If you love the look and feel of genuine European pottery, than you probably understand the nuances that come along with purchasing quality. For the rest of us, it can be a tricky expedition. The worldwide market is flooded with knock-offs and impostor pottery that is made to resemble fine European pottery but lacks the quality and hand crafted characters.

Purchase Authentic
When you are looking for investment pieces to add to your collection, be sure that what you are purchasing is authentic. Look the piece over carefully, especially if you are purchasing it from a flea market, open stall or an antiques dealer who also appears to carry a lot of modern wares – this could be a signal that the pottery may be a knock-off. Look for inconsistencies in the painting on the pottery. If the piece is truly hand painted, it will not be exactly perfect. If it was machine painted, or transferred, it will be more even and consistent. Look for paint strokes that indicate an authentic piece that was hand finished by a skilled artisan. Pick up the piece of pottery – great pottery generally has significant weight to it – and is not lightweight as you would find by a mass produced piece that is made in a factory.

Purchase from a Reputable Dealer
An excellent piece of modern Majolica pottery from Italy can cost hundreds of dollars; perhaps even thousands if it is a sought after antique. When you are making this kind of an investment, you want to ensure you are buying quality pottery. It is worth your while to buy from a dealer that specializes in Italian or Spanish pottery. These specialty dealers either travel to Europe and hand select the pieces they offer, or in the very least they have great relationships with European potters. Never purchase from someone that you don’t know or trust. As a rule, in a North American flea market that offers pottery pieces of Europe, they are probably replicas. If you are looking online for quality pieces, you may want to consider Upside Living, who specializes in superior quality European pottery from Italy and Spain, and guarantee each piece is hand crafted by expert artisans and never mass produced.

You get what you pay for
Lastly, I would just like to impress upon you that in any antique, collectible or quality piece of pottery you purchase for your home, you get what you pay for. Certainly, there are rare occasions when you happen upon a stunning piece of Majolica at an antique fair that is indeed authentic and you purchase it way below its value. However, we both know these lucky finds are few and far between. In every other case, you get what you pay for. If you want quality Italian pottery pieces for your growing collection, and you want to be sure that you are getting authentic items that are hand made to the highest specifications, and are of heirloom quality, you will need to pay more for these than mass produced pottery pieces. Put the two side by side and it will take you less than a minute to see the difference in beauty, luster, and detail. The real thing is always the best buy, even if it does cost a little more.

What is it that makes a beautiful interior? Well it could be a number of things, wall paper, furniture, curtains but more often than not it’s the home accessories that can make or break a room. A perfectly placed mirror or painting can brighten up even the drabest of interiors. With that in mind here are my top 5 tips to accessorize your home.

1. Pictures. A picture should be the feature of the wall but never overpower the room. So always paint your walls a monochromatic color and allow the art to dominate. It’s a good idea to use a nice dark colored frame to highlight the image.

2. Mirrors. If you have a room in your house that always seems a little dark, a great way to brighten it up is to add a mirror. Place the mirror on the darkest wall opposite a window and then try to find a low hung light or better still a chandelier to hang in front of it. This will allow the light to reflect off the mirror onto the crystals and reflect around the room.

3. Vases. Nothing adds more drama to a room than beautifully coloured vase. Try to find a vase that suits the character of the room. It should be in a contrasting colour to the rest of the room but that colour should be accentuated with other accessories like your cushions and curtains.

4. Cushions. Use them to brighten up an otherwise drab sofa. Make sure they’re good quality; you can always tell when someone has skimped on the cushions. Try to find a contrasting colour to the sofa but make sure you accentuate them with other accessories within the room.

5. Plants. A few plants here and there can add drama to a room, not to mention fragrance. But try not to go overboard; it is after all a room and not your garden. A few feature plants in beautiful vases is all you need. I love Lilly’s in a glass flute vase as the centrepiece of a table.

Nothing makes a room more homey than a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers. But let’s face it they can be more trouble than they’re worth. Petals dropping on the floor and they have a horrible habit of dying on you.

But there’s an answer, buy yourself a silk floral arrangement. A good quality silk floral arrangement has the same effect as a fresh arrangement, but there’s no cleaning up to do and they won’t drop dead on you.

There’s another advantage too, especially if you or a member of your family suffers from allergies like hay fever, because silk floral arrangements are hypoallergenic, they contain no allergens like pollen to get up your nose.

Although the initial cost is quite high compared to fresh flowers, they work out much cheaper in the long run. But the hassle they save you in time and effort far outweighs the initial cost anyway.

For the best results I recommend placing them as a feature in the hall. This way when you come through the front door after a hard day at work they make a nice warm welcoming feature.

A great tip is to buy a few arrangements and place them around the house, and then every so often change them all around to give a fresh look. If you keep the same arrangement in a room for a few months you’ll get used to them and they’ll lose that dramatic effect you were initially looking for.

Leaving home for the first time for college can be a nerve racking experience. But one thing that can help you settle in is making your dorm room a little more homely.

We can all remember that first look at our dorm rooms; mine was like a glorified prison cell. Now you can jazz it up a bit with posters and family photos, but it won’t really feel like home. If only you could paint the walls, beige is such a cold and uninspiring colour.

There is however one thing you can do that’ll make all the difference. Because nothing makes a room more inviting than a great big soft sheepskin rug.

And the best part is you don’t have to worry about matching it with those lovely beige walls. Because when it comes to sheepskin rugs you can have any colour you like, so long as it’s white.

For the ultimate in luxury, position it by the bed. Now when you get up in the morning your feet won’t touch the cold hard floor, they’ll sink into that lovely warm soft wool.

So jazz up your cell a little and make it feel more like home sweet home.

Lighting can transform the character of a room, but be careful it’s easy to get it wrong. Too harsh and you’ll find it difficult to relax, too dark and you’ll strain your eyes trying to read.

A great way to create a deep and moody atmosphere in a room is to add a pair of sexy table lamps. Just right for those cold winter evenings, turn the lights down low, grab a glass of wine and relax in front of an open fire.

Table lamps come in many different shapes and designs from arabesque to fleur-de-lis; so it’s easy to find one that suits the décor of your room.

Place them on end tables near the centre of the room to create a stylish and sophisticated look, just like the penthouse at the four seasons.

Your table lamps should create a warm glow when you turn the ceiling lights low, giving you just enough light to settle down and relax after a long hard day in the office.

It’s important to choose carefully when choosing table lamps; they’ll be one of the main focal points in your room. So buying cheaply just wont do, the trouble with cheap table lamps is that, well there’s no other way of saying it, they look cheap.

So invest in a quality lamp, and revel in luxury as you settle down, glass in hand to watch sex in the city, whilst bathed in a soft warm glow from a beautifully constructed shade. Life just doesn’t get any better than that.

Should you do a search on the web for the top 5 designer trends in home décor, or the top 10 designer trends in home decor, you will find lots of discussion on the topic.

Being trendy is difficult decorating a home with the current fad one year, and then redecorating it all the next year because of a new trend..or at least a new trend that someone thinks is a good idea. It’s bad enough to stay ahead of new clothing fashions every year. I recommend shopping for designs that you like and stick to that instead of designs that you feel pressure to buy. Having confidence and trusting your own inner design choices will make you and your guests feel more comfortable and you will enjoy your living environment so much more.

Well, let’s discuss the top five designer trends in home décor.

1. Go Green: The major trend this year, and one that will probably continue for a few years, is to “go green.” More and more people are going out of their way to furnish their homes with items made from sustainable building materials. One should not avoid going green its just the right thing to do for our environment.

2. Hollywood Regency: Being a fan of classic Hollywood movies we are thrilled to see a come back in this style trend. Carmen Natschke – editor of “The Decorating Diva” – sees a revival of “Hollywood Regency.” She describes this style on her website as is “glamorous, classy and elegant; composed of an eclectic mix of styles like Neo-Classic, Asian, Baroque and Art Deco; sumptuous and luxury fabrics, shimmering finishes, mirrored furniture, chinoiserie, bamboo and lacquered furniture; bold color; clean lines and beautiful symmetry.” It may be a trend gathering speed, as it should, but I’m proud to say I was in on it before it became trendy.

3. Metal: Rather than furniture made of wood, metal is coming into its own this year in home décor. And then of course there are the metal accents for outdoor use – the fire pits, the copper pots, the weathervanes.

4. Wall Murals: Rather than paint or wall paper, wall murals are coming into their own this year. And judiciously applied, wall murals can actually add a spectacular conversation piece to one’s home. The designs are trompe de l’oeil, fool the eye. Dine at a kitchen table in front of an arch leading into a Tuscan village, watch your big-screen plasma TV in a living room made peaceful with a beach scene. And you can really let yourself go to town in your child’s room.

5. Comfort: Another trend this year, and one in which I totally concur, is to make your home comfortable. Sophisticated design is all very well, but it’s like those elegant high-heels that women wear. They look beautiful, but at the end of the day your feet are in agony. When you return to your home, the very least you can expect there is comfortable furniture.

When you’re a kid, there’s nothing more fun then getting down on the floor and playing a game of monopoly or chess or even marbles. But those hardwood floors can be hard on bony little knees, and that’s where sheepskin rugs come in.

Sheepskin rugs are soft to the touch, and comfortable to kneel or lie on. And of course for kids, the design is the thing.

Sports enthusiasts will enjoy sheepskin rugs shaped like baseballs or soccer balls, girls will like butterflies and moocows (which is not to say they won’t like those sports-themed rugs as well), and every little heart will be warmed by a heart-design rug.

These high-quality rugs are fun to kneel or lie upon, sure, but they’re also good just as decoration. Indeed, why stop at one. Get three or four!

Of course, once you get sheepskin rugs you have to take care of them properly. There are various cleaning products for them, to keep them as clean as the first day they arrived. In addition, a little vigorous shaking helps the fur fluff up, and keep it fluffy after a long day of being played upon.

Arranging flowers is an art form. There are so many varieties of flowers, with so many colors and aromas, that one would never run out of combinations. However, the simplest of floral designs is always the best, and when it comes to silk floral designs, Upside Living offers the most delicate designs and elegant arrangements that you will find.

Our silk floral designs, are created by Laurie Burke, of Immortalis Botanicals. An appropriate name, since her creations will not wither and die but will instead live on forever, to be used time and againas accent pieces for your parties, or simply for your everyday living space.

Each piece comes with one or two types of flowers, delicately juxtaposed so that one shape of flower sets off the other, as one color of flower sets off the other.

Take, for example, the design of lavender lilacs and white roses, set off in a cut-glass Baltic vase.

Or pink peonies and white calla lillies in a clear gourd vase.

Indeed, the vase is just as important as the flowers in these arrangements. Use the wrong shape of vase and the entire design of the flowers is thrown out of kilter.

Picture the oriental beauty of four Calla Zantedeschias in a flair square vase, or a floral flask vase with floral flask with yellow forsythia and twig vine arranged within.

And what better vase for apink dendrobium orchids then a tall crystal flute
.
If you’re feeling jaded with clear glass vases, regardless of their elegant shape, consider a ram’s horn vase of white, with white water lilies, orange pincushion proteas and wetland grass.

Simplicty and elegance: those are the hallmarks of the classic silk floral designs.

We don’t need to tell you that the economy is tough right now. People are reluctant to spend money as they don’t know if they’ll still have their job in another month or so.

But just because money is tight these days doesn’t mean that your home decor should suffer.

In times of stress, having a soothing home environment to return to each day is critical. And with Upside Living, you can find quality home decor for the best prices.

Let us take silk flowers for example. Beautiful floral designs make a pleasing accent for any room. They look so real that you’ll be tempted to cup a flower in your hand to smell the aroma. But because they’re silk, of course they will never wither and die.

Pillows of soft sheepskin provide a luxurious place to lay your head…and area rugs in a variety of designs are a pleasure to the feet as well as the eye.

And let’s not forget curios and collectibles that delight the eye and the senses, such as table top weathervanes suitable for guy or gal. For the aircraft enthusiast, think about a copper biplane desktop weathervane, or one of a golfer with his club at the top of his swing. Sailing enthusiasts aren’t forgotten, either. You may not be able to fly, golf or sail as much as you’d like these days, but these conversation pieces will cheer you up every day.

The vast variety of flowers from around the world can be breath-taking in their beauty, and there’s no feeling quite like planting seeds and watching the subsequent plant grow from seed to seedling to ultimately, the blooming flower. But…that takes time.

Folks with allergies can’t enjoy certain flowers. Then there’s the cost to have fresh flowers weekly to brighten your home. Even in summer, depending on what kinds of flowers you like, the cost can add up. And of course, in winter, snow typically covers your garden with a mantle of white, preparing it for the next season of growth.

That’s where the craft of Silk Flower Arrangement comes in.

With Silk Flower Arrangement, you can have the beauty of flowers in your home — any kind of flower — without having to wait for them to grow, without having to pay every week for fresh flowers, and perhaps best of all, you will never have to watch them wilt and die.

Of course there’s no point in having a Silk Flower Arrangement if the flowers don’t look real. But what could be more special than having vibrant calla lillies or or madonna lillies in pristine white vases in rooms throughout your home.

Everyone knows how much roses cost. A lilacs and roses flower arrangment looks just as beautiful and will last forever.

Pink peonies, white tulips, water lilies and forsythia… tastefully displayed in an elegant glass vase…the possibilities are endless. And everyone knows how difficult orchids are to grow. Yet with a wave of the hand (well, of the pocketbook) you can have lady slipper orchids, or pink or orange dendrobium orchids.

Silk Flower Arrangement: the key to a beautiful, colorful home.