How to use wall finishes in a bedroom design project?

Dear friends, any interior space is composed of some primaryarchitectural elements such as walls, floor and ceiling.Depending upon the type of structural framework, the construction method would change.

We always see experience and perceive any interior spacein elevation. This means that walls are the first things ofany structure that create an impact on our mind. The qualityand volume formed because of the walls define an architectural structure.

When we enter a building, what we primarily and dominantly perceive are walls. Let's see how walls can be used as an excellent element in a bedroom design project.

1) Exposed Brick walls.

In order to use these kind of walls it is necessary to preplan the interior design schedule. Normally if a brick wall is tobe kept exposed (without plaster), it is built with high qualitybricks which are machine cut for high quality and accuracy.

Since bricks have their own color and texture, this option canbe used to create a color contrast by keeping only one wallexposed and other with a contrasting color. This can add someinterest in the bedroom.

2) Exposed plaster walls.

An exposed plaster wall is a wall which has not been painted.

These kind of walls are very rarely used in interiors. Sincethe plaster is a composite material using appropriate qualitiesof cement, sand and aggregate, the final material has a dullcolor. A dull color on a space like bedroom would expressa kind of depression, hence is not recommended.

But portions of a wall with preplanned design and sketching canbe used in association with exposed brick wall. Designpattern with partly colored and partly exposed plaster can be a good idea.

Or a completely exposed plaster wall with a design patter in grooves can be used effectively.

3) Wall with tile cladding.

Tile cladding is what we see in kitchen above the cooking platform. Tile cladding is also used in bathrooms and toilets.These are normally ceramic tiles.

In a bedroom interesting patterns can be created to fake theexposed brick wall mentioned above. Many excellent patterscan be used just like a jigsaw puzzle.

4) Paintings.

The word painting has two meanings here.

a) A wall with plane colors applied to it. This is done above the plastered surface of the wall. Two or three coats of the desiredshade of the color and base material are applied.

b)Secondly, instead of using plane colors, the entire wall canbe used as a "canvas" to paint a story or mural. This is a verygood method to paint children bedrooms. Walls can be used as astoryboard to create interest.

5) Wallpapers.

Applying a wallpaper is an excellent way to quickly change the look and feel of the bedroom. Depending upon the "theme" of the roommany wallpaper patterns are available.

Wallpapers are very good in large bedrooms. In large bedroom"emptiness" is a big problem. If there are not enough decorating elements available, a room might look empty. Here wallpapers canserve as fillers and quickly add some interest in the room.

6)Textured plaster walls.

These kind of walls need special techniques to create a texturedpattern on walls. Once a texture is applied any shade ofpaint can be used.

One of the great thing about these walls is, when sunlight falls on them, a very interesting play of light and shadows gets created.Because of the undulations in the surface of the plaster, smallshadows form on the surface of the wall, giving it a visualquality.

A wall in the bedroom which receives direct sunlight should bechosen for this purpose.

This article shows you how various options to the existing wallfinishes are possible, that can enhance the quality of thebedroom interior space.

I hope this article was informative to everyone.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya
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Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of Bedroom-Design-And-Decorating-Ideas.com .Here you will find some great concept level design tips for all types of bedrooms
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How to use accessories in a bedroom decorating project?

Any interior space is primarily composed of walls, floor andceiling. These elements give a habitable character to theinterior space.

Apart from providing protection from natural elements such asrain, snow, wind and other natural calamities, an interiorspace is also responsible for creating moods, depending upon thetheme of the decoration.

Depending upon the functional purpose of the interior space, thequality and quantity of the furniture and other elements maychange. For example a "meditation center" might not requireany furniture at all, but a gymnasium on the other hand requiresspecially designed equipment.

For the sake of this article we are only going to concentrate onbedrooms. A bedroom is a space, which is close to our heart. Thisis the space where we take rest and regain the vital energyforce for the next day's work. A typical bedroom consists ofa double/single bed depending upon the size and occupancy of theroom, wardrobe, study table, chairs for informal gathering, dressing table, side tables adjacent to the bed for keepingitems such as telephone, watch, etc..

Since a bulk of volume gets occupied with the furniture pieces,the beauty of a bedroom greatly depends upon the quality of thefurniture. But that's not all. Any interior space can be greatly enhanced using "accessories" and some great amount of detailingcan be added to an existing bedroom with furniture.

1)Use of decorative curtains.

These are called as "valances" are a very good means to decorate the windows and other openings. These decorative curtains have 2 purposes.a) They define a window opening b) They diffuse the incoming sunlightand help the dispersion of light evenly. Valances can be easily be prepared at home with some basic knowledge of stitching.

2)Wall Hangings

Wall hangings are used as an alternative for wall paintings.These have a great advantage that they can be prepared from almostany material. Some possible options for material use could bematt finished paper, handmade paper, silk cloth, bamboo sticks,jeans cloth!, wool, plastic sheets, crape papers, etc...Small square pieces of these materials along with bits of mirrors pieces can be creatively used to prepare a wall hanging.

3)Wall Paintings.

The choice of the painting in this case highly depends upon thelikes/dislikes of the user. Also the nature of the surface on whichthe painting is going to be, is also important.

4)Photographs

Most people like to use framed photographs of the family members,ancestors, or some live stills from outside world. This method has gota great advantage. The user has got perfect control over whichkind of photos to choose. Photographs of real people can greatly adda human touch to an interior space.

5)Statues

These greatly add to the quality of the space. In case of bedroomsthe statues which can add some interest to the overall theme can be used. Some gift articles come in the form of statues or a watch embedded in it can serve two purposes at a time. They add some grace to the design and at the same time, become a useful functional piece.

6)Shade Loving Plants.

Depending upon the size of the bedroom, lots of varieties of shadeloving plants are available today. If the plant is a flowering one,then this can be very creatively used. A flowering plant can greatly add to the mood of an space because of its changing nature offoliage and color.

7)Decorative Lamp Shades.

Decorative lamp shades have a very unique quality attached tothem. Because they are functional mostly at night times, the shapeof the lamp shade itself can be chosen in such a way, that will addsome interest in the bedroom. During its functional times a lampshadewhich is made of semitransparent cloth covers can add somewonderful ambience in the interior space.

8)Free standing wooden partitions.

These are used in large bedroom to define certain areas of thesame space into different parts. for example a wooden partitioncan be used to segregate a study space inside a bedroom ora decorative wooden partition can be used to hide the direct entry to the toilet, by creating a private area.

These are some of the ideas I have come up with randomly. Thesecan be a good starting point. You can always come up with more goodand creative ideas of your own. A very creative use of these accessories can definitely sheer up an interior space.

I hope this article was informative to everyone.
Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya
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Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of Bedroom-Design-And-Decorating-Ideas.com .Here you will find some great concept level design tips for master bedrooms.
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The Oriental Vs. Contemporary bedroom design theory.

Dear friends,

If you have read any interior design books/articles, visiteda few websites on the internet, you will find the word theme used quite often.

What exactly is a theme-based design?

A theme according to me is a collection of various parameters ofdesign of an interior space. So a theme may include a certain setcolors, materials, repetition of a certain element, such asa decorative item, etc...
Primarily there are two basic themes under which a design canbe categorized, 1)Oriental 2)Contemporary.

Oriental Bedroom Design Theme:

These kind of themes have a still drilled down niche designthemes, such as country, rustic, vintage, elegant, etc...One of the major thing about these kind of themes is that muchemphasis is given on the natural beauty of any material. These designs are close to nature or are shown to be close tonature.

These kind of design styles are very rarely found in the urbancity interiors. Mostly the countryside homes adopt these kind ifthemes, to replicate the flora and fauna of the outside environment.

The designer tries to include the patters seen in nature, such asleaves, flowers, plants. All these natural patterns are seen onwallpaper patterns, decorative lamps, curtains, furnitureupholstery, wall paintings, etc...

Homes which are build on country side such as farm houses, the scarcityof space is not an issue, but this creates another problem as far as designing interiors is concerned.

A bedroom, no matter of what size it is, requires some basicfurniture elements as functional needs, such as a double bed,dressing table, wardrobes, study tables, a book shelf etc..

It is sometimes possible that because of the large spaces, thebedroom looks empty after the furniture is arranged. At suchtimes "decoration" plays a major role. During ancient yearsthe palaces and castles had such large built spaces, whereextensive use of decoration was used in the form of paintings, heavy decorative flooring patterns, carvings, moldings as a decorative architectural elements.

So in this oriental design trend, decoration of the space usingvarious accessories plays a major role.

Contemporary design Theme:

These kind of design themes are very new as compared to thepreviously mentioned oriental design theme. But how did the designers came along using these kind of designs?

During the starting years of the 20th century, the "IndustrialRevolution" in Europe changed the face of our planet. Itwas easy to design and manufacture goods on a mass scalewith amazing speed and efficiency.

This created a flood of industries in and around the cities.These cities attracted large amount of people to migrate fromrural areas to city centers in search of a living.

Because of this migratory effect there was a sudden need ofhousing requirement for the workers. This is where the concept of an "apartment" was introduced. Because of the pressure of demand,a school of thoughts emerged within the architects, whobelieved that "simplicity" is the need of today's era.

They thought that, the design of the building has to be simpleand easy to build, then only we can compete with the growingdemand of housing needs in cities. That's why simple designs with mostly plane and square faces with square or rectangular openingswere used. These forms and masses were easy to build and stillbeautiful. If everything from "safety pins" to "space ships" could be built on a mass scale, why not "buildings".

The school of thought believed that a plane rectangular formis in itself beautiful and they proved this using infinitepermutations and combinations of the basic square form. That'swhy decoration was given a second preference. Today we call thisschool of thought as "contemporary". In contemporary designevery element has an order.

That's why in today's modern interior design, simplicity is thekey to an efficient design. Unlike the previous oriental designtheme, the contemporary design theme states that any kind of architectural decoration is always dependent on the basic form of the building. The form itself is so beautiful, that the needto further decorate it is not required. Today's modern interiorsspaces are simple to understand, simple to construct, andproject a kind of simplicity.

By reading the above paragraphs some of you might say that,decoration is no more needed. But this is not true. I am not tryingto force some ideas here. But most people confuse the wholeconcept of "Interior Design" and "Interior Decoration". Bothare quite different and both have a unique value in today's complex society.

Decoration was something the primitive man learned, looking atthe nature around him. He saw plants, flowers, birds, animalsand tried to copy these elements. We still use "embroidery" onour dresses. But the modern design theory says that any sortof decoration can only "enhance" the existing form, but can not be an element of design.

What does this mean?

In the above said example the "embroidery" pattern can certainlyadd to the beauty of the cloth, but the modern theory denies toaccept the cloth to be of a cheap quality. It states that every form, texture, material, shape is in itself beautiful and must beaccepted as it is. Because of this the need to further decorate itdoes not arise.

Thus decoration whether used in architecture or elsewhere is alwaysdependant on the form on which it is used, but design isan independent entity which does not need any justification from theexternal factors.

The two design themes mentioned above are still widely used today.The user must look upon them from a point of view of what best suitshis/her likes and dislikes. Only then can you give yourself andyour family the best quality of living.

I hope this article was informative to everyone.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya
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Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of Bedroom-Design-And-Decorating-Ideas.com .Visit TODAY to get an in-depth knowledge of bedrooms
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