American Houses

(NewsUSA) - You don't have to sacrifice great style to get a great, green look in your home. You can use these five simple design tips from the 2009 HGTV Green Home in Port St. Lucie, Fla. to make your living environment more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. HGTV Green Home designer Linda Woodrum's ideas can also help make your green home more visually appealing.



1. Welcome Home. Create a welcoming entrance to your home by setting your foyer apart from the rest of the house with a shot of color. Use a fabric, tile, texture or decorative motif as inspiration, and use low-VOC paints and painter's tape to recreate the design on the wall. You'll get a lot of pow for very little money.

2. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Unique pieces make a room richer and a lot more interesting. Decorating green is about using antiques, repurposed items and salvage materials. Take a look at the 2009 HGTV Green Home for inspiration on how to use everyday items in unexpected and amazing ways.

3. Create a mood in your master bedroom. Capture all that's good about a place or location through your choice of color and décor, but keep it clean and natural with organic and recycled materials. The recycled glass tile in the HGTV Green Home master bedroom and the wall color in the bedroom evoke a retro-South Florida look, yet have a natural, clean feeling worthy of the finest spa.

4. Saturate with color. Using one color throughout a room creates a calm, cozy retreat. The HGTV Green Home sitting room carpet and walls are all the same inviting color. It's easy to recreate this look with low-VOC paint and environmentally friendly carpet -- a perfect example of how green living also means big style.

5. Use durable materials in high traffic areas. Your front and back entrances are subjected to a lot of wear. Using beautiful ceramic tile in both locations is a great way to set them apart from the living areas, yet tile is environmentally friendly and easy to maintain.

For more information on this year's HGTV Green Home Giveaway, visit www.hgtv.com

(NewsUSA) - Chances are, your deck or patio décor includes a variety of surfaces such as wood, wicker, metal and plastic, all of which may become weathered from summer sun and winter storage. Armed with a few cans of spray paint, you can give your backyard oasis a great new look, quickly and affordably.


When decorating outdoors:

- Use color to unify your space. Selecting a palette of a few colors allows you to unify disparate furniture pieces into a pleasing whole. White is an ever-popular classic that can be paired with almost any accent color to achieve striking good looks.

- Especially in areas filled with bright sunlight, don't be afraid of bold or saturated colors. Use bright, bold colors to infuse a space with energy and whimsy, or consider textured or metallic hues for more subtle sophistication.

- For the brightest, boldest colors, prime the surface or apply a white basecoat. Next, apply the color coat over the white surface.

- Group furniture together to create intimate conversation areas. Use interesting containers to hold plants. Consider lighting for both evening safety and ambiance.

- Always follow the directions on your can of spray paint. Application instructions and dry times, as well as how long you should shake the can and how far away you should hold it from the surface, vary from paint to paint.

There are a number of products available to help with your patio makeover. Krylon's Fusion for Plastic is a one-step, super-bonding spray paint. It can be used on wood, metal, wicker, hard vinyl and a wide range of plastic surfaces. Available in many colors, it now comes with the new EZ Touch 360-degree Dial Spray Tip for more comfortable spray painting with increased coverage per pass, reduced overspray, less chance of runs or drips and greater accuracy.

Rusted metal? No reason to worry. Instead of making a mess scrubbing away rust with a wire brush, you can paint right over it with Krylon Outdoor Spaces Rust Converter. It chemically transforms rust into a waterproof, paintable surface that is protected from future rust formation.

When completely dry, simply coat Outdoor Spaces Rust Converter with any Outdoor Spaces Satin, Metallic, Textured or Hammered Finish to keep outdoor décor looking its very best. These finishes withstand harsh weather, offering superior protection on metal, wood, wicker, drywall, masonry and even pottery.

(NewsUSA) - Good home design feels effortless. When inhabitants style rooms to reflect their personalities, rather than the latest design trends, they create thoughtful, comfortable homes. Rather than design "themed" homes, many homeowners blend modern and rustic elements.

But there's an art to eclectic design. Some Americans focus entire rooms on a single, prized possession, while others design more neutral spaces. Either way, mix-and-match types must contrast décor styles to create balanced looks.


Small details change the way homes feel. For example, updating door and cabinetry hardware can immediately inject a room with new style.

"Door hardware has undergone a metamorphosis from merely functional to both architectural and decorative," said Chas Seymour, general manager of Baldwin Hardware, a company that has been manufacturing hardware for more than 60 years. "In addition, we must remember that customers want to know that their home investments, hardware or otherwise, combine a commitment to quality, workmanship and style, with both classic and contemporary cues."

For a modern touch, choose "sleek" and "clean" design elements. Silver and chrome accents help create a streamlined feel. Baldwin Hardware's Minneapolis and Lakeshore collections appeal to modern tastes. The company also offers the Soho entry set, named for the New York neighborhood known for its modern design boutiques, as well as its history with cast iron architecture.

As demand continues to grow for contemporary styling in door hardware, so does demand for what's considered rustic. With that in mind, Baldwin introduced its Baldwin Bronze collection of cast bronze lock, bath and general hardware. Since earliest antiquity, bronze has been an important and revered material with a distinctive look and feel.

For more information from Baldwin Hardware, visit www.baldwinhardware.com

(NewsUSA) - Carpeting has been the most popular floor covering in America for decades for good reason -; carpets feel soft, reduce noise and insulate rooms.

But some common misconceptions deter people from buying carpets. Before purchasing flooring, consider the following information from Shaw Floors:


Myth 1: Asthma and allergy sufferers should not have carpet in the home.

Fact: EPA scientists concluded that carpet fibers, in trapping and immobilizing potential allergy-causing particulates, help people with allergies. If allergens are in the carpet, they're not circulating in the indoor air stream. Shaw recommends using a HEPA-filter vacuum to fully remove such particles from the indoor environment.

Myth 2: Carpet is hard to maintain -; it stains and wears out very easily.

Fact: Simple steps can extend the life of your carpet and keep it looking new. Frequent vacuuming removes soil particles before they get below the surface of the pile, where they are far more difficult to remove.

Carpet in a typical household should be thoroughly cleaned every 12 to 18 months. Hot-water extraction systems provide the most effective cleaning. Professional carpet cleaners generally get the best results.

Myth 3: Carpet is outdated and boring.

Fact: Carpets come in patterns ranging from traditional hounds tooth to exotic zebra, and in stylish colors like chocolate or mint green. Many consumers use a mix of carpet, hardwood and tile in their homes.

Myth 4: Carpet emits harmful chemicals that cause health problems.

Fact: Carpet is one of the lowest emitters of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) among household furnishings and building materials. Shaw carpets meet the industry's highest VOC standard, the Carpet & Rug Institute's Green Label Plus program.

Myth 5: Carpet is bad for the environment.

Fact: Floor manufacturers now provide many eco-friendly options for environmentally conscious consumers. Shaw carpets made of Anso or EverTouch nylon can be recycled at Shaw's Evergreen Nylon Recycling Facility, where they are broken down and remade into new carpet fiber. The process helps turn carpet into a renewable product and keeps carpet waste out of landfills. In fact, Shaw has collected 178 million pounds of post-consumer carpet since 2006.

For more information about Shaw's various carpet and hard-surface flooring options or to view the company's online product catalog, please visit www.shawfloors.com

Yesterday I was packing my hand me down items to move into my first small apartment that I was sharing with my girlfriend. Today I am helping my daughter pack her things to move to her first apartment. That’s the way is seems. I do not know what happened to the twenty-four years in between the two events but they are gone. My daughter is so excited about her first job and her first real apartment. She lived on campus for her first three years of college and then shared a house with several other girls her last year, but the house was furnished so this is her first chance to decorate her own space.

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The apartment she was able to afford is a small one bedroom with a balcony. The bathroom was next to the bedroom and a nice size. The kitchen was the standard apartment U-shaped kitchen with appliances on one side and counter space on the other with cabinets lining the wall space. Two people could cook in it. The counter space could be used as a breakfast bar and had room for two stools. This counter was adjacent to the small dining area that had the patio doors that lead out to the balcony. She was on the second floor and her balcony overlooked the side of the building, which was a grassy area with a small flower garden. The living room was nice size however it was long and narrow. My daughter wanted me to help her with decorating ideas for a living room that was so narrow. One end of the space had a gas fireplace the other end was a blank wall there were two large windows on the long wall. It was hard to think of decorating ideas for a living room that did not have any furniture in it. She had saved enough money from her summer job to buy some furniture. Her father and I told her that she could have the bedroom furniture from her room at our house because we were going to convert it to a home office space. So she needed to find a small dining room set and living room furniture.

I suggested that we start at a second hand store that I have shopped at through the years to see if we could find a table and chairs as well as lamp stands and coffee table for the living room. This would give her more money to spend for decorating ideas for a living room space that was going to be a challenge. We found a great deal on the table and chairs; we also found two chairs upholstered chairs that were in very good shape. I suggested she buy them to make a grouping by the fireplace and then have a television watching area in the other part of the living room. This turned out to be great decorating ideas for a living room shaped like hers. She loves her space and the feeling of independence that it gives her.

There's something to be said for simplicity in home design. There is a relaxing atmosphere to a room that just contains the necessities for comfortable living. Minimalism works to conquer clutter, to make a room easier to live in, to clean and, in the event that you are trying to sell your home, makes it so much easier to stage.

One thing that has to be made clear: minimalism does not mean sterile, no-personality furniture and decor. In fact, furniture should be comfortable to look at and use. Wall prints should be suitable for the color of the room and inviting. The color scheme can work in warm and cool. While decoration should be kept to a few pieces, it should be present, to lend some character to the room. Never think that minimalism means soulless!

One method of simplifying a target room is to strip it of all - ALL - non-essential things. Take a bedroom - the only thing you really NEED for it to be an effective bedroom is a decent bed. A bedside table would be nice, too. A lot of people dress in their bedrooms - drawers are an advantage. Also, a laundry hamper might be needed for dirty clothing. If you're a reader, you might want a bookshelf. A chest for sheets and blankets might come in handy.

Do you have too many clothes? Go through them and cull the ones you haven't worn for a year. If you have a chair in your bedroom that just serves to collect tossed clothing, get rid of that too - it's more of an incentive to fold or hang or hamper your clothes. Check window sills for knick-knacks and either toss them or reorganize them on a special shelf that gets them where they can be seen and out of the window area. The same goes for all the other paraphernalia that collects in the bedroom: get rid of some or repurpose it to a more useful venue.

Storage solutions need to come into this as well. It's not enough to have bins, shelves, hooks and boxes. Everything needs to have its place and be put back in its place. If you establish the rule 'A place for everything and everything in its place' (cliched but useful), you will find that your clutter magically disappears anyway. When you don't have room for something, you should seriously consider whether you need it before creating/buying/making space for its especial benefit.

The results, once you have gotten the room down to just what it needs, can be stunning, both in terms of decor and in terms of sheer space. There is a real feeling of freedom when one is confronted by a tract of sheer space. It exudes possibilities that need never disappear if you keep it at this beautiful, simple, clutter-free state.

Think of this 'new' bedroom and how much easier it is to clean and prepare for visitors. Think of how much easier it would be if your entire home was like this. It starts with one room, but can encompass the entire house, leading you to a simpler, less cluttered, and ultimately less stressful life.

About the Author: Todd Levinson. Philadelphia Real Estate Guide: Find Society Hill condos and homes in Center City Philadelphia. Easy-to-use search and neighborhood info from Todd Levinson, Philly Buyer's Agent.

Home Decorating Ideas - 04:06 min.