A wall sconce is the perfect solution to any indoor or outdoor lighting problem that you may have. They’re stylish, come in a large variety of styles and they don’t require too much room. They are perfect for a short wall, rooms or basements with low ceilings of for your front porch or back patio area.

Lantern Sconce

These are the most popular varieties found on exteriors of homes. They are traditionally black and although many years ago you would think that there was only one style available (judging by identical lighting seen throughout neighborhoods), today they are available in many unique designs. This is the perfect way to blend traditional lighting with a more modern appearance.

Hand-blown Art Sconce

Becoming extremely popular are these hand-blown pieces that serve a dual purpose as a light and a piece of art. These sconces are typically pretty expensive but what an impact they make on a room!

Contemporary Sconce

A polished steel wall sconce will compliment any contemporary decor. Their polished look offers light without becoming a distraction. Of course, steel isn’t your only option when looking for a contemporary sconce, they’re also available in many complimentary colors such as black, white, gray and red.

Motion Detector Sconce

Any type of outdoor lighting that features a motion detector has become a preferred choice. They provide light, enhance security, deter theft and you never have to worry about wasting electricity. This type of wall sconce only comes on when it detects movement so not only is it stylish and convenient, it can help you lower your carbon footprint as well!

If you are planning a basement remodel, you may run into a few concerns along the way such as low ceilings, mold, bugs, awkward pillars, ducts and pipes. A basement remodel can be a huge project but you really should make use of this valuable space. Not to mention, it will significantly raise the value of your home! If you are coming across a few complications, rest assured, there are solutions!

Low Ceilings

If you have low ceilings, recessed lighting or wall scones will become your best friend! The last thing that you need is light fixtures hanging that someone can hit their head on. Painting the walls a lighter color and making use of plenty of mirrors will help the space appear larger and not so closed in as well.

Underfloor Heating

Basement floors tend to be damp and cold which may accumulate moisture and result in mold. Not to mention, they are often a breeding ground for bugs. These are all bad news for allergy sufferers. Underfloor heating will solve these problems. Of course, this can be costly and a pain to install but certainly well worth it. As an alternative, baseboard heaters work fairly well too!

Accent the Awkward

If you have pillars in peculiar places, pipes where you don’t want them, etc., why not play up these awkward elements? Paint your pillars a bright bold color or buy piping and create a few artistic pieces to accent those pipes. Something that you may look at as an eyesore could really be an extraordinary focal point when given the chance!

If you are not familiar with the fast-forward, fun and stylish designs of Giovannetti, you are certainly in for a treat! Whether you’re looking for a colorful table and chairs, contemporary couch or an artistic chair, you will find something beyond tempting from this designer.

Giovannetti feels that when it comes to furniture, traditional material, fabrics and color choices can often be so boring and predictable. The artistic adventure and pure creativity for life is what inspires every piece, including this table and chairs pictured above, made from polyurethane. Makes you think of ice-cream scoops, doesn’t it?

Every piece features a gas piston which allows you take the set from a low dining room table to a tall pub-style variety, perfect for gathering around while entertaining. The bases are made from steel chrome to create a surprisingly durable and stable piece of furniture, even at their maximum height. If you look closely, you will also see a shelf/cubbyhole under each seat which is ideal for your guests who never quite know what to do with their purses.

The Giovannetti collection represents the vitality and energy that this 40-year old company has come to be so well known for. Their motto? Made with love! Visit the Giovannetti website to see for yourself why people literally fall in love with this collection. These are pieces that may just inspire an entire new remodel.

A patio umbrella may not be something you really want to squeeze into the budget on top of all of your other springtime expenses to spruce up your landscaping but you may be surprised to discover how much more time you spend in your outdoor living space if you have one. It can be tempting to simply buy a small inexpensive round umbrella, which may be find if you have nice shade tree as well however, you may want to splurge just a bit more for a larger one.

• Determine the size of the area that you want to receive shade. This could be the entire seating area or just a small section. You might even want to consider a swivel umbrella so that you can change its position as the sun moves, without fussing with moving the entire stand.

• Grab some painter’s tape, yarn, a few dog leashes or something you can use to outline the area with that you want shaded and lay them around the desired perimeter.

• Use your measuring tape to measure across from side of the area to another to determine the size of the umbrella you need and you’re ready to go shopping either in store or online.

A quality patio umbrella that is properly taken care of can last quite a long time so think of it as an investment. You will also find solar lights and even heaters that attach to some umbrellas so you can enjoy your outdoor living space even later on those cool evenings.

At one point or another, most homeowners need to pay a little attention to their roof. Zappone has been manufacturing these dynamic copper shingles since 1969. This American company’s shingles are earth-friendly, available in a few different styles and they have been thoughtfully designed to last for a lifetime!

Are They Really that Durable?

In a nutshell, yes! In fact, they have been put through intense, wind and rain abuse in hurricane testing! These copper shingles are made from 99.96 percent pure copper and every single shingle is inspected to make sure that it meets the standards set by J. Joseph Zappone III himself.

Stylish

Copper is beyond aesthetically-pleasing! It’s rich yet rustic, contemporary yet vintage and will compliment any home. Wonder why you don’t see too many houses with Zappone shingles? They’re so fussy about quality and appearance that they only manufacturer 400 roofs every year. Once orders on one list are full, the next costumer’s name gets put on a list for the following year. Clearly they are well worth the wait because no one is complaining about the delay!

Every carton of Zappone shingles has the brand name as well as the employee’s initials who created them and the date they were completed. If you’re going to be ready for a new roof in the next couple of years, you may want to check out these long-lasting, environmentally-friendly copper shingles at Zappone and get on a waiting list. You’re sure to be the only person in the neighborhood with a roof like this!

Can you just imagine walking into your dining room to see a dark, absolutely gorgeous Claro walnut wood table such as the one pictured above by Hudson Furniture? This is one of those pieces you may catch yourself just standing there staring at from time to time, just to soak in its beauty. If you think the table is stunning, they also make other furniture, beds and sculptures without compromising the natural organic lines of the tree.

Who is Hudson Furniture?

Hudson Furniture is a company who has a deep appreciation and respect for the inherent grain of wood. Trees offer geometric forms and well-defined lines that can be accented when cut the proper way and hand rubbed with an oil finish. Their unique pieces are available in Claro walnut, Ebonized pine, Satinwood, Acacia, Jasmine, Myrtle and Black walnut in custom dimensions.

Their furniture is never created from old growth forests. The wood that they use in the creation of these exquisite pieces of furniture are from either wind/storm damaged or salvaged trees.

From petrified wood stumps to their most exotic signature bed, each piece is hand-crafted with a great deal of thought and care to ensure that the end result pays tribute to nature as an exceptional piece of art. Visit Hudson Furniture to view their entire collection.

There’s a common misconception that neutral has to be boring but it certainly does not! If you’ve been contemplating losing those white walls for a more neutral shade, you should! Just a hint of color brought in by a neutral shade will totally revamp your room and give it warmth.

• Cream – If you’re not ready for too much color, cream is the perfect solution. It works well with virtually any decor and it will make the space appear larger, which makes it a perfect color for a small room. You don’t have to worry about buying new furniture or changing your theme either because the color is so versatile.

• Pale Green – This is a soft, cool shade that is quickly becoming popular because of the calming environment it creates. Moss or sage shades are preferred because they contain less yellow.

• Bluish-gray – If your home has warmer tones, this shade is probably not a good idea however, if your decor is made up of white, neutral or black, this is a perfect color to compliment what’s already in the space.

• Smoky Lavender – Not only can a light grayish-lavender shade compliment a neutral room, it’s kind of sexy and mysterious too. This is the color to watch for this year!

• Grant Beige – While beige always gets the bland word associated with it, this is a color that can look spectacular in a modern room. Alternatively, if you keep your palette very clean with creams, white and a pinch of black, Grant beige can appear very architectural.

If you’re looking for a quick, easy and inexpensive way to give a room a facelift, consider adding a bit of neutral paint to your walls. If you’re someone who has had white walls for a long time, it can be scary to make a commitment to a new color but paint is never permanent so if you find that you’re not in love with it, you can always change it back!

The trend today seems to be making sure that you have the most spectacular bathtub to soak in to create the feel and appearance of a tranquil spa. However, the fact of the matter is, you probably still spend significantly more time in the shower. Most people enjoy a relaxing bath as a treat when they can escape for a few moments, the shower gets used daily so shouldn’t it be just as spectacular?

Remodeling your shower not only will make your rushed time in the morning a little more enjoyable, it will add value to your home.

Material Choice

Although plastic and porcelain seem to be the most popular options, tile is an exquisite choice. Yes, it does cost more than the other two and installation is much longer but it will also have a very long life and it looks spectacular!

Add a Bench

Wouldn’t it be nice to sit for a moment and soak up the steam or have a place to shave your legs? Benches can either be removable or built right into the shower. You can purchase shower stalls that are prefabricated with a bench in plastic, porcelain or fiberglass options. If you chose tile, the bench will need to be built and installed separately.

Change Your Fixtures

Not prepared for an entire shower remodel? Why not just add a new shower head? Rainfall shower heads varieties are becoming very popular right now!

Install Doors

Replacing that shower curtain with doors in either translucent or frosted glass will give your bathroom a huge facelift. They look elegant, are easy to clean and they prevent water from ending up all over your floor.

Are you ready to make a long-term commitment to your lighting? This ring chandelier designed by Brand Van Egmond is fun yet elegant, flirty yet sophisticated. Why not treat your home to some gorgeous jewelry?

The Diamonds from Amsterdam pendant light is feminine, glistening, rich and it may just make your heart beat a little bit faster every time you look at it. This piece of art is nothing short of brilliant that would look absolutely stunning in a very simple, contemporary room that doesn’t offer too many other busy distractions.

The dangling pendant is unconventional and bold without being too flashy. The hoop features a groove all the way around that houses alternating lights and stones which all compliment one another exquisitely. The piece is available in an eye-catching traditional stainless steel or in a black stainless steel finish. The inside boasts the words Brand Van Egmond, written in the same way that one would inscribe their wedding band.

If you have a modern room that could use a little eye-candy without taking away from the simplicity of the space, the Diamonds from Amsterdam lighting sculpture may be what you’re looking for. You can view the entire 2011 collection at the Brand Van Egmond website.

You probably already know that mirrors not only create light in a room, they can make a space appear much larger and full of energy too. However, you may not know that there are a lot of creative things that you can do with mirrors, other than just hanging one on your wall!

Cover a Table

Yes, this may seem like a bit more work than what you’re looking to invest but the result is dramatic! You can buy self-adhesive mirrored tiles that are less expensive than you might think. Paint that old table you have stuffed in your garage a color that will match your decor and then apply the mirrors to the top. If they don’t fit perfectly, just be sure to measure so you leave the same amount of room all the way around as a border. It’s easiest to start with the middle row in this case and work outward.

Wall Art

You can hang mirrored panels in any pattern you choose across a wall. You could create just a small abstract piece on that short wall in your entry way or spread them out across an entire wall in your living room. If you’re feeling really creative you can paint a design on some of them or stencil on just a bit of detail.

Create Planters

There are very inexpensive, unattractive, rectangular planters available that you would normally paint but instead of painting them, you will add mirrored tiles to them. Once again, feel free to add a bit of paint to the mirrors for a splash of color.

Just because it is ideal to have mirrors throughout your home doesn’t mean you have to give up prime wall real estate just to hang them!

You should put as much thought into your grill as you do your kitchen stove. You will find that most people have a full blown love affair with either a gas or a charcoal grill, few people will say that they like both. Therefore, asking the advice of those around you will often get you some extremely opinionated answers.

• Gas Grills – It’s all about convenience with gas grills. There’s not wood chips or coals to heat up, all you need to do is twist a knob or flip a switch and you’re ready to grill. They are extremely versatile and offer a very consistent flame so you can cook your burgers, buns and veggies without charring any of them.

• Charcoal Grills – It is said that food cooked on a charcoal grill always wins any taste test. There really is no competing with the flavor. Unfortunately, you can’t be blessed with all that tasty goodness without putting in a little grunt work. There’s more prep time and flames can be all over the place so you really do have to babysit your food.

If you’re ready to buy a grill to really kick off your spring and summer season the right way, take the time to evaluate your needs, become familiar with different products and read reviews. Choosing the right grill is imperative. If you buy one you’re not crazy about, you may as well park it in the garage next to that kayak you keep saying you’re going to get some use out of every year!

While you may assume that painting a mural on a wall is only practical for nurseries or a child’s room, this is not true. Depending on how creative and artistic you are, they are perfect for walls in your bathroom, kitchen, hallways, etc. Even your primary living space that maybe has a short wall would be the perfect place for a life-sized piece of art. If you’re ready to tackle a wall, don’t go into it blindly. The last thing you want to do is eye-ball a mural, unless of course you’re just that good!

• Create a Graph – The easiest way to paint a mural on a wall is to create a graph first. Measures out specific distances across the wall vertically and horizontally and then either thumbtack yarn to create a grid or use a pencil. If you plan on using a pencil, you should be either painting the entire wall or you better have the best quality eraser available to not smudge unpainted parts of the grid when you erase the lines.

• Draw Your Design – Grab a piece of paper or poster board and create the exact same grid on it so there is the same number of squares with a pen and draw your mural on this. You will have a lot more freedom to make errors and start over this way and since you created the lines in pen, you can erase as many times as you need to.

• Transfer to the Wall – Using the squares on the paper as a guide to the squares on the wall, recreate your mural on the wall. You can either just make really light outlines if you’re pretty comfortable with a paint brush or you can go ahead and draw yourself a detailed picture to paint.

• Paint – The last step in creating a mural is to paint. Acrylic paint works best and don’t forget to seal it when it is completely dry. When working with a lot of colors in an area, you may have to let one color dry so your arm or hand doesn’t smudge it.

Murals can either be a quick and simple project that you do over the course of a day or they can be detailed masterpieces that you continuously return to over a long period of time. Either way, they create a really spectacular focal point in any room!