Spice up your life by re-decorating a room using a Mexican or Southwest (New Mexico) style of décor. Everything from curtains, pillows, sculptures, wall hangings, and even dinner table accessories will help add that needed spice you crave. When re-decorating a room, you need to consider three things: visual composition, size, and comfort.
We all know the universal “less is more" philosophy and sometimes all you need is a few minor adjustments here and there. A bigger room allows for more flexibility but it can also lead to overdressing. The new and improved version of your living room, bedroom, or even dining room should enhance the room’s architectural qualities such as high ceilings or scenic windows. The décor should accent the room’s qualities through the use of furniture, lighting, textiles, flooring, chosen color palette, and an eclectic collection of accessories.
Your line of sight should direct attention to the room’s qualities or an object that accents those qualities. For example, if you want to accent a room’s high ceilings, a large size Mexican style art print with a hefty frame is perfect on a bold hue background wall. The intensity of your palette should be directly correlated with the size of the room. Use lighter hues for smaller rooms and bolder hues for ample rooms. For a Mexican or even a Southwest style décor you can use colors such as Orange, Blue, Yellow, Lime Green, Brown, and Deep Red or Burgundy.
Window drapes and window treatment hardware should be considered based on color and texture. Remember the heavier the drapes, the bigger the size of the hardware that will be required. Wood curtain roods and wrought Iron Curtain rods fit in perfectly for a Latino or Southwest theme. While wood curtain rods may look better, they are not as strong as you might think. When in doubt, buy a thicker curtain rod to ensure that it will not break or bow with the weight of the drapes.
The color of the furniture should also accent the overall Mexican Décor theme. Furniture that comes in bold colors works best with this theme but if buying new furniture is not economically feasible, you can use a brightly colored afghan to dress up any table or couch. If you get a big enough sofa cover, you get a quick fix with less money. Unique accessories should accent the furniture and these things help the overall visual composition of the room.
For example, a well decorated room may make use of a lot of the wrought iron look and then as a centerpiece in a dark colored coffee table, you can have lime Green and White luxurious onyx sculpture of a frog. Or perhaps the focal point of your spacious dining room may be your mahogany table. In this case, you can add that Mexican or Southwest feel with a couple of bright red chili pepper shaped salt and pepper shakers. Accessories can be hard to find, especially for Latin or Southwest décor.
We can all find the common Chili pepper shaped objects, Mexican hats and earthenware, but how do you find a wide selection of unique accessories? Scour the flea markets, Garage sales, and the web. A good source of Mexican accessories is www.LatinoSpiceDecor.com. They offer good price points and very unique items. Their items make us of the color palette that is used in any Latino or Santa Fe style theme.
No matter what furniture or accessories you choose, all of them will have to pass the test of comfort. If you are considering wooden seating furniture, make sure it is padded. Who wants to sit in a hard surface? A softer more comfortable place to sit allows for a more pleasant mood and ambiance. A guest who is uncomfortable will sit in a rigid position, exuding anti-social body language, which yields shorter conversations. To defeat this, make use of bold colored pillows, drapes, and thick and soft throws that fit the look. Using textiles and rugs will “pad" the room enough to help with noise and comfort.
Following all of these simple but important guidelines will help create an agreeable atmosphere. You will have to fight the urge to stay home all day in such a wonderful atmosphere, your own private beautiful sanctuary.
There is no easier way to give your home great rustic style than through southwest bedding. A few years ago, I was searching for an inexpensive way to redecorate one of the rooms in my home and give it a touch of the old west. I found some Native American blankets at a discount linen store and decided to add them as part of the western decor. I loved the Native American style they created in the room so much that I decided to use them in all the bedrooms of my home to give them that great, western flare you see in designer magazines.
Since I used these blankets and throws everyday as bedspreads, shawls, or as lap blankets, I became interested in the history of southwestern blankets and began researching their origin. The more I researched, the more intriguing the story was. I never knew that although very popular today with interior decorators and in modern style homes, southwest bedding for use in western home decor actually began in the early 1900's, when Indian trade blankets were put on the market.
Most people I come in contact with, believe that the western blankets they commonly use for southwest bedding were originally made by Native American Indians. I also believed that, until I began reading about the beginnings of these southwest blankets and discovered that, although Native Americans were the prime inspiration behind the designs and production of trade blankets, they were not the ones who made them.
In fact, as you read about the intriguing history of southwestern blankets, you will learn that they were actually machine-made, and produced by large weaving companies for the sole purpose of supplying the Indians with needed blankets. These southwestern blankets were then supplied to the frontier trading posts where the Native people would buy and trade them and use them to wrap themselves in instead of a modern coat or jacket.
Another thing you will find interesting as you study the history of trade blankets to use as southwest, is that as women became more interested in decorating their homes in the early 1900's, southwest decor and western designs rose in popularity. These "Indian blankets" as they came to be called, were sought after by people across the country who wanted them for southwest bedding and as decorative couch or chair covers to enhance southwestern home decor. The Indian trade blankets were wonderful for covering exposed legs when in a wagon, sleigh or buggy, and in the new horseless carriages. Later on, they were used as throws for camping, canoeing and a new pass time called motoring.
Today, you can easily buy southwest bedding online and in places that sell western and southwest home decor. Whether used as a southwestern bedspread, blanket or bed throw, southwest bedding will add great charm to your home and environment. If you are impressed with authenticity and traditional Native American values and are searching for an easy way to enhance western style in your rustic home decor, then you will certainly enjoy owning and decorating with southwest bedding.
Both Juliah Farciert & Craig Chambers are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Juliah Farciert has sinced written about articles on various topics from Interior Design, Home Management. www.latinospicedecor.com. Juliah Farciert's top article generates over 480 views. to your Favourites.
Craig Chambers has sinced written about articles on various topics from Interior Design, Culture and Society and Interior Design. Craig Chambers is the director of and author offering free information online about how to use. Craig Chambers's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.