Tag Archives: lighting

The basement now serves the same purpose as the living room. Often times, spending time in the basement is even more pleasurable. So, neglecting it is no longer an option. Today, we can find little gems and a lot of imagination on the lower floor.

In many homes, the basement is so well designed that it has become the most popular room of the household. The arrival of the home theatre has a lot to do with this. Hence, the importance of improving the appearance of the space to make it more enjoyable and useful at the same time. You can choose a more conventional decor or go for an unconventional style.

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Usually, the very essence of the basement is joining two or more rooms together without any partition wall. For example, you could combine a recreation room with a kitchenette or a bar, a bar with a wine cellar, a lounge area with a fitness room or bedroom. If this concept suits you, you can always install the same decorative flooring throughout the basement. This will make the space look larger and feel bigger.[……]

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It’s wrong to say that aesthetics and durability don’t go hand in hand. On the contrary! A green kitchen exudes warmth and cheerfulness, otherwise difficult to obtain. Here is an example.

Imagine a large floor made of natural linoleum, ceramic, wood, concrete or natural stone, like slate or terracotta. Just above are the cabinets made of solid wood, bamboo or wheat board panels. And plenty of natural sunlight is streaming through the windows.

Did you wince when reading the words linoleum and bamboo? You see, times have changed. Today’s linoleum is sold in many different colours and contemporary designs and bamboo comes in many various shades. Take some time to shop around.

The sink is in natural stone or stainless steel. The base of the kitchen island is made of wood, while the countertops of ceramic, waxed concrete, stainless steel or any other material imitating stone. On the wall, copper pans are hanging.

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Note that all the surfaces in the kitchen are made of durable, hygienic and easy to maintain materials. Three of the criteria that largely exemplify a green kitchen.[……]

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It’s time to play with the light in order to outplay the shades of autumn. Light gives rhythm to an interior and defies the cold and dark seasons by projecting a zest for life thanks to the magic of reflections. Not only does light have the ability to transform a space, but it also improves the psychic comfort.

Don’t try to recreate a pool of natural light by opting for central pendant lighting. It’s a waste of time. In any case, the light would be too violent.

Instead, opt for several sources of that disperse the light everywhere. And have halos of light run on all the walls. The possibilities are endless: ceiling light and pendant lighting, wall-mounted lights, table lamps, floor lamps, projectors (recessed or not).

Play with the direction of the light source to create life. Today, most lights are adjustable and dimmable. The lighting can be lateral, built-in or angled or be part of the ground. The desired effect is often to highlight an object with indirect light behind the head of the bed, lighting hidden behind a piece of furniture, animation of rays of light of a bookshelf, lighting at the turning point of a staircase, projector over an aesthetic bed cover.

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Pergola, tunnel, deck, gazebo, patio, all these structures are practical, but they also have a decorative aspect, especially when the deck turns into a living area, outdoor kitchen or reception area. Now we talk more about design, with everything this word implies in terms of audaciousness and imagination.

Today, you have to design your outdoor decoration with the same care as you do indoors, because the deck and patio are nothing more and nothing less than an extension of the living area.

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At first, there are the big classics: flower beds, plant pots, small and large vases, grass, bushes, but outdoor decoration goes far beyond the landscaping.

If the deck is medium or large sized, you have something to play with. You can divide the space with benches, vases, decorative lattices, flower beds, screens, geometrical shapes on the ground or projectors at ground level, at night.[……]

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A red purple, a blue purple, a slightly purple sunset, the purple of the mountains on the horizon, the purple sheen caused by intense cold: all of these examples evoke something dark and cold. But is there any other colour in decoration that is richer and more sumptuous than purple?

A mixture of blue and red, purple is the ultimate luxury colour. A room with an omnipresent purple adds splendour to a room, making it brighter. Crimson is its only rival in terms of royalty.

Have you ever seen a padded purple wall or furniture? It’s luxurious, imposing, almost royal. In a bedroom with a four-poster bed and chandeliers, any purple fabric is even better.

Combined with black, purple provides an unsuspected wealth, as long as a river of natural light can enter the room. If not, multiple recessed floodlights provide minimum lighting to avoid a dark and heavy atmosphere.[……]

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Often created in decommissioned industrial buildings, lofts offer an immense open space to decorate, a single room whose dimensions are around 500 square metres, with ceilings of up to three metres and more.

Few doors, few walls, often nothing at all. A wave of natural light from the long vertical windows along the wall floods the central space. Added to these windows you sometimes find a windowed façade, skylights or windows on the ceiling.

Wood or steel beams, concrete, brick and metal surfaces are everywhere. And the abandoned vestiges of the building’s past: pulleys, wooden cases, platforms, giant washbasins, air conditioning conduits, steel tables, oversized chimney.

What do you do with this unrefined decor? Make it your home.

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Once the cleaning work is done, the real work starts. Most owners keep traces of the building’s former vocation for decorative purposes. That’s what makes a loft a loft. That’s what separates it from a penthouse.

If partitions are needed for a certain intimacy, they should be as discreet as possible in order to maintain the continuity of the space and let the light flood in. That is why complete walls are rare. Or areas are combined, such as the living room and dining room. Or low walls, mobile screens, opaque or trans lucid panels are added.  

A loft is a paradise for colour. Owners often use colour to divide the space into areas: one dominant colour per area, or one dominant colour on the ground floor and a second on the upper floor, which is usually a mezzanine.[……]

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You’re sick of your home office. You’re often being bothered or your space is poorly structured. You decided to dedicate part of your vacation to renovating your workspace, or possibly even creating it if you have just joined the ranks of the self-employed.

The door to your office isn’t insulated enough? There is a draconian solution: take the office out of the house, which is something many people have done. Some have even renovated a room near the family home, even if it involved paying rent.

Why not convert the shed into a workspace? That was the solution for author Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory played by Johnny Depp in the movie) and Russian writer Anton Tchekhov, who set up a pavilion behind his property.

You could also use the garage. Some self-employed workers have also set up their offices there.

A less radical solution: build an outside door and cover the one that connects to the inside of the house.

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You have to expand the space between you and your family, your friends and your neighbours, who will not hesitate to travel the short distance to go and bother you.

If none of these ideas work for you, try the attic. It’s a space worth considering. Self-employed workers often take refuge in the basement. However, it’s harder to go upstairs than it is to go down. Your entourage will be less inclined to bother you.

If you want to keep your current office. Add a separation between you and your entourage. It could be a screen, a glass partition wall or even a bookshelf that covers the wall. The more massive it is, the more efficient it will be.[……]

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