TowerNetWeb

Moroccan furniture is normally solid timber and stylish. Morocco is an ex-French colony, but it is very near Spain too. In fact, two small parts of Morocco, Melilla and Ceuta are still under Spanish control.

This means that Moroccan furnishings and decor has Berba, Arabic, French and Spanish influences. These Mediterranean influences are prominent in traditional and contemporary Moroccan furniture.

When combined with Moroccan decor and colours, Moroccan furniture can transform your home. Walls are normally emulsioned plain white or cream and lightly decorated with old carpets or tapestries with one or two photos or paintings hanging between them.

Reds and browns are the principal colours. Poignant writings from the Koran or other Arabic philosophers are often written out in bold script and framed.

Moroccan decorations such as lamps, lanterns, mirrors, benches, vases, mosaic end tables, ottomans, rugs and ceramics can add that remarkable local flavour to the decor, setting off the solid timber or padded cloth furniture.

Pillows and cushions feature large in Moroccan interior and garden decor, but they also use sofas and seats in the European manner. Morocco is well-known for its leather craft and leather is frequently used to cover chairs, sofas and footstools or poufes.

Loose rugs are important for sitting on and they are taken out and beaten each day to keep them clean as Morocco is a hot, sandy and dusty country if you travel a few miles inland from the coast. Camels are still used for transport in rural parts and camel hair is woven into rugs, blankets and wall coverings.

Moroccans like tiles and mosaics and Arabic style tiles are quite distinctive if you want to use them in your bathroom and kitchen. If you want to dine in Moroccan style, they usually dine at a very low round table with the main dish in the centre from which everybody helps themselves, although in a family, some members will feed others too.

Following tradition and hygiene, you may only touch food with your right hand, although everybody will have washed both hands before coming to the table. Bread, rice and couscous feature extensively in Moroccan food as does potatoes, carrots, lamb and chicken.Water is served during the meal and tea and coffee afterwards frequently with very sweet cakes covered with icing sugar and syrup.

People take it easy at home wearing long, loose-fitting garments and lounge on benches or on rugs on the floor surrounded by cushions. In the evening, lighting will be low offered by low wattage bulbs concealed behind red and brown stained glass or cloth. Candles, scented or not also feature a great deal in living rooms and bedrooms unless someone wants a stronger light to read by.

Candles in wall sconces are common methods to highlight special areas and light up corridors and some doorways. Frequently these sconces do not hold candles, but hold scented oil with a floating wick which is less expensive to leave burning between the hours or twilight and bed time.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with outdoor dining tables. If you want to know more, just visit our website at Solid Oak Dining Tables.

Is your kitchen a dreary and uninteresting area to work in? It does not have to be like that, you can modify it fairly easily either yourself or by getting in contractors to do it for you. The trick is to know what you desire before you take a sledge hammer to your existing kitchen.

So, before you go about destroying what you already have, go about gathering ideas for replacement. You can get great ideas from the home restoration TV programmes, from home design journals, by looking at friends’ kitchens and by reading my suggestions below.

Maybe the best place to start is to think about how to reflect your own personal style. This could be a broad style like farmhouse, Tuscan, Mexican, modern, or it could be a little bit of many styles to make up your own. However, do not forget that there is a lot of scope to convey your own individuality even if you select a broad trend.

One trap to avoid is attempting to get all the latest gadgets from a broad style. For example, if you pursue the modern broad style to its logical end, your kitchen will look like a cold, clinical hotel or hospital kitchen full of stainless steel. If you like all that sort of stuff , then okay, but it is difficult for a family to feel at home in.

If money is tight, you could just repaint the cabinets a different colour and replace the handles. That will make a colossal difference. Changing the ambient lighting is another fairly cheap way of altering the style of your kitchen. Install subtle lighting under the wall units and if you already have those, try fixing some spot lights to the ceiling and if you already have those, try adding some wall sconces for candles.

If you have beautiful pots and pans or want to get a set, why not show them off by fixing a rack to the wall from which to hang your pots and pans? it adds a very interesting effect to any kitchen.

You can also make a huge change to the kitchen (or any room for that matter) by altering the flooring. Solid wood is stunning, but if you cannot afford that, you could try veneered floor covering or stone, if the floor will take the weight. It is a good idea to endeavor to use the kitchen flooring to reinforce the broad image of your kitchen’s new style.

If you do not already have one, think about creating an outdoor kitchen for use whilst the weather permits. An outdoor kitchen really frees up a lot of room and ‘usage’. People flow to the outdoor kitchen when the weather is fine and your indoor living space suddenly seems less chaotic.

Last, but not least, the kitchen table. Just changing the style or shape of your kitchen table will have a big impact on the general look of your kitchen. Go from timber to glass or from square to round.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with contemporary dining room tables. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Solid Oak Dining Tables.