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Last time we studied "The Finishing Touches", today we will
learn about "Taking Decorating a Step Further".

So you have enjoyed what you have learnt so far and are itching to
get out there and learn some more.
I am going to tell you about how I became an interior designer.
When I was young I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I
had been an AFS exchange student to Quebec Canada for a year, I
returned to New Zealand and promptly took off to the United Kingdom to embark on my big OE. Whilst staying there my friend was working as a nanny in a beautiful home owned by an interior designer and her husband was the decorator, implementing the work that she
specified.

Their house had the most incredible trompe l'oeil
ceiling I had ever seen. It looked like it had extensive and very elaborate plasterwork and a huge domed ceiling. In fact the ceiling was flat!

I was inspired by what can be done with a little imagination and
there I set upon my current career path. I trained at a college
back in my home town, and at the end was ruthlessly determined to get a job, I worked part time in the industry until I made myself
indispensable to the design company and issued them an ultimatum - I need full time work or I am leaving, and I am still here 20 years later!

Anyway, where I am getting to with my story is that I am not alone,
there are so many people out there who are in the same situation
that I was, unsure of what road to take and whether it will be
what they anticipate.

Never fear, every career choice is like this, but the positive side
of interior decorating is that it is an industry that follows fashion and is linked with technology, so it is always changing and
there are constantly a flow of new products to learn about and the
seasonal trends that follow. That keeps the job fun! You also have
the people side of the job, you are changing people's homes for the better, we aren't doctors but we can transform the emotional side of a person to be happy in their environment. A wonderful comfortable home, is a great way to keep the soul happy and motivated.

I love my job and recommend it to any budding creative person who wants to take up decorating as a hobby or really wants to get their teeth into it and work full time in the industry.

I get asked often by people all over the world, how do I learn,
where do I start? You have already made a positive start by
visiting our website and taking up this ecourse. Obviously I have
been unable to cover every aspect in detail of interior decorating
because it is covers such a huge range of topics, but we have made a positive start to your learning, and believe me you are always learning in this industry, there is no time to get stale!

There are a lot of careers within interior decorating, for example
you could specialize in color and be a color consultant, or window
treatments and work in a sales store, you could be a buyer of
decorating accessories for a department store, an adviser on floor
coverings, a kitchen or bathroom designer, a sales representative
for fabrics...the list goes on.

Where ever you end up you need a solid grounding education in
decorating.

with more to come.

We can also highly recommend fabjob.com's

Guide to Become and Interior Decorator

If you are already in the industry and have used this ecourse as
a refresher which is a very healthy thing to do, you may want to
go into business on your own or if you already are then you may
want to increase your turnover.
My partner Chris Brown has written a detailed ebook called

How to Make Loads of Money as a Designer

This covers all aspects of running a design practice from
starting up and getting a name, to employing staff and marketing
yourself and your business. It gives examples of office systems to
streamline your business and time saving advice which ultimately
makes you more money. It really is worth the read. It is so easy
to get bogged down doing your design work and forget about where the next job is coming from and how you are going to pay the bills!
So take a look, it will change the way you do business.

How to Make Loads of Money as a Designer

I hope you have enjoyed your free ecourse in interior decorating.
I will be keeping in touch with things that I think will be of
interest to you.


Now that you have completed the ecourse, I can let you know about the certificate that is available.........get certificate information here

Keep visiting our website, I have listed a few pages to bookmark below. These pages are resourceful and an interesting read they are constantly being updated with new articles on different sub topics.

Interior Decorating e-course Part 9 - The Finishing Touches

Your contractors have left you have a brand new interior, you have placed your furniture, but there is still something missing. Yes! The finishing touches. This is where, less is definitely best, so select wisely. You want to create features in the room, not collections.

Here are some ways to finish your room:
1. Artwork - paintings or prints. Select pictures or prints that relate to your theme or style, make sure they incorporate colors from your color scheme. They can be used to highlight your colors or just to create a texture to the wall in similar color tonings. If you have a lot of paintings, you are best to group them together to create "one" picture, rather than spread them one by one across the wall. To find out more about placing artwork visit this article below:

Arranging Artwork

2. Artwork - sculpture. Sculpture is a great way to create a focal point in a room, find a god spot to display it and make sure you have a way of highlighting it with light.

3. Vases - Flowers, fresh or artificial. These are a great way to soften a look. Fresh flowers are great because you can always create a new look depending on the type of flowers and the way they are arranged. For example wild flowers grouped suggest randomness, tulips on their own suggest simplicity, red roses on center stage suggest passion, spring flowers evoke cheerfulness to a room at the changing of a season, large white Asian lilies express opulence. To save time and money artificial flowers are a very good option today. They are almost too real looking, and you do look a bit silly when you go to smell them and have a closer inspection! Choose flowers that suit the style you have created, if you need help with this, most florists have a good background in matching flowers to your taste.

4. Cushions - These are the greatest accessory, especially if you
have children, they just love messing up your well placed accessories! They are great as you can further enhance the colors and fabrics that you have chosen, use the same fabric in a slightly different color way or the same colorway in a different design. Contrasting colors work well to brighten a scheme, or textured cushions in a monochromatic scheme. Fringes and tassels, buttons and beads, the world is your oyster when it comes to decorating cushions, these are a "must have" in almost every room.

5. Throws - these are a simple way to make a room feel more homely. They are great when you sit in front of the fire at night to read a book and you wrap the throw around your shoulders and snuggle. So they are useful as well as adding color, texture and style to your room. Once again you can follow the principles for cushion selection to choose what they will look like.
6. Tie backs, hold backs - curtain accessories, these really add a touch of class to your window treatments. You can choose from such a huge selection today, so I will just send you to another website to look at how these work. curtains.interiordezine.com

7. Lamps - we touched on these in furniture placement, but I can't stress enough how these really add the finishing touch and create
versatility in mood creation to your room. You have many options with lamp bases and shades to add color and texture to your room.

8. Coffee table books - the ultimate accessory - The coffee table book. Something grand on a trendy topic like Food from Tuscany, or The History of Fashion, something that makes people want to pick it up and flick through. This is a way of making people feel welcome in your home.

9. Ornaments - keep these to a minimum, as they are the fastest way to clutter, but the odd strategically placed ornament will definitely make your house look and feel like a home.
10. Mirrors - These are a simple way to make rooms look larger or
bring in more light to a room via reflected light. There are so many beautiful frames available today that you are bound to be able
to find something to suit your style or look.

Interior Decorating e-course Part 8 - How to Pull Your Decorating Scheme Together

With all the hard work over, we now need to tie up all the loose ends. Unfortunately, like every job there is the element of paperwork! I'm sorry, but it can't all be glamor and fun. You must document your scheme, so that everyone involved is following the same path. This is then able to be used to get pricing from contractors and suppliers of products, as well as making sure that you or (your client if you are doing this for someone else) knows exactly where they stand and what they are going to get for their money.

So I will keep this short and sweet.

1. Always write a finishes schedule. This lists up all there areas that you are working in, walls, ceiling, floor etc and what rooms you are working, and then what finish they will receive. This means that a contractor for example a painter can take this piece of paper and walk around the rooms and measure the quantities he needs of each product for each application.

2. Make sure your client signs this document to ensure they know what they are getting. If you are doing this for your self you obviously don't need to sign, but you do need to make sure you have a system if you change anything on this list, so that you can update it and reissue it to your contractors and you all know what is the most up to date copy.

3. With your list (and this should be done when you are selecting your products) check with all the suppliers that the products are available and or that you can get them within your time frame. It adds a lot of money onto your project if you have to courier a product to get it on time. So forward planning is essential here.

4. Make sure that you work out a time line and all your contractors
know when they have the space to do their work and when they are
expected to be finished, and make sure you are tough on this one, it is like a domino effect if you let one slip behind.

5. Make sure you have all your prices and costs in your hand before
you start engaging contractors or manufactures to start making
things for you. You need to ensure that you are within your budget before you start. You want to make sure that you can pay everyone,
if you want to get a start into the decorating industry, lets make it a good one.

6. Engage your contractors and manufacturers ie painters, carpet layers, curtain manufacturers, in writing, always refer to their quotation or estimate and confirm the agreed amount and the payment arrangements. For example a deposit and remainder on completion or with installments, or payment in full before commencement (watch out for this one, don't ever pay the total account until you have the total amount of work completed or else you have no way of getting the job finished if they don't turn up. They have your money and you have an incomplete job.)

7. Get the work underway, make sure you keep your eyes on the time and the quality of the work. Always be around, this keeps the contractors on their toes! You don't have to stay but keep popping in to check up on things. You don't want to have the job completed and see that the painter has misread your finishes schedule and swapped some bedrooms around!

8. When the job is completed, check all the work has been done to a satisfactory standard before you pay the entire account. If you find any problems, write them down and get the contractor back to remedy them. It is important that you get this done ASAP as the sooner it is done the more likely they are to finish it, some contractors start another job and you just can't get them back. So be very prompt on this job.

9. Take out your camera and take some photos for your brag book!!
Well done.

Interior Decorating e-course Part 7 - Furniture Placement Guidelines

Now that we are progressing well into the field of decorating, and have a solid grasp on getting a design brief, brainstorming for a style, using color well, making fabrics work for you and what to look for in home finishes, we will look at how to place the furniture into you cleverly decorated room. The furniture placement will further enhance all your good work you have done so far.

I will show you how to place your furniture by telling you what not to do!!

The most common error in furniture placement is to place all the
pieces around the walls, thinking that it will make the room look
larger. Unfortunately this theory is incorrect, and it does exactly
the opposite, it makes the room feel smaller and is less usable.

The next error is to group all the furniture around a focal piece, half right, except it is the television! Neglecting other features like a fireplace or a spectacular view.

A popular error for hoarders is to have so much furniture that they
have to stuff it all into one space, less is best when it comes to design, we don't want to go back to the Victorian style of decorating.

This isn't really a placement error, rather a purchasing, make sure
that the furniture is in proportion to the size of a room. A huge chunky sofa may be comfy, but if is the only thing that fits into the room, then it definitely is not in proportion. The same can be said for the heights of furniture, if you have a high stud then the space will look bigger automatically and you can have taller and more solid furniture. The other area here is that a large sofa and a small spindly side table will also look out of proportion, so think about how furniture will work together when you are purchasing or deciding which furniture to keep in your room if you are a hoarder!

So how do we go about making these spaces work?

Small Steps

Decide what you are going to do in the space, ie read, watch tv, sleep, exercise, relax, converse, play.

Then work out what you need to achieve these tasks. (do this for every room) For example the living room - the most difficult as it has to be very flexible to accommodate a whole family. You will need to allow furniture for watching TV - sofas, chairs and coffee table or side tables (to hold the remote controls obviously!), chairs, playing computer games - desk, office chairs, reading quietly - armchair with accompanying side table and lamp, play are for the small children - bean bags, cushions, toy chest, bookshelf. Do you start to see what we are trying to achieve?

Next step - if you can draft, you can plan out on paper how you
are going to fit all this furniture in, remembering to look at where people come and go from the room, you don't want them walking in front of the television every time they need to leave the room, orientate the furniture in another direction. If you can't draft, don't worry, good old graph paper will do, measure the size of the room, layout out the overall space on the paper, then measure the furniture and on another piece of graph paper, measure and draw using the graph paper to help you, a rough shape of the furniture, then cut them out and you can start placing them in the room. This is much easier than literally pushing the furniture around the room yourself. This way you can explore the numerous options until you feel that the space works.

Some tips:

Group sofas, chairs parallel to each other if you are wanting people to converse, in general keep you furniture parallel to the walls, this is the most pleasing on the eye. You can get away with angling a chair in a corner but apart from that parallel to the walls is best.

Define a specific area with a change in floor coverings, ie a rug under a dinging table, under a sofa and chairs, or as a way to protect your carpet and define where the children play in an area.

Keep all your electrical equipment in one area, TVs, Stereo, Video,
DVD etc, this way it reduces the cables lying around on the floor,
if possible use an entertainment unit and it can also store all your cds, dvds and videos out of sight, this makes a huge difference in a living room. If you are able, get your speakers wired into the walls and ceiling, this way you won't have to see them on the walls or on the floor.

Think about how you want to create the mood in the room, lighting
is where I'm going here. It is great to have your general lighting from the light switch, but to create different moods and effects, don't overlook the power of lamps, there are so many types available now that there is no excuse not to be able to find some to suit your scheme, some are sculptural, some are slim and almost invisible, others have the traditional lamp base and shade.

What they all do is create an extra zing to the room, and this will
show off all the hard work you have done.

Where do you place them? Tall up light lamps look best in corners as they make the room look larger, small lamps work best on side tables next to chairs or sofas, as they provide light for you to read or do handiwork with, sculptural lamps can become a focal point, so they can go anywhere.

Focal points, I think I have overlooked explaining this and it is very important for furniture placement. Every room should have a focal point, this is how we succeed in decorating and design. We have something attractive that immediately draws the eye into the room and makes you want to be there. Some people are lucky and have an ever changing view from a window that does this naturally, but most of us have to work at it.

The most common ways to achieve a focal point is with the use of a piece of artwork be it sculptural or a painting. Other ways include
a large decorative mirror, a fireplace, using a change in wall color with a feature wall, using a change in texture with a wallpaper or fabric to draw your eye. Sometimes a piece of furniture or a rug can be a focal point, but they aren't usually as obvious because you eye has to look down to see these, the best place for a focal point is at eye level. Don't forget to highlight the focal point with lighting.

Use these guidelines to work with the other rooms in the house.

Thanks , and I look forward to catching up with you
in two days time.
For home work you could take a look at:

Furniture History

Modern Furniture Designers and Pieces of Famous Furniture

Lighting

Interior Decorating e-course course Part 6 - What to Look for in Home Finishes

Last time we learned about How to Choose Fittings and Fixtures,
today we will learn about What to Look for in Home Finishes.

Interior Decorating e-course Part 6 - What to Look for in Home
Finishes

It is important to have an understanding of what interior finishes
are, what they are used for, when and where to use them and why.
The why is important, as you must always be able to justify WHY you
have selected a finish or a product to use. Because "I like the
look of it" is not enough. This is the part of Interior Decoration
that we get assessed on, as it is what people "see." It is a
complex process of continual questions that we need to ask to
ensure that the product will do what we expect of it.

The best way to gain knowledge of these products is by assessing
supplier and manufacturer's information and specifications. They
freely distribute these and some are happy to provide samples so
that you can physically compare different products. Be careful when
checking for flame resistance. I once naively put a match to a
small swatch of fabric to see if it could withstand flame. A split
second later I had a hot black gooey melted fabric over my finger.
It hurt and I came to the conclusion that the fabric was not what I
was looking for and it wasn't specified for the project. It pays to
read the back of the label for the properties and used their tried
and tested information.

Selecting products or finishes, as discussed requires accessing
their performance capabilities. The following items should be
considered:

Economic and budgetary issues. Does the budget allow for the
initial purchase cost of the material as well as the installation?
Does the product require long-term maintenance, which may impact on the weekly household budget?

Durability considerations. Will the product withstand daily wear
and tear -water spillage, foot traffic, pets, and children with
artistic flair, furniture movement? Is the product able to be
easily maintained? Is it easily broken, or scratched, prone to
changing temperatures?

Safety issues. Is it slippery when wet (flooring)? Is it a fire
hazard? Does it have hard or sharp edges? Does it provide a surface for glare? I.e. is it highly polished and reflective. Is the
product dull and dark and impede vision without the lights on?

Comfort and Aesthetic considerations. Does it look great?
Does it fit in with your scheme, texturally, color wise, patterned items? Does it meet the acoustic and thermal insulation requirements of the local building authority? Do the tactile properties live up to the look? I.e. is it soft to touch, silky to run your fingers over, or cool underfoot?

Keeping all these items in mind, start visiting interior stores to
have your interior finishes and product knowledge increased. A way
to remember the product and its properties and functions is to
consider where you would put it and why, it helps to keep a
notebook of these observations until you become confident with
interior products and finishes available.

Always ask lots of questions to the sales staff, especially when
you are considering wet areas, or areas where humidity can be a
factor, for example cork is a wonderful flooring product, it is
warm underfoot, a natural product, economically priced, saves
glasses and crockery from breaking when dropped (most times), but
it is prone to damage with water. It is sealed with polyurethane,
but often moisture can get in around the edges and the tiles start
to lift off the floor and it really does look messy and is
dangerous, the conclusion there is, best not to use them in the
bathroom, kitchen or entrance ways.

Once again the finishes that you select come down to getting a good
clear brief of what you are going to be using the rooms or spaces
for, the style that you are trying to achieve, the color and
texture that fits these parameters and then obtaining the product
for the right cost to suit your budget.

Don't forget to touch and feel all the products, make sure they are
the best quality that you can afford, ensure that they will last to
your expectations, and of course the most obvious, that they look
good!

For information on individual products to give you a head start, I
have written an ebook on interior design and decorating materials.
Take a look at what it has to offer, it could save you a lot of time.

In two days time Wai you will receive the
seventh part of your decorating e-course.

Furniture Placement Guidelines

For great furniture placement guidelines, check out my Interior design and decorating ebooks. These areA fast and effective way to learn interior decorating at your own pace, in your own home.

I look forward to catching up with you
in two days time.
For home work you could take a look at these articles:

Wall Hangings

Types of Timber and Wood

Types of Metals

There is also the opportunity to get a certificate at the end of this ecourse, but I'm not giving any details until you complete it!

Interior Decorating e-cours Part 5 - How to Choose Fittings and Fixtures

Last time we learnt about Making Fabrics Work for You, today we
will learn How to Choose Fittings and Fixtures.

Interior Decorating e-course Part 5 - How to Choose Fittings and
Fixtures

In yesterdays world of decorating, we did not have many options
when it came to fittings and fixtures unless we commissioned a
special fitting. The industrial revolution changed all this,
bringing us new materials that could be used to make handles,
bakerlite, chrome finish for example in place of wrought iron or
timber.

Then technology went mad and millions of dollars were spent
on research and development incorporating industrial design.
Today we have a choice of thousands of handles, instead of
previously a handful. The features vary tremendously as well as the
color and finish options, without even mentioning the different
brands available. It is no wonder the public struggle to come up
with informed decisions when it comes to handle selection!

Today we are spoilt for choice in every area of home decorating. So
I will provide a few guidelines to help you w**d out what you don't
need and leave you with a way of deciding what you do!
Fittings and Fixtures basically mean every thing that is fixed in
your home. Appliances, bathroom ware, taps and faucets, light
switches, light fittings, mirrors, heating fittings, door handles
and locks - you get the picture?

To try and simplify how to pick out these items for your home,
whether it is a new home or you are doing alterations, I will speak
in general terms and not go down to each individual item.
All fittings and fixtures in your home should have some sort of
uniformity, be this by color, finish or style.

There is nothing worse than opening doors in a home and each handle feels different and is at different heights, similar problems with light switches.

Try and keep things simple - the old "KISS" method works well in
this case:

"Keep it Simple Stupid!"

Fittings and fixtures should be selected at the same time as the
color scheme and incorporated in to a finishes schedule, this way
you will make sure that all the materials used in your project will
work together.

How do you do that?

Start with one think and start layering. An example, you find a beautiful brass bed head with white ceramic detailing and you have recycled timber dressers and think that you would like to theme your villa around that. You choose timber floors, skirting boards and doors, you think a crisp white wallpaper with a moire effect could soften the walls and hide a few small defects! You then find a brass and frosted glass pendant for the living room, use brass k**b door handles and face plates, and frost a border on the glass mirror in the bathroom
and on the timber French doors leading into the dining room.
Antique brass taps / faucets add charm to the kitchen over the
ceramic sink and timber counter top. The window latches and stays
are brass, the window frames painted white. There is no microwave
on show, it is hidden behind a cupboard door, the light switch has
a brass face plate.

Are you starting to get the picture? Obviously other metals can be introduced, but the major items are the same and fluent throughout the house.

This was an example of a renovation where you have not had to think
about new appliances, lighting, bathroom fittings, for a new house,
it is very daunting.

All I can say is good luck!

No, really, take it step by step, start in one room and use your
brief of what style you are looking for, and your brain storming for
your ideas and start to search out products that fit that look. A
contemporary apartment, sleek lines, white walls, large open
expanses, minimalist look, you will need to keep every thing
shiny simple and understated. There will be pieces of artwork or
furniture that are the feature here, brushed stainless steel
kitchen appliances, all white bathroom fixtures and slick stainless
steel tap ware and accessories, lots of glass, stainless steel light
switch plates, stainless steel down lights with perhaps a feature
pendant.

A warm family home, here you need to think practical. Tough plastic
face plates to light switches, (easily washed), Strong and robust
bathroom fittings and fixtures, especially the towel rails and
toilet roll holder, children love to swing off these items! A bath
as well as a shower for little children, probably without the spa
or jet options, unless you want water everywhere. Large oven with
self clean properties, a large refrigerator big enough for all the
family, and with an easy clean surface. Strong and robust cabinetry
with strong hinges and solid handles.

Are you starting to get a feel for it? It all comes back to getting
the correct client brief, your brain storming of styles, choosing
the starting piece and then using a process of elimination begins.
That is the best part because you can w**d out all the products
that don't suit what you are looking for. This is when cost can be
looked at and is often a factor in the decision making. The best
way to handle this is to list up a functional priority list and and
an aesthetic priority list. Work through these together to get the
best quality and functionality possible.

Choosing fittings and fixtures is a lot simpler when you have only
got a few things to choose from, and if you follow the few steps I
have shown you, you will only be left with a small sample of items
to select from. Then you only have to put your taste to the test!

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to catching up with you tomorrow.

For home work you could take a look at

Types of Fittings and Fixtures

Introduction to Fittings and Fixtures

There is also the opportunity to get a certificate at the end of this ecourse, but no details until you complete it!

Interior Decorating e-course Part 4 Making Fabrics Work for You

Last time we learned about How to Use Color Well, today we will
learn How to Make Fabrics Work for You

Remember to get your free curtain design eCourse here

Interior Decorating e-course Part 4 - Making Fabrics Work for You

Color, as we have learned is an important factor in interior decorating, added with fabric we start to create a stylish interior.

Fabrics have many uses, some are purely aesthetic, while others are
truly functional.

Curtains are a functional use for fabric. Using Drapery as a window
treatment reduces draughts, keeps the heat in the room (insulates
the window), reduces noise in a room as well as the obvious good
looks of curtain drapery in a space.

Fabric is also used for upholstery on chairs and sofas. This is not
only functional but has the added value of comfort, especially when
seated, it also feels warm and looks inviting.

Fabric can be used to create the style of an interior. I say
English country cottage, and what do you immediately think of?
Chintz, roses, soft pinks and greens, and creams.

Fabric can independently create a style. 1970's? Bold geometric designs, with lime green, browns, orange and teal. Scottish? Tartan, checks,heavy wools. Nautical? Canvas, blue and white stripe. Asian? Red, Silk.

You see what I mean.

How to Use Fabrics for Window Treatments

The art to using fabrics well for window treatment is to look at
them through half closed eyes, this way you will see the changes in
tone and the texture and the highlights of the material. It is also
important to hold it up upright and see how it drapes, look at the
weight, too heavy can bog down a window, too light and it can look
whimsical.

Can you see through it? What is the type of weave? Is
the fabric suitable for drapery? Is it color fast or will it fade
quickly? Synthetic fabrics tend to have better fade resistance and
are not prone to breakdown in the sun like natural fiber fabrics
such as silk, linen and wool.

Look at the pattern, are you going to be able to see it when it has been made into curtains or will you lose the effect? Having large patterns at the windows will enclose the room, ensure that the room is large enough to handle the scale of the pattern. The same thing goes with patterns that are very small, they can look out of proportion in a large room.

If you want to create a monochromatic color scheme and you require drapery, use a fabric one or two tones darker or lighter than the wall color, this provides a break and a small amount of contrast for a
monochromatic scheme. It is best to have some sort of texture when
doing this style of scheme otherwise the room can look flat.

Choose carefully the type of heading you will use for drapes as this will effect how the fabric hangs and how the pattern is viewed or lost!
Sheers create a soft and romantic look at a window in contrast to
velvet which exudes heavy luxury and warmth.

How to Use Fabrics for Upholstery

This is an area where the inexperienced can be caught out.
Upholstery fabrics have quite different properties to drapery
fabrics. Occasionally some can be used for both purposes,
but generally not. Upholstery takes a lot of wear and tear from us.
There is a lot of abrasion from us sitting on the upholstery of a
chair or sofa, especially when we wear jeans that have the little
metal tags on the pockets.

Here it is important that you look for a Martindale rub test or Weizenbeck test (I explain this in my soft furnishings ebook) to see how the fabric will stand up to wear. This is often printed on the fabric swatch where the properties are listed. If it is not there then ask the seller of the product.

Upholstering items of furniture is an expensive business, you do not want to do it more than is necessary, so make sure you check out the properties of the fabric before you decide to put it on you chair, sofa or footstool. Obviously you can get away with lower grade upholstery fabric on occasional chairs, but items that are in frequent use need a good quality fabric. Good fabrics for upholstery are wools, some wool blends, Dralon, leather and vinyl.

How to Use Fabrics to Accessorize

This is the fun part of fabric. You can use fabric to accessorize,
to brighten up a tired color scheme, or add some seasonal color to
a room. Cushions are the most popular. We have gone through a phase of fur, animal prints, silk and beads, sheer overlays, quilted, buttoned, in fact, cushion fashions change so quickly that I dare write about them for fear of being out of date! Any way, they are a great way to add color and texture to a room. You can use the same fabric on tie backs, or throws to balance the look. You can use the same fabric as the curtains but in a different colorway, to add a new dimension to the room, remembering to use these patterns more than once in a room for a good visual appeal. Or you can pick out a color from the drapes and use that as your accent.

The most important thing to remember is that you are using fabric to add texture and softness to a room, it also adds color and creativity to the scheme as well as enhancing the style that you have created.

Finally a really good reason to use fabric in a room is that it absorbs sound. This means that your living room won't echo when you turn on the stereo if you have soft furnishing in the room. Don't believe me? Then stand in the bathroom, usually a room without soft furnishings, remove any towels etc. and turn on a radio. Then put some towels back and a bath mat and turn it on again. Notice the difference? (This works best in a room with hard surfaces, ie tiles, timber floor, stone floor etc).

There you go, a great deal of insight into using fabrics when you
decorate.

In two days time you will receive the fifth part of your decorating e-course.

How to Choose Fittings and Fixtures

I recommend my Soft Furnishings ebook if you want to learn more about fabrics and how to use them - check it out at the following link: Soft Furnishings.