Interior Design for Vintage Lovers

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Interior design is a great way to showcase your love of all things vintage. Fabulous vintage finds are never in short supply when decorating your house. From furniture to kitchen gadgets, vintage decor is in high demand. Shabby chic furniture and design is a great direction to take if you’re looking to create a romantic, vintage atmosphere in your home.

Shabby chic design has a feminine edge and romantic flair. These pieces have light hues–think beachy colors, soft pinks, soft lavenders and blues, and whites. One important element of shabby chic is that many wooden pieces are distressed. Paint is artfully worn, showing natural wood underneath. In many cases, you can achieve the distressed look that embodies shabby chic style on your own through various techniques. This is one of the most alluring aspects of shabby chic–you can purchase ready-to-go shabby chic, or you can transform furniture from it’s original design into your own combination of pretty, functional, romantic home decor.

You can find shabby chic furniture in many places, and if you’re thinking about turning an ordinary table, hutch, or dresser into an original on your own, you’ll start seeing possibilities everywhere you look. Yard sales provide endless opportunities to find great home furniture that you can transform with a shabby chic design. Imagine stripping or painting the item yourself, any color you’d like, distressing the paint yourself and adding vintage details like knobs and handles. Swap meets are also a haven for shabby chic items that come perfectly distressed, and for items that have the potential to become a shabby chic classic. You can also visit second-hand stores and consignment shops, where furniture is waiting to be turned into a shabby chic masterpiece of your making. 
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Turning an ordinary piece of furniture into a shabby chic masterpiece is simple and takes just a few basic tools such as paint and sandpaper. There’s an abundance of how-to websites and books that can instruct how to achieve the quintessential romantic feel of shabby chic. A coat of soft-hued paint and a little sanding around the edges will turn your armoire, kitchen table, or picture frame into a shabby chic design. If you’d rather skip the do-it-yourself, head out to your local shops, swaps, and yard sales to find your next shabby chic dream.

 

How to Stack Arm Candy

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One of the big fashion statements that’s making an appearance today is arm candy. Arm candy is stackable bracelets that can be worn for almost any occasion to spice up an outfit and help the wearer look trendy. But arm candy is a lot more than just wearing a bunch of arm candy bracelets. It’s important to be able to stack them properly and know the ins and outs of how to stack arm candy.

What to Stack
It is imperative to know that you can’t just throw on bracelets and expect it to look like arm candy. The trick is to stack the appropriate types of bracelets and make it look like you just threw on anything. Try to mix up the colors to compliment your outfit. If you are wearing all black, go for arm candy in contrasting colors like red, gold or silver to make a statement. If you are wearing bright colors, offset the outfit with arm candy in complimentary colors. Pair gems like turquoise with silver metal for a wow-factor! You can stack a variety of textures and sizes together to create your own unique look.

Mix Textures
Mix a watch in with a bunch of bracelets. Wear contrasting textures such as leather wrap bracelets with a bunch of beaded bracelets thrown in for good measure. If you choose metal, pair this jewelry with some colorful braided bracelets. Mix wood beads in with metals; this look is quite trendy.

Size Matters!
When you are stacking arm candy, make sure you size the jewelry properly. Wear one large bangle or one large cuff and a bunch of smaller bangles if you are going the bangle route. If you are wearing leather wrap bracelets, mix in a watch or a large leather bracelet with spikes.

More is Better
When it comes to learning how to stack arm candy, the key is to remember that more is better. You can wear BesoBeso Arm Candy bracelets on both arms, not just one. Keep the tones complimentary though or you will not pull off the look. If wearing bracelets on both arms, the colors don’t need to match exactly but should be in the same color palette. Wear complimentary textures and mix-up the sizes. Or wear one large cuff with a few smaller bangles on one arm and mix up the textures on the other staying in the same color range.

Decorating on a Budget

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When I first decided to decorate my home, I was afraid that my low budget would keep me from doing much decorating. However, I quickly realized that even if I did not have much money, there were many different ways that I could improve my home’s appeal. 
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One of the first things I did was increase the number of plants and flowers in my home. Adding lots of green and colorful plants to my home brought out a certain sense of freshness. Furthermore, with my budget, this was very cost efficient. I did not overload my home with plants and flowers, but I did assure that the foyer, front porch, and family room all contained nice plants. 

My second step was to decorate my kitchen. My goal was to add all new appliances, but unfortunately, my budget would only allow me to add new ceramic tile to the floor. Since my appliances were so outdated, I decided to paint them with stainless steel paint. Even though they were not new, the stainless steel paint allowed them to appear much newer than they really were. After finishing my appliances, I decided to improve the look of my cabinets; therefore, I also repainted them to match the new tile on the floor.

My last step was to decorate my living room. Since this room is where the life of my home takes place, I wanted to put the most money into it. However, with my budget, this was still not too much. Unfortunately, I was not able to buy any new furniture; therefore, I decided to use couch covers to add a new appeal to the existing furniture. After adding the new covers, I decided to simply rearrange the furniture, and I noticed that this simple step offered a new feel to this room. Essentially, the new arrangement in this room resembled a Shabby Chic style design (click here). 

Deciding to decorate my home was a great decision. Even though I did not have the money to do everything that I wanted to do, my creativity still allowed me to showcase my home’s beauty.