Shabby Chic Cottage Style – Home
Shabby Chic Cottage Style
Tina Bauer
Is Shabby Chic Cottage Style your style Lets take a look. If you can answer yes to at least 4 of these questions than it is indeed.
Is your color palette a combination of whites and creams mixed with soft pastels
Does your heart melt at the site of vintage inspired floral fabrics
Do you enjoy going to flea markets to find one of a kind vintage treasures
Flowers, primarily roses, can be found in your home almost everywhere you look, including your artwork
Do you consider vintage or vintage inspired chandeliers romantic
Do you enjoy making your home a comfortable place where all feel welcome
Shabby Chic Cottage Style is a distinct style. It allows you to mix old vintage treasures, perhaps family heirlooms, with newly found treasures. Washable slipcovered furniture allows for stress free comfort.
Our motto is, "You can never have enough pillows." Creating an inviting atmosphere is a snap by decorating with an abundance of floral pillows. Place several of them on your sofa, window bench, and/or wood chairs to soften them.
We believe that the finishing touch for any Shabby Chic Cottage Style home is in the lighting. A great find would be a vintage chandelier dripping with prisms crystals. Paint it white and get a fresh new look that dazzles any room. Decorate with the things you love.
About The Author
Tina Bauer
For more Shabby Chic Cottage Style tips, or to locate Shabby Chic Cottage Style products, please visit www.notooshabby.com.
not_too_shabby@sbcglobal.net
Decorate your home with Shabby Chic – Home
Decorate your home with Shabby Chic
Johann Erickson
Are you ready to redecorate but have a limited budget Do you have some great furniture but nothing matches Do you love antiques but not stiff formal decor Then think Shabby Chic, a fun decorating style that solves all these dilemmas and more.
Shabby Chic is one of the hottest trends in decorating, and for good reason. It is versatile, easy, and inexpensive. Shabby Chic is based on simplicity -- simple color themes combined with your favorite furniture and art.
Shabby Chic can be anything you want it to be, and is a great way to bring your personal style to any room. Most Shabby Chic decor is based on a white-on-white or beige-on-beige theme. Soft pastels are often used as accent colors, but with a little creativity, you can add just about any color you want. A classic example of Shabby Chic would be to cover couches and overstuffed chairs with white slipcovers, whitewash your wood furniture and hang white airy curtains. Then hang your favorite painting or artwork in the most prominent place in the room. Choose one or two colors in the painting as accent colors, and repeat the colors in throw pillows, flowers, soft throw blankets, and candles. Another great feature of Shabby Chic is the worn and well-loved look. That side table that has an interesting shape but has seen better days is perfect for Shabby Chic. Simply whitewash it and put a vase with flowers on top. Better yet, use an old china teapot or your grandmothers favorite vase for the flowers. Its the little details like this that make Shabby Chic work so well.
If youre on a tight budget, Shabby Chic is a great choice. Make your own slipcovers with any durable white or beige fabric, and cover couches and chairs to match. Pick up interesting accessories at yard sales and flea markets, and paint them all the same shade of white. Pull out your favorite pictures and put them in frames painted white or coordinated accent colors. Throw in a few candles, flowers, and pillows, and you
High-income Earners Consider Renting Chic Again – Real Estate
High-income Earners Consider Renting Chic Again
Dan The Roommate Man
Over the past two years, households that earned $50,000 or more annually and had the means to join the ranks of home owners or continue owning the roofs over their heads represented the fastest growing segment of the rental market, according to the National Multi-Housing Council.
"These are people who could have bought but choose not to," NMHCs Kim Duty reported at the National Association of Real Estate Editors annual conference late last month in New Orleans. "Their older, more affluent and better educated, but they choose renting for the lifestyle, not economic reasons."
As Duty sees it, "the pendulum is swinging back" to the early 1900s when apartment living was considered chic. "Changing demographics, evolving lifestyles, new public policy initiatives and changes in the apartment industry are all working together to increase apartment demand," she told the meeting.
Over the next decade, according to NMHCs research, the two fastest growing age groups are two of the most likely to select apartment housing people in their mid 20s and empty-nesters in their 50s.
After more than 20 years of declining numbers, the population in the traditional renting years age 20-29 is expected to increase by 11 percent over the next decade. During the same period, moreover, the number of people in the 45 to 74-year-old age bracket will swell by 20 million, and these are folks who exhibit a much greater proclivity to rent than the counterparts in previous generations.
Duty, the apartment groups vice president of communications, also said the fastest growing portion of newly formed households going forward will be childless couples, singles living alone and unrelated households, all of whom have a higher propensity to rent than to buy.
She cited "three key reasons" these and other households choose to rent:
A desire for hassle-free living People want to simplify their lives by shortening their commutes, shedding household-related chores and living closer to entertainment, restaurants and shopping.
Financial incentives Many households want the ability to pick up and move from one job and/or place to another at will without incurring the costs of buying a new place and selling the old one, "financial penalties" few purchasers consider. Others opt to rent so they can invest their money in the stock market as opposed to their homes.
Superior amenities The evolving apartment sector now offers a package of services and features that cannot be replicated in a single-family house, at least not affordably. These include high-speed internet access, security, built-in social opportunities, on-site concierge, fitness centers business centers and even movie theaters.
In addition, Duty said, many of todays apartments "look and feel more like single-family homes. They are larger, and they include finishes such as attached garages, built-in, pre-wired entertainment centers, private alarm systems, granite counter tops, oversized whirlpool tubs, gas fireplaces and more."
The NMHC also believes the 1997 Tax Act tilted the rent-versus-buy decision in favor of apartments. Now that the first $250,000 of capital gains $500,000 for married couples filing jointly is tax-free, more home owners are able to consider renting without being encumbered by a huge tax liability.
Indeed, the groups analysis indicates that apartment demand could increase by as much as 10 percent over the next several years due to this change in the tax law alone.
On the supply side, meanwhile, new interest in smart growth and infill development is "making it easier to get new apartment construction approved," Duty said, maintaining that apartments utilize existing infrastructure more efficiently that detached housing.
"Urban areas also realize that the lifestyle rental market is a key market to target in trying to recruit middle and upper-income households to return downtown," the industry spokesperson added.
Finally, in contrast to mom-and-pop apartment owners of yesteryear, most of todays landlords are large firms that are invested in the long-haul, not short-term tax benefits. And as a result, they have made obtaining and retaining residents "a highly professional endeavor."
About The Author
Since 1989 Dan The Roommate Man has helped 1000s of people find roommates. Need help Contact him at 800-487-8050 or www.roommateexpress.com
info@roommateexpress.com