Designing Great-looking Window Coverings on a Budget
May 15, 2007
Window coverings are one of the most important focal points in a well-decorated room, but choosing the right ones, at the right price, is a prime consideration for most home decorators. Here are a few tips for creating great-looking window dressings, without breaking your budget in the process:
When selecting window coverings, consider the amount of sun exposure the fabrics will receive, and decorate accordingly, if you want to get the longest life out of your window dressings. All fabrics are vulnerable to sunlight degradation, but silk is the weakest, while acrylic, modacrylic, polyester, and glass fibers are the most resistant to sun damage.
There are a number of ways to save money on your window coverings, without sacrificing appearance. For a custom look, you can cover a tension rod with a thicker piece of PVC pipe. Remember to sand off the numbers on the pipe, or they can bleed off onto the fabric. You can do that with PVC primer, acetone, or even fingernail polish.
PVC pipe is very versatile. You can spray paint it black to make it look like wrought iron, brown to look like wood, or sponge paint it with copper and dark green over light green for a verdigris effect. It can also be painted to reinforce an accent color or to look like gold or silver.
Create a Joyful Home with Living Accessories: Houseplants
May 14, 2007
Houseplants can be soothing because of their visual impact. Besides being naturally appealing, interior plants can make you feel cooler on hot days, especially when they move softly in the breeze from a ceiling fan.
Houseplants are natural air filters, and can remove up to 70 percent of indoor air pollutants. Plants such as English Ivy, scheffleras, spider plants, and philodendrons absorb large also quantities of formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and benzene. The most effective plants at removing air pollution are spider plants, pot mums, snake plants, and aloe vera. They’re so effective, in fact, that environmental scientists recommend one plant per 100 square feet in your home and office.
Plant lights, in canister fixtures placed on the floor, can highlight a houseplant while casting dramatic shadows on walls and ceilings. Uplights, placed under palm trees cast magnificent line-type shadows, while plants with holes in their leaves, such as Swiss Cheese Philodendron, will cast lace-like shadows.
You can use houseplants to make a uniquely individual statement. For instance, one of my friends has only spiked-leafed plants in her home — spider plants, snake plants, corn plants, cast iron, and bromeliads. My cousin could only seem to get pothos to grow in her home, so she filled her entire house with them.
How to build an energy-efficient home
May 13, 2007
There are just a few important things to know and to remember, when building an energy-efficient home. These are; insulation, air intrusion, thermal mass, and that windows and holes in the wall of the house lose about the same amount of energy.
Insulation is a means of capturing dead air and causing it to slow the exchange of hot energy toward a cold space. Most builders use fiberglass insulation. Personally, I prefer to use blown cellulose insulation. In America, we major the value of insulation, by giving it an R-factor. The R-factor of insulation is a reference for the ability of the insulation to slow heat transfer and to the R stands for resistance factor. The R-factor is only part of the story. Insulation can have a high R factor, but if air moves through it is almost useless. One of the things we do recently, in home construction, is to use Tyvek, a thin, breathable plastic membrane that stops the wind. In modern construction; we customarily have from the outside killing in; siding, Tyvek, insulation, and drywall. Customarily this results in what we call and R-30 wall.
Kirengeshoma palmata
May 12, 2007
Kirengeshoma palmata
Sometimes known as yellow waxbells, Kirengeshoma palmata is a late-flowering rhizomatous perennial up to 1.2m high with arching stems and is native to the woods and mountain lowlands of Korea and the Japanese islands of Shikoku and Kyushu.
The unusual name? No, it doesn’t come from an obscure Danish botanist called Kirengeshom. It’s really just a Latinised version of the original Japanese name. Palmata, a common specific epithet, means shaped like a hand and refers to the foliage.
Formerly classified in its own family, it is now a member of the hydrangea family, although its flowers, which are around 3cm long, are more reminiscent of those of a single-flowered Japanese anemone. The flowers of most of the plants seen in gardens are a fairly deep yellow, though the colour of wild specimens ranges from white to apricot. While beautiful and graceful, the fleshy-petalled flowers, which are borne in sprays on wiry stems that bend under their own weight, never really open fully. The buds start to burst in early autumn.
A Lasting Scent
May 11, 2007
Look no further for long lasting perfumes. House of Rose makes them and they last more than twice as long as the other perfumes. The secret is simple. They contain no alcohol which causes quick evaporation. Instead they use a base that is actually good for your skin. They also contain laboratory certified human pheromones, which are attractants. Harrods of London pipes them through their store HVAC system to encourage customers to feel good…and make more purchases. House of Rose buys from the same manufacturer as Harrods.
Owner, Jane Langdon, started her business because her favorite Crabtree & Evelyn perfume was discontinued and she couldn’t find another. After studying chemistry and being schooled in perfumery, she mixed her own. Soon after, people began to ask her what she was wearing and House of Rose began as an internet business with one rose perfume. E mail poured in asking her to make other floral perfumes and they now offer many others including Azalea, Carnation, Freesia, Gardenia, Honeysuckle, Hydrangea, Lavender, Lilac, Lily of the Valley, Magnolia, Orchid, and Violet.
FAQs About Using Stone In Your Home
May 10, 2007
1. Q. IS NATURAL STONE A GOOD CHOICE FOR HOME USE?
A. YES. Natural stone is a terrific (not to mention beautiful) material to use in all areas of your home. Knowing the different types of stone, their finishes and applications will help you to make an informed decision on which stone is the best for your project.
2. Q. CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENT FINISHES FOR STONE?
A. There are many finishes and options available. Here are the most widely used:
- Polished ?- A high gloss surface.
- Honed ?- Smooth with squared edges and without a polished surface.
- Tumbled ?- Lightly tumbled to achieve rounded edges and a surface that is not as smooth as honed.
- Antique Tumbled ?- Medium tumble edges and surface to achieve a slight rustic look.
- Cobbled or Distressed ?- Heavily tumbled edges and surface to achieve an aged or ancient look.
- Brushed ?- Acid washed and wire brushed for a smooth textured surface.
- Flamed ?- Blow torched for a rough textured surface.
3. Q. DOESN’T STONE STAIN? I DON’T WANT STAINS!
Prefabricated Home Packages
May 10, 2007
This is by no means an exhaustive list of what’s available in the area of prefabricated homes and buildings. This article is to introduce you to the world prefab. If you’re in the industry, you’ll probably be cringing about now at the word “prefab”. But, the word is one that has become synonymous with homes and buildings that have been partially or fully assembled in a factory setting. I for one am excited to see the latest versions of modern prefabs emerging globally. They’re well thought out, beautiful, and energy-efficient.
And to anyone who has any doubts about the quality of today’s prefab homes, I’d ask, would you rather buy a house whose parts have all been crafted outdoors exposed to the elements — by hand. Or, would you rather buy a house built in a factory setting to tight specs exceeding that of site-built homes. I say exceeding, because a normal site-built home doesn’t have to endure the rigors of transportation.
For your review, here are quick descriptions of 10 of the many categories of prefab homes available for exploring at http://PrefabExpo.com - in no particular order:
1. Manufactured
Camellias
May 9, 2007
Camellias
Named by Linnaeus in 1735 in honour of the Jesuit priest and naturalist Georg Josef Kamel, Camellia is a genus originating mainly from China but with a range covering a large area of South East Asia. The exact number of species is not clear but it is somewhere around 100. Camellia is an important commercial genus because of one species, Camellia sinensis, the plant from which tea is made.
Most gardeners recognise two main groups of camellias, the autumn flowering and the spring flowering. However, it is not quite that simple. Whenever a genus of many species (such as Rhododendron, Rosa or Camellia) is used to produce a multitude of hybrids distinct groups tend to form.
There are four main camellia groups: Japonica, Reticulata, Sasanqua and Hybrid, with a number of smaller groups based around less common species, such as Camellia hiemalis, and inter-specific hybrids, such as Camellia × williamsii (Camellia japonica × Camellia saluensis).
It’s a commonly held belief among gardeners that Sansanquas are the autumn flowering camellias while the rest are spring flowerers. That’s not really true, certainly the Sasanquas are usually the first to bloom but with careful selection and siting it is possible to have more or less continuous flowering from early autumn to late spring.
5 Steps for Creating a Garage You Can Love ? and Use
May 8, 2007
A major US corporation recently launched a new line of products it hopes will create a $650 million retail business ? appliances and storage devices designed to appeal to the 65 million garage owners in the U.S! According to a 1994 study by the U.S. Department of Energy (and we won’t even explore what launched that study!), 25% of people with two-car garages didn’t park any cars in them and 32% parked only one. When it came to three-car garages, only 13% parked three cars. . So, if we don’t park cars in our garages, what do we use them for?
Based on nearly twenty-five years of assisting our clients in organizing homes and offices in North America, I can attest to the fact that a large percentage of garage owners consider their garage a convenient on-site storage facility, or major irritation, often an embarrassment. Not because of the age or condition of the car parked there, but because of the clutter ? frequently moved from one garage to another.
One of the major principles of our company is Clutter is Postponed Decisions® — and what better place to store postponed decisions than a garage? So how do you get rid of the clutter? Consider these five tips:
Which Type of Radiant Floor Heating is Best For Me?
May 7, 2007
If you are looking to warm your floors with a radiant heat system, and have typed "radiant heat system" into a search engine, you might find yourself scratching your head at this point. There are dozens of products available to purchase, and there are even more companies telling you that their product is the best.
So which product is the best? Should you install a hydronic heating system that pumps hot water through your floors, an electric cable heating system, or a low voltage screen system? The answer lies in the type of project you are doing. Not every system is ideal for every project, but there is an ideal system for every project.
Hydronic Heating Systems
Hydronic floor heating is the oldest and most popular type of radiant floor heating. These systems are comprised of a boiler or hot water heater, pumps, manifolds, pex tubing, thermostat, and either gypcrete (a concrete-like material) or wood panels. Hydronic heating is the most complex of all radiant heat systems. These systems require trained professionals to design and perform the installation. Your best economies of scale are achieved for hydronic systems in large areas or entire homes because of their expensive components and operational costs.
