Your bedroom is your sanctuary so you want it to be delightful and inviting. Here are 10 great ideas to inspire you to create the bedroom of your dreams.

1. Using Accents In Your Bedroom – The most delightful accent is to make generous use of decorative pillows. Pile your bed high with them using a variety of sizes and styles, colors and patterns. Layered pillows give a lush feel to any bedroom. Candles serve a dual purpose as an accent item. They can add a splash of color and they can give a wonderful mood altering scent. The scent of your bedroom really is quite important, so the judicious use of potpourri can be the perfect finishing touch.

2. A Lovely Idea For A Little Girl’s Room – Bring wonder and enchantment to your little girl’s room by using specialty lighting. A small decorative chandelier is quite affordable. Your little princess will be filled with joy as she gazes into the sparkling light.

3. An Interesting Use Of Neutrals – Decorate your bedroom with neutrals and you can constantly achieve a fresh look. There are many items within a bedroom that you can adapt with each season. Change your comforter, pillows and pictures to easily achieve new looks and color schemes on a regular basis.

4. A Fun Idea In Place Of A Picture – Personalizing your decor is what will make your bedroom unique. Instead of a picture, gather small momentos around a theme and display them in a shadow box. (A shadow box is simply a picture frame with depth.) As a theme, you could use items from all those music lessons you took as a child, or maybe keepsakes from the first dates with your husband – like ticket stubs and the cupie doll he won for you. You will feel the warmth of memories every time you see it.

5. Making The Most Of Your Bedroom Space – To create more space, your first consideration is color. Use cool light colors – whites, blues and greens to make the walls apparently recede. Another trick to help your space look larger is to paint the moldings to match the walls. Be very aware of the scale of your furniture. A small bedroom is simply not the place for a king-sized bed. Keep things clutter free and you’ll make the most of your livable space.

6. Pull Together A Theme – For a different look, try to replicate a favorite Hawaiian or tropical vacation you’ve enjoyed. Start with a bamboo headboard and plan on an island color scheme with bold prints. You can use plenty of plants to recreate the lush outdoors. Stick with natural fabrics and add a quality potpourri to remind you of your heaven on earth. A final touch would be naturally woven wood blinds. You will amaze yourself with the atmosphere you can create.

7. Using Bedding To Help Design – There are amazing colors and prints available for bedding. A decorating trick is to use your bedding to dictate your color scheme. Go for the most plush comforters and highest thread count sheets. You want your bedroom to be so inviting and desirable to you, that it beckons you every evening.

8. Contemporary Bedroom Design Ideas – To accomplish the popular contemporary design, try neutrals with nice accent colors, such as a muted navy. The idea is to stay crisp and clean. Florals don’t belong in this look. Go for a minimum of clutter and you’ll be well on your way.

9. Guest Bedroom Essentials – Part of offering great hospitality is to make your guest bedroom feel completely welcoming. On the night stand, have a spate of new magazines along with a water glass and a decorative bowl filled with candy. Your guests may be more cold-natured than you, so include an extra blanket on the bed. Finally, use high quality pillows and sheets to let them know that their comfort is paramount.

10. Creating A Romantic Bedroom – There is nothing as delightful as a bedroom that invites romance. Have soft lighting available and think plush – with lots of pillows and fabrics to give tactile pleasures. An excellent sound system with speakers discreetly tucked around the room will envelope you with mood-setting music. Use colors on the softer side which appeal to you personally. Try soft pinks or light greens – whichever color pleases you. The idea is surround yourself with luxury to create the perfect romantic retreat.

Are you redecorating and wondering what to do with your old mini blinds? Just because you are replacing your blinds does not mean they do not work. In fact, here are a few things you can do with your old blinds.

Tree houses and Playhouses Need Shades Too
Whether you have a tree house, a playhouse or just some wood thrown together for a clubhouse in your backyard, every kid needs some place to go off and play.

I am not sure about you but my playhouse got hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The windows were cute but with nothing to cover them, the outside temperature wreaked havoc on it.

However, my kids do not have the same problem. They play in my old playhouse in comfort. The last time I redecorated, I cut my old blinds down to size. I figured I was throwing them out anyway so it wouldn’t hurt to try. I searched the web and found a place that told me how to measure a window and cut down blinds. It worked great and now the playhouse stays cooler in the summer.

Blinds Add Privacy to Travel Vans
After the playhouse, I set my sights on the van. We often go camping in the van. However, over the years the cheap blinds we had in the van had started to bend and break. The ones I took down from the kitchen were still in good shape. Therefore, I simply swapped out the van blinds with the kitchen blinds. Now the kitchen has the new faux wood that I always wanted and the van has the old vinyl blinds.

Our travel van now has the privacy back all thanks to the blinds. We no longer need to tack up a sheet to cover the windows. Now all we do is open and close blinds.

Crazy Containers
Using my old blinds to make new blinds wasn’t that crazy of an idea. In fact, most people say, “I wouldn’t have thought of that but yeah that makes sense.” That is until they realize some items in my house are from old shutters and blinds.

That is right. I took my real wood blinds that I had replaced with energy efficient blinds and reused them. I had always wanted a magazine rack in the living room next to the recliner. Therefore, I took the blinds cut them up and with some liquid nails glued it back together in the shape of a magazine rack. I also made a little step stool for the little one to stand on to reach the sink.

Not everyone likes to recycle their stuff. However, if you do, then I hope this has given you ideas of how to recycle your mini blinds.

My previous two articles have offered ideas for window treatments for standard window types, such as patio doors and other typical sizes as well as skylights and sidelights.  This article will offer ideas for French doors and other door windows, and large windows which can sometimes be problematic.

Let’s begin with window treatment ideas for French doors.  One of my all time favorites for these types of doors are wood blinds.  I think that they really accentuate and coordinate well with the look of French doors.  Wood blinds are generally made with basswood and come in a variety of stains and paints. So finding the right color scheme to match your doors isn’t very hard.  For doors, you’ll need to choose one inch wood blinds, which is a generally a better fit for smaller windows with their minimal mounting depth – you don’t want the blind hardware sticking out beyond the window casing.  Another good choice for French doors is roller shades.  Roller shades have come a long way since the days when your Grandmother might have had the old vinyl variety in her kitchen window.  Today’s roller shades offer contemporary, elegant looks and come in a wide variety of opacities (from sheer to blackout), colors and even fabric choices.  Roller shades are the perfect choice if you want to choose how much light gets filtered into your room and to preserve your views.  Next up are sheer shades, which are a versatile and elegant choice for French doors; versatile because they are like two shades in one combining the functionality of a blind with the soft light filtering of shades.  Sheer shades for doors have horizontal blinds (fabric vanes) with two sheer fabric facings over the fabric vanes.   When the vanes are open the sheer fabric offers soft light-filtering and when closed offer privacy and light dimming.

Choosing the right window treatments for oversized windows can be tricky, though there are quite a few choices.  One of my favorite choices for oversized window is panel track blinds, which I mentioned in my first article.  Panel track blinds are kind of like vertical blinds but with larger panels in fabric, woven woods, solar shade and a few other materials.  They are mounted on an aluminum track and slide open and shut, that is why they are sometimes called sliding panels.  Panel tracks are unique and contemporary and come in colors and materials to compliment any décor.  Another choice for very large windows is vertical blinds.  But to make it interesting, look into some of the other material options that are available like fabric, solar shades or even cellular.   Two other options for oversized windows are roman shades and cellular shades.  If you are interested in adding insulation to your room, either of these are a good choice.  Cellular shades are inherently energy efficient and roman shades can be purchased with an insulating liner.  Luxurious and elegant, roman shades come in a very wide variety of colors, fabrics and styles so they are by far the most expansive choice for your decorating needs.  Cellular shades also come in a wide variety of colors as well as pleat sizes.  Last but not least, you can always look into drapes for oversized windows.  Drapes are the classic choice and come in just about every color, pattern and fabric imaginable. 

Other possible choices to consider are sheer shades which, for very large windows come with vertical vanes covered on one side with a sheer fabric facing.  Sheer shades are elegant and versatile and offer privacy when the slats are closed and soft light filtering when opened.

If you are looking for french door window treatments, such as wood blinds, or window treatments for large picture windows, I hope this helped.  Good luck and happy decorating. – David Brooks