Famous Interior Designers Series - Jean Royere

One of the all-time greatest French designers, Jean Royere succeeded in establishing his individuality by creating and implementing unique designs for interior space. Born in 1902 in France, Jean Royere had started showing his skills as an interior decorator at the age of 29, shortly after resigning from a trading firm. He then began to work with Pierre Gouffe in 1931. From there, he rose to fame with his unique unconventional approach to interior design. Jean found immediate success in 1934 when he designed the new layout of the Brasserie Carlton on the Champs Elysees.

In all his designs Jean Royere employed traditional artisan techniques and often his designs are personal and innovative, though unimaginative. He had opened his own gallery in 1942 at 184, Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honore for the purpose of exhibiting his collections. He later opened branch offices in Cairo, Beirut, Peru and Iran in 1946, 1947, 1953 and 1958 respectively. His works in the Middle East helped him earn large commissions which also gave him the opportunity to work with the royalty and the heads of various states. Royere's royal patrons included King Farouk of Egypt, King Hussein of Jordan and the Shah of Iran, all of whom where impressed by his creations and hence entrusted Jean with the interior design of their palaces.

Jean Royere had different innovative interior furniture design concepts in his mind and his products often combine bright colours, organic forms and precious materials. Some of his commercial works include the Sheet Stool, designed using ebonized wood and goat-fur upholstery, the Bar cart in brass and ebonized wood, and the adjustable floor lamp designed in 1956. He had his initial designs of chairs with perforated metal backs and seats, for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques in 1937 and these had served as the precursors of his related future designs.

Jean's works are often being exhibited at various exhibitions and art galleries. Some of the unusual works of Jean which were exhibited in the Sonnabend Gallery in New York included the rare 'Flaque' low table, the 'Ours Polaire' sofa, the 'Starlette' bed, a 'visiteur du soir' model settee, and a huge collection of lighting fixtures such as the 'Persian', the 'Eiffel Tower' and the 'Mushroom'.

Following decoration and furnishing for the French delegation in Helsinki in 1951, he also found time to undertake and complete interior decoration for residences of his family members, spread across Saint-Tropez, Auray, Marly and the Baleric Islands. Leaving Paris in 1980, Jean spent his final years in the United States. Before leaving for US, Jean donated his entire collection of archives to the Museum of the Decorative Arts of Paris. Royere died in 1981 in US, after enjoying a flourishing career from 1931 to 1970.

Now more than ever interior decorating and design is available to the masses. Home Staging Consultants in Manchester are available in the north of the UK to help you sell your home more effectively. To achieve a stunningly original living space Interior Architects in Leeds offer a professional service.

Getting Rid of Mice the Natural Way

In the world of home ownership, uninvited guests show up from time to time. Everything from In-laws to grown children, from spiders to mice always seem to appear as if out of nowhere, bags of luggage and a used one way ticket in hand. Though there may be no repellent for some of these guests, mice can usually be controlled.

However, controlling mice is easier said than done. Simply asking them to leave falls on deaf (albeit large) ears, setting traps provides them with something to outsmart (and is too cruel for some people), using poison forces you to chance that your pet will find the deceased mouse, eat it, and unknowingly consume the poison as well, and, of course, laying out eviction notices only results in the echo of quiet, yet condescending, mouse laughter. For all these reasons, the plan to rid mice from your home needs some tweaking, tweaking you just might find in a natural home remedy.

Use Odors: Mice, like all creatures, find certain odors repelling. Ammonia and mothballs, for instance, both produce a scent that mice want to stay away from. The flip side, however, is that ammonia and mothballs also produce a scent that people want to stay away from. Luckily, there are also nice smells that mice abhor: peppermint is one of these odors. Saturating cotton balls with peppermint extract or laying mint leaves near the areas where mice invade will help keep them from coming in. Some people also swear that the smell of onions, or even planting onions in a backyard garden, is enough to help keep mice away: their odor will make them peel out.

Get a cat: It is believed that cats were first domesticated to help rid homes of mice. A house with a cat, a mouses natural nemesis, is less likely to have a mice problem than one without a live version of Tom and Jerry. But, of course, this isnt always an option. Some people may be allergic to cats, others may just not like them. Some cats might find hunting mice beneath them (honestly, arent most things beneath them?). And some cats might even initiate the mouse problem by bringing live mice into your home. If this happens, take care of your cat problem by getting a dog.

Use Fox Urine: A predator to mice, the scent of a fox quickly deters mice from making themselves at home; if they believe a fox is on the premises, they will stay away. Luckily for you, you dont need the whole fox to make them believe this: you only need his urine. Simply spraying the mouse infested areas of your house - or the areas where they enter - with fox urine will give the mice cause to move out quickly or stay away altogether. Filled with convenience, it's sold in bottles as a mouse deterrent: you dont have to go around asking the local foxes for urine samples; lets face it, that kind of makes an awkward situation for everyone.

Jennifer Jordan is the senior editor for http://www.etodoors.com. Someone who changes her mind every five minutes, her house is in a perpetual state of home improvement.

Types of Flooring You Might Like to Install in Your Home

Your home reflects your personal traits, tastes and lifestyle. As you give importance to every aspect of your home like the furniture, furnishings, walls, doors, ceilings, so also your flooring needs special attention. You need to choose the right type of flooring for each room, for example tiles are the best flooring solutions for your bathroom as this area is wet all the time and tiles do not get spoilt. Similarly the flooring in your bedroom should be something which is attractive. The walls should also be in tandem with the flooring. Thus it is necessary to select the appropriate wall color to match those of your floor color.

Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood is one amongst the various types of flooring. You can get several patterns to adorn your house with such as the zigzag style, square and circular ones and lots more.

Carpeting

This is a preferred type of flooring for cold climates. In cold places walking on the carpets gives warmth and adds comfort to the total ambience.

Bamboo Flooring

Bamboo flooring is very durable and eco-friendly. It also adds to the beauty of the environment. You can use beautiful patterns, natural or carbonized colors. Bamboo flooring is being widely used in offices, retail outlets and fashionable condominiums.

Wood Flooring

If you want to give a classy look to your house you can use wood flooring. This flooring is difficult to maintain as they could get ruined easily. Careful handling of your wood flooring will make it last longer. Keep water away and use wax to clean the floors. You specially need to wax generously the most frequented areas like the stair landings, the entrance of the rooms, the work areas and other parts.

Slate Flooring

Slate is becoming highly popular as one of the types of flooring because of its durable, slip-resistant, low-maintenance and stain free nature. These were used for offices previously but now are being used in homes as well. The various shapes and colors help in enhancing the beauty of your flooring. You can also create a wonderful combination of the ones having smooth finishes with those having rough finishes. Slate flooring is preferred for kitchens, bathrooms, driveways and pool walls. The Slate flooring is long lasting and does not peel off easily or look faded after some time like vinyl and linoleum.

Marble Flooring

Marble flooring is very easy to clean and does not require any maintenance. It is long lasting as well. This stone is stain free as well. Just use your mop and water to remove the dirty stains and see how they vanish to give you a sparkling floor.

Granite Flooring

Granite is a costly material and thus is used sparingly in commercial buildings but is used prevalently in homes. It is durable and scratch resistant and stain resistant as well. You should use a neutral detergent to clean granite flooring.

April Kerr owns website How to Install Flooring which has further details of flooring types such as natural cork flooring and rubber flooring.

Installing Laminate Flooring - Dos and Don'ts!

Every manufacturer of laminate flooring provides very specific instructions on the proper method of installing their product.

There are however, some common dos and donts that apply to the installation of any laminate floor. Surprisingly many people ignore these instructions, believing that they know better than the manufacturers.

• Laminate flooring must acclimatize to your home. This is done by placing the boxes in the room where you are going to install the laminate for a minimum period of 48 to 72 hours. Failure to do this will cause floors to buckle. This is the number one mistake made by most people including contractors.
• There must be a gap between walls and any other obstacle, (columns, stair risers, heat vents, etc.) of between 5/16" and 1/2" depending on the manufacturer. This allows for the expansion of the floor. If a gap is not left, the floor will buckle.
• If the laminate flooring is going to be installed on a concrete slab floor where there is earth below the concrete, a vapor barrier must be placed between the concrete and the laminate. The seams should be taped with a moisture resistant tape. Laminate flooring should not be installed on any floor that has a drain.
• Some manufacturers will allow the installation of laminate flooring on carpet. The carpet should be a hard twist (Berber), or a very low pile (commercial carpet). If the underlayment is spongy, the flooring will separate when walked on.
• The smallest piece of flooring should never be less than 8 inches long and the width should never be less than 2 inches. Measure your room before you start the installation as it may be necessary to cut the first board in length and the first row of boards in width to avoid having small pieces.
• Joints should be staggered a minimum of 16 inches apart and a minimum of 3 rows for repeating of the joint.
• If installing base board or quarter round on top of the laminate, do not nail through the laminate. A laminate floor must be allowed to expand and contract.
• Repair any and all squeaks and soft spots in the sub-floor before installing the laminate. Laminate flooring will not correct squeak or soft spot problems.
• Do not continue the installation of laminate flooring through a doorway that is less than 48 inches in width, use a transition molding.
• Do not hammer on the groove end on the board ever!
• Always start the installation of the laminate flooring with the groove side and end towards the walls.
• Always use a tapping block to help tighten joints, but do not over hammer or you will damage the surface of the laminate at the joints.
• Floors must be level, no more than 3/16 slope over a ten foot span.
• Floors must be flat. Any dips in the floor should be filled in with self-leveling compound and left to dry at least 72 hours.

Read and follow the manufacturers instructions and you will end up with a quality floor that will last for years.

For additional information on flooring products for your home or other renovation projects, visit Renovation Headquarters.

Pebble Floor Tiles - No Skills Required Installation

Are you planning on remodeling your house and don't know what to do? Have you thought about Pebble floor tiles? These small decorative tiles are a great choice for remodeling your house.

Pebble floor tiles are small decorative tiles which are made of natural stones that at hand picked and sorted. The pebble tiles usually are imported from Bali in Indonesia. Pebble Tile Flooring is an easy and fast way to remodel your flooring though out your house inside and out. These pebble tiles provide a unique and special look.

The pebble tile flooring comes in 12" by 12" tiles. Each tile is made up of up to 60 individual stones connected to a mesh backing. Whether you are looking for that exotic look or a more modern look, the multitude of color choices and styles pebble tile offers is amazing. There are several benefits to using this tiling over ceramics.

The installation of pebble tiles is simple.

With these types of tile there will be no need for an expensive tile saw, just a pair of scissors are needed to cut the mesh backing. This mesh backing allows you to easily trim the tile to the shape and site you need for your install.
The provide a natural look and feel to suite any room or patio weather your looking for an exotic or modern style.
No real special skills required for installation. Anyone can install pebble tile flooring. There are instruction videos and manuals as fast as a click away.
No need to worry about broken tiles in the tile box. I don't know about you, but I've bought ceramic tiles before and I always end up finding one or two broken tiles somewhere in the box. It's like the manufactures hide them there.
Lighter weight than standard ceramic tiles.
More forgiving incase you make a mistake. You probably won't even notice it in the finished product.

When you choose the right pebble tile flooring for your next remodel you'll be glad you did. It's the easiest most cost effective tiling choice you could make. You'll be tiling like a pro even on your first job.

Bruce Beasley Offers more free information on Pebble floor Tiles at his website. http://www.PebbleTile.info.

Make Your Home Handicapped Accessible

Whether you have a family member or a close friend who is handicapped, you need to make sure your home is handicapped accessible. Stairs and small hallways are impossible for those who need wheelchairs to move around, but there are a few easy changes you can make or a few features you can look for in order to make sure it is wheelchair friendly.

Safety is the most important feature of any home, but additional measures need to be taken into consideration if one your family members uses a wheelchair. Their bedroom needs to be on the ground floor and needs to have an easy exit. In most cases, this means that there is a door to the outdoors in the room so if there is a fire, this individual can escape quickly. Along the same lines, every room needs to have a large enough space for a wheelchair to rotate 360 degrees, which is approximately 5 feet in diameter. Doorways need to be at least 36 inches wide and hallways need to be anywhere from four and a half to five feet wide. Ideally, your home will have a minimal number of hallways. These precautions make it much easier for handicapped individuals to move from room to room.

The bathroom is the room that needs the most attention. Elderly or handicapped individuals often need the most help in the bathroom but it is very embarrassing to need assistance in this room. Therefore, you should design the bathroom so that these individuals can be as independent as possible. One of the best investments is a walk in bathtub. These tubs are designed in order to make bathing a safer and easier experience for those who have limited mobility. The convenient door opens up so you do not have to swing your legs up and over and the seat inside means you do not need to lower yourself to the bottom of the tub. Grip bars are an extra safety feature and should be installed around the entire bathroom.

Lower tables and keeping important or handy items at a convenient height is also an important consideration. It is not difficult to find a home that is already handicapped friendly or could easily be remodeled to be so. Remember that safety is the most important consideration so this factor needs to be top priority! With accessible emergency exits and a walk in bathtub, you are making the right choices!

If you would like more information on walk in bathtubs or would like more information about handicapped bathtubs, please visit the Simply Bathtubs website.

Who is Really the Love of Your Life?

People often refer to another person as the love of their life. Funny enough only you can be the love of your life.

There are many people all over the world who are blissfully happy in their current relationship and may give the credit of their happiness to their significant other. There are also many people who are utterly miserably due to a current situation with a mate or an ex. They may also credit the other person for turning their life into a living hell. The truth is, they would all be wrong.

No one can make you feel anything. You experience yourself through interaction with others. We even acknowledge this when we describe our experiences.

If you are with someone you find attractive and has a great persona, you say, "I really enjoy myself when I'm with them." You enjoy yourself.

If you had to spend time with someone who you did not really care for, like, or found repulsive, you say, "I can't stand to be around them." You (yourself) do not find joy in their company.

In most cases, people have a relationship with themselves through other people. In other words, a person creates an idea in their mind of what the other person is or should be, and if their expectations are met, 'good' describes the experience of their company. If the expectations are not met, 'bad' best describes the way it feels to be in their company. In this way, we can see that it is all perspective and the only absolute truth is your observation of what is. How you interpret the observation determines your experience.

Relationships, in general, are great place to showcase the ego's identification with what a person's role should be with you. If a person sticks to the script that the ego has written; an attachment is formed and happiness, pleasure, gratification, infatuation, and 'falling in love' is the result. These feelings are all relative, however, because they are all borne of the ego's identification with what should be. They all come with the seed of their opposite ready to sprout as soon as the other person strays from ego's script. The happiness turns to sadness, gratification to regret, pleasure to pain, 'love' to hate, and infatuation changing polarity from positive to negative. The attachment remains for a time after the switch or the negative feelings toward the person would have no power. It would be more of an indifference.

The 'love' that Tina Turner sings about in, "What's Love Got To Do With It," is the 'love' of the ego's identification with what should be. The egoic 'love' really is "a second hand emotion." It is not the love of your true self. As a matter of fact, the majority of 'love' songs are of the egoic mind persuasion.

The egoic 'love' is relative while true love is absolute. The love of your true essence is never anything to be sad about. True love is unconditional. True love has no opposite. True love and acceptance is the natural feeling we have towards everyone and everything when we are conscious without egoic mind interference. It is the attraction we have for our true selves that we are able to perceive in all creation when we are in the present moment. It is the reason for sayings like "God is love" and "it's all love." It is the reason why people perform selfless acts and feel rewarded.

The ego's checklist of what a mate should be is what most people in the world are looking for in a relationship. There would not be such terms as 'trophy wife' and 'dream husband' if there was not a preconceived ego identification with what the perfect mate would be like. The very idea of being romantic or what your definition of romance amounts to, is totally relative. There can be as many definitions of romance as there are people you ask to define it.

People, more often than not, are looking for their happiness in and through another person. You can share good times with someone. You can share a lifetime with someone. But it is never the other person that is the source of your happiness. The source of your happiness and everything else you feel, is you and the way you perceive life situations. In other words, if you are not in the frame of mind that supports being happy; it doesn't matter who you're sharing your life with or what the situation is, you will not be happy. It is easier for most to believe that someone else is making them happy than to accept the fact that you can not be happy unless there is a level of acceptance. No body else outside of you can be your everything because you are your everything.

For more, read What Is Really Good? and stay tuned!

AUTHOR: Motivational, inspirational, and spiritual; self-help instructor C. Om specializes in teaching real people how to eliminate stress and suffering from their lives. To get instant access to his powerful and yet simple solutions for a great and rewarding life right now, regardless of your life situation, visit: the daily blog What Is Really Good?