Redesigning a Sunroom

September 23rd, 2009

Homes all across the country have extra rooms that residents use for an office, storage, a guest room, a workout room, a game room or any other idea they can think of. Some homes have sunrooms attached to them that were either on the floor plan to begin with or were added onto the home a couple of years after it has been built. Sunrooms offer residents the ability to sit in a room laden with windows so they can enjoy a cup of coffee with their newspaper while watching the sunrise in the morning.

Some homes that are old enough might have already had sunrooms and some of those rooms might need renovating because they are so old. When it comes to renovating or redesigning sunrooms there are some ideas that should be kept in mind. Those ideas include:

  • Painting the room with a new color
  • Replacing the flooring or the carpet
  • Putting in new windows
  • Replacing the door
  • Hanging new curtains
  • Putting in new plants
  • Purchasing new furniture

These are just some of the ideas that people can put into effect when redesigning their sunroom. Another idea is to completely gut the room and start from scratch. Tear down the current drywall and put up new drywall and then paint the new walls a new color. Also, you can decide to paint some designs onto the walls by using a new fad called tatouage. This allows people to put all kinds of designs on their walls, especially beach scenes, if the room they are redesigning is at their shore house.

Re-Designing a Bathroom

August 23rd, 2009

If you are in the market for redesigning a bathroom in your home then you should consider the following idea. We remodeled the two bathrooms in our shore house last year, which is closing in on being 40 years old, and now they look like brand new bathrooms. We bought white tiles that were laced with blue paint so they could match the neutral tiles in both bathrooms.

The sinks also got an upgrade. The old faucets were removed and replaced with brand new faucets. Aside from upgrading the sinks, we also painted the walls and redecorated both bathrooms. The walls, without tile, were painted a very neutral white color so that we could hang pictures and other objects on the walls. After the paint dried we needed to find new decorations for the bathrooms. This included art for the walls and new shower curtains.

The new shower curtains have sea scenes on them and they match the rugs in the bathrooms as well. The paintings on the walls are all sea scenes too since the bathrooms we remodeled are in our shore house. It wouldn’t make sense to put up paintings of the Grand Canyon now would it? One of the paintings features scenes of the Jersey Shore and another features scenes of Ocean City, NJ.

Other items added to the bathrooms include a wicker chest topped with a bowl of hand picked seashells from the beach and towels with seashells sewn on them, down by hand by our aunt.

Designing a Uniform

August 3rd, 2009

There are thousands of sports teams all across the country that range from pee wee to professional and everything in between. Just look at Major League Baseball. There are 30 teams in the Majors and each of those teams has at least 6 Minor League teams affiliated with them that need uniforms.

Every now and then a team, whether in the Majors or Minors, will want to change the design of their uniform including their team logo. Take for example the Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks, who have been in the league sine 1998, and have changed their logos already.

When designing a uniform one must have some sense of knowledge regarding the history of the team and the history of the team’s logo. Sometimes, when a team wants a new uniform, the team won’t tell the designer what they are looking for. Instead, they will see what  the designer comes up with first and make a decision based on what has been presented.

Sometimes, a team will give the designer a hint as to what type of new logo or uniform design they are looking for. The hints could include colors to be used, size of the logo, location of the logo on the hat, the jersey, and the pants and if the team’s mascot should be present in the new logo being designed.

A designer will take these hints and design what they feel is the best new logo for the team to place on their uniform. If the design is rejected, which is possible to happen, then the designer will head back to the drawing board and try again.

Re-Designing a Kitchen

July 17th, 2009

We own a house at the Jersey Shore, in Ocean City, NJ to be exact, and it is roughly 40 years old. My family is the original owners of the house, which is on the south end of the island, closer to Sea Isle City than Atlantic City. My parents finally decided last year that it was time to redo the entire house. Each room needed new paint, new tile floors in the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundrey room and new screens in the windows all over the house.

The first room we worked on was the kitchen because it needed the most work out of all the other rooms in the house. The original kitchen had white cabinets with black handles and a tile floor that was bubbling up and broken in places because it was so old. We began with the cabinets. We removed all of the doors and hardware. We painted the cabinets and the cabinet doors a kind of sea blue color, which has added more light to the room than the white cabinets. The hardware was painted white.

Then we decided to redo the floor. We bought white tiles with a hint of blue on the tiles that somewhat matched the paint used for the cabinets. The room is much lighter now and more welcoming, which for a kitchen sometimes doesn’t matter, but in our Italian household it definiately does. We then decided to add some beautiful tatouage to the walls in the kitchen. The paintings were of beach scenes and boardwalk scenes common to the Jersey Shore.

Design School

June 17th, 2009

If you are in high school or college and are thinking about pursuing a career in design then the student should consider attending a trade school or a college that offers a major in design. Design classes include art classes, creative design classes, and floral design classes among many others. Design is a broad category that encompasses a lot of different topics and areas. Those areas also include logo designs, graphic designs, clothing designs, embroidery, Internet designs, furniture designs and much more.

Going to design school can help a student determine whether or not they wish to pursue a career in design and a specific area of design. Design schools are located all across the country and a lot of colleges and universities offer different design majors for their students to choose from as well.

Design programs at colleges and universities usually take only four years to complete if the student joins the program as soon as they enter the school. As with all other majors and academic programs, design majors also require internships for the students to complete as part of their course of study. These can be done at design companies of all types.

Becoming a specialized designer is an a career that many teens and young adults dream of before they decide on a career path. The majority of design students are ones that took some form of art class when in high school because they just can’t draw enough or design enough when it comes to expressing themselves.

Designing a Family Room

June 17th, 2009

Designing a family room is something everyone has to do when they purchase or rent a house, townhouse, or condominium. If the family room isn’t designed effectively then the room won’t fit with the rest of the house and it will either be overcrowded or poorly setup. A properly designed family room will consist of a couch, a loveseat, a chair, a coffee table, an end table, a magazine rack and much more.

The family room should also include paintings and other family photos. The family photos usually consist of pictures of the family throughout the years. The paintings usually consist of a family’s favorite animals or other types of art. And of course, the family room should also include a television. Where else would the family watch TV? The family room is an essential room of the house that helps family members bond with each other on a daily basis.

Furniture can either be purchased at furniture stores, from outlets, or from family members that don’t want their furniture anymore. Many couples just getting started on a life together might buy used furniture from their family if they don’t have that much money to spend at the start of their marriage. This is also another option when it comes to designing a family room.

There are plenty of options available when it comes to arranging the furniture in the family room but the measurements and size of the room and furniture must be taken into consideration when doing so.