Decor Tips to Make a Small Space Feel Bigger

Decorating and furnishing a small space can be a challenge. Because form and function sometimes compete in a small space, careful consideration needs to be paid to WHAT goes in the room and WHERE.

"The eye travels quickly around a small room, so you want everything to have meaning and impact or at least be tailored and make sense in the space." - Trading Spaces designer Laurie Smith - Source iVillage.com

With this in mind, we've collected a few of the BEST decor tips to help make a small space appear bigger.

SIZE MATTERS - If the room is small, be careful not to buy the largest pieces of overstuffed furniture you can find. Furniture should be appropriate - scale wise - to the rest of the room. Slim and streamlined pieces, such as armless Parson chairs, are beautiful space savers. Also, a sofa with exposed legs will appear smaller and less bulky than one with hidden legs.

LET THERE BE LIGHT - Use a soft even light and eliminate shadows which tend to slice a room up into smaller spaces.

LET THERE BE HEIGHT - Use at least one tall element in a room to draw the eye upward, towards the ceiling.

DO THE UNEXPECTED - Don't center your artwork as expected. Pictures hung off-center forces the eye focus on something other than the size of the space.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE... - Maintain consistency under-foot. In a small space, the one thing that should create an uninterrupted flow is the flooring. Multiple flooring changes will "chop-up" a room, making a small space feel like several even smaller spaces.

Read more Small Space Tips....

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Christopher Radko uses Facebook to launch new collection

The Christopher Radko Company, known worldwide as the quintessential creator of European handmade glass ornaments and holiday collectibles, turned to Facebook to announce the launch of its 2009 Collection. The group also created a fan page where friends of Radko can quickly and easily become a fan of Radko Collectors®.

"By establishing Christopher Radko's presence in the social networking arena, we will increase our accessibility to Radko collectors and expand the brand's reach," said Heather Shepardson, CEO of Rauch Industries. "Our intention is to create a welcoming and sociable forum where collectors can communicate with one another, share ideas and perhaps act as a resource for hard to find Radko styles."

Source: Marketwire

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Tooled leathers featured in Lilli's fine furniture collection

Lilli President, Deidre Gilbert, found love at first sight when she discovered tooled leather.

The process takes large metal dies that - when applied with extreme pressure - leave the leather imprinted with an intricate pattern.

Rich colours, textures, and patterns are integrated with durable and comfortable leathers that improve with time for a character-driven look.

With hundreds of patterns and colours, this exclusive collection of Italian embossed leathers ranges from traditional to transitional, contemporary to rustic, and from subtle to exotic.

The complete catalogue can be viewed online at www.lilli.ca.

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Clorox cleans up their packaging image

With Clorox Disinfecting Wipes new Décor canisters, the days of hiding cleaning products under the sink are over. The new line of wipes, just introduced by Clorox, comes in eight designs that combine form, fashion and function to put cleaning within reach.

"When we put the task to the design team, we started by asking why can't cleaning be easy -- and easy on the eye?" said Lisa Partnoy, marketing manager, Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. "The new Décor line reinvents disinfecting, enabling you to say goodbye to messes with style."

But the new wipes are more than just a pretty face. In addition to redesigning packaging -- from the sleek shape and wider mouth of the canister to the graphic modern feel of the designs, the Clorox wipes team also created a new effortless single sheet dispensing system that makes cleaning as simple as flip, pull and wipe, without sacrificing any of the disinfecting power of their namesake wipes.

Source: Marketwire

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Let your fingers do the walking... over the carpet.

With winter in full swing, Americans are staying indoors and looking -- to their floors and Yellow Pages -- for a quick and inexpensive way to punch up their home decor.

The Yellow Pages' "Carpet and Rug Dealers" heading receives the highest usage levels in February and more than 43 million references annually(1).

Christopher Davis, president and chief executive officer of the World Floor Covering Association, said a major trade show in late January unveils new products to dealers, which generates a good deal of consumer press and interest at this time of year.

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