4 Quick Decorating Tips for Boring Bathrooms

Jessica Ackerman - If your bathroom is a visually boring place, perhaps it's time for a much-needed change. Although bathrooms are generally the smallest rooms in a home, there's no need to go small on the decor and overall look. In fact, with just a modest amount of decorating and perhaps the addition of a bright new shade, your bathroom just might become the most visually exciting room in your home. If you're ready to transform your boring bathroom into a decorating showcase, here are some tips to help get you started.

1. Pick a Fun Theme

Although you might not want to choose a fun and funky theme for a formal master bathroom, it can be a nice approach to take with other bathrooms throughout your home. For example, imagine how great your children's bathroom would look when decorated in a funky theme. A low-key, casual beach theme, for instance, is a great approach to take when decorating a bathroom. Not only does it look great, but the casual nature of the decor also makes it easy to keep neat, tidy, and organized.

It's easy to create just the right look when decorating a themed bathroom, thanks to the wide variety of themed bathroom accessories you'll find on the market today. For example, you'll find no shortage of beach metal wall decor from which to choose.

2. Keep It Sleek and Simple

You might enjoy a more detailed decorating style throughout the rest of your home. However, the bathroom is one room that can definitely benefit from a simpler approach. When you factor in all the time and effort it takes to keep a bathroom neat, clean and sanitary, you can definitely see how simple and sleek is better than frilly and fussy when it comes to decor.

When choosing decorating accents for the bathroom, it's a good idea to think in terms of how washable and water-resistant the items are. For example,

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The 8 Best Interior Design Color Sources

Irwin Weiner ASID - I love how both the fashion and interior design industries are run by "trends." So-called experts and manufacturers come out at the start of each new year with their color trend prognostications. They group colors together into compelling "stories" and tie in editorial hogwash aimed at attracting consumers.

"These shades of green will give you the comfort you're looking for in a world plagued by a declining economy - and who can't use a reassuring life?" "These colors radiate warmth and sunniness, putting you into a good mood and energizing your life." It all sounds good, but it boils down to the very real psychology behind colors. 

Cool and warm colors impact our moods, and if you're running a paint company or coming out with new appliances or floor fashions or wall coverings, it pays to tap into the psychological vein, spin some color palette stories, and call them hot trends in the hope that consumers will buy more of your products. 

I don't think color trends amount to compelling information you must  use to keep your house fresh, au courant, and trendy - you know how I hate that. Be done with the fashion victim "hot color of the year" cycle and make your home timeless looking. Stop being a trend slave. But do look at what the color experts are putting together when it comes to "color stories."

These can be helpful ways to group colors that make sense and sometimes form surprising color blocks that might shake your interiors out of the doldrums. Experts are putting these stories together, so look at a variety of them and gravitate towards the one that you'd like to live around day after day in your home. Here are the 8 best sources that can give you color inspiration; click on the links below for more information.

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Irwin's Kitchen Remodeling: the Demolish-and-Wait Phase

Irwin Weiner ASID - The ground has now frozen hard and is sometimes getting dusted with snow outside our country house in rural Pennsylvania. We're now approaching Week 6 on the project, and demolition has been completed on the walls and floors of our kitchen, back entry area (which has served as our laundry room and catch-all storage area with large old-fashioned potato bins), and a small powder room. Our contractor and his son and step-son banged and pried and pulled and hauled away at surfaces to take off the new and bring it down to the bare bones.

It's exciting to see the layers of old brick veneer taken off the kitchen wall, discover old boarded-up windows, and see the rough electrical and rough plumbing put into and through the walls. In these two videos, you'll see the progress we've made.

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Here's How to Celebrate Chinese New Year

Jennifer Allen Frank - Chinese New Year landed on the new moon of January 23, 2012 in the U.S. It is the Year of the Black Water Dragon. The Chinese New Year is a time to welcome longevity, wealth and prosperity and to eliminate negative chi from the past. This year will be marked by excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration and intensity. The year of the dragon is traditionally associated with new beginnings and good fortune. Those with entrepreneurial spirit are particularly favored to see much success in the coming year. Generally, it's predicted that any new venture may benefit from the outstanding luck often associated with the dragon. Therefore, 2012 will be a very good year to get married, have children, and/or start a new business.

The water dragon is a less imperious type of Dragon who favors optimum growth and expansion. He can put aside his ego for the good of all and is less selfish and opinionated. He can assume a wait and see attitude, and his wits are as formidable as his strength of will. The water dragon lives by the “do unto others” philosophy.

Since 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon, the liquid element is predicted to calm the dragon's usually tempestuous nature, and will give a thoughtful perspective to the plight of the less fortunate. Water is calming and beneficial to this lunar sign, enabling him to know how to act wisely and do what is essential for his progress. He is quick and reliable and is capable of marketing his ideas with untiring devotion. He is likely to be successful as a negotiator; He must learn to make difficult choices and relinquish whatever is unfeasible or unnecessary. This way, he will be able to devote his energies to fewer but more rewarding endeavors. As the world suffers through one of the worst economic calamities in recent memory, bold new leadership will help ease the circumstances of those suffering most from recent financial setbacks.

Dragons who can pursue their own passionate ambitions while meeting the needs of others are best suited to navigating the year ahead. Those compatible with the Dragon — the Rat and the Snake in particular — will also find 2012's circumstances inspiring them to greater personal happiness and professional success.

House cleaning should be done on or before the day of the eve of Chinese New Year. Starting early in the morning, someone goes to the flower-market to buy red flowers for the worship events and new year’s day decoration. Red is the auspicious color in China.

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