Kimberly Luker asked:




Perhaps you're lucky enough to have a whole room dedicated to playing piano. Or maybe your piano shares a wall in your living or dining room. Or maybe you don't yet have a piano and your practice space is just the corner of your bedroom, where your keyboard sits.

Whatever you've got, you can use your piano practice room to add inspiration and motivation to your practicing. Really!

Think about it a moment: wouldn't it be great to walk by your piano or keyboard, and be so uplifted by what you see that you just can't wait to sit down and play?

Step one -- clean!

Any decorator or feng shui expert will tell you the wonders of a good cleaning! Your room will feel lighter, more open, and more inviting instantly.

I know it's not glamorous. But cleaning truly is the first step toward an amazing practice space.

Vacuum, dust, and get rid of cobwebs. Sort and organize music, books, and CDs. Get yourself a pencil holder (and some good pencils) and a basket for your metronome, sticky notes, and whatever else you like to keep around your piano.

Step two -- consider your style.

Now your room is sparkling. What next?

Think about your style. What kind of room (or corner!) would inspire your practice? What would motivate and energize you?

Maybe you love jazz. A bold wall color, a couple of posters of jazz greats, and an old, cheap instrument from a pawn shop mounted on the wall. Instant character!

Crave a retreat? Soft green walls, plenty of plants, and maybe a water fountain on a small table. Instant spa!

Perhaps modern and contemporary fits you. White walls, a few modern piano prints in simple black frames, no clutter, and a rug with a geometric pattern.

The possibilities are really endless -- it's all about what you love.

Step three -- get creative!

You don't need a lot of money to create your dream piano practice room!

A gallon of paint and a Saturday afternoon can transform your space. Paint the room or just a wall! If you're artistic, you could create a mural.

Scour thrift shops and garage sales for frames, old music, and album covers to put. You'll also find fabric to make bench cushions, a decorative runner for the top of the piano, or a keyboard cover.

Head to an art supply store and pick up a blank canvas. Paint it or make a collage. A small bookshelf can hold music and supplies. Cork tiles can give you an instant bulletin board for pictures and motivational quotes!

You're on your way!

An inspiring piano practice room is a joy to be in. And being happy makes for great practicing!

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Arnold Hexden asked:




The Industrial Revolution seemed a real godsend when it took place, in the 19th century. It solved agricultural or energetic problems without which the world would certainly be different today. What's more, it solved another astringent problem; the textile industry needed a miracle to provide clothes and textile household items for the rising modern world, however, the invention of the powered loom solved it.

As the demographic explosion began at the turn the 19th century more and more people turned to factory-made products. Sadly, the world of handmade products met with a depression-era which only began to recover decades later. This is the case of the hand knotted rug, however the good news is that today we live in a revival of the hand-knotted era, which according to the legends make our homes happy, guaranteed!

The art and skill of making a hand knotted rug has been passed from generation to generation as a family legacy of more traditional and what we now call 'undeveloped' countries, especially in the countries of the Middle East, where the factories didn't gain so much respect. Therefore a hand knotted rug has become synonym with Persian Rug, Oriental rug or Turkish rug (Indian, Pakistani, Tunisian etc), because genuine carpets coming from these countries are all handmade.

Making such a carpet is surely not a child's play! It's a laborious, daunting task needing lots of patience and skill. It will take months to complete a single middle-sized rug and all the high quality hand knotted rugs are made by the hands of experts in terms of weaving and knotting.

A hand knotted rug will basically consist of 2 parts: the base which is made by the warps or threads that go along the carpet and wefts, threads that go across the carpet. Then there is the pile (the visible part of the rug made by the yarns tufted on the base.

The warps are stretched between the parallel boards of the loom and the weaver will knot each thread which will later form the pile on each warp. After a single row is completed, a weft is pushed down to hold the raw of tufts and the operation is repeated until the carpet is finished, knot by knot, inch by inch.

At the end, the carpet maker will shear the rug pile as short as possible, the shorter the better. The end result is an extremely durable, usually naturally dyed, beautifully designed hand knotted rug. How can someone resist the temptation?

The materials used are also of utmost importance. The base is usually made of cotton, but some tribal works are made entirely of wool; for the pile, high-quality wool is the most common and occasionally, to highlight parts of the rug, silk will be used. The most expensive, yet absolutely fascinating hand knotted rugs are made entirely of silk.

So what makes a hand knotted rug so special? Hand knotted rugs are durable without using any kind of glues or extra materials other than cotton, wool or silk. The knots are so tightly tied and so skillfully placed that there is no need to reinforce the base.

The fringe at the end of the rugs comes from the inner warps, whereas in other types of carpets is added, sewed or glued, the differences could go on to fill entire volumes.

Take a chance and see it with your own eyes, feel it with your own hands and feet. You will not regret it, that's a promise.

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