With the Indian interior design industry booming, consumers are spoiled for choice in the array of products and services available, and now home decor is more enjoyable today than it ever was. Your home is what you are, or what you hope to become. As our lifestyles get increasingly frenetic and fast paced our home is where we retreat for spiritual succor. Today, there's an amazing range of products related to home interiors, designed to turn your home into a warm, evocative haven and, at the same time, allow you to make a personal lifestyle statement.

LIVING ROOMS: Quite often, our living rooms resemble us; jaded with exertion and struggling with the same look that worked 15 years ago that can now be comfortably classified as retro by the more charitable. An image makeover is definitely in order. To make your living room go from mmm to wow, you don't often need major architectural renovations. Just some clever manipulation with accessories, home furnishings and furniture.
   
Living rooms are the showpieces of the entire house. To make them more alive and cheery, accessories become important. Paintings, curios, crystals, wall hangings, knicknacks and collectibles all spark conversations about their origin. In recent months, a host of artful stores have sprung up specializing in interiors and accessories.

Make sure that all your accessories are properly illuminated. Crystal looks superb when lit from above, while downlights can add dramatic shadows to textured surfaces or plants. Use table lamps with small footprints, near seating areas, and pedestal lamps at strategic points, as their height can be visually obstructive.

One should clearly define the focal point of the room. It could be a TV /home theatre, a painting or some antique furniture. Too many focal points disrupt the harmony of the space, so make sure that your seating revolves only around one or two of them. It's easy to discover the focal point of a room--it's the one thing that attracts your eye at first glance. Build your furniture arrangement around this. Experiment with colours and textures, and don't stick to the same look for years just because it works. Like us, our spaces need to grow, change and reinvent themselves. One way to do this is by choosing the right colours when painting the house. If it subtly matches the accessories, upholstery and lighting, it can have a dramatic effect on the overall look of the interiors. In fact, the colour scheme of a room is arguably the most vital element in establishing its mood.    
   
BEDROOMS: Bedrooms are personal sanctuaries, and their design should ideally usher in a feeling of tranquillity and spiritual calm. While designing bedrooms, soft furnishings play a critical part in determining the aesthetics. The bedroom is where you run riot with your fantasies, so long as they don't interfere with your rest, that is this room's key function. In this day of TV dinners in bed and weekends spent almost wholly there, bedrooms also host the dual function of being spaces for entertainment and leisure.

Bedroom essentials - A good-quality mattress that provides adequate lumbar support. It's a myth that people with bad backs should sleep on hard surfaces, a mattress that supports the whole back without sinking in is just right. Invest in a good brand--it's very important for your health, the steeper prices are far more preferable than physiotherapy.

Accessorise with comforters, pillows and cushions in colours that are soothing--blue and white are perennial favourites. Checks and prints, if used indiscriminately can cause visual clutter, so be careful while indulging yourself. Use soft cotton bedsheets to add to the sensuous appeal. Those fantasy silk ones are not something you'd like to have on all the time, so be practical.



Ceiling fans are another long-neglected area that is getting a major makeover, thanks to companies trying their hands at innovation. They have realised that fans are now part of the overall home decor and their new ranges reflect this with the emphasis on fashion and lifestyle rather than a strictly functional role. The more flamboyant ones can choose from ranges that have all bells and whistles (in this case hangings and lights). All in all a great way to bring in a fresh breath of air into the room.