Mary Jean Wall

Simple Redecoration

Redecoration can be a daunting task but if you utilize the correct tools, decorating will be fun and inspirational. Old houses are cute and quaint but let’s be honest, many times the decoration within is dated. Redecorating is like falling in love with your house all over again and seeing everything from a whole new perspective. Updating a house will not only add monetary value to the house but will also add a sentimental value because you will enjoy the place you are living in.

It always seems like there are so many aspects of a room to change but if the room is broken into categories, the changes are very simple to implement. The three main areas to focus on are lighting, color and furniture.

Lighting can dramatically change a room and will create ambiance. Lamps or overhead lighting can be installed to add a cheerful environment and highlight certain places within the room. Windows can also be updated with new frames and new window treatments. The way a window is decorated is crucial to the flow of the room. There are companies that will allow you to view the window treatments and blinds in person, before you buy them, so that you can get a feel of how it is going to look. For example, you can go to the local Next Day Blinds showroom and take a look at all the different styles and options available to you. Drapery and curtains are also a way to add a decorative accent to a room.

Color is incredibly important to the feel of a room, and may be the hardest decorating decision to make. The color of the room can either make or break the design and you obviously want it to highlight the best parts of the room. Warm colors such as reds, yellows, oranges and browns will add a cozy and warm feel to the room while cool colors such as blues, greens, and purples will add a relaxing and serene feel. When choosing a color, get a paint sample from your local hardware or home repair store and put it on the wall to see how it is going to look in the room.

The furniture of a room will determine the vibe and the style as well. There are so many motifs one can go with and it is probably a good idea to talk with a designer or do some sort of research as to which type of design you want for your room. If the furniture does not all complement each other then it will add a feeling of confusion to the room. The idea is to create a feeling of cohesion and to make people feel welcome and make them want to stay in that room.

Redecoration is like the rebirth of a house. It takes out the old and brings in a new and fresh look which will also change the way you view the house. Although redecorating seems overwhelming, it can be extremely therapeutic as well as inspirational.

Words around Outdoor Patio Fireplaces

In the winter months especially, I like to find a coffee house that has one of those outdoor patio fireplaces, order up a chai latte, and bury myself with a good book.  I’m a little different from other folks, so right now I’m taking a look at a non-fiction book on the figures of speech, which describes over sixty ways in which to “turn a phrase,” written by a Professor from UC Berkely. You’d be shocked at the number of names linguists have for speech you never knew existed, like enallage, a word that describes a phrase for an effective grammatical mistake, such as the phrase, “We was robbed,” as opposed to the more grammatical, less memorable phrase, “We were robbed.”  The first phrase has been remembered since a prize fight manager complained about his fighter losing the boxing match in 1932; the second phrase is simply commonplace, said by any number of folks without being remembered at all.  There’s all sorts of stuff in here like that: The word asyndeton means leaving out a conjunction (an and, or an or, or a but, for instance) that you would otherwise expect to be there, like the phrase, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” instead of “I came, I saw, and I conquered.”  Most people don’t care about this sort of thing one bit, but I find it pretty fascinating.

Other patrons of the coffee house are also gathered around the fireplace, flames flickering over their faces and laptops, as they write the next, best email; the next, best screenplay; or the next, best American novel [By the way, the previous sentence's repetition is an example of anaphora.]   I wonder if it’s something primal in us that draws us to fireplaces, that makes it worth while for coffee shops and restaurants to install them, not just for warmth, but for social contact.  Even when we don’t know each other, there’s some kind of comfort that we draw on when we go out and gather together around a fire.  We’re clearly all in our own world here, no one’s even talking to each other, but we’re better for being here, gathered around our fire and our words, than we are at home alone.