DecoDreams, Issue #020, Ready to Fire Your Home Office?

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DecoDreams
Your Guide to Creating Beautiful Spaces, FAST!
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June 09, 2004
Issue #020
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THE MISSION...DecoDreams is the home-decorating-made-
easy.com e-zine that delivers interior decorating tips,
ideas, and solutions to enhance all rooms of your home.
Staying on top of what's hot in decorating has never been
so easy or fun!
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DON'T FORGET Your Friends!...If you like DecoDreams, please
do a friend and me a huge favor and "pass it along"...

...or ask them to subscribe by visiting
Home Decorating Made Easy.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
***********************ACKNOWLEDGEMENT********************

Diversity of creative ideas has always been the
hallmark of home decorating. That's why I've asked
designer, artist, educator and writer, Marney
Makridakis, to share her own unique brand of
decorating advice in our "Ask the Decorator" column. I
think you'll enjoy her wit and original insights.

Submit your questions to Marney by clicking here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> TABLE OF CONTENTS

o News

1) A Quick Note For Wallpaper Hunters

o Featured Article

1) Ready to Fire Your Home Office?

o Today's Quote

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~~~~~~~~NEWS ~~~~~~~~~

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A Quick Note for Wallpaper Hunters

Every now and then I hear about special offers on home
decor products. So I thought I'd pass this one along.
If you've been searching for a good deal on wallpaper,
you may want to pay a visit to DecorateToday.com. The have a great
limited time deal on quality name brand wallpaper.

That's all for now. I hope you enjoy the featured
article on dressing up your home office.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FEATURED ARTICLE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Ready to Fire Your Home Office?

Today, more and more homes need home offices. For
someone who works from home, the home office is a true
place of business.

For other homes, the office is a place for a variety
of activities, such as computing, studying, writing,
or doing take-home work. In both cases, it is
important that a home office is fully functional and
also visually inspiring to those who will occupy it.

Far too often, the room designated as "home office" is
the last to receive a decorative hand. I hope that
this month’s issue of DecoDreams encourages you to be
creative when decorating your home office space.

After all, whether you work at home full-time or use
the space occasionally to pay the bills, YOU are the
boss! Therefore, it’s important that you inject some
of your personality into the décor of the room.

Here are my Top 10 Tips for easily creating the home
office of your dreams:

Take a thorough inventory of the activities you
undertake in the office to make sure you have a sense
of the equipment and furniture that you need to be
efficient and productive. Investing the time and money
to have the proper setup is very important.
If you are on a budget, don’t let that keep you
from putting thought and effort into decorating your
home office! Visit consignment shops, garage sales,
thrift stores, and surplus stores to find used
furniture pieces and storage options.
Trade and barter with friends and neighbors. Get
creative with the items you already have on hand, for
example, a hollow core door supported on two short
file cabinets works as a fine desk.
If you make use of used furniture, you will find
the atmosphere far more inspiring if you paint the
furniture in the same color or finish to unify it.
This will give a more professional feel to the office,
which is bound to increase confidence and productivity.
Consider if you would like to decorate your
office around a theme that is significant to you and
your work.
For example, someone who works from home running a Web-
based travel agency might want to create a travel-
themed office, depicting her favorite
destinations, or perhaps travel ephemera from days
gone by. A freelance writer who wanted to re-ignite
her sense of creativity decorated her office to look
like a child’s playhouse.
You can have a lot of fun thinking about themes for
your office.
If you don’t want to decorate your office around
a particular theme, I encourage you to select a color
scheme that you really love.
Whether you spend all day in the office or just an
hour here and there, you want the office to be a place
that feels comfortable and inspiring to you. Feel
free to venture away from the basic color scheme of
the rest of the house - this is your space, so enjoy it!
Once you have your equipment and basic furniture
needs taken care, don’t forget to add some elements of
comfort. An overstuffed chair and ottoman add an
inviting look to the room and provide a place to read
or review work.
A chaise lounge, such as the one shown in this
photograph, combines comfort with the ultimate in
style and luxury.
If your home office does double-duty serving
another purpose (such as being a guest room), don’t
sacrifice style! Computer centers that close up
inside armoires are the perfect solution for a stylish
guest room that can open up into an office in a moment.
A frugal option is to install doors or plantation
shutters on a second-hand entertainment center or
large shelving unit, to hide computer equipment and
work-related books and files. If the room has a
closet, you can create a computer space right inside
the closet, and hide it by closing the door.
You also can use folding screens to hide office
equipment when the room is serving as a bedroom for
guests.
Consider who will use your home office and make
sure that the needs of all concerned are met. If you
share the office with another household member,
brainstorm about your various needs to find compatible
solutions.
Determine whether your home office has visitors and,
if so, determine places for them to sit and/or work.
Do you need a coffee table to act as a "conference
table" when others come to sit and work with you?
Or will a simple chair on the other side of your desk
suffice? Do you need a space for your children to be
able to play while you are working?
Having adequate storage is very important so
that the room remains uncluttered. By selecting
storage options that look more like furniture than
stark office equipment, you can successfully marry
office technology with the style of your home.
For example, consider wicker file baskets instead of a
metal filing cabinet, or make a fabric-lined letter
tray instead of its metal counterpart.
Light is very important in a home office. Not
only will proper lighting enhance your productivity,
it also can add warmth and style to the room.
For example, an adjustable desktop lamp looks
attractive and inviting and also reduces glare on a
computer screen. If you have a separate sitting area
in the room, be sure that area has a reading lamp
available. Strive to have different lighting options
to reduce eye-strain.
Finally, if the room has windows, make sure that you
allow for some natural light to come through. Choose
window treatments that allow you to control the amount
of light into your workspace so that you can change it
according to the time of day and time of year.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TURNING IDEAS INTO ACTION!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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ASK THE DECORATOR

DecoDiva, Marney Makridakis, Answers Your Question
About Decorating Home Offices

QUESTION: I work from home in a small home office. I
have nice furniture and I have painted the walls in an
attractive buttery yellow, which I love. My problem
is that the office always seems to look cluttered, no
matter how much time I spend organizing and cleaning.
Do you have any tips to make my office look more
streamlined? It’s a small space so there isn’t room
to bring in a lot of storage options.

ANSWER: For home offices of any size, one of the best
things you can do is unify your desk accessories. When
things are mismatched, they look cluttered, even if
they are perfectly organized!

Take a look at your file trays, pencil cups, staplers,
hole punches, trash cans, file folders, crates, and
storage boxes. Then look for things that you can add
to each to make them unified with one another so that
they look like a set.

Can you paint them? Cover them with fabric? Cover
them with decorative paper or beautiful wallpaper?
Cover them with coordinating colors of thin foam
(available at craft stores)? Can you buy colored file
folders to match your file trays or hanging files?

Whatever you can do to coordinate these typically
mismatched pieces will do a lot for the look for your
office.

----------Recommended Resource----------

Get Organized Now!
Before you begin any decorating project,
do yourself a HUGE favor and get clutter
under control. Doing this alone will make
a room appear larger, and you'll feel more
relaxed. The crown jewel is that you'll get
more time back into your day. Click here to
learn more...

http://www.homedecoratingmadeeasy.com/get_org_now.html

------Recommended Resource------

"How to Make Roman Shades"
I reviewed this ebook recently and it's
the best you'll find on how to
easily create roman shades on
your own. Step-by-step diagrams
and easy, yet detailed, instructions
will have you making beautiful roman
shades in no time at all. Even sewing
beginners will find the process easy
to follow. Just think of the money
you'll save!

http://www.homedecoratingmadeeasy.com/sew_roman_shades.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ***************** TODAY'S QUOTE ***************************

"We must be willing to let go of the life we have
planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."

- E. M. Forster

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Wishing you all the best,

P.S. Don't forget your fr*ee chapters of Awaken Your
Interior Designer. You'll get 72 pages, filled with
lots of ideas and photos to put you on the right
decorating path.Click here to download your copy right away

P.P.S. If you're thinking of starting a part-time or
full-time business for crafts or home decorating, be
sure to download our complimentary ebook called From Passion to Cash: How to Make Money With Your Passion of Crafts and Decorating. You'll find lots
of helpful ideas to get you going in the right
direction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~