A Productive Home Office

Having a home office can be a great way to stay productive, and for many people it’s indispensable. However, your working environment can make the difference between productivity and procrastination. With proper consideration and great choices of office furniture, your home office can be the best place to get work done – be it work you’ve taken home from the office, the start of your novel, or the start of a new career entirely.

Choosing what room to use for your home office is the first step. You want somewhere with lots of natural light and where you can be as isolated from the rest of the house as possible. Giving your office its own room is by far best for productivity, but designating an area of your living room with dividing screens can work well too. Never use your bedroom, if at all possible, as it will interfere with both your sleeping habits and your working habits – studies have shown again and again that it’s best to leave your bedroom a place for sleep and relaxation, with as few distractions as possible from that goal.

The next step is to pick the right desk for you. Smaller spaces can take advantage of secretary-style office desks, which have plenty of vertical room for storage and organization. Those with a larger space and a taste for luxury can get an executive desk, which has plenty of surface room for organization. Of course, if most of your work is on the computer and you don’t need much storage, a computer desk can be a fine choice. It’s all about your needs and the size of your office room.

Once you have your desk in mind, choosing an office chair comes next. Obviously, comfort should be the first priority for a home office, but style is important too. Leather is attractive and leather chairs are often very comfortable once they warm to body temperature, but can be more difficult to maintain. Mesh is sturdy and durable, and very breathable, but often lacks the cushioning of other types of furniture. Fabric chairs can often be the best option for a home office with their sturdy comfort, but still might not be quite as padded. It’s important to try out potential chairs yourself if possible and work out what works best for you.

Once you have the basics, it’s a matter of decorating and adding extras. Of course, bookshelves and filing cabinets are both great choices, letting you store reference material and giving your room an even more professional appearance. It’s best to avoid too many distractions, but some paintings can add a relaxing touch to the room. It’s all a matter of personal taste.

With your perfect, personalized home office, you can work in comfort and work productively from home. You might find it difficult to go back to your normal office after, though!

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Pet Friendly Style: Keeping your living room looking its best under fire

Animals are man’s closest companions, and pets are part of many lives. However, balancing out a stylish living room with the natural behavior of most pets can be tricky, particularly with younger animals and with cats. The worst of the damage can be avoided by choosing furniture that can resist the damage or stop it entirely.

Sofas, couches, and love seats are all tricky as far as pets go. Leather should be introduced into a pet-rich environment only with great caution and delicacy – a curious cat can do deep damage to leather that can’t be easily hidden. Even just a few puncture or scratch marks can hurt the appearance of leather, after all – it’s one of the less forgiving materials in this respect.

Fabric upholstery is better overall for pets, and many recommend microfiber as the best way to deal with pets. Both durable and easy to clean, microfiber tends to not be easily scratched apart due to its dense basic construction and can be cleaned of pet hair with very little trouble. When in between cleanings, having your furniture in a color that matches your pet’s coat a little can be useful – it means that fur shows less.

For tables of various kinds, going with modern, glass-and-metal designs can keep cats or dogs from doing too much visible damage – the glass may need regular cleaning, but it means the elimination of wood for them to scratch up. Modern coffee tables are often very durable, ensuring that they can endure the wear and tear your beloved companion puts on them.

For shelving and decorations, the wall might be the best candidate. Suspended shelves can’t be easily reached by cats, ensuring that whatever you have on them stays on properly instead of being knocked to the floor. The same goes for decorations, of course – wall art is much harder to knock over than a vase.

Of course, careful training is the real key, and with time you might be able to bring in wood and leather without little Fluffy deciding the new furniture is all scratching posts. Still, for those with young or disobedient pets, the above tips can help ensure that your house stays beautiful no matter what its furry residents do to it.

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Storage and Organization: How to make your bedroom tidy with modern style

Having plenty of storage for your clothes and other important items in your bedroom is key, but it can be tricky, especially in smaller bedrooms. Closets are always great, but if your closet runs out of room other options become necessary, and it can be hard to balance out storage needs and style. With a bit of planning, though, any room can have plenty of space without sacrificing any of your sense of style.

The most important first step is to measure the space you have. Be sure to measure vertically as well as horizontally – most wardrobes and dressers are fairly tall, and blocking a window or a picture would be a terrible outcome. Figure out a large, clear space where you can easily access your new storage and where it won’t block access to your other furniture.

Next, of course, is deciding what style of storage you want for that space. There are three main options – dressers, wardrobes, and armoires – along with various fusions, and they all have their pros and cons.

Dressers are the smallest option, and are perfect for more compact spaces. Generally the shortest choice, dressers have plenty of room for clothing, but only allow for folded clothing. For those who already have a large closet and just need extra room for socks and the like, they’re probably the best choice. What’s more, many bedroom furniture sets come with dressers, allowing you to easily match them to your room’s style needs.

Wardrobes offer more hanging room, but generally have no drawers – they’re best if you have no closet or very little closet space, and can be a great place for shoes and the like. They fill a lot of space, but given the variety of modern and traditional wardrobe designs, they can easily become centerpieces for your room or disappear into it as you see fit.

Armoires are a hybrid option and offer the best of both options – at the cost of space, as they take up a good amount of vertical room. Many armoires have a wardrobe-like space to hang clothes on top of a set of drawers, which can be an ideal option for someone with no closet and not too many outfits. Others contain space for a TV instead of the wardrobe, giving you a stylish way to have a television in your room that won’t get in your way. There are other styles of armoire as well with options like shelving space and the like, but the most basic versions are the above.

Having a small amount of space to work with doesn’t have to mean sacrificing style. With these simple clothes storage options, keeping your bedroom and bedroom furniture elegant and clutter-free has never been easier.

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Light of Your Life: how to arrange lighting in your home

Lighting is key to ensuring that your room looks its very best. The right lighting can enhance your furniture and showcase the best of it, while the wrong lighting can leave your room feeling sickly and dimmed out. In addition, lighting spaces where you plan to work or spend time with guests brightly can help energize you – but a bedroom with lights that are too bright can keep you up all night. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to choose well.

The most important thing to focus on is lamp style. Ceiling lamps, wall lamps, table lamps, and floor lamps all present your room in different ways, and combining them can be the best way to get the effect you want.

Ceiling lights tend to provide even coverage, illuminating all of your furniture equally well. Ceiling lights of some form are often the best basis for a room’s lighting, and using dimmer bulbs in the ceiling lighting can allow you to highlight other spots with different styles of lamps. Of course, there are unique examples that are focal points on their own – most notably, chandeliers. The main point of a chandelier or other more elaborate hanging light is to illuminate and draw attention to itself, rather than the more general lighting of ceiling lamps.

Floor and wall lamps serve similar purposes – illuminating particular spaces and providing ambiance without brightening the room overall too much. Wall sconces and lamps tend to provide ambiance first and foremost, and can be placed evenly to give a room a slight warm glow. Floor lamps can be used for brightening a particular space, designating the most important parts of a room, and of course they make great reading solutions.

Table lamps, in addition to being great decorative pieces for your desk, coffee table, or nightstand, are great ways to make work easier on yourself. A small table lamp can provide plenty of light for finishing off your project. In addition, table lamps are a great choice for nighttime reading – because they aren’t too bright, they provide enough light to read by without interfering with your body’s natural sleep schedule.

Beyond the above basics, it all comes down to what works best for your home and for your room. Warmer-toned but dimmer lighting can be great for a bedroom, while you might want plenty of lamps to both decorate and illuminate your living room. Find what works best for your space, and light up the night!

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Rugs and your Room: Choosing the right rug for any space

The right rug can be both a wonderful style accent for your home and a wonderful way to keep warm. Modern rug designs offer a variety of styles, patterns, and colors to allow you to choose what will fit best in your home or apartment. Of course, there are some considerations to take into mind when shopping for the perfect rug.

Color and pattern are probably the most important. A more subdued rug can contribute a subtle impression to the room, warming or cooling it slightly, but it might be lost if you have more vibrantly colored or patterned furniture around it. Meanwhile, a brightly colored rug or one with complex, eye-catching patterns might drown out the rest of the room. The exact patterns and colors can give off different impressions – darker, more ornate rugs tend to feel more traditional, while a less saturated rug with more geometric patterns might contribute to a more modern feel. The key point is for your rug to contribute to your room’s furniture without overpowering it or being overpowered by it.

Shape and material can also make a difference, of course. A round rug often gives a hint of mod design to a room, for example, especially if vividly colored. A rug made with deeper material might be more comfortable and more warming, but might need furniture that stands out more with it to keep it from being too visually distracting. The choice will depend on your room’s shape, as well – circular rugs might not work as well in some rooms as others.

Size is, of course, always important. A rug that sticks out too far beyond the furniture placed on it looks awkward, but so does a rug that is much too small. The size of your rug can determine the arrangement of other furniture, dictating how your room appears – a living room with furniture spread too far over a rug that’s too large might seem too cold, but a cramped situation might give a messy impression. It might be best to measure your current furniture groupings and determine the right rug size by how much room your couches and chairs need.

Rugs are a wonderful choice for designing, as they take up no real space but add a warmer and more comfortable impression to any room. If chosen well, they can tie a room together visually, delineating spaces and complimenting your furniture perfectly. Just choose what works visually with your room and it’s sure to look great.

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Preparing for the Holidays: guest seating and dining solutions for smaller spaces

With the holidays well underway, families are visiting and guests are coming over for parties more often – so how do you provide them with plenty of room to sit and plenty of table space at dinner without sacrificing your space for the rest of the year to come? For those living in smaller spaces, having too many chairs or too big a table would be disastrous for most of the year, but guests must be taken into account. Here are some suggestions at accommodating everyone at your next holiday event.

An outdoor dinner service can be a great solution for someone short on interior space – outdoor furniture doesn’t take up any indoor space, after all, and it provides extra options even after your party’s over. An outdoor dining table set can provide a great place to host guests and a creative alternative to a dining room, and weather-resistant options mean that you don’t have to worry about taking the set inside when your food is done. Of course, this only works with plenty of outdoor space and good weather, but if the conditions are right it can be a lovely option.

Expanding dining tables are, of course, always a good option. Most modern expandable dining tables are designed to be sturdy and long-lasting, with moving parts that will last a long time. Many come with the extra length easily built in, ensuring that you have no extra parts to deal with when your guests are gone. In addition, expandable dining tables come in a variety of styles and options, ensuring that you can match them easily to your room’s needs. With many nicer tables, it’s difficult to even tell that the seams are there – the table works at any size.

Folding chairs are often thought of as cheap and tacky, but modern, well-made folding chairs present a totally different image. Many are designed in stylish, unique ways that take advantage of their shape to provide a unique profile. In addition, many are made of materials like solid wood or steel, ensuring their lasting power and durability. Provide as many chairs as you need to your guests without having to worry about the extra chairs getting in the way the rest of the year.

With these and many other tricks, you can enjoy a large holiday meal with your family or friends without worrying about what to do about the extra furniture afterward. Enjoy your spacious rooms most of the year and enjoy your company during the holidays.

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Modern Glass: Why glass furniture is stylish and easy

A great deal of modern furniture involves glass in its construction, from glass-topped coffee tables to glass shelves on bookcases. Glass adds a contemporary look to any piece, catching the eye and adding a unique, stylish note to any room.

However, many people think that glass furniture is difficult to clean and maintain and far too fragile to last. Luckily, these assumptions are wrong. A piece of modern furniture with glass construction is as simple to maintain and as sturdy as the same piece in wood.

Most glass furniture is made with thick tempered glass, ensuring its stability. Tempered or toughened glass is produced through a unique high-heat process that creates durability that normal glass doesn’t have. This process ensures that you can use your glass-topped dining table without fear of it breaking in just a few months. Add to this the thickness of most glass used in furniture and you have a truly durable material. Simply check the specifications to make sure that it’s tempered glass and that it is thick and you’ll have no problems with durability and long-term use.

In addition, even if something does go wrong, tempered glass remains safe – it shatters into small fragments that aren’t sharp at all, and tends to cling together even when broken. This makes tempered glass safe even in environments with children, because even if something does break there’s no danger of it doing major harm to anyone.

Many people still worry about cleaning, which is a mostly unfounded worry. While it’s true that glass surfaces pick up dust a little more easily, they wipe clean just as quickly, making them a breeze to care for. Just a quick wipe with a moistened cloth will clear away dust and smears, and unlike wood furniture, glass furniture never needs re-polishing.

What’s more, if you want to spend even less effort on your glass furniture, simply choose something with a darker tint to the glass. Many tempered glass tables come frosted or tinted, and gray and black tints tend to not show dust nearly as easily. Cleanup becomes a much more reasonable proposition with tinted glass.

As you can see, glass furniture is sure to add a modern touch to your home or apartment without creating extra risks or extra cleanup. A few pieces of elegant glass-topped or glass-fronted furniture can give your home a contemporary, modern look – and none of your guests need to know the secret of how easy it all really is!

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First Impressions: Decorating your hallway or foyer

At first glance, it might not seem like decorating your hallway or entryway is the most necessary thing. Hallway furniture seems like it might just lead to clutter and blockages. But what that point of view neglects is the importance of other first glances, most notably those of your guests. A well-decorated hallway or entryway can set the tone for a house, providing an appealing first glimpse. What’s more, hallway furniture can actually end up saving space in situations where space is at a premium.

There’s a range of options for hallway furniture, from decorative mirrors and wall hangings to chests and tables. All of them, when chosen right, can both enhance your space aesthetically and make the last-minute rush out the door easier. Store your keys, your purses, and any jewelry you don’t want to forget in a small chest near the door to your house, freshen up in a wall mirror, and head out to work or a party without worrying about a thing. Encourage guests to do the same with a table for purses or a shoe rack and make sure that they can feel welcome right away.

The key difficulty, of course, is space. With such limited space, it’s important to choose things that are sure to work in your home without risking bruised shins at night. With a larger foyer or entryway, these concerns largely disappear, but even with a larger entry space you want to preserve its sense of size and avoid clutter as much as possible. Measure the spaces you’re fitting things into many times and make sure you leave plenty of room to move and breathe. Placement is also part of this – even if your mirror fits the space perfectly, consider putting it off-center from doors and entrances to avoid startling guests. Similarly, avoid putting dressers and tables in places where people will have trouble avoiding them.

If you want furniture that’s functional as well as stylish, storage space also becomes a concern. With so little room for depth, wide, deep drawers become the ideal. Different heights of cabinets and dressers can give different impressions – one might be for shoes and another for small trinkets, and choosing cabinets of different heights ensures that it will be clear which is which.

Style is a key concern with hallway furniture. In a smaller space, there’s much less room for error – any clashing or incongruous piece will make itself obvious. Most modern hallway furniture should work well together, but it’s key to make sure that you establish the impression you want your house to give. Warm colors might give a more welcoming impression, while cooler tones might lead to a more elegant tone overall. Figure out what you want guests to know about you the moment they step in the door.

With the right furniture, the most neglected rooms in your house can become the most pleasant and useful.

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