Western Art and Wildlife Art in the Rustic Home

I've had a hard time getting out of the art gallery lately, my online art gallery that is. As I'm looking at these absolutely magnificent pieces of artwork, I'm realizing that adding some beautiful artwork to your home is for you, it's personal and it's about how a piece of art makes you feel. It's about making your home personal. One of my own favorites is Welcome the Dawn by Nancy Glazier. If I were to be able to view this painting in my home every day for the rest of my life, I'm sure years from now it would have the same effect it has on me today, I am in awe. The cost of a giclee on canvas pales when weighed with the years of enjoyment you will have from displaying a beautiful piece of artwork in your home for your own enjoyment.

Maybe you're moved or inspired by a beautiful landscape that reminds you of home or someplace that in some way is special to you. Don't buy a painting just to decorate your wall, buy a painting because you are mesmerized by it, buy it because you're happy every time you look at it. I love this fall landscape, Backlit Aspen Panorama by Claude Steelman.

Maybe you like the look of fun, bright, cheerful and whimsical artwork such as Horse Whisperer by Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey

Add art to your home for your enjoyment, even if you can't afford a giclee you most certainly will find a print or even a poster that is affordable and that makes you feel wonderful when you look at it. Stop by our new online art gallery for cowboy art, equine art, wildlife art, landscape art and more, we've just begun and we're adding new artwork regularly so visit the art gallery at www.lightsinthenorthernsky.com.

Bears in Trees: A Sparkling Addition to Lodge Decor!

If you have a lodge decor home, this bear and lighted pine tree may make a wonderful addition to your decor all year long. The tiny white lights on the tree add charm and sparkle in the evening, even on nights when it's too warm to light the fireplace.

Available also with these adorable bear cubs, some of the trees are decorated with lights, berries and pinecones.

The Christmas version is available with red caps and a red tree base. These wonderful trees are available in tabletop size, 18 inches, or floor styles in 4 foot, 5 foot and 6 foot heights. There is also a Christmas lamp post bear that stands 38 inches high.

Visit Lights in the Northern Sky where you can shop online for rustic decor, mountain lodge decor, lakeside cabin decor and western decor.

Adding Ambiance to Cabin Decor!

Close your eyes and think about a cabin in a pine woods or by a lake. What comes to mind? For me, living in New England, it's pine trees and in particular the scent of a pine forest on a cold, sunny autumn morning. When you are decorating with cabin decor don't forget to add touches to your rooms that will evoke those kinds of images. I love to put out all kinds of pine scented touches: candles, pine needle pillows in a bowl, potpouri with pine. How great it is to walk into a room decorated with cabin decor and be enveloped with the scent of pine!

Living in New England, I treasure the bright colorful autumn foliage and bittersweet and love to bring it into my cabin decor on wreaths and in vases and bowls. It reminds me of walking around the cabin on a cold autumn morning with the leaves crunching under my feet and the wonderful scent of autumn leaves mingled with the faint aroma smoke from a woodstove. Adding some woodsy or pine scented candles not only add wonderful cabin scents, but also adds that special ambiance only candles or oil lamps can provide. I love to see the sun sparkling on the lake in the morning or watch my beagle playing by the lake. To bring that feeling into your cabin, the absolute BEST way is to buy a large painting or print, one that just makes you have that wonderful feeling when you look at it, and hang it in a prominent place. Artwork is all about how the art makes YOU feel, so don't buy artwork to impress your guests, buy it to impress yourself! It can make a room be one that you delight in entering because you get a great feeling when you look at a favorite painting. Don't skimp when buying artwork, it is the finishing touch to a room and if purchased with care it will last a lifetime! Remember all of the senses when you decorate a room. Add texture with faux fur, rough wood and dried flowers. I love to have some soft faux fur throws to complete a room with cabin decor, and because I just love the white birch

that grows at New England lakeside cabins, I like to add some birch logs either in a basket by the fireplace or if you don't have a fireplace just include it in a basket arrangement. You can also add many textures and soft natural colors if you've got wildflowers or a garden by your cabin by tying and hanging bunches of drying flowers in a window or along a beam. I grow lavendar and love to tie up bunches of this beautiful plant for color and scent. You can also set out apples covered in clove buds for great texture and scent or beautiful pine cones. And for a REALLY wonderful treat Lights in the Northern Sky will soon be carrying beautiful Aroma Cones that make a stunning and aromatic arrangement. These are made in the USA from real pinecones and we think they are an incredible accent to cabin decor!

Visit Lights in the Northern Sky where you can shop online for rustic decor, mountain lodge decor, lakeside cabin decor and western decor.

Rustic Wall Decor

Every once in awhile it's a good idea to change around your wall decor. It adds a new fresh feeling to a room and helps to transition from a winter cozy feel to a more open fresh feeling of summeror vice versa. You get tired of looking at the same wall decor season in and season out, so change it up and you can use the items you replace a couple of seasons from now and they will seem new again. You can even change the color emphasis in your room with different color wall decor. We want to give you some ideas of products that we carry at Lights in the Northern Sky, but we also want to introduce you to some artwork from the Christian Art Gallery at American Christian Gift. These lithographs are not only beautiful, but inspirational as well. Take a look at some of our favorite rustic designs that they carry. These lithographs are striking, many are available with beautiful wood frames.

This website has other attractive decor for your wall with a rustic theme. They have some beautiful wall hangings.

Whether you're looking specificially for inspirational gifts or home decor we think you'll find a nice selection of wall decor at American Christian Gift

Lights in the Northern Sky is another great source for rustic wall decor. We have wonderful western wall decor, cabin wall decor and lodge wall decor.

Metal is a great idea for wall decor with it's natural rustic look. Many of our metal wall decor scenes come in a choice of rust or black finish. We think these have eye catching appeal and they come in choices of western decor themes as well as cabin and lodge decor scenes.

Rustic and Western Decor Lighting

Here at Lights in the Northern Sky we LOVE to promote the great craftsmanship here in the Good Ole US of A! I think we have some craftsmen making some exquisite western and rustic decor lighting and I want to introduce you to these great products that are made by craftsmen across the country. Lets start with these absolutely gorgeous lamps made by some folks in Montana. Creative, colorful and unique can't begin to describe these lamps. From the base to the shade these lamps add atmosphere and warmth to a western ranch home or a rustic cabin. These lamps come in a variety of themes, from mountain lodge, to lakeside cabin and not least western theme.







And if you like traditional rustic we think you'll like the style of the old west lanterns that come from a company in Nevada. Some of these ceiling fixtures are just what is needed over a large ranch table.



To shop for rustic and western furnishings visit our secure online store where you will find western decor and cabin decor, www.lightsinthenorthernsky.com. For nautical decor and coastal decor including unique lighting visit www.bluebarnacles.com For country decor and shabby chic visit www.theweatheredgate.com.

Why Your Bathroom Decor Is Important

The decor in your bathroom is important. It is one of the first rooms you visit everyday. You get ready for work and get prepared for your day and some of that time is spent in the bathroom. It also may be the place where you go to unwind with a long leisurely bath or maybe your lifestyle is a whirlwind and you want the excitement of a bold, vibrant bathroom to refresh and renew your energy. How you decorate your bathroom has a direct impact on the way you feel starting and ending your day.

If you like western decor but long for a soft soothing look to prepare you for your day and to reflect and collect your thoughts for the day ahead, you will love the look of our Mustangs bath collection. The soft colors and serene landscape are perfect for a calming effect. The shower curtain shown above has a full collection of accessories to choose from. You can find the full collection at Lights in the Northern Sky.



If on the other hand you want to savor your favorite weekend or after work hobby all through the week, and it puts you in a great mood, you may love our Rather Be Fishing bathroom decor.













If a sense of humor gets you through your day you will probably appreciate a bath with sense of fun and humor, the antics of these black bears are sure to please. (Or maybe you're too grown up for a teddy bear but these little fellas around your bathroom will do just fine!)




Maybe you really like the warm homey feel of primitive decor. This can be a nice contrast if you work in a modern office environment and you need that feeling of home to send you on your way or greet you when you come in from a day in the office. You will find primitive bath and country bath designs at our partner site The Weathered Gate.

And don't forget the finishing touches to your bathroom decor. The beautiful sinks at Artistic Sink Impressions will create a really exquisite look in your bathroom. Artistic Sink Impressions carries a full line of hand painted sinks, glass vessel sinks and more.

Cabin Decor for Your Fireplace

Whether you live in a city apartment or a cabin by a lake, your fireplace can be the focal point of your cabin decor. If you've got a stone fireplace chances are you already have a good base for adding some nice cabin decor. If, on the other hand, you rent an apartment and have a more modern brick or tile fireplace, there are many things you can do to bring lakeside cabin charm to your hearth and mantle. First, if painting brick or tile is an option, consider choosing a color based on the main item for your mantle decor. For example, one of the nicest decorations for a cabin decor mantle is a decoy. A beautiful decoy often has rustic colors from which you can select a shade of paint in a complimentary color. Another option is to go with rustic colors traditional in lakeside cabin scenery such as straw color, light to medium warm green, warm grey, light brown or rust and even some shades of blue.



Next pick a central lakeside cabin theme such as pheasants, ducks, trout, bass, cattails, pine cones even field dogs make a great cabin theme. It is better to have a few larger uncluttered pieces for your mantle than a lot of small items. Include the area over the fireplace and the hearth as potential decorating areas.





Once you have your color choices, next select a fireplace screen. Your fireplace screen will last for years and can be very eyecatching if you pick a style with cabin theme profiles. Choose a design as close to your theme as possible. If your fireplace screen is particularly ornate you may want to keep the decor above and on the mantle to a minimum to show off the firescreen. If, on the other hand your firescreen has simple designs or none at all you may want to pick the mantle to show off more cabin decor items.




When you have chosen your fireplace screen, focus on the area over the fireplace. This is the area where you can really present your theme with a handsome rustic framed painting, a tapestry wall hanging, a wall mount decoy such as a pheasant or flying duck or a large mounted fish, even a personalized decorative sign with your cabin theme and with your family name, a beautiful pine cone wreath.

Use a rather large piece above the mantle and don't clutter this space with a collection of items. At most, you can flank your large piece with wall sconces or set the main piece to one side and add a vertical swag of cattails and reeds to the right or left of the main piece. A nice choice for your main piece can also be a large mirror with a rustic weathered frame or themed cabin frame. For an outstanding rustic look add a beautiful woodburning of loons on a very large tree slice complete with rustic bark. The wood burnings available a Lights in the Northern Sky are original artwork by one of Americas master pyrographers.

You can then choose the items for your mantle. If you have a newer gas fireplace with no mantle you might consider adding a fireplace mantle shelf, available in a number of styles. Select a rustic looking shelf.




Continue the main theme you are working with. You might want to choose a waterfowl decoy or a wooden carved and painted trout, an antique reel and fish basket, an arrangement with cattails and reeds in a basket or aged tin pail, a decorative birch bark canoe. If you're going for a pine theme you could combine a pine cone wreath above the mantle with some small, whimsical, fake pine trees in staggered heights. One of the nicest choices for any mantle are family photos in beautiful rustic frames. You can choose frames with themes or just rustic weathered wood.

Stand back and look at your choices for the mantle. Some selections will need to be centered on the mantle under the wall decor and some will need to be at the ends of the mantle. Move the items around until you achieve a pleasing look.



Any mantle decor needs candlelight. Fill in with either a set of votive candles along the length of the mantle or set a collection of pillar candles with or without candlesticks at one or both ends of the mantle. Generally if you're not using votive candles, you will want your candles to be of varying heights.



Decorate your hearth sparingly. Some choices are a large basket of reeds, a set of oars leaning against the fireplace (secure these if you use them), a rustic black iron wood holder with or without cabin theme profiles piled with white birch logs. Balance this off with your fireplace tools. If you like, you can include a small hearth area rug such as a small braided rug in a complimentary color.

Above all, have fun decorating your beautiful cabin fireplace