Home Improvement, Furniture and Gardening

Interior design is a tremendously important aspect of any restaurant. If you’re in the planning stages of opening a restaurant, if you already own one and are thinking of making changes, you will need to think about it carefully. Interior design is an awful lot more than deciding what colour to paint the walls and which light fittings to use.

There are 3 main considerations to take into account when designing any public, commercial space; and restaurants are no different. They are function/flow, marketing and ambience. Other people may use different terms for these aspects but they will generally refer to the same things.

Function/flow
The way you use your space is of the utmost importance. This is principally linked to the layout of your design and how much space you allow yourself. For restaurants specifically, you need to take into account the daily movements of your waiting staff and customers. There needs to be enough space to allow both ease of movement (particularly the waiters) but you obviously want to cram in as many tables as possible within these constraints so as to fill your restaurant to its full capacity.

Make sure there are good routes to and from the kitchen and that all the tables are easily accessible. Give your customers enough space between tables to create a feeling of privacy, but not so much that you are denying yourself more customers.

The way you design your space will affect the way it is used. So think carefully about how people will be moving around in it. Ideally, you want to design a space that will allow both customers and staff to move how you want them to, rather than being constrained by the layout.

Marketing
Equally important to the function is the look of the restaurant. Before designing your restaurant, you will need to consider what demographic you are aiming for. You probably have an idea of this already based on the type of food you’ll be serving and the area in which your restaurant is/is going to be, and this should have been covered in your business plan, so we won’t touch on it here.

What you need to consider is what kind of style your demographic likes. You want them to pass your restaurant, look inside, and what to come in. Have a look at your competition locally and further afield and see what they’re doing. If you are re-designing rather than designing, perhaps ask some of your existing customers what they think.

The look you choose will likely appeal to certain types of people and put off others so you have to be very careful. If you go up-market you will appeal to young professionals (for example) but put off the cheap and cheerful crowd. Equally, if you go down-market, the young professional crowd will turn their nose up at you.

Ambiance
The ambiance is really a combination of the preceding two considerations. It is as much about space as it is about the look and lighting. Having designed your restaurant to attract customers and function well, the key thing here is to consider your design from the point of view of a paying customer, and to adjust it for a pleasant dining experience that they will want to repeat. You can have the greatest looking, most functional restaurant in the world and it may well bring in customers the first time, but if you don’t provide a good ambiance, you will never get return customers.

Obviously there are other factors that will determine the success or failure of a restaurant, but interior design plays a major part and must be given due consideration.

Good lighting schemes use the idea of “light layering” general, ambient and task lighting to create a cohesive, productive lighting design. Of these three light layers, task lighting is the light essential to any work related activity from reading and doing homework to cutting vegetables in the kitchen.

The best placement for task lighting in any room is located between your head and the work surface. Lighting in the center of the ceiling and directly above your head is a bad idea because your head will cast a shadow onto your work surface.

Another common issue when considering task lighting is the issue of “veiling reflection”. This is lighting from overhead and directly in front of you, causing glare reflection from your glossy magazine or high gloss granite countertop.

The solution here is the placement of a light source that comes in from one, or both sides of the viewing angle. Light from the sides instead of from directly overhead better directs the glare from your eyes.

When it comes to task lighting, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the home. Kitchens are not only the modern family’s gathering place; they are where everything gets done- even that homework mentioned earlier!

If I needed to stress two most necessary design elements for lighting in the kitchen they would be: 1) Under Cabinet Lighting- (this goes back to the lighting placement between the head and work surface idea) and 2) Halogen spots and pendants.

Under cabinet lighting is an important “layer” in the lighting scheme for the kitchen. This type of lighting provides an even layer of illumination along the countertop that is shadow and glare free. A common and easy way to provide his type is the use of linear strip lights mounted at the back of the under-cabinet.

These fluorescent light sources are a good choice- they can be left on all the time as they have a very long life, produce almost no heat, and are very low cost and are very energy efficient.

The halogen spots and pendants mentioned come from my own personal favorite “design element” as well as a great solution for task lighting- low-voltage bendable track lighting. This type of contemporary “lighting system” is very low profile, very efficient and is available in almost any color or finish to fit in any kitchen design, traditional or modern. They can be ordered in bright colors and finishes, or to match the kitchen hardware in chrome, nickel or even more rustic finishes. It is literally ‘bendable’, and can be installed in any fluid or geometric shape.

‘Low-Voltage’ simply put means the standard electrical voltage of 120 volts is lowered to around 12 volts using a remote ‘transformer’. This low-voltage track primarily uses halogen fixtures that are available in many unique and beautiful shapes and sizes and materials. Spots with colored glass diffusers are available as well that hold halogen bulbs with a variety of beam spread available as well.

Match with pendants that hang decoratively, and with purpose, over your kitchen island- looking fashionable in hand blown murano glass in red or blue for example-while providing clean halogen light on your stovetop or preparation area. All these types of fixtures are hung or mounted from one long continuous “track”. By strategically placing all of these light sources where they are needed most, you will find they are working hard for you while looking great as all task lighting should!

When planning out the way the light changes in your home as the day moves from morning, to dusk, to night, it’s important to consider your use of stairway lighting as well. Where lights for a room are a given, the stairway lighting is essential not only for safety but to add a gentle light to an area of your home that can readily become a feature.

If your stairway is placed at the entrance of your home, it is all the more important that this area welcomes guests to your home, and offers a sense of warmth that the rest of the house can follow.

It can be difficult to work out how much lighting you need, as you will want to both bathe it in a nice glow, and provide enough lighting to ensure anyone moving up or down the stairs can actually see where they are going! You may need to look at distributing the light over the stairs, as then it’s more even and produces a safer and more consistent light.

There are a variety of different solutions when it comes to the types of lighting you can use. Many people elect to use simple ceiling lights either flush or as pendants for their stairway lighting It’s best to have more than one of these, placing one at the bottom, and the other at the top. Keep in mind how you will change light bulbs as you do not want to put yourself in a precarious position every time. Larger fittings are best at the bottom of stairs, as at the top the safety issues in maintaining them may be overwhelming.

Recessed lighting is still very popular as it adds a diffused light to the area. Small round LED lights are often the more useful here; they can be placed on the ceiling, the wall or even on the stairs if you want. It is not recommended to have wall mounted spots however, as they can be easily knocked by people moving up and down the stairway, which might be a safety concern or at the very least, cost you more long term to fix if knocked out of place.

Whatever you select it’s important to place an on/off switch at both the base and top if the staircase. There is nothing worse than climbing up at the end of a hard day, and realising you’ve left the stairway lighting on only to have to climb down, turn it off, and then climb back up again in the dark!

Designing your humble abode can be very hard. Most of the time, you would need to hire interior decorators who present you with designs on what they could do for your homes. But these may take lots of time and money. Through the improvements in technology, you can find a quicker and easier way to design the layout of your home. Decorating your home can now be done simply with the touch of a button through virtual interior decorating.

What is virtual interior decorating?

Virtual interior decorating allows people to design the layout of their own homes without spending too much money on professional decorators. In fact, you may no longer need to hire one, for you can already design your apartment or home by yourself, simply by purchasing interior decorating software. Not only does it save you money, since you will be in charge of your plans, you also do not need to hire the services of an interior decorator for this phase of work.

This software is also very helpful for professional interior decorators because their ideas will be visualized easier by their clients. Through the magic of virtual reality, you can now have a sense of what your future home will look like before the designer begins the actual construction work.

Aside from generating you room or home in a virtual environment, you can also send pictures of the room you wish to change to professional interior decorators and they will then super-impose or create digital sketches of their ideas on them. This may give a clearer picture of what you can expect from your room or house instead of relying on simple descriptions or plain sketches.

By using virtual reality as a helpful tool for interior decorating, you can now easily and conveniently design the house of your dreams at a very affordable price.

Cottage style house plans are most often small with only one – or occasionally one and a half – stories. Cottage style houses were originally used in Europe in the middle ages to house the families of farm workers. They were usually built of stone with thatch roofs. Nowadays cottages are favored by retirees and as second homes for weekend and summer getaways because of their low maintenance and cozy living environments.

Cottage living is quite economical, since small homes are inexpensive to build in the first place, and the heating and maintenance costs are quite low. Cottages are usually designed to blend into the country with gardens, and are surrounded by trees and other plantings. Cottage houseplans are also often designed to incorporate natural topographic features such as scenic vistas, hillside views, slopes; there are even plans especially designed for odd-shaped lots. Since living in a cottage usually goes hand-in-hand with an outdoor lifestyle many cottage houseplans include patios or porches. Although most cottage plans are for single-family homes, there are also available plans for multi-family dwellings which can be used as rental properties in vacation areas.

How can you find the cottage house plan of your dreams? First, you need to take into consideration the number of bedrooms, and the size of the bedrooms. Cottage bedrooms are usually small and cozy rather than open and sprawling. If there is one master bedroom then other bedrooms might have to be smaller as a result. The number of bedrooms depends upon how many family members will live there or come to visit at a time. Similarly, if you want a spacious kitchen then you might have to do with a smaller dining area. If you entertain inside then you might need a larger living room area than if you only hold large parties in warm weather. Will you need special areas for hobbies, office, a TV room? You must decide what features of a cottage house plan are most important for your individual needs. The essence of cottage living is simplicity and being outside; thus while larger cottage house plans do exist, there is not as great a selection of these. If budgetary restraints are not as much an issue as extra space, it might be worth your while to look into southern, prairie, or country house plans rather than just search for cottages.

Another consideration to take into account is whether you want or need an attached garage. This question depends upon how much storage space you will need. Most small cottage house plans do not include attached garages both for aesthetic reasons, to keep the design compact; and also to reduce costs. Garages are expensive options which many people do not need; but even if you decide not to build a garage initially it might be worthwhile to search for a cottage houseplan which can be easily modified to include a garage later on.

Ah, yes–it is that time of year again. The holidays are just around the corner and now is the perfect time to start decorating your home for the season. Choosing a theme for the holidays makes it easy to harmonize the decorations throughout your home. Whether you want to turn your home into a winter wonderland, a poinsettia palace, or a luxury of lights, these holiday decorating themes are sure to spark some inspiration in decorating your home for the holidays.

Snowflakes and Sparkles

Transform your home into a winter wonderland by using snowflake-themed ornaments and decorations. Stick with two basic colors such as blue and silver. Hang sparkly snowflakes in windows or door frames, and apply self-adhesive snowflakes to windows. If decorating a tree, use snowflake ornaments, tin icicles, and a few blue ornaments. Buy some artificial snow to sprinkle on the tree and under it to complete the snowy look. Trade in your regular centerpiece for a white poinsettia in a blue or silver flower pot, or a large bouquet of white roses in a sparkling vase. White candles placed strategically throughout the room make a great accent. White icicle lights or snowflake lights can be draped over windows and doors, fireplace mantels, trees, or across porches and decks.

The Joy of Color

One of the hottest holiday trends is replacing the usual color schemes with more bold colors. Bright and colorful holiday decor can be beautiful and fun. Choose a color (or two or three) to set your theme. Purple is a good choice, and you might want to choose an accent color such as gold or silver. First, decorate you tree from head to toe in purple. Purple ornaments, purple lights, purple tinsel……you may want to toss a few silver pieces in if you’re afraid of going into purple overkill. Wrap your gifts in purple with silver ribbons, or vice versa. Use different shades of purple, too; you don’t have to stick to one color. Cover your dining table or end tables in purple velvet. Use purple, silver, and white lights on the inside and outside of the house. Take a serving dish or bowl and fill with purple ornament balls to use as a centerpiece. Enjoy your colorful holiday!

Country Rustic

Woodsy cabins and mountain lodges inspire this country rustic theme. Think cozy log fires and relaxed family time – the true essence of the holidays! Create a rustic holiday theme by first replacing your everyday decor items with more rustic decor. Pine cones make great tree ornaments; they also go great grouped together in a small bowl. Create homemade potpourri by mixing dried leaves and berries in a wicker basket. Quilts also add a rustic look; use a quilt as a tree skirt and another to cover a nearby table. Tree decorations should be simple: birdhouses, pine cones, twigs, and other country-inspired ornaments. Steer clear of flashy or colorful decor, you want to make your country-inspired holiday simple and cozy.

Candy Cane Craze

Satisfy your sweet tooth with this scrumptious decor. Greet your guests by lining your walkway with giant candy canes strung by white lights. String candy canes along your mantel, up your staircase, or on window sills. When decorating a tree, use real candy canes as ornaments, along with red and white tinsel. Stick to red, white, and silver wrapping paper on gifts under the tree. Accent your home with candy cane or peppermint votive candles to release that sweet candy smell. Arrange an assortment of candy canes in a dish to use as a centerpiece on your kitchen table or coffee table.

Glowing Gold Using gold in your holiday decorating makes other colors more vibrant. Add wreaths, ornaments, and amber-colored lights to create a warm gold tone in your home this season. Accent colors such as green and red compliment the warmth of gold. Stick to one or use both colors to create stockings, a colorful tree skirt, and a lovely mix of ornaments on a tree. White on gold is another color option that creates a classic holiday look. Create a white and gold tree by combining shiny ornaments, lights and tinsel.

One thing that you might want to realize is that more and more people out there are subscribing to the modern interior design philosophy when it comes to redecorating their house, and this is something that you need to be seriously aware about, especially when you are thinking about the ways and means that you can modernize your house and give it that simple touch you have always been thinking about. In the end of the day, this is the sort of aspect you need to be much aware of, and in this article, we will be talking a lot about the whole idea of modern interior design and the many features that surround it.

For one, you need to realize that the one strong point about this kind of design is that it has plenty of bearing on simplicity and uncluttered design, which massively uses the power of space and light to give the idea that the room is bigger than it normally is. One thing you need to be able to understand is that because of this, many of the modern interior designs might seem sparse and even minimalistic to a point, but what you can understand is the idea of how it might contribute to the whole common ideas of interior design.

The other thing that is quite common is the play on white and basic colors, and this goes to the whole idea of being simple and clean. All in all, what you need to realize is that the power of immaculate colors especially the use of white is that it gives the illusion that the entire room is much larger, and the white reflects the light well to warrant a much larger vision of the room. All in all, inasmuch as the idea comes about, the idea of the use of basic white and even cream colors are something of a feature of modern interior designs.

Another thing that you need to fully realize is how you are going to be able to notice the power of natural light, and this is something common in all modern interior design elements. For all, we need to understand how natural light becomes a natural extension of the modern interior design, and this is something that is very important when you are thinking about how to use large windows and of course more natural spaces to allude to the fact that natural light plays very much a role in the room.

These are some of the elements of the modern interior design, and this is something that you need to be much more aware of when you are thinking about how you are going to turn your new home into something that is much more adept to the modern and contemporary way of design thinking. All in all, these are the concepts that are much more likely to be introduced to the modern concept. In the end of the day, if you do need more information, the internet is a good place for you to start.

If you want to add appeal and unique style to your home, you should consider decorating in the style of old world decorating. Using a combination of antiques and well loved items combined with earthtones and organic materials this interior decorating scheme can add a great look to your home.

Great lighting in your home is pivotal for old world ambiance. To match with this decorating style, lighting fixtures can be bronze or marble. Try using antique lights in marble or alabaster and hanging chandeliers with an old world style.

Of course, the furniture is a necessary part of any style and this particular one has some of the most beautiful choices. Although many styles will work well with this look, aged oak and mahogany items usually look great with this design approach. However, if you want a more comfortable seating you can try sofas and chairs with ultra suede or other rich fabrics.

It’s essential to decide on an appropriate type of window treatments for your home. You are trying to achieve a heavy antique looking style, therefore remember this when selecting curtains, drapes or shutters. Depending on the room you are decorating, you might try velvet drapes or sheers that are quite long and puddle on the floor.

Adding to your decor with paintings and knick knacks in your home will help augment the decorating scheme. For decorating with accessories, a time worn design theme is a good idea. Picking out accessories that match with your personal style and tastes will make the room your own.

One thing most people forget to give some thought to when home decorating is the floor, so you must be certain to take your old world decorating down to the floor by displaying intriguing area rugs. Don’t forget that your floor decor is a component of your ambiance, so be positive to get something that matches with both the colors together with the decorating theme. Getting oriental style rugs in muted tones will act as a fascinating compliment to the decorating scheme and will work especially well with rich hardwood flooring.

While decorating with antiques may be expensive, they can also give your home a rich and unique look as well as work as an investment. Taking the time to buy items in the best condition possible and caring for them properly will help protect your investment as well as make your home look fabulous!

One can do nearly anything they want with living room design these days, yet it is still important to consider living room decorating themes when decorating your living room. The most important element that having a decorating theme provides to any designer is the ability to see something as a collective group. Many people will find a piece of furniture that they fall in love with, and have nothing to match it with. Others will find a pattern of wall paper that looks like it came straight from heaven, yet won’t be able to find a single piece of furniture to match. When you think of living room design in terms of living
room decorating themes, you will avoid having this problem, and end up with a final product
that is as kind to the eye, as it is collectively matching.

The living room decorating themes that are most common amongst people today often come in several ways, but most likely deal with work, play, or family. Each category shares some similarities when it comes to living room decorating themes, but each is distinctively different in other ways.

A living room decorating theme focused around work should incorporate all that one needs to accomplish their goals for a work at home office. Can a living room really be an office? Absolutely, in fact, the number of people telecommuting to work is higher today, than ever before. When doing a living room decorating theme around this concept, simply make the space a useful one, with sofas that position your body upright, chairs that could be used for conferences and tables that could be used as desks. The more double duty the furniture you choose does, the better your living room decorating theme will be.

Thinking of a living room decorating themes is the realm of play, is as much fun as living in one. There are a many ways to make a living room the ultimate playroom. Everything from home theater elements, to parlor games should be considered when doing this living room decorating theme. You could skip wall paper on a wall, and install a chalkboard, or a white board, for the fun of it. It doesn’t get much more playful than drawing on the wall.

While most think of a family living room decorating theme as one with board games, and fluffy carpet, it can be much more. Family oriented living room decorating themes are common in home decorating circles, and often are similar in looks. In order to accommodate a family you must have a place for everyone to sit. For this theme, you should focus on making the sofa as large as possible, with as much room for the family as needed. Using the sofa as a design anchor, the rest of this living room decorating theme should fall into place.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

You have found the perfect lot on which to build your new home. Now you have an abundance of decisions to make. Where will the house sit on the lot? You will have to decide this based on the total square footage of the house. What kind of features are you hoping to have. These are the things to consider, storage, a laundry room, a home office, a bathroom downstairs, a full bath upstairs, and a family room.

Consider the future? Are you just starting out and planning a family? Do you need a guestroom for visitors? Flexible house plans are probably the best option for you. You don’t want your house to end being too big in the future. If it starts getting small, make sure you allow for expansion if necessary, and make sure it is according to your local zoning laws.

How does the house plan you have chosen fit on the lot? If the lot is deep and narrow you don’t want a shallow and wide house plan. Where will you place the house so that you get the maximum exposure to sunlight in the morning and in the evening? Make sure the windows are where they are supposed to be.

Check the zoning laws where you are building your house. There may be a limit in the height of the house or on what percentage of space your house can take up on the lot. Be open to suggestions. You can go with a pre-drawn plan or a custom plan that is drawn to your specifications. Another important item is how water drains off of your property. You would want to build the house on the rise of a hill rather than at its base. At the base the run off could do damage to the house.

When thinking about your house in general, does the house style fit in with the neighborhood? You wouldn’t put a large Victorian house in a neighborhood that had ranch style homes and vice versa. Find out if there is an agreement with your city or town regarding the type of houses that is acceptable for that area. The size of the house is important. If it is too large or too small it will stick out like a sore thumb.

Will a lot of changes have to be made? There will be changes at some point to add a garage or change the size or shape of a room is fairly easy but you had better be prepared to pay a lot more for custom plans.

When you are thinking of the rooms determine what percentage of total square footage will this room take u p. If the master suite takes up twenty percent of total space is okay if you are also going to use some of that space for a reading area. If not consider a plan with a smaller bedroom. In order to determine the total space of any room you multiply the length times the width and divide that by the total square footage of the home.

You may want a dishwasher or an island in the center of your kitchen but sometimes you have to do a trade off. For example, if you want a dishwasher but will have to lose some cabinet space you must decide which is more important cabinet space or the dishwasher. The colors inside the house are most definitely important. If you want each room to have its own color the best plan for you would be a closed plan which would create separate individual rooms. If you are going to have a solid color throughout an open floor plan might work for you.

If you want the space consider planning a room switch. A room that is now being planned as an office can become a guestroom or a nursery. An extra bedroom could be come a work out room or a family room/library. If you are building a garage consider adding an extra bay and making that a workbench or a potting bench. Once you figure all of this out and you have the plans all set you can if you haven’t already choose a lot. With an organized search you could find a plan that comes very close to your ideal home. Once you get the plan you can make any necessary last minute changes.

Building a home is probably the most complicated decision you will ever make. The plan for your new home can be either custom or pre-drawn. Custom plans are more expensive but the expense of pre-drawn plans could be as well if you request any modifications to them. Check with your city or town for their zoning laws. You will hopefully be in your new home for long time so make it what you want it. Enjoy your new home.

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