Designing the perfect rumpus play room
Authentic Models Stateroom Bar Ivory Finish
Are you looking for a place for you and your friends to relax, have a whiskey, watch some football and just unwind? Well instead of having your man-cave be a throwback to your childhood room with posters of Emmitt Smith on the wall, why not go a different direction?
It’s time to class up your sanctuary. What kind of options do you have? Well, focus on your hobbies or focus on a time period that you like. Try different ideas and see how they work with your personal taste. Here are some ideas on how to get started. Some may not fit your taste, while others may be spot on, so enjoy the creative process and make the perfectmen’s room.
A Classy Speakeasy
Remember the roaring prohibition ’20s with their seedy demeanor, exotic facades and hidden liquor cabinets? They can be yours with just a little ingenuity and hard work. You may not have the budget for hideaway liquor cabinets but you can build them into the wall to maximize space and provide the look you’re going for. The important thing is the designer look – you can either go the seedy or classy route – depending on your taste. If you want it to look more like Harlem Nights, you will need a lot of interior designing, but if you want it to resemble a seedy club, you can have that for half the décor and cost.
A Yacht or Ship
Are you an avid sailor? Do you wish your life was spent on the high seas? Well now you can relax in your own personal yacht voyage all from the comfort of your rumpus room. With Authentic Models themed décor, you can design your room to fit the nautical lifestyle you choose to lead. There are many different things you can do such as adding wood paneling to simulate the ships interior, constructing windows to resemble the view from your yacht or a themed TV complete with your own Captain’s chair. You rule the high seas this time and only the worthy may live through your plunderous decoratingrampage.
Gamblers paradise
Think back to those Vegas trips, the all-nighters by the craps tables, the sounds of slot machine handles ringing true with winnings, your buddies gathered around you as you go on that big run. Well now all your nights are big runs because you are the house, and the house never loses. You can set your room up to mimic the look and feel of your favorite casino. Purchase a convertible table in order to play any game of the house. Now, craps and card games are a breeze to switch too. You can even find working slot machines to add to the fun. The best thing is – they actually work. Not only are you hanging out with your boys, but they’re paying you to.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Interior Decorating Design Flaws – And How to Avoid Them
Authentic Models Webber Costello Desktop Globe
There’s nothing comforting about having an ugly living room. What’s worse is that there is not much that keeps your home from being functional as well as pleasing to the eye. If you’re home is a disaster, consider changing up the look with with a few different ideas. You don’t have to get crazy with decorating and remember – a lot can go a long way.
So how do you spot the design flaws and what can you do to redecorate your home?
Remove Dark Paneling
Old wood paneling looks out of date, cheap and like you’re living in a cabin in the mountains. If you’re not actually in a ski lodge, remove that wood paneling in order to give the home a more open feel. Dark colors make rooms feel claustrophobic. You can change your look easily with wallpaper or by painting with brighter, inviting colors. You will be surprised at what a coat of paint can do to your home.
Lack of Windows
Short of knocking out a wall to create windows, you might try converting these rooms into a play area or theater room. Home theater rooms work best with an absence of light and noise, which makes rooms like these ideal for watching movies or sporting events.
Odd or Overly Unique Accent Furniture
You want your accent furniture to make a statement, but what kind is yours making? If your home looks like the set of Beetle Juice, you may want to reconsider your design choices. Refined accents such as an Authentic Models Desktop Globe, contemporary art or themed accents will help remodel your room.
Lack of or No Overhead Lighting
Lighting is important to every room in the house. Lighting can be used to create several types of effects by using ambient light, decorative light and accent light. Depending on how your room is arranged, you can use accent lighting to highlight a specific piece. If you have a globe or armoire you wish to feature, accent lighting can be fit in order to bring out the unique characteristics of the piece. If adding lighting fixtures or overhead lighting is not in your budget, make ample use of floor lamps and table lamps in order to change the look of your room. Lighting provides many functions, so use it where you think it would work best.
Living with Ugly Furniture
Nothing sets a room off worse than that old couch from college. You don’t need it even for the sentimental moments. Ugly furniture is ugly furniture. Its time to update the look of your home with a few options:
- Replace it – if it’s ugly and you have the money, replace the furniture. Slip covers, throw blankets and pillows can only do so much before they add to the misery.
- Paint it – do you have an old desk that could use some new lacquer or a coat of paint? Then do your best Bob Villa and change it how you see fit.
Invest in it – nows the time to start building a collection of fine furniture. Accent armoires, globes and dining room furniture really add to the livability of a home…and they last.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Nautical Furniture
Nautical Furniture for the Outdoors at http://www.NauticalHome.com
Spring has arrived, and summer is definitely on its way. Along with the season comes the endless parties that everyone wants to have in their backyard. Whether that party is poolside, or just on the back patio, having a nautical theme in the outdoor decor with nautical furniture always adds a lot of fun.
Consider what type of furniture to put into the mix for the party, and the tone of the party can suddenly become quite fun and energetic, or reminiscent of a relaxing resort atmosphere. From tiki torches and their matching bars, to plastic furniture, or furniture similar to teak wood, nautical furniture can definitely fit a number of different styles quite easily.
Tiki torch bars are a great example—like the Island Tiki Bar with two stools from Nautical Home. Pre-treated with polyurethane so that it can be used outside, and because it repels UV light to last longer, the Island Tiki Bar is the perfect item to put up for a fun night under the stars.
Decorated with tropical flowers for an added touch, lighting the tiki torches at night will give those sitting at one of the stools a sense of fun and adventure. Sitting at the bar in the moonlight, torches flickering—what a fun way to spend an evening with family and friends.
Some homeowners would truly prefer the easy clean up of plastic furniture, whether that is because of young children, or simply because it is far more convenient. Nautical Home can accommodate for this design choice as well, with the Polywood Bar Stool and Tables.
Designed to be resistant to graffiti—perfect so that little kids with markers cannot ruin them—and able to withstand mold and mildew as well, the Polywood line is easy to clean, and does not warp, either. Both the table and chair are available in four colors, and the table is available in Mahogany and Black as well.
Why not check out Nautical Home’s Oxford Garden Sonoma Bar line of items? These items can fulfill the need that some are looking for when it comes to elegance, and a relaxing ambiance at the same time. Made of shorea, a form of teakwood, the Oxford Garden items are gorgeous.
Buying a large table to eat out under the stars that can tolerate weather and still look beautiful later is accomplished by purchasing the Sonoma Bar table. Long, with a hole for an umbrella, it can be treated with teak oil to stay looking new, or left to the elements, where it will end up with a silver weathered look, much like a picnic table in a park or on a boardwalk.
Using a technique to assemble the Sonoma Bar products called mortise and tenon, all of the products, are quite sturdy. Sitting in the slatted seat of the Sonoma Bar chair is so comfortable—and even more so if a soft cushion is on the bottom—that you don’t ever want to get up. Comfort, style, beauty—what else do you need?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )A Special Offer on Adirondack Chairs at NauticalHome.com
For A Limited Time – GET A FREE END TABLE WHEN YOU PURCHASE TWO ADIRONDACK CHAIRS! Don’t miss out on this very special offer – a $160.00 value!!
THIS SPECIAL OFFER IS FROM APRIL 4 – APRIL 17, 2010
Free Shipping!!
So classic, so stylish, so durable, and above all else, so very comfortable. We have gone to great lengths to make this the choice of all chairs for spending quiet time to read, catch a sunset, or take a nap under your favorite shade tree. Both the adirondack chair and available matching footstool are, of course, crafted to last of the same shorea hardwood as our other products.
Like all of our furniture, this adirondack chair is made of shorea, a teak family wood that is more dense and heavy than teak. Shorea requires no finishing and will not rot when left outdoors where rain and sun will damage other lesser quality woods. Left untreated, shorea will weather to a soft warm shade of gray similar to the weathering of teak. Sturdy mortise and tenon construction provides the highest quality joinery that will last for many years. Original color can be maintained by applying a seasonal coat of teak oil.
- This item has an Adirondack Footstool to go with it, Model Number ADFS, Sold Seperately
- Natural Shorea Wood finished with fine sanding
- Mortise and tenon construction
- Easy assembly using solid wood dowels
- No maintenance required
- Weathers to silver gray color
- Teak oil can be used to maintain color
- Rust resistant hardware
- Warranty: 1 year against structural failure
- Adirondack Chair Weight: 51 lbs.
- Adirondack Chair Dimensions: 31″ x 25-1/2″ x 38″ (W x D x H)
- End Table Weight: 18 lbs.
- End Table Dimensions: 17-1/2″ x 17-1/2″ x 16-1/2″ (W x D x H)
The perfect birthday solution
So this past week was my husband’s birthday, and let me tell you, I’d run into a real situation. I had absolutely no idea what to get him.
He’s just one of these really technical guys. It’s all about computers and gadgets that I can neither remember nor understand. And besides, if he really wants it, he just buys it himself. I try not to think about the amount of money that goes towards this.
Then, I was downstairs attempting to make any kind of headway in tidying his office, when I realized that the answer had been staring me in the face. To explain this, let me describe his office first.
My husband’s office is the dark, dank pit of all that is unholy. There are piles of paper everywhere, stacks of books, file folders, paperclips, post-its — you name the office supply and it’s scattered in there somewhere.
And am I allowed to touch any of the papers or books? Oh, no! Everything’s where it is for a reason, he’d lose hours of work… and so on and so forth. So I clean around them, carefully throwing away any trash that clearly doesn’t have notes on it (he just loves to use napkins for his brainwork).
But all this, I think I could handle. So it looks like a man works here, okay. At least, my housekeeping skills can’t be held accountable for that! But the room is completely unornamented; unless you count the gorgeous leather bound books here and there, the miniature skeleton on his desk, and the world map poster on the wall.
Now, I’m pretty certain, knowing my husband, that the idea behind the skeleton on the desk and the poster on the wall, is that he wanted to look well-learned. Of course, we could afford better than that crummy poster, but he’d never spend the time making it happen.
So, clearly… a gift to him could also be a gift to me! I searched high and low before I found exactly what I wanted. To my surprise, I found everything I’d hoped for, and more, at a nautical home product store.
Nautical gifts — I never would have imagined that this would be the answer. But before you get confused and ask me what sailor stuff has to do with an elegant home office, let me explain.
So, apparently, nautical decorations are all about that kind of “old world” look that you’d see in an old library in England or something. So, nautical gifts could include things like antique globes, even globes on a floor stand, which I think look really spectacularly classy. (Definitely thousands of times better than that darn map poster on the wall!)
So I changed his desk out for this gorgeous maple captain’s desk — had it installed while he was out of town. What a surprise, ha! It was pretty tricky getting all of his books and papers back exactly as they were, but we seemed to manage it okay.
And boy, did he love “his” gift! (Boy, do I…)
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Nautical Decor for any home
While ship-faring culture is not a huge part of the modern world, the mystery, adventure, and romance associated with voyaging out over the high seas is familiar to all of us, if only through books and film. These ideas are all present in the look of modern nautical decor.
Whether it’s via a tiki bar that looks as if it were imported from a foreign beach, or a handcrafted recreation of a European antique jar, nautical decor often reflects the destinations, as well as the voyages themselves. And truly, while the journey was an adventure all in its own, nothing can have compared to the wondrous delight experienced upon alighting in a new world.
In the suburban world that seems so far removed from this adventure, even from our pasts, our ancestry, more and more Americans are turning to Nautical decor for a feeling of continuity, of tradition. It’s a great way to add that old world charm to your home or office.
Furthermore, in this day and age with all of the poorly-constructed fiberboard products out there, attractive solid-wood products can be hard to find. Yet, with nautical decor, you can find well-made, classic products that you can expect to hold up in almost any use scenario. After all, many of these were initially designed for use at sea!
For example, to spruce up a living room that looks a little staid, even tired, try setting an oil lamp on the mantel — let your loved ones know that you’re keeping the home fire lit. Set a carved water meditation basin on a side table, perhaps with a few flower petals floating on top. A campaign box or a travel desk in the corner will round out the image of your home as a place of rest, after exotic adventure, pleasantly remembered.
A Turkoman knot rug would look rich and welcoming in your entryway and a beautiful wooden Grand Hotel coat stand would mean no more throwing coats on the bed when you have a big party.
A exact replica of a gorgeous antique globe is just the thing to make your office look like the refuge of a truly learned person — especially when that globe comes with a wrought-iron, hand-forged floor stand (which also means that it needn’t take up any desk space).
Set a rich mahogany barograph nearby on the desk, and your office suddenly becomes an aged library. You may want to set some leather-bound classic books behind you, where you sit, to close out that picture! Now, there’s a setting that will command respect.
Interested in finding some lawn ornaments that don’t too closely resemble those awful pink plastic flamingoes? Nautical decor is the answer, yet again.
Whether you’re looking for a water fountain that doesn’t scream cheap reproduction or hand-cast statues for the lawn, anything you can imagine is available in this classic old-world style. Mermaids, dolphins, fish, birds, and so forth —all the classic images are available.
Nautical decor is how you make you give your home a truly classic look.
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Nautical Home 