Archive for November, 2012

Essential Safety Items to Have in Your Garage

Walk into any garage and you’ll come face-to-face with various items. The garage is the perfect place to store tools, shelves, boxes, bikes, furniture and out-of-season belongings.

But while garages provide the perfect storage space for clutter, it’s also a good place to store essential household safety items.

Designate a shelf in your garage for the following safety items and you will be prepared to handle an emergency:

1. Work goggles: Whether you’re painting a wall or completing a home construction project, do not forget your safety goggles. Some people choose to work without goggles. But if you’re working with chemicals, glass, metal or wood, a splatter or flying debris can cause a painful eye injury.

In some cases, the damage may be permanent. These types of goggles offer total protection and they’re designed to fit comfortably over corrective eyeglasses.

2. Flashlights: If a storm, traffic accident or another incident knocks out power to your house, flashlights can provide light until your electricity returns. Do not rely on a single flashlight to illuminate your home. Keep three or four flashlights in your garage, along with a few packs of batteries.

5 Romantic Bedroom Décor Ideas

Canopies, headboards and wall treatments are all part of a bedroom décor.

This festive season bring more romance into your bedroom with our romantic bedroom décor ideas.

1. Chocolate and Cream

A head board is the first and best place to start when redoing your bedroom décor. An ornate design on the rim and the rest of it upholstered is a perfect recipe for an Italian style headboard. Coloring the rim with chocolate shade of wood paint will make the headboard look elegant. The upholstery will take care of the romantic part. Go for a flowery print with chocolate, red and pink colors to go with the rim. Match it with soft shades for the walls and the linen and watch your bedroom turn into a fairy tale bedroom in a jiffy.

2. Feminine Bedrooms

If being the lady of the house describes you best and you like feminism spilling over in your interiors as well, then go all out for a feminine bedroom design. Soft shades of white, peach, baby pink will do the trick for you. Go for brown accents and flowing fabric. Pick furniture with curves and silhouettes to gel with the theme Or grab any of these spectacular wall graphics to add a feminine touch to the room in a number of different colors and styles.

Retro Styled Telephones for Your Home

Retro is the in thing in everything these days. From fashion to television, everyone is going retro.

So why not bring retro style home. A simple way to achieve this without much effort and making too many changes is to bring in accessories that give a retro feel to your house.

Telephones are one such accessory. Try these 6 retro telephone looks for your living room this season.

1. Standout Phone

Dress up your living area with this standout phone. These retro models come in two colors – classic black and silver.  If the antique pieces are ready to bore a hole in your pocket, then go for the newly manufactured ones. The advantage of these new varieties is that they will have push buttons in place of the round dialing ones and are also equipped with other modern features like ring alert LEDs, flash and redial buttons. This would be an ideal mix of old in the new.

2. Candlestick Phone

This retro phone will add interest to your conversations. With the mouth piece and the receiver separated, the phone will be a challenge to master for most of us who are used to the modern hand-free gadgets. However, we suggest you take the challenge and see how slowing down helps.

How to buy Flooring at Wholesale Prices

If you’re looking for a way to update your home and you’re on a tight budget, the easiest and most affordable thing you can do is install new flooring.

New flooring can change the entire look of a room, and completely give it a makeover. Buy flooring wholesale for the best possible price you can get, and add a fresh take to your home for a great price.

To purchase wholesale flooring, you may have to go through a contractor or purchase a membership card to a retailer that offers flooring at wholesale prices. This could be worth the cost, because flooring at wholesale prices could save you up to half the cost that you’d pay for retail flooring.

You can also check with retailers to see what options they have when it comes to buying flooring wholesale. There are many avenues to check to get the best price when it comes to flooring. One such option is the B&Q discount voucher which will get you best flooring at lowest rates.

One way to update your home with new flooring is to try a completely different type of flooring. Hardwood, laminate, and vinyl flooring are a few options when it comes to changing the way a room looks.

Family Kitchens: Where to Start

Family homes need to be both comforting and durable, and the kitchen is no different. As one of the busiest rooms in the house, you’ll probably find it’s the hardest to keep tidy and organized – after all it’s not just a kitchen, but often a dining room, utility room and homework office, too.

Kids will hunt for snacks and pull things out of cupboards just as you’ve got it all ship-shape and tidy, and when the whole family is pitching in to do the dishes it can be difficult to move, leaving you thinking it might be easier just to do it yourself!

Thankfully, new trends in kitchen design focus on the social aspect of the household hub, meaning that there’s currently a wealth of inspiration out there. When you start thinking about what you want to achieve in your new kitchen, consider what you use it for the most – and be realistic! If you can incorporate your main kitchen habits into your initial design, whether it’s hoarding cookbooks or heating up leftovers, you can quickly piece together a kitchen that’s just right for you.

Decorate Your Garden with Water Features

Gardens are the extensions of a home. Just as you decorate your interiors and add interesting features to it, so can you to your gardens.

The most common garden décor items included are bird feeders, garden lighting, stones and gnomes, bird baths and so on.

Among other things many gardens also include a water feature. Here are some ways you can decorate your garden with water features:

Large Gardens

If you have a large garden as part of your home, then you must be indulging in some amount of landscaping. Carving a space out to include a water feature would add interest and variety to the landscape.

Constructing artificial ponds, waterfalls and streams are some of the water body ideas for a large garden. A pond could be either a reflective pond or one that supports water-borne plants such as water lilies.

The soothing sounds of flowing water are a welcome break to the serenity of a large garden.

Small Gardens

If you fancy maintenance- friendly small gardens, the idea of a water feature need not be stashed away. A visit to the garden supplies store will give you endless ideas on how to include a water body even in a modest garden.

10 Ideas to Decorate Powder Rooms

Powder rooms are essentially basic wash rooms meant for use by guests.

But you can make them interesting by putting your decorative skills to good use.

Here are 10 powder room decorating ideas to inspire you.

Wall Paper

If you want to make an impact with minimal use of resources then go for a striking wall paper and accessorize minimally. This will make the room special and interesting.

Window Blind

Another minimal expense feature is the use of a theme window blind. If it is a feminine powder room then use an opaque blind to go with the theme. Keep the rest of the room as is and see how dramatic it gets.

Utility

If utility is your main purpose while decorating the powder room then choose space saving fittings. A basin fitted with a towel rail or a showpiece which doubles up as a place to keep your jewelry are some of the things which will provide décor and utility to the room.

Metallic

If you want to give a glamorous look to the room then choose a metallic wall paper with floral patterns on it. Use of a contemporary vanity will make it elegant and lend opulence to the décor.

How to Increase the Value of Your House

Caring for your home is as important as owning it. Expenses for home and its maintenance account for a larger portion of our resources. This cost can be reduced by learning how to minimize expenditure and maximize on comfort and building up real estate value.

So here are a few tips on how you can care for your home for maximum value.

Making the Right Choice

Caring for your home begins with choosing the right one. The house you are looking to buy will ideally have good construction, good fittings and located in a good neighborhood. Real estate prices tend to pick up only in good neighborhoods, where crime rate is least and the general maintenance is good.

Home Insurance

After you have zeroed in on the house and made your purchase, the immediate next step is to get it insured. This is a very important step because the right home insurance will protect you against any liability or damage caused due to acts of humans, fury of nature or accidents by oversight.

How to Child Proof Your Home

Safety of our loved ones, especially children is the top priority of any family.

Here are a few simple but essential ways you could make your home safe for your kids.

1. Smoke Detectors

This is one safety device that a home cannot do without. It is highly sensitive and detects even the slightest traces of smoke inside the house. Install ones which also detect carbon-monoxide as part of the system. Make sure to keep a schedule of battery change to avoid goof ups.

2. Safety Locks

Safety locks and latches are very useful to keep children away from cabinets storing household cleaners, tools and medicines. They are the easiest to install and do not require an expert.

3. Safety Gates

These gates are designed to keep your children away from places that pose danger to children.  Entrance to stairways, swimming pools and even kitchen are areas those that need to be restricted for kids.

4. Door Knob Locks

These are essential to keep children away from spaces which are hazardous, especially the doorway leading to swimming pools. Choose one that you can operate easily.

10 Ways to Create Thanksgiving Centerpieces Effortlessly

Thanksgiving is a time of the year when we look forward to sharing that special meal with our loved ones.

In this context the dining table gains considerable attention and becomes the centre of attraction.

While preparing gourmet food with utmost attention to garnishing is top priority, so is the decoration of the dining table with an attractive centerpiece.

Here are 10 ways you can create a thanksgiving centerpiece without much effort:

1. Go by Contrast

While setting up a centre piece, you can go for contrasting colors and styles. For instance, pair magenta cockscombs with green chartreuse mums. Slip them into a bark container to give the contrast of a rich arrangement in a rustic style.

2. Keep it Casual

Every thanksgiving centerpiece need not be formal. Display fall produce and foliage in attractive vases that make them look elegant.

3. Throw Some Sparkle

You can use some bling in your thanksgiving centerpiece. Do not throw away your leftover Halloween pumpkins. Paint them in silver, copper or gold and embellish them with rhinestones or ribbons. Alternately you could wrap them in metallic leaf and decorate them accordingly.