Techniques to Paint Your Wall

Do your walls seem dull and uninviting? Do you long for a cozy, welcoming room? Consider decorative wall painting techniques, such as sponging, ragging, stenciling or stamping. Even if you have no experience, you can brighten even the dullest room quickly and cheaply with one of these easy decorative wall painting techniques.

Before painting your room, pick out a color scheme for your walls. When you chose your paint, remember that many painting techniques use two shades of one color. If you are using one of the techniques that does use two shades of color, you can pick a darker color than you normally would chose for your base color, since the lighter top color will make the final result much lighter.

To sponge or rag a wall, paint on your base color and let it dry thoroughly. Then, dip your sponge or rag into the lighter paint color and sponge or drag the lighter color over the base coat until you are satisfied with the effect. If you are unhappy with your final result, you can repaint any areas that you don’t like with the base coat. Once the repainted area is dry, repeat the faux painting technique.

If you are considering using a decorative painting technique such as stenciling or stamping, you may just want to create a wallpaper effect by stamping or stenciling a simple design over your base coat. However, you may want to go a step further with your project and use stencils or stamps to create a faux brick or stone wall. You don’t need to be an artist to create one of these faux finishes. Just follow these simple steps. First, paint the walls with the color you chose for the mortar between the bricks or stones. Once the base coat is dry, stamp or stencil your bricks or stones over the base coat. Once the brick or stonework is dry, spatter a bit of the darker color over your faux art to give it depth and make it appear more realistic.

Creating faux effects such as making your walls look like they are made of plaster or suede can also really make your room stand out. You can easily learn how to create these seemingly difficult finishes at your local paint store. Paint bases that automatically give a suede or textured effect to the walls are a shortcut that even artists use to create fun finishes.

Finally, no matter which decorative wall painting technique you choose, remember that it is just a few layers of paint. You can always redo the finish on your walls as you learn more about the art of decorative painting.

Home Decoration is about Art

If you would have your rooms interesting as well as beautiful, make them say something, give them a spinal column by keeping all ornamentation subservient to line.

Before you buy anything, try to imagine how you want each room to look when completed; get the picture well in your mind, as a painter would; think out the main features, for the details all depend upon these and will quickly suggest themselves. This is, in the long run, the quickest and the most economical method of furnishing.

There is a theory that no room can be created all at once, that it must grow gradually. In a sense this is a fact, so far as it refers to the amateur. The professional is always occupied with creating and recreating rooms and can instantly summon to mind complete schemes of decoration. The amateur can also learn to mentally furnish rooms. It is a fascinating pastime when one gets the knack of it.

Beautiful things can be obtained anywhere and for the minimum price, if one has a feeling for line and colour, or for either. If the lover of the beautiful was not born with this art instinct, it may be quickly acquired. A decorator creates or rearranges one room; the owner does the next, alone, or with assistance, and in a season or two has spread his or her own wings and worked out legitimate schemes, teeming with individuality. One observes, is pleased with results and asks oneself why. This is the birth of good taste.

Treat your rooms like "still life," see to it that each group, such as a table, sofa, and one or two chairs make a "composition," suggesting comfort as well as beauty. Never have an isolated chair, unless it is placed against the wall, as part of the decorative scheme.

Wall Pictures can Lengthen, Broaden, Heighten Any Room

The Basic Role of Pictures
Wall art plays an important role in interior design as it helps create the ambience of a room. By cleverly placing wall pictures in certain ways, you can change and create a new look and feel in a room.

The role wall pictures play in interior design are:-

• pictures, mirrors or other ornamental accessories on walls help make the room look 'lived in' and they also inject your personality into the room;
• color pictures and prints help connect with the rooms accent;
• pictures help absorb noise in a room, otherwise a room with totally bare walls will sound empty and will have an echo;
• pictures and prints can help enhance or change a room's 'look and feel'.

How to Lengthen a Room
If you have a small room in your house, you can easily achieve the illusion of length. This can be done in two ways. If you like bold statements then simply paint a couple of horizontal lines in a bold color across the middle of the wall in which you want to lengthen. These lines then naturally create the illusion of increased length in the room. An alternative way to do this, and a more subtle way, is to use pictures.

By strategically placing art pictures or photographs with any kind of strong horizontal line in the print, can accomplish the illusion of length. For example, if you chose two or three long rectangular pictures with horizontal panoramic prints such as ocean & beach pictures, fields, or scenic mountain pictures, then this will help extend the length of the room naturally.

Two, three or more of these horizontal landscape pictures will give the maximum impact you are looking for to help lengthen a small room. Also bear in mind not to overdo the room with furniture. Too much clutter makes a room appear smaller.

How to Broaden a Narrow Room
If you have a room which is a bit on the narrow side, there is a simple strategy to make the room appear broader. All you need is a tin of paint, a wall mirror and a large colorful wall picture.

Get your tin of paint, which should preferably be a darker contrasting color to your other walls, and paint one of the walls with this darker paint. Find a colorful and lively large painting and hang it on the wall you have just painted - colorful flower pictures are ideal for this.

On the wall adjacent to your picture, hang a decorative large mirror. What has happened here is that the mirror reflects on the large picture, and the additional darker color on the wall has immediately given the room some much-needed depth. This combination will then make the room appear wider.

By adding these simple additions to your narrow room, you have instantly created a balance in the room's dimensions giving the sensation of additional space.

How to Heighten a Low Ceiling
Rooms with low ceilings give an oppressive feeling, whereas rooms with a high ceiling give a light and airy feel with a large amount of space. To overcome the problem of a low ceiling, there are a couple of interior design strategies to use.

First of all put down a darker floor covering, whether it be a wooden floor, carpet or lino. Paint the walls with a lighter color than the floor, or use light colored wallpaper. If you can, use white paint for the ceiling as this always gives the room maximum light and instantly draws the eyes upwards.

Hang up wall pictures with strong vertical lines as this then gives the impression of height. Use portrait prints such as vertical landscapes, i.e. lighthouses, trees, cityscapes, or floral prints such as flowers in a vertical vase or tall long stem roses. Therefore, by combining the dark floor, light walls and ceiling and portraits prints, all adds to the sense of height in a room.

Summary
Art pictures and prints play an important role in home decorating for several reasons. They do not only reflect and put your own personality into the room, but they can also help as a solution to change the look and feel of a room by giving the illusion of height, width and length. This can easily be achieved by combining wall pictures, contrasting colors and decorative mirrors.

Bed Designs to Maximize Your Interior Decorating Space

Vertical and functional space planning is two of the most overlooked areas in most household’s interior design layout. In this article we'll discuss how to double the functional space in the bedrooms of your house.

Think Vertical
Effective space planning and interior design requires that you plan in three dimensions - so start thinking about the space above your head and higher up on the walls. There are great functional bedding and storage solutions you can use to easily double your floor space in a bedroom and its functional storage space.

Futons for The Guest Rooms
Why waste the functionality and floor space of a designated guest room when it can normally operate as your den or library? When guests are expected, simply fold down the futon and make it into your guest bedroom.

Loft Beds for Older Children
Loft beds are excellent functional solutions for older children that also want to use their bedroom as a social hangout or study room. A loft bed allows you to place a sofa or study desk underneath the bed. This also creates a great atmosphere under the bed that is private and quiet.

Bunk Beds for The Youngsters
When there is more than one child in a bedroom bunk beds are a logical solution for using more of the vertical space available in a room, and also creates more space on the floor for playtime.

Murphy Beds for Studios and One Bedroom Apartments
Murphy beds are a great bed design to incorporate when space is on limited supply. Installing a Murphy bed will instantly open up the room floor space. In small apartments, installing a Murphy bed can have the effect of feeling like you've just added another entire room! Murphy beds are also a great option for adding to dens or studies to create a guest room.

High Platform Beds for More Storage
Platform beds are becoming very common now as bed designers switch from using bulky box springs to sleeker and more durable platform supports for bed designs. The old space of a box spring easily creates another vertical foot of potential storage space under your bed. For a regular king size bed, this will create an additional 42 square feet of storage space under the bed.

Air Beds for Emergency Guest Rooms
If your spare rooms in the house are dedicated to other functions that you really don't want to give up, then consider getting an airbed to use when having house guests stay over. Air beds are portable, inflate quickly, and have good support and functionality. You can also get air beds that quick inflate themselves from a small duffel bag.

Trundle Beds
Trundle beds are great to have in kids rooms to pull out for sleepovers and can operate as a second temporary bed if the need arises. When not in use it simply slides back under the bed. If you have a trundle bed then you can free up more space in your storage room by getting rid of any fold out cots or beds.

Day Beds
Day beds are a functional bedding alternative that also creates a sitting area during the day. Great for apartments, girl’s rooms, or dens and guest rooms.

Captain's Beds
To maximize storage space in your child's room consider a captain bed. With so many drawers under the higher bed frame you can do away with separate dresser drawers to free up more floor space.

Decorating Your Kitchen by Adding Bakers Racks

Many items a person can add to the kitchen are stylish and functional. Bakers racks fit this description nicely. This kitchen furniture has been seen in homes for decades and their popularity is increasing all the time. Bakers racks can be used for extra storage space and to brighten up a lonely corner. Uses for them seem endless.

Some are hand-painted with beautiful designs, including flowers. The detailed work on some bakers racks is one of many appealing features they have. Lovely curved frames and many have pine shelves with a charming finish to them. A bakers rack is one accessory in your kitchen that will be used quite frequently.

The space that bakers racks add to a kitchen is really amazing. One can store pots and pans, along with other kitchen utensils. Serveware, cookbooks and houseplants have been seen on many of them to. Need to store bottles of your favorite wine? No problem, many are made with wine holders in a convenient place.

Other features include:
• roomy drawers for holding kitchen gadgets, etc.
• extra space behind double doors
• adjustable metal shelves
• top cantilevered shelf
• utility bar and hooks

Bakers racks also can be used for extra counter and food preparation space. For kitchen use or with many stylish features can be used in the dining area to. Many small homes and apartments can benefit with a bakers rack. Where space may be limited they are a welcome addition. Have kids in college living in the dorm? May be just what they need for more compact storage space.

Bakers racks for the kitchen and more really make sense. With many features, they have become a must have item. Online buying is easy with many descriptive pictures to help in selecting the right one.

Decorating Walls using Stencils

Painting walls in various colors is a quick and easy way to decorate any room in your home. But when you're looking for something a bit more artistic and unique, you might try your hand at stenciling.

Stencils come in a variety of forms: Simple geometric shapes to elaborate scenery. Really good stencils can actually reproduce famous paintings and designs too.

A simple room decoration stencil pattern to start with is borders. Stenciling borders can be done in addition to existing wallpaper, or as a replacement. Stenciled borders can be repeated geometric designs, or more detailed repeating patterns such as vines, flowers or leaves. Borders can also be placed at the top of a wall, the bottom, or in dead center for variating effects and design influences.

Stencils allow you to create friezes as well. This is done simply by starting with a strong contrasting color at the top, and carried downward through gradually fading tints until they are lost in the general color of the wall.

There once was a pink and silver room belonging to a young girl, where the salmon-pink walls were deepened in color at the top into almost a tint of vermilion which had in it a trace of green. It was, in fact, an addition of spring green dropped into the vermilion and carelessly stirred, so that it should be mixed but not incorporated. Over this shaded and mixed color for the space of three feet was stencilled a fountain-like pattern in cream-white, the arches of the pattern rilled in with almost a lace-work of design. The whole upper part had an effect like carved alabaster and was indescribably light and graceful.

This is an example of very delicate and truly artistic treatment of stencil-work, and one can easily see how it can be used either in simple or elaborate fashion with great effect.

Irregularly placed floating forms of Persian or Arabic design are often admirably stencilled in color upon a painted wall; but in this case the colors should be varied and not too strong. A group of forms floating away from a window-frame or cornice can be done in two shades of the wall color, one of which is positively darker and one lighter than the ground. If to these two shades some delicately contrasting color is occasionally added the effect is not only pleasing, but belongs to a thoroughly good style.

One seldom tires of a good stencilled wall; probably because it is intrinsic, and not applied in the sense of paper or textiles. It carries an air of permanency which discourages change or experiment, but it may take a bit of practice to do well.

Three Essential Element of Tuscan Style Decorating

If Under the Tuscan Sun left you breathlessly and hopelessly in love with tuscan style decorating you’re certainly not alone. The rolling hills and the call of the earth itself seem to have imparted their presence into the psyche of those who either read the book or saw the movie.

This growing trend in tuscan style decorating is similar to the which-came-first theory of the chicken or the egg.

Whichever the answer, the results are genuinely inspirational. Images of our direct connection to the earth itself are born and spark a craving for the proximity of familiar faces.

In tuscan style decorating we are able to reflect our passion for that connection to the earth and to what is real.

All that which is old and forgotten becomes new and significant again.

Elements of tuscan style decorating incorporate the outdoors within the inside confines of where we live. You don’t have to be outside to commune with nature. It instead communes in harmony with the life inside our homes.

Colors in tuscan style decorating
Warmth and intensity ... just as in fine Italian coffee fills the vivid color palette of this style. The earth’s hues in ranges from blistering yellow like the sun itself to the concentrated gold’s like those she hides in her furthermost crevices are used throughout this theme. Intense shades of russet and chocolate are likewise incorporated abundantly with prominent amounts of terra cotta.

Other earth tones are likewise blended in tuscan style decorating harmony. Include expressions of coal black, deep pool or lake blue, and olive with hints of sea green in combination with generous amounts of rusty reds for added spice.

Stone in tuscan style decorating
When it comes to home décor, this style is literally the salt of the earth. Natural stones and rocks from the earth itself bear this evidence. Even bricks, which are made by man, begin with clay and other elements of the earth.

Stone is used in tuscan style decorating very effectively in kitchens and in bathrooms. Other places where it makes a powerful statement are in fireplace surrounds and hearts as well as in foyers and other entrances. Creating a faux stone wall adds an immediate tuscan air to any room.

Before choosing stone for your tuscan style decorating project, know the physical qualities of any stone you’re considering. Before you decide which stone to use where to use it, you need to know its limitations. The three most commonly used stones are granite, limestone and marble.

Granite - strong, long-lasting and heat-resistant. This stone creates a stunning tuscan style decorating focal point, but is expensive.

Limestone - natural in appearance, but very absorbent and stains easily. It is typically used in flooring and for shower interiors but is not recommended for areas that receive frequent traffic.

Marble - soft and porous, unsuitable for kitchen countertops, recommended for bathrooms and floors. Use unpolished to best compliment this theme.

Metal in tuscan style decorating
True to the concept existing in harmony with the earth, the idea in tuscan style decorating is to appreciate the natural. Instead of using highly polished metals that have a shiny appearance, you’ll be incorporating metals from the past.

Select basic tin pieces to create a feeling of genuineness. If you’re creative, you may even want to try your hand at making your own tin tuscan style decorating accessories. You can go as basic or bold as you like from doing a simple picture frame to a tin insert for an antique cabinet.

Mix in other unpolished metals like copper, iron and pewter as well for dramatic effects.

Heritage and Personal Decorating Style for Your Home

Ethnic traditions, customs, and attitudes carry forward our family values. Paying tribute to family heritage and tradition also gives our children a strong sense of family ties. Our roots make us what we are, and showing respect for ancestral traditions gives the interior of your home a special individuality.

Vernacular Heritage
Regional architecture, called the vernacular, designs structures to harmonize and blend with the environment. Designed to reflect the past, using historical influences, vernacular houses complement rather than dominate their settings. These homes recreate the traditional neighborhoods of the past with a strong sense of place.

Many vernacular structures provide friendly zones and foster a relaxed lifestyle. For instance, Santa Fe stucco and adobe block homes often have central courtyards. Friendly porches customarily found on Florida cracker houses invite neighborly chats. Key West’s wood-framed "conch houses" and North Carolina’s "low country" houses feature broad verandahs and large windows to take advantage of the area’s cooling breezes.

Vernacular homes provide sheltering transitional space from the outside to the inside, but homes without such transitional spaces can benefit greatly when structural or landscaping details are added to bring the private interior space of the home into harmony with the outside world. If your home lacks a covered entry, consider adding a wood or iron framework or an awning to create a feeling of protection and shelter.

Ethnic Influence on American Architecture and Furnishings
Since Americans have always constructed houses that mimicked their native homelands, it’s not surprising that Italian and Mediterranean villas, grand English country houses, and simple French farmhouses can be found across the United States. From the earliest days of our nation, Americans have taken design details from all over the world and copied, adapted, and redesigned their ethnic patterns and furnishings.

Patterns originating in Africa, such as animal prints and intricate geometrics, have been duplicated in many ways. Mexican antiques, Danish and Swedish furniture, and Oriental-influenced accessories have intermingled in our homes. From New England Cape Cods to Santa Fe adobes, our diverse heritage has influenced American architecture and interior design, while log cabins, rustic western interiors, and American folk art have suggested distinct American origins.

Style and Emotional Ambience
Style is the end decorating result of the combination of detail characteristics reminiscent of an era, an artistic movement, or a particular region, such as the Victorian era, Art Nouveau period, or Midwestern Prairie style. Mood or emotional ambiance is the personal interpretation of style to evoke feelings, whether they are cleanly slick, elegantly formal, cozily informal, or romantically eclectic.

Architectural Styles: Structure and Furnishings
Rooms all of one period or style are best left for museums or exhibitions. Eclectic rooms mix furnishings from different periods, such as a contemporary sofa, a silver maple Chippendale side table, and a gilded Louis XVI mirror. The beautiful and the bizarre, the exquisite and the commonplace, mixed with frivolity and delight, create joyful homes.

Architectural style may refer to a structure or to a type of furnishing. Mixing period styles with today’s lifestyles is called New Traditionalism. Combination of styles with a light– hearted flair create elegant, unpretentious rooms. A few grand pieces, interspersed with simple furnishings, will bring informality to an otherwise stodgy home.

Architectural style also influences interior design. Understand the architectural style of your home and use it as a reference point for your decorating. In my own case, our modern furniture looked totally out of place in our 1878 home, so we traded our glass dining table for a traditional wood one, and replaced a modular sofa with a squishy antique one.

Some Victorian homes look magnificent when furnished with contemporary furniture, but this is harder to accomplish than the reverse, which is a contemporary house, furnished with antiques. Grand old houses decorated with modern furnishings look better with plain, simple wall finishes and un-frilled window coverings.

Juxtaposing styles from your heritage with other styles that suit your fancy makes for interesting rooms and homes. Not all rooms in your home need to incorporate the same style, but some blending from room to room ensures harmony. Mixing heritage styles according to those who share your home also creates a harmonizing aura.

Your Personal Style
If you have a strong affinity for a particular architectural style, incorporate it into your total design plan. Encourage respect for your family traditions by surrounding yourself with ethnic furnishings and family heirlooms. Any style can be adapted to your way of living, whether it’s serenely sleek, traditionally formal, or casually informal, by either dressing up or paring down your decorating embellishments.

Change and Decor Bathroom in Quick and Easy Way

Are you tired of the way your bathroom looks? Don't feel bad, a lot of folks are in the same boat. The bathroom is one room in the home that can look drab and run down very easily. And what if you don't have an unlimited budget to make changes in the fixtures and plumbing? Well take heart, there is lots that you can do for very little money that will totally and radically improve the decor of your bathroom.

One of the biggest problems with bathrooms is their tendency to get cluttered. You know, towels hanging all over the place, bath products on top of the vanity and on the shower floor, and things like that. So if you really want to make a 100% improvement in your bathroom, clean up the clutter.

Fortunately, that is very easy to do and inexpensive. If you go to any store, you will find plenty of organizer products for use in the bathroom. They are also very cheap. So get some of them and start to install them so that the most used products and items are within easy reach of wherever they would be used in the bathroom. If you make the storage spot convenient most people will continue to put it back in its place after they use it. If you make the storage spot even a little difficult to access, you will see those items left all around wherever someone finds a spot for it.

Next, get some extra towel racks and install them so that there is a towel holder within easy reach of almost anywhere in the bathroom. Extra towel holders mean that even used towels can have a spot to be hung up instead of just left lying over the tub or shower stall door. Another advantage decor-wise of having extra towel bars is that you can use some of them to put up fancy towels for show that will really pick up the appearance of the room and highlight the colors that you used in your bathroom design.

Another simple and easy change to the appearance of any bathroom is the flooring. If you don't like what you see, change it. Fortunately, most bathroom floor spaces are fairly small and so not much material is needed. There are several options that you can choose from including vinyl sheets, ceramic tile, or vinyl tile squares. If you want simple and easy, stick-on vinyl tiles are probably the way to go. You can get them at a local Home Improvement store and they are usually very inexpensive too, and you can get some great looking designs that look very close to actual ceramic tile at a casual glance. Armed with a small cutter to trim the tiles when needed or shape them around an object on the bathroom floor, you are ready to go. If you make a mistake, peel up that tile, throw it away and use another one. Simple and easy!

Finally, buy some new towels for the bathroom. Get some great new colors and designs that are eye-cathcing and pleasing. Again, not much money invested for lots of return in visual appeal.

Change out the door knobs on your vanity and closet, and change the shower curtain and rings if you have one.

Just a few of these inexpensive changes in a bathroom can go a long way to changing that tired, old, cluttered, bathroom into one that makes you proud to show it off, and a pleasure to use.

How to Decorate Kids Bedroom?

Wall Decorations
Never place a wall hanging, picture, poster, or any other decoration on the wall within the baby’s reach. Remember that once the baby is able to stand and reach up these things can be hazards. They can knock wall hangings or pictures off the wall, and hit themselves with them. If it is a picture in a frame with glass, if they were to knock it down, it could break and shatter, causing severe health hazards. If it is something as simple as a poster, it can still be dangerous, because they can rip off a piece of it, and put it in their mouth, leading to choking.

Bumpers
It is always a good idea to use bumpers for a baby’s bed, but it is equally important to make sure that the bumper and all other kids bedding fits the crib properly. Bumpers are used to prevent the baby from getting their arms and legs between bars, or between the crib and mattress, and can provide much safety this way, but if it does not fit properly, it can pose more concerns than before, because not only will it allow the baby to get these appendages in these places, it can essentially pin them there.

Musical Mobiles
These are excellent tools on occupying your baby, and adding decoration to the bedroom, but they need to be used in a safe manner. Once a baby begins pushing up on their hands and knees, the mobile should be placed at the baby’s feet, and once they start pulling up, it can pose a strangulation hazard, so you may want to remove it altogether.

Pillows, Blankets and Kids Bedding
Babies only need one lightweight blanket on them while they are sleeping, such as a receiving blanket. The blanket should only reach as far as their chest, and it should be tucked in tightly around the baby, possibly either around the crib. They do not need pillows or extra blankets. A pillow or an extra blanket can suffocate a child, especially an infant that cannot move his head away quickly enough. This also applies to stuffed animals in the crib.

Crib Sheets
It is very important that the only sheet you put on a crib be a fitted sheet, and that it fits securely around the mattress. If the elastic won’t hold it on, and it comes loose and slides up onto the bed, it can get tangled around the child and suffocate her.

Washing all kids bedding
Do not forget to wash all sheets and blankets before putting the infant in the bed. They can be washed in regular laundry detergent, but to avoid any allergies or irritants on baby’s soft skin from it, sometimes it is best to use baby detergent.

Infants should always sleep in a crib which meets current federal and ASTM standards.

Mattress
It is also important to pay close attention to how the mattress fits into the crib. The tighter it fits, the better it is, because this leaves less room for them to stick a hand or finger, or any other body parts. Crib mattresses may seem rather hard to an adult who is accustom to a soft bed to sleep on, but they are made this way for a reason: safety. This keeps them from suffocating themselves, and is the same reason it’s never good to let an infant sleep on an adult’s bed, or on a pillow, or even a comforter. The only thing that should be under the baby on a mattress is a fitted sheet, and possibly a mattress pad and/or waterproof pad.

Sleeping Position
A healthy infant should always sleep on their back, unless you are directed otherwise by a physician. Even without a pillow or fluffy blanket in the bed, a baby on their stomach can get stuck face-down and not be able to move their head to the side to get air, leading to suffocation.

Mini Blinds and Curtains
Just as with wall hangers and pictures, it is very important not to ever place a baby’s bed near a window with mini blind or curtains. The cord from mini blinds pose a strangulation risk and they can pull on curtains, pulling themselves out of the crib. Either of these can also cause endangerment if the baby pulls on it hard enough to pull it down on top of them.

Decorating Your Space with Wall Pictures

How to Decorate your Space with Wall Pictures
If a room in your house lacks character, by simply placing some fine art prints on the walls can actually make quite an impact. Wall pictures are a necessary accessory in your home and are great to tie in with the room's style and color accent. Before you go off to buy some new pictures for your walls there are a few things you need to plan and decide upon. Here is a home interior design guide on how to decorate your space with wall art.

Shop for Wall Art by Room
The kind of home you have and the mood, ambience and style of decor you create, should be perfectly designed to suit your lifestyle. Deciding on a style for your room should be determined by the lifestyle you choose and not by what's the latest home interior design trend.

Whichever room you want to decorate, whether it is your bedroom, living area, kitchen or office space, you need to decide what you want to get out of that space. For example:
• Do you want to hold dinner parties or entertain?
• Do you want a quiet retreat to get away from the hustle and bustle?
• Is this an area for the kids to play in?
• Is this a room for your hobby?

Once you have decided what you want to use the room for, you can now choose a color theme to suit the function of the room. For example, mellow greens and neutrals for your 'quiet retreat room', lively yellow for the kid’s room, or pale tranquil blue for your office space.

So far we have established the function and color of the room in question, this then gives us the basis on choosing the right art prints for the area. For example:
• bright colorful cartoon pictures for the kids room
• mellow pastel floral pictures for your quiet retreat area, or
• tranquil landscape and scenic pictures for your office space

Choose your Style
Like paint color, artwork can immediately establish or change a room's mood. Not only can it pull the room together, but you can use it to create a style uniquely your own.
• traditional & classic
• modern
• contemporary
• fun & entertaining
• casual
• romantic

The style of the room is totally dependent on your own personal taste and this is the time when you can inject your own personality into the room through artwork and textured accessories.
Suggested art picture styles:

Fun & Entertaining: Pictures can include bright colors both in the print and on the frame. Fun and entertaining pictures can include kittens and puppies, or comedian actors such as the Three Stooges or Laurel & Hardy.
Modern: With the strong black accents in the framed iron-work and the tapestries, striking black and white photos are a natural choice for a modern and sophisticated look.
Calm Retreat: To reinforce the mood of a nestled, cozy retreat, use artwork with neutral, earthy colors and a horizontal landscape subject.

You can even mix and match different styles to create a unique style of your own. For example, frame traditional black and white photo prints in a modern black iron frame.

Arranging and Hanging your Pictures
In order to get the maximum effect of your wall pictures in terms of adding character and a focal point to the room, you need to decide where and how you want to hang them.

Here are some suggestions to help you decide how to get the best effects from your pictures:
Modern Gallery Look: To create a modern art gallery feel, particularly nice in hallways, lobbies and stairwells, give each piece ample breathing room. Stand at the center of the first piece and take one swift, or two small steps along the wall. This is a good center for the next piece.
Above a Sofa: When placing art above furniture such as a sofa, you need to hang the picture about six to nine inches above the sofa, or at eye level.
Cluster Arrangements: Tightly group an even number of pictures together to give a statement or a focal point. This works on either large or small wall spaces, depending on the look you want.
In a row: By placing an odd number of pictures in a horizontal line to each other gives balance and the sense of space. This works well in hallways or stairwells.

By deciding where and how to hang your pictures, whether it be a tight cluster or a single print above a sofa, you can then determine the size and shape of the pictures you need to buy.

When you have decided on the room's function, color and style, you are in a much better position to go shopping for wall pictures that fit in with the overall theme.

Summary
Wall pictures are an underestimated home interior design accessory. This is probably because most people do not know what to do with their pictures in order to get the maximum effect in a room. Before you go hanging up your pictures make sure you plan ahead what you want to get out of that room. Decide on the function, style and color of the room first before you buy your artwork. By doing this you are in a much better position to buy the right type of art picture to fit in with the theme and color accent of your room.