Archive for April, 2010
Using Native Drums As Rustic Tables For Chic Rustic Home Decor
Do you love rustic furniture and decor? Native drums used as rustic tables are the best and most inexpensive way to incorporate authentic southwest design and enrich western style in your home. Along with using Indian drums as musical instruments in drumming groups and circles you can use them to add unique southwestern style to any room. I recently changed my home decor using one of a kind pieces of log furniture to give it an interesting southwest feel and found that including a Native American drum coffee table and drum end table together with other western style accessories worked beautifully as accent pieces to my log furnishings.
Perhaps you are like me and truly like Native style floor drums and log drums to use as rustic tables in interior design and southwestern decor. Native floor drums are certainly a very real representation of Indigenous society and customs and are regularly used by many Indian tribes in traditional ceremonies and rituals. Indian drums for many decades have always been significant to the Native Indian ceremony such as the powwow and have helped form the ideology of religion and spirituality for many Indian groups.
As you begin researching the fascinating history of Native drums you will see just how influential they are to the Indian people. For many decades tribal leaders have used the drum beat as a way to connect with the Great Spirit and with the Spiritual world. Native American Indians think of their drums as sacred and show great respect for the living spirit they believe dwells within each drum. The Spirit of the drum is thought to communicate to the drummer and signifies not only living things but also Mother Nature.
Now days many interior designers are bringing these beautiful Native drums into their homes to be used as southwest style furniture such as rustic tables coffee tables and end tables. There is something very inviting about adding an interesting piece of furniture such as a drum table to your southwest home decorating to complement American Indian style in your home. You will enjoy decorating with rustic tables because of the classic originality they bring to their environment. Each drum comes from a significant historical culture that literally enriches the area where it is placed. Something you will enjoy most about using a decorative table drum along with your rustic wood furniture is that it is a very real icon of Indigenous culture.
If you are fascinated by country style decor you can easily buy rustic drums that work as coffee tables floor drums and rustic tables online and in stores that sell Native American and rustic home decorating items. No matter which way you choose to use them it is easy to find rustic style drums that will give true southwest style to the environment in your home. If you are intrigued with the interesting culture of the American Indians and want to enrich the southwest furnishings in your log home or cabin you will no doubt enjoy decorating with Native drums as rustic tables.
About the writer: Craig Chambers is the director of Mission Del Rey and offers free information online about buying Native Drums to use as rustic tables and for southwestern home decorating. For more information visit http://www.missiondelrey.com
Using Feng Shui To Your Advantage
While a lot of people have heard about Feng Shui truly understanding it can be a challenge. Feng Shui literally translates to Wind Water and it is an ancient Chinese concept of balancing elements and energies in a home. This balancing is done through the deliberate placing of furniture and choosing colors and shapes that naturally reflect certain energetic qualities.
While it all seems a bit far fetched many people attest that major positive changes can occur when they follow the advice of Feng Shui. Some people consult a Feng Shui expert before they even buy a home and many interior designers and home stagers utilize Feng Shui philosophies. While certainly not everyone cares about a home’s energy balance it is an interesting concept and one that can be fun to put into practice. Using Feng Shui might make your home more comfortable and it may even make it more appealing to buyers when it comes time to sell.
Feng Shui can be very complex involving an awful lot of aspects. Fortunately many modern practitioners have filtered the art down to its essence allowing the layperson to practice some Feng Shui without being completely overwhelmed. Something that outlines Feng Shui is a simple way is the Bagua. The Bagua is like a map that helps you decorate or design your home.
Some simple concepts involve symbolism. Let’s take love for example. Ideally the master bedroom in a home would be in the love center which according to the Bagua map is in the back right hand corner of a home. If you want to encourage relationships decorate with pairs. For example be sure to have two bedside tables and two of each decorative object. Single candlesticks statues or paintings of single people will encourage the owner to be single. If you are trying to find a partner choose art that depicts happy couples and decorate in colors like pink red and white. Be sure not to let pink dominate in a girly way as this discourages masculine energy. If you despise red tones and really don’t want to decorate with them adding just a touch of pink in a small but deliberate dose will help increase the love energy of the room.
The bedroom isn’t the best place for plants as their growing energy will disturb sleep. Plants are ideal in the wealth center however which is located in the back left hand corner of a home. If one wants renewed movement in their career center adding water gets the energy flowing. Circular shapes and watery colors also add this energy if an actual water feature is impossible.
In Feng Shui bathrooms laundry facilities and even kitchen sinks are places where energy can literally go down the drain. If these are in the financial center of a home the household may have trouble saving money. Similarly if you can see the bathroom from your bed you may wake up with depleted energy. Keeping bathroom doors shut or at least toilet lids shut can help to balance this. If possible rearrange furniture to avoid this energy drain.
There is so much to Feng Shui I couldn’t possibly explain it all in a short article. But keeping it in mind when designing and decorating a home is fun at the least and life enhancing at best. You just might get offers to purchase your home from other Feng Shui believers!
About the writer: Written on behalf of Virginia Wherland experienced Minneapolis real estate agent. Visit her web site to find out how her team can help you find the Edina MN real estate of your dreams.
Using Ceremonial Drums For Unique Mountain Interior Design
Because I love southwest decorating I recently added ceremonial drums as part of the rustic southwest decor in my new home. I was so impressed with the beautiful southwestern feel that the Native American drums brought to my home that I started learning about the history and the influential role they play in Indigenous cultures. If you are like me you have probably seen how meaningful ceremonial drums are to the Native culture but do not know their importance in tribal ceremonies or how exactly they are used. Each tribe is unique in how they use ceremonial drums but one similarity between each tribe is that the Native drums are very symbolic and part of the main focus of the ceremony. Throughout my studies I have come to find that learning about these drums truly grants you a great appreciation of the American Indian culture and their customs.
As you begin studying about ceremonial drums you will find it very interesting that the Indigenous people think of the ceremonial drum to be sacred. They are usually used in powwows Shamanic ceremonies and honor ceremonies to come in contact with the Spirits and to connect with their creator. It is believed that each drum contains a spirit and that the drum beat signifies the heart beat of Mother Nature. Since the drum is thought to connect the people with the spirit world and lead the a healer in helping his people you will see that they are commonly used by the healers or Shaman to enter the mind state known as the Shamanic journey needed to communicate with the Spirits.
Also as you study the importance of ceremonial drums in modern culture you will find that Native Indian drums have a significant role in the preservation of native tribes such as the Tarahumara. Making and selling these rustic style drums gives them the opportunity to earn a living by selling and trading their cultural hand crafts and helps them extend the knowledge and traditions of their culture to those who purchase them. The drum making knowledge passed on from generation to generation in these tribes teaches the drum makers how to make durable and longlasting ceremonial drums with elements from the Earth and the environment around them such as pine wood and natural rawhide.
Today Native Indian drums are not only used in Indian ceremonies such as Indian drumming groups and as Native American musical instruments but they are also gaining popularity as pieces of decorative art instruments used in school music classes and even as canvases for Native American art projects and Indian paintings. Some types of ceremonial drums are also used as southwest style furniture and western decor such as the larger powwow drums and pedestal drums that are used as rustic decorative tables. Today it is very easy to find these unique Native American ceremonial drums online and in stores that sell southwestern western and rustic decor. However you choose to use your ceremonial drum whether for drumming purposes or in home decorating you will no doubt be drawn to the simplistic charm and western style of ceremonial drums.
About the writer: Craig Chambers is the director of Mission Del Rey and author offering free information online about how to use ceremonial drums for drumming circles and for chic southwestern home decorating. For more information visit http://www.missiondelrey.com