Small Light Big Light

Do you live in a small space like me?

Is your entrance big enough for one person at a time?

Is the ceiling just average hight? That some days when you're wearing your high heels you feel you could really touch the ceiling?

Don't worry, some pretty awesome things come in small packages.

Do you have small hallways at home, and not so sure what kind of lighting to put up there?
When you bring lighting into your home, make sure you measure as with anything else we do when designing any space, scale is so important.

You don't want to put too large of a light fixture that it swallows the room or even worse if its hanging too low, then people could hit it.

 You also don't want too much of a small fixture that its lost or barely giving any light at all.

So here are a few of my favs. I love bling, so I will share these ones first

Crystals are also great attractors to good energy Good Chi as it is believed in FenShui, so make sure your entrance has a Crystal mini chandelier or pendant or even a semi flush mount.

 Your walk-in closet? Do you think it could use something a little bit more interesting than the builder's fixture?

In hallways try to avoid lighting that is dangling too low, consider movement, kids if you have them and know how they just love to jump in the air and reach hights, last thing you'd want is a hand touching a lightbulb or anything that could shock them.

Have you ever thought of using a mini chandelier in your walk-in closet? Or perhaps in your powder room?

Your home could be a big home, but has small spaces - Like a small foyer, a small side entrance, a small powder room, a small mud room etc....

 When selecting your fixtures, make sure you check the box for the watts it will be giving you, last thing you want is poor lighting, many of these Small Light fixtures can give up to 100watts and that is big light in a small space.

I Hope you have found this small posting to be fun useful and of help to you when you go shopping for your lighting.

Till the next tip, have a good one ♥

Nelly

The Round Table

So your spage is tight, you buy a sofa and 2 chairs and need a coffee table...
You get a rectangle coffee table or a square one, and they chew up the left over space you had.

What do you do?

Opt for oval or round tables instead, immediately you create an easier flow.

What round and oval tables do, they have no edges so the eye is not travelling in sharp angles and stopping, therefore there it keeps travelling in soft curves instead.

Also if you use glass with metal or wood or all glass, the table tends to be a lot less heavier or it disappears if it's all glass in your space and makes the room feel a lot lighter than opting for a solid surface, the transparency of the glass allows you to see through and therefore not eliminating part of the floor.

Another option if you have an extremely small space which is actually the trend now in new development condos and homes, use end tables, use two end tables as opposed to one round or oval.

Using side by side end tables let the eyes travel in a figure eight form, so it is constantly flowing - and do you remember what figure eight was in science?... Yes indeed, it is the sign of infinity...
Hope you've enjoyed this little tip that will make a big impact on your small space and help you live large!

Love and Light ♥

Nelly

The Room Divider

Does this look familiar to you?

Working from home has become more and more common since the start of the economy dip back in 2008.
With thousands of lay-offs, many small businesses were created, more and more people are working from their home offices, and even some corporations are allowing their employees to work from home to cut on cost.

The result of this dip is the booming trend of home offices.

Home offices have pushed their ways into our living rooms, dining rooms sometimes they even dare get inside our bedrooms (which by the way is a big nono and it is something I will touch on another time).


Personally I have lived for the longest time with an office inside my dining room, supposedly concealed in an armoire that I hated more than anything, an ugly monstrosity that literally swallowed my room, it was the worst buy I had ever made. Can you relate?


Nevertheless, I have created a home office inside a storage room that I was lucky enough to have inside my rental apartment and which was big enough to act as a really tiny home office. Pure luck and a creative mind.

But what do you do when you are not blessed with a storage room that can accommodate your little office space at home?

You are then forced to place your desk in your living space or dining space and you keep looking at it and it gets to you, and what do you do when you have guests over? You all stare together at the mess... Frustrating isn't it.

Well, thankfully we don't have to live like this anymore. As some pretty gorgeous book cases have been created to take care of this issue…

When you must share your living space with your workspace, and always having it in "your face", it can get pretty frustrating.

It starts crawling on your and you feel like you never really get a break.

This is why concealing your work space in a smart manner with beautiful book-cases that will complement your room's design and style, is a great thing.

There is also something pretty wonderful about your workspace being placed inside your living space; If you think about it for a moment. Your home office sharing your living space, acts as a subtle and smart way of marketing your business.
When visitors come who don't know what you do, they will become curious and ask. Your beautifully disguised workspace will intrigue others and it then become a conversation, what a great way to attract business and spread the word around.

Hiding your workspace away, also gives you a break. We all need a break from work, to refresh our mind and bring on new ideas.
Whether you work from home for a corporation or run your own business, you need to be creative, and the best ideas usually pop into mind at rest.

So fill your book case with books that inspire you, with beautiful objects that stimulate your imagination. Turn them into focal points to draw attention away from work when entertaining and when relaxing.

Another great aspect of these book-shelves is that they look good on both sides so they don't really have to lean against anything to hide an ugly side, they are see through, they let light peek through, so the space does not feel congested and there is a sense of lightness in the room.

With a wealth of beautiful and stylish bookcases you can now divide your space, hidaway your office and make an everlasting impression on your guest as well as enjoy your quite or productive times.

Love and Light

Nelly

Rentals Dos and Don'ts

Rental apartments can be a lot of fun to live in.

And most importantly they do not need to be plain or boring.

With today's economy many homeowners are downsizing and renting apartments as it is the easiest and least expensive way of living.
Taking into consideration they do not have to pay for property tax, and all the expenses that come from owning a home.

When renting an apartment a lease is signed and there are many rules as to what is allowed and not allowed to do in a rental apartment. Pay attention to the details of your lease, and if you have any ideas, before proceeding with them, discuss with the landlord and get their approval first.

In a nut-shell what you can do and what you cant do in a rental is pretty straight forward. Most importantly treat this space with a lot of respect and love, it is going to shelter you just as much as your own home.

In most cases the things you are allowed to do are:

• Paint, oh yes paint one of my favourite ways to change the mood in a home and personalize it. Painting the walls of a rental apartment will not cause any damages, however when you leave the place, take into consideration that you might get asked to paint the walls back in the off white colour you found the place with when you got in.
• Wall paper, today's technology has changed so much that you can easily apply wallpaper and remove it without damaging the walls. Some glues will actually remove layers of the drywall and this is why the landlords prefer not to have wallpaper applied to their walls. Wallpaper is a fantastic way of giving your room a lot of character and dimension. Have fun with it and follow the instructions of the manufacturer carefully.
• You can change the light fixtures of your apartment, have this done by a pro. Last thing you want is to give yourself a nasty electric chock or cross the wires and cause a fire. Hire a pro for this. Make sure that when you leave, you put back the original fixtures. A great way to stay on top of things is to label each fixture you remove and put them all in one big bin together.
• You can change the hardware on your cabinets as well, just as above make sure you label the originals and number them so you know where they belong when you have to put them back. Again it is wise to store all these in one container easy to find when it is time to go.
• Hang drapes and curtain rods, they give the room a beautiful gentle layer and soften the hard shape of the window frames. Drapes give any room a cozy homey feeling and are a great design element, they are the dress that frames the view outside your dwelling. Whether you love a grand dress or a simple nature inspired one, this is your game, have fun co-ordinating. Make sure when you leave that you repair the holes you put in the walls to hang the curtain's hardware.
• If you got a carpeted apartment, do steam clean the apartment at least twice a year, so that the place will feel clean.

The following you are absolutely NOT allowed to do, unless of course you have done some sort of agreement with your landlord:

• You cannot change permanent elements in your apartment. Like carpeting, flooring, sinks, cabinets, tub etc... It is totally forbidden to do so, and if you need something replaced you have to ask the landlord to do it.
• You cannot bring walls down. You could end up compromising the structure of the building, also remember you are not there permanently.
• You cannot do any plumbing or electrical repairs either, if something is broken, call the landlord and they are responsible.
• You cannot put permanent fixtures in the apartment either. For example you cannot add a back splash in the kitchen if there isn't one, or add permanent cabinets etc.

Living in a rental is fun and easy to do, just follow your landlord's requirements. If you want to do some decorative and aesthetic changes, ask them first before you do anything. You'd be surprised at how many do not mind it, as long as there are no damages caused to the structure or the safety of the building, and as long as other tenants safety is not put at risk either.

Enjoy your rental and have a blast decorating!

A Touch of Chic

Turning a Walk-in closet, from drab to fab, was a lot of fun, given the very small space, and the limitations of a rented apartment.

"Combining exquisite elegance with functionality is one of my favorite design games, since I have to make every part of my 900sqf apartment work for me and my family". Explains the designer.

In this particular project, roomy pieces of furniture in an ultra dark brown color were strategically placed in the space in order to allow easy movement, while avoiding the feeling of stuffiness in that very small closet.

In an effort to be eco friendly, an existing cabinet was recycled by painting matching ultra dark brown stripes and replacing the hardware, it was inexpensive and ended up being a very functional esthetically pleasing solution.

An elegant, wallpaper with a shimmering silver leaf picking up reflections of light, off the crystals on a delicate mini chandelier was placed as a backdrop to the two largest cabinets.
The wallpaper was used to a minimum, since it is not, allowed in rental places because of the damages it could cause to the drywall, while removing it.

The remaining walls were, painted in a neutral color enhancing the light feel in the dressing room.
Pink was, used as an accent color in oversized storage boxes, to tuck away all clutter, making the room and shelves look neat and roomy, adding a hint of femininity without going overboard.

Decorative items in shades of white, pink, black and silver were, used to pull the look of the room together.

This is how a previously dreaded and cluttered walk-in closet got a face-lift and now feels breezy and light with a little touch of chic.

The Mighty Powder Room

The almighty tiny powder room. One room that speaks interesting dimensions.

However, this tiny little nook is perhaps one of the most important rooms in your household.

Why? You may think.

This is the room where your guests will go and visit, and feel really pampered or feel uncomfortable depending on what is in it at the moment.

A room that will say a lot about you and how you treat yourself and others. Yes, our homes are a reflection of who we are and how we feel, they show our style, our moods, they say a whole lot of who we are.

The powder room in my opinion, should be designed in a grand way. When your guests visit they should be in total awe, and this will make them realize how much you care about them, how special they are to you, they will feel treated like royalty.

Go bold in your powder room and splurge, splurge, splurge. Invest in a professional reno, beautiful accessories and fixtures this is money well spent and an investment that will show you its value, every day when you visit your own powder room, every time you have guests, and surely at resale time.

Always remember, beauty and functionality go hand in hand when designing, especially in small spaces. You want to make the most out of your space, and you want to create a feeling that the room is larger than it seems.

Go grand go bold and enjoy!