Tag Archives: antique

How to Decorate Your Room in the Cherry Blossom Girl Style

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The Cherry Blossom Girl style is a look that comes from a young Parisian blogger. Her simple, quirky clothing and room décor looks have become very hip and are influencing everyone from Lady Gaga to Anne Hathaway.

To make your bedroom look like hers you must first paint it all a light baby pink. This is a very girly look. Stencils in a whimsical Victorian or Art Deco style can then be added. Hand painted pink and gold pictures of goldfish embellish furniture and walls every now and then. This gives the look a bit of a shabby chic effect.

A collection of Teddy bears and Japanese cartoon character doors lined up with shells, bamboo fronds and a collection of old cassette tapes give this room an elegant look. Another nice touch is a collection of Lolita style heart shaped glasses pinned to the wall for an extra decorative effect.

The bamboo fronds can be placed in a tall ornate crystal vase. The bigger the bamboo stalks and the more curled and distorted they are, the better.

Stuff can be stored in hat boxes of all shapes and sizes as long as they are pink, silver or white in color. Cookie tins in pink, silver and white are also an option. Black antique lacquered Japanese jeweler boxes and hand held mirrors are also an option.

Above the bed must be the teenage effect of your favorite fashionable images ripped out of magazines and then mounted on pieces of textured watercolor paper. The main feature should be beautiful young women in repose wearing Victorian or Japanese clothing. The photos should have that pink, white and black theme to them. Pictures of novelties from the Victorian era also belong on this type of display of images.

On the bed white or dove grey line along with linens with tiny violet or rose floral best get across this shabby but very romantic and sexy look for a bedroom.

Lighting is very important if this look is going to succeed. One touch that is part of the overall enchantment of the style is round paper Chinese linters in pink and white lining the walls. The lamp shades themselves should be pink or white satin and the lamp stands should be knobs of crystal. An antique white Victorian chandelier is the crowning touch. A ceramic frame which you can also hang your necklaces and chains is also absolutely perfect for this look.

How to Decorate With Knob Finishes That Coordinate Well

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When choosing knobs and drawer pulls you not only have to consider their durability and practicality of the material they are made from, you also have to consider how the knobs are going to fit in with your overall decorating scheme.

For instance, ceramic or wood drawer pulls would probably look old fashioned in a big, flashy metallic kitchen in a condo. This type of décor is much better suited to aluminum, nickel or stone knobs and pulls.

The finish, which includes the color and the texture of the piece is your first consideration. First of all you need to note whether or not the color of the pull will match the rest of your décor. A choice of color might be obvious when it comes to choosing plastic or wooden drawer handles but it might not be so obvious when it comes to figuring out what type of metal finish is best.

As a rule of thumb remember that the more textured and two-toned that a finish looks on a drawer pull, the heavier and weightier it is going to look. This is why drawers and cupboards that are made out of wooden slats often look good with a pull that is two toned or heavily textured. If the cabinet or light in color it might look good with a heavily textured fixture.
Drawers and cabinets made of natural wood can also bear the weighty look of a two toned or heavily textured pulls especially if they are a more golden colored wood such as oak or maple. Usually black fixtures with a rough surface look great wooden kitchen or even on the drawers in an all-wooden library.

Perhaps the trickiest color of drawer pull to deal with is bronze. Depending on what color you place it against it can either look stunning or ghastly. For instance, bronze pulls just don’t look that distinctive when placed against veneered wooden surfaces but they look great when affixed to a cabinet painted a glossy pure white or black.

The types of pulls that suit either light or dark woods are ceramic or glass. Go for glass pulls if you are looking for a Victorian or antique look. White ceramic pulls look best on lighter woods and in rooms that are painted in lighter shades such as lemon yellow or a leafy green.Novelty plastic pulls look best when they are placed against a glossy bright primary color or white.

Copper and wooden pulls are not recommended for steamy bathrooms and humid kitchens. Copper oxidizes and wood cracks and retains bacteria. Perhaps the best type of fixture for a bathroom is stone, plastic or metal.

Always remember that the definition of good taste is sometimes “form following functionality” even when it comes to choosing something that seems as a minor as a pull for your cabinet door or drawer.