It’s already December and everywhere you can hear Christmas songs and see plenty of decorations laying on the shelves of the stores. The colors, the joy, the snow and all the stuff that gets you in the Christmas mood are already here, only one question remains unanswered and that is : Which are the Christmas 2011 Trends?

Depending on the budget you have for decorating the Christmas Tree and the Christmas Table you can mix the old decorations with some new ones or you can completely renew your Christmas Decoration Collection.

2011 Christmas Trends mean not only plenty of color, at your choice mainly but also mixing different type of materials in decorating both the Christmas Tree and the Christmas Table.

         Christmas Tree Decorations

If you do not have a budget limit when purchasing new Christmas Tree decorations then you can go all out on purple globes, bows, tinsel but you can also mix the purple decorations with a touch of silver. Let’s not forget about wonderful handmade decorations, which add a special touch to any Christmas Tree, you can use the ones you already have in your decorations collection, wood handmade trains, knitted stuff that looks so pretty on your Christmas Tree (you can dye the knitted stuff if you want everything to be in the same tone).

Depending on the size of the Tree you can purchase big or small globes, the 2011 Christmas Trends say that big globes are in but you have to take into consideration the size of your Tree, otherwise you risk to have a silly looking Tree. Big globes in dark purple or any other shades of purple are the perfect decorations for the 2011 Christmas Tree.

When it comes to the Christmas Tree the purple and silver mix of colors is the perfect choice if you want a Tree that’s in this winter.

           Decoration the Christmas Table

When it comes to choosing the colors for the Christmas Table, usually what most people have in mind is red and white and maybe a touch of silver. This year is the time to make a change! You already have a purple decorated Christmas Tree, now it’s time to match your Tree with the Christmas Table.

A dark purple Tablecloth, with some white, silver or even purple napkins would make the perfect décor for a family Christmas Dinner.

You could also play it the other way, white tablecloth and dark purple tableware, and let’s not forget the essential stuff such as some dark purple candles mixed with some white ones, some globes and a nice central piece made out of fir, globes and tinsel to complete the perfect décor.

In the next Christmas Related Post you can find out more about central pieces that help you complete the Christmas Table.

It is extremely obvious that Headboards are in again but the question that would not leave my head is why? Is it due to the new and improved designs or due to the functionality they offer?

Even though most of you know what a headboard is i feel the need to resume it in a few words for those who do not. The headboard is a piece of furniture that attaches to the head of the bed, it can be used to retain pillows, provide and secure backing the the bed upon which you relax or just be the focus point of the room.

As all furniture pieces nowadays, the headboard is available in a wide range of fabric colors, textures and styles. Due to it’s natural properties of durability, leather is one of the top option when choosing headboard material.

Strong, secure and durable, headboards are designed to be easily fitted onto any bed. As the range of headboard styles and materials is so wide, the perfect headboard can almost certainly be found for any bedroom. However the option of having your headboard and bed made at the same time is appealing but you can also have just your headboard crafted to exact personal requirements and specifications.

Being all aware of the fact that the bedroom is the most important room in the home, it leads us to the conclusion that this is the room in your home that needs to be the most comfortable and aesthetically suited to the person using it.

Nowadays, the home bar is becoming more and more appealing to people and home bars of all shapes, sizes and materials are available all around the world. Thus people are willing to purchase a bar and accessorize it, it is important to pay attention to a few pieces of advice in order to be able to accessorize it properly.

First thing you need to have in mind when going „bar shopping”is the size issue. It has to be the right size for the room in which it will be set up, take into account that you want your friends sitting around and beeing able to move around so do not choose the biggest bar you can fit in the room.

Secondly, we are all aware of the fact that seating is an important element in the bar space. Having a huge variety of bar stools from which to choose it should be easy to find the perfect ones to complete the design/theme of your bar. When choosing keep in mind that matching colors, style and materials is really important.

Accessories are  important pieces meant to complete the decor of the bar. Everything from a wine rack, to drink coasters, needs to be purchased to make more enjoyable the bar experience. You can purchase spouts, nozzles, mixers, wine openers, and a variety of other objects to help make your bar more functional.  Do not forget the color and material matching issue here also.

When decorating a bar, whether in your home, or in a restaurant, it is important to remember that this is supposed to be a social setting. The main aim is to create an atmosphere which is comfortable and friendly.

Green Over Grey, a Vancouver, Canada-based company that design and install green walls (also known as living walls), have produced the largest outdoor green wall in North America.

Located in White Rock, a suburb of Vancouver, the green wall covers 3000 square feet of the Semiahmoo Public Library and RCMP Facility.

The unique design is nearly 3,000 square feet and consists of over 10,000 individual plants representing more than 120 unique species. It includes ground covers, large perennials, shrubs and small trees.

A green wall, also known as a living wall is a self-sufficient vertical garden that is attached to the exterior or interior of a building. The technology being used is soil-free, and the plants receive water and nutrients from within the vertical support instead of from the ground. It closely mimics how plants grow vertically in nature such as on cliffs, bluffs, tree branches or next to waterfalls.

“The large diversity of plant species chosen creates a balanced ecosystem that is an urban oasis for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds,” says Patrick Poiraud, Principal at Green over Grey – Living Walls and Design, the Vancouver-based company designing and constructing the wall. “The living wall helps to insulate the building, purify the air and transforms the grey concrete into hundreds of shades of green.”

With more people starting to make a sufficient income online, it is no surprise that home offices are becoming more prevalent around the world today. However, many people who first begin working in their personal home office often do not have the first idea of how to actually decorate it!

Fish tanks for example are seen in many ‘standard’ commercial offices and are actually a wonderful addition to a home office. Not only do they look attractive but the soothing effects of trickling water and fish going about their everyday business makes us human beings feel calm and at ease with the world.

If you purchase a small sofa, this gives people a comfortable place to sit and when your visitors come round you don’t have to place them on small uncomfortable office chairs when talking to them over business matters. For people working at home, a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere should be on the top of the list of one’s priorities. You may even want to buy some magazines and maybe even a few books to place under your coffee table for not only your visitors, but also for your own down-time.

Many home offices have plain coloured walls and maybe even bookshelves that make effective partitioning for a bland wall. There are certain colours that are not recommended for an office , aggressive colours such as red can actually make you feel agitated and  stressed. Colours such as browns and creams are a good shade for an office as these have been proven to be calming and beneficial to one’s overall well-being.

The way you dress your windows will also have a profound affect on your mood and your work out-put. Struggling to see your pc screen due to screen glare can easily be overcome by using Venetian blinds as you’ll be able to adjust the louvres to provide you with natural light in which to work and prevent the sun blinding you. At Terrys Fabrics you can find a superb range of Venetian blinds in a wide range of colours to suit your home office décor beautifully. They also have an stunning range of curtain poles for those who prefer to use curtains as their window dressing to give their office a more informal look.

So remember, when looking to decorate your home office try to add things that make you feel happy, like pictures of family and friends mixed with soothing colours and traditional décor. Decorating and creating your home office should be a fun and relaxing time, so decorate it in stages and only decorate the office with the things you feel most at ‘home’ with.

However, a little planning goes a long way, whatever it is that you’re doing. So before setting to work with the spoils from your latest splurge at the DIY store, take stock. From the obvious materials to the often less obvious such as home emergency cover for those un-expectant and potentially financially crippling breakages, there’s often more to think about that you’d first realise.

1. Have you got everything you need?
There’s nothing more frustrating than getting part way through a job and having to stop to go and get some more supplies. So before starting your redecoration project, ensure you’ve got plenty of brushes, paint and wallpaper – not to mention paste, which can run out quicker than you think.

2. Have you planned what you’re doing?
It’s a good idea to have mapped out exactly what you want to do, ideally with drawings and colour schemes. Getting halfway through a job with no idea of what the finished job will look like could prove to be a disastrous move – or at the very least leave you with a very testing conundrum.

3. Do you know exactly what you’re doing?
Be realistic about what you want to do when carrying out a job. This could save a lot of time, money and heartache in the long-run. It could be the case that you need to bring in a professional to do some of the job, especially if it’s something technical like sorting out the wiring of new lights.

4. Are you covered with insurance?
Before carrying out any DIY job, check your home insurance, especially if you don’t have accidental damage cover. You may be surprised at how quickly things can go wrong when you’re hammering nails into walls or attaching skirting boards – but knowing your insurance would cover any mishaps could offer extra peace of mind.

5. Know when to call in an expert
If the job’s not going as well as you’d expected, know when the time is right to give up the ghost and call in a professional decorator. It’s better to decide this now than soldier on, knowing in your heart of hearts it’s ultimately going to look a bit rubbish.

Architect David Guerra has designed the Hi-lo store in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

This great, innovative project can be of great help for any of you who are looking for designing your Clothing Store in an unique way. This clothing store looks as if it’s made of two different space which brought together make a great whole. The gray area resembles a wonderful dressing area from your own home or from a friend’s home and the red area resembles a royal space designed for relaxation, a coffee, a cake, some tea or even a great book which can be enjoyed there. All in all, this is a great space perfectly designed for all the needs of any client no matter how high standards he has.

The clothing store follows the High and Low style, in a mix of opposites with recognized, young, conceptual and basic brands. The concept extends for the interior architecture, in a contrast of colors, materials and sensations. The front view, in latticework 40x40cm, has a metallic pinky red beam. In the area of clothing exposition, the lightness and romanticism were explored by using the colors white, silver and dry golden. Contrasts between French wallpapers on the screens, the buttoned fabric in the service area and the work in lace-trimmed on the wall, made of Tetra Park boxes by the artist Léo Piló, make the environment gentle for choosing clothes. In the dressing-rooms area, the red and pink colors assume the role of seduction, glamour, passion and sensuality, the transformation of a star. Every star has a stage. Red curtains, buttoned panels, indirect lightning, multiple mirrors, satin sofa, vintage chandelier and bookshelf with stylist feet create a scenario, where the protagonist is the customer.

After seeing last years version of “Alice in Wonderland”, and not only, who of you wouldn’t have dreamed to take at least a 5 minutes trip in Alice’s Wonderland. I know i did! Guilty!

Well if you happen to be in Tokyo any time soon you can. That’s right; Alice of Magic World is an Alice In Wonderland-themed restaurant full things straight out of the Lewis Carroll classic.

Playing card dining tables, a magic forest and heart-shaped chandeliers make this place the trip you’re looking for, without the need for those troublesome hallucinogens! It’s the fourth in a series of restaurants focusing on the fantasy theme and it looks incredible. It may not be the classiest food spot around — Cheshire Cat tail pizza on the menu doesn’t help that — but it would surely make for a fun night-out.

Enjoy the photos!

The East hotel in Hong Kong was designed by CL3. It is simply a wonderful design worth looking at, from which you could steal a few ideas for your own interior design project.

East, a business hotel located in a residential/commercial neighbourhood in Hong Kong, takes a different look at hotel design by planning from the inside-out. The interior designer was appointed early in the design process, 4.5 years ago, to carry out the space planning of the rooms and public areas, consisting of the entrance, lobby reception, all day dining, health club, 339 guestrooms, 6 suites and a rooftop bar, as an integral part of the architecture. It is the interior spatial experience rather than ornamentation that shapes the design. The name “EAST” resulted from the design concept which interprets the contemporary Oriental/Hong Kong travel experience as being world class, efficient, modern, playful, with a touch of Chinese culture. This is achieved through:

Use of a consistent and simple material palette with two shades of wood, a light limed elm and classic walnut, two different stones, rio white and mocha limestone, and black stainless steel as highlight throughout the entire hotel. This serves to unify all the various outlets and guest rooms whilst still allowing for individual design character to emerge. Maximizing the intake of daylight and views, with a 16ft. long window frontage to most guest rooms and north facing, full height glazing to all the public spaces. The interior design elements helped to determine window sill heights and window mullion spacing. Use of playful Chinese elements, for example: Chinese characters for floor number indication, a backlit Contemporary Chinese landscape painting as the reception backdrop.

Two main features in the lobby that act as Yin and Yang: A serene, 35ft. long, back illuminated reception desk cantilevered from a single column, vs a glass grand stair with a labyrinth of steel and wood as structural support to symbolize the energy of Hong Kong.

Efficient guest room design with an open bathroom concept in a 270sq.ft. room with 128sq.ft. of window exposure. The six suites each feature one large space of 560s.f. using only one wood veneer and a lime stone floor as the internal finishes.

F&B outlets that are spacious, efficient and relaxing: ‘Feast’, a casual restaurant provides a variety of dining ambiances under a 39ft high atrium space. ‘Sugar’ is a lively bar of tiered seating facing an open roof deck with stunning panoramic views of Hong Kong.

Client: Swire Properties
Location: Hong Kong
Size: Approx. 17,000 m2
Completion: 2010

Sunlight Residence is a Proto Homes project.