You may have reached a point where you’ve grown tired of your current surroundings, your tastes or trends have changed, or perhaps your friends joke about the lava lamps and beaded curtains still adorning your private sanctuary. Regardless of your budget or decorating skills, there are some things you can do that will give new life to your bedroom.

Home stagers and designers are skilled at transforming rooms that are more inviting because they know how to get the most out of arranging their client’s heirlooms, cherished treasures, and furniture. Finding new ways to display objects or finding new purposes for pieces are just a few tricks of the trade.

You can do the same and here are 5 ideas to help you get started:

1 De-clutter – The best thing you can do for yourself is to periodically go through your room to remove unneeded or unwanted objects. If you haven’t used, read, or worn something for at least a year, get rid of it, find a new use for it, or give it to charity. Having some sense of order has a psychological affect on how we feel about ourselves. If the task seems too daunting, tackle only small areas at a time and eventually you will have a de-cluttered space. If your time is limited or you really need help in this department, find an organizational professional to help you with this task.

2 Decorative Accessories – Arranging accessories is a true art. Visit your favorite stores to study their displays and take note of how they use color, variety, and texture to create an interesting arrangement. To set up a table display, start with the tallest or largest object first. Add medium and smaller sized pieces. The trick is to arrange objects that will lead the eye from the larger items to the medium and smaller items and then to the table surface. Overlap pieces or set lamps on top of objects to give more height and depth to the arrangement. This creates a visually interesting display. If there is a wall display behind the table, have the larger or more vertical pieces tie into those items. Using similar shapes and hues creates unity. Be careful not to use too many accessories, as the affect can be overwhelming.
3 Color – Replace pillows, artwork, lampshades, and accessories in a different or fun color to freshen up your overall color scheme. Use colors that make YOU happy. We all know that color can affect mood so pay attention to your body’s response to different colors. There’s a reason you are drawn to certain colors so why not use them in one of the most important rooms in the house? Find items around your home to use or seek out decorative accents that will enhance the look. Color can come from many sources including lighting, which can affect colors in the room in unexpected ways. Use an interesting chandelier or candles for ambiance.

4 Update Your Current Bedding – Bedding today is all about layering. Add a quilted coverlet and shams. This adds texture and some volume to your bedding, making it cozy and inviting. Change or add decorative pillows or shams in new colors for interest. If you own a really fabulous pillow, purchase bed linens that will showcase it. I found a really fabulous pillow in red, but didn’t want to do my entire room in red. I found that the red pillow served two purposes. It gave the room my personality and it always made me happy to look to at. There are so many choices and textures in decorative pillows today. Pillows with beading or unusual fabrics can make a difference. Throws come in all sorts of fabrics – wools, cashmere, fleece, and fur and are great for a special decorative touch.

5 The Unexpected – You can really crank up the “Wow” in your room by adding the unexpected. Use serving tables, trunks, or old suitcases to function as bedside tables. Using something that can also be used for storage is an added bonus. Display your collectibles from travels or find unusual objects to display. I once visited a friend who found a large wasp nest (no longer occupied, of course) and hung it from ceiling. Instead of hanging art or prints on the wall, mount a kimono or wearable art piece. Angle your bed and place a stunning folding screen behind it. Screens can be painted or covered with fabric and are another great source for adding or changing color in your room. An unusually tall headboard can help bring more focus to the bed as the focal point of the room. It’s also a great way to embrace a room with high ceilings. Add fragrance with scented candles, flowers, or herbal fragrances (lavender encourages relaxation). Flower arrangements in unusual containers can add a fun element to the room.

Finding just the right accessories, furniture, or bedding takes time. Enjoy the hunt. Use what you have, purchase only the things that you truly love, and decorate in colors that make you happy.

The terms Modern Furniture and Contemporary Furniture are often used as interchangeable parlance descriptions of non-traditional, sleeker and innovative furniture.  However, even though both terms fundamentally mean “of current times”, the design and manufacturing concepts behind modern and contemporary furniture styles as well as their incorporation into today’s interiors is clearly distinctive.

For starters, modern furniture style came about right after the 2nd world war when the need to support budget-conscious living became the overriding principle in furniture manufacturing.  On the contrary, contemporary furniture style surfaced in the late 70’s early 80’s during an upturn in global economy where consumer spending required a more embellished lifestyle with glamour as its focal point.

Cost-saving mass production of the post-war era became the catalyst of minimalist, stark pieces featuring steel and chrome-plated structures cleanly adorned by glass, plastic, leather or plywood finishes.  On the other hand, new found wealth of the early 80s led to the need of combining more extravagant materials typically used in traditional furniture with modern lines.  Consequently, marble, granite, crocodile leather, luxurious fabrics, lacquered and polished surfaces became the major indicators that furniture pieces which may at first glace be considered “modern,” now belonged to the contemporary furniture style.

Another major difference between modern furniture and contemporary furniture pieces is their actual shape.  Typically modern furniture would be dominated by simplified geometry, pure qualities, minimal demeanor, straight lines and uncluttered surfaces; while contemporary furniture would have round or more organic shapes, curvier silhouettes, sculptural construction with more detailed dispositional qualities, blurring the lines between decoration and functionality.



Lastly, color plays a big role in distinguishing the two styles.  In modern furniture, color is free form and is used boldly.  From high in contrast – black and white combo to the statement-making brighter hues, to futuristic shades of grey or warm earthy tones, modern furniture are defined by their aesthetics and materials, making the color, a mere attribute of one’s personality.  Such is not the case with contemporary furniture.  Often perceived as the cozier and homier style of the two, the color palette consisting of earthy tone like creams, browns, and oranges is quite vital to the essential character of contemporary furniture.

Debate over the true distinction between modern furniture and contemporary furniture will continue to create a further confusion between the two styles.  All the while, the unmistakable distinction between the two styles is rooted in their aesthetics, design, constructions and interaction with space.

Oak, the widely known deciduous tree has some of the strongest and most durable pieces of wood available. Famous for the waved pattern of its grain and the natural reddish color, it is especially favored for use in flooring and strong furniture, lasting for decades. Woodwork artists have therefore come up with ways to keep the amazingly beautiful pieces looking bright and new as always and therefore the concept of reclaimed oak. Though the word “reclaimed oak” might seem as a cliché word for the environmentally correct and a buzzword for recycle, reuse, and so on, it is important to note that the concept of reclaimed oak is not a shabby chic or fashionable idea, but rather one that has come down through generations. With the challenges the planet and environment are facing today however, it also worth emphasizing the positive attributes of considering the idea. Responsible buying, reduction of waste, preserving nature and keeping the planet green are all concepts worth considering when purchasing any woodwork or oak furniture, being one of the few species of trees to withstand the test of time, should be preserved. This preservation is what has made the reclaimed oak pieces of furniture such jewels to marvel. These strong, traditional and antique products of the hardwood, with some fine touches over time can leave them spackling new. Whether it is for resale, or continued use at home, your reclaimed oak furniture will always attract attention to lookers with its strong ambience and natural reddish color that needs little furnishing. The one thing that stands out about oak, and reclaimed oak furniture is how crisp and smooth it will always look. The bright color of it’s furnish reflects light well, making cleaning it a joy. Oak is easily recognizable and highly respected as wood and with the modern synthetic furniture being reported to contain toxic substances, it is always a safe bet to stick with the old timer. With more stringent controls being taken on restoring the planet’s past glory where oak was in plenty and oak furniture easily available, it is important to take note of how best to make a furniture purchase, whether a bedroom furniture or living room furniture. Considering reclaimed oak is therefore one of the preferred methods where new furniture may not be really necessary. Earth friendly materials for use as restorers are also available in the market and it is therefore easy to work on your old piece of oak. If you’re buying a reclaimed oak piece of old furniture, it is also important to check where the oak has come from, and if not from a legal and sustainable source, keep away from it. In the US, certification for the source of oak is done by the Forest Stewardship Council, FSC, and since most of these precious woodworks such as oak furniture are second hand, be sure to always check their sources. Most importantly however, having oak furniture, whether reclaimed oak, or new, as a living room furniture or bedroom furniture is always a treasure and should be considered as a long term investment rather than an expense.

How do you turn a humble bedroom into a place that radiates peaceful bliss?

If you can renovate the room, get the floors done in a rose beige or golden beige.

Go for a soothing beige color scheme with golden lighting for a serene and classy effect.

Paint the walls and ceiling in your chosen shade of beige or cream. The unbroken color give the room a sense of spaciousness and harmony.

Add a touch of luxury to the room with a golden chandelier at the center of the ceiling. Let it bathe the room in its gorgeous golden light when it gets dark. The effect in the overall scheme of things is simply beautiful.

Ideally, get a wooden bed and paint the bed frame with the same shade of beige as the rest of the room so it blends in seamlessly into your bedroom.

Keep the decor minimal. Absolutely no clutter is allowed. For that lived in touch, a sheep skin spread in front of the bed would make the room feel really luxurious.

If that sounds to cruel for you, you can always go for a large wool rug laid out in front of the ed. It makes the atmosphere more welcoming.

The dressing table and chair could be of painted wood in a pretty shade of beige to blend in with the surroundings. Just keep all your personal things in the drawer of the dresser and not on the table. At most, you could display a gorgeous bottle of perfume, or two, on the dressing table for the lived in look. Makeup and everything else gets hidden out of sight.

Likewise with the wardrobe. If you can, have a built-in wardrobe to make full use of the space. If space allows it, make it a walk in wardrobe. Whatever the case, paint the wardrobe the same color as the wall so it seemingly disappears into the wall. Keep your clothes and everything else out of sight. No clutter allowed if you want a peaceful ambience. Instead, have a vase of flowers, maybe the perfume bottles on the dresser and a few lighted candles to give your room a soothing ambience.

To break the monotony of an all beige color scheme, you could have a pretty piece of wooden furniture in a natural warm brown. It could be a beautiful book shelf where you arrange your books neatly, or if you aren’t very organized, it could have wooden doors to hide the messy shelves.