Patt M. Judd,Realtor Your Cookeville Connection

Art Deco is one decorating style that I just love. I had this style going on in my own home for a while and it was just to cool. Art Deco started out in the 1920s and lasted all the way up to the 1940s. Art Deco is first and foremost considered eclectic, and its characteristics include long, thin forms, geometric patterns and curving surfaces. The Art Deco style exerted a great deal of influence in the art and architectural worlds, not to mention the graphic, industrial and decorative arts. Art Deco designs made use of materials that included aluminum, lacquer, inlaid wood, zebra skin, sharkskin and stainless steel.

Today Art Deco is as popular as ever, and its design features include flowers; leaf swags; exaggerated limbs; glass figurines; sculptures; murals; furniture that is geometric in style and has plump, flat arms; curvilinear motifs and bold decorative color schemes. Materials that characterize today's Art Deco style of designing include lots of glass; metal work in the form of brass, copper and iron; rich woods; pottery; laminates and textiles. Rich Art Deco colors are inlaid with gold- or silver-gilded flowers or leaves for that simple, elegant look. Contrasting with the black and white as well as other neutrals are splashes of red, lilac, orange and ultramarine.

For your walls, think fresh, pastel colors which will contrast fantastically with your dark wood furniture. Keep it light and romantic, and for even more of a contrast, paint adjacent walls different colors. Go for a color such as light gold, celadon green or gentle lilac.

Beds that were rooted in the jazz era of the 1920s can still work today. I am talking about the Pullman Davenport bed, a genuine sofa bed and a Murphy (a.k.a. folds up into the wall when you are finished with it) bed. Choose large, sensuous round mirrors and armoires that are sleek and seductive looking. Choose multi-functional pieces for your furniture, both in the living room and bedroom.

Beyond the color space used (neutral with bright pastels for accents), Southwestern contemporary styles pull heavily from desert themes - pictures tend to be landscapes or of southwestern themes: Horses, cattle drives, cacti, trains and such, or of Latin or Native American themes, such as Hopi and Navajo symbols and rugs.

When accentuating your southwestern style decorating, look at decorative plants as well - while a full blown saguaro cacti is too large for any conventional living room, cacti in general are quite hardy and forgiving as plants, and their blooms add seasonal color to your home. I myself have a cacti. It is the easiest plant to take care of. it also has a beautiful bloom.

Southwestern style furnishings tend towards natural tones with high color highlights; look for furnishings and upholstery made of leather, suede and hand woven fabrics. Serapes can be hung from the walls as decorations, as can artifacts of the time period. Distressed wood accents are also useful, and make a distinctive element for book cases, entertainment centers and furniture, as well as wall accents and light fixtures.

Southwestern style décor is lovely for homes with neutral color schemes on the walls, and wide open archways - it lends itself nicely to spacious homes with free air flow, and to tile or wooden floors rather than wall-to-wall-carpet. Large rooms can also handle the usually oversized southwestern furniture types - usually made from log-frame construction - without seeming cramped or crowded, and Southwestern décor works nicely with lighting from all directions. When you think about southwest you think about log homes but this is not always the case. When I think of Southwest homes I think of adobe homes with many archways and cacti in the front yard.

When you buy a new home or a new to you home there is always a chance you won't like the decorating thats already there. I have always liked the "southwest" look with the zigzzags, coyotes and cow skulls. There is alot you can do with this look. ANd you can always start out with a single room just to see if you will like it. Some of the "Southwestern" art can be a little wild, with the bright colors and geometerical lines. While it originally hit as a design craze in the 1980s, and rapidly moved into kitsch, with gigantic neon pink coyotes and cow sculls, a lot of its design elements have been repurposed to make attractive and delightful home accents. Nowadays you can get toned down colors and just keep it all real basic.

The Southwestern "look" involves natural materials - distressed wood, adobe, iron and tile, with smooth rocks for the structural elements. Another natural material you can have is cow hide. If you live in the Cookeville or Algood area you can visit Judd's Antique Mall. Down at the mall they have 2 Large area rugs made from cow hide, ones brintle and the other is two toned. They also have arrowheads, old indian tools and a few indian pieces of pottery. They also have carved wooden Indians and they also have small indian statues. Most of the color schemes are earth tones and terra cotta hues - creams and all the colors of the desert, in tans and golds and umbers, much like terra cotta pottery, with accents done in brightly colored fabrics, emphasizing with turquoise, teal, peach and dusty orange to draw the eye. Accents in clay and rough textures on objects or wall surfaces give it homey, unique touch, which is emphasized further by hand made rugs, wall hangings and furniture, using natural or distressed materials. This "Southwestern Touch" is distinctive and airy, and leaves lots of room for customization.
with lighting from all directions.

IS GREEN the color of the moment, mainly because it signifies an ideal that is currently popular among consumers. The latest trend is home buyers looking for homes to be energy efficient or to be environmentally friendly, but what does that mean? There are competing standards defining what a green home should be.

The basic principles driving how green is defined is that the products used in the home have to come from sustainable resources (such as bamboo, which grows rapidly). These items can be recycled, they will not be toxic to the environment, and they help reduce energy use. The argument now is how to determine if a product fits into these categories.Me my self has gone green in my home, hardwood floor, to the cleaning supplys i us, i am a member off a company called Melaleuca , and you can to , just e mail me and i can tell you how.

Water Efficiency: I remember my mother doing this when i was growing up, you say what = Collecting rain water to be used for the garden is a good practice (be sure to check your state and local laws before attempting this). The term graywater refers to water from the home that can be used for watering plants, like water from washing dishes. Also, a recirculating hot water system will prevent people from letting the water run until it's warm. A tankless water heater is defined as green because it only uses energy to heat water when it is needed. Low flow heads on faucets and showers are green innovations also, we really don;t understand all off this yet but its coming.