Sunday, April 4, 2010

How to Brighten a Dark Room





The first tip I would share with anyone asking how to brighten a dark room would be to figure out whether the room actually needs lightening or brightening. I learned the hard way that they are not one and the same. You can add more light through natural sources, through adding lamps and light fixture as well as mirrors to reflect and amplify but still have a dull, lifeless bedroom that has no personality. Basically what you have is a well lit room that lacks pizzazz!

What you need to know is how to brighten a dark room without sunlight and running up the electric bill. You can buy a new comforter set choosing bright fabrics and change the wall color to something cheerful if you have the funds for a complete makeover. But if you are looking for less expensive decorating ideas look for ways to rev up the engine of the paint and bedding set that you already have in place.

Bright, energetic artwork is a cheap way to pump life into an otherwise lethargic space. Choosing art prints and accent pieces with movement and bright colors is the key to bringing your bedroom to life. Skip the dark colors, the still life pictures, landscapes and the floral arrangements. Look for prints that have twirling, spinning graphics and a bold splash of color for the best results. Even though light colors will never never brighten up a dark room. Dark colors can make the space seem small and dim.

Dancing prints work well with most teenage girls bedding bedding sets as well as sports prints. Basically, anything that is bright as well as lighthearted should do the trick.

NERD WALL ART

nerd wall art wallpaper bedroom decals sticker

Find it at scribbleoneverything.com


This decal that a client's daughter presented to me as nerd wall art that she wants as a focal point in her "nerd bedroom" (her words not mine, evidently being nerdy is very cool these days) is a painful reminder that I didn't apply myself when I was in high school. I was not the only teenage girl who memorized the periodic table of elements just long enough to pass chemistry class so I was not an odd duck.


Today nerds are the new "IN CROWD" and this young girl is perhaps the leader of the pack because she is drop dead gorgeous and not your dingy absent minded professor type either! Good looking, high achievers like her have become so trendy that they are developing their own decorating style and nerd decor like this decal and other pieces of nerd wall art are popping up all over the place!

In light of the monochromatic nature of the nerd wall art, I have to find a set of bedding and take her bedroom furniture and the headboard to her bed to be painted with flat black paint to match the periodic table wall poster and decals that she bought at scribbleoneverything.com.


Since I signed on to decorate this young lady's self-proclaimed nerd bedroom I have hopes that I get more jobs working for the intellectual set because I have my eye on some Legend of Zelda bedding that I'm dying to use teen girls bedding set in a gamer bedroom design.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Turquoise and Brown Bedding

turquoise blue chocolate brown white tropical bedding roxy julia bedrooms

GO HERE TO SEE MORE!




I love this set of turquoise and brown bedding called Julia that is designed by who else but Roxy bedding! I just had to share it with you in my blog before I’ve even got it delivered to the house where I'm decorating four bedrooms including one turquoise, brown and white bedroom which is now going smoothly after a minor glitch or two.

The teen girl in the family had the idea that she wanted to combine chocolate brown and white damask print fabric with a complementary solid or small patterned turquoise blue fabric (not aqua or Robin's Egg blue, but turquoise!) which would have been pretty but to make it happen would have meant shopping for bedding, curtain and upholstery fabric and then waiting for the seamstress to get around to actually making the items.

turquoise blue chocolate brown white tropical bedding roxy julia comforter sheets
This was not a workable plan because of a sister’s wedding that is planned for less than a few weeks away so I pulled this set of white, turquoise and brown bedding out of my little bag of decorating tricks. This brown and blue comforter set is much less formal than what she had mentioned earlier. The brown and white print actually came from one of the tropical collections of Roxy bedding for girls but wonder of wonders, the patterns were not a big deal to her.

The chocolate brown and turquoise bedroom color scheme turned out to be more important so all is well and we will have all the bedrooms decorated in time to have the house looking great for the wedding!

Friday, March 26, 2010

BLACK and WHITE FASHION BEDDING

black and white hot pink purses shoes fashion bedding set comforter polka dot stripes striped


Leah called needing help with the purses and shoes theme black and white fashion bedding set that I had recommended to her. I blogged about this set awhile ago and it just knocked her out but it was expensive. Then, when I saw the ensemble go on sale I told her and she got her mom to order it right away!

She was so excited about getting the comfort set that I couldn’t imagine what the problem might be. The bedroom color scheme of hot pink, black and white was pretty straight forward and we had ascertained that there was no need to repaint the bedroom, so what was wrong?

I feared the worst in that I was afraid that the color combination might be TOO simple. This teenage girl loves bold and some might even say wild, colors and the only bright colors in this set came in through the fashion theme graphics of the accent pillows.

After a quick trip to her house to see if I could help her mom avoid shipping the fashion theme bedding set back I was relieved to learn that the young lady’s meltdown was not that big of a deal. She didn’t like the retro look of the pink Cadillac throw pillow that came with the black and white fashion bedding set but her mom loved it.

I have to admit that the inclusion of the vintage car changed the whole complexion of the girl’s bedroom theme from sophisticated to...well, something else. I don't have a think against an Elvis theme bedroom or a rockabilly bedroom but this style would have not been in keeping with this girl's personality and that's where this pink Cadillac design was taking us.

The teen girls bedding set and bedroom decorating ideaswere based on designer purses, high heel shoes and fashion models except for that pink vintage car. Never having noticed it before, it was now bugging me that it threw the black and white fashion bedding set into the realm of rockabilly. This was one time I sided with the teenager of the house.

Tell me, would you vote to keep the pillow or lose it? Or does it really not make much difference in the overall bedroom design?

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Beach Theme Bedroom

beach theme bedding themed wild teenage teen girls hot pink green blue yellow purple

GO HERE FOR MORE!


It's time to start thinking about what kind of beach theme bedroom that might appeal to my client's daughter who will be rolling in any minute now and I'm expecting to be summoned and expected to show up with a boatload of girls beach bedroom ideas shortly after her bags hit the floor.

I know it's coming...she's going to be very excited about wherever she spent the last week and that she is going to want to recreate the trip in her beach theme bedroom. Hopefully, I won't have problems finding a comforter set that will suit her. Wouldn't it be great if she wants a vintage Hawaiian beach theme room? That would just be lovely, but somehow I know that's not going to happen.

What is your favorite beach theme bedroom? Most teen girls bedding, bedrooms and decorating ideas for this theme focus on either flip flops or surfboards and I'm worried that style may have run it's course...or has it?

Friday, March 12, 2010

Tommy Bahama Dominique Bedding

tommy bahama blue and white life is one long weekend pillow
SEE MORE TOMMY BAHAMA BEDDING HERE!

A client had bought her teen girl a set of Tommy Bahama Dominique bedding that she found on sale because her daughter had said that she wanted to decorate her room in a tropical bedroom theme or a beach theme.

tommy bahama bedding comforter set dominique

When she got it home, the teenage girl said that the blue and white palm tree print fabric looked way too OLD for her. Her mom was very disappointed because she had bought the comforter set on the closeout table at a store that was over a hundred miles away from her house.

She said that she planned to postpone her daughter’s bedroom makeover until she could sell the Tommy Bahama Dominique bedding set in an EBay auction. I asked her if I could take a look at it and I remembered the "Life is One Long Weekend" pillow that I had on hand.

Long story short, I managed to convince her daughter to let me try to give the denim blue and white palm tree comforter a funky look based on that accent pillow! I have my work cut out for me but I think I can manage! Wish me luck and if you have any ideas on how I can decorate the rest of this teen girl’s bedroom please stop back by Teen Girls Bedding and Bedroom Decorating Ideas and share before I get myself into more than I can handle!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

TROPICAL BEDDING

pink and green hibiscus tropical hawaiian bedding teen girls bedroom white set comforter



I’m still snuggling up in my bed surrounded by flannel at night, but lately tropical bedding is dancing through my brain like sugarplums. The chill of winter is still in the air so I’m not making my move to lighten things up for spring and summer in my own bedroom just yet.

But it’s a completely different story when it comes to bedroom decorating ideas for my clients. Most of the moms decorating rooms for their teen girls that I have met with recently have homes that are a work in progress yet they are enthusiastically gathering decorative possibilities for tropical bedrooms even though the work is a few months out.

Thankfully, lots of the stores have already rolled out some very cute tropical bedding sets with hibiscus flowers and pretty pink and green color schemes. One thing I’ve noticed is that hot pink seems to be cooling down just a touch. The shade of pink that is taking its place is more of a watermelon color and it looks fantastic with a honey dew melon shade of green as well as lime green. The requests for bold colors will probably pick up later in the year but for now the tropical bedding sets are fresh as an ocean breeze.

Have you picked out your comforter set or got your eye on a bed in a bag set in spring colors? Why don’t you take a minute and tell the visitors at Teen Girls Bedding and Bedroom Decorating Ideas about it?