Designer Tips: How to Create a Mood

The easiest way to create a new feeling in your home - the most sure fire way too - is by changing the mood or ambience of the room. What type of light you have in the room and how much saturation makes a huge difference.

Don't overload your room with too much light. Too much of a good thing is simply too much. You don't need 17 lamps in a room to provide adequate lighting. On the other hand, too few can be hard on the eyes and detrimental over time. Here are some handy tips:

• If you have tons of lights with full saturation, get to your home improvement supply store and buy some dimmers. You'll be amazed at how a dimmer can soften the room in the right places. Decide in advance which lights will be affected by which dimmers.
• Use candles effectively to add mood. Now you don't want to light 1,000 candles so it looks like some kind of religious ceremony going on, but a few choice candles will really add a valuable dimension to the room. Candles are relaxing and inviting. Make sure they are place in safe locations. Put them on stands and make sure they can't get accidentally knocked over. Common places to use them are: mantels, dining room tables, coffee tables, bathtub rims, countertops. When you're entertaining, candles make it appear that you've really given thought to the event.
• Your choice of paint, believe it or not, can add or diminish light from a room. To reduce the light, go dark. Add glass or laquer objects to pick up reflections. Black is back and oh so stylish, particularly for Asian, African or contemporary styles. Add drama by adding black accents - even a whole wall!
• For the warmest glow in a room, choose pink halogen bulbs (not fluorescent). They cast a warm glow on everything. The bulbs should always be pink. This makes your skin tones look rosey too and that always will make you feel and look good in the room.

June Quick Links

June's Decorating Tips
Four Remodeling Tips
How to Clean Outdoor Furniture, Part I
How to Clean Outdoor Furniture, Part II
Getting Replacement Windows
List of Other Free Tips

Barbara Jennings

Barbara Jennings is one of the foremost authorities on interior redesign, home staging and art consulting. She trains entrepreneurs from all over the world through her online tutorials and courses. Author of 9 books for the decorating and design field, she is widely respected for her expertise and affordable training programs, customer support and on-going mentoring services.

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