Posts tagged ‘gender’

How to Pick a White Rocking Chair

A white rocking chair is a staple in nursery decor. It can be sophisticated enough to use in other areas of your home or even outside. You’ll want to change the style depending on the rest of your room so instead of being a staple piece it really does add a lot to your design.

One thing that you can consider is going with a modern white rocking chair. This focuses on simplicity of design. Usually the rocker and arms will just be one solid sculptural piece. It can have basic white upholstery. In this case it can just have stainless steel legs. This is going to be a cooler version of a traditional rocker.

An outdoor white rocking chair is classic. It can have a beach or cottage effect. If you don’t want to go with painted furniture then try pvc versions. This is going to hold up better to the weather and it can also be quite inexpensive.

In a nursery you can change up the traditional silhouette. Look for really beautiful upholstered pieces that just look like traditional arm chairs. This will be a little bit more expensive but you can use it in a traditional living room later on so it’s not just going to last you for a few years. Plus it also really gives you a chance to get a lot of comfort in your space and be gender neutral.

The other really great thing that you can do to change up a basic chair is going to be rocking chair pillows. This doesn’t have to be traditional cushions. Instead it could just be a small lumbar pillow. You could even go with a beach inspired look. You could even use this in a living room in the place of a traditional more formal accent chair. Then look for fun nautical inspired fabric in anchors or shells. Usually this would be cheesy. However, since it’s using such a modern color palette and it’s so small then you can really afford to go with a statement piece.

Semco Plastics White Resin Outdoor Patio Rocking Chair SEMW NEW PATIO CHAIR
Semco Plastics White Resin Outdoor Patio Rocking Chair SEMW NEW PATIO CHAIR
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PHAT TOMMY Rocking Adirondack Chair Recycled Poly Outdoor Furniture White
PHAT TOMMY Rocking Adirondack Chair Recycled Poly Outdoor Furniture White
Paypal   US $297.95
Father w Daughter in Crib White Teddy Bear Doll in Rocking Chair Christmas 1910
Father w Daughter in Crib White Teddy Bear Doll in Rocking Chair Christmas 1910
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MUSICAL WHITE WOODEN ROCKING CHAIR FOR BABY DOLL EIDELSWEISS
MUSICAL WHITE WOODEN ROCKING CHAIR FOR BABY DOLL EIDELSWEISS
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Traditional gliders feature a lot of laminate furniture and cheap fabric. You can use paint to change this up as long as you make sure that you aren’t impeding the hardware of the piece. These cushions for rocking chairs are often removable so you can have a lot of fun with a simple upholstery project. It can even be reversible which will give you several different looks. Since these chairs are so inexpensive then just go for a very whimsical design style with pink and white polka dot and stripe fabrics. Depending on how crisp the pattern is it can feel country or modern.

You can also find this color in a lot of retro design styles This would usually focus on ornate wood furniture. You can also just look for really beautiful caning. You might want to paint the frame just so that it doesn’t feel dated.

Black and White Wallpaper Designs

Black and white patterned wallpaper will keep you out of a design rut. A lot of people don’t like wallpaper because it can be a pain to take down and the color palette is so sophisticated. Instead go with cool black and white designs which are going to be more neutral. This is an opportunity to get a very even look throughout your room.

You can consider going with a retro print. This is going to focus more on a white background. It can have basic outlines of geometric shapes. It can be more formal if you try out black and white striped wallpaper. You will really need to match up the prints with geometric patterns which can be a little bit difficult to do if this is your first wallpaper project. In this case then decorate the rest of your room with plain modern style furniture. This could be plexiglass or just white with stainless steel accents. You can find this at a lot of inexpensive furniture stores but then just kick it up a notch with your wallpaper décor.

ZEBRA SKIN PATTERN BLACK WHITE WALLPAPER KD1798
ZEBRA SKIN PATTERN BLACK WHITE WALLPAPER KD1798
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Toile black white tree castle lyre wallpaper border
Toile black white tree castle lyre wallpaper border
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Photographic wallpaper image seashell black and white in the beach
Photographic wallpaper image seashell black and white in the beach
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Photographic wallpaper image Street of Paris black and white
Photographic wallpaper image Street of Paris black and white
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Mimic fabric with this kind of décor. Black and white wallpaper for bedroom designs can mimic a country style ticking. It will need to have a little bit of green or gray shading to it just so that the stripe doesn’t seem too harsh. Then break up the space with painted white antique furniture and a cream distressed iron bed. Ticking uses a thin stripe.

You can also consider black and white wallpaper for a bedroom. A black and white wallpaper border can really be one of the more contemporary ways to do a wallpaper border. Usually this size has really gone out of style a lot. You’ll want to go with a very graphic pattern like a harlequin print. This could even add a more sophisticated touch to a little girls’ room.

Use floral black and white wallpaper to give a more modern design to a very classic pattern. You can do this in a very graphic way by going with a black background. Usually a black wall would seem a little bit intense. You can then just break this up with a neutral color and more feminine pattern. This can even feel more contemporary.

You can also venture into more of an elegant kind of look. This could be damask black and white wallpaper. For more of a vintage effect find lace details. Then break this up with a lot of wide molding on the wall. You could even use this on the front of dresser drawers in a master bedroom or a nursery depending on the size of the space.

The last option is going to give you an elegant kind of design style. Look for a French Country toile. The color palette is going to keep it more gender neutral. This is going to work well with antique furniture or an Oriental rug for a more formal look.

Designing Around a White Bedroom Set

White bedroom sets are a great way to go even if you want black & white decor. Recently the idea of a set has really gone out of vogue. Instead, people seem to be mixing and matching a lot of pieces like with white cottage furniture. You can do this with any kind of paint color. Bring in a white dining table and white dining chairs as a desk set. This furniture isn't just for a white dining room. The really great thing about this is that people are finding pieces that fit into a budget and getting scale. If they have a large armoire than they may be going with smaller nightstands. If you do just go to the furniture store and buy an entire set you need to make sure that you go with a color that is going to work in the room, especially when done en mass.

A light color can have a cottage or beach style. You could add in oversized stripes or just a plain colored quilt on your bed. Then keep your walls a bright white. This is also a great option if you have paneling especially if it's on your ceiling. This can give you more of the feeling of a beach cottage. This can be a gender neutral thing but you can also keep it quite elegant just by staying away from a lot of the clichés for a unique white bedroom set.

A white bedroom suite can be very vintage inspired. In fact, you can even make it extremely elegant and also Hollywood feeling. You might want to go with very opulent silks and satins on the bedding in an ivory or champagne color. You could even try framing your wedding dress or just displaying a lot of wedding photos. You can really go into photoshop and make it a lot more interesting for very unique artwork. You might not look at your wedding dress every single day. It probably has a lot of intricate beading in it. You could even take these snapshots of it and then frame this out for a kind of a sentimental art piece that is all your own. You’ll also notice that over time, that you wedding dress does take on more of an ivory appearance with all different kinds of colors which can be the basis for your entire room. This can be very romantic inspired.

If you have a white canopy bedroom set then this can have a cottage kind of feeling to it. It can also seem shabby chic. It really just depends on the material that you are using. If you are just going with a painted piece with a little bit of distressing then this is going to seem country. It works well with wood floors to really give a little more contrast than the masculine kind of feeling. You can also just venture out and go for a metal piece. This can be very Spanish inspired. It could come in all different kinds of metallic tones as well as the basic brown or black. Then you can just drape a white canopy over it. This could be a full mosquito net for a tropical kind of feeling. The other option would be just to put a cheap white fabric around it. You can also get curtains with ties on them. You can tie this to the canopy rod so that you don't have to take your bed apart when you want to change out your fabric treatments.

When you do white bedroom design you need to find ways to add a little bit of a sense of adventure. An easy way to do this is with smaller pieces. For instance you could just bring in benches. You can try storage areas such as a blanket chest or just an area where you can take off your shoes. This is the perfect opportunity to experiment with color and maybe go with bolder fabric choices and white accents for the rest of the room. Just because it is a smaller area it is extremely easy to move out. Often times these pieces are some of the least expensive furniture pieces that you can buy so it's an option to create an interesting vignette in your room.

A white bedroom suite can be very feminine. You can really take the same ideas that you may have loved as a little girl and just make it a ton more sophisticated and graphic. This is perfect if you never got your dream room as a kid. It's also an option to create a space that is really going to grow with your child well into adulthood. For instance you could kind of embrace the feeling of an elegant butterfly. This is going to be very graphic but still keep with the graceful lines of your furniture. You could do this just with a duvet cover. In this case you might go with more of a traditional feeling with realistic looking butterflies and basic kind of colors. For more of a contemporary look find a fabric with just one large oversized butterfly and perhaps in a striking cobalt blue. This can be very contemporary feeling so that you get femininity and softness that is often lacking in modern kind of design styles.

Creative Commons Photo from JAGWired

What You Need to Know About White Decorating

White decorating has really gone out of vogue a little bit in the last few years in favor of more contemporary white and black decor. However, it really is making a comeback. For a while it seemed like everything was made out of heavier fabrics in browns and amber colors. This has more of a rustic feeling to it. Now at least the designers seem to be going back to this design style where things are a lot more elegant. This is something that can work for any style of home just as long as you pick out the right materials to use. It just proves that you can still have a formal kind space even if you have children.

One of the keys to black and white decorating is to just add in a lot of items with personality. This way people will be able to focus in on your favorite items because these are the pieces that are really going to pop. This could be an oversized piece of artwork. You could try framing out your favorite movie posters. You could also just get the pieces that are really tall or use urns in the corner full of plants.

You can also bring in a color by going with something like red and white decorating. This doesn't have to be daring but it can be. In this kind of space you can just bring in accent colors such as black to ground the room. This is also the color palette for a kid's room or even a playroom. You want to make sure that it isn't too dominating but at the same time this gives you the opportunity for a cohesive kind of design. It's gender neutral but it doesn't have the typical kind of color palette. For instance if you are going with a country kind of thing then you could try getting a white headboard that looks like a faux picket fence for a very whimsical kind of feeling.

HORCHOW Le Bain SHOWER CURTAIN French Parisian Black White Fabric NEW
HORCHOW Le Bain SHOWER CURTAIN French Parisian Black White Fabric NEW
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HORCHOW Paris Le Bain White Porcelain WASTE BASKET Parisian NEIMAN MARCUS NEW
HORCHOW Paris Le Bain White Porcelain WASTE BASKET Parisian NEIMAN MARCUS NEW
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American Flags Blue HORCHOW Red White Starred Mens LUXURY Novelty Silk Neck Tie
American Flags Blue HORCHOW Red White Starred Mens LUXURY Novelty Silk Neck Tie
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HORCHOW Paris Le Bain White Porcelain TISSUE BOX COVER Parisian NEIMAN MARCUS
HORCHOW Paris Le Bain White Porcelain TISSUE BOX COVER Parisian NEIMAN MARCUS
Paypal   US $43.30

Another thing that you should know about white home decor is that it can be easy to clean. For instance you could use it on the furniture and white painted end tables. You could also just change up your wood tones. This is perfect if you want to really get a very dramatic effect. You could paint your furniture red, although there are different kinds of reds which will have different feelings and levels of formality to them. This is a great way to get personality on the pieces that might not have the best wood grain but you still want it to have a little bit of character to it.

You probably use a lot of these design principles all the time but you might not think about them. For instance wood table decor is very popular just because you probably already have it in your space. For instance your dishes are probably white. This is usually just because when you register for items for your wedding you already have white on your mind. Since these pieces are so expensive then you probably want something neutral. There usually isn’t a ton of colors in fine china.

You can just make your room a little bit more casual just by decorating with apples for the red and white theme. This brings in that fun red color and creates more of a country kind of appearance. You could just sew your own cotton napkins to continue on with this theme. You could use the apples and a basket or even a glass jar. Another option would be to go for a more contemporary kind of feeling. This can also work well with white plates. Then you could just line the apples down the center of the line for a very linear approach that still brings in a ton of color.

Creative Commons Photo from French Finds

Make a Black and White Bedroom That’s Actually Interesting

A black/white bedroom doesn't have to be boring. It can be the basis for other designs or it can be your entire color palette if you use white and black decor. There are a lot of different things to take into consideration because when you don't use color every single thing needs to look intentional inside and out. This doesn't mean that you have to rush out and buy all new items. However, you have to design it very carefully and with an open mind and a clear eye.

The really great thing about this kind of color is that it won't be hard to find. You can really get whatever kind of style you want and even on a budget just because this is one of the most basic colors and it really doesn't change from season to season. This really helps you to shop in a budget but just also get quality items that are very interesting and trendy but still work in a more traditional kind of space.

New POTTERY BARN SEAGRASS WITH BLACK BORDER RUG 8 x 10 NEW
New POTTERY BARN SEAGRASS WITH BLACK BORDER RUG 8 x 10 NEW
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New POTTERY BARN Black SWIRL RUG 8 x 10 HARD TO FIND
New POTTERY BARN Black SWIRL RUG 8 x 10 HARD TO FIND
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NEW Pottery Barn Teen BLACK Crinkle PUFF Twin QUILT Sham pbteen
NEW Pottery Barn Teen BLACK Crinkle PUFF Twin QUILT Sham pbteen
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New Pottery Mercury Two x2 Votive Candle Holder barn black caddy
New Pottery Mercury Two x2 Votive Candle Holder barn black caddy
Paypal   US $15.99
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When you go about black and white bedroom decorating you really want to decide on your white bedroom decor. This shade really lends a lot of balance. It's hard to get excited about painting with it just because it is kind of a boring color. However, if you already have white walls, white ceilings, white trim, and white closet doors then this can really be the base for the rest of the room. You'll want to bring in a few black and white accent items to tie everything else together. For the rest of the accessories try bringing in different black pieces for drama.

The thing about black bedroom decor is that you can really create it yourself. Black paint can be a little bit intimidating at first but it really does create a very dramatic effect. This is really the wow factor just because you are going to be brave enough to use it. It's very gender neutral so it's a way to marry two design styles together so you both get to use furniture pieces that you really love while also getting a space that you can live with. This is especially important when you get married or are living with someone just because there are pieces that you just aren't willing to give up and that don't really match. Just going with a more toned down color palette that really lends cohesion is totally going to change up the entire look of your room.

Black/white bedroom design should really focus in on furniture with impact. This is what is going to make it feel like a sophisticated space instead of just a plain dorm room. You can go with a traditional style of furniture and then just paint it. Since the colors are so subtle another thing that you can have a lot of fun with in black and white bedroom decor is the idea of a canopy. Fabric is important in this kind of room just because it does give a softer and more feminine touch to it. However, you can also go with more of a tailored canopy. You may have to have this custom made or just use curtains. Instead add a lot of tassels or just use a simple ribbon detail and then just box pleats. You can even keep it in a solid kind of color palette. This is important just because if you're doing a sewing project usually solid colors are a lot less expensive.

Another thing to consider is to bring in gray tones. This is going to really soften the effect and can create more of a traditional color palette. Usually there are several colors mixed together and it still creates a very neutral space. However, gray is more calming and relaxing so it can really create a mood in your bedroom.

Another thing to consider is the idea of layering your bedding. This is perfect because you can mix solid colored sheets and pillowcases. You could pair this with a white duvet that you may already have. This gives you the opportunity to just mix and match your pillowcases with your sheets and your comforter to really get a very unique kind of look.

Creative Commons Photo from The Going Green Boutique