Home Improvement Solution

Archive for April, 2008

Kiva ladders or Wooden Indian log ladders look wonderful in Native American style homes when combined with other southwestern home decorating accessories. While traveling or visiting the southwestern states you will undoubtedly notice that Indian log ladders have become the most universal symbols of American Indian style artwork, used for fabulous, rustic and western style interior design.

Kiva ladders are beautiful wood ladders usually fashioned from pine poles that have been scraped by hand. The rungs of the ladder are notched to fit into the upright poles, and rawhide lacing is used to join each piece together in a cross style design. The ladder is narrower at the top than it is at the bottom, adding a measure of height.

One exciting way to add the village style look and feel in your decor, without actually using pueblo designs, is to use the same primitive style, pueblo ladder or kiva log ladder. The ladders will create a subtle but definite pueblo or western look in the room. A kiva ladder also creates a great way to display a few of your most treasured western tapestries or Navajo blankets.

Other home decor items that combine well with wood ladders are Navajo throws, American Indian pottery and drums, wood dough bowls and rustic lamps with rawhide lamp shades. You can also use ladders to highlight unique styles you may like such as the kokopelli or other village designs. The use of the kiva ladder as a display rack will liven up the western decor in your interior decorating, add bright colors, and give the ladder a better sense of purpose and function.

There is something unique about pueblo style dwellings made of adobe bricks with their wood ladders on the roofs. This shape has become representative of southwest interior design and style. Many homes in the southwest are similar to the early pueblo style, and the kiva ladder is always used.

Pueblo designs are found on rugs, dolls, pottery, paintings, art, and rustic furniture. And, the rustic wood ladders are often used to decorate cabins, lodge style homes and also anywhere people like native or southwestern style.

Use some creativity. There is no limitation to how log ladders can be used. You can create an interesting look by using two ladders together like an “A” frame with rustic boards between them on the ladders rungs for shelves. It is possible you already own some rugs or tapestries you can use and put a small table beside it or an Indian drum and you will create a one of a kind and eye catching design.

A lot people also use kiva ladders as a place to hang Native style throw blankets to cover up with during those cold winter evenings. You could use kiva ladders as a place to hang extra blankets or afghans in your guest rooms when not being used.

Use kiva style log ladders in all your rooms, in the same style or differently without it looking overly done. So, if you want a truly unique Native Indian design element to add to your home decor, try using rustic wooden kiva ladders.

Craig Chambers is the director of Mission Del Rey and offers free information online about choosing kiva ladders for rustic decor. For more information visit http://www.missiondelrey.com

Learning that you are bringing a new bundle of joy into your life and into the world is a great time of happiness for all expectant parents. It also brings a great time of anxiety and preparation as you prepare to welcome a new member or members into your family.

One of the aspects you have to consider for your new child or children is the nursery he/she/they will live in for the first several months of his/her/their life/lives.

For the baby, you need to have a crib that meets modern safety standards, since this is the place the baby will spend most of his/her time during his/her first few months of life.

You also need to decide on a good changing table; arguably, the best type to go for is a built-in low rail around the perimeter of the changing pad, to help ensure that your baby does not roll off of it onto the floor. For convenience, it would also be good if there are one to two lower shelves that can hold your diapering supplies so you can grab them quickly when it’s time to change your baby.

You should also consider your “needs” in regards to what to put in the nursery, as both you and your partner will spend a considerable amount of time in that room during your baby’s first few months of life.

Some ideas you should consider include putting a comfortable easy chair or cushioned rocking chair for yourself and your partner, as this would be an ideal place to hold your baby, change your baby’s diaper, and sing or read to your baby.

In addition, on those long nights when your baby (and you) don’t get much sleep, it would be a wise idea to put a twin bed or daybed in the nursery. Besides aiding you in getting a few winks of sleep, your child can eventually use that bed later on in his/her life.

After taking care of these essentials, you have a great deal of flexibility in deciding what else to include in the nursery, both in terms of furniture and in terms of wall colors.

The furniture you decide to furnish the nursery with will depend greatly on whether there are other children in your family that will use the nursery; if your newborn is the only one who will use the nursery, then you may consider going more for decorative items. You should make sure that whatever furniture, toys, and accessories you get for the nursery have no small parts or cords that your baby could choke on.

In addition, keep in mind that babies can’t really decipher details or determine the nuances of color until they’re around six months old, so you don’t have to spend lavishly on elaborate colors. In fact, many believe that bold patterns in black and white seem to stimulate a newborn’s eyes and brains much more than colors do.

If you prefer a lively and modern setting, you could decorate the room in black and white with red accents, but you can stimulate your baby’s mind just as much with baby toys and board books, so if this setting doesn’t match up well with your preferred style, it’s not necessary to go with black and white as your nursery’s primary colors.

If you are planning on putting nursery rhyme or fairy tale images on your nursery’s walls, make sure they aren’t scary-looking, as newborns and even young children have a difficult time distinguishing what is real from what is imaginary, and you certainly don’t want to give your young child nightmares!

Virtually, any color scheme will work, but keeping colors on the clear, light side will make a smallnursery seem larger. Plus, most babies are not fond of darker colors, especially grays.

Decorating and furnishing a nursery is a very important time in a couple’s lives, as they are preparing the very first room for their newborn(s). It’s important for them to consider safety, as well as pleasing aesthetics.

Beyond safety and providing some furnishings for the two of you to deal with baby’s long nights and diaper-changing, you have the flexibility to decorate in the way you think is most pleasing for your newborn and for yourselves. It is usually advisable to provide pleasing colors, friendly-looking fairy-tale and nursery rhyme wall characters, and develop their senses with black and white objects.

By providing a pleasing nursery for your newborn, you will help to establish a solid foundation for your child’s development.

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The wooden dough bowl has always had a part in the lives of the Tarahumara Indian people. In the northern part of Mexico, high in the mountain regions, the Tarahumara people have rugged lifestyles and live in humble dwellings. They support themselves and buy needed items by selling their handcrafts.

I have always appreciated the beautiful baskets, weavings, jewelry and other hand-made items produced by this Tribe. It is fascinating that although the women are primarily in charge of making the handcrafts, the Tarahumara men like working with wood and make exquisite pieces of art using primitive style, simple tools.

Along with wooden dough bowls, they also make wooden spoons, figurines and traditional game balls used in traditional foot races. These wooden items have a simple, unpolished beauty, heightened by the natural characteristics of the wood.

You will also find it interesting how the traditional dough bowls are created. The making of the wooden bowl is started by hand carving a piece of pine wood taken from a fallen tree trunk. Native American log bowls are made by cutting the trunk in half and then roughly chopping it with an axe.

The wood is then chiseled into a bowl like shape with a machete or large knife, giving it that one of a kind, rugged and primitive design. This traditional style is the same way that antique dough bowls have been made throughout the Sierra Madre for generations.

As you learn about these fascinating Indigenous people, you will find that the wood dough bowl is a very useful item in the Tarahumara home. It is used in the process of hand-grinding corn and wheat to make hand-made tortillas, an important part of the Tarahumara diet. They then start by breaking the kernels between a smooth stone and a tapered bowl-like stone called a metate.

The dough bowl is then placed at one end of the metate to catch the corn or wheat flour as it is ground by hand. Water is then added to the flour in the bowl and hand-made tortillas are made from the mix. Although still used by the Tarahumara Tribe for kneading dough and cooking purposes, today dough bowls are made available to buyers for Native American style decorating accessories and as Indian art for collection.

You will find a way to use dough bowls for a number of things. They are great as collectibles, fruit bowls, and when combined with rustic decorating items. They are also great when used for art projects when a blank canvas is needed for western style paintings and other Native American style artwork.

Dough bowls, painted with southwestern, Native American and western designs and scenes, are very popular and are an exciting way to add western style in your home. A painted dough bowl creates a beautiful point of interest for any rustic style room, cabin, lodge or ranch style home by adding the rich warm colors characteristic of southwest artwork.

You can buy wood dough bowls online and in many stores that sell southwest and Native American style home decorating accessories. It is easy to give genuine Native style to your home, or to give your room an authentic rustic look by simply hanging a southwestern, painted dough bowl on the wall.

If you like the unique culture and American Indian way of life, you will enjoy having a piece of their beautiful artwork as part of your interior design. To bring Indian style design to your home and bring about a look that is truly unique, use a genuine native style wooden dough bowl to enhance great character in your home decor.

Craig Chambers is the director of Mission Del Rey and offers free information online about choosing a wooden dough bowl for rustic decor. For more information visit http://www.missiondelrey.com