How to Identify Your Hair Type

The first step in finding a style to suit you is to understand yo u r  hair type. Deciphering a few key terms and knowing  how they relate to your hair will not only help you choose the  right styling products, but also to work out why your hair behaves as it does, and why some styles, cuts and colouring techniques will work better than others.

If you regularly blow-dry or straighten your hair, or use a styling product every day, it may have been a while since you really looked at your natural texture. Allowing your hair to dry naturally will show you what it looks like when left to its own devices – and will help you care for it accordingly.

Step 1
Wash your hair with a shampoo designed for a ‘normal’ hair type, but don’t use conditioner.

step 2
After blotting gently, allow your hair to dry naturally, without using a dryer or towelling too roughly.

Step 3
Once your hair is dry, look at your natural texture. Is your hair totally straight or is there a slight kink? If your hair has waves, how many are there and are they loose or defined, regular or random? If you have curls, are they loose or tight, spirals, S-shaped or zigzag, or bouncy  or stiff? Perhaps you have a mixture of textures? If so, what’s the  overall effect?

The natural texture of the top image is straight, silky and fine. The hair texture of the bottom image seems porous, with a natural curl.

Step 4
Has frizz formed, or does your hair seem fluffy? Does it have a natural shine, look dry and dull, or is it a mixture of the two? Do the ends seem split and frayed?

Step 5
To measure the thickness and texture of your individual strands, pull out a single hair and look at it in front of a piece of white paper. If the hair is barely visible and feels soft, it is fine. If it’s easy to see but still feels soft, your hair is medium. If it looks thick  and feels wiry, your hair  is coarse.

Step 6
To measure the thickness of your hair, pull it back as if you were creating a ponytail, and measure the circumference of the tail (you can get a rough idea by seeing where your finger and thumb meet). If the circumference of the tail is five centimetres or less, you have fine hair. If it’s between five and ten centimetres, your hair is of medium thickness. If the circumference measures more than ten centimetres, you have thick hair

Pro Tip
Noting how long your hair takes to dry naturally is another way of measuring its thickness and texture. Thin, fine hair usually dries in under an hour, whereas thick or coarse hair takes an hour or more to dry.

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Eat These to Boost Your Libido

You don’t need pharmaceuticals to reclaim your manhood. All you need to do is step into the kitchen and eat the right foods. Here’s what should be on your menu.

•  Watermelon.
 It’s a whole lot tastier than a pill and has the same effect. Researchers at the University of Texas (Jayaprakasha, Chidambara Murthy and Patil, 2011) found that the citrulline in watermelons makes more blood flow south. You don’t even need a prescription.



•  Dark chocolate. 
In a study from the University of California at San Francisco (Engler et al., 2004), blood vessel dilation increased by more than 10 per cent in participants who ate 50 grams of low-sugar dark chocolate per day.


•  Berries. 
Forget about bringing coffee and toast to bed; bring the raspberries and strawberries. You lose 9 per cent of your daily zinc intake when you ejaculate. The berries will replenish the zinc you lose—five milligrams, or one third of your daily requirement—making them the perfect snack to eat between romps.



•  Peanut butter. 
Sign on for the Skippy diet. Studies have found that men who ate diets rich in monounsaturated fat—
the kind found in peanuts—had the highest levels of testosterone, which will help you grow big muscles and have firmer erections.

•  Pomegranate juice. 
Turf the orange juice because a study at the University of Cal-ifornia (Azadzoi et al., 2005) found that pomegranate juice boosts blood flow to your nether regions thanks to its high levels of antioxidants. It doesn’t taste half bad, either.

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Great Smoothies And Fast Food Recipes For Your Heath

When pressed for time, filling your belly can take longer than the average exercise session.
If you’re on the street, you have to wait for someone to prepare your food for you and you
take the risk that the food isn’t going to match up with your training goals. If you’re at home,
you have think what you can eat, prepare it, eat it and clean up.

Fortunately, there is a way to streamline your healthy dietary habits: Drink your food. Smoothies are one of the quickest stealth-health meals you can make. You can drink them in seconds, and clean-up consists of swishing a little water over your blender. The nutrients support your goals and leave you feeling full for hours afterwards, and prep takes just three to five minutes. Here are some of the best recipes to help you hit your goals in the tastiest way possible.



Ache-Fixing Shake
4 thick slices fresh pineapple
1 stick celery
2.5 cm (1 in.) piece ginger
200 ml (6.8 oz) water

Pineapple contains a compound known as bromelain, which is a painkiller and natural anti-inflammatory agent. Celery is used to fight pain associated with arthritis and gout, and ginger contains chemicals that have anti-inflammatory and painkilling properties.

Immune booster
1/2 to 1 can (450 ml) coconut milk
2 raw eggs
1 scoop whey protein
1 handful berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries) or 1/2 to 1 banana
2 tbsp ground almonds
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp flaxseed oil

The fats in coconut are not stored as fat. They are easily digested and pass straight to the liver, which improves energy levels and assists the digestive system by reducing stress on the pancreas. The fats are similar to those in mother’s milk and help support the immune system. People with chronic fatigue can really benefit from consuming coconut milk as it helps increase metabolism, thereby assisting in weight loss.

It is also antibacterial, antimicrobial and antifungal and can benefit those with candida (yeast and fungal) infections or digestive problems and those who regularly suffer colds. The berries are a great source of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and enzymes. Nuts provide essential fats and protein. Honey is the best thing to use as a sweetener because it is a natural product. The flaxseed oil is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, which help electrical impulses move from the brain to muscles across the membranes around all the cells in the body and prevent heart disease.

Super-Cheap Preworkout Shake
1/2 cup oats
1 banana
1 small (50 g) yoghurt
3 tbsp powdered milk
400 ml (13.5 oz) water

The best preworkout eating strategy is to keep things simple. The ingredients should be minimal and you shouldn’t eat anything too acidic that might repeat on you during exercise. This shake has the perfect mix of fast- and slow-digesting carbs, protein and fats for fueling any exercise session and it won’t come back to haunt you while you train.

The Energiser
75 g (2.6 oz) frozen strawberries
115 g (4 oz) mango
125 ml (4 oz) orange juice
250 ml (8 oz) fat-free milk
2 tbsp honey
1/8 cup whey protein
Powdered eggs or 4 raw egg whites

Honey is an antioxidant and provides 17 grams of carbohydrate per tablespoon, making it a great booster as part of your postworkout and preworkout meals. The mango contains potassium that helps create a healthier nervous system and releases energy from the rest of the protein, fat and arbohydrate in the shake.



Poor Man’s Protein Shake
1/2 cup semolina
1/2 cup raw oats
1 banana
1 whole egg
3 or 4 tbsp powdered milk
6 drops vanilla essence
118 ml (3.9 oz) goat milk
118 ml (3.9 oz) water

The carbohydrate-rich semolina, proteins from the eggs, milk powder and milk and fats make this the perfect combination of calories for consistently adding mass to any frame.

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How To Gain 10 Kg Body Weight For Busy Skinny Guy, A Case Study

Max Walker(47 years old) had been slight his whole life and wanted to go from scrawny to
brawny before his holidays abroad. He decided on five goals:
1.  Add 10 kilograms of muscle mass.
2.  Develop arms he could flex with pride.
3.  Create abs that looked good on the beach.
4.  Find the time to exercise at least every second day.
5.  Have the confidence to take off his shirt in public.

The Problems
Mark is one of most prominent photographers and is always on the road. Eating a high-protein, high-calorie diet while travelling for work can be difficult. Max felt self-conscious about going to a gym for the first time, and his age meant he was at a muscle-building disadvantage.

The Solutions
Max bought a membership to a club that has multiple gyms around the country so that he could
find a gym when he travelled. He began using premixed protein shakes and packed a lunch every day to make sure that he always had enough of the correct nutrients to finance his muscle building. Max, a really friendly guy, grew to know just about everyone at each club, which made exercising seem like more like a social gathering. The fellow gym users eventually thought of him as one of their own and dished out advice and friendship, which made him keener to keep at it. Because Max was a total novice he added muscle easily, which more than offset any dis-advantage from his age.

The Eating Plan
Because Max has an incredibly fast metabolism, he had to develop a new appetite and make a change from his standard three-meals-a-day routine. When his packed lunches ran dry he filled up on high-protein meals wherever he could and followed the muscle-building nutrition plan in chapter 2. He occasionally paid an odd visit to a coffee shop, but the calories counted towards gaining muscle and bulk. His calorie-burning potential was naturally high so he never let hunger pains take root.

The Training
Max was a total beginner so pretty much anything would work, but he could risk injury and lack of motivation if the postworkout pain became too great. He followed the plan in chapter 5, which uses high reps and works the entire body in each session, to help his muscles gradually become accustomed to being put through their paces. He felt a little pain for the first two weeks, but after the initial shock wore off he loved the satisfying feeling that his muscles had been worked, and he gradually increased the weight and reduced the reps.

The Drive
Max' desire to take off his shirt in the summer months fuelled his exercise ambitions. He didn’t want to be the only one in his family snaps sporting a yoghurt complexion after a trip to Spain. Enjoying more time with his family became his inspiration, even though the demands of his job were stacked against him. He bought a five-month supply of protein, half of which was premixed, so he could take it with him wherever he went. This outlay may have been hefty but it sent a clear message to his subconscious that he was in it for the long run and that backing out would cost him more than just muscle.

The Results
Max gained more than 10 kilograms of lean muscle in just two months and maintained a lean waist. After two months his daughter commented that he looked like a model. If that’s not motivation enough to stick to it, then nothing is. Time to book another holiday.

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Simple Steps to Save Water At Home

Aside from replacing water-guzzling appliances, fixtures and fittings with efficient models, try these
other simple steps for conserving water:

• Fix all leaks. 
A leaky faucet, dripping at a rate of one drip per second, can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water each year. One leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water a day. To check for leaks in general, read your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter doesn’t read exactly the same, you probably have a leak.

• Shower rather than bathe. 
A full bathtub requires about 70 gallons of water, while taking a five-minute shower uses just 10 to 25 gallons. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off.

• Water the garden wisely. 
A typical single-family suburban household uses at least 30 percent of its water outdoors for irrigation. Some experts estimate that more than 50 percent of landscape water use goes to waste due to evaporation or runoff from overwatering. Drip irrigation systems use between 20 and 50 percent less water than conventional in-ground sprinkler systems.

• Control your faucet.
The average bathroom faucet flows at a rate of 2 gallons per minute. If you turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or shaving, you can save up to 8 gallons of water per day, or 240 gallons a month.

• Fill it up.
The average standard washing machine uses about 41 gallons of water per load. High-efficiency washing machines use fewer than 28 gallons of water per load. To achieve even greater savings, wash only full loads of laundry or use the appropriate load size selection on the washing machine.

• Don’t flush money away. If your toilet was made in 1992 or earlier, you probably have an
inefficient model that uses at least 3.5 gallons per flush. New and improved high-efficiency models
use less than 1.3 gallons per flush. Compared to an inefficient toilet, a WaterSense-labeled toilet could save a family of four more than $90 annually on their water bill, and $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilet. Alternatively, you can upgrade an old toilet more affordably by replacing the flush mechanism with a dual-flush toilet valve kit. One company that makes them is Flush Choice, and they’re available for around $60 at Green Depot stores.

• Install water-saving showerheads and low-flow faucet aerators.
Inexpensive water-saving showerheads or restrictors are easy to install. For less than $15, you can install one of these yourself and save up to 500 gallons per year.

• Wash wisely. In addition to fully loading dishwashers for optimum water conservation, avoid
prerinsing dishes to save water, and if possible, do not wash dishes by hand. The water in a sink
doesn’t get hot enough to kill bacteria and leaving water running for rinsing wastes water.

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How to Start your Interior Design Business

Starting any business is never simple, but it doesn’t have to be as complicated as many people think. A lot of what is needed is actually fun. You have to understand that much of starting any business requires you to be a salesman. You have to build yourself and your company up.

You must get a business number and registration. You can check your government listings for the correct number. You must also check with your local accountant to see what needs to be done about taxes etc.
You must also decide if you are going to be a home business or if you are planning to run a studio for a lease. Make sure to purchase all of the necessary materials. Some items you can get for free if you know where to look. Here is a list of some of those materials.


What you will need
•  Color swatches for paints and fabrics ( you can get many of them for free from local paint stores if    you ask)
•  Fabric samples are a necessity (you can get them for free from your local furniture store)
•  Interior design magazines for client perusal (it helps them get an idea of what they like)
•  Furniture catalogues (free from furniture dealers and retailers)
•  Fine arts catalogue, get them from art galleries
•  Kitchen and bathroom catalogues. Basically get catalogues from everybody that deals with furniture, art, and lighting stores
•  Photos of your work, and signed recommendations (remember you get them from family and friends when you are just starting out)
•  Your portfolio (always have a copy of your portfolio)

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What You Need to Know If You Want To Be An Interior Designer

This is just an idea of the things that you will be taught in accordance to your specialty. Interior design for a home is slightly different than commercial design. The needs for a home are quite different. Materials are different as well. When you chose a specialty, you will learn all of the basics in design, but also how to deal with, and get clients effectively. That is where things are quite different. You would not approach a company in the same manner that you might approach a homeowner. The ability to read and design blue prints

1. Knowledge of color coordination and painting 
2. Difference between furniture brands and styles 
3. How to coordinate and organize a room to create a comfortable environment. 
4. How to correctly estimate the length and size of materials needed 
5. How to correctly estimate the amount of paints or wallpapers needed 
6. How to maximize interior space to the room’s advantage. 
7. How to communicate your ideas effectively to your client 
8. Basic marketing skills are needed to further your business 
9. How to correctly identify different types of furnishings, and to incorporate that knowledge into a legitimate design plan. 
10. How to create an environmental plan because this is a practical, conducive and esthetic approach to your eventual goal of raising productivity, and selling your merchandise. 
11. How to explain space planning, lighting, layout and color schemes to your clients. People often like to know why you are doing the things that you are doing. 
12. How to arrange carpets, accessories, drapes and wall coverings. 
13. Knowledge of fine arts, sculptures, music etc. These will often be included in your design changes and must incorporate properly into the area. (you would not want to hang a Picasso in a Victorian themed room)  

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How To Be An Interior Designer?

When trying to decide if Interior Design is right for you, it helps to know what that really means. Interior Design is not simply the profession that “makes rooms and places pretty”; it takes a little bit more than that. You need to know how to do some of the technical aspects of design also. Some of these technical things include:

Designing and reading blueprints: This is particularly for the projects that require a great change in the area’s structure like wall removal etc. This is also required in order to make additional rooms, build gazebos, and adding extra rooms. You will need to draw up blueprints of the entire house or read the originals copies, so that you can do your job without causing much disturbance to the rest of the house or environment.

Environmental Analysis: Once you can read blueprints, you will have to analyze the information that is listed so that you can best decide where to go with your ideas. You need the ability to effectively create or remove space in a particular environment so that you can cause little or no disturbance the environment as a whole when making your changes.

 

Environmental Lighting: Many people forget that lighting is included in any space changing project. You must have knowledge of how lighting works, and have a general idea of what is needed to install light fixtures in areas that do not have them already. Many homes are not equipped with lighting fixtures in some rooms. Of course, if you wish to change the lighting fixtures from general lamps to say, track lighting, you may have a problem if you do not understand how to install it.

Basic Plumbing & pipe structure: If adding or changing spaces in kitchens and bathrooms, plumbing fixtures are often changed or re-organized. You will need to understand their basic functions in order to effectively plan a change that involves them, or is to be done around them.

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Choosing Career As An Interior Designer

Have you ever seen a beautiful house or office building and wondered who did the work? Have you ever wished that you could do some of the work that you’ve seen elsewhere? Many people wonder what it would be like to be an Interior Designer, but they rarely ever go beyond thinking about it.

If you really want to know if Interior Design is right for, this article will be your comprehensive guide to the ins and outs of the business. In this article, you will learn what it takes to be an Interior Designer, what it costs to get certified, you will get all the techniques on how to get started, and much, much more.

An interior Designer is a consultant. You are there to beautify any particular environment as well as provide your clients with the service of explaining why you are recommending, and doing the things that your project will require. You must educate your client about interior design as well as design.
You have obviously given the idea of being an Interior Designer serious thought or you wouldn’t be reading this. Of course, like most people, you are probably wondering whether or not it is the right choice for you. I can guarantee you, that after you’ve read this, you will know for sure if Interior Design is the right career choice for your future.

Interior Design can be a very lucrative job choice for the right person. You might be wondering exactly what an Interior Designer does. It is really simple. An Interior Designer creates, organizes, and designs commercial and/or residential properties. Basically, an interior designer works with the
interior of a particular space, such as rooms, offices, boardrooms, and various other internal spaces.

Here is a list of some of the places that interior designers can work in.
•  Hotels                                            
•  Banks
•  Restaurants
•  Stadiums
•  Arenas
This doesn’t seem very broad, but think of all of the other types of homes and businesses that I didn’t mention. The possibilities are truly endless in this field. Interior Designers do more than just decorate a space. In some cases they can add extra rooms, design patios and gazebos, add or remove wall space, and they spend a great deal of time networking with people.

Interior Designers are responsible for creating a comfortable and relaxed space for their clients to live and/or work in. It is your duty to offer clients the best work that their needs, and budget can give. People put a great deal of trust in you, and you must reward that with the best final result possible.

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Tips on Pacing Light Fixtures At Your Home

Even though light itself is immaterial, it profoundly affects our experience of space. While the light fixtures are important parts of the material style mix, the quality of the light they generate affects not only how a room functions, but more important, how it feels. It has the power to make or break a mood.

Lighting designers regard light as a medium, like an artist views paint, and they use it to shape our perception of space by highlighting architectural elements, creating focal points, subtly washing walls with gradations of illumination, or creating contrast with brightness and shadows. Richard Kelly, a celebrated 20th-century lighting designer who is widely recognized as one of the founders of the modern architectural lighting profession, produced the lighting schemes for houses and buildings
created by some of the most highly regarded architects of the 20th century, including Philip Johnson, Mies van der Rohe and Louis Kahn, among others. He used light to influence a person’s experience of architecture—its forms, materials, scale, proportion, color, decoration, even its sense of durability and stability. He also defined three elemental kinds of light effects that can be used to influence the perception of any space, and these definitions of light continue to guide lighting designers today. He described these qualities of light as focal glow, ambient luminescence, and the play of brilliants—and anyone can work with these qualities to create visually appealing illuminationLight fixtures are among the most sculptural and decorative elements you can add to your home. It ’s important to choose pieces that not only complement your decor, but are proportionate with the architecture and furnishings.

The following tips will help you select and position them most effectively:

Balance scales.
Even if lamps flanking a bed or sofa don’t match, choose fixtures that have similar visual weight.

Be mindful of size.
When suspending pendants or chandeliers over a table or kitchen island, be sure they are at least 9 or  10 inches smaller in diameter or width than the table or island so that no one bumps while leaning forward.

Gauge the distance.
If you have an 8-foot-high ceiling, suspend a pendant or chandelier so that the bottom of the fixture is positioned approximately 30 inches above the tabletop. Increase the height of the fixture 3 inches for every additional foot of ceiling height. Chandeliers and pendants also allow you to highlight the vertical access or center of a room.

Move outlets off the wall.
Install outlets in the floor if your furniture floats in the center of the room, to keep unsightly cords contained and prevent them from tripping someone.

Ensure clear vision.
Try to keep the bottom of the lampshade of a floor lamp at about eye level of a seated person to prevent glare.

Position sconces for easy passage.
If you illuminate a hall with sconces, mount them about 6 to 8 feet apart for even illumination and about 5 feet from the floor to keep light around eye level.

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Tips on Displaying Art And Collectibles At Home

While the furnishings in a room establish its style, art has the potential to express its soul. A colorful abstract piece can animate a serene room, a portrait can lend an air of formality, an atmospheric landscape can soothe. Given art’s transformative power, the placement of the art and its frame need to support its role as a visual and emotional focal point. Still, art, like furniture, is part of a larger context.

Collections of objects, such as wooden boxes, ceramic pots, wooden cutting boards, wire birdcages or butter molds—when carefully edited—can also be assembled into groups and presented like a work of art to transform a dead wall into a focal point. When choosing and placing art and collectibles for our own home, you can try these following tips from Jean Nayar on her book "The Happy Home Project".

Tips on displaying art and collectibles
Photographs gain stature and cohesion when surrounded with matching frames and hung as a collection.  Edit your collections with a judicious eye, eliminating all but the pieces you really love. Rotating new pieces in and old ones out will allow your objects to continue to stimulate you and be free of clichés.

Art and accessories needn’t come from the same era or be of similar style to work together, but they do need a common thread, such as a color, material or an idea. In this way, the objects will capture attention and tell a story about the collector.

A painting or print looks best when mounted so that the center of the piece is at eye level for an average-height person—about 66 inches from the floor. If you have several works of art mounted in this way, they’ll be linked by an invisible horizon line that will bring a sense of balance to the room.

Give small works stature by surrounding them with large mats. Or mount them in proportionate frames in a group where they can be viewed from close proximity.  Place a small painting on an easel on a table with other objects, or lean a midsize piece against the wall atop a mantel.

Consult a lighting professional about placement if you want to use recessed lighting to highlight art. Some fixtures need to be placed 30 inches away from the art and spaced 24 inches apart to evenly wash the painting with light and prevent the scallops that appear from the spread of the light beams. But lighting technology continues to evolve, so a standard like this is subject to change. Usually, the lighting you use to illuminate the room is sufficient to highlight the art, so you don’t necessarily need special lighting unless you want to call attention to the art. Just be sure to keep high-quality art out of the direct line of the sun.

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Tips On Furnishing Home Effectively

No room is complete without soft furnishings—sleek draperies, graceful window shades, pretty cushions, cozy throws, luscious bed linens. Not only do fabric elements add beauty, color, warmth, softness and personality to a room, they’re incredibly practical, too.

Think of soft furnishings as the grace notes that balance the hard surfaces and angles in a room and address the finer points of comfort. Curtains can bring in softness and color while providing privacy and controlling harsh sunlight, for example. A slipcover, on the other hand, can transition a more formal upholstered chair from winter to spring while extending the life of the upholstery and protecting it from stains at the same time. And, as seasons and styles change, soft furnishings, such as pillows, throws, napkins and table linens, are among the easiest pieces to switch out to freshen up a room cost-effectively.

Defining goals 
Given the countless colors, patterns and textures of decorative fabrics from which soft furnishings are made—as well as the endless ways in which fabrics can be shaped into wonderful forms—it helps to return to your stylistic frame of reference to guide your choices in both the fabrics and the style of your soft furnishings themselves. If you’re developing a traditional-style setting, for example, you might choose floor-length draperies topped with a pleated valance to frame a window. If a modern
scheme is what you’re after, then you might opt for crisp Roman shades.

Once you hone in on the look you’re after, consider the functional goals for your soft furnishings, too, as well as what you’re willing to spend to create them. Custom curtains can cost a bundle, but they can also last 25 years or more, meaning you’ll amortize their cost over time if you plan to stay in your home for the long haul. Decorative pillows on the other hand can be purchased for next to nothing, and can readily be replaced for an instant style update while keeping your budget in check.

Tips on using fabric effectively 
Before investing in soft furnishings for your home, consider these tips for making stylish and savvy choices.

Keep upholstered pieces simple. 
Especially in public rooms, the fabrics on large upholstered items should be easy on the eye, and preferably in a solid color. It ’s easier to switch out a printed pillow when you tire of it than to start over with a new chair fabric. Solid blocks of color on furnishings will also make a room feel more serene, and will provide a solid base that you can change simply with accents, pillows, rugs and art.

Consider your lifestyle. 
If you’ve got a large family, young children or pets, know that your upholstered pieces will endure a fair share of wear and tear, so be sure the fabric you choose is durable and dirt-resistant, too. Opt for textured fabrics such as tweeds or chenilles, or look for a high- performance fabric, such as a synthetic ultra-suede, that ’s durable and stain-resistant, too. If you’re a low-maintenance empty nester, you might go for silk or velvet.

Expand your options. 
If you want a seasonal change of scene, consider slipcovers. They can be Use pattern sparingly. Even if you love pattern, limiting it to smaller doses will help keep a room
feeling serene. Employ it on small side chairs, pillows or ottomans for best effect. Patterned rugs are
also great, as they conceal footprints and dirt.

Choose curtain fabric with care.
Curtains bring softness and drama to bare windows, but patterns sometimes lose their impact when lost in folds of fabric, so prefer solids and neutrals for curtains and shades. If you do choose a patterned fabric for a window treatment, however, consider the scale of the pattern in relation to the scale of the windows and other patterned elements in the room.

Be mindful of curtain headers and hems. 
If, for example, you’re creating custom curtains in a traditional home, you might choose softer goblet pleats, butterfly pleats or fan pleats; for a modern home you might opt for clean panels topped with crisp pinch pleats, X pleats or grommets. For very soft romantic headers, a variety of header tapes can be employed to create gathered, shirred or smocked designs. For more casual rooms, consider panels topped with tabs, ties or clip-on rings. Pocket-style headers always result in soft or romantic curtains.
 
Another key to stylish curtains is their length. 
Ideally, they should break at the floor an inch or two, like well-made gentleman’s trousers, for an elegant drape. However, many people prefer curtains that stop just short of the floor for ease of cleaning, which is also fine. Short curtains should be hemmed just above the windowsill.

Vary the scale of patterns. 
Including fabrics in a mix of large-, medium- and small-scale patterns will also keep the overall picture balanced. Also, remember that the style and scale of the pattern should relate not only to the style of the piece of furniture but also to its size and proportions.

Add a personal touch. 
Give extra polish to pillows you make yourself or inj ect a ready-made pillow with a custom touch by embellishing a pillow cover with trims and embellishments. Piping or welting provides a classic finish to the seams of all kinds of cushions, from a basic toss pillow to an extravagant neck roll. Other options for edging cushions are narrow flanges and brush fringe.

Choose fabrics in soothing hues for bedrooms. 
Fabrics with limited patterns and soft hands will also contribute a serene and comforting ambience.

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Expert Tips on Working with Color

Have you decided the color of your home? Well, before you work with color for your home, let's check these tips out from the experts :

• Rely on a reference for cues. 
A vintage Oriental rug served as the starting point for all of the colors of the upholstery, cushions, and even the art in our living room. When choosing between the dominant and accent colors for the palette, I remembered a tip given to me by New York–based designer Jamie Drake, who suggested using the least prevalent color in the rug as the dominant color on the walls. A curtain fabric, decorative bowl or work of art are also viable starting points for a color palette.

• Consider the context. 
The geographical location of your home and the prevailing colors in the
landscape or other buildings are also good starting points for color choices. In our apartment in India,
for example, we’ve painted one wall in a bedroom a deep pink hue, which looks beautiful in the strong sun. In most parts of the U.S., on the other hand, super-bright colors look out of place.

• Establish balance. 
When mixing colors, artists may use completely different hues, but the
saturation or intensity of the colors is often similar.

• Create a harmonious composition. 
When using two colors in a palette, let one dominateby
employing it through 70 to 80 percent of the scheme and use the other in 20 to 30 percent of the
scheme.

• Rely on cultural associations. 
Use colors that resonate with cultural associations that are meaningful to you, suggests Sonu Mathew, a color expert and spokeswoman for Benj amin Moore, who notes that most Americans respond positively to shades of red, white and blue. She also says that social media is creating a new platform for color associations. “You can now go to the top of Mount Kilamanjaro through the Internet without leaving your chair,” she says. “This phenomenon is creatingn new communities with different color associations around the world.”

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Tips on Choosing Color and Pattern for Your Room

The colors in a room are as essential to its style as the architectural elements, furnishings and fabrics. Selecting colors for your home can be one of the most exciting parts of the decorating process. It can also be one of the most intimidating. While most of us know instinctively which colors we like and which we don’t, choosing just the right shade of any given hue and mixing it with other colors in a room can be overwhelming, as the options are virtually limitless.

To take the stress out of selecting a wall color, paint companies often come up with cohesive palette collections to help consumers choose colors without fear. These color groupings often include contrasting or complementary colors that harmonize in tone and value—and they can be enormously helpful in minimizing the time you’ll need to spend testing different shades on a wall. That said, following a prescriptive approach to color keeps you from creating personal spaces that truly reflect your own tastes and values. It’s important to trust your instincts. There’s a reason why you like what you like—and surrounding yourself with hues that please you will put you at ease.

While choosing colors that inspire you is essential to creating a room that makes you happy, artfully mixing different colors is equally important. A lot of elements—chairs, rugs, art, walls, accents, pillows—compete for attention in a room. Using too many colors or colors that don’t harmonize will make a room feel unsettled.

helpful rules of thumb

1. Keep color under control. 
To create serene spaces, one helpful rule of thumb is to limit the number of colors in a room to three or four, with two of the colors in a palette serving as accents. Softer neutrals on walls result in more soothing rooms, introduce color with rugs, art and accents like pillows and lamps. Still, painting your walls is a great way to experiment with color. You can minimize your risk and your expense by painting a single wall a bolder, brighter or richer color. Similarly, you can paint the inside of a closet or bookshelf a stronger hue to work in color that can easily be changed with minimal expense and disruption if you tire of it or decide you don’t like it.

2. Use strong color in small doses. 
Whether you’re adding color with paint, fabric, accents or art, complex colors, such as brick red, slate blue, pear green, or ochre, are easier on the eye than bold hues or primary or secondary colors, which are better deployed in small doses (or in bright, sunny locations).

3. Limit contrast. 
Another helpful tip to create harmonious color schemes is to use colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. They keep a room cohesive by minimizing contrast. You can mix lighter and darker shades of similar hues to keep things interesting. And be sure to sprinkle accents around the room, rather than group them in one place, to keep the eye moving and the scheme balanced.

4. Use shots of pattern. 
A final key to creating a pleasing palette is to use mostly solid blocks of color and limit pattern to smaller furnishings, accents or art. To create a soothing flow from room to room, keep the palette consistent throughout. You might switch the dominant hue from one room to the next for variety, but sticking to a unified palette in spaces that visually connect will keep them from feeling disjointed.

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