African Decor: Most Frequently Asked African Decor Questions
African decor continues to grow in popularity because of it’s timeless beauty and elegance. Many people still have doubts about how to choose quality pieces.
With so many copycat, fast buck merchants peddling fake, cheap and even phony African Decor (made in China), it’s important to have a buyer beware attitude when it comes to buying . Here’s the most frequently asked questions I received last month on African Decor.
- What does African Decor Include?
African decor includes a variety of a symbols from the continent. The more popular themes include statues, figurines, sculptures, beads, and masks. But the number of items is much too numerous to mention. But limiting African decor to a list of items is inaccurate. African decor not only includes individual items they include the colors, textures and tones of African. For example, the Mosaic array of colors of Morocco, the variety of sand tones of the Sahara or the hand carved wooden sculptures of Ghana.
- Why Gives African Style Decor It’s Longevity?
Unlike most manufactured decor, African handmade items have carved a long reputation for lasting beauty and elegance the world over. Because true African sculptures, artist and tradesmen look at trade as a Spiritual calling not just a job. We put our heart and soul into each piece until we are empty”, states one Ghana sculptor.
- What Materials are most African Theme Decor Made Of?
Most African theme decor comes from natural materials of the earth, this is what has made African decor eco-friendly long before the term became popular. They include materials such as bamboo and teak which are fast growing trees. Other materials used for African decor includes clay used in pottery, natural paints made from plants and of course colorful weaving materials and beads.
- How Can You Pick A Quality African Style Basket?
The best way to choose a quality African basket is to look at the loom. The best quality loom is the horizontal pedal loom. Any basket containing a horizontal loom will last longer because it requires more skill and time to make.
- What’s African Accessories Add Warmth To A Room?
The best way to add a feeling of warmth is to use rustic material. For example, materials like clay, stone, copper and other metals. Also a hand-carved wood piece can also help to add a touch of warm coziness to a cold impersonal space in your home of office.
Hopefully sharing these questions and answers with you helps give you a better understanding of the priceless treasure African decor offers. I encourage you to explore the adventure and excitement African decor can add to your life and environment.
Feng Shui Decorating
Feng Shui, you have heard it mentioned but still are unsure what it really is. Well let’s find out the true meaning of Feng Shui. Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of placement and stands for wind and water.
The Chinese used this system to balance out the energy patterns of their physical environment with spiritual forces. Their ultimate goal was to achieve harmony, comfort, and balance, first within their environment and then within their lives. In the Chinese culture the gentle wind and the clear waters have always been linkedwith good health and a good harvest. So from this good Feng Shui means good livelihood and good fortune. On the other had bad Feng Shui means misfortune and hardship. So Feng Shui is a very important part of the Chinese lifestyle.
Feng Shui is based around Taoist and their vision and an understanding of nature. This focuses specifically on the belief that land is a living being and is filled with Chi. The ancient Chinese felt that the land’s energy could either help the kingdom prosper or cause it to fail and fall apart.
There are three principles behind Feng Shui. They involve design, placement, and proportion throughout the space. Without these three principles everything would become unbalanced and interfere with a person’s health and happiness within their environment. The main tools that are used during the Feng Shui analysis is the Ba-Gua which is an octagonal grid that contains the acient symbols of the great I Ching and the compass.
The I Ching is an ancient oracle which is what Feng Shui is based around. Knowing the Bagua for both your home and also your work space will be a great help to you to completely understand how the connection of certain specific Feng Shui in certain areas of both your home and work space can be linked to certain areas and parts of your overall life.
Now we move on to putting the Feng Shui into your home. Generally a consultant would come into your home and look at the five elements wood, fire, earth, metal, water (xuan kong flying star (north star), color, positioning of all the furnishings, and offer out cures for the problem areas).
The colors associated with Feng Shui are: wood is blue and green, fire is red and some of the items for this would be a tea light or a tamp lamp with a red shade, earth is beige and yellow and the items for this would be a terra cotta pot with soil and a rock statue, water is blue and black and the items here could be a fountain or aquarium, and metal is an accent color made up of silver, gold, copper, and bronze.
When it comes to the positioning of your furniture you should always face it in the direction of all the action such as the front door or street. This will give you the perfect flow of Feng Shui. Yang is considered to be the most active energy. It is usually lively and busy such as a public place or a flowing river. This is generally the most windowed side of your home. It should contain a nice view and it is usually a living or family room.
Ying is considered the least energy. This is usually found in the sitting direction of an alley or backyard. Shade trees highlight this area making it quiet and relaxing. This can be the side of the property and you would find the bedrooms in this area.
Modern rules for home decoration
If you have been thinking of decorating your home for a long time, read this article. With changing times, there have also been some changes in the trends of decorating home. There are some rules that you need to follow in order to decorate your home in a stylish way. Here are some steps to follow:
• Step 1: Arrange the hardware
You must have an idea of the decorating hardware available in your home. You must take into account everything including bell pushes, door handles, decorative hinges, lever latches, clavos nails, door knockers etc. You must also include window door, garage and cabinet hardware.
• Step 2: Allot places
Now locate different hardware to different places such as kitchen, bedroom, outdoors, bathroom etc. Try including a wish list column while planning for the decoration.
• Step 3: Browse
Browsing through some of the beautiful web pages will give you an idea of the kind of look that will suit a specific area of your house.
• Step 4: Reshuffling
You would not believe that sometimes, simple reshuffling of old decorative pieces in your house can do wonders to the whole environment. It may also prove to be beneficial to replace your kitchen hardware.
• Step 5: Hues
Go for light cool colors to make your personal space feel more airy and open. This will also provide new life to your room. For best results, try opting for super soft tones of greens and blues.
• Step 6: Mono chromatic color scheme
If you want your room to look bigger and brighter, opt for hues that belongs to the same family. Mix the colors with tone-on-tone woven upholstery fabrics, beautiful and soft tonal drapery fabrics and textured wall finishes. Remember that cool colors and beautiful warm colors on wall surfaces work towards providing open look to a room.
• Step 7: Wall and furniture colors
It is not a good idea to use contrast colors in a room as these tend to break up a space. Try coordinating wall and furniture colors.
• Step 8: Allow some light
You must focus on allowing some light into your house. If natural light is not possible, you may use artificial lighting.
• Step 9: Love nature
Back to nature is the new style mantra. Try following the art of exquisite vintage interiors and give it a touch of glamour. You would simply love the end result.
• Step 10: Nordic style
This is all about going for cool, comfy, soothing and fresh color palatte. The best thing to try would be soft shades of green belonging to the forest.
Decorating your house is all about using some tricks. Following the tips mentioned above will help you.
