Normally, I would say decorating one room per year in your home is enough to keep your house up to date and nicely decorated and modern.  It’s also just enough for the pocket, but what about decorating offices?  How often should an office be refurbished or decorated?

Offices can take a lot more wear and tear than a home does and can look shabby far faster.  However, getting the decorators in can cost a lot more if it’s the office you need to decorate, partly because they generally have to work weekends or the evening.  I doubt you’d want to do it yourself either!

One way to get out of decorating an office is to use a serviced office.  A serviced office is (more…)

Big brother fever is back with force this summer, and while everyone might be rocking to their TV’s to find out all they can about the new contestants, there are others who are watching with a completely different focus, the new house.

This year they completely bulldozed the old house to build a brand new one, full of different styles and exciting twists.

The sleeping areas are separated into two different themes. One is luxurious, with double beds, chandeliers, gilding and plush carpeting while the other is sparse with hard, metal frame single beds packed closely together decorated in just red and brown.

The rest of the house works to try to merge the two themes of the sleeping areas, mixing styles. The bathrooms have marble effect flooring and bath, with gilded taps and golden Romanesque statues for ornaments. The aqua colours they have used in the bathroom really complement the marble and gilded effects, adding to the luxurious feel of the room.

While in the past Channel 4 have produced Big Brother houses that were full of funky bright colours that were very young and vibrant, this year they seem to have favored far more rich tones that give off an air of opulence. The kitchen is painted in a deep wine red that contrasts well with the dark wood they have used for the beams, the work tops and floor.

The deed red and the aqua keep recurring in the house and garden tying together the themes very well, creating a very coherent style. This house really proves that you can take very different styles and use them to satisfaction in the same property without disharmony.

Indian style dress, Indian style make up, Indian music, Indian summers, we’ve had them all, but now there’s Indian home decoration. Indian style interior design is something has really taken off over the last few years, originating from European colonial style to more and more ethnic and Indian style. The rise is this trend has meant that there are more and more products available in the market to achieve an Indian heaven in your own home.

With Indian décor colour and furniture is key. The colours have to be warm, bright and strong colours. This does not mean that every house has to be painted in deep reds, greens and yellows, but using a lot of colour to your taste will help you achieve this style. To add a more authentic touch to your Indian style room, use some ethnic stencilling or painting. In order to get an idea of what sort of patterns to use, do some research in books and the Internet.

When choosing the furniture, don’t feel restricted to choosing indian-style furniture. Choosing standard or even furniture from other regions is a must. Oriental furniture matches particularly well, with a strong mix of simple straights and ornamental curves.

Using a lot of colourful and appropriately patterned fabric is also a great way of adding the Indian touch. Look at what is available to you in your area, speak to the sales staff in upholstery fabric departments and choose according to the colours and furniture you have chosen for your room or property.

The most difficult of the elements to get right in Indian decoration is the furniture. These usually tend to be expensive if brought over from Indian manufactures. The positive thing about buying such furniture is that they tend to be one offs that you can guarantee no one else to have. You will have a unique piece of furniture in your home. If budget is more of an issue though look for reproductions in cheaper outlets or paint and recycle your old furniture in the style that you want. Keep in mind that Indian style furniture tends to be solid pieces in dark wood with ornamental carvings, or painted pieces. If you plan to paint them, then it might be a good way to tie the room together by decorating your walls and the furniture with the same patterns and stencils.

One of the most popular styles to decorate in that seems never to go out of fashion is “colonial”. This style basically is a mish-mash of three centuries of European design and architecture, inspired by the east and the Americas. From the 16^th century to the early 19^th century architecture, design and interior decoration were heavily influenced by the colonised countries. This was a result of there not being many designers in the colonies, which meant that such work fell to local artisans who brought their own designs into classical European design that they were meant to be reproducing.

Due to the bright and exotic design that still manages to stay within simple lines, colonial has never gone out of style. This is also due to the fact that within the three centuries and many different European styles that have all contributed to making up colonial, there is enough of a range to satisfy most fashions, trends and personal tastes.

In order to incorporate colonial style into your home, it is worth doing some research. Books, magazines, the Internet and also films can help you gather ideas before decorating. When considering your ideas, try to make sure there is an all round theme to a room before settling on a scheme. Colonial decorating uses elaborate crown mouldings, dark wood for furniture and white linen to create that elegant yet simple style. As the new houses in the colonies tended to be big and airy with well proportioned rooms, it would be wise to make your colonial home seem that way.

The furniture that was used in colonial decorating tended to be mainly Queen Anne or Chippendale. There are still quite a lot of original pieces that can be picked up if one makes the necessary searches, and if original is out of the questions then there are some fantastic reproductions available. The furniture of this era tends to be ornate and yet practical, made of dark wood and finely finished. Use a few pieces in a room, and try not to create too much clutter. Colonial is airy and elegant, so make sure your room is too.

With careful planning and the appropriate accessories and furniture, you too can enjoy the elegance of a bygone era without too much expense or had work. The key is in adapting the right elements to suit your home and executing them to perfection.