We’re trying to find the UGLIEST, most beaten up sofa in the world!  Do you have a sofa SO UGLY and embarrassing that it’s hidden away in some dark forbidden corner??  If you answered YES, then take a photo of it and ENTER our contest to WIN a brand spanking new sofa of your choice valued up to $1999.

Enter Contest: http://on.fb.me/DecorWin

Good Luck and Good Laughs!

With the start of winter only a few days away, (technically) you might want to start thinking about the little things you can do to warm up the spaces in your home.
It’s quite popular today to decorate with a minimalist approach: organized spaces with no clutter give off a very clean impression. But while this look can be great, it can also be a colder environment. So when the temperature starts flirting with the freezing mark, it’s probably time to start exploring ways to warm up our spaces for the winter.
It’s very easy to add warmth to your space without creating clutter and without spending a lot of money. Here are a few tips.

INTRODUCE AN AREA RUG – Put a soft, warm texture over your existing, cold tile or hardwood floor to help warm your space. You don’t have to invest in a family heirloom. There are many beautiful, inexpensive rugs available today. Keep it inexpensive and you won’t mind when you roll it up and put it away in the springtime!

ELECTRIC FIREPLACES – Decorium also has beautiful electric fireplaces that provide warmth but also serve as a beautiful piece of functional furniture. These pieces have adjustable temperature settings and can serve as credenzas or entertainment consoles. We have some that fit into corners, and some of the models even have remote controls so you won’t have to get up from the sofa or out of bed to turn up the heat!

ACCESSORIZE – Another simple and cost-effective way to warm up your space is with the addition of accessories. Get yourself a soft and warm blanket for your sofa or bed. How about adding a scattering of fluffy throw pillows that you can snuggle into?

My personal favourite is spreading beautiful candleholders around the room. Although this doesn’t actually produce useful heat, all you have to do is light those candles up and watch the thermostat start to rise! Try these tips and you should make it through another long, cold winter.

So many people come to us and say, “Our room is stale! We need a

Mart Wojtal

fresh look! It’s time for a change!”
I guess half the battle is recognizing when it’s time to change your decor, but the challenge is knowing how to start the project, especially when there are so many options available.

So many questions start to fill your head, all legitimate: Where do I start? What stays? What goes? How much will it cost? Can I do this on my own?
It’s time to examine your room and ask yourself some key questions: your room has been the way it is for several years, what did you really like about the room? What did you dislike about the room? These answers will help you understand what you want to change and why you want to change it.

Redecorating an entire room can be a daunting task. Not to mention a large expense! You might be better off doing the project over a longer period of time. The advantages of this are you will be able to see the effects of each new piece on your room one at a time, allowing you to make more informed decisions on other changes in your room. You’ll also be able to spread the cost of the project out, softening its financial impact.

Start with the most important piece of furniture in the room; it could be the sofa in the family room, dining table in the dining room or bed in the bedroom. Understand what you liked about your old one and what you disliked about it. Look for these qualities in the new piece of furniture that you select.

Changing the most important piece in your room will help make the other changes required more obvious. Don’t be pressured into doing it all at once. Mistakes can be expensive. Decorium’s in-store design service is always free and guaranteed to be pressure-free and a lot of fun.

Don’t forget to do your homework before you come to our showroom. Bring a sketch, dimensions and a look-book. Don’t be afraid of making a change, embrace the opportunity. Change your room, change your life!

While most of us are focused on stocking stuffers for our family and friends at this time of year, we should also remember that we’re deserving of a little holiday cheer for ourselves.

One special gift that is guaranteed to not be forgotten in the new year is a beautiful, new piece of furniture or accessories for your home.
The first three weeks of December are a very special time at Decorium: this is the time when manufacturers inform us of items that will be discontinued in the new year.

These products receive drastic price reductions prior to Boxing week in order to make room for new items in the coming year.
Why not treat yourself and your home to a new accent piece, accessory or chair? You and your family will receive 365 days of enjoyment from your new addition unlike the usual holiday gifts.

Many of these items are being reduced up to 65% off the regular pricing. There is actually an even greater incentive to come into Decorium now: this is the same pricing that most people wait until Boxing week for.
Why wait?

You can shop in the weeks prior to Boxing week without the crowds and have first choice of the hundreds of amazing items that have been reduced!
Discontinued bedroom sets, dining room sets, sofas, leather furniture, mattresses, accent pieces, accessories, area rugs, entertainment units, and home office pieces; they’re all available now at Boxing week values!

It doesn’t take a major purchase to make a major difference in your décor. Visit with one of our talented Design Associates and let Decorium help you treat yourself for the holidays — how much you saved will be between you, us and Santa!

We sell so many bedroom sets every week, but I am always puzzled by one consistent way of thinking that most consumers have: why is the mattress the last piece of furniture consumers consider when furnishing a bedroom?

We can all agree that the mattress is the single most important piece of furniture we have in our homes. So maybe it’s just that we can’t see the mattress when our room is complete? Out of sight, out of mind.

The average person will spend one third of their life sleeping. The consequences of not getting adequate sleep are well-documented, so why wouldn’t our mattress be at the top of our minds when furnishing our bedrooms?

Maybe it’s because mattresses aren’t generally fashionable or sexy. We can’t show them off to our friends. They don’t appeal to our vanity. Whatever the reason, Decorium is committed to change the way our customers think about their mattresses.

We need to understand what a mattress is supposed to do for us: it’s supposed to provide complete support from head to toe, allowing our muscles to “turn off” while we sleep and provide total relaxation and support.

The problem is most mattresses don’t do this. This is something that consumers must be aware of. Our mattress experts will take the time to explain this in greater detail when you visit Decorium. Once you understand and have found the mattress that best fits your body and lifestyle, we can only then start to decorate your mattress with a beautiful bedroom set.

That’s right — start thinking of your bed and bedroom set as furniture to decorate your mattress. The priority should be on finding the best fitting mattress for you and then make it pretty with beautiful furniture. This thinking goes against the norm. Make the investment an reap the benefits of the right mattress.

Our time is so valuable to us. With no time to waste, why do so many of us shop for home furnishings when we are totally unprepared?
If we don’t want to waste our time, why don’t we do our homework prior to visiting the store?
If you want to be prepared and make the most of your valuable time, follow this small “homework” assignment that will make your shopping experience more efficient and productive.

1. Create a look book – cut out pictures from decorating magazines of rooms that you like. This will help you explain to your design associate exactly the look that you want to create.

2. Make a sketch – roughly draw your current room. You don’t have to be a designer to do this. Draw the walls, doors, windows and other architectural elements that will come into play when placing furniture. Also, include existing furniture so your design associate will understand the current configuration of your room. Check out www.decorium.com to use our simple room planner.

3. Bring measurements – take as precise measurements as you can. Your design associate will help you select items that not only fit in the spaces you have available but will show you how to have the right scale and proportion in your room. Would you think of shopping for appliances without measuring the space? So many customers don’t even think that size could be an issue.

I guarantee that if you invest a little bit of time doing these three things, you will have half of the decorating process done for your room. All that’s left to do is select the new items (that’s the fun part)!
Decorium is happy to offer free in-store design service. If you are adding one piece to a room, or furnishing your entire home, we have the experts to help you.

Gone are the days of old basement bars. Those mirrored walls with glass shelves displaying old, dusty liquor bottles. Back in the day, these bars were usually an embarrassment to the woman of the house, who couldn’t stand the sight of that wood-panelled monstrosity! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could marry a beautiful piece of furniture that mom would be happy to display in her living room and something functional where dad could store his liquor and paraphernalia?

Decorium has it all covered. Our collection of beautiful bar furnishings is currently being featured in our showroom, just in time for the upcoming holiday season! Our collection includes stunning armoires that can store and display everything you would have in a bar but can be closed when not in use. If space is minimal, we also feature smaller bar consoles that can accommodate your bottles and accessories.

You don’t have to compromise beautiful design for functionality. You can have it all. Whether your look is contemporary, modern or traditional, we have a bar unit that will fit into your décor and lifestyle.
You can incorporate your bar into your primary living spaces, living room, family room, etc. The bar no longer needs to be relegated to the basement, because now we’re talking about beautiful furniture.

A couple of questions from our readers: Mindi from North York asked us: “I’m concerned about my children having access to the bar unit. Do they come with locks?”
We’ve already thought about that. Most of the units have locking doors so you can lock up your bar unit safe and sound!

Steven from Thornhill sent us a great question too. He asked: “I like to keep my wine chilled, and in my basement bar, I had a bar fridge. How do I keep my wine cool with your bar units?”
Guess what, Steven? Some of the larger bar units also have refrigerators built right inside! It doesn’t get any more functional than that.

Trends in home furnishings come and go, but some things are timeless. One of those timeless items is quality leather furniture; leather is always in fashion.
When you choose a quality leather product, you are choosing something that will serve you for many years. It only gets better with time and use. This reminds me of a question sent in by a reader. Eva from North York wrote, “We are looking for a new sofa. I have three young children, 2, 7 and 9. What is the most durable cover we can select for our new sofa?” Thanks for the great question, Eva. This is actually a very common question and my response is always the same.

The most durable cover you can choose is a good quality, topgrain
cowhide. Not synthetic “leather-like” products, it must be the real thing. First of all, leather is a natural material and can be processed and finished many different ways.

Some finishes are more practical for certain situations than others. You need to make sure you are dealing with an expert consultant when making your purchasing decision. Second, just like a good pair of leather shoes or a leather jacket,
the more you use it, the better it becomes. Good quality leather will stretch and soften with use.

Third, imagine you were to take a sharp object and try to pierce it through a piece of fabric and then through a piece of leather. Which will puncture easier?
The fabric, of course! There are colours and styles available to suit every taste and décor.

Come visit Decorium’s new 10,000-sq.-ft. leather gallery. You will have an opportunity to be served by a leather expert who will answer all of your questions and help you select the proper item for all your needs so that you will enjoy your leather furniture for many years.

Before we address this week’s topic, I would like to answer a reader’s question.

Kristine asked: “I want to create a romantic bedroom look. What bed style would best suit this feeling?”

Great question, Kristine. But the only bed I know that couldn’t round out a romantic bedroom look is a bunk bed.  You can achieve your own romantic personal oasis with just about any style of bed. It really comes down to other elements included in the bedroom environment.

For example, you could have the most beautiful bed, but if the mattress is old and uncomfortable, it’s not going to matter what the bed looks like. And keep in mind: everyone’s idea of romance is different — it’s your bedroom.

Choose the things you find romantic. Flowers, candles, music, soft fluffy sheets and pillows, all of these things can help any bedroom, whether you have a sleigh bed, canopy bed, platform bed, poster bed or any other type of bed and yes, maybe even a bunk bed.

When mixing different items in a room, there are absolutely no set rules. I have never really liked the term “mix and match.” I would rather change it to “mix and contrast” or “mix and complement.” Colour, texture, design and style can all be mixed together, but keep a few small things in mind.

1. Scale – keep things in proportion.

2. Eclecticism – the more you mix things up, the better the result.

3. Don’t match – trying to hard to match items will destroy the look you are trying to achieve.

4. Be different – create your our personal look.

Decorium’s design associates will assist you in creating your own personal look. Remember to create your own look book by tearing out pictures of rooms you like from design magazines. This will help you to explain what you like and don’t like. Believe us, you’ll have a lot of fun doing it.

This is my favourite time of the year. The leaves change colour, the air is fresh

Mart Wojtal

and crisp while thoughts of changing our décor to reflect the season are filling my mind.
We change our clothing and fashion to reflect the change in weather, why shouldn’t we do the same with our rooms? Gone until next spring are the bright and colourful floral fabrics.
Say so long to the clean white linens and tablecloths. It’s time to invite in the scents and sights of the outdoors. Let Mother Nature be your inspiration!
Fall is also traditionally dining season. It’s the time of year when we gather with family and friends around the dining table.
For a short while, we saw the trend of casual
dining gaining popularity and being embraced in households. But while casual dining is still a large section of the dining room market, we are now seeing a resurgence in formal dining rooms.
People are turning back the hands of time to when there was greater emphasis on the dining experience.
Family and friends are starting to gather face to face with each other around the table to enjoy elaborate meals and good company.
I’m so happy that this trend is returning. Some of my best memories as a child were when the entire family gathered in the dining room, we sat, ate and talked for what seemed to be hours.
Decorium is very proud to have a large selection of dining rooms, both formal and casual.
It’s time to reconnect with friends and family. If a new dining room from Decorium plays a small part in helping you accomplish that, we’ll be doubly happy!
Enjoy your fall decorating because the season is fleeting. And we all know what’s to come!

Today, more than ever, furniture not only has to look good but it has to be functional. Inthe same way that we must learn to multitask in our day-to-day life, our furniture must also “multitask”. Our buyers have listened to the needs of our customers. The need for great looking, functional furniture is being addressed at Decorium. Home furnishing today must fulfill many needs.

First it has to look great! Fashion is important to every-one and you want your room to look its best.

Secondly it has to be practical. Your furniture must fill the needs of your day-to-day life.

Thirdly, it must provide storage for all of our “stuff” that we seem to need every-day in our rooms.

How about a bed that has a dresser for your clothes built right under your mattress? Maybe an ottoman that provides a place for you to rest your feet but also becomes a space to store magazines, DVD’s, remotes, toys or anything else you have lying around? What about a beautiful armoire that when opened reveals a stunning bar to store your entire bar needs from bottles to glasses and much more!

One of my storage issues was where to put all of the hundreds of small toys that my children love to play with everyday? It needed to be something that looked great, wouldn’t take away from the style of our room and unless you were told, you would never know that there were toys there. The toys also needed to be accessible to the kids whenever they wanted them.

Our storage solution was a large leather storage ottoman. We also purchased small, inexpensive wicker baskets to place inside of the ottoman so the kids had somewhere to contain all of their toys within the ottoman. Talk about a multitasking piece! This ottoman serves as a footrest, extra seating, a toy box and a coffee table!

Visit Decorium with your decorating and storage issues. One of our Design Consultants will be glad to help you find your storage solutions.

The real estate sector predicts most of us are not going to be living in mansions. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t decorate small homes with big style.
Decorium offers all of the style and function that you will find in large full-sized homes in our Surroundings gallery.

Surroundings offers a full range of high fashion products for your home, all scaled down to work in condos and houses where space is more of a challenge.

It is important when furnishing your room to find an expert who will take the time to under- stand your needs and what you want to get out of your space.  For example, if you are redecorating your family room, there can be a lot questions that need to be answered first. How many people would you like to be able to seat in the room? What activities will you be doing in this room? Who will be using this room?

A sketch and dimensions of the room come in handy as well. That’s why our experts at Decorium will assist you with this and present small space solutions for your room. We will make sure that you do not sacrifice comfort, style or functionality.  You will be amazed at the selection of smaller scaled upholstery, tables, dining rooms, bed- rooms, accessories and accent pieces.
One piece of advice when decorating a room is that you never have to purchase all of the new pieces at one time.

You can take your time with the project if that makes you more comfortable. Start with
the main piece, the sofa. Get it in your room, live with it for a week or two. You will then have a better feel of the space and what you may want or not want
to add to the room. You can do it a piece at a time if you wish. The most important rule is that there are no rules! Do whatever works for you.  Look out for our next great tip: Storage Solutions.