9 Useful and Lovely Alessi Girotondo Household Items
For those who don’t speak Italian, “Girotondo” is the word for a simple children’s game. You’ve no doubt seen the little paper cutouts that children have been making for generations. Designers with a delightful sense of humor adapted the design. The result? An entire series of household items that combine cheer and practicality like never before. Alessi Girotondo at its most basic.
In its simplicity, the Girotondo Keyring (AKK44) provides a perfect example. The section holding the keys forms a loop that resembles a child’s jump rope. The portion you hold with your hand looks like that little person. The result? Humor and that little shock of recognition. You see a familiar icon in an entirely new setting. Alessi Girotondo at its most basic.
Check out the Girotondo Magnet Set (AKK43). The little person stretches out to embrace all your important notes. Buy two and let them hold hands. Buy three and have a game of Girotondo. Buy six and imagine they’re a parachute team. There is no limit to the uses for this concept.
Now retire to the library with a good book. Take along your Girotondo Bookmark (AKK53). Yes, it will keep your place in a novel just fine. But it will also remind you to laugh a little every day.
Take Girotondo into the kitchen with you. Let it deliver the same joy and ease of a child in summer. The humble Breadstick Holder (AKK09) shows you how. Mirror-polished stainless steel pierced with that iconic shape is easy to clean. At the same time this item offers beauty and a sense of delight.
Extend the joy with a Fruit Holder (AKK05). The bowl is large enough to hold several apples, peaches or oranges but its functional value is only a small part of the package. Made of the same mirror-polished stainless steel as the Breadstick Holder, it creates synergy on your table.
Complete the design with a Girotondo Pepper Mill (KK48). The mill section is stainless steel polished to a high sheen. The rotor is in PA. Lovely. Simple. Top off the container with a Girotondo in blue or green and you have a work of art that does double duty as a spice dispenser.
Now relax in your home office after a fine meal. Girotondo follows you there, too. The Pencil Holder (AKK41) will bring a smile to your lips as you see it sitting on your desk. Look left and see your Girotondo Photo Frame (AKK22), with its little icons dancing around the border, just as your little one does in the photo. Use the Envelope Holder (AKK40) for all your correspondence and turn a dreary chore into a cheerful task, thanks to the row of Girotondo figures.
As you can see, there is no end to the uses to which this innovative design may be used. Let your imagination run wild and incorporate Alessi Girotondo products into your home decorating plans.
Alessi Kettles – Works of Art and Utility
Alessi offers a range of kettles that are works of art and utility. Combining both into a seamless blend of function and beauty isn’t easy. The company’s catalog offers a number of Alessi tea kettles that will convince anyone.
The Alessi 9091 kettle is a good example. A truly fine design can look contemporary, even though it might have been created in 1983. From the ergonomically designed black handle to the half-dome container to the superb brass spout, the 9091 is a work of functional art.
It was the first of Alessi’s designer kettles and they chose well for their debut, because even now this model is an outstanding pot. The polished stainless steel exterior holds a brass whistle that sings two notes – mi and si – when the water is boiling.
With a similar model number, but completely different design, the Alessi 9093 kettle is another superb example. First introduced in 1985, it has remained in the Alessi catalog because it continues to provide a contemporary style that never ages. Years from now it will look as up to date as the unimaginable designs of the future.
Designed by famed designer Michael Graves, the Alessi 9093 offers a magnetic stainless steel bottom for the ultimate in stability and perfect diffusing. You’ll get plenty of use, too, from its spacious 200 cl (2 liters). Yet, with its powder blue handle and volcano-shaped pot, it lends true style to the kitchen. That style is topped by a humorous touch, thanks to the little bird whistle at the spout.
For the ultimate in style, consider the magnificent Alessi Il Conico kettle (# 90017). It seems impossible that it should have joined the Alessi family so far back as 1986. The sharp cone-shaped pot made of mirror polished stainless steel seems to have emerged only yesterday from the designer Aldo Rossi’s drawing pad.
The handle – a sturdy L-shape seamlessly integrated into the cone – provides both easy lifting and a delicate touch that never detracts from the design. That makes the Il Conico something you’ll want to feature on the stove at all times. It will never be hidden away into the cabinet to be used only at preparation time.
Reach for the ultimate fashion statement with architect Frank Gehry’s Pito kettle. Characteristic of this architect’s unique work, the mirror-polished pot is asymmetric. This piece of art will generate many interesting conversations around the stove as you wait for the water to heat. It remains a highly useful kitchen tool, all the same.
With unique mahogany wood handles designed on a sea life motif, one whale forms the handle while the other provides a spout with a truly distinctive whistle. The Alessi catalog contains many distinctive designs, but the Alessi Pito kettle stands out even in that collection.
No one purchases a kettle based on an artist’s name alone, of course. But that name is recognized because of the many stylish and innovative products that hail from their imaginations. Alessi electric kettles demonstrate that with ease, even to the most severe critic.
Bathroom Remodeling Tips To Make a Better Bathroom
April 25, 2009 by Jochan Slovert
Filed under Bathroom
Comments Off
If you stop into a home improvement store in your area, you might be suprised to see a whole section devoted just to bathroom design ideas. In years past, bathrooms consisted of a shower, toilet, and sink and that was pretty much it. Now though, bathroom design is big business and you can make your bathroom as fancy as you want by adding any number of upgrades.
New gadgets from Japan such as toilet seats that are warm and mirrors that don’t fog are only a couple things you can put into your modern bathroom. There are new ideas coming out all the time for all rooms in the house and the bathroom is no different. Before you and sink your last dollars on upgrades though, you might remember the purpose of the bathroom remains the same: a place to take a shower and sit on the toilet!
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to redesign your bathroom and do a good job of it. Yes, iyou can spend a lot on buying the latest faucets, sinks, mirrors, and tubs but it is not a requirement to have a great looking bathroom. Although you can probably buy almost anything for the bathroom now days sometimes simplicity is the best choice. If you are creative, you can find a lot of inexpensive bathroom accessories that will do wonders for giving your bathroom a totally new look. Even if you don’t have the money to spend, you can update your bathroom by doing things like changing the paint color and adding a couple of new rugs.
The kitchen seems to be the most popular room to give a facelift to but the bathrooms are right behind. If you want to find some of the best bathroom design ideas, you can look for them in home improvement magazines or by going around your city and going in open houses. If you go to some of the higher end homes, you will see all sorts of cool bathroom designs as well as walk in showers and saunas.
Even if you don’t have the money to make that kind of high end upgrade, it is worth going to open houses just to get some of the unique ideas that you might be able to make a variation of. The best ideas are ones that you find in other homes where you can see how it all looks. The more time you spend planning things out before you start making changes to your existing bathroom, the better your chances will be that everything turns out great.
Creating a Romantic Atmosphere In Your Bedroom
April 9, 2009 by Roland Marsh
Filed under Bedroom
Comments Off
When designing your bedroom, you should think about the atmosphere you want to create. If you are designing the room primarily for relaxation, you will most likely choose a cool color palate. However, if you want to add a little romance to your bedroom, then it could be time to make some bold design choices. Don’t be afraid to take a few risks when decorating your bedroom. The end result will be a romantic space that you and your partner can enjoy.
When you are creating a romantic atmosphere in the bedroom make sure to choose the correct color palette. Reds are especially a hot color when it comes to the bedroom since it invokes passion. Darker reds are chosen more when choosing wall colors. If red isn’t your ideal color for a romantic room perhaps you have another color in mind. Make sure it’s a color which makes you happy since you’ll be the one whom will be sleeping in the room every night. If you aren’t quite sure about painting the walls red but like the idea, then accent with pillows and your linens.
Regardless of your color choice, you should avoid painting until you have a good idea of your overall design theme. Look around the house for inspirational pieces. Do you have a special vase or portrait that has a romantic flair? Gather any items that make you feel dreamy and romantic and find ways to incorporate those items into your space. Pull color choices from these pieces or use them as accents against contrasting hues.
When you have figured out what your color and theme is going to be get some romantic and extravagant bedding. The textures that you feel can cause an immediate sensation. With silk sheets on your bed it will seem romantic just due to the touch. Whatever you do don’t buy some old quilt to put into the room that will pull out any feeling of romance you had already created.
Don’t forget to select a few beautiful pieces of art to hang on the walls. Your bed will most likely be the focal point of your romantic bedroom, so you should find something special to hang above the headboard. Choose pictures that coordinate with your color scheme. Elegant floral prints or abstract paintings are both good choices for the walls. You could also hang a large wedding photo in an ornate frame.
When decorating your bedroom for the romantic feel, don’t overlook the floor. No matter if you have carpet, hardwood, or linoleum; a great rug will just add another layer of romantic texture to the room. Adding a great rug is a wonderful accent to the bedroom but make sure it’s not too extravagant if you went with a larger bet set. You don’t want the room to look overwhelmed.
Finally, add soft lighting to complete the romantic ambiance. Bedside lamps are generally more romantic than overhead bulbs. You could also consider recessed lighting, with a dimmer switch to vary lighting on different occasions. Make sure to incorporate candles into your design too. Scented candles are a fantastic choice for romantic bedrooms. Look for candles with a delicate rose, lavender, or juniper scent to set the mood.
How To Have Better Home Interior
March 14, 2009 by Darren Woerse
Filed under Decorating Tips
Comments Off
A nicer appearance of your domestic decor can be obtained with very small improvements and renovations. Idea: replacing your entrance doors helps a great deal in beautifying your interiors.
You could be interested to get more details of this rooms arrangements. Here’s how to avoid expensive errors. This may require several improvements, but at least window blinds need to be fancy and in good state. Lack of cleanliness makes any room awful.
Some of us have come up with a detailed process for renovation and they wanted to implement it. Beyond doubt, if you have several sparkling ideas of how to improve your living space, you’ll strive to achieve your personal objectives in this respect.
A significant part of our citizens will choose this one based on their personal ideas and dreams. House building ans decoration is trying to make us get rid of those old, filthy carpets from our interiors. We got used to like those fancy, automated window blinds, but carpets started to be ignored since these bamboo flooring tiles were brought in fashion by great interior designers.
This nowadays situation comprises with no doubt the most gracious model of today’s interior design. By all means, eagles don’t catch flies, thus many decorators who gave up carpets, bought some pretty soon. They just couldn’t get used to such significant uncovered surfaces in their homes.
It’s rather easy to find testimonials for home decor costless ideas on so many designer websites online. However, let’s think about how much to spend on interior design. If you earn enough, renovation can become really expensive. Yet, if you are very tight on the expenses you can make, try the simple changes which bring innovative ideas. Being noticeable counts a big deal.
The main elements of home decor are just simple ones. All window blinds, curtains and carpets should be in line with each other. Colors should be pleasant at sight, in delicate shades, respecting several design rules which can be encountered in all specialty publications. Decorating can become an addictive hobby, if you enjoy what you are doing.
Change the Decor with Bedroom Design Ideas
February 28, 2009 by Sue Krippner
Filed under Bedroom
Comments Off
While a bedroom’s main purpose is for rest and relaxation, it doesn’t have to be plain and boring. It’s good to refresh a bedroom every few years to give it a new look and feel. Bedroom design ideas can be as minimal as adding a few accents or as major as repainting or changing furniture. When deciding on which bedroom design ideas to implement in your home, consider your budget and the amount of time you have to devote to the project.
Home design stores, magazines and the Web are excellent sources for bedroom design ideas. To start your project, do a walk through of the bedroom and make a note of things you would like to change. Take everything into consideration, like the style of the furniture, the color scheme, window treatments and chairs or desks that tend to attract clutter.
Interior home design websites are a valuable resource for providing bedroom design ideas. One of the top websites is Frugal Home Design at www.frugalhomedesign.com. It has comprehensive advice and suggestions on bedroom design ideas. For help in choosing a design style, Frugal Home Design has an easy-to-use tutorial. Within minutes you can find a design style that meets your tastes, whether it’s traditional, country, modern, or contemporary. Of course, you could always go the theme route, which is a popular bedroom design idea.
There are numerous bedroom design ideas that can be implemented for only a few dollars, but can really change the look of a bedroom. Minor things like changing the duvet or comforter, adding decorative accent pillows in textured fabrics, adding tropical plants, incorporating art work, adding area rugs, or accessorizing with candles, lamps, mirrors, vases and other accent pieces cost little but go a long way towards changing the look of a bedroom.
Looking to completely change the design of the bedroom? Some do-it-yourself bedroom design ideas include repainting or wallpapering the room, changing the window treatments and replacing the bed and accent furniture. Or really change things up by rearranging the layout of the bedroom. Place the bed in a different area of the room or turn it vertical if it was horizontal and vice versa.
Bedroom design ideas that work best for the master bedroom, children’s bedroom, or guest bedroom are those that reflect yours and your family’s interests. In each bedroom, decorate storage displays and walls or add borders and plaques that show off hobbies, interests and favorites.
Bedroom design ideas that are popular and easy to implement revolve around themes. You can inexpensively create a tropical, nautical, or floral bedroom theme by adding a few accent pieces. While garden, nature, ethnic, animal and sports themes are popular, you can create your own theme that reflects yours or your family’s interests. Perhaps you like to take photos or travel. Maybe you’re family likes the outdoors. These are all components that can be incorporated into creating a themed bedroom.
There are so many bedroom design ideas to consider, but what works best in your home is what means something to you and your family. Think about the colors that you and family members like and items that have meaning. Use them to give the bedrooms in your home a soothing and relaxing atmosphere.
Redesign the Bathroom with Easy Interior Design Bathroom Projects
February 22, 2009 by Nigel Evans
Filed under Bathroom
Comments Off
When it comes to the bathroom, functionality takes precedence over style. In many homes, the bathroom is small and its layout leaves few options for any creativity. Considering that the bathroom gets a lot of use from everyone in the house, it should be a room that exudes style. But often times, a bathroom just has the basics. Interior design bathroom projects can change all that, adding some pizzazz to your bathroom. There are interior design bathroom tricks that can be done to make your bathroom feel more spacious and look stylish.
Color is key in any design. Changing the color scheme on your bathroom’s walls is one interior design bathroom idea that can also do wonders in making the room feel more spacious and airy. Consider earth tones, pastels, geometric shapes, and stripes. Darker colors with lighter shades as accents also work well.
An easy and inexpensive interior design bathroom tip focuses on shelves. By adding shelves, you can open up space on the floor or just create an interesting design. Corner shelves in the bathroom can be eye-catching, especially when plants, framed photos, candles and other accents are added.
When considering interior design bathroom ideas, evaluate how the current fixtures are working for you and other family members who use the bathroom. Is the cabinet functional for your needs or do you need something that has more drawers? How about the medicine cabinet? Is it too small? These are all things that can be changed so that items that are cluttered elsewhere can fit where they belong.
Go wild with accessories to really create an impressive interior design bathroom. Decorative baskets or other containers are great for organizing items that need to be at arm’s reach. Area rugs work well in adding some design. You might even want to consider updating mirrors, sink fixtures, door handles and window coverings. Lighting is another important interior design bathroom feature. Accent lights can easily be modernized to create a whole different ambiance.
A stylish interior design bathroom has all the newest items that update the functionality of a bathroom, but also give it a more updated look. Generic soap dispensers can be replaced with automatic soap pump dispensers. They look great and are more sanitary because soap is dispensed automatically by a sensor so there’s no touching. Add some luxury with a towel warmer, either on the floor or attached to a wall. At Frugal Home Design at www.frugalhomedesign.com, there are many ideas for bringing some luxurious pampering to your bathroom.
You can turn a regular looking bathroom into an interior design bathroom with small measures like color coding the towels. The color of bath cloths and towels should complement the room’s color, either by being in the same color, in accenting shades, or in contrasting colors. Don’t forget the towel rack. It can be updated with a more ornamental one, or replaced with shelving that can hold multiple towel sets.
Interior design bathroom projects, even minimal ones that involve small changes, can turn a tired looking bathroom into a beautifully stylish one. Changing a few items, rearranging others and introducing new, but inexpensive accent pieces are easy measures that can make a big difference in the look of your bathroom. Other ideas, like new accents, updated accessories and color choices, play a significant role in creating an interior design bathroom showcase.
What To Avoid When Buying Rustic Furniture
February 14, 2009 by Don Plawson
Filed under Bedroom
Comments Off
When you are buying country furniture, you need to be smart about it. This is something a lot of people dive into without much knowledge and it comes back to bite them. What most people don’t stop to think about is that there are a lot of little things you need to know when you are looking at this type of furniture and unless you have that knowledge, you could be walking away someone elses problem.
Country furniture is composed mostly of wood. That being the case, unless you are educated on wear and other related conditions of wood, you better not go shopping alone. Bring someone with you or do some serious reading and research on the topic to make sure you have an idea as to what to look for.
Make sure your furniture has extensive corner blocking. This is something basic but very critical for wood furniture. This blocking is simply a couple of pieces of wood pieced together that add extra support and strength to your furniture joints.
Something that you are going to want to immediately check is the rear construction of the furniture. Quality items will feature screws and nails in the back that make the backing an integral part of your furniture. If the item is put together with staples, forget about it and move onto the next item.
The finish on your piece should be a multi-step process resulting in an elegant appearance. This is another easy short cut for people that are just cranking out inferior product and is something that should immediately send up warning signs.
You should always check the alignment of the drawers to make sure they are flush and smooth rolling. This can lead to several problems down the road the least of which is damaging your clothing. There is nothing worse than having a drawer stick to an article of clothing only to have you playing tug of war with the drawer and then eventually destroying whatever piece it was that got jammed in there because it was misaligned.
For all intents and purposes, furniture is constructed square. While it may not always be the shape it is more a term of craftsmanship and balance. However, where the furniture goes does not have that luxury. Houses are sometimes built on angles or have settled over the years creating the same result. That being the case, you want to make sure you have quality levelers on the bottom of each support to ensure that if need be, you can adjust your piece to fit the room that it is placed in.
Browsing for rustic furniture is obviously not something that you should take lightly. Educate yourself or bring a friend that knows the business and make it a successful journey that leads to you bringing home a beautiful piece that you will be proud to show off.
Looking For Bathroom Lighting Ideas?
The opinion of people about bathroom is changing. It is no longer looked upon as a place to have your bath in the morning and night to dispose of all the sweats that have gathered during the day. It is now looked upon by many as a safe haven that demands lots of attention.
Scores of human beings are now seeing it as part of the home. So, they are making attempt to insert their personality and style into it. There are so many things you can do to make this sacred place good-looking. One of the things you can do is to place lights in strategic positions in your bathroom.
Before the modern-day approach of using light, bathroom light fixtures were merely looked upon as functional. In other words, the lights were merely viewed as a tool to assist you move around in the room. Back then, a single light is placed over the bathroom sink or cabinet to illuminate the whole room. But nowadays, bathroom lighting has taken a new breadth. It is now both aesthetic and functional. The light can be placed in a way that the whole room becomes a reflection of your personality.
Thank goodness, there are numerous bathroom fixtures out there in the market for you. You can get one for the ceiling, wall and also the shower. You can buy flush and semi-flush ceiling mounts of bathroom light fixtures and add a wonderful aura in your bathroom. The lights also come in a range of shades and sizes; there is red, green, blue and the customary yellow bulb lights. The proper placement of lights in your bathroom cannot be stressed enough
Apart from using lights aesthetically, you can decide to use it for activities such as shaving or applying make up. Bathroom lighting is highly necessary for you in order to locate stuff in the cabinets or around the room. Furthermore, the lights can function as mood enhancers. So, with the right set of lights in your bathroom, you can get an uplifting of drooping spirits each time you step in to have your bath.
