For the kids' rooms, take them to the paint store and let them pick out their own colors and decorations. Let the kids go online and look for awesome things for their rooms. You will be the coolest parent around if you let the kids decorate their own spaces.

Bathrooms
There's not much interior decorating that can be done in a bathroom without replacing the fixtures. You can certainly replace the shower curtain, window coverings, accessories, and toilet covers and rugs. Make sure to put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, too.

For more Information on this topic  a free Online Home & Garden Renovation & Design Directory in 100 Cities in North America. Featuring over 1 million free Real Estate Classifieds, Helpful Articles, Contests, Virtual home tools, Qualified Trades, Forums, a moving center, get free quotes for Insurance, Moving, Mortgages, Contractors, Find Foreclosures and Much More...

ASID - American Society of Interior Designers

All architecture is based on the human form. All human beings, even primitive ones, eat, sleep, walk and converse. All architecture and furnishings reflect these human activities. Civilized human beings attempt to perform these activities with some degree of grace and harmony.

Over the millennia, harmonious proportions and relationships between human beings and their  built environment have been studied, recorded and documented. When Leonardo da Vinci drew his "Vitruvious man", he was echoing archetypal principles, which had already been discovered by the ancient Romans and Greeks.The ancient Greeks believed in sacred geometry and harmonious relationships of octaves based on the seventh in the musical scale, as well as fourths and fifths that produced the so-called music of the spheres. Sacred geometry extended to the built environment, and it was believed that divinity created through geometry.

The ancient Chinese also believed in harmonious relationships between human beings and our built environment and established an elaborate system of synchronizations through the practice of Feng-sui.

So where does that put us in modern and contemporary society? Why do we look at endless arrangements of furnishings and buildings as if anything new could be created? It is necessary for a human body to sit- therefore it is inevitable that a chair would be created. It is necessary for a human body to sleep, therefore it is inevitable that a bed would be created. It is necessary for a human being to converse with other human beings, therefore two seats must be positioned for conversation to occur. We must eat, therefore we must have eating utensils, and by extrapolation, tables. If all of these furnishings are to be placed in a useful, pleasing and harmonious relationship to each other and to the human beings who use the furnishings, we then have interior design. Our endless fascination with the built environment is also indeed inevitable, after all, it is the reflection of ourselves- our body, soul and mind. Interior design and architecture has very little to do with "style" and "taste" and "money" as modern publications would want us believe. In reality interior design and architecture has to do with much deeper and inescapable expressions of the human psyche, body and soul.

That is why interior design for the human spirit is a pressing psychological and physical need in contemporary society, and that is why I am writing this document.

Let us start with scale....

The first sacred principle for design is Scale.

An infant is tiny. We place our infants in furniture that is scaled down to their tiny proportions, cribs and cradles and high chairs. Looking at an infant in a king-sized bed is comical, and perhaps even unsafe. In order for the infant to be safe and comfortable, they must be placed in surroundings scaled to their size. So we can see that scale is of the utmost importance in architecture and furnishings. Why are most standard door openings 6'8" high? Because most adult human beings stand under 6'2" tall. This is not to say that there are not exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, the 6"8" door opening is scaled to the prevalent human proportions of our society. So after millennia of research into human proportion, we finally have agreed upon a modern standard for a door opening. Of course, if we wish to have a more imposing door, perhaps we will make it 8 feet tall. A cathedral or public space may have grand doors that are 10' tall. But of necessity we will feel most comfortable with a doorway that is scaled to our proportions, and we discovered this many millennia ago. So scale is of the utmost importance when designing for human beings. It is important because it is one of the four sacred principles of design.

Let us continue with proportion ....

Proportion is similar to scale. But proportion has to do with the relationships of parts to the whole, while as scale has to do with the relationship of the whole to a greater whole. A well proportioned chair maintains its ratios and proportions whether the entire object is scaled larger or smaller. So with proportion we examine the parts to the whole, and with scale we examine the entire object as regards its greater environment. And architecture reflects the proportions and scale of the human body. Proportion is another of the four sacred principles of design.

Let us continue with relationship . . .

Everything in the built world exists in some relationship to something else. As a matter of fact, everything in life relates to some aspect of something else. Without relationship, we have no method for comparison. All of our perceptions of size relate to one object in relation to another object. So even if an object is perfectly proportioned and scaled to its environment, if it is not in proper relationship to other objects in the environment, things will look disjointed and goofy.

Let us continue with context . . .

In speaking and writing, we have a context for our descriptions. A narrative that is taken out of context can seem completely irrelevant if not false. Every environment has a narrative, a story it tells. So the architecture and design of a space speaks a narrative to us as we enter and look around. The site and the exterior architecture should tell us something of the interior space. In our own home, the interior space should speak to us of our deepest longings and fulfill our deepest aspirations. But there must be context. A single persons home may reflect their personality entirely, while a family home with four children may speak of that context, and perhaps the narrative would be completely inappropriate for the single person. All of these considerations must be invoked when designing space.

A methodology for creating harmonious interiors

1. You must determine the scale of what you hope to accomplish.

2. You must determine the proportions of what you hope to accomplish.

3. You must determine the relationship of your project to yourself, your significant others, your community, and the world at large.

4. You must determine the context of your project in relation to your personal narrative.

Your first plans should be done in black and white with rudimentary measurements. You are looking for scale and proportion, not a finished product. In the second stage, you can start filling in actual color, products, and specifications. In the third stage, you edit. Everything that does not enhance your narrative needs to be edited out. In the fourth stage, you actually build, install and finish.

The process of design should be uplifting and creative, not stressful and money-oriented. When you truly have realized a harmonious plan, you should feel that all of your emotional and financial energies have been well spent. In regards to this, a talented designer should also make you feel like your money and efforts have been well spent.

US Interior Design Firms information

There are many areas of design that the aspiring designer can begin their career in. Interior design career information can be found online or from your local library or even from contacting a local design firm. Like any career, it can be hard to find work without experience. Student's expectations are high after years of hard work and long hours studying.

Getting an education is the starting point for an interior design career. Information on finding a quality-accredited school can be found in your local yellow pages or on the internet. Once you have graduated, it can still be tough to find work. However, it just takes time. Be patient and persistent!

An important thing to consider is that you should focus on your strengths in the design field. For example, if you are strong in residential design then focus your job search to firms that specialize in residential interior design. You can always work on areas you are not as strong in once you have been hired for your first job. Working on your own in the evening can also improve your skills. You can even offer your services free of service as a volunteer for a few hours a week just to gain some valuable experience and knowledge.

Your research on interior design career information will provide you with many different areas that you can work in such as healthcare, retail, government, residential and commercial.
Spend some time at the local library doing valuable research on interior design career information. You will be able to locate information on names of interior design firms and their addresses, their telephone and fax information along with the contact name at the specific design firm.

When searching for any new job you must have a resume and cover letter that look great. Try to keep the resume on one page. Many people are now burning their resume to a CD and presenting it that way. If you have a website of your portfolio, make sure you include that with your resume. Your resume is a vital tool when doing your interior design career information and job search. About a week after you have mailed your resume, place a call, introduce yourself, and perhaps even secure an interview. This is an important part of the job search strategy and many individuals ignore it.

Your interior design career information plan should also include employment agencies. Many firms go through agencies when they need extra help. Many of these types of positions are temporary in nature. This would be a good way to get your foot in the door and make a good impression. You may not be hired after the temporary position expires but you may get yourself a good reference and valuable experience.

We hope that this information has helped in your interior design career information search. An interior design career can be very flexible or structured depending on the design niche you decide to pursue. Remember that perseverance will get you that dream design job you have always wanted. Do not give up!

Career In Interior Design

There is more to Interior Design than home decorating. The career opportunities for interior design graduates are endless.

According to the United States Department of Labor, employment of interior designers is expected to grow 19 percent from 2006 to 2016, faster than average for all occupations.

If you are interested in a hands-on education, working with the latest design software technology that results in a wide variety of fulfilling positions, this may be a career path for you. Earn a Bachelors of Science in Interior Design or an Interior Design & Decorating Associates degree and start your career as a

Green Designer - Green designers work with builders, specifying eco-friendly materials from renewable resources and designing energy efficient homes & buildings in Florida.

Healthcare Designer - Designing the interior structure of hospitals, doctor offices, medical clinics and facilities. A healthcare interior designer job is to make sure the medical facility is built within the governed regulations and technical requirements needed to function. Also, a major role of a medical interior designer is to design the clinic for optimal operational productivity and increasing the bottom line.

Buyer or Purchasing Agent - Working for large retail stores, department stores and furniture stores. A Buyer decides what merchandise will be sold at a store. Professional Buyers travel to trade shows and are innovators for the latest trends.

Hospitality or Service Designer - Working with hotels/resorts, sports stadiums and restaurants. A hospitality designer creates a pleasant & functional space for people to gather.

Set Designer - Working on television, exhibit, movie and theater sets. A set designer works closely with the director and studies the script to determine the appropriate set design. This includes selecting the furniture, wall & floor coverings and other props to give the set the desired mood and time period of the script.

Government Designer - Designing the interiors for public buildings such as court houses, training facilities and jails. Designers who specialize in public buildings concentrate on accessibility design and operational design. During the interior design process of government buildings the interior designers make sure the accessible environment meets the needs of people who are blind or have poor vision. Also, the designer is responsible to design the facility to meet the needs of the service it provides.

Preservationist -Working with historic buildings and museums. A Preservationist helps preserve, conserve and protect buildings and its materials of historic significance.

Event Designer - Designing and decorating corporate parties, charity balls or other large gatherings