Reusable and creative advent calendars
Advent calendars
Kitchen floor plans
Basic kitchen layouts on the floorplan and in reality (galley, U-shape, L-shape)
Candle
Demand for candles increases in this time of the year. The aim is not only dismissing the early darkness with cozy and romantic lighting but raising the shine of the coming feasts also. However, there are differences between the materials of candles and the production methods have a long history in elder days.
Beeswax was the first known wax. Nowadays using it is fashionable again. It burns long but it’s harder to work with. The candle is made of it by bailing, casting or rolling up wax sheets. The material has the smell and the color of honey.
Candles were made of tallow until the end of the 19th century. These were cheaper than wax, so mostly the poor used them. It had bad small because of its animal origin and sooted very much. In the ancient times animal fat and plant oils were burnt in small clay pots as lamps.
Stearin comes from natural fat, the candle made of it will be opalescent and milk-white. is the solid material breaks easily, candle can be made of it only by casting.
Paraffin is a petrol derivative, nowadays this is the most common material. It is easily workable, colorable and suitable for both casting and bailing.
The material of gel candle is actually a gelatinous textured limpid wax. It is suitable for casting. Bubbling can be eliminated by dipping the glass in hot water during casting.
Wick is an essential part of any kind of candles, which is a spun cotton material treated with paraffin. This provides the soot-free burning.
Any shape, color or smell candle is chosen for mood-lighting, it will be the part of the interior. Ask for help of an interior designer for planning the mood-lighting for a special occasion.
New England style
New Endland style interiors (nature inspired neutral colors combined with white and blue, with nautical ornaments)
Old postcards 11.
Thanksgiving on old postcards
Festive outdoor lighting
It already gets dark early in the middle of November, so we can begin to decorate our balconies, houses and gardens with light garlands. The simplest method is to fix the tensed fairy lights to the rail or the drip, or wrap it around trees, shrubs and the pergola. It will look nice, however, we can be more creative.
Let’s buy glass or plastic LED luminous globes in different sizes. These fit very well in an urn shaped pot and a bird bath. But they can be also placed alongside the garden path. We can even make them by ourselves using old globe lampshades. Put the lights in it and seal it with a proper sized tin can at the socket. This latter can be used as a stand for stability, but we can transform it to a huge Christmas ball ornament by turning it upside down and fix a bigger hook in it.
Let’s use the hanging wicker baskets which held flowers in the summer. Pad it with light garlands with pulling out the small lights on the holes of it. Cover it with cotton wool and maybe fill it with glass ball ornaments. Hang it to its place where it was in summer. It will be a cozy sight.
If there is a human or animal shaped sculpture in the garden, it can be decorated with light garland. The garland should be formed spherical by looping it throughout itself for keeping the shape. Place it in the hands or at the feet of the statue as if it was played with.
Let’s make artificial icicles until there are no real ones. Cut the legs of some nylon stockings. Fill it with cotton wool with placing the light garland among it. Sew it at the top. Hang it under the roof, near the front door or on the patio, preferably protected from rain because cotton wool sucks water quickly.
It’s important to use only outdoor, waterproof light garlands for safety! Ask for help of an interior designer for planning the festive outdoor lighting.
Copper
Copper is in fashion again in interior design
My project 11.
Before-after photos of my latest project (block apartment, 67sqm)
Staircase decorations
The inner staircases were mostly treated as a necessary bad during planning and building a house. They were commonly designed narrow for gaining bigger useful spaces, with frequently uncomfortably high steps. This is felt by not only the owners but the guest also. Try to distract attention from it.
Let’s redirect the guests’ attention at the walls instead! One way of it is to put strong patterned wallpaper on the walls from the bottom to the top of the stairs. In this case, there’s no need for additional decor. If the surroundings are quite neutral, bold colors and patterns will attract the attention. Creating a picture gallery is another possibility. Hang similar themed or similar framed pictures all on the walls of the staircase. We can use mirrors, old window frames, colored gypsum rosettes etc. instead of pictures.
Further method is to decorate the stairs themselves. The rises of steps can be painted, wallpapered or even tiled. The stair runner not only makes the usage more comfortable, but it can be a perfect design element also. Striped pattern helps attract the eye upwards, but the same effect can be reached with a stronger color divergent from the color theme of the interior.
Any object can be a focal point in the turn of stairs or on the wall vis-a-vis the top of it, this way it almost drags up the one who passing. If there is a bigger place, put a chair, a bigger vase, an old rocking horse or any other object there fitting for the style. If there isn’t such a big space, just hung a picture on the wall or put very narrow shelves on which smaller decorating objects can be lined.
The combinations of these above just enhance the effect. Ask for help of an interior designer for solving similar problems.
Color pairs 19.
Color pairs: red-brown
