Decorating With Rugs When I’m Feeling At My Best

When my live-in boyfriend decided to end our relationship of three years, it happened suddenly and traumatically. It was easily one of the most painful times in my life. We had shared a home with my five-year-old daughter and she adored him. After he left, all of the memories and pictures stayed hung on the walls, reminding us both; of a life that was no longer ours.

Finally, we decided to take action. I took all of our old family pictures off the walls, went the store and bought fresh paint. Over the next couple of days, we would go to our favorite stores and each pick out wall art, lamps, and shelves. I was determined to have a home where she felt she belonged. I wanted our home to reflect our strength and our love. I wanted to heal and for us to move forward in a positive way. Life may not always be fair, but we have a choice to make it beautiful, regardless of the circumstances. Changing the décor in our home was symbolic for me and it reflected how we were changing our lives.

By the end of the week, our home had a different feel. It was ours. The new décor gave the both of us a sense of power and control. It was our fresh start and gave us a new sense of life. This was now space, which would be special for just my daughter and me; a space to build our lives together and fill with new memories. I think the décor that we chose to fill our home with, does just that. My hope is that when we walk through the front door of our house, she can see and feel the love that we share, as we continue to build our home, together.

Decor matters in my life because I am surrounded by it everywhere I go in life. My mom is where I first learned about decorating things. I like to think of my mom as an interior decorator even though that is not her official job title. My mom has been obsessed with decor and area rugs for as long as I can remember. We are mostly going to Home Goods and other home stores looking for new things and even items for future parties that we will host. I could never pick one piece of decor that means a lot to me because they all mean so much. I have watched my mom make so many flower arrangements and take items that might be meant for Christmas tree decorations and use them to make a beautiful centerpiece. The way that my mother can tell a story through decorating our house, to decorating parties, she can transform a room and make it beautiful.

Decor is another way that we can express ourselves. When choosing how you want to have your bedroom you want things that portray your personality. Some like a room that is aesthetically pleasing, while others like camouflage everywhere. Decor lets us tell a story without opening our mouths to speak. Decor has been important over the course of our history as well. From the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, The Effie’s Tower, and every important landmark around the world. Decor lets individuals stand out and separate ourselves from each other.…

Home Decorating Tips in 2018

They say clothes make the man. For buildings, the decor is the cloth that gives the building its character, over and above its form.

I work in a space where I’ve consciously made an effort to decorate. To make my space more comfortable to spend time in, more visually pleasing – more mine.  From time to time, I change this to suit the season, my current needs, interests, and even my mood. Why? I spend ten hours a day in this space. I need to feel that it is mine, and reflects who I am. It makes me happy and even gives a jolt to my creative output.

It’s true that the world is obsessed with personality. The whys of the things we do, and whether we can influence them to go our way. However, the nature versus nurture debate has never been conclusively answered. Therefore, parents will continue to surround their children with images of what they could become – what they would like them to be – whenever possible. A blue room for boys, and a pink room for girls… This is nurturing them – through decor – to make them ultra feminine, or ultra masculine, God forbid anything else… Stuffing a room full of toy soldiers and train sets,  and girls’ rooms with tiny utensils is a common manifestation of this. Of course, this gender stereotyping – though persistent – does not always work. Some of the most celebrated chefs in the world are men. Let the children choose what facets of their personality they wish to emphasize.

Since space, no matter how little, is a reflection of ourselves, workers will continue to add “imprints of themselves” on their spaces. Whether in the form of posters, potted plants, stickers what in essence would be knickknacks. They add no material value to space, but they do add an emotional and mental well-being component to it. Employees who are allowed to modify their workspaces are happier at work.

A number of studies have shown that something as simple as color can affect productivity, appetite and even peace of mind. Restaurants and eateries, for the most part, are aware of this. Therefore, you will frequently find red in their decor, in an effort to rouse and sustain your appetite. Hospitals, on the other hand, avoid red. It is not a restful color to be around. In fact, they actively favor hospital gardens to help speed up the healing process, because it has been scientifically proven to work. Many hospitals around the world are actively investing in gardens, in order to help their patients recover.

Employers also know this. This is why companies such giant companies as Google, and Amazon go out of their way to create a comfortable working space for their employees. The benefit is two way. If the employees are happy being there, their productivity and creativity will increase greatly. Some scientists in Psychology today have attempted to quantify this, and the figures they are throwing out 20%, 50% increased output is nothing to sniff at. Decor matters greatly. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.…

Decorating My First Apartment – Rugs, Paintings, Curtains, Etc.

From the moment I first opened the door to my apartment I immediately thought this wasn’t the place for me. The door only opened at a 90-degree angle; with the narrow hallway, it wasn’t possible for the agent and me to enter at the same time. To make matters worse, it was dark. Not dark because the lights weren’t on but dark because the apartment lacks natural lighting. On the front half of this oddly shaped apartment there are large windows but on the other half, the windows open to face concrete walls.

 

fall decorations

 

Although I’m delighted to have large windows on the side, opening the blinds for light means losing all the privacy I have inside. With the apartment being on the ground floor, everyone passing by this busy main street will then have a full view into my home. To make matters worse, the guest bedroom that I intend to rent is on the side if the apartment without windows and is also obscurely shaped; making it less appealing to renters. Despite the features that I couldn’t change, the location was superb and since apartments are rented out quickly I took my chances by agreeing to rent it.

Based on the decor of the apartment it was clear to see that the owner was an older person; due to the antique paintings that covered every inch of the walls and the flooring covered. The old dusty light fixtures did a better job constricting light than brightening the dark apartment. In the bedrooms, not even the bed sets looked like something that wasn’t bought within the last twenty years. The furniture was dated and not one piece matched to make a complete set. Even though I was the new tenant all of these aspects made me feel like it wasn’t my home. I knew I needed to do something in order to change this uncomfortable feeling I had while living there.

I started by removing everything in the apartment to start afresh; I removed excessively large pieces of furniture and all of the paintings on the wall. I looked through decor websites, saved multiple pictures and tips on Pinterest. Since I had a low budget I knew the way I truly desired to style my home wouldn’t be possible. However, I made the best out of it by shopping at lower priced stores such as Ikea. I also incorporated things I already owned from the previous places where I was living.

In the end, I now love my new home. There were a few things my budget didn’t permit me to change such as the light fixtures, and I obviously couldn’t do anything about the structure of the apartment. Nevertheless, the changes I made drastically changed the ambiance of the apartment. Removing all of the pictures on the wall managed to make the apartment to be seem brighter with the light now reflecting on clean white walls. I changed the blinds in the windows, I have access to all of the daylight I want without having to sacrifice my privacy.

 

There was one piece that I was able to incorporate into my apartment that added the perfect level of contrast and is the statement piece in the entire apartment, my rugged emerald green rug. The rug is used to identify the dining area in the petite space. Placed underneath the dining table this rug turned the open living room/kitchen space into three separate spaces as I wanted. This gives the impression of the apartment having more space, which is vital since I have to share a small apartment with someone else. My home is so cozy and comfortable to me now that anytime I have to leave, now feels like a burden.

 …

Home Decorating With Area Rugs

I’ve always found myself drawn to the medical field, this may be because I was always in the hospital.  I was a pretty clumsy kid.  In my adolescence, I would sport an injury nearly every week.  I’ve gotten less injury prone as I’ve gotten older, but I’m still not without the occasional trip on a flat surface.  In my lifetime, I have had two sprained wrists, 4 sprained ankles (3 on the left and one on the right), two broken wrists, two dislocated shoulders, one concussion, and an assortment of broken fingers and toes. Good thing I always had my love of western rugs to fall back on.

 

Let’s take a trip to 2009….So now we’re at my beloved elementary school, Minisink Valley.  I loved this place, everything about it was great, the urinals that reached all the way down to the floor, the gigantic playground full of dangerous obstacles for barely four foot tall 9-year-olds, not to mention that one teacher who gave out lollipops every time we answered a question correctly.  My elementary school truly was a gem like none other.

 

Anyway, It’s springtime, I’m at recess, my friends and I are running away from girls chasing us with barbies because well “coodies” were a very real and incurable ailment.  The swings were always our base, if we got there we were basically immune.  Out of nowhere a girl breaks from the pack and singles me out, so I make for the swings.  I’m running as fast as my legs can sprint, wind rushing through my buzz cut (my parents didn’t believe in paying for haircuts so they just gave me buzz cuts themselves…it was awful), and BAM I made it.  The girl leaves obviously defeated as she knows my newly gained immunity.  I’m pretty tired at this point after my 25-yard sprint so I plop down on the swings, and I swing.

 

Five minutes pass and the teacher calls us in, the only problem is I’m still swinging, and with no indication of slowing down; gravity has taken over at this point and I have absolutely no control.  I start brainstorming and come up with a solution.  “I’ll just jump”, yeah I’ll jump!  Won’t be too hard, and if I do it all my friends will think it’s super cool!  So I jump…. well more like fell really fast.  I didn’t take into account that there isn’t really a stable surface to jump from when your swinging at a velocity of 90 mph.  It all happened very quickly, but I remember standing up, looking at my wrist and thinking “that doesn’t look right”,  I immediately go to my teacher, she screams, this is not the response I was looking for.

 

I eventually end up in the nurse’s office whom also doesn’t present me with the reaction I wanted.  As soon as I showed her my hand she cringes and tells me to sit down, at which time she calls my mother.  I can go on and on about all of the adults from this point forward who saw my broken, swollen, oddly shaped wrist, but it would be a waste of time.  EVERY adult that saw my injury comforted me by cringing and mouthing “oooooooooffff”.  So yeah, not a great experience.  To my surprise, the only adult that didn’t give this type of reaction was Dr. Trap.  He just observed my wrist and moved my arm in positions so that he could better see the injury, there were no signs of dismay in his voice.  As he talked to me he kept it light and made this seem like a normal occurrence (which I’m sure it was for him).  This gave me comfort, and I relaxed.  He eventually gave me some anesthesia and set the wrist back in place, as well as put a hard cast onto my newly normalized arm.

 

The way Dr. Trap handled my injury amazed me, and I consider it to be a major factor in my decision to go into the medical field.  I plan on working in pediatrics and helping kids as injury prone to myself.  I’m excited about what the future may hold, and I hope I can touch the life of somebody like myself and inspire them to dedicate their life to also helping the clumsy people of this world.…

Southwest Rugs and Western Home Decor

Western Home Decor Basics

We stood in front of the door. Finally. We’d started at the Student enter, then gone to the dorm, where we were told we had to go to the housing office, which, as it happened, was locked. Eventually, frustrating adventure completed, we arrived back at what was going to be my home for the next two semesters. I fumbled with the key for a minute before managing to slide it into the lock, then grabbed the door handle. It didn’t turn. Fighting down my rising embarrassment and irritation, I tried turning it the other direction. Still no luck. Everyone knows that college is different from high school, but I had assumed that doors would still work the same. The riddle was soon solved however, and the door opened.

 

Southwest and Western Style Are One in The Same

Southwest and western style have long been intertwined. The foundations of the two are very similar. You can’t really have good western decor without having southwest rugs in your home. And vice versa, you can’t have good southwest home decor without a few western rugs.

 

My parents followed me inside, and my elation at mastering the door went to war against a sudden feeling of dread. The room looked like a jail cell. Beige block walls, two bare beds, and a few drab items of furniture greeted us silently. Even after we started unpacking, the place still felt uninviting and vaguely hostile.

The change came an hour or two after arrival. My mother and I pulled the bedding from the mountain of boxes and empty bags on my not-yet-arrived roommate’s bed. As soon as the brightly patterned comforter was spread out and in place, something about the room changed. I remember looking around and thinking, “I can live here.” Four and a half pillows and a rug later, the jail cell was transformed into a warm, inviting haven from the as yet unknown terrors of college.

 

The final, most meaningful touch came from my mother. With a mysterious smile, she handed me a gift bag that she had somehow managed to keep hidden and un-squished through the chaos of the day. When I opened the bag, I could barely speak. Inside was a framed drawing of me and my roommate, the artistic style instantly recognizable as that of our best friend Kate. The three of us had been best friends for years, but a little before my roommate and I went to school, Kate had moved out of the country. Having her art on our wall was like having a little bit of her with us, and made the room truly feel like home.

 

Since then, our room has been home to food fights, sleepovers, impromptu jam sessions, and countless late nights of homework. And through it all, it’s never once resembled the jail cell of those first few hours, thanks to a few pieces of color and cloth that became so much more.