Think About Your Whole Design When Home Decorating

By Erik P  |  2011/11/11 09:51 Posted in Home Furnishings  |  Comments Off

One of the most overlooked things when redesigning or redecorating your house is home furnishings. We take the time to look at paint samples, and wallpaper samples and spend many hours looking for and deliberating as to which colours and styles we will use. However it is not until we have decided that we then think about whether our existing home furnishings will actually fit in with what we have got planned.

Things like toy boxes to store the kid’s top toys for Christmas 2011 will be easy enough to include. But some things are a bit more of a stretch to our budgets, and it is not until you have made certain decorating choices that these things look out of place.

Lets face it some home furnishings can go on our list of Christmas Gifts, but this would only be small things like cushions and throws, where as the big items we need will be expensive to replace. So think about everything you will need before taking the decision as to which home furnishings you will be replacing. If you can’t afford to do these things then it might be an idea to put your ideas aside until you can. Or else change your major design ides.

 

 

5 Great Closet Organizing Ideas For You To Try

By Julianne  |  2011/11/08 11:53 Posted in Home Furnishings  |  Comments Off

If you are constantly finding your closet in a mess and you are struggling to keep it neat and tidy then you need to find other ways to keep it organized. You can certainly save yourself some time and energy by organizing your clothes, shoes and accessories. How many times have you tried to find a matching shoe with little success?

You may have thought these items were lost somewhere and start to blame another family member or start to tear your hair out in frustration. The problem with this is that your closet needs to be overhauled.  Here are some great closet organization tips that you can implement.

  • Clean out the clutter and excess so that you have more space. You will be surprised at just how many clothes and shoes you are not wearing. Once you have been through your closet and sorted out everything you will be able to come across a lot of items that you are not using. Hint: If you haven’t worn it in a year it’s probably time to clear.
  •  Professional closet organizers are very popular these days, but they come with a hefty price so you have to shop around and you shouldn’t have to buy more than you need. Do it yourself closet systems can be affordable if you plan properly.  
  • Investing in a portable closet storage is something else to think about. You won’t be using out of season clothes so it is not worth having them in your closet. Portable closets don’t cost a lot unless you go with a fancy solid wood. The cloth variety have zippers so they don’t collect any dust or moths. If you don’t want to buy something like this you can make something out of cardboard boxes, which will also do fine.
  • Only use the closet for your clothing and use another closet for your sporting goods and tools. Don’t put everything in one big closet because this is where clutter builds up.  You don’t have to buy a separate portable closet every time. For example a garage can accomodate a track system that has hooks to hang up all of your tools, such as Rubbermaid’s fast track system.
  • Use cube storage bins in your closets to help separate seasonal items. They are decorative and extremely functional at the same time.  Wire mesh storage cubes are ideal for the closet, garage and especially utility and kids rooms. It is easily accessible and it looks neat and tidy as well.
  • Draw up a list of what is in your cupboard after you do a spring cleaning every 6 months or so. This will make you completely organized and you will know just where everything is.

 

Choosing The Right Small Bathroom Designs

By Julianne  |  2011/11/07 14:37 Posted in Home Decor  |  Comments Off

A bathroom should contain all the needed elements while feelings comfortable and looking stylish, no matter what size is that you are working with. Dealing with a small area can sometimes be a challenge to any homeowner. However, with a little planning and the right small bathroom designs, your small bathroom can be just as functional as a larger one without giving up style.

Replacing Fixtures:
One of the quickest and easiest ways to get more room in a small bathroom is to replace your fixtures. Replacing your vanity with a pedestal type sink gives your bathroom much more floor space. Wall mount sinks are another option you may choose to save space. Many hardware stores offer a large selection of sinks for small bathrooms in many different styles and colors. Also, you may want to consider replacing your toilet. Some newer models of toilet or made smaller than the older model and take up a lot less floor space. If, the shower in your bathroom has a swinging door, you may consider replacing it with a sliding door or railing.

Wall Cabinets:
Attaching small cabinets to the walls are a great way to keep all of your personal items together. These cabinets are a great way to hide items while still having all necessities at hand. The idea is to keep everything organized and not take up any extra floor space.

Tricks With Mirrors:
Every bathroom should have a mirror. However, mirror are not only functional, but can make any small bathrooms appear larger, as well. A large mirror stretched along one wall looks great, or you can even arrange several in different shapes or sizes. The options are endless.

Using Light Colors:
When choosing your colors for decorating your small bathroom, think light shades of pastels. Try to avoid all dark colors that will only make it seem as though the walls are closing in on you. Solid colors without big, bold patterns work best in small areas. Although, if you must have a pattern for your bath, try to choose small prints. Tiny print wall paper with a soft colored background gives a very elegant and cozy feel to all small bathroom designs.

Don’t Let Fleas Ruin Your New Furnishings

By Julianne  |  2011/11/07 07:20 Posted in Home Furnishings  |  Comments Off

There is a common problem with pet owners, and especially Dog owners that is actually simple to address. It is the problem of fleas infesting the home and ruining the new furnishings that we have bought.

If they infest the house they can be hard to get rid of. The answer is to use Capstar for Dogs. You can buy it here for a great low price and there is no doubt that it is the absolute best short term solution to fleas that there is. We can also buy Capstar for Cats too.

What it does is to deal with fleas the instant that you give the pill. It means that before the fleas can infest soft furnishing they are eliminated and the problem is dealt with. The 24 hour protection is enough to ensure that your pet stays safe and protected and that your home stays looking lovely, just as you intended it to.

For just a few dollars it is an investment well worth making. There is nothing worse than buying new things for the house only to find that then they are infested with fleas before you have the chance to do anything about it at all. Buy Capstar and solve the problem.

Spend More Time at Home with a Herbalife Business

By Julianne  |  2011/11/07 05:39 Posted in Home Decor  |  Comments Off

If you enjoy decorating your home and making improvements here and there, then you probably wouldn’t mind having more time on your hands. If so, then joining a network marketing company like Herbalife might be for you. Okay, so doing a search for Herbalife scam will make you realize how shady this type of business can be but hey, if you can actually make it work, it can mean making money without a traditional job. Think about not having to answer to some boss and making as much money as you want. Think of all of the home improvement projects you’ll have the time and money for!

Well, perhaps this company or even industry isn’t for you. After all, if you’re not a people person and you hate the idea of recruiting and seeing people as a money making machine, then you probably won’t do so well with this type of business. However, your dream of working for yourself and having more time can still come true. If you’re really good at fixing up the house, you can make videos and a site to teach people to do those things. There’s a guy who does just that and makes a ton of money doing what he loves. Perhaps you can too.

Online College Testing Tips

By J Schrage  |  2011/11/05 09:20 Posted in Home Decor  |  Comments Off

As with all college courses, it’s just as important to study for an online college test as it is to study for a traditional college test.  Often, the online college test for your courses will be timed.  Studying for your tests will help you complete the test in the allowed time.  Going over the time limit may result in loss of points.  There are some professors that will allow you to go a few minutes over without any point deduction, but there are also professors who will not award any points for answers made after the time limit has run out. 

 A very beneficial way to study for your online tests, is to review your assignments, discussions, and online quizzes.  If your instructor assigns an online quiz after the completion of each chapter, study these before your big test.  You may be surprised at how many questions on your test came directly from your quizzes.  Of course, not all instructors will reuse questions from your quizzes, but it’s still a good way to prepare for an exam. 

 Another really good way to study for an online college test is by reading the summary at the end of each chapter to refresh your mind.  If your instructor has made a power point presentation or other type of presentation, such as a chapter outline, be sure to review it carefully and be conscious of any bold or underlined words. 

 

Halloween Costumes for Kids

By O Symonds  |  2011/10/06 13:58 Posted in Uncategorized  |  Comments Off

Halloween will soon be here again and our kids will all want the latest exciting costumes to wear whilst going to their Halloween parties or going trick or treating around the neighbourhood. I found a great article today that covered some great Spooky Halloween Costumes for Kids, so much better than the tatty old homemade ones we used to have to rustle up when I was a child. Of course Halloween has become increasingly popular as a holiday as the years have gone on, especially in the US, far more so than in the UK where it is a much more low key affair.

I even found out that people have become really ambitious with their pumpkin carving these days, and now the Best Pumpkin Carving Kits come with amazing stencils that allow you to create some stunning designs, not like the stereotypical Jack O Lanterns you always used to see outside people’s houses or on their garden walls. If you are really lazy you can even buy battery operated pumpkin carving tools that take the hardest part of the carving down to easy levels that any child could master.

One article I came across even described how to make Dracula’s Dream Dessert for Halloween. Actually it sounds rather delicious so I might have to give it a try for myself. Certainly it is bound to be a hit with our neighbours children when they next pop in to pay me a visit. I might even make a few of them for the children to try when they come trick or treating on Halloween night.

Anyway, one thing I do know, I missed out as a kid to some degree, although we still had fun filled spooky Halloweens. Sadly we never had access to the great costumes or the pumpkin carving stencil kits that the kids of today can enjoy. This is why I wanted to share the discoveries I have made here so others can benefit from them too.

How to Make your Garden Mosquito Proof

By Ericka S  |  2011/10/05 09:06 Posted in Gardening  |  Comments Off

It’s now been a couple of years since I moved into my new house in Chiang Mai int the north of Thailand.  I’d been planning and planning the move in immense detail for many years – sorting out visas, finding work, researching areas to live – and when it came time to finally make the move I couldn’t have been happier.  The house isn’t that great – Thai homes are small, and this one is just a couple of small bedrooms and one extremely poky bathroom.  The garden, though, is very special – its absolutely enormous, at least three times the square footage of the house, and beautiful to boot.

I imagined relaxing on the lawn over long, lazy weekends; inviting the local kids over to play football with my own; throwing barbecues with the neighbours.   When I moved in, though, I discovered that my garden was mosquito central.  You really just can’t imagine the number of mosquitoes flying around above the grass and below the bushes.  The garden was home to a pond and a couple of bird baths, and the water just invited mosquitoes to breed.  Come on in, guys, the water’s fine!

Within days of moving in I started to transform the garden into a no-mosquito zone.  The pond was quickly drained and the bird baths were thrown out, and then I planted lots and lots of mosquito repellent plants such as catnip, mint and citronella.  The plants repel mosquitoes with their aroma, so my garden smells fantastic to me but horrible to mosquitoes.

Citronella is a great natural mosquito repellent.  Every time I head into the garden to relax I crush a couple of leaves, tear them up and rub the oil on my skin.  Just a couple of leaves are enough to keep the mosquitoes away for two hours or so.

So, this mosquito season I won’t need to know how to treat mosquito bites.  

Dept 56 Halloween Snow Village

By Esmeralda T  |  2011/09/11 09:18 Posted in Home Decor  |  Comments Off

I love miniature villages that I can put up in my home. One of my favorites is the Dept 56 Halloween Snow Village. It has all kinds of creepy but humorous buildings to create the foundation of your Halloween village. You’ll love taking in a movie at the LaGhosti Movie Theater or lifting a pint at the Witch’s Brew Pub. Take in some music at the Halloween Voodoo Lounge. There’s always a new mysterious resident at the Grimsly Retirement home. You never know who’ll be arriving at the Rickety Railroad Station.

Once the foundation is in place there are lots of small accessories you can add to complete your vignette. I love the Gothic Gate as an entrance to the village. There’s a Village Express Van to take your residents to safety or to the nearest Halloween party. There are Spooky Mailboxes to put in front of the houses and businesses and Spider Trees to line your street.

While the Dept 56 Halloween Snow Village creates a beautiful Halloween showing and is a great addition to my decorations for Halloween, I don’t let it just sit there. I encourage our children to use it as a focus of their make believe play time. I also love to have them write short stories based on the village and its inhabitants. They love doing this and it’s a painless way for them to hone their wrting skills.

Growing Vegetables in Planter Bags

By Julianne  |  2011/08/23 09:16 Posted in Gardening  |  Comments Off

In the past I always used to grow vegetables in containers in my backyard, and I honestly believed using containers was really practical as an alternative to growing in the ground, especially as I didn’t have any land to grow on of my own. For several years I successfully grew everything from carrots to beans and lettuces to radishes, in a number of plastic tubs, plant pots etc. My only problem was storing the empty containers over the winter months as I didn’t have a very large shed, and it wouldn’t hold all the rigid tubs and containers even when I stacked them up carefully. Thankfully I found a website on the Internet that had an excellent alternative suggestion in one of the articles, and that was to grow vegetables in planter bags instead of containers. Planter bags are reuseable, very tough, and better than containers for a number of reasons, not least because they can be emptied and folded up at the end of the growing season, therefore far easier to store until the following spring. I am a complete convert now, and virtually all of my backyard vegetables are grown in planter bags, which all comfortably fit in my tiny shed at the end of the season.