Tag home decor

Got a carpet for your home but it doesn’t look new anymore? These tips will teach you how to clean your carpet effectively and get back that brand new look.

 

• Regular clean-ups:

  • Your carpet is the main focus of your room. So, keeping it clean by vacuuming it at least once a week or fortnightly is a habit that will extend the life of your carpet.
  • Prevent dust accumulation by doing so, especially if there are children in the house.

 

• Affairs in odour:

  • Baking soda is a regular for getting rid of odours in general and it works just as well on carpets.
  • If your carpet is unattached to the floor, drying it in the sun is the most natural way to get rid of a stench.
  • Another option would be to add 5-7 drops of your favourite essential oil to any cleaning concoction, spritz the carpet and vacuum after a few minutes.

 

• Mould / Mildew:

  • A mixture of lemon juice and salt or hydrogen peroxide (3% or less) and water will help in killing the fungi that cause moulds.
  • A non-chlorine bleach would work just as well but testing it out on an inconspicuous area of the carpet first is advisable.

 

• Accidental spills:
  

  

  The best way to reduce damage to the carpet due to a spill is by absorbing most of the liquid as quickly as possible with a dry, white cloth. 

   

  • Never rub a stain as it will reinforce the stain/debris into the carpet and wreck the carpet fibres. We cannot stress more on this fact.
  • Work your way inward by starting the blotting process from the edges of the spill.
  • In case of food, pick it up off the carpet and pat the area lightly with a soft, clean paper towel.
  • Apply dry baking soda on the area and let it sit until it foams and pat the area again.
  • Do not rub the stain as it will push the matter deeper inside and make it extremely ugly and difficult to work with later.
  • Wine stains can be taken out by first applying cold water and then by using –
    • A generous amount of salt to absorb the liquid
      OR
    • A mixture of a lower concentration of hydrogen peroxide (upto 3%) and dish soap. This is best saved for light coloured fabrics as hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent. Spray soapy water and subsequently, lukewarm water after that.
      OR
    • White wine / vodka dilutes the red colour when applied instantly to the red wine spill. Blot the area with a sponge and apply a thick baking soda paste on it. Cover the stain with a clean cloth and apply slight pressure to it. Let it sit overnight and vacuum the baking soda once it is dry.
  • Coffee and other stains can be taken out by using ordinary shaving cream or a liberal amount of club soda and letting it stay for a few minutes before spraying it with water.

 

• Ink blot:

  • Pure alcohol will make your ink worries disappear, because that’s where the magic of alcohol lies. Use alcohol on the ink stain to release it from the fibres.
  • Always blot ink or any other liquid from the outside to the inside to avoid spreading the spill.
  • Shaving cream can also be used to get rid of an ink blot. But, make sure you get rid of the foam that is formed by adding water, dabbing gently and vacuuming.

 

• Greasy smears:

  • Corn flour can help to get rid of sticky messes on the carpet as it dries out the stickiness. But, it must be used immediately.
  • Chewing gum and other sticky substances can also be taken off by using an ice cube to harden them first.

 

• Wane wax:

  • Do not fret if wax has dripped onto your precious carpet, especially if it has dried up. Heating it will make it come off just as easily. Place a white cloth over it and iron the cloth for a little less than 30 seconds to warm it up, so that you can scrape it off with a butter knife.

 

• Oil aboard / Crying over crayon:

  • One teaspoon of dishwashing liquid (without bleach) should be diluted in one cup of water and sprayed onto the carpet and blotted until the oil / crayon stain lifts.

 

• Blood work:

  • Paper cuts or other causes of blood drops on your carpet shouldn’t raise your blood pressure since the dried blood can be made loose with a concoction of water and a mild detergent. It can then be scraped off. The remaining blood can be removed with hydrogen peroxide. Foaming is normal on application. Blot with a dry towel to finish up.

 

• Pet peeves:

  • The most well-trained furry friends can accidentally muck up the carpet. One easy, but gradual, DIY solution to this is to create a blend of 30ml of water, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1/2 a cup of citrus fruit peels (like oranges or lemons) in a container. Shake it well and let it sit for 3 months (you read that right) and your naturally prepared suspension will be ready for a cleaning.

 

• Throw ups:

  • Blot as much as you possibly can and dilute it with club soda or baking soda. Then apply 1 tablespoon of ammonia to 10 tablespoons of water and spray it on the soiled area. Let it sit for a few minutes, spray cold water over it and then blot again. Vacuum the area after it has dried.

 

• Water trouble:

  • We know that most of the remedies we have given you make use of water. But, that is because your carpet has already been ruined. Water ruins carpet texture so keep it as far as it can be kept from carpets, unless it is needed for cleaning.
  • In case of a spill, blot the area and absorb as much water as possible with a dry cloth or paper towels.
  • If there is excess moisture in the carpet, place thick white towels on the spot and weigh them down with a heavy object like a big book to add some pressure.

 

Quick suggestions:

• As much as you might have heard about vinegar being a good stain remover, avoid using it since it contains acid and that could ruin the carpet’s delicateness.
• One obvious piece of advice that we’d like to remind you of is to test any new cleaning method on a small area first.
• To prevent the carpet from catching rust stains from furniture, place a foil or plastic sheet beneath the legs.
• If your carpet has lost some colour in the cleaning process, touch it up with a little acrylic paint, felt pens or permanent marker.

 

While looking to buy a home, one of the first things a buyer notices is the condition of the carpet. So, keeping it well-maintained will increase the chances of a sale you’ve been wanting to bag.

 

These solutions cover, pretty much, every carpet complication that could arise and are enough to get you through the tough day you might need them for. Hopefully, you don’t wonder about how to clean your carpet on such a day. Bookmark this guide to access it whenever you need to. Until then, you learn something new every day.

 

Do let us know if you have any additional information relevant to carpet cleaning in the comment section below.

 

 

Wanna know how to choose room colour? Find out here.

 

Have you ever really noticed the patterns of your daily routine? Do you know why you make certain choices over others? Why you chose that shade of yellow in your living room or why you knew that lilac wall would make the room seem very welcoming? Colour, being a non-verbal language, depicts emphasis in a profound manner.

 

The colour you paint your room in signifies the level of comfort you are going to have when you start using it. But colour psychology works on a daily basis, more often that you would realise. So choosing the right colour is just as important as choosing the right room for it. Here, at ApnaComplex, we’ve put together a list of basic colours and the vibe they give away when used as paint. With the guidance rendered in this post, you will now have a well-informed reason to splash your room with the colour of your choice.

 

PURPLE —

Purple, depending on the shade, evokes varying levels of richness and sophistication. It inspires spirituality and prosperity and adds a dash of adventure to an otherwise mundane room. A stylish choice, purple hues encourage a fresh take on issues that are hard to come to conclusions to. Adding depth to a room, purple evokes compassion and humanity.

 

PINK —

Pink is a very common colour in a little girl’s room and is accounted for as it represents love and understanding. Hues such as rose, lavender pink and mimi pink are a crowd favourite. Use sophisticated fabrics to avoid a pale and monotonous look in the room. Vivid pinks are also viewed as glamourous and powerful and can be counteracted with blacks and greys. Such hues can be used in entryways as they are transitional spaces in a house and suggest movement, so save brighter pinks for the smaller spaces.

 

RED —

Red acts as a stimulator; a stimulator of appetite, conversation, etc. So, it is best to save the reds for the kitchen and dining rooms, but to add flair and depth into your bedroom, one wall can be highlighted with a deep red to make it stand out.

 

ORANGE —

Orange is an edifying color and it promotes happiness, warmth, emotional strength, optimism and spontaneity. The living room could do with a hint of orange as it also a social communication enhancer. The kids’ room could also have some orange walls as it aids in creativity and new ideas. This is one of the most underused colours and will add a touch of quirkiness to any room it is used to paint.

YELLOW/GOLD —

Yellow symbolizes power and vibrancy and also stimulates health, wisdom and patience. It acts as an excellent mood enhancer. In feng shui, yellow and gold are associated with wealth. These colours can be used in smaller spaces around the house and in entryways, making them seem larger and airier. Avoid using bright yellow hues in calmer sections of the home as they stimulate the nerves.

 

GREEN —

Green is the colour of new starts and growth, healing and freshness. It is the primary colour of nature and it encourages stability and rejuvenation and improves concentration. Green tints would do very well in the bedroom, kitchen and study but can be used to spruce up a living room with minimalistic varying textures. The bathrooms could use a little bit of green to make things less monotonous as well.

 

AQUA —

A mix of blue and green, aqua, represents youth and helps in inducing a state of relaxation and meditation. Aqua coloured curtains complement white walls and help in reducing sleep difficulties. Aqua ornamentation creates a feel of spirituality.

 

BLUE —

A blue room projects tranquility. Blue is said to have relaxing effects on people as it lowers blood pressure, reduces respiration rate and heart rate. Deeper blues infuse wisdom and introspection into the room, but overdoing it can make the room give off a dismal vibe. Blue walls are best saved for family rooms, bedrooms, larger kitchens, bathrooms and for a twist, a powder blue ceiling.

 

BLACK —

Black is a colour that adds an essence of contemplation and reflection to a room. It also creates a mysterious element when paired with metallic ornamentation. As a more formal and elegant but magnetic colour, it should be preferably used as an accent colour (complementary colour).

 

GREY —

An unknown fact about the colour grey is that it cultivates helpfulness. A harmonious union of black and white, when paired with eye-popping hues of pink, it creates a balance of subtle and bold. Grey is a calming colour with a delicate aura and silver and grey can be used in different tones to create a perception of enchantment and mysticism. It is alluring and charismatic when paired rightly with a red.

 

WHITE —

White is a crisp colour that invites clarity, precision and communication and is normally used in kitchens and living rooms. White’s cleanliness and contrast to almost every colour works in any room, especially with woodwork. White also looks dainty when it is used along with grey and provides a seamless background for black furniture.

 

BROWN —

Brown is an earthy tone that offers stability and security. It is generally used to highlight bolder colours like orange or lime green. Brown is the colour of wood and wood can be used to add an elegant and warm feel to a room. Browns combined with hues of green, like sage, discourage tension in the room and create a sophisticated mode of living. Brown can be used in the dining room or as an addition to the bedroom paired with a lighter, more airy colour such as aqua or pink.

 

How to choose room colour depends on the different hues of these colours that evoke specific emotions. Room colour decisions should always be made keeping in mind the ideal room setting, embellishments and furniture that is used in the room. The colour of paint makes a drastic difference in the perception the room creates about itself since the character of the room is decided by the undertone that the colour projects. A light room with a dark wall can change the perceptive depth of the room, and in addition, the more tranquil / bold your colour is depends on what you would like to see all year long. The ultimate goal is to blend the colours you would like to look at in the most pleasing manner possible.

 

Quick tips

• Mix and match colours that highlight architectural details and centerpieces in the room.
• Saturated colours like sunshine yellow and lime green add energy to the room.
• Cool colours like blue, green and purple make the room look larger and more spacious.
• Colours on the opposite of a colour wheel normally complement each other, but watch out for overplay.
• Notice how a color behaves in relation to other colors and shapes, and compare the contrasting effects for a good and balanced feel.
• Stick to a maximum of four colours per room to keep things lively, but not too busy.
• Try a few test patches of the colours you’ve chosen to decide what compliments the room best so that it doesn’t tire out your eyes.

 

…And don’t forget!

 

Now that we’ve given you a low-down on how to choose room colour, we hope you have an easier decision-making process when it comes to home décor and home improvement. Happy colouring!

If you live in a home or an apartment that’s commodious enough for one or two people, but still feel like you could use the space better if you knew how to, these are the home decor tips you should be reading. Today, we show you how to make your home look captivating no matter what the size.

 

• Seamlessness is key –
  • A major piece of wisdom that I’ve gained over time, reading various pieces on apartment décor, is that ‘seamlessness is key’. You want to make your rooms look bigger and you can do that by reducing the breakages in colour and hues on the walls. This technique can be applied to fixtures and conversation pieces as well.

 

• Utilising corners effectively –
  • Place an oversized chair or accent chair in the nook for a comfy look.
  • Stacking books on corner shelves is a smart way to use that part of a room.

 

• Lighter shades of paint and flooring –
  • Using lighter shades on the walls and floors will make the room look bigger and brighter.

 

• Select furniture that makes the room look sizable –
  • Avoid making your rooms look cramped by taking advantage of compact and undersized furniture pieces.

 

• Floating shelves –
  • Floating shelves are a wonderful alternative to chests and drawers. They offer great storage space while not looking bulky and colossal inside a smaller room.

 

• Curtain tints –
  • Buy curtains that create a fusion with the walls with their hue. This improves on the ‘seamlessness’ aspect mentioned earlier.

 

• Hang a proportionally sized mirror –
  • A mirror in the room will make it come alive and reflect light inside it.
  • The bigger the mirror, the larger the room looks.
  • Mirrors can be hung horizontally or vertically to make the room look wider or higher.

 

• Use transparent movables –
  • Pellucid movables make for a more spacious setting than wood or metallic furniture.

 

• Furniture that doubles up as storage space –
  • Storing regularly used objects beneath that coffee table is a clever approach to getting things out of the way.

 

• Foldable/Collapsible furniture –
  • Purchase foldable tables or chairs that maximise space inside the house when they aren’t being used.
    Some of these pieces can double-up as ironing boards or other useful surfaces around the house.

 

• In-built shelves –
  • Built-in shelves save up space inside a room like no other. No protrusions jutting out at odd places and no jamming your little toe into the legs of an awkward table anymore.

 

• Convertible pieces –
  • This revolves around the same logic as foldable furniture.
  • Convertible armchair-beds, sofa-bunk beds or collapsible coffee tables are examples of reusable pieces in the living room and in bedrooms.

 

• Matryoshka furniture –
  • This is the kind of furniture you’ve seen pictures of but don’t really know what they are called.
  • Matryoshka furniture is named after the Russian doll or Babushka doll that has figurines of a similar shape and smaller sizes inside it.
  • An extremely useful space saver, Matryoshka furniture can be arranged back into its original shape after being used.
  • It reduces the amount of space that is permanently utilised for seating, as the seats can be organised to your liking.

 

Extra décor ideas –

 

• Vinyl wall art –
  • You can’t go wrong with vinyl wall stickers. They are one of the cheapest and quickest ways to transform any room and make it come alive.

 

• Accommodating greenery in your humble abode –
  • Vertical garden displays are not the norm yet, but are a great way of making your house seem less like a concrete box. They bring more of a balanced look and make it a ‘living’ room.
  • This idea is definitely worth a shot, in our opinion. No harm done with extra oxygen around the house, right?

 

• Wall photo collage –
  • Instead of using frames and bulking down the room, creating a collage of pictures in a particular shape would be more practical and fun to look at.

 

• Decorating the walls with wall tape and foil tape –
  • Using washi tape (decorative wall tape) is another way of revamping a dull wall.
  • Foil tape can be used to create designs on a wall, and if done correctly, it can lift the ambience of the room to a point that the room would be unrecognisable.
  • It is the ultimate DIY activity that can be done by anyone from scratch. Pick a design and start taping.

 

• String art –
  • String art is an easy and fun pastime and you can create any kind of pattern by practising it a little bit.
  • Once you’ve made a design that you think looks like the initial idea you had, put it up on a wall that needs some TLC.
  • Your hard work will surely pay off with all the compliments and admiration coming your way.

 

 

Having a smaller space to live in can be very interesting if you make it that way. Rooms, no matter what size, can be altered by the furnishings and embellishments one places in them. Smaller homes can be a challenge to decorate but it is a very enjoyable experience. If you know what you’re doing and you know you’re doing it the right way, the end result is bound to leave you more than just satisfied. Try these suggestions to visually expand room sizes and you won’t be let down. In fact, your home will undoubtedly look as fresh as paint.