Tropical Color Schemes

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If youve decided to use a tropical theme in one or more rooms of your home, your next decision is what color scheme to use. This will depend on the use of the room and the theme youve chosen. For example, will it be a tropical garden paradise, a tropical beach paradise or a safari theme and will the room be one of the high activity areas or a bedroom? The Tropical Bright colors will work well in family rooms, kitchens, playrooms, etc. and the Ocean/Aquatic or Tropical Soft color schemes work well in bedrooms and meditation spaces.

Often a good starting place is by choosing a tropical art print that you just love. It could become the focal point in the room. Another option is to use a printed fabric in a pillow or bedspread to choose the colors. Pick 3 colors ~ a light, medium, and dark color ~ to use as your color scheme. Designate one color as the core or dominant color and use the others as accent colors. Using just 3 main colors will
prevent the room from becoming chaotic with too many colors competing for attention.

Some possibilities for tropical color schemes are:

OCEAN COLORS: soft or dark blues, pastel or vibrant yellows, bright or soft greens, light coral pink (brings Palm Beach and Bermuda to mind), fiery red for energy and drama, turquoise, aqua and all shades of blue, green and blue-green. The darker colors create a more formal look.

AQUATIC COLORS: blues, light aqua, sea green, and other medium greens. These colors are cool and soothing and would be suitable for a bedroom. Use monochromatic colors to create the most peaceful and restful environment.

TROPICAL BRIGHTS: orange, yellow, turquoise, and lavender ~ Or orange, yellow, fuschia, lime and pink. These more vibrant colors create an energetic environment and would not be suitable for a bedroom.

TROPICAL SOFT COLORS: Soften all the Tropical bright colors listed above by using the pastels or tints. Peach, pale yellow, pale lime green, pale pinks, pale lavender, light turquoise. These colors are much quieter than the brights.

SAFARI COLORS: black, brown, tan, gold, rust, cream, green, deep reds and oranges, colors of the earth. These colors are suitable for most any room of the home.

OTHERS: Tangerine orange, lemon, lime and coconut brown; Chocolate brown, tangerine orange, banana yellow

NEUTRAL colors work well with all these color schemes. The neutrals are all shades of white, off-white, beige, tan and cream. Whites will brighten a room and beiges will soften the room. Remember the color of the woodwork also becomes an accent color in the total scheme.

Maybe you are still feeling hesitant about painting the room because youre afraid you will make the wrong choice and wont like it when its done. Well, take heart. Paint is inexpensive and can easily be changed. Plus, there are ways to try out colors before you buy. Here are some ideas for testing colors in the room, which can give you more confidence in your choices:

Purchase small amounts of each color and paint a large square on the wall. Many paint stores now offer sample sizes for this purpose. If yours does not, then purchase the smallest size you can. Once youve painted the patch on the wall, you can live with the color(s) and observe how different light affects them, how they relate to each other and your furniture, and how you feel in the room with these colors.

Another way to do a sample is to paint on poster size pieces of foam core board, lightweight wood or a 24 x 36 pre-stretched artist canvas. These pieces can then be moved around the room, allowing you to try them out in many different combinations and lighting situations.

Some other tips from the color experts:

DARK COLORS make objects or walls seem smaller.
LIGHT COLORS have the opposite affect by making things seem larger.
The WARM COLORS ~ red, red/orange, orange, yellow/orange, yellow and yellow/green ~ make objects appear closer and larger.
The COOL COLORS ~ red/violet, violet, blue, blue/violet, blue, blue/green and green ~ make objects appear farther away and smaller.

Some designers suggest that a general rule to help coordinate a room using the 3 color method ~ a light, medium and dark ~ is to use the light color for the walls, the medium for the heavy furniture and the dark color for the accessories. The darker colors give weight to the room.

Whatever you choose for your color scheme, it should be a reflection of you. All the information given here is only information, not hard fast rules. Give yourself permission to play and explore color. If you like it, thats all that matters.

Larraine is the owner of a tropical home dcor website and writes articles relevant to home decorating, travel and the tropics.

Why You Should Train Your Bichon Frise

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Bichon Frise Training

Why you should Train your Bichon Frise?

Obedience training is one of the best things you can do for your Bichon Frise or puppy and yourself. Obedience training doesnt solve all behavior problems, but it is the foundation for solving just about any problem. Training opens up a line of communication between you and your Bichon Frise. Effective communication is necessary to instruct your Bichon Frise about what you want her to do. You can teach her anything from stay (dont bolt out the door) to sit (dont jump up on the visitors) to off (dont chew the furniture).

Bichon Frises are social animals and without proper training, they will behave like animals. They will soil your house, destroy your belongings, bark excessively, dig holes in your yard, fight other Bichon Frises and even bite you. Nearly all behavior problems are perfectly normal Bichon Frise activities that occur at the wrong time or place or are directed at the wrong thing. For example, the Bichon Frise will eliminate on the carpet instead of outside; the Bichon Frise will bark all night long instead of just when a stranger is prowling around outside; or the Bichon Frise will chew furniture instead of his own toys. The key to preventing or treating behavior problems is learning to teach the Bichon Frise to redirect his natural behavior to outlets that are acceptable in the domestic setting.

Obedience training is also an easy way to establish the social hierarchy. When your Bichon Frise obeys a simple request of come here, sit, she is showing compliance and respect for you. It is NOT necessary to establish yourself as top Bichon Frise or leader of the pack by using extreme measures such as the so-called alpha roll-over. You CAN teach your Bichon Frise her subordinate role by teaching her to show submission to you in a paw raise (shake hands), roll over or hand lick (give a kiss). Most Bichon Frises love performing these tricks (obedience commands) for you which also pleasantly acknowledge that you are in charge.

Obedience training should be fun and rewarding for you and your Bichon Frise. It can enrich your relationship and make living together more enjoyable. A well-trained Bichon Frise is more confident and can more safely be allowed a greater amount of freedom than an untrained one. A trained Bichon Frise will come when called.
Some people debate whether or not it is possible to train puppies, and others ask whether it is possible to teach an old Bichon Frise new tricks. The answer to both questions is an unequivocal YES. Whatever the age of your Bichon Frise, the right time to begin training is right now! The most important time in your Bichon Frises life is right now. Your Bichon Frises behavior is constantly changing. A Bichon Frise that is well-behaved today will not necessarily remain that way forever. New problems can always develop. Existing problems can always get worse.

Enroll in a local Bichon Frise obedience training class to learn the basics. Then most teaching and training can and should be done in your home. It is best to begin training in an area that is familiar to your Bichon Frise and with the least amount of distractions as possible. When you feel both you and your Bichon Frise are skilled at several obedience commands, then take these commands to different areas. Introducing distractions may seem like starting all over again, but its worth the effort. In reality, who cares if your Bichon Frise will sit stay when no one is around? What
you need is a Bichon Frise who will sit-stay when company is at the door.

Who cares if your Bichon Frise heels beautifully in your own back yard? But you need to start there if you eventually want a Bichon Frise who will heel beautifully when walking down Union Street. If you want your Bichon Frise to be obedient in your car, guess where you have to practice? If you suddenly want your Bichon Frise to down-stay while you are trying to move over 3 lanes to make an exit, you had better find time to practice those obedience commands in the car long before you need them. Dont drive and practice at the same time. Practice while the car is parked or while someone else is driving.

Keep the obedience training sessions short and sweet. It is dull and boring to schedule tedious and lengthy training sessions. Instead, integrate training into your daily routine. Make obedience training interesting and meaningful to your Bichon Frise. If Puppy insists on following you from room to room while you are getting ready for the day, then insist he have something to do too. “Roll over” for your wake-up greeting. “Heel” from the bedroom to the bathroom.

“Down-stay” while youre brushing your teeth. “Heel” from the bathroom to the kitchen. “Sit-stay” while grinding the coffee beans. “Go find the ball” while you get dressed. Now “go get the leash” so you can go for a walk. “Sit” when the door is opened, “sit” again when the door is closed. And so on. Be sure that obedience training infiltrates your Bichon Frises favorite activities and that your Bichon Frises favorite activities infiltrates training. Your Bichon Frises favorite activities should become training, so that training becomes the Bichon Frises favorite activity.
Rewards While Training

The single most important aspect of training is rewarding your Bichon Frise for good behavior. The more times the Bichon Frise is rewarded, the quicker he will learn. Therefore, its essential that you set up situations repeatedly in order for your Bichon Frise to get plenty of practice at doing the right thing. Its equally as important that you always praise your Bichon Frise for good behavior instead of taking it for granted. Its easy to forget to praise good behavior because it goes unnoticed. But the very nature of misbehavior gets our attention. We dont notice when our Bichon Frise is lying quietly, but excessive barking gets our attention. How many of us take notice and praise our Bichon Frises when they chew their own toys? But we all go berserk when we notice our favorite pair of shoes chewed up! Praise and reward are the most important part of maintaining good behavior and preventing problems from arising.
Reprimands While Training

Some Bichon Frises feel they are constantly bombarded with, NO, Stop that, get off, Bad Bichon Frise! They tend to get used to it and so the reprimands become meaningless and are ignored. If most of our interaction with the Bichon Frise is praise for good behavior, then reprimands will take on much more meaning. Whenever you find the need to reprimand your Bichon Frise, immediately show him what you want him to do, then reward him for getting it right. If you catch him chewing the furniture, tell him, Off! Then immediately direct him to his own toys, enthusiastically entice him to chew on them and praise him for doing so.

If done correctly, your voice alone is sufficient for reprimand. A correct reprimand is short, sharp and immediate. Dont continue to nag the Bichon Frise and never reprimand him unless you catch him in the act. Never hit, kick, slap or spank your Bichon Frise. This type of inappropriate punishment always creates more problems and usually makes existing problems worse. Not only will you have a barking, chewing Bichon Frise, but one that is leery, hand-shy, fearful or aggressive.

Why Obedience training is essential for every pet Bichon Frise!

Obedience training establishes you as the Alpha.
Putting a leash on your Bichon Frise and teaching just one command communicates this leadership to your pet. Our pet Bichon Frises are more than willing to work and live in harmony with us, as long as they know their position in the pack. If the owner doesnt establish the leadership role, the pet Bichon Frise could develop unwanted behavior (jumping, chewing, biting, soiling the den,
etc.).

Preventing And Fixing Furniture Dents In Carpet

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Do you have dents in your carpeting from heavy furniture? If so you should keep reading this article and learn a little about how to prevent these types of dents in the future and how to fix the ones that you have.

The easiest thing to do is to prevent furniture from denting your carpet. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Furniture dents occur when heavy furniture, usually with small legs, is placed on a carpet. Over time the furniture will dent the carpet because of the constant weight. To prevent this problem you should spread the weight of the furniture out over a larger area. To do this you can buy furniture pads which you place under the legs of furniture. They will spread out the load and some pads, called sliders, actually make your furniture easy to move around.

So what if you already have dents in your carpet. Well there are some things that you can do to try and alleviate the problem. For example you can place ice chips in the dent. As the ice melts it will slowly be absorbed into the fiber and hopefully expand it. Another way to improve furniture dents is to use a vacuum with a hose attachment to try to pick the fibers back up. If neither of these methods work, you might have a permanent problem. Dents can be permanent if the backing of the carpet has actually been stretched and distorted. It will never completely go back to normal but might improve over time.

Hopefully this article has helped you with your carpet dent problem. If all else fails you might consider consulting a local carpet cleaner for additional tips. They might have more advice and specialized methods that can help you with your problem. Good luck.

The Barcelona Chair Exemplary Modern Furniture Design

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If you consider yourself a modern furniture collector, chances are that you own a Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Chair. If not, then you should definitely have one. Part of the prestigious Barcelona collection which also includes the Barcelona Ottoman and Table, the Barcelona Chair is considered to be Ludiwg Mies van der Rohes finest work in furniture design and a classic example of the modernist furniture style.

Similar to his Tugendhat and Brno Chair, the Barcelona Chair was made by Mies van der Rohe as part of the interior furnishings for his architectural project, namely the Pabelln Alemn or German Pavilion, in 1929. The chair, as well as the Pavilion itself, were Germanys official entry to the prestigious 1929 Ibero-American Exposition in Barcelona, Spain and meant to symbolize Germanys cultural resuscitation after World War I. During this period, Mies van der Rohe collaborated frequently with designer and longtime companion Lilly Reich.

The inspiration of the Barcelona Chair was that of the Egyptian folding chairs and the campaign chairs of the classical Roman period. The chair was also said to complement the sculptures of George Kolbe, which were also on display during the Expo. During its display the Barcelona Chairs enjoyed instant acclaim, with critics calling it a design worthy of king. Coincidentally, the Chair was also priced at a kingly sum of $6,281, a contrast to the furnishings for the common man philosophy of Bahaus school which Mies van der Rohe was part of.

Today, re-editions of Mies van der Rohes Barcelona Chair are manufactured by Knoll of Pennsylvania, USA. Knoll acquired the rights and Mies van der Rohes name to the chair in 1953 as well as its trade dress rights in 2004, making it the sole recognized manufacturer of authentic Barcelona Chair reproductions. However, several third-party manufacturers such as Alphaville Design California and Gordon International New York also produce chairs based on the Barcelona Chair design.

Comparison Between Natural And Synthetic Wicker Furniture

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If you found a pick of wickerwork furniture being traded at an awesome price – a monetary value that you would usually not expect to get a caning furniture item of its form at – then there is a probability that the item could be made of artificial, instead than raw wickerwork. Thanks to synthetic furniture technology, it is now feasible to get complete living room sets or dining room chairs made of synthetic wicker and which look (almost) every bit like raw caning furniture. And contrary to what many individuals think, synthetic wickerwork piece of furniture does not make false wicker furniture, unless such synthetic wicker furniture is distorted as raw caning piece of furniture, in which case the individual to whom it is being sold-out might have cause to ask that they were sold-out ‘fake’ wicker piece of furniture.

There are a variety of grounds why you could find yourself purchasing artificial – rather than natural – wickerwork furniture items. One is monetary constraints. If you are short on monetary resources, but still want to delight the style of wickerwork furniture, then in artificial wickerwork lies your salvation. synthetic wicker furniture items often price much less than what corresponding items made of raw caning cost, giving the budget constrained person an chance to buy items that they would otherwise been unable to buy.

Of course, such artificial wicker items can never be matched to raw wicker furniture items, but holding them around would be motivation to work towards purchasing natural caning piece of furniture in the coming days.

Of course, another cause why you could find yourself buying synthetic wickerwork piece of furniture is when the same is represented to you as raw wicker furniture only for you to determine that it is artificial much later.

To prevent this, it is necessary for you to find what natural wicker piece of furniture appears like and what synthetic wicker furniture looks like and keep the divergence in mind. In this regard too, it would be essential if you could consider seeing the internet sites of wicker piece of furniture sellers and understanding what wicker furniture items – say natural wicker living sets or raw wicker dinin room chairs cost – so that you can always tell by seeing at the costs whether what you are seeing at is natural or synthetic wicker piece of furniture.

In the end, though, there is not too much difference of opinion between raw and artificial wicker piece of furniture. Indeed, so similar in appearance is synthetic wicker to raw wicker that it might indeed be difficult for the naive eye that what you have is actually artificial – instead than raw wicker furniture. Of course, the reason that artificial wicker furniture is so much alike in appearance to natural wicker furniture does not mean that they are equivalent in all regards.

Natural wicker furniture, for one, does prove to be more exquisite to the observant eye than artificial wicker piece of furniture. Moreover, natural wicker piece of furniture tends to be – on common and all things like care and exposure to chemical elements held sustained – more durable than artificial wicker furniture.

Seen in this light, it is always advisable to go for natural wicker furniture, but if you cannot afford it, there is always synthetic furniture to turn to for the same impression and generally at a much lesser monetary value.