Decorative Stair Brackets

Stair brackets, also called tread brackets, are a terrific approach to decorating the treads on your staircase. They can be found in all styles of historic homes and are a popular option for decorating new homes, as well. Stair brackets are decorative details that are easily installed, adding beauty and elegance to your entry way for a lifetime.

Stair brackets are an easy and affordable way to add a touch of class with little effort. They can change the look of an unadorned and plain staircase into one that is gorgeous and elegant. Add a touch of architectural elegance to your steps with a set of stair brackets.

Stair brackets are molded from a high density furniture grade of polyurethane. They are beautifully detailed from hand-crafted molds, which ensures a consistent quality product time after time. The precision and quality that goes into the crafting of these exquisite decorative accents provides the best results for application, appearance and longevity. Stair brackets are delivered pre-primed and ready for you to finish in your unique style.

Stair brackets can also be used to complement the existing trim in your home. They resemble the look of the hand-carved accents often found in older homes scattered throughout America. They honor the timeless style, texture and ornate detail from earlier decorative eras. Decorative stair brackets will transform even the look of the most ordinary and simple staircase to one of elegance.

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How to Decorate on a Budget

So your celebrity style doesn't match your checkbook? You want to re-decorate your home or your apartment, but you have limited funds. Does this mean that you can't design your space like a celebrity? Consider the following points for your decorating budget:

• Decide ahead of time how much you can afford to spend on a decorating project. Then set aside money in a budget or consider a payment plan. Pace your decorating and make sure that you include money for accessories and miscellaneous items.

• Pick one room at a time to re-decorate. Designate a priority project in that particular room and begin there.

• Make sure that you have a plan. Keep color schemes, style and atmosphere in mind for your project. Select a target date for completion of your project.

• Remember that what ever you are considering will affect not just you but your family as well. Therefore, if you are unsure about tackling your decorating project alone, consider consulting a professional designer. A designer can save you time, money, energy, and frustration.

• Develop a floor plan showing windows and doors. Draw your furniture to scale and place them on your floor plan, moving them around until you get an arrangement that you like. Decide on a focal point. Make sure that you measure any furniture, rugs, etc. before making large purchases. Consider the ceiling height and traffic flow as well.

• Repeat each color in your color scheme at three levels: eye level, mid-level, and floor level. You do this to achieve good visual balance. Repeat any patterns or textures at least two times throughout the room.

• Other less costly ways to update or refresh a room include paint and wallpaper with or without borders.

• Prior to spending money on your project, you want to take a look at the colors and patterns in your home during the daylight hours.

• When purchasing accessories, invest in those that can be used easily in any home. These accessories might include artwork, area rugs, or decorator pillows, for example.

For those of us who have more taste than money, decorating our homes on a budget can often seem like an exercise in futility. As we flip through the glossy pages of home decorating magazines, we bristle at having to make do or having to do without.

However, the principles of decorating your home have always rested on expressing your own personality and your own sense of style rather than how much money you spend trying to make your home look like a picture in a magazine. You can decorate well on a limited budget when you keep this in mind.

For beautiful ideas that are inexpensive, visit GoCeilingMedallion or GoCrownMolding. We have hundreds of decorative accessories to choose from, so you are sure to find something that suits your interior decor ideas and style.

Ceilings: The Forgotten Frontier

Most people do not put much thought into how they decorate their ceilings, but your ceiling can have a huge affect on the entire look and feel of your home. Ceilings are normally considered a wall area, where they are painted one neutral color, but there are accents that you can add to your ceiling that will help to make them more visually appealing and interesting. This includes ceiling medallions, ceiling domes, and lighting rims.

Ceiling medallions are a great way to draw the eye to the ceiling. From simple ceiling medallions to more detailed ones, you are sure to find one that goes with the decorating style and feel of your room. They are constructed of polyurethane, which is resistant to rotting, warping, and splitting, which is another great benefit. They come in white, but they can be painted any color that you want or you can use a paint treatment on them to make them even more beautiful and visually interesting. They can be used in conjunction with a lighting fixture to help dress it up and make it more beautiful to look at or they can be used alone as a decorative feature, whichever you prefer.

Ceiling domes are another option for your ceilings to help make them more interesting and fun to look at. Chandeliers are made more even more beautiful with the addition of a ceiling dome. Ceiling domes are recessed into the ceiling which makes them a cohesive part of the ceiling. They can be painted or a paint treatment can be used, including gold or silver leafing. If you have a chandelier or are planning to install a chandelier as a focal point in one of the rooms in your home, then you will definitely want to consider a ceiling dome.

One versatile piece of ceiling décor is the lighting rims. These rims can be used as a trim around your lighting fixture or you can use them in conjunction with ceiling medallions to help create a custom look for your ceiling or to increase the size of the ceiling medallion. They come in decorative, detailed versions or simpler versions, depending upon your needs and desires.

All of these ceiling accents are constructed of polyurethane. They can be used as they are or you can get creative with them and paint or do a treatment on them. From gold or silver leafing to painting to sponging, you are sure to create a ceiling that becomes a focal point to help make your entire room more interesting and visually appealing. If your ceiling is tired and boring, then you will want to consider adding one of these ceiling accents in your room. You will be glad you did.

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Using Your Personality to Design Your Room

Infusing your personality into the decorating of any one of your rooms brings your unique personality to the look and feel of that room. This decorating strategy also makes your room feel warmer and more inviting to your friends and family. Adding accents and décor that you love and that express things that are important to you will help to make the room feel more comfortable to you. Rather than looking for items that are "in" or "trendy", you only have to be willing to look for items that appeal to you and which speak to your particular personality.

Where do you start? Start by looking at different decorating accents to see what appeals to you. Look at atypical decorating accents, such as rosettes, corbels, ceiling medallions, and niches. Choose pieces that inspire you; decorative items that you love the look and feel of. By choosing your pieces carefully, you will help to make your room more interesting to look at and more fun to be in. You don’t have to pick a lot of accents, in fact, the fewer that you choose the more the visual interest and appeal you will create.

Look online, in stores, at craft shows, flea markets, antique stores, and anywhere else that you may come into contact with decorative accents for your room and home. By looking at different sources, you may find that your decorating style is quite eclectic and unique. You can mix decorating styles, but you want to be careful in doing so to make sure that you are not taking away from the décor of your room. By choosing pieces that you truly love, no matter what decorating style that they fit into, you will be able create a space that is warm and alive for you and the members of your family.

The details are what make a room feel more alive and welcoming. Decorative accents such as ceiling medallions, corbels, rosettes, and moldings can make a huge difference in how your room looks and feels. By choosing details like these carefully, you can infuse your personality and interests into your home and into your individual rooms. You will be surprised by how much life these small accents can add to your room. You have created a room that is comfortable and inviting to your friends and family; a room that people want to spend time in.

At GoCeilingMedallion.com, you can find wonderful examples of decorative accents, like those mentioned above. We have a wide variety of elegant ceiling medallions, 18 K Gold Leaf crown moldings as well as a wide variety of other types of accents. We are your GO TO people for all of your decorative ceiling needs. Visit GoCeilingMedallion.com now to see what we can do for you.

Five Principles of Good Design

The Principles of Design are the ideas or concepts that are used to organize the elements of the design. The way in which the principles are applied will affect how the content is expressed or how we view the message of the work or the whole of the design. Principles of design are considered to be the rules guiding the design practice.

Design rules vary slightly. However, when considering a design project, utilize these commonly accepted basic principles for a successful project.

Emphasis

This principle describes the “center of influence” or the “point of focus”. Most designers create a dominant theme around which minor themes are built. There are those, however, who wish to avoid placing emphasis on any one part, but create visual interest on all parts of the room.

Designers use emphasis to direct your attention to the most important elements of the design or room. Without emphasis, the room looks monotonous with a lack of inspiration. Emphasis is achieved through repetition and contrast.

Repetition is simply the use of patterns to achieve a rhythm in the design. It makes the work appear more dynamic and interesting and creates unity within the composition.

Contrast, often considered a principle on its own, refers to the abrupt change of an element to create emphasis and interest. Contrast can be accomplished in several ways. It is created through color, texture, shape, scale, positioning and detail.

Balance

Balance is the term used to describe the concept of visual weight given to the arrangement of objects within a composition. It reconciles opposing elements in order to create stability. Without balance, the room or composition can look awkward and unstable. Balance can be achieved either symmetrically or asymmetrically.

Symmetric balance occurs when we achieve equal weight on all sides of a central axis or focal point.

Asymmetric balance is more complex. It refers to how objects of varying importance or weight are arranged around the central point so as to balance one another. There may be one dominant form which is counterbalanced by several smaller forms. Asymmetric design often creates a sense of visual tension.

Proportion

Proportion refers to the size and scale of objects or elements in the design. It pertains to the relationship between those elements and the comparison in dimensions. Proportion can help in establishing visual weight and depth to a composition.

Public places are often very large in proportion to humans. Spaces such as churches or malls are intended to impress.

On the other hand, our homes are more on a scale consistent to our own proportions, our usual standard of measurement, and are seen as more inviting and less intimidating.

Rhythm

Rhythm is defined as regular movement through space. It is created when one or more elements are arranged repeatedly to produce a feeling of movement. It refers to the way the eye follows an arrangement of motifs or designs along a path in order to create a sense of predictability and order. It depends on pattern and movement to create a mood.

A calming rhythm is created when elements are placed at regular intervals, while sudden changes in position or in size can create a more lively rhythm. Variety is essential to keeping the rhythm exciting and moving the eyes actively around the composition.

Rhythm is created in several ways. Linear rhythm refers to the flow of each particular line. Repetition involves the use of patterning to create rhythm, as previously described. Alternation is the periodic repetition of patterns, such as long and short or fat and thin. Gradation refers to a series of steps in a pattern, as with shape or color, in order to create a sequence of events.

Unity

Unity refers to the harmony achieved by all of the parts. It gives one the sense that all of the elements are working together to create a visually satisfying composition or design. Unity is the quality of completeness achieved by balancing all of the other elements or aspects of the composition. It creates a sense that each element belongs with all of the others and that if it were removed the composition would fall apart.

Unity is most frequently achieved through pattern. Color, shape, texture and form are also powerful methods used to create a sense of unity of composition.

These are the five most common principles of design. If you attend to these principles, you will create a beautiful design in your home that will dazzle and impress anyone.

2007 Patricia Tomaskovic