NEED SPACE FOR STUDY TIME: SET UP A HOMEWORK STATION

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Now that the kids are back in school, are you struggling at homework time? Perhaps you need a game plan for after school studying. Here are some tips on how to get started on setting up a homework station.

PICK THE RIGHT SPOT

Choose a location in the home for work and study. It needs be a quiet escape. Ideally, it could be their room, a study, basement office, attic office or even a secluded kitchen nook. Ask your kids for their ideas and incorporate as many of them as possible. This will help get their buy-in so they’ll use it more. Include favorite colors and posters, as well as educational items like maps, globes, books, art supplies, computers, printers, chalkboards/dry erase boards and calendars.

GET IT TOGETHER FOR COMFORT

Clean up the clutter. Remove toys and items they’ve outgrown. Paint the study area their favorite color. Up the comfort by putting down an area rug. A blanket rack for displaying cozy throws is another great idea, so they can keep warm during long winter nights. Providing adequate lighting is important, too. Use floor lamps, pendant lights and desk lamps to brighten things up. These help prevent eyestrain and headaches.

FURNISH IT

Set the scene with a desk or table. The bigger the better―kids need lots of room to work. Add bookshelves, file cabinets and storage bins for keeping supplies organized and within reach. Decorate the walls. Include a wall clock, decorative canvas prints and a corkboard for pinning A+ work, photos and more. You can accent the work surface with a small plant, photo frame and a favorite souvenir. Finish it off with a comfortable chair with ergonomic features.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Once the homework station is ready, turn your focus to an area where you can keep organized and up-to-date on their progress. That will be the next project!

A VINTAGE CASUAL ROOM MAKEOVER

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As an employee in Ashley HomeStore’s eCommerce department, I spend much of my days looking at our furniture and studying the way our talented team styles the rooms in our digital catalogs. I’ve had my eye on one room in particular that was shown in our Hello Summer catalog. It’s the very essence of Vintage Casual, our Lifestyle that features gently weathered pieces and serene styling.

Unfortunately, I live in an older home with tiny bedrooms and the Marsilona bed and nightstands simply won’t fit. But that’s OK! I decided to swap out Marsilona for Prentice, which has a crisp white finish and simple lines. It doesn’t have quite the same farmhouse appeal as Marsilona but I can achieve a similar look by layering in Vintage Casual decor.

Ashley HomeStoreA Vintage Casual Room MakeoverFollow On

As you can see, I have a lot of work to do. In addition to bringing in the furniture and accessories, I need to install a floor and apply a fresh coat of paint. After moving into my home a few years ago, this spare bedroom became a sort of “play room” for my cats. In no time at all they destroyed the wall-to-wall carpet, hence the need for a new floor.

Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll update you on my progress!

 

(He might look cute but don't let that fool you!)

ENTRYWAY 101: MASTERING YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION

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First impressions are everything—that’s especially true when it comes to your home. Your entryway can set the tone for your decor style from the moment your guests walk in. But creating a clean and organized foyer can feel like a challenge if this high traffic area is prone to muddy footprints, heaps of bags and jackets, plus the occasional drenched umbrella. So what are your options? We’ve got a few tips to keep your entryway looking fresh, pulled together and super stylish. 

ACCENT WALL

To make a huge statement in a small space, an accent wall can do the trick. Consider painting just one wall in a dramatic hue or add wallpaper with a bold pattern or wide stripe. Add a console table with some chic tabletop accessories and your entryway just might be the most stylish spot in the house!

STYLISH STORAGE

Have a crew that drops everything just inside the door? Let’s talk about ways to tame the clutter. Console tables with drawers for knick-knacks and lower shelves for shoes are a great place to start. Add a rack to hang coats, hats and unbrellas conveniently by the door. Finish with a storage bench that can do double duty—stowing your stuff and providing a convenient place to sit and put on your shoes.

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL

Adding a mirror to your entryway will instantly brighten up the area and even make it appear larger. And if you’re into Feng Shui, a mirror near the entrance of your home will welcome in the chi. Be sure not to put it directly across from the door or the energy will go right back out!

 

We hope these easy entryway tips made an impression on you. Once you’ve got yours styled right, we’d love to see a photo on Instagram. Just include #MyAshleyHome in your post!

5 EASY UPDATES: GET YOUR HOME READY FOR FALL

 Ashley Furniture Clearance Sales 70% OFF: Up to 50%  70% OFF Select  Items for Living room + Home furniture. Free Shipping Redeem this Ashley Furniture coupon and get Up to 50% OFF Select Home Decor + Free Shipping On Many Items

Shift into the new mood by personalizing your spaces with these easy updates.

Spice up your rooms with a mix of warm and unexpected textures. Like genuine leather, realistic fur and vibrant kilim patterns.

Flickering candlelight is always intriguing, especially when its holder is wondrously unique. Go for an asymmetrical look by pairing two unique sizes of candle holders.

New bedding has a way of making you wake up feeling beautiful. And don't stop at just one comforter set. Pairing a solid color with a pattern takes your look over the top.

Lay down fields of softness room to room. Fall for a variety of materials: incredibly soft wool, natural jute, resilient manmade fibers, even leather. Then delight in how any of these styles warm your floors.

Throw in dashes of warmth. Having a throw or two in every room increases the comfort factor significantly. Opt for soft cable knits or fluffy faux fur varieties.

TOP 10 MUST-HAVES FOR GAME DAY

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Hut, hut hike! As football season gets underway, where will your family and friends gather to watch the hoopla? Get your game on and prep a room to enjoy the excitement, food and camaraderie. Score a touchdown in everyone’s playbook with this checklist of 10 pregame changers for home.   

Cushy Recliner

Whether it’s manual or power, a recliner provides ultimate aahs making it a great choice for resting between plays. Your only worry—who gets the best seat? Psst…tackle that worry by adding more.

Snack Table

When nobody wants to get up, a chairside table is the perfect holder for keeping snacks and remotes within reach.

Coffee Table

Doubling as a smorgasbord during game time, a coffee table keeps favorite finger foods within reach of hungry fans.

Entertainment Center

Optimize the view of your widescreen and create a stadium experience with a state-of-the-art entertainment center—a definite crowd pleaser.

Sofa

Get ready for extra quarters! Make sure your crowd has a comfortably spacious place to sit, recline and cheer their team on.  

Lucky Football

What’s more important than a lucky football? You may not be superstitious, but it can’t hurt to have a good luck charm on hand for the sake of the game.

Lucky Spirit Towel

As excitement builds during big plays, show team loyalty by waving a rally towel—get one for everyone in the room and encourage big cheers.

Game Day Munchies

Stock up on chips, pretzels, nuts and crackers. Add salsa, queso, ranch dip and cheese spread to treat everyone’s taste buds. You don’t want to run short, especially when the game runs long.

Team-Themed Coasters

Protect tabletops from sweating glasses and cans, while showing support for your favorite team.

Foam Sleeves for Drinks

Decorated with your team’s logo, foam sleeves that hold cold drinks will keep them frosty throughout the game.

By going all out with this top 10 list, everyone will champion a comfortable home field advantage, when it comes to watching games. 

How do you prepare for games? Do you have a great game-watching memory? We’d love to hear your tips and stories in the comments section.

ENTRYWAY 101: MASTERING YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION

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First impressions are everything—that’s especially true when it comes to your home. Your entryway can set the tone for your decor style from the moment your guests walk in. But creating a clean and organized foyer can feel like a challenge if this high traffic area is prone to muddy footprints, heaps of bags and jackets, plus the occasional drenched umbrella. So what are your options? We’ve got a few tips to keep your entryway looking fresh, pulled together and super stylish. 

ACCENT WALL

To make a huge statement in a small space, an accent wall can do the trick. Consider painting just one wall in a dramatic hue or add wallpaper with a bold pattern or wide stripe. Add a console table with some chic tabletop accessories and your entryway just might be the most stylish spot in the house!

STYLISH STORAGE

Have a crew that drops everything just inside the door? Let’s talk about ways to tame the clutter. Console tables with drawers for knick-knacks and lower shelves for shoes are a great place to start. Add a rack to hang coats, hats and unbrellas conveniently by the door. Finish with a storage bench that can do double duty—stowing your stuff and providing a convenient place to sit and put on your shoes.

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL

Adding a mirror to your entryway will instantly brighten up the area and even make it appear larger. And if you’re into Feng Shui, a mirror near the entrance of your home will welcome in the chi. Be sure not to put it directly across from the door or the energy will go right back out!

 

We hope these easy entryway tips made an impression on you. Once you’ve got yours styled right, we’d love to see a photo on Instagram. Just include #MyAshleyHome in your post!

STAYCATION: ALL THE FUN WITHOUT LEAVING THE HOME

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There are plenty of ways to say it: We have to stay in tonight. And we always feel upset, too—our weekend has just been taken away from us and now what is there to do? We’re here to tell you that staying in for the night is not always a bad thing, in fact, it can be the perfect time to reconnect with your family AND destress from that long work week. It’s just like a vacation… in the comfort of your home!

Get The Pizzas, Cause We’re Having a Party

Making dinner doesn’t have to be a chore this weekend, in fact you can make it the main event with some small touches. A personal pizza party is a great way for everyone to be creative by choosing their favorite toppings and making their own designs. It’s a fun way to get the family away from their phones (can’t touch screens with dirty hands) and to enjoy some quality Italian food!

Your local grocery store often has a pizza display case with all the ingredients lined up ready to go. Here are three of our recommendations for personal pizzas that rock:

Veggie Monster Pizza

Fresh sliced peppers, spinach, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese.

Traditional Three Cheese

Any three cheeses will do; our favorites are parmesan, sharp cheddar, and mozzarella.

Meat Lover’s Delight

Pepperoni, ham, sausage, and mozzarella cheese.

And We’re Off to the Games

You’ve finished filling your bellies with your own culinary creations and now everyone has just a little too much energy to expend. We’ve got the perfect solution and it’s as simple as it gets: Family Game Night! Any game will do the trick—pick something that's easy to learn but challenging enough to keep the whole group engaged. This is actually a great way for children (and adults, depending on the game) to test their mental and physical abilities, all the while inspiring some friendly competition.*

Family Time Capsule

Most mementos are stowed somewhere in the attic, to be found years later covered in dust and thrown out. We’re telling you NOT to make the past the past, make it something that your family looks forward to! Time capsules are a sweet way to capture the memories of the moment and to create an exciting reveal down the line (our recommendation is a full 10 years).

There are several ways to create a time capsule:

1. Use a simple plastic water bottle and seal the top with hot glue
2. Completely drain a paint can and fill with items (decorate the outside with stickers or use the paint itself to make designs!)
3. Our favorite, use an old trunk lined with metal on the inside. See here.

THE INSPIRED ROOM: A BLOG INSPIRED BY MELISSA MICHAELS

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Fluffy golden doodles, designer room tours and home decor inspired coloring books are among many inspirational tools you will find in Melissa Michaels’ crafty and chic blog; and we can’t get enough of it! Her style guides are inexpensive to initiate, simple to follow and simply gorgeous in design. Whether you’re a coastal lifer, cozy cottager or farmhouse chic fanatic, Melissa has a guide for you. See these here.

We were so pleased to collaborate with Melissa on her latest project—giving a small room a giant makeover! What was once a cramped office space, became a gorgeous guest bedroom with furnishings by Ashley HomeStore. Melissa was given a budget to go wild (and wildly fashionable) by selecting her own bed, mattress, accent furniture, and accessories! She even upped the cozy with a selection of our own quilts and nesting tables, making the guest experience truly divine.

See the full, stunning collaboration here.

Melissa has had the distinct honor of being voted Reader’s Favorite Decorating Blogger at Better Homes and Gardens magazine two years in a row and is the author of New York Times Bestseller “Love the Home You Have” released in March 2015. Melissa encourages her followers to explore their home style by truly embracing what inspires and motivates them—even if it’s a little quirky! 

See Melissa Michaels' full blog here and prepare to be inspired!

5 EASY UPDATES: GET YOUR HOME READY FOR FALL

 Ashley Furniture Clearance Sales 70% OFF: Up to 50%  70% OFF Select  Items for Living room + Home furniture. Free Shipping Redeem thisAshley Furniture coupon and get Up to 50% OFF Select Home Decor + Free Shipping On Many Items

Shift into the new mood by personalizing your spaces with these easy updates.

Spice up your rooms with a mix of warm and unexpected textures. Like genuine leather, realistic fur and vibrant kilim patterns.

Flickering candlelight is always intriguing, especially when its holder is wondrously unique. Go for an asymmetrical look by pairing two unique sizes of candle holders.

New bedding has a way of making you wake up feeling beautiful. And don't stop at just one comforter set. Pairing a solid color with a pattern takes your look over the top.

Lay down fields of softness room to room. Fall for a variety of materials: incredibly soft wool, natural jute, resilient manmade fibers, even leather. Then delight in how any of these styles warm your floors.

Throw in dashes of warmth. Having a throw or two in every room increases the comfort factor significantly. Opt for soft cable knits or fluffy faux fur varieties.

Living Room Lighting Tips

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Homeowners spend lots of time choosing a sofa or paint color for their living room walls, but often forget about the importance of proper lighting. In a space where you watch TV, read books, play games and entertain guests, lighting serves an important purpose in both the function and look of the room.

"Lighting is important because of the intimacy it creates," says interior and lighting designer Linda Allen of Linda Allen Designs. "Since living rooms are usually one of the first rooms you walk into, it sets the tone for the rest of the house."

A good living room lighting scheme uses different kinds of light, set at different levels, that work together to make the space warm and attractive. Allen says if you want people to linger, use dimmers that allow you to control the level of light to suit the activities that take place in the space.

Living Room Lighting Designs

Take advantage of the newer, more energy-efficient lighting solutions for residential use, suggests Mary Beth Gotti, manager of the GE Lighting Institute.

"Ten years ago you wouldn't have seen nearly as many halogen fixtures, and LEDs are definitely one of the newest options," says Gotti. "Lighting can be magical. You can go online or visit your local lighting showroom and learn about the new light sources and colors now available."

Here are four popular lighting strategies and how they work in a living room.

Accent

When you want to highlight certain features in your living room, like a fireplace, textured walls or a favorite painting, accent lighting is the way to go. Recessed, adjustable lights directed to points of interest or under-cabinet lighting in a display case that highlights selected objects are examples of accent lighting.

"Accent lighting adds a pleasing variation of brightness," says Gotti. "You're drawing attention and putting more light on an architectural feature."

In order for accent lighting to work, it needs to supply about five times as much light on the focal point as the surrounding general light.

Brian Patrick Flynn

Although the overall style of the workspace is traditional, Alex was able to bring a touch of his classic, modern style into the room with a smoked glass pendant light centered above the Chinese farmhouse table.

Ambient

Stylish chandeliers, ceiling lights, wall-mounted fixtures or portable lamps can provide the ambiance that casts a warm glow in your living room. It controls glare and provides the general illumination that makes the living room feel comfortable and inviting.

"As a lighting designer, when I'm creating ambient light I'm creating an effect," says Allen, who likes to use ambient light when she wants to illuminate a surface but not see where the light source comes from.

Since this type of lighting affects the overall quality of light in the room and tends to be used the most, Gotti says this is where you want to use your energy-efficient solutions, with dimmers or three-way controls.

Decorative

When you want to create interest and add sparkle to your living room, table lamps, hanging pendants and chandeliers can provide the decorative light that adds coziness and intimacy.

"It personalizes a space," says Allen. "I always say it's like wearing a great pair of earrings to complete an outfit."

Task

When you want to read a book or need to write at a desk, good task lighting helps you get things done. This brighter light can be a floor lamp with a swinging arm next to a comfortable chair, or a directed light source over a desk.

"These are not the lights you use all the time — they're only to be used when you're doing a task, like reading or writing," says Allen.

A more localized type of lighting, positioning is especially important. Portable table lamps allow for flexibility when furniture is moved.