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Creating the Happiest Place in Your House with a Disney Themed Bedroom

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:23:45 +0000

Solid built Amish bedroom and children’s furniture is the perfect foundation for creating a childhood full of Disney memories. In 1955 Walt Disney looked at a blank canvas of real estate and saw the fantasy world the globe has grown to love. Just as you were as a child your child is captured by the illusions portrayed in Disney’s cartooned universe. By digging deeply in to your imagination you can find the brilliance Disney and bring that feeling of magic home to your child by creating their very own Disney retreat right in your home.

THEMES- Some themed rooms do attempt to draft all the Disney characters in the attempt to get the flavor of the theme park all in one room. While this can work beautifully if thought out and not too cluttered with over a half a century of characters, more impact can be created by narrowing it to one character or movie. There are inspirational themes for even the pickiest pre-teens, such as Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers.

WALL COLORS -Wall colors create a canvas to build your world on. For instance, the Disney princess world is in pastels such as pale blue, yellow or pink. Most of the male oriented Disney themes are in bright primary colors such as the reds and oranges for pirates, Toy Story, CARS, etc. Painting each wall a different color can add interest or create a bold statement with one wall differing as a focal point.

FURNITURE – The largest piece of furniture in a room is usually the bed and the Amish have crafted beds from twin to king, along with the amazing flexibility of the convertible cribs that will last a childhood or more. Themed bedding with pirate ships or race cars are available in every major store and will tie together any theme. Creating a mysterious tent by suspending gauze or fabric above the bed for a canopy is an inexpensive way to create the mood. Solid wood cedar chests can be treasure chests while bookcases and shelving, custom stained to match your Amish heirloom furnishings, will hold all of your Disney collectibles.

FLOOR COVERS – Use oriental rugs as magic carpets from Aladdin or a canvas rug, painted with a race track for CARS and including Matchbox or Hot Wheels for interactive play. Princess Pocohantas loves faux animal skin rugs and a Mulan themed room is easily enhanced by choosing Bamboo rugs.

WINDOWS – Window treatments should be playful but functional. Think theatrical when cutting foam board to create portals on a pirate ship or placing shutters inside the windows to recreate the Old World styling of Beauty and the Beast. Alladdin themes are beautified by hanging an Indian inspired candle lantern, with its intricate cut-outs that silhouette in the dark in a window. This same simple candle lantern can just as easily become Tinkerbell’s home. A painted on Arabic arch or a deep sea theme surrounding the window frame is simple enough for even those artistically challenged parents.

Along with your child develop and an idea of what you want the room to be. Use that vision to trigger your inner child’s imagination. Use resources to inspire you and include your child in the creative process. Before you know it you will transport your child’s room into their own happiest place on earth.

You just have to believe!

How To Sell Your Collectibles and Heirlooms: Valuable and Smart Tips

admin — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:53:04 +0000

While we may collect things from sports cards to furniture simply for the enjoyment of the hunting and the gathering, most of us collect knowing that there is a chance if needs arose, we could sell that collection. Many a handcrafted Amish built bookcase holds the world’s most prized collectibles. It is a fact that people who love the high quality of Amish design are usually people who admire beautiful and interesting objects of art. It goes without saying they collect anything from handmade quilts to high end art glass. In fact many collect, what else? – Amish furniture.

Whatever your obsession for collecting was routed into there may come a time to part from it. Even in the best of times life changes, money is tight, tastes change, space runs out, you marry someone who finds your beer bottles from around the world clashing with her doily collection…Whatever the reason, time may have come for you to lose the collection and gain the cash. Educating yourself away from the consumer thought process and towards the vendor end of the deal is wise.

The first step to selling your possessions is to determining your market. Ask yourself, where will you get the most money for your valuables? Today the availability of avenues to sell your collectibles is vast. From the old fashioned ads in your local paper to yard sales to online auctions, quite literally the world is your storefront. Decide what venue will give you the greatest access to the people who collect what you do? If you have in your collection any rare items the World Wide Web can pay off best. Bidding wars caused by auction frenzy and world wide monetary value differences can only benefit you the seller. A seller can only win when the world is your bidding audience. Include the auction fees when deciding whether to use an auction service.

A very specific target audience is the collector clubs. You may be able to buy and sell to members who obsess over what you have collected. Collector clubs can be reached through member specific publications or online sites and boards. True collectors are members who take the subject seriously. This is evidence of true passion and a truly passionate collector will come up with the cash if you have what they need to complete their collection.

Determine whether you want to offer the collection in bulk or individually. Ask yourself if selling as a whole or selling individually will bring the greatest yield. If you are in a hurry, selling as a whole is a quick route but, remember that selling separately or in smaller groupings can bring the highest amount. There is more time and effort in separating the collection. You also run the risk of being stuck with the less desirable pieces.

Showcase your collection in its best light, whether with pictures and description in print or online, or by insuring that it is in its best condition. Take the time to research your audience, pick the best marketing venue and display your valuables to your advantage. Caring for your treasures while you own them insures that their value is not diminished by improper storage. Investing in solid hardwood Amish designs like cedar chests, shelves, hutches and storage units not only create an amazing showcase but also help protect your investments.

Amish Hope Cedar Chests and Trunks; A Part of History

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:52:01 +0000

The cedar chest, hope chest or trunk may well be as many furniture historians believe, the first true piece of furniture. From it, most certainly, evolved the chest of drawers. The box called a trunk or chest was a common sense and practical structure. This wooden framed box was built to store and move personal possessions and it could also be used as a seat or a table. Trunk shapes ranged from the rounded vessels found on Conestoga wagon trains or flat topped and sided for extra storage space like the steamer trunks on ships. Although the shape has varied slightly over the centuries, the concept remains steady.

Every era of history and virtually every culture have some sort of trunk or chest. From Africa to Scandinavia communities built their own form of mobile container for storing and moving personal possessions. Some cultures made very plain and functional boxes while some like the Swedes were heavily decorated. Trunks were flat top to domed, plain or embellished with metal work and leather strappings, upholstered or painted. Some trunks went so far as to document its own history in signatures, dates and heavy decoration.

From the fall of Rome to contemporary retailers trunks have held everything from bolts of silk cloth from the Orient traveling from city to city, or parcels of linen for ladies in waiting, to scarce books coming to print after the end of the Dark Ages and Gutenberg’s printing press made reading a possibility for the masses. Today it may hold an inherited quilt, a family Bible or a little boy’s baseball card collection.

The trunk or the chest, especially made out of insect repelling cedar is still a very sought after a functional piece of furniture whether as storage, a bench at the foot of a bed or a coffee table. The Amish crafted cedar chest is perfect as a baby shower gift – a symbol of a long life of memories to collect. As a symbol of memories to share, young singles and newly married couples still list a hope chest to store their future heirlooms or prize possessions for their new homes on gift registries. Every fall students move out of the parental nest and off to university dormitories on campuses around the world. Most of the students have one thing in common and that is that they packed their homes into storage trunks or chests.

These pieces of portable furniture can hold anything from spare socks to secret dreams and have held a place in history for centuries. In oak, maple, hickory or cherry there are over a dozen designs from Mission style to classic the Amish still design and craft these solid wood time capsules to be enjoyed today and handed down tomorrow.

Ten Uses For Your Cedar Chest

admin — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:31:36 +0000

Cedar chests are great furniture pieces to have in any style home because they are both beautiful and useful. They can be used in the bedroom, guest room, kitchen, dining room, living room, foyer, or anywhere in the home where you might need a little extra storage space or a nice place to sit. Consider some of these ideas for incorporating and using a cedar chest in your home.

1. Most people use their cedar chest in the bedroom at the foot of the bed to place extra blankets, pillows, or comforters inside. Cedar wood naturally keeps moths away, so your linens will be well protected while being stored.

2. Cedar chests are the perfect place to keep your winter sweaters safe from moths during warmer months. If you have room, place your cedar chest in the closet for a place to sit down while dressing in the morning.

3. Keep extra towels in your cedar chest in or near your guest room or bathroom for easy access while guests are visiting.

4. Store all of your loose photographs and albums in a cedar chest for safe keeping.

5. Place a cedar chest beneath a bay window and put a cushion on top of it for a nice place to sit while having your coffee or for the cat to take a nap on.

6. A cedar chest in the kitchen is a great place to store those bulky and rarely use items, such as platters, large mixing bowls, or the blender.

7. Keep a cedar chest near your entertainment center and use it to store movies, games, or messy gaming units.

8. Many of us still can’t part with our old record albums, so keep them in a cedar chest along with an old record player for when you’re feeling melancholy.

9. A cedar chest in the kids’ playroom is a great way to keep toys and games organized down at a child’s level for easy access.

10. Your cedar chest is the perfect place to keep your crafts organized and in one place, such as knitting yarns, sewing fabrics, or jewelry making beads.