Apartment Style Design

Apartment Style Design

If you’ve been looking to furnish your apartment space with style, yet function, don’t worry about your limitations. Look at it this way – less space to decorate means less time or money spent on the project!

Of course, creating a floor plan for an apartment or condo can be a challenge. How do you create a living space that flows well without cramping or overcrowding? Check out these key pieces from Online Furniture Stores that are stylish and suitable for small spaces:

When it comes to seating, an armless option like the Distinction Leather Kingsport Armless Chair will take up less space in a living area.

You can select something like the Modloft Park Low-Profile Coffee Table – because it’s so low to the ground, it’s less visible, therefore not taking up a lot of room in your sitting area.

Now what about bedroom furniture?

The best option for a bedroom is a low-profile platform bed set, like the South Shore Furniture Sereno Low Profile Queen Platform Bed 3 Piece Bedroom Set. Buying in sets is always an ideal money-saving option because everything matches and you don’t need to go

out and buy separate pieces. A cool option to bring more light into a room and more storage at the same time is the nexxt by Linea Cameron Floating Wall Mirror.

The slimly-designed mirror reflects light in a room, giving the illusion of more space, and has a clever storage cabinet behind it.

If you don’t have a lot of floor space, you should find pieces that take up space vertically.

The Athena/Apollo Corner Computer Desk Tower can be used in a corner, and features vertical shelving space for your printer, fax machine, books, or home décor. There’s also the BDI Icon LCD Plasma Glass TV Stand – it can also fit in the corner, and stacks upwards, instead of width-wise.

Bringing light into your apartment will give it a fresher, lighter appearance. Why not mix storage space, vertical construction, and lighting into one with the Adesso Wright Tall Floor Lamp? It fits well into any corner, gives off a warm glow, and has three shelves to offer more storage opportunities.

How else can you open up an apartment and make it seem less crammed? Get rid of any dark wall colours! Light, neutral paint colours on the wall make a room seem airy and bright, as opposed to dark shades that cozy up a room and can leave it looking smaller.

Living Room Design Ideas

Design like the pros! These living room design tips are from all the top design styles and trends for extremely small to large living room design.

Flexibility and versatility are equally vital components for designing small spaces and large spaces. Insufficient planning can lead to purchasing all your furniture in the wrong scale for your room size. Either way, your living room will feel crammed and chaotic.

These tips will become your “must have” template for creating a living room design that speaks to your aesthetic and functional needs.

Moreover, function, function and more function should be your personal motto when designing any size space because your existing space will never expand anymore than it is right now.

Thus, it really doesn’t matter precisely how small or large your present floor plan is. Plan it wisely, select and arrange your furniture with care so you can flaunt it with pride.

Apartment Interior Design

For a large living room, a colorful convertible orange sofa, will add a little individuality to your space. A metal and glass coffee table with a marble veined base and sculptural abstract design motif balances out with the sleek TV stand that has ample storage drawers and shelves.

Art Deco Interior Design

For a very small living room on a budget, it’s okay to have one large piece in the room. A long white sofa with a slight curved back gently reflects art deco. It will accommodate enough seating for guests without having too many pieces to overwhelm the space.

A modern glass and metal coffee table is a great choice for putting cups or magazines on without looking like it’s taking up space.

A glass television stand, again provides function and storage that can be interestingly displayed without appearing to take up space. The glass furniture vanishes into the background creating the illusion of more space than there is. As a final touch, put your art deco stamp in your living room design with artwork and accents.

Asian Interior Design

If you have a larger living room to decorate in an Asian scheme, an adjustable backed, tufted, high end futon is a great place to start.

They come in an assortment of colors or you can play up the black and white theme. A low to the ground coffee table with a little textural detail is keeping with the Asian story. Combining a darker wood TV Stands with Asian motifs anchors the room and allows for stylish storage.

The Fine Art of Arranging Bedroom Furniture

One of the cable stations in my area offers a triple flicks movie night. I park myself in front of my entertainment center armed with munchies, an afghan and a hot or cold beverage (depending on how chilly the day’s been) and don’t move until I need something, and then I only get up in the commercials. At the risk of being politically incorrect, it’s chick flick heaven and it’s my own delicious secret Saturday night guilty pleasure. I’ve never shared this secret with anyone before, until one day after work I took the elevator down to the lobby with a co-worker who made a reference to one of the triple flicks that had aired the previous weekend.

I only admitted to watching the triple flicks movie night on a regular basis because there was no one else in the elevator. When I mentioned that I occasionally would do minor household chores in the commercials, my co-worker reacted vehemently to such a sacrilege. She then confessed to rearranging her bedroom furniture to accommodate her movie night picnic with watching television (for a six hour stretch) in ultimate comfort and without having (literally) to move a muscle.

She put her extra television on a corner TV stand, places the phone on her nightstand and loads up an accent table (brought into the bedroom from the living room for this express purpose) with provisions until it’s time to pick up the phone to order take-out (for delivery, of course). Unlike me, she doesn’t attempt to assuage her guilt with the occasional bout of housework. Her platform bed has been suitably plied with pillows. And there she sits, propped up for a three-movie marathon, in decadent repose.

To my co-worker, I expressed my deep admiration of her skill and expertise. Silently, I officially declared myself as a triple flicks movie watcher amateur. I resolve to do better by buying (immediately) a TV armoire, a cordless phone and extra, extra pillows.

Taking a Stand for your LCD TV

Purchasing a TV stand for your LCD TV may be a little confusing. With so many styles and designs to choose from, you don't want to select the wrong one. Several factors will directly influence the kind of stand you will select, including available floor space, presentation and accompanying components. Whatever kind of stand you do purchase, you will want to make sure that it will perfectly fit your television and will be adaptable to your future home entertainment requirements.

Decide where the television is going and then take measurements. Take into account the size of your LCD screen and purchase a stand that will give you at least three inches of space on either side of the television. The average depth of an LCD screen is 8 inches, but you will want to select an LCD stand with a wide counter top in the interest of safety and added stability. You should also consider the height of the stand and whether or not it will be the optimal viewing height for the room you are purchasing the stand for.

Since your LCD television was a hefty investment, you will want to display it to its best advantage. Purchasing a cheap stand or one that does not complement either your television or your decor can greatly detract from your viewing enjoyment. Presentation plays an important role in the kind of LCD stand you select. You will want it to match your current furnishings and color scheme as seamlessly as possible.

When selecting a TV stand, also consider the weight of your television and any other accompanying components you would the stand to hold. The stand itself will need to be well-constructed, strong and durable. It should also provide easy access to all the components, and especially if you have chosen an open shelving concept stand, include a wire management system of some kind.

What kind of effect would you like to achieve? For a more traditional decor, choose an LCD stand made of wood with a medium to dark finish. If you are buying a TV stand for a contemporary or modern styled room, select one designed of metal and glass or one made of wood but with clean lines and a lighter finish.

All metal or metal and glass LCD TV stands are durable, strong and sleek in appearance. Typically, metal LCD stands are open concept in design. When selecting a metal stand that includes glass, make sure that it is tempered, since it will be stronger and safer than regular glass should it break. If you want the option of hiding unsightly wires, choose a stand with cable management.

An LCD TV cabinet can be made of a variety of materials including wood, metal and wood and metal. They generally offer enclosed storage options for tapes, DVDs and other accessories that you might want to store out-of-sight. This kind of TV stand is generally a larger furniture piece and therefore will be more of a focal point. You will want to ensure that an LCD TV stand fits in with your décor and will add to the room's comfort and functionality in addition to being a safe place to display your television.

If you want a stand just for displaying your LCD and don't need a place to store other components, consider purchasing a pedestal TV stand. Depending on the manufacturer, a pedestal TV may also include bolts so that it can be secured to a wall. Some pedestal stands are adjustable, which will allow you to adjust the viewing height of your television as needed.

Designed to fit into a corner, corner LCD TV stands still offer the wide counter dimensions needed to properly display your screen, while utilizing an area that might otherwise be considered as unusable space. Since they are available in a wide variety of styles and materials, you're sure to find a corner television stand that will perfectly match your decor.

A swivel TV stand is the ideal way to obtaining optimum viewing from your LCD screen. They come in a variety of different styles and designs. When selecting the right swivel stand for your plasma TV, make sure that it will not only fit your television, but that it will also accommodate its weight.

The type of TV stand you choose for you LCD television will mostly depend on your viewing and display requirements. With these basic guidelines, choosing an LCD television stand might be a little easier.

What Did You Expect?

Anyone who’s ever been to an amusement park is likely familiar with the log ride. You know the one where you and 2 to 3 others sit in an imitation-log vessel and trolley up coaster tracks before plummeting down into the water below with a great splash. It’s like a watered-down (pun intended) roller coaster for those not so brave as to take on the Corkscrew et al.

Every time and each one I’ve been to has a sign, in plain view from the line-up, stating something along the lines of “Please understand use of this ride may result in your garments becoming wet to varying degrees. Remove hats, store cameras ... etc., etc.” in the simplest language possible. Not only that, but the splash zone is usually in full view of the cue and those waiting can see the aftermath of the landing as water explodes in every which direction.

Yet, there always seem to be one individual who has this purely mortified look on her face as the log approaches the dispatch area. As she steps from the log, she’s in a heated huff-n-puff exasperated state staring at her wet clothing in disbelief and erratically looking around for sympathy or an explanation.

I have to admit I find this no end of comical and entertaining. What on earth did you expect? The last time it happened the missus and I were visiting her folks in Seoul and we were at Everland, where I was taking video with my digital camera and captured the whole sequence on tape. Needless to say, it’s been quite a hit with friends and family here. At the end she proceeds to berate one of the ride attendants who you can tell is trying desperately not to laugh.

The terms inevitability or likelihood come to mind, much in the same way my dad used them when he explained the concept of inflation to me as a pre-teen. Fast forward a good twenty years where the cost of consumer goods is growing exponentially based on a number of factors, not the least of which is skyrocketing transport costs growing out of our addiction to oil, and many people are screaming blue murder. Again, however different the context and severity, I’m left wondering what exactly we expected based on the projections which started to surface as long ago as the 1980s.

The fact is that consumers now need to shop smarter, with a greater multi-tiered objectivity. The advent and growth of online shopping has been of considerable benefit to this end, and Cymax Stores is a perfect example of such a resource happily at the disposal of the people. Selection, quality and competitive pricing are values any individual can appreciate.

For those looking to add functional and sufficiently stylish bedroom storage on a budget, consider any one of the Prepac Dressers or Chest of Drawers which students and young adults will likely find hard to beat for the price. A young family may feel similarly enthused with the selection of affordable quality at www.morediningtables.com, a Cymax Stores subsidiary and an excellent source to fill all your dining area needs.

There just might be a few who’ll be pleased to know they don’t necessarily need to stand their TV on upturned milk crates after looking over the selection of Sauder TV stands at www.audio-video-furniture.com as rigid and stylish as they are light on the wallet.

Sometimes you just have to know it’s going to happen. How you respond is often all you have. Pack an extra t-shirt or make an e-stop by Cymax for reactionary measures alone.

Taking a Sentimental Journey via the Television

April 4, 2008 is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. I was a child when he was shot on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee, but I remember watching the funeral on television five days later. I didn’t know who he was really, except that he was one of the good guys, he had a dream and he spoke out against injustices and inequality. I didn’t understand any of the political nuances until I was much older, but that day, watching Martin Luther King’s funeral on television with my parents, I knew a light in world had gone out.

This was my first experience with how TV lets me peer through the windows of my world into the world around me without having to leave my living room.

One year later, sitting really close to the television—without any dire warnings about going blind—I remember very clearly, watching a man walk on the moon. In the middle of a lengthy, technical explanation about why people float in space, my father stopped talking. We continued watching for a long time in total silence. A man was walking on the moon!

In the early hours of the morning of July 29, 1981, my parents woke my sister and me up to see Lady Diana Spence marry Prince Charles. I barely could keep my eyes open, but I didn’t mind. She was one of us—she had worked for a living, had friends and drove an economy car—and now she was marrying The Prince. I couldn’t sleep through that; I had to witness it with my own eyes.

Another definitive television moment for me occurred on April 19, 1995 when the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed. Someone had a beef with the way the government handled the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents, so he bombed a federal building that housed a day care. All these years later, I still feel exactly the same way (very bewildered) as I did when I watched the coverage of Timothy McVeigh’s arrest and trial.

On September 11, 2001, I had the day off. I hadn’t slept very well the night before and so, early in the morning I admitted defeat and turned on the TV. Just in time to see the second plane fly through the second tower. It wasn’t a newscast or a replay; this happened as I watched. I know the world changed for everyone that day, but it felt personal; it felt like being betrayed by a best friend.

When I moved into a place of my own, I duped myself into thinking that I didn’t really watch that much TV and therefore didn’t need one. I was on a tight budget, and while my family did donate enough rec room rejects to keep me from sleeping and sitting on the floor, there were priorities and a television wasn’t one of them. I lasted three weeks, the radio being a poor substitute for Law and Order reruns. On a Sunday dinner visit, I casually asked my parents if they had a television they could spare, and could I please “borrow” it until I could invest in one of my own. They did indeed have one they could lend me—the screen was only marginally bigger than a matchbook and it was black-and-white. It didn’t matter—it was a television and it worked, well, sort of.

One day, as I vacuumed the living room rug with the television on, I realized that, as far away as I was from the TV, I was able to feel the heat emanating from it on my bare arms. I took the hint. I stopped procrastinating and bought a new one. However, when I brought my brand new color TV home, I made an amazing discovery. It would no longer fit on the tall wood hand-me-down plant stand that housed the old black and white. No problem. I sat it on the floor and plugged it in. I lasted three days. I stopped procrastinating and bought a TV stand. It was traditional in style, with cabriole legs, space for a VCR, a cord hole and a rich wood finish. It was perfect. I could once again watch television in comfort (and in color).

Not only was TV a window to the world at large, but it entertained me as well. Just as breaking world news had marked some of the defining moments of my life, so too had weekly TV dramas and comedy shows. Through the years, I was there for all of the most important “last of” episodes: Mash, Seinfeld and Friends. And then there were the television shows that I wouldn’t miss. I don’t mean that if I wasn’t going to be home, then I would tape them. No! I mean that I found them so interesting and entertaining that I had to watch them in person so to speak, when they first aired. I can name them. The Education of Max Bickford with Richard Dreyfuss was about a history professor (played by Dreyfuss) and his adventures as a single parent and recovering alcoholic. It only lasted one season, and I was pretty upset when it wasn’t renewed. I was even more upset when, after two seasons of Joan of Arc was taken off the air. The show was really good television: it was very well written, funny and dealt with spirituality, individuality and other weighty contemporary issues. I enjoyed Six Feet Under for pretty much the same reasons, but at least it wasn’t canceled—it just ended, very satisfactorily, after six seasons.

And then of course, there were the Oscars. Since I am the daughter of a projectionist, I have missed the seeing the live broadcast of the Academy Awards four times since I was eight. I was there (via the magic of television) on February 19, 1974, when a streaker, flashing a peace sign, ran from one side of the stage to the other, behind David Niven who was about to speak into the microphone. My mother became slightly hysterical, urging me to put my hands over my eyes. By the time she got up to change the channel (in the Dark Ages, before remotes), the miscreant had vanished. I was watching in the spring of 1978 when, upon accepting her award the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Julia, Vanessa Redgrave expressed her support for the Palestinian cause, causing the audience to boo and applaud at the same time. I was there when Adrian Brody kissed Halle Berry, leaving every woman (married or otherwise) watching the Oscars that night wondering (if they had never received one before) when they, too would experience the exhilaration of a just such a knee-bending kiss.

Whenever something goes wrong with the television or the cable provider changes the lineup and messes up all of my pre-programming or they cancel a show that I really enjoyed watching, I threaten to get rid of the TV. I don’t need the aggravation. But then I realize that I’d miss watching the news, breaking stories, old movies, newer movies I’ve seen at the theatre but just have to watch again because the story is so good, and of course The Oscars. Some (TV) habits are too hard to break.

The Top Three Greatest Bad Horror Movies That Would be a Shame to Miss on Your Home Theater System

3. Hellraiser – For some bizarre and inexplicable reason, the overweight gothic girls and the hopeless, bespectacled geeks who love them have rewarded this steaming pile of crap with a modicum of undeserving renown and acclaim. Stretching over three ghoulish hours, Hellraiser provides the average viewer with some of the most hilariously bad acting ever to grace the silver screen, coupled with the most nonsensical dialogue of all time. I recognize the fact that these kinds of horror movies are generally awful, featuring convoluted story lines and brutal one liners, but the fascinating thing about this movie is that it has a decent rating according to most respectable movie websites, as well as a slew of unfortunate people who deem it to be one of the most frightening movies of all time. Of course, I have only ever watched it on an ancient VCR chugging along feverishly, dangerously close to sputtering to its death; the whir of its mechanical bits humming at increasingly louder decibels. In other words, maybe I haven’t given this movie the proper viewing it deserves. This kind of cinematic garbage warrants the real deal; like sitting back in a luxurious Bass Ambassador Home Theater Chair, watching a massive flat screen television and enjoying only the finest Orville Redenbacher which I like to bastardize with ketchup seasoning, butter employed only as an adhesive for the deliciously and dangerously sodium filled flavoring.

Tagline: Satan’s done waitin’.

2. Sleepaway Camp – Sadly, there is not a self respecting movie theatre in the world that would soil their screens with the highly disturbing yet laughably crappy final scene of this complete cow pie of a movie. So it looks like you will have to rent it when and if it ever comes to DVD and play it on your boss home theater system. The plot of this outrageous tale revolves around a troubled young girl named Angela. She is quiet yet seemingly disturbed and suffers endless torment from the other kids at the camp. When mysterious, violent deaths begin to occur, no one would ever suspect young Angela; young Angela who is so quiet, “she could be dead!” You don’t hear that kind of subtle foreshadowing anymore which is really why this movie needs to be enjoyed on a big screen in HD, with surround sound; especially for the revolting climax. For the ending, picture The Crying Game only with phenomenally worse acting and some of the worst special effects of all time; if I had had anything to do with the she-thing creature that exposes itself at the end of this movie professionally I would probably jump off a building. It looked as though a four year old crafted this final terror with MSPaint. The head of the female lead, Angela was sloppily placed atop the neck of the body of a man with absolutely no regard for realism or authenticity. Angela’s head was simply a picture of the lead actresses face contorted into a wicked, unmoving grin, and the body which was of a completely different skin tone was also immobilized in nudity. This is the kind of garbage that needs to be enjoyed in a top of the line home theater; one to rival even Tony Soprano’s.

Tagline: The perfect place to meet young girls might just be the perfect place to die!

1. The Paperboy – This classic features the cinematic stylings of the great Alexandra Paul formerly known as Stephanie Holden from both the original Baywatch and the devastatingly lame (and thankfully short-lived) Baywatch Nights (lasting two seasons, this show featured The Hoff playing a ‘gritty’ private investigator, protecting the beach from the sands by day and the streets by night; apparently neon lights and high-waisted, pleated pants make you ‘gritty’. Who knew?). This gem of an actress plays sweet Melissa Thorpe, a divorced mother of one who moves into her elderly grandmother’s home after she mysteriously dies. Upon arrival, Melissa and her daughter are introduced to young Johnny, a paperboy whose workaholic father seems to never be around to hang out with him. Melissa feels sorry for the young boy and allows him to come over for dinner and to baby sit her daughter, but when Johnny begins to behave strangely and act out violently, Melissa tells him he is no longer welcome in her home. This is when the terror really begins. Johnny goes on a veritable killing spree, murdering all of those who keep him from who he considers his ‘real’ family, i.e. Melissa and her wee daughter. It is quite a sight to behold; watching all of these horrendous actors pretend as though they might really succumb to the wit and strength of a prepubescent, 80 pound paperboy. The kind of completely unbelievable tripe that must be witnessed on the big screen of your home theater.

Tagline: He’s bad news.

How can you possibly deny yourself the pleasure of these films? There is truly nothing more hilarious than a bad movie, so what could be better than a bad movie played in an awesome home theater? Treat yourself to some frightful gems of the late 70s to the early 90s; it’ll be a scream…