Real Home ImprovementThe Home Improvement Blog with real advice

Living areas are for guests or friends the most important room of your house as it is what they will most probably spend the most time in (bedroom excluded as they will be asleep). Having a modern living space is one thing, and an eclectic one another, however for a living space to feel ‘homely’ then your best bet is to try and make one which is as cozy as possible to both you and your guests.

First of all it is important to decide for yourself how your living room is designed out right – so is it modern? With glass tables a corner sofa and 42″ LCD TV, or is it traditional with a big fabric lounging sofa wooden beams and traditional furniture? Your home might also be eclectic though with a mixture of both elements.

After you have decided this then there are a range of things you can do to make your living room more cozy. One of the best things for this is to use light dimmers to create a mood straight away and to also, where applicable, have a fireplace which is scuffed full of photographs and little ornaments which you may or may not have. Although more homely than cozy, this tip is built on the principle that your home should splash out your personality and not other peoples.

Scatter cushions and bean bags are also a great way to invite guests in to your home, and bean bags are actually highly looked upon by people as they usually associate them with childhood (thus bringing them at ease in a sense, a bit like a child does when they are content). Bean bags can be picked up at any home improvement store or there are a range of stores online which specialise in them.

Now lets talk colours: Cool light colors naturally enlarge the look of a space, and warm hues make a large space feel cozy and welcoming. Instead of painting or papering a living room in neutral or cool light colors, consult the warmer side of the color wheel and choose a color or a grouping of colors that will make the room feel warm and inviting. A rich shade of orange, amber or gold will help draw the walls inward while providing a cozy atmosphere to you and guests. Visit a local home improvement store, and take home sample jars of paint that will enable you to choose just the right colors to make your living room look as warm as it naturally feels.

Other ways in which you can make your living room more cozy are to have a fish tank, have a comfy and bouncy carpet, a fruit bowl ith plenty to offer, a magazine deck for all your newspapers and last but not least mirrors to put a visual perspective on how you look in your room.

Metal Sheds

There are many designs that you can put your home through – but one question always comes up within home improvement and home redesigns > Paint vs Wallpaper: Which suits your home best?

Of course there are many rooms in one house, with bathrooms obviously opting for paint over wallpaper for water damage reasons, but exactly what are the advantages and disadvantages of both materials and what can you do with them both?

Wallpaper Advantages

Wallpaper offers a huge variety of patterns to choose from as well as a huge selection of textures and colors which can be picked up at any home improvement shop or megastore. Plus, textured wallpaper can add more oomph to your walls which paints cannot offer (unless you get a professional painter which can be costly). Some new wallpapers even have beading, sequins, lace and ribbons that add more drama and style to a bare wall.

One of the main advantages to wallpaper is that it can easily hide holes in a wall or deep scratches which could have been caused from a variety of reasons. Also, if you are selling your home and have cracks in your plaster walls from general heating and cooling, a wallpaper session  can add new value to your sell.

Wallpaper is also your only option for fire damaged walls, unless the fire damage is light or you have arms of steel to get the soot off.

Wallpaper Disadvantages

The main disadvantage to all wallpapers is that they are horrible to clean and maintain as they (unless special wallpaper) soak up grease and stains quite easily. So if you have kids armed with crayons and chocolate covered hands your once beatiful wallpaper will quite simply become a mess.

Wallpaper can also be expensive, and the actual ‘putting it on’ time consuming if never done before. Wallpapaer generally also has a lower shelf life as they can fade under sun light.

Paint Advantages

Paint is a low maintenance, cheap and easy-to-apply interior treatment – Having painted walls means that you need not be so worried about maintaining and cleaning your walls. Most kinds of dirt and stains can easily be cleaned of a painted wall or when the stain does not come off completely, you can easily paint that area in the wall the same color to cover up the stain. While cover up stains and fixing unsightly marks on wallpaper can be quite difficult and expensive since you might have to remove one entire panel of wallpaper and replace it just because of a small stain.

Paint has a huge shelf life once applied, and if well maintained will last for years (ceiling paint excluded if you smoke as it will discolour due to nicotine stains).

Paint Disadvantages

Paint doesn’t really offer much texture or design and unlike wallpaper which can instantly create illusions, designs and texture where there are none, using paint to achieve the same effect can be a difficult task. If you want walls with flower designs without using wallpaper, you have to paint the flowers yourself which would take a lot of time and effort and usually only look crap anyway. You can also use stencils to paint designs although these designs would not be as detailed and flawless as those in printed wallpapers.

So which suits your home best? You now know the advantages and disadvantages to paint and wallpaper so take your pick . To be honest a mix of the two is always nice, and if you have a bedroom perhaps paint all round apart from the wall your beds headrest is on would be a good option.

All comments welcome.

The Cottage design is colourful and has a confortable feel to it. Perfect for the country

There are many different reasons you may want to renovate your living space and feel free to leave me your ideas in comments! And don’t forget to e-mail your latest pictures of home projects (I will put them up as a post!). I am currently trying to gain a few more followers on this blog and so if you have a Google e-mail account don’t forget to click follow on my sidebar .

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