Decorating any room takes a lot of time and work, so unless you are going to enlist the help of a professional don't take on more than you are capable of.

Start with a small room and get the feel for all of your hidden decorating talents. Have a plan before you even begin, and set a budget.

Have a general idea how you want the finish project to look like when it is complete. Take it slow, don't run out and buy everything in one store.

If you do your room will look like rooms to go on a budget, ordered out of one magazine. Remember you want to personalize you're home and express your personality through your decorating. When you are out shopping only purchase items you love, don't just settle.

The most important and practical issue is your budget. You must first set a budget for the project you will be working on. If you don't, you may get carried away, and before you realize you're in over your head and your project has cost a small fortune. The last thing you want to do is run out of funds before your project is complete.

When spending your allotted funds you must decide if you will have to hire a professional. Depending on how skill-full you are, will determine how much of the work you can do yourself. If you have to hire a professional you must take this into consideration when budgeting your project.

Eliminate costly mistakes always write a plan and make a check list for the room you will be decorating. Keep a project file folder and stay organized. File all important papers in the folder, contracts, permits, receipts.

It's fun to watch your progress in motion take pictures before, during, and after the project is complete and keep them in your file.

Decorating isn't just about style, it's about your lifestyle. It's about how you live, and about the people whom live with you. You want to create a living space that makes you smile every time your home. Select a style you will feel comfortable living in. You want to feel relaxed and comfortable at home.

Before you can even begin choosing the materials needed for your decorating project, you must first decide your style and taste for the room you will be redecorating. Is your style modern or traditional, rustic or formal, sophisticated or charming, country or tropical, animated or fantasy, theme or zen?

Color, texture, and pattern are three important factors to consider when decorating any room to create the perfect ambience. They are the most important things to take into consideration for any design scheme. Colors, textures, and patterns will play a part in how your room fits together as a whole no matter how they are applied, walls, floors, ceiling, furniture, window treatments, and accessories. Will you be painting or wallpapering, wood or tile floors, carpet or area rugs, window treatments or curtains, accent or decorative lighting?

Does your beautiful furniture seem lost in your room? It may be as simple as plain painted walls, or poor lighting. Adding a touch of color and new lighting will instantly make a room look livelier. Bring out the architectural design in any room by accenting one wall with paint, or be creative and wallpaper the whole room. Fabric can also bring out the beauty in any room. Your choice of paint, wallpaper and fabric will personalize your home adding color and texture.

Bring the outdoors in by introducing live plants or flowers to any room. Plants will make any room more inviting and lively. A plant or flowers in a pot placed at the entrance of your home will give the your home curb appeal and is very inviting.

Bring out the beauty in any room with color and lots of fabric. Choose paint colors, wallpaper and fabric to fit your style. Use paint, wallpaper, or fabrics to decorate with, this will add color and texture to any room. Using different colors, fabrics and trims will not only soften your room, it also will enhance the finishing touches on your decorating project.

No need to mix quarts of paint, this can get costly. Save time and gas, choose your colors in the comfort of your home. We have made it really easy to select a color. Simply turn you desk top into a large color sample, with our Virtual Color Deck. Or use our Virtual Color Picker to choose four color samples at one time. Once you have selected your colors on the computer then use the color fan deck to match, bring your color selection to your local paint store to mix.

The portable color fan deck was designed for easy color selection, and will simplify choosing many colors for all your decorating projects. Used by professionals, architects, designers, decorators, painting contractors, and wallpaper installers, and now offered to the homeowner. Professionals use the color deck when matching paints, fabrics, wallpaper, carpet, the list is endless. Use our two unique virtual color decks along with the color fan deck to simplify choosing a color. Manufactures have made it easy to select a color scheme by grouping colors that work well together. The Color Deck is broken down into five sections, Off-Whites, Custom Colors, Historical Colors, American Colors, and Ready Mixed Colors. The Color Deck also shows the five different latex or enamel paint finishes, Flat, Eggshell, Pearl, Semi-Gloss, and High-Gloss.

How many colors and textures do you want to introduce into the room for which you will be designing? Create a color scheme which is pleasing to your eye and fits your lifestyle. Colors you live with really do influence your mood. Choose your colors wisely. Don' be afraid to mix colors and textures. Start with your favorite color you wish to use, work off that color in making decorating decisions for the rest of you color palate. From palest colors to the deepest colors, every color has its most neutral shades.

To start select three paint colors, too many colors in one room can make it look too busy. Your first color selection should be your primary color for the walls, your second color selection is for the trim, and your third color selection is for the ceiling. Now that you have chosen the color you will be working with, its time to decide how to make them work.

The primary color you have chosen will determine the color you will paint the trim. Never paint wood trim the same color as your walls. Use the very lightest shade of your primary color on your swatches when selecting a paint color for the trim. Bring out the quality and beauty of all your wood trim, paint your (base-boardes, built-ins, crown moldings, doors, and window sash); using a good quality low luster enamel paint, or use a semi-gloss or eggshell latex paint finish. Unless your intention is to create a traditional look, we recommend keeping the trim color light. This will draw one's eyes to your windows and doors, rather than create a visual barrier. Darker trim colors, including natural wood, can often look too traditional, while light trim is fresh, crisp, and contemporary.

We recommend painting the ceiling in a flat finish or a matt finish. Introducing a rich color on the walls while leaving the ceiling white will make your room look as if you've spread a big bed-sheet over it. The ceiling will actually seem lower if left white. If the walls are nine feet or lower, paint the ceiling two shades lighter than your wall color. If your ceilings are higher, paint them one shade darker than the wall color. When you wallpaper a room instead paint, select a paint color from the wallpaper using the same method as above. By using two shades of the same color for your walls and ceiling, the light will now reflect evenly throughout the room.

Whether you are doing the work yourself or hiring a professional know where your money is being spent. Over buying too many materials can get very costly. When buying materials such as wallpaper, paint and tools only use quality products. To achieve professional results do as the professionals do use quality supplies. This will not only save time and frustration, your overall finish results will be exquisite.

Use our two different calculators to assist in estimating the amount of materials needed for your projects. One calculator is for estimating wallpaper and the other calculator for estimating paint.

Now that you have chosen your paint colors do you know how much paint to purchase? Our Paint Calculator will estimate the different paints needed for the many different applications. Estimate the amount of paint needed for ceilings, walls, base-boards, doors-trim, window-trim, and crown-molding. Because different paints are used for all these different applications we have designed the paint calculator with many options.

Our unique Wallpaper Calculator not only will estimate the amount wallpaper needed, it will also estimate the amount of border, how much wallpaper adhesive, how much border adhesive, it will also help estimate the right adhesive for the wallpaper chosen, and the amount of oil-base primer needed to successfully install your wallpaper. We recommend that you order one extra double roll of wallpaper for unforeseen circumstances, such as imperfections in the printing or large pattern repeats. Its always smart to have extra wallpaper for repairs, this way the wallpaper is an extract match, with the same dye-lot. Its much cheaper to repair wallpaper than have to re- wallpaper the whole room.

You can save lots of money! Transform any room with wallpaper, on a budget, Do-It-Yourself. Installing wallpaper has never been easier for the novice wallpaper hanger. Simply follow our tips and tricks in our how to video, Wallpaper Magic "the secrets revealed".

Are you tired of looking at plain painted walls, add style and texture to any room with wallpaper? Did you know your wallpaper pattern selection will set the tone and the mood of a room? Be brave and wallpaper the whole room or wallpaper one wall and use an accent paint color on the remaining walls. Your choice of wallpaper will not only personalize your home adding color and texture. Wallpaper will instantly make any room look livelier and also bring out the architectural design.

Do you want to achieve a feminine or masculine, romantic or rustic room? There are so many looks you can achieve with wallpaper instead of plain painted walls. With so many thousands of prints and finishes to choose from, the list is endless, don't just settle. You have stripes, floral's, geometric, novelties, silks, moire, flock, textures, grass, feathers, bamboo, leaves, natural finishes, vinyl finishes, washable and delicates. Keep in mind your selection should work with females as well as males, babies or toddlers, tweens or teens.

Wallpaper designs can range from minuscule to oversized. Choose a print to fit the area to be wallpapered. Take your time, choose your wallpaper selection wisely. If you find a print which is very expensive or the wrong color keep looking. Many expensive prints have been recreated to fit your budget.

There are a few things to consider when selecting wallpaper. Choosing the right wallpaper for its application will make all the difference on the longevity for which you will be able to enjoy your new wallpaper. Some wallpaper is nearly indestructible while other are so fragile they can be stained during installation. It is important to choose the right wallpaper for the area for which you will be decorating. Are your walls smooth, textured, orange pealed, or rough? Take all this into consideration when selecting your wallpaper. Choose a wallpaper that will last in the area for which it will be applied. There are many different grades of wallpaper to consider. This can minimize how you prepare your walls. Our article on wallpaper types and textures will provide you with a short description of the different wallpaper types, textures and their applications. Plus how easy or difficult they are to install and remove. This will assist you in choosing the right wallpaper for it's application.

Don't shirk away from buying and installing wallpaper. Manufactures have listened to the consumers and have made leaps and bonds in the wallpaper industry. Many wallpapers today are washable, breathable, and very easy to install. You don't even need to leave your home to select wallpaper. Go on-line to, wallpaperwholesalers.com select a wallpaper and order a few samples for a small fee.

Wallpaper border will liven up and change the atmosphere of any room and is an inexpensive way to decorate a room. Border definitely adds a finishing touch and a beautiful look in any room. Border can be installed in combination with wallpaper or directly on painted surfaces. Wallpaper Borders are used for many applications such as: the edge of the ceiling line, along the edge of the baseboard, as a chair rail, around doors, and windows. There are so many different uses for wallpaper border.

Vinyl wallpaper is one of the most widely used wallpapers on the market. With so many thousands of wallpaper prints, types, textures and colors to choose from, along with it's wash ability no wonder it is one of the most popular wallpapers on the market. There is no area a vinyl wallpaper can't go.

However, the new nonwoven wallpapers are becoming a favorite of all, whether you are new to wallpapering or have done it before. Nonwoven wallpapers are the most user friendly on the market, and incredibly easy to work with. This product is environmentally friendly, and 100% vinyl free. The special blends of natural materials makes this wallpaper washable, breathable, and very easy to install. Sounds to good to be true, a lot of technology went into developing the new nonwoven wallpaper. This wallpaper is extremely easy to install and equally as easy to remove. No special wallpaper removal chemicals or tools are needed when removing. Nonwoven wallpapers remove totally dry, in full strips, and with no wall damage. You can actually remove this wallpaper and reinstall in another room.

When wallpapering a baby or small child's room, I would suggest using a wallpaper that they will not outgrow. We see many homeowners get carried away on a theme for which the child outgrows very quickly. You can still use a popular theme, there is an easy solution. Use a wallpaper paper such as a stripe, something not busy. Then apply a border on top of the wallpaper in the theme for which you are decorating their room. When they out grow the design on the border, you can change the theme of the room according to their age and what is popular at the time, without re papering the whole room. Simply find another age appropriate border and install right on top of the existing border. Your new selection must be the same size or larger than the one you will be wallpapering over. Use a product called vinyl over vinyl to apply any new wallpaper border on top of the existing wallpaper border.

Fabric backed wallpapers are a heavy grade used in residential or commercial applications, this makes them very durable, and very washable. Fabric backed or textured wallpapers can be installed over rough walls. These wallpapers are washable and are suited for many areas from children's play rooms to any high traffic areas.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are many fragile wallpapers that are not suited for all applications. You must take your wall texture into consideration, a liner wallpaper may need when installing delicate, fragile wallpapers. Wallpapers created from real elements such as grass, feathers, bamboo, and leaves are beautiful. However, these wallpapers are not practical in area with children and pets. Cats love these textures, you may arrive home one day to find your beloved pet cat has used your wallpaper as a kneading post, or a scratching pad. Or perhaps your pet dog has lifted his leg because the wallpapers natural elements has an out door aroma. Because these wallpapers are not washable, choose wisely.

You don't have to buy everything new when decorating, many people don't start from scratch. However, at the same time don't reuse everything you own, just because. Be creative and choose wisely when decorating around some of you favorite items you have collected over the years or sentimental pieces you want to reuse. Make your favorite piece look new, its as simple as rearranging your mirrors, wall art, accessories, and furniture in different parts of your home, and that doesn't cost a thing.

Because your budget is often an issue you have to get creative with some of your big ticket items. You must decide on your wants, needs, and the must have. In stead of changing big ticket items like kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, laundry cabinets, maybe an easy solution is to just change the knobs and handles. This can also work with many pieces of furniture, new knobs can make a big difference.

Because an antique or favorite piece of furniture can be the focal point in any room, many people will design their whole room around that one special piece. Your furniture is not only functional, it can be a major statement and add style to any room. Never just settle when it comes to furnishing any room. Buy or reuse pieces that are not only beautiful, they should also be practical and useful. Take it slow don't buy everything at once. Use your imagination and transform any piece of furniture with a fresh coat of paint or stain. Or change your wood furniture top surface to granite. An antique dresser can easily be turned into a bathroom vanity. Too much furniture can crowd a room and waste space.

Eliminate costly mistakes when out shopping for furniture, ask and get in writing what the stores return policy is. What looks good in the store or consignment shop may not match or fit the area. Always bring your color swatches, and room measurements with you when out shopping.

Think green! Have a yard sale, and sell all your extra items you no longer need. This will not only eliminate all your clutter it will also clean up some hidden areas in your room. Think of all the extra cash you have added to your budget for redecorating. Now you can find your own one of a kind unique pieces at yard sales, flea markets, consignment stores, and antique shops. Take it slow when searching for your hidden treasures, don't buy everything you see. Be selective and have fun.

Your selection of fabric on your sofa, and seating can be the focal point of a room. Your seating should be functional and fit the space. Add extra decorative pillows to any room, this will add beauty and texture to your furniture.

Replacing your sofa and seating may not be in your budget. Don't be afraid to move different pieces of furniture from another room. You will be surprised when you look around your home and find a piece of furniture that is much more functional in a different part of the home. Just rearranging your room will look as if you have purchased new pieces.

You may like your existing seating but the fabric no longer works many times it's cheaper to reupholster. When buying or reupholstering any furniture with fabric, there are a few things to consider. To enjoy the longevity of you're seating selecting the right type of fabric, and color is also very important. Never use light colors or delicate fabrics with small children and pets. Use a fabric of neutral colors or an overall design, a durable heavy grade, washable fabric will wear the best.

If replacing or reupholstering your furniture is not in your budget then try a slipcover in a solid print or design on your sofa and seating. However, slip covers will not work on leather furniture, they will always move and slide.

It's easy to transform you're existing dining room set. Reupholster the chairs, is not only easy and fun, but is also an inexpensive project.

Do you need functional or decorative lighting? Do you want ambient or accent lighting?

It's important to consider the room you will be lighting. Natural lighting may work wonderful in the daytime, however in the evening you will have to introduce a useful source of lighting. Lighting will not only change the appearance and style of any room but can also affect the atmosphere and mood of your room. You must put some thought into the type of lighting that will be needed for the room you will be decorating. There are many ways to introduce light into a room and also many different types of lighting fixtures to consider as well as all their different uses. Here are a few suggestions on how your choice of lighting will affect the room from function to design.

Does your room have natural lighting? Natural lighting is easiest on the eye and always welcome. Natural lighting changes your wall colors dramatically from one wall to the other. If need be, you can defuse the natural light simply by adding translucent shears to your windows. Natural lighting will bring out the true colors and beauty of any room.

Ambient lighting will affect the atmosphere and mood of a room differently in the evening. Create the appropriate setting and tone for your room with ambient lighting. There are many different types of light fixtures to choose from. Wall sconces will direct the lighting toward the ceiling. Overhead lighting shines towards the floor. Table lamps will creat soft lighting around the room. Be sure to purchase lighting with dimmer switches, you will be able to control the amount of light in a room. Lighting should be bright yet soft.

Accent lighting is used to highlight your favorite pieces. Spot lights in the ceiling are used to bring out different interesting areas of a room. Accent lighting definitely will bring out the architectural detail and design of furniture or built-ins. Use specially designed photo lighting to add beauty and interest to your paintings or wall art. Shelf lights in curio and China cabinets will light up your display of collectibles and favorite pieces. Accent lighting will dramatically change the appearance of a room and set the mood.

Task or functional lighting are used for many purposes such as: reading, writing, crossword puzzles, needle point and sewing. Task or functional lighting should shine directly over an area and be bright enough to see comfortably without squinting or straining your eyes. The best type of lighting to use is one that can cast the light in a certain direction, can be adjusted by height and angle, as well as strength.

Decorative lighting can be a focal point and add beauty to any room. A chandelier used in a room such as an entrance, dining room, or even a master bathroom suite may be beautiful and fit the design and decor of your room perfectly, however, it may give very little useful light. A fancy decorative floor or table lamp can also add style, design and beauty to a room.

Windows are a focal point and also let the natural light into your room. However, design, style and privacy, are something you must take into consideration when selecting a windows covering. Window treatments can add beauty and style and can also make a big statement to any room. Your selection of window treatments should be beautiful as well as functional.

Do you want to use blinds or shades? Do you want to use fabric and a window valance? Do you want to layer a window? Do you want to black out a room or defuse the natural light?

Take your time and look through decorator magazines to see what type of window treatments are not only in style but also functional. There are so many different ways to dress a window. The way you dress a window will not only affect the light in your room but also the appearance of the room. What might be beautiful may not be practical.

Don't skimp on quality when it comes to buying your window treatments, take into consideration a window covering is something you use every day so be sure your selection is not only easy to use but will also last the test of time. Decide on a window treatments style to fit your needs and your budget. You don't have to spend a lot of money you just have to be creative and use your imagination. There are thousands of ready made or custom order window treatments available today such as: mini blinds, micro mini blinds, vertical blinds, wood shutters, natural wood blinds, faux wood blinds, pull down shades, pleated shades, honey come pleated shades, black outs, shears, ready made curtains or custom made drapery. Once your window treatment is installed you may want to dress the window with a coordinating fabric and a valance. This is called layering a window.

What type of floors will you be using, tile or marble, faux wood or natural wood, carpet or area rugs? Choose a floor texture that is practical for the area. Removing your old floors and replacing them is not only costly but can be a messy time consuming task. If you are replacing your floors always do this project first, before any paint or wallpaper. You may get wood glue or tile grout on your walls or wood trim. New carpet can be installed before or after wallpapering or painting. Just be sure to use a lot of drop clothes on top of your new floors to protect them.

Working with your existing floors is not very difficult, a decorative area rug will dress up a drab floor for a fraction of the cost of replacing it. Adding decorative area rugs will create a focal point and give any room texture and color.

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