Accessorise Your Dining Room

Every dining room needs a little extra touch to make it truly special, whether it is a beautiful chandelier to serve as a captivating centrepiece or a range of plants to bring in some fresh character. With a bit of imagination you can turn a great dining room into a stunning one, perfect for a sophisticated evening of fine dining.

Lighting is a great way to bring a new touch to a room, so check out what's available online and bring in something special, like a chandelier or set of lamps to really set the scene.

Plants can also make the difference, especially if they have inviting;y coloured flowers. Look for plants that don't shed leaves so that you never have to worry about them making a mess and you'll be well on the way to the dining room of your dreams.

A rug can also make a huge difference, providing some extra comfort for your guests and really helping to bring the room together, so browse online and find something that really expresses your personality.

Remember that it's the small details that really make a difference, and pay close attention to the overall style of the room and you'll easily add that little extra special touch to your dining experience.

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Great Ideas For A Contemporary Bedroom

If you're looking for a few ways to accessorise and improve a contemporary bedroom, then you're in luck. With the vast range of amazing extras available online, there's never been a better time to fix up a room that needs a little TLC than now, so here's a few tips to get you started, and soon you'll be able to create a bedroom that is filled with a luxuriant and inviting atmosphere as well as all the cool sophistication of contemporary style.

If you want to bring a little warmth and character to a modern bedroom, the cheapest and easiest way to start is with a few plants. A rubber plant has wide, thick, lustrous leaves that provide a great textural counterpoint to the sleek surfaces of modern furniture, and for smaller plants a banana lily makes a bold style statement. Of course, you'll need to get some beautiful pots and vases if you're going to do this, so have an explore online and see what you can turn up.

As with the plants, it's the small details that really bring character to a room, so keep your eye out for ornaments and accessories, and you'll soon create a room that is built for luxurious sleep.

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Great Ideas For Your Front Room

Is your front room starting to get you down? If you've got a great sitting room, then the front room can often seem dull and unwelcoming, and if you already have a separate dining room, then it may seem as though it has no useful function, but with a few bright ideas, you can make sure that it has everything it needs to be a delightful space in its own right.

First you need to decide what you want the room to be - will it be a smart reception room for visitors, with a more formal atmosphere than the sitting room, perfect for serving coffee to acquaintances, or will you go the other direction, and make it into a super-comfy room where the whole family can veg out if they need to, while preserving your sitting room as a more public space? The choice is yours, but it is vital that you make a firm choice so that you don't end up with a muddled mess.

Once you've decided what you want to create, explore the amazing selection of furniture available online and discover for yourself the perfect bunch of pieces to really transform your front room into a space you can be proud of.

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2 Kids, 1 small bedroom

It's finally happened, the day that everyone dreads. 2 Kids, 1 husband, the house sold, the van loaded, the parents-in-law waiting - waiting at their house to welcome us. That's right, we've sold up and like many others at the moment, we have nowhere else to go. Rather than lose the sale, we decided that we should move in with 'mum & dad' until we have found the perfect house. Sadly this made perfect sense, so here we are.

We have 1 slight issue though. Aside from our room, there is only 1 spare bedroom. When I say bedroom, I mean 'bed-room'. If you can get a bed in there, you can't really get anything else. The kids are 4 and 6, so have come to appreciate a nice mattress to lie on, and their school generally likes them to be awake. A solution was needed and they weren't happy to 'top and tails'. After much head scratching, a little voice chipped in "well, my friend Paul has bunk beds".

Bunk beds - of course, even I wanted a bunk bed as a little girl, although I never could decide whether top or bottom was best (really, there is a good argument for either...) and this would be perfect for the space available. My only worry was that surely they would be quite expensive? I mean they are 2 beds aren't they? And we would want a solid wood one, not some plastic 'put up' job that finds us with children and a crumpled mess on the floor in the morning, that no doubt I would have to untangle.

As is turns out, bunk beds are surprisingly good value for money, even a nice solid pine bunk bed (I'm thinking that with wood, perhaps my husband could saw it in half later to make 2 separate beds?). You can find them for around £100 - £200, so not a bank breaker, but a ready solution to 6mths of being cooped up in a little bedroom.

The kids love the ladder, have even worked out a 'timeshare' for the top bunk and there is still a little space under the bed to cram some toys, and I still think that it could be sawn in half a little later down the line...

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When is a bookcase not a bookcase?

When you don't just fill it with books of course - Of course you may disagree with this, 'a bookcase is always a bookcase regardless of what is in it. After all, a rocking chair against a wall is still called a rocking chair...’ Yes, this may sound of miniscule importance, but this is what I was faced with after I had made the simple decision that it was time for me to re-house my books.

I thought I had done enough. I had measured the area that it would 'slot' into and worked out roughly how many shelves I would need. Fin.

Time to call the sister (like a bloodhound when it comes to 'good deals') and put her on the search. What did I expect upon arriving home? A simple email with links to bookcases for me to peruse and choose. What I didn't expect was questions questions questions.

• Do I want a pine bookcase or should I go for an oak bookcase instead?
• Do I want a cupboard at the bottom to store things (like books perhaps?)
• Do I want a headstock or just a flat top?
• Do I want divided shelves?
• Do I want a traditional or modern style?
• Do I want flat pack or pre-assembled?

I soon realised I was an amateur and more research was going to be needed.

I thought I would begin with choosing the wood. Normally I can be partial to a bit of pine, but, for a bookcase, oak seemed to scream out at me. I wanted something that would add character to my living room yet fit in with the overall design theme I had previously chosen. An oak mantelpiece and an oak table currently reside, so an oak bookcase would fit in nicely. I'm also not bad with a screwdriver so a flat pack is seen as a challenge, not a nightmare.

The style? I have hundreds of books so the decision as to whether I need drawers or a cupboard was easy. It was a no. Give me shelves and give me many (I can always get a separate unit for my dining room later...). It was the same for the headstock - without one I have an extra shelf. Easy.

Then it was just a matter of getting online and choosing the one for me. This was surprisingly easy, as long as you know what you want, which finally I did: A tall, oak, flat topped, many shelved book case that fits my gap.

Ordered, paid for, should arrive in a couple of days, now where is that screwdriver again….

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The Living Choice

When discussing the merits of a well turned out living room, most of us concentrate on the size of the television screen and sofa, forgetting the crucial pieces of furniture that we build our primary relaxation area around. In fact if we were asked to list the separate items of furniture found in our living rooms we would be surprised at the final figure.

Unless you are lucky enough to live in a house with multiple reception rooms the chances are that your living room must act as a multi-functional space for watching TV, entertaining and relaxing. In order to meet these demands it is obvious that furniture for this area needs to be long lasting; a growing pre-requisite given the current economic climate.

Meeting these needs, both classical and practical, wood never goes out of fashion, readily available in a multitude of styles and finishes suitable for almost any living room. In fact, the wide variety of ranges means you will always find the perfect style to suit your tastes.

By following a few simple rules and ensuring that your final choices best meet the needs of the size and shape of your living room, you can quickly transform its feel by introducing simple items such as a coffe table or even a wall mirror. A few subtle changes will mean you can sit back and enjoy room of your dreams.

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Ideal Home Loves PineSolutions!

We are pleased to say our furniture has been picked for Ideal Home magazine. This month’s issue of Ideal Home features pieces from our charming Belgravia range.

Our Belgravia Dining Chairs and Belgravia Hall Table were used for the cover shoot on the theme “Moroccan Minerals”. Teamed with soft plums and lilacs and set alongside silver accessories, our Belgravia furniture is used to create an exotic and glamorous look. And our Belgravia furniture is such great value; it won’t cost much to give any room in your home a striking new look.

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