Category: Design

We’d like to thank My Direct Blinds, from Melbourne Australia for allowing us to use their product imagery for this article.

Window shades offer numerous benefits for homeowners. From increased privacy to lower energy bills, window blinds can help improve every aspect of the home. There is also an option for motorized blinds that come in multiple styles which ensure the safety of your pets and children as well as being hassle-free. If you are curious about how those work check out The Blinds Source for motorized blinds in NYC. If you are contemplating installing window shades in your home, you should be aware of the many styles available. The best way to reduce the time it takes for you to find a style that is suitable for your home is to start by finding the most popular options. To help kickstart your effort, we’ve made a list of the nine top window blind styles for you to choose from.

Vertical Blinds

Vertical Blinds are ideal for large windows. The installation requires little to no experience, which is always helpful if you are looking to DIY. You can choose from different materials types such as blockout and light filtering fabrics.

The panels hang in a vertical position on a track. You can open and close the blinds with ease utilizing a twisting rod. And, once the blinds are opened, the panels will be folded neatly on the right and left sides of the window or have them all stack to one side. The idea is to make lighting and darkening easy, while keeping everything neat and tidy. Due to the ease of use, and small time it takes to open these blinds, they are great for allowing quick access to your sliding glass doors.

Roller Blinds

Roller blinds are definitely the most popular type of window treatments sold in Australia today. These shades are available in three fabric types: Blockout, Light Filtering and Sunscreen. They are known for their ease of use and cost effectiveness. Due to the relatively inexpensive manufacturing method and materials used to create the blind, they remain a top choice for homeowners. The blinds can easily be opened and shut by using the chain control, don’t forget roller blinds can easily be motorised and in doing so will not break the bank. Being a “sheet” of fabric, they will cover the entire window and blockout the most sunlight compared to all of the other blinds on our list. Consider adding Pelmets as in the product picture to increase to the look of your roller blinds, and help with heat regulation of the window.

Roman Blinds

Unlike vertical and roller blinds, Roman blinds are usually made from higher end fabrics. They are very stylish and popular. Having Roman blinds in your home definitely exudes a luxury look. A downside to Roman blinds is their high price tag. You should expect to pay more for Roman shades compared to vertical and roller blinds.

Roman shades are available in both room-darkening and light-filtering options. Depending on where the windows are located, the light-filtering option may work fine. However, if the window is in a critical part of your home such as a bedroom or theatre room, you should probably consider the room-darkening or blockout option.

Wooden Blinds

Timber is one of the most popular materials utilized to make window coverings. This material is stylish, available in a variety of colors and sizes, durable and beautiful. Wooden venetian blinds are made of hardwood, or a faux wood PVC timber look material. For the real timber venetian blinds, you should expect to pay a little extra. While you can purchase wood shades at most big box stores, your options may still be limited. Depending on the style of windows in your home, you may need to have them customized directly from the factory. Timber look blinds are a much more cost effective solution, because of PVC being a relatively inexpensive material. Venetian blinds are timeless classics, and were actually the first blind style that were invented. The horizontal slats can easily be opened and shut with the tilt of a wand, or lifted vertically, often people will opt for venetian blinds as an alternative to plantation shutters as they are similar in looks but without the heavy price tag.

Cellular Honeycomb Blinds

Another popular style is cellular honeycomb blinds, which is often used in bi-fold door blinds. This shade is very unique, offering both light-filtering and darkening options. They are available in an array of colors and can be customized to fit your windows directly from the factory. Honeycomb blinds will provide the least light gap when fitting into the recess, and are known for their great insulation rating, helping to reduce your energy bill. For these benefits though, you should expect to pay more for this type of window treatment.

Day and Night Blinds

There are two categories of ‘Day and Night’ blinds, they can either be regular double roller blinds, or zebra blinds. Both will let you have privacy during the day and night hence the name. With Double roller blinds, they will feature and blockout fabric for night time privacy, and either a light filtering or screen fabric on the other blind for your privacy during the day. Zebra blinds are a special type of roller blind that features a sheer fabric and blockout or dimout fabric running horizontally to each other but joined on the same fabric. There is a roller tube at the bottom and top of the blind that rotates the fabric around in a conveyor like motion, the “stripes” can be rotated to line up and provide blockout, or a clear view through to the outside hence the name ‘zebra blinds’. They can also be called transition blinds.

Panel Glide Blinds

Similar to vertical blinds, they feature a much larger ‘panel’ compared to the smaller slats of vertical blinds. These are considered a fresh and modern update to the time tested vertical blinds. Panel tracks are a great option for covering your larger width sliding doors due to ease of use, simply slide open the panels with minimal effort to access your high traffic doorways. Due to the nature of the panels and how they feature an overlap, there will be no light seepage between the panels such as that with venetian blinds or vertical blinds.

Plantation Shutters

Shutters are the priciest of all window treatment options, but definitely are becoming the most popular covering option in Australia at the moment. We’ve seen a resurgence of popularity after production of shutters has moved offshore, allowing them to compete with more traditional window blinds on price point. Large elliptical slats, give off a chic coastal vibe and will increase the value of any home. Shutters are the ‘mercedes’ of window blinds, just look at the product picture, it will speak volumes – more than we can explain in just words.

Curtains

Drapery and Curtains are another luxurious option to consider. Due to the time it takes to join fabric widths they take a long time to manufacture, but oh boy will you not be dissapointed. Curtains can also be used to layer over other products and add to your look.

A quality night’s sleep is crucial for development and growth, no matter the age. A lack of sleep can have serious influence on mood, school performance and obesity. Studies show that children who have inadequate sleep are more likely to develop depression and anxiety in later life, reduced concentration and increased risk of childhood obesity. The general guide for children’s sleep is that toddlers should achieve 12 hours sleep per night, 3-6-year olds need around 10-12 hours, 7-12-year olds should be getting 10-11 and teenagers should be snoozing for around 8-9 hours per night.

An optimal sleep environment is conducive to better sleep, so here are some top tips for designing a sleep-easy children’s bedroom:

Colour

Colour can evoke emotion; some are more calming whereas some are lively and fun. Pastel colours make a good choice as they are muted and generally calmer. Blue and pink both have calming effects, with blue lowering blood pressure and anxious feelings. Green is also a good choice as it is said to improve concentration and help you wake up refreshed. Try to stick to one wall of colour as this means you can change it easily as your child may grow to dislike it. It can cause anxiety when they begin to dislike their surroundings. A general rule is to stay away from red as it has associations with anger, also brighter colours such as orange can distract and over-stimulate children.

Light

Bright lights aid concentration but come bedtime they should be switched off. Warmer toned bulbs, dim lamps and night lights are more sleep inducing as they don’t contain ‘blue light’. Blue light stops melatonin production, halting sleep. If light is not required at all, darkness is best as it begins the sleep cycle. Turn off bright lights, overhead lights and keep the room screen free for the best sleep. Phones and TV’s can also be a distraction which stops the room being associated with sleep.

Storage

Cluttered rooms are less calming; a messy room is chaotic and distracts from sleep. Having ample storage will help stop this and encourage your child to keep their room tidy. Keep them involved and they are more likely to keep their room neat. If you introduce tidying as part of their routine to ensure their room stays clutter free.

Sounds

We can’t help outside noises that may keep us up at night, but we can block them out. Surprisingly it isn’t noise that disrupts sleep, it is inconsistency of noise. Having a white noise machine or playing quiet calming sounds will help your child stay asleep despite what is going on outside. It can also help soothe them into drifting off into a restful night’s sleep.

Temperature

Cooler temperatures work best, although we all love a cosy room. Body temperatures dips naturally at night, so keeping a cool room mimics this, helping the body to reach its optimal temperature faster and keep us asleep throughout the night.

Comfort

One of the most important things for a good night’s sleep is a good bed. Pay attention to the quality and the best rated mini crib mattress and bed frame, if your child is sleeping in an uncomfortable bed, they won’t be getting the best sleep possible. Take a look at children’s beds for sale from Room to Grow for a range of quality children’s beds. Making sure your child is happy in their bed is a huge part of improving their sleep quality.

As sleep is so important to a child’s growth, development and wellbeing, making some small changes to their bedroom in order to create an optimum sleeping environment will be well worth it in the long run.

Painting a space to make it look bigger requires that you have taken some steps to make the room cast shadows in a certain way.  You need to use certain colors to make the room look larger, and you have to work hard at painting in a way that will help to expand the little bit of space that you have.  The paint job that you do is only effective if you have planned it ahead of time. These few steps make it easier for you to get the results that you need.

1.  Checking The Size Of Your Space

Fox Transportable and demountable allows you to check the exact size of the room.  When you know this, you know how much work you need to put into make the room look larger.  Plus, you can see how the dimensions might be a little strange when you are trying to plan which paint to buy and how to use it.  

2.  Buy A Good Primer

Primer does not make your room look bigger, but it makes your paint more effective.  You need to get a primer that will make the wall completely white, and you can paint over that with a much richer color.  You can now plan to make the room look bigger because you know how long the room is and have a reliable color once you have painted.  

3.  Light At The End Of The Tunnel

You could paint the long walls in the room a darker color, and you can leave the far end of the room while.  It looks like the room is tapering to the color on the other end of the room. This makes the room look very long, and it will make you feel like you are in a cave.

4.  Paint On Wall In A Mural Or Pattern

Painting one wall in a pattern or mural is something that you have seen on TV, and it will make that backside of the room to look very large.  You are taking way the sinking feeling of four walls that are all the same color. That makes it much easier for you to feel like the wall is not so close to you.  

5.  Lighter Colors

Darker colors on all four walls are going to look very menacing, and that can make it very hard for you to be in the room because it almost feels like the room is getting smaller.  This can make it worse when you are trying to get to sleep because to room feels like a bubble that you cannot escape. Light colors make the room feel more open, and you will have an expanding cloud of space because the corners are not so defined and sharp.

The room that you are decorating should be treated with care because every decorating tip you use makes it look bigger, more interesting, and adds a lot of color that you need if you want to make the house more valuable.

Unique. Classic. A true beauty.

Most bedrooms have standard bed frames plus regular bedroom furniture that makes your bedroom space livable. For our mattresses, canopy, footboard, and headboard, we need support, and that is why bed frames are important. They have to be strong enough to hold all these, especially the mattress so it doesn’t move around when we sleep on it or start to sag in the middle. The regular bed frame designs we all know, are what we find in most bedrooms, hotels or guestrooms.

They would most likely be rectangular in shape. Then once in a while, we come across a design that is unique and specially designed for just the person. When we think about sleigh or sled, the first thing that comes to mind is snow, gliding through it more often than not, downhill while the wind whips our faces and we scream in delight. Afterward, it’s hot chocolate in front of a fireplace. Another thought it brings to mind is Christmas. We can just hear santa’s bells ringing as the reindeers pull his sleigh or sled through the sky with presents for those who have nice to other people all year.

Our beds happen to be the focal point in our bedrooms and there are different kinds of beds out there; we have, Trundle, Cabin, Divan, Canopy, Sleigh, Platform, Loft, Feather, Water, Bunk. Let’s focus on what a sleigh bed is.

Well, a sleigh bed is a style of bed with a curved or scrolled foot. Instead of a regular straight foot, it curves outward away from the bed like a ship’s bow plus the headboard is also curved or scrolled making it look like a sleigh or sled. The outcome is a uniquely designed bed frame that looks like a sleigh or sled. It can come in a single bed or double bed.

This bed frame is made most often with wood and can be quite heavy due to the amount of wood used to make the curved or scrolled foot and headboard design. Other materials can be used to make a sleigh or sled bed, they are iron, steel, aluminum. These other materials can be used to make the sleigh bed, but metal is prone to warping so the most common and popular is wood.

It is a result of the American empire which is a French-inspired neoclassical style of American furniture and decoration. It became popular in the 1820’s. The sleigh or sled bed piece of furniture draws its inspiration from the styles of the Roman and Greek periods. Those periods featured furniture made from heavy wood which could be vanished and was very common with the Greeks.

The option of a canopy or drapes to match over the bed which gives so privacy or just block out the sun from your face when it is rising depends on individual taste and style. Some people would prefer a more visible design from the late 19th century American Empire which spots a large headboard design that goes as high as two-three feet over the frame resembling a cupboard.

Most sleigh or sled bed frames look feminine in design but are still quite heavy in structure. They might have clean straight lines which give the illusion of lightness while still maintaining the defining characteristics of the design, but this is not quite the case as most sleigh or sled beds have a pretty heavy structure.

The choice of which room to place this bed frame depends on each individual. Although most sleigh beds are found in master bedrooms, you could trill your guest and place it in your guestroom and also in your kids’ room. For kids’ rooms, try turning it up a notch by painting it in some bright colors that children love. perhaps pink, purple, yellow for girls and blue or green for boys.

There is also the question of if this sleigh or sled bed style would fit in contemporary designs as it comes across as a rustic, earthy design? The answer is yes. The sleigh or sled bed is a versatile design which blends in with any modern design of your choice. This contemporary bed frame has a great classic design that is comfortable to sleep in and very cozy. They are designed with ample space underneath the bed which can be used to store blankets, throws, beddings, linens, and even extra pillows. If the storage space underneath the bed is not in use, it can be used to store your luggage.

Although most people would opt for the storage space underneath to have a couple of drawers they could use, there is also the option of the drawers having wheels so they could get to clean under the bed as often as they want to, also make it easier to pull out and push in the drawers.  

Moving over to mattresses for a sleigh or sled bed, well any mattress size works for this bed frame, it all boils down to individual choice and the bed frame size. Do you want a queen, king, full, twin? Get any mattress size you want; the sleigh bed frame can be made in any of these sizes to suit your taste plus the bed slats underneath the mattress are very strong and will hold up your bed from sagging.

We know the need to stick with the comfortable and familiar, so most people decide on the standard bed frame for their bedrooms. Well, now you have the choice of a bed frame that will stand out in your home when seen by others. It gives your bedroom as kind of artistic feel, it takes you back to the times of castles, warriors and fair maidens. The bed gives you a sense of being held in its frame as the footboard is scrolled towards you. There is without a doubt the sleigh bed is a unique and beautiful design which brings comfort and elegance to your bedrooms.