Many companies are opting for cubes instead of offices for their associates these days in order to save money on square footage and utilities. As a result, cubes are a smaller, open version of an office and all of them look pretty much identical to each other. The good news is that most companies will allow their associates to customize their cube with personal photos and mementos within reason. Mini lights and battery operated lights are an excellent way to bring life and personality to your cube or office.

Dress up your cube with Christmas mini lights and battery operated lights and you’ll no longer have a space that is distinctly yours in a sea of identical office cubes. Although holidays are the time when most people might think of decorating an office or cube with lights, why not have lights up all year round?

Mini lights are ideal for adding white sparkling light to silk flower arrangements, baskets, or to highlight photographs of loved ones. You can find them in either LED or incandescent versions. LED sets are great because they are cool to the touch. String mini lights around the edge of your desk and the outline of your cube. In an office, use mini lights to outline your doorway or to add some added light and warmth to your artificial plants.

An office desk or a cubicle area will instantly take on a festive appearance during the holidays when you swag white, green, or red mini lights across the front of your desk or on your cubicle walls. Tastefully placed garland, pine boughs, and pinecones can bring the entire look together. During the holidays, a small Christmas tree can often fit into a cube or and office, so don’t miss an opportunity for adding more light to your workspace.

Artificial plants bring a bit of the outside into any office environment. For smaller potted plants, use our battery operated lights to add some sparkle. Artificial trees can easily handle several strings of mini lights with the extra ones pooled around the base of the tree. You could even use artificial plants as holiday trees and switch out the colors of mini lights to reflect the current season or celebrated holiday.

Popular light color choices for decorating artificial trees or plants for holidays might include:

- Blue and white – winter
- Yellow, orange, and red – fall, Halloween, or Thanksgiving
- Red, white, and blue – Memorial Day, 4th of July, Presidential election years
- Green, white, blue, multi-color, or red – Christmas
- Green – spring or St. Patrick’s Day
- Purple, pink, blue, green, or yellow – Easter or spring
- Pink – Breast Cancer Awareness
- Gold, purple, and green – Mardi Gras

Decorating an office or cube with lights is a great way to bring some cheer into your workplace. However, keep in mind that blinking lights can be a distraction to you and to your co-workers. Also, this is your workplace, not your home, so keep the decorations tasteful and professional. Turn your lights off when you leave your office or cubicle at the end of the workday.

Shellie Gardner is the owner of Christmas Light source, a great place to find Blue Mini Lights. Christmas Light Source is a one stop shopping source for Christmas lighting needs. From hardware to lights and everything in between, they has everything for holiday lighting decor as well as tips, tricks and do it yourself projects.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shellie_Gardner

In actual sense, companies are now capitalizing on this idea and they are coming up with personalized, decorated promotional plates as give away gifts, as a way of marketing their companies. Am sure if you got one of these you would want to display it on a rack where it will be seen by every one. If this is the case, then think of how much magic decorative plates can do, if they are carefully selected to match the rest of the decor in the house.

If you do not want to appear misinformed when it comes to the decorative dishware, it is always a good idea that you consult the Internet. Here, you will find resourceful information on how to differentiate between those used as decoration materials and those functional ones. You do not want to put an item on display, which should be used for serving food.

One advantage with these items is that they come in a variety of styles and designs, rich material and they can be a great way to commemorate a number of historic events, be they private or public. With these ideas in mind, you can consider give them out as birthday or wedding gifts.

Peter Gitundu Creates Interesting And Thought Provoking Content on Plates. For More Information, Read More Of His Articles Here FOOD PLATES If You Enjoyed This Article, Make Sure You SUBSCRIBE TO MY RSS FEED!

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These types of art glass are indeed very popular home decor items and include glass pumpkins, bowls, goblets, vases, garden adornments, ring holders, perfume bottles, paperweights and glass paintings. They come in a huge range in terms of colors and design. You can also get custom installations in order to match the ambiance and space requirements of your room.

Types of hand blown art glass:

Painting in Glass: Hand blown glass paintings are marvelous pieces of art that are full of sophisticated beauty, enrichment of colors, magical brilliance and diligence. Until recently these stylish and classy glass paintings adored only the interiors of the royal and elites families. These hand blown glass paintings are distinguished for their eye-catching clarity, absolute brilliance and use of rich and bold colors and add an extra life to your living room.

Glass Bowls: ou can use your decorative hand blown glass bowls for flowers or just keep them in the room as a decorative accent. The base colors are mostly bright and bold that capture and refract rays of light and create a great ambience. Apart from using these marvelous hand blown art glasses as a pedestal or coffee table piece, you can also use them as wall hangings.

Paperweights: The hand blown paperweights come in rich and bold colors as well as in many shapes and designs. They add eye catching colors to your working desk, study table, window sill of your living room, or anywhere else you like to. You can even personalize these paperweights and give them as gifts.

Glass Pumpkins: The hand blown glass pumpkins make a great gift during Halloweens. They are usually bright orange in color and have a nice ribbed side with curly or twisted jade green stems. The best part of these hand blown glass pumpkins are that they are exclusive and hence no chance of two pumpkin being alike.

Cleaning and maintaining hand blown art glasses:

Keep these hand blown art glasses out of direct sunlight as that can fade their colors over time.

Use small and soft bristled brush while cleaning dust from your hand blown art glasses.

Use warm water and a mild dishwashing detergent along with a soft cloth to wash these delicate art glasses.

A bold and colorful hand blown art glass can change the ambience of your room and adds a sophisticated look.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mahendra_Solanki

Color and ambience:

Most apartments and dorm rooms come with standard-issue white walls. Boring! Want to add some color, without much hassle? Christmas lights. Truly, there is no easier way to change the color, look, and feel of a room than by using these lights. They’re simple to hang: you can just tack them up around the border of your room’s ceiling. Put all red lights up, and your room will appear to have a red hue to it. You can even put up more than one color, and choose which set to plug in. Blue today, green tomorrow. It’s simple and affordable. To further add to the effect, you can switch the bulbs in some of your lamps to colored “party bulbs.”

Since a lot of emo kids like to have ambient lighting, this is a perfect choice. Even plain white Christmas lights can change the look of a room, without providing too much light.

Floors:

Do you have boring floors? Ugly tiles or nasty carpet? No problem. Buying an area rug can be expensive as anything… but many stores sell large, but affordable bath mats that you can use as smaller area rugs. It may sound strange, but there are plenty of stylish, large bathmats out there to choose from, including ones made of fake fur. Bonus: they’re meant to be slip-proof, and tend to be easier to clean if they get wet than an area rug.

Further, a DIY/punk type could easily buy and cut what is known as remnant carpet to either carpet smaller rooms or to make their own area rugs. The whole idea is to be creative!

Futons:

Did you inherit an old futon that isn’t the nicest ever? Futon covers are expensive, but you can find bed sheets that fit the futon for significantly less money. At “mall punk” stores, the average emo or punk kid could find all kinds of neat things, like Nightmare Before Christmas sheets… and even in the kids’ sections of regular stores, there are plenty of interesting and cute things. Halloween is a great time to seek out things like spider webs and pumpkins; Valentine’s day is great for hearts. Be creative! Throw blankets – usually cheap and made of fleece, are an affordable option to finish out your fun, personalized futon. Oh, and pillows! Don’t forget the pillows! You can usually find them for affordable prices [along with pillowcases of your choice] at major discount stores.

Your kitchen:

Craft store, craft store, craft store! I can’t stress this enough! You can find all kinds of things cheap and ready to customize, at almost any craft store. Storage tins, jars, and containers can be customized to hold anything from spoons and spatulas to food items or napkins. These stores, as well as major discount stores, also usually have affordable towels – though the holidays are a great time to stock up on ones you like. Craft foam can be used to make kitchen [or dining room] place mats – and you can customize them however you want, to boot!

Furniture

While you’re at the craft store, you may notice some unpainted, boring wooden furniture. Or maybe you’ll hit a thrift store and find some hideous looking, but functional, furniture. Your easy solution? Paint. Just buy some paint and sealant [that part is important; it will protect the paint] and make furniture that suits your needs and personality. Want a purple dresser? There’s nothing stopping you! You can paint your DIY furniture with a brush, or en try different techniques, like stencils or sponges, to get different effects or multiple hues.

General supplies:

If you are going to get into alternative and DIY home design, it is important to have some basic supplies:

It is always good to have a bucket and strong cleaner on hand, just in case something spills.

If you’re painting furniture or other items, an inexpensive drop cloth is a good idea. You can use a cheap plastic table cloth or shower curtain liner for this.

Pencils are good for sketching out designs, marking tack holes, or for jotting down measurements. Scissors and a sharp utility blade should also be in your bare basics kit, as should glue. A hot glue gun is great for decorating, especially if you will be adding things like jewels or stones to items [such a plain storage boxes or canisters]. A hot glue gun can also be used for small repairs on wooden items.

In the end, when it comes to having an alternative looking apartment or dorm, without spending money, the trick is to look to the DIY punk and emo ethic and be creative. Once you tap into your creativity, there is really no limit to what you can do!

Nicole Lero is associated with the Shoutmouth Emo Community, and has lots of DIY furniture and Christmas lights in her house.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicole_Lero

The psychology of color changes from culture to culture. So we will concentrate on western civilization as our primary reference point. Let’s take red for instance. Now I’m sure you associate red with emergencies and danger, but do you additionally think of passion, love, wealth and power. Orange may strike you as autumn, pumpkins, and Halloween, but it also suggests clarity, celebration, success, fame, friendliness and warmth. We can all agree that yellow and sunshine go hand in hand, but it also alludes to intellect, stimulation, and springtime. It’s revealing, demanding, and intense. Green is a pretty easy connect with nature, but it also gives off friendliness, practicality, frankness, and most of all calmness. Dignified purple as we all know connects with royalty, but it also suggests commitment, drama, and poise. Loyal blue also suggests royalty, integrity, restlessness, and honesty. Blue is also the most popular color in our culture.

Before we continue, let me say that what I’m going to share with you is completely politically incorrect. If that bothers you perhaps you should sign off now, because I’m going to use concepts like influence, manipulation, inducement, and power, all of which have been banned from most social discourse. It is however, a fact of life that your environment affects your state of mind. Your state of mind affects your physical well being. Your physical well being affects your resources of energy, and energy is what it takes to survive. Therefore, knowing what colors give off provides you with a powerful tool for influencing emotional conditions.

The next important factor that should come under your scrutiny is the manipulation of light. Light is what empowers color. Without light color disappears. Therefore, understanding the qualities of light empowers you to manipulate color in a variety of ways. I’ve often said it’s better to manipulate than be manipulated. Become aware of the power of subtlety. Be a quiet mover and shaker in your world and reap the benefits.

Natural light is the most full-bodied light. It does however have the capacity to be overwhelming at times, and it changes with the seasons, and the direction of exposure, and the time of day. So, understanding natural light is critical to getting positive benefits from it. If for instance you were planning a workstation, you would not wish to position it in front of windows exposed to direct sunlight. Glare produces negative physical and emotional reactions. That is why we created sunglasses. Better to have direct sun light slightly shaded and originating from above and behind you. In this way you avoid excessive heat and reflected glare. Natural light emanating from two or more directions reduces shadows and consequently visual fatigue. If the natural light is restricted in one direction, it can be supplemented with artificial light in order to create an even distribution. Natural light is considered a full spectrum light except that conditions such as time of day, season of the year, compass orientation, and weather conditions can cause the light to tend towards one color or another. For instance, a southern- exposure will augment the yellows, oranges, and reds, while a northern exposure will play to the greens and blues.

Artificial light falls into a number of categories. Incandescent light (environmentally incorrect) heats a tungsten filament until it glows favoring the warm colors. It is the most common but more energy inefficient than other choices such as fluorescent lighting with tends to emphasize the cool colors. There are spectrum-balancing alternatives, but they are more expensive. Tungsten halogens have a filament surrounded by halogen gas. As the tungsten burns off the reaction with the halogen gas create an intense light source. Tungsten halogen lamps cost more but last longer and produce more lumens per watt. Low voltage tungsten halogen lighting has a small beam spread, is energy efficient, and produces superior accent lighting on art pieces.

Firelight, candlelight, and lanterns create combustion lighting. It is particularly useful as mood lighting. It creates a warm cozy atmosphere, which tends to the warm shades.

The point of all this light conversation is to punctuate that color and light interact and change one another. Never pick a room color based on a color chip under fluorescent lighting in some paint store. Always purchase a pint or quart if that is the smallest quantity for sale, take it to its intended location and apply it to the surface you wish to transform. Witness the spectrum it embraces under the influence of the available lighting. If it is natural lighting observe the color variation over a changing spectrum from morning till night.

One trick for acquiring exactly what you want, is to purchase a small quantity of pure white, and black. If the color you purchased looks different in the chosen environment, mix in one direction of the other until you get the desired affect. Then take a sample of the adjusted color back to the paint store and have it computer color matched in the quantity you desire. This one suggestion will save you from living with disappointment over not achieving the affect you were looking for

Life Is Art – Live It.

The Sterlingman

After completing a degree in psychology at Cal State, Mr. sterling pursued a life that benefited humanity apart from conventional therapy. What motivates us, supports us, encourages us , and replenishes us were his primary objectives. Focusing on design and environmental influences, Mr. Sterling strives to impart a better understanding of how our environments affect our emotional well being.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Sterling

Fall is a beautiful time of year with every thing around us changing. The same is true in the decorating world and here are six reasons why you should take advantage of the season and do your decorating now!

1. The Stores Are Stocked And Full Of Merchandise

By this time of year the decorating and department stores have eliminated all the old merchandise and the new merchandise for the coming holiday decorating frenzy are in the stores and on the shelves ready for your inspection.

The fabric companies have all the latest styles with this years hot colors on full display. The window blind manufactures have distributed all the new samples and some of the new innovations that you’re going to see are fantastic.

Some of the companies have really done a great job of improving their product line and their price point. You will want to pay particular attention to some of the new offerings by Levolor this year. They have redesigned a lot of their products and lowered the price on some others.

2. Vacations Are Over

It is hard to get real good service during the summer time as the store associates as well as the installers are taking vacations but at this time of the year vacations are over and the installers as well as the sales people are ready and anxious to get back in the groove.

Use this to your advantage. Most people are not thinking about decorating yet. They usually don’t think about decorating till after Halloween and then they go into a decorating frenzy that creates tension and confusion for both the store personnel as well as the buyer. The result is hurried up decisions that sometimes prove to be not the best.

3. Sales Personnel Have The Time To Spend With You.

Business is slow at this time of the year so sales people have the time to spend with you. Use this to your advantage, talk to the and get their ideas on your decorating project. Pick their brain, get their ideas and together you will come up with a well thought out decorating plan that you and your family will enjoy for many, many years down the road.

This is about the only time of the year you can get the kind of personal attention I’m talking about so take advantage while you can because a few weeks later you’ll be lucky if you can get an appointment with a good decorator or sales associate.

4. Bargains Abound

The store personnel want to get those new product out into the community so you’ll talk to your family and friends about the latest and the greatest. It’s just good business for them to get those products out there to be used and stared at, that’s why they are offering deep discounts on the new products now.

Don’t be concerned about the new products not working. By the time they have made it to the showroom they have been tested and the bugs are long gone leaving you with a good working product.

5. Service Will Be Quick

The factories, the sales personnel and decorators as well as the installers have all had their vacations and ready and willing to get back in the swing of things. Income usually declines in the summer time so most if not all are ready to start making some real money again.

As I’ve said before, wait a few weeks and nothing will be quick, easy or cheap. Remember that law of supply and demand that you learned about back in Economics class? When stores are busy the discounts disappear.

When store people have customers waiting two or three deep they can’t spend a lot of time with you even if they wanted to. It’s just not physically possible.

And the installers are ready. They spent all their money on vacations and taking it easy during the summer and are now ready to work whenever and wherever they are.

When you can compare all the different special and coupons side by side you are able to make an informed decision on which discount is just right for your decorating project. Here’s a complete listing of coupons and monthly specials. Use them to make an informed decision on which special would be perfect for your decorating project.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terry_Schierer

1. Silk flower arrangements will not wilt. After a few days, a live plant will droop with its colorful petals raining on the table.

2. Colors stay as vibrant as the day you bought them. The colors in your silk flower arrangements will remain alive and as stunning from the day that you purchase your arrangement for months to come.

3. You can change the theme of your office or living area with the seasons. You can save your arrangements and use them throughout the seasons and holidays. We use arrangements with a patriotic theme and color around the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Memorial Day. Bright floral arrangements are used in the spring and summer. Yellow, orange, and red foliage colors displayed for the fall, Thanksgiving, and Halloween. Green pine sprays and reds for Christmas.

4. They make great gifts that will last for years. Instead of sending live arrangements that will parish after a few days, send your well wishes during illness, celebration, anniversaries, and wedding. Your gift will be cherished long past the event.

5. Flowers add life and vibrancy to a room.

6. No water required. Go on vacation and your silk flower arrangements will still be as beautiful as the day that you left.

7. Artificial arrangements are easy to maintain. A feather duster or low cool setting on a hair dryer will do the job. See our other article on caring for your silk flower arrangements for further suggestions.

8. Silk flowers are always in season. You can buy a silk flower arrangement with your favorite blossoms year-round.

9. Silk flower arrangements can take you away. A tropical arrangement conjures up dreams of Tahiti. A Tuscan container and arrangement; you fly off to the rolling hills of Italy.

10. Silk flower arrangements perform fine in limited lighting. Unlike live plants, your artificial floral arrangement will flourish in your office or room that has limited or no natural lighting.

Make up your own reasons if these are not enough, but do not hesitate to brighten up your world with silk flower arrangements.

Corey Regelin has been designing custom home decor for years and specializes in silk flower arrangements, silk wreaths, and swags. We hope these tips will help you enjoy your arrangements for the years to come.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Corey_Regelin

1. Do you need more light, far less light, or muted light in a different shade of color? You may consider installing stained glass panels, hanging up stained glass chimes, or placing vases of different colors on your windowsill. These varying shades can snatch up incoming light and turn your home into a menagerie of color.

2. Is your window bare and free from decorations? Then you might want to add a whole row of teddy bears in different colors all across the window. You can hang models of the seven dwarves, or of different characters from your favorite fairy tales. If you have a baby on the way, you can advertise your joy by stringing up empty feeding bottles filled with light blue or light pink marbles, depending on your baby’s sex.

3. Do you like drapes, or would you like to keep your window bare? Heavy velvet drapes may make your home appear gloomy, but if you want to feel like a queen, then string up those drapes and line them with gold trim.

4. If it’s Christmas, go for dark red or green drapes and pin Christmas tree ornaments on them so that your home looks decorated even from the outside. If it’s Halloween, put up orange and black drapes, and hang up dolls of little witches and wizards.

5. If you want to decorate your window during the season of hearts, then mark Valentine’s Day by asking your children or the neighborhood youngsters to cut out hearts of different colors, then write the name of their loved ones on them. You can place these hearts on your window, or fashion them onto a mobile that you can hang from your curtain rods.

Conclusion

Although this list of unique window treatment ideas is by no means comprehensive, you can use them as a starting point to develop your own unique window treatment ideas.

Unique window treatment ideas are only part and parcel of making your home, and consequently, your neighborhood, a more fun place to live in.

To learn more window treatment ideas, visit http://www.windowtreatmentideas101.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Lee

When putting together a fall theme, start with a focus on color. Look for fall themed colors like shades of oranges, yellows, reds, and earth tones. Choose accessories in the pumpkin shades of orange and look for items and colors that mirror the colors of the changing leaves. Fall decorating does not have to be only Halloween themes either. Hay bales, collections of apples, gourds, dried corn or even dried twigs can make a festive fall display.

Check out your dollar store for inexpensive fall decor. You can find lots of great fall themed wreaths, hanging pots, colored planters, and fall colored silk leaves and stems. Arrange them in vases or planters for a great looking display. To get more ideas to spark your creativity, visit your local craft stores and browse their displays.

Use natural elements from nature. Go for a walk and gather pinecones and a variety of branches to design your own wreaths and centerpieces. Try to add a variety of textures and heights to make the display more interesting. Mix and match items to create more interesting designs.

Get more mileage out of your current accessories by placing your fall items on top of them. For example, put your plants on the ground and place small pumpkins on the plant stands. Use pumpkins to line your front porch steps or even your fence.

With just a few themed items you can bring a fall theme to your decor. Have fun with your decorating!

Dee Marie is a freelance writer who enjoys decorating. Please visit http://www.porch32.com for more ideas on porch swings and rockers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dee_Marie

2. Take a nature walk. Gather organic elements that can be used in your fall makeover. Acorns, pinecones, seed pods, bark, even stones can be used as display in bowls around the home. Press pretty leaves and strew them on tables and around centerpieces.

3. Bring out the candles! If you put away your candles for winter, now is the time to bring them to center stage. Gather groups of inexpensive votives and tie together with scraps of raffia.

4. Add scent to the home. Simmer apple peels and cinnamon sticks on the stove, or invest in a couple of vials of potpourri oil. They are relatively inexpensive at just a couple bucks apiece, and they last forever as you only need a few drops.

5. Celebrate the tastes of the harvest season. Keep apples and pomegranates out in bowls, store squashes on countertops, pick up a pumpkin or two at your produce stand (even though it’s not Halloween yet!) and use as a centerpiece, or pile a couple next to the kitchen door.

Most of all, take the time to celebrate this special season and appreciate the comfort we can offer our families in our own homes.

Kathleen Wilson is an author, national columnist, and editor of The Budget Decorator. You can find more free ideas and projects, and info on her online workshop based on her book at http://www.TheBudgetDecorator.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathleen_Wilson