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.

Bright sun, sparkling blue water, and a gleaming white yacht. There’s little in life that can match that perfect trio.

The Riviera 3600 SY Sport Yacht is, of course, a product of the famous Australian firm, Riviera. Riviera is the largest boat manufacturer of Australia, with sales and distribution in more than 30 countries. The company produces four distinctive model lines: Flybridge, Offshore Express, Sport Yacht, and Sport Cruiser.

Let’s talk about their new Sport Yacht, the 3600 SY.

This yacht is called a sedan cruiser. It’s one level – the helm station is on the same level as the air-conditioned saloon, or entertaining area. Because of this, the person driving the boat isn’t cut off from conversation with those enjoying a little light meal and fun discussion in the saloon.

The pilot of this yacht will enjoy it’s speed and responsiveness, it’s sight lines and its instrument panel with all engine gauges and instruments in easy view. While there’s nothing to stop a pilot from taking this yacht out on a solo cruise, it’s of course more fun with a few passengers to enjoy the amenities…

There’s a double-decker guest cabin (or cab, as its called) and a master double berth cab down below.
The two sleeping cabs share a roomy, en-suite toilet/shower. There’s a separate shower stall as well as a Vacuflush toilet and extractor fan. Cedar-lined hanging lockers for clothes, and under-bunk stowage come standard.

This yacht was designed by leading Dutch designer, Frank Mulder. The hull is solid fiberglass, and it has a high-lift Vee bottom and propeller tunnels. This increases the speed of the boat, as does the twin Volvo D6 turbo-diesel drive. Because of the propeller tunnels, you receive quicker planing performance.

Ever heard of Sangria? It’s a wine punch made from red wine (in Spain, Spanish Tempranillo is the wine of choice), chopped or sliced fruit (a combination of orange, lemon, apple, peach, berries, pineapple, melon, grape, or mango), a sweetener such as honey, sugar, or orange juice. Then, a small bit of brandy or triple sec (an orange-flovered liquer) is added. Finally, add a dollop of ice, or sometimes a of carbonated soda to make it fizz.

If you travel to Spain, make sure you try some authentic sangria, as you make the rounds of the various shopping spots for Spanish pottery, Toledo swords, Spanish fans and clothing, and of course flamenco music.

For Spanish pottery, where should you go? Talavera de la Reina is a city and municipality in the western part of the province of Toledo, known for its pottery. Indeed, the city’s nickname is “The City of Pottery” (La Ciudad de Ceramica).

If you’re looking for sangria pitchers, or any other kind of Spanish pottery, another city to visit is Valencia. If you’re going to be visiting Valencia, try to go in the latter half of March when you can attend the Falles, a famous festival held in that city, renowned throughout Spain.

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.

When it comes to entertaining in your home, the serving of fine oak malt beverages, in particular the fabulous Macallan Whisky, is a sign of Upside Living if ever there was a sign. (Of course, fine malt beverages should be savored, and consumed in moderation.)

The Macallan is a well known single malt Scotch whisky, which is produced at Macallan Distillery near Easter Elchies House, at Craigellachie in the Speyside region of Scotland. The Easter Elchies House is a Jacobean manor house, over 300 years old, and on the grounds are grown the barley that are a vital ingredient of The Macallan Fine Oak Malt Whisky.

Until 2004, The Macallan was only matured in oak sherry casks brought to the distillery from Jerez, Spain. However, starting in 2004, The Macallan introduced a new main product, the Fine Oak series. With this product, the whisky is mellowed in bourbon oak casks as well as casks of oak sherry.

The type of cask used to age the whisky imparts to each “expression” a certain unmistakeable flavor. American oak casks seasoned withe either bourbon or sherry “impart a subtle, delicate color with hints of apple, floral, vanilla, and sweet citrus aromas and flavors.”

The Macallan is offered in whisky that has been aged for 10, 12 or 14 years (being moved from cask to cask to instill those various aromas and flavors.)

To be called a single malt whisk, a bottle may only contain whisky distilled from malted barley produced at a single distillery. Scotland, as well as Ireland and Japan, make the most famous single malt whiskeys, and The Macallan is perhaps the most famous of them all.

Purchase your favorite Macallan blend at Whisky.com.

Did you know that copper wind chimes need to be tuned?

A copper wind chimes is designed to be played by the wind, and consists of tubes or rods, which when affected by the wind come in contact with a suspended central clapper, or each other, to produce melodious notes.

The type of notes they produce all depend on which part of the tube or rod comes in contact with the clapper. Good-quality wind chimes have the center ball hung in such a way that it is the center of each tube or rod that comes in contact with it, sounding the most pure notes.

Frequency is determined by the length, width, thickness, and material of which the rods are made. These rods and tubes are made to specific formulas that help predict the proper length to achieve a particular note, but a bit of fine tuning is often needed to ensre the best sound.
A. Our wind chimes are constructed from a combination of materials – copper, brass, and wood. More specifically, the rods are made from solid brass, the chime tubes from copper, and the clappers from wood.

When you purchase a copper wind chimes from UpsideLiving.com, you will receive a wind chimes that has been professionally tuned following the production process.

Wind chimes were originally used on the corners of temples, thousands of years ago, to frighten away evil spirits and to frighten away birds. They can still be used in that way, of course. But more often than not you’ll find pleasure in these beautiful windchimes, with their delightful designs and their pleasant notes.

I hesitate to say that no one needs copper weathervanes anymore. Sailors needed to know the way the weather was blowing when they wanted to take their sail-driven ships out on the water, but those days are long past. Airports have windsocks, of course, to warn pilots of windshear, and various baseball parks have windsocks or weathervanes as well, so that the batters know where to hit the ball so they can get a homerun!

But these days, copper weathervanes
are used for decorative purposes only, and there’s a wide variety of decorative weathervanes to choose from.

For myself, I prefer the “action-oriented” weathervanes – those featuring an airplane or a ship,or even a lighthouse. But roosters are very popular, as are butterflies and dragonflies. The whimsical will also like weathervanes topped with a golfer in full swing, or a moose in the middle of ambling down a highway, an angel or a flag.

However, copper weathervanes are not just for outdoor use. UpsideLiving also offers indoor weathervanes, of appropriate size, that sit on one’s desk.

The weathervanes come in two finishes. The gleaming, brand-new copper finish is my favorite, but lots of people favor the green patina that comes with age. Those weathervanes are aged by a special process to give them that look.

Ever wonder what the world’s largest weather vane is? Why, it’s a DC-3 – a real DC-3, with thousands of hours in the air before it was retired, mounted on a stand near an airport in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The plane is mounted on pivots so that it can easily turn with only 5 knots of wind – and it always points into the wind, “as if it would love to take flight again.”

Copper is a beautiful, versatile metal. And of course one of its uses is for copper oil lamps for outdoor use.

These copper oil lamps, which burn oil using fiberglass wicks, come in Blue Verde, Smooth Copper, or Beaten Copper finishes.

People have been using copper for 10,000 years, and copper smelting seems to have developed independently in several places around the world. And, of course, it was the mixing of copper with zinc to make brass, and copper with tin to make bronze, which led to the “Bronze age.”

But let’s talk about copper oil lamps. Copper lamps — depending on their size — can burn from 8 hours to 12 hours, even up to 48 hours.

They make a perfect accent piece for porches and decks, therefore, when you’re entertaining and want a little style to light up the evening!

It’s all about mood lighting. Forget about those bush-league lava lamps! Copper oil lamps provide a taste of style and luxury that everyone can appreciate. The gleam of copper is beautiful on its own, but beaten copper, or Blue Verde copper lamps have their place as well in the elegant home.

Elegant your home may be…the dining room in particular. But there’s nothing quite like cocktails by moonlight on an open-air porch, with the strategic lights from Copper copper oil lamps enhancing the moonlight and the ambiance.

Australia is a unique place – the only place in the world that is simultaneously considered an island, a continent, and a country. It’s the world’s largest island, but it’s smallest continent. It’s divided into six states and two territories.

Of these states, Victoria is the smallest in size, but the largest in population, and Melbourne is the capital of Victoria. Not surprisingly, it’s also the second largest city in Australia, after Sidney.

But enough of these comparisons of size. What is there to see in Melbourne, for those who enjoy Upside Living?

The city itself was established in 1835, so it’s over a hundred and seventy years old. When gold was discovered near the city in the 1850s, Melbourne was transformed into a wealthy city — and remains so to this day.

Melbourne has a distinctive blend of Victorian and contemporary architecture, large swathes of park,and and gardens.

Architectural sites to visit in the city were mostly built during and after the Victorian Gold Rush and are still extant today: Parliament House, the Treasury Building and Treasury Reserve, the Old Melbourne Gaol, Victoria Barracks, the State Library, Supreme Court, University, General Post Office, and Government House, the Melbourne Town Hall, St Paul’s, St Patrick’s cathedrals and Queen Victoria Market.

While in Melbourne, don’t forget to take in a game of Australian rules football or cricket (assuming you’re there during the appropriate time of hear).

Just as one of London, England’s toursit attractions is its subway, so is Melbourne’s tram system one of its tourist attractions. Heritage trams operate on the free City Circle route, intended for visitors to Melbourne, and heritage restaurant trams travel through the city during the evening. (Having said that, most of Melbourne’s citizens drive around in cars.)

Victoria has over 21 different wine regions, and five of them are located close to Melbourne. Melbourne is a melting pot of cultures, and you’ll be able to find gourmet restaurants representative of cuisines from around the world. Or, you can stop into a pub for Australian eats.

There’s so much to do and see in Melbourne – from sports events to theater to historical buildings, that you’ll want to return again and again to appreciate all it has to offer.

Tuscany, or Tuscano as it is more properly called, is a region of Italy known both for its striking landscapes and its artistic legacy. Indeed, it’s artistic legacy goes back over a thousand years, and six Tuscan localities are UNESCO protected sites: the historical center of Florence, the historical center of Siena, the square of the Cathedral of Pisa, the historical center of San Gimignano, the historical center of Pienza and the Val d’Orcia.

That’s for its architecture. What about its Italian pottery and ceramics? What tourist to this region could resist acquiring some hand-crafted Italian pottery, such as dinnerware, pots, canisters and jars, coffee cups and mugs, and even wall decor. Not to mention the famous Roosters of Fortune.

Tuscany is crossed by several mountain ranges, which leaves little room for farming. (Fortunately for the inhabitants of the region throughout history, those little bits of farming land are extremely fertile.)

Tuscany is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and visitors to its ancient streets will be able to enjoy the architecture, painting and sculpture collected in dozens of museums in towns and cities across the region. Perhaps the best-known are the Uffizi, the Academia and the Bargello all of them located in Florence, the capital of the region.

Walk the streets and lands of Tuscany and you’ll walk back in time. Return to the present day with Italian pottery as a keepsake… not to mention thousands of photos and a post card or two!