Update Your Home Without Major Renovations

When you think of updating your home, it may evoke visions of sledgehammers, rubble and rooms being stripped back to the bare bones. Not a pleasant thought. But did you know that there are ways that you can completely change the dynamic of your property, without even opening your tool box?

Update your interior doors

You pass through them every day, and are an integral part of every home. But it’s surprising how many people forget about how much of an impact an internal door can have. If your doors are scratched, scuffed or seen better days, then it may be worth repairing them yourself. Or if you’re hoping to completely change the look inside your home then consider purchasing a new style. You can find a range of internal doors from doorstore to help give you some inspiration.

Create an open space

With formal dining rooms and closed off areas seemingly going out of style, the open plan home seems to be the way to go. How can you do this without tearing out walls, you ask? Making your home seem open and airy can be easier than you think.
Sometimes it’s as simple as getting rid of bigger, bulkier furnishings, or moving furnishings around the room to see what placement gives the most open space. Another trick of the eye that gives the illusion of open space, is mirrors. Mirrors when placed opposite windows reflect light into the room and make the room seem more open.

Introduce new lighting

A poorly lit room, is dark, dim and not very welcoming. It can also be downright depressing! A well lit room can bring out your personality and bring a room to life! After all, who wants to sit in the dark? There are numerous ways to add lighting to your home, the most obvious would be to purchase some high quality floor lamps or table lamps, and place these strategically in dark corners or place them on side tables, in order to give a room that warm and welcoming feeling.

Update your handles and cabinetry

If your kitchen is looking a little dated, or your bathroom is more old fashioned then you would like there luckily there are small, easy changes you can make to bring it back to life and into the current decade. One way to do this, is to update and change the handles and draw pulls on your cabinets, cupboards and door handles.
There are numerous finishes to choose from such as bronze, brushed nickel, aged copper, and shiny stainless.  With so many modern choices on the market it may be hard to decide what best suits your home!

Still uninspired? Then clean!

If this still leaves you a little uninspired or perhaps won’t evoke as much change as you would like, then sometimes it pays to go back to basics. And start, with a good deep clean.
A deep-clean can enhance our mood and make our home more liveable (and more importantly inspire us to do more).

Tips for maximizing space in the home

Do you ever feel like you do not utilize the space in your home properly, leaving a feeling of clutter and crowding? Here are some simple tips for maximizing space in the most common area in your home.

1. The Kitchen 
To maximize your work space in the kitchen, it's important to be imaginative and invest in clever, space-saving storage ideas. A great idea to save space is to invest in integrated appliances - appliances that fit seamlessly into cupboards, therefore saving space around the kitchen. Integrated appliances can be expensive to be and often require a full kitchen re-do, but you may be able to place your appliances into existing cupboards to save money and space. The thought of hanging your pans and utensils from hooks around the kitchen may strike you as being a tad old fashioned, but it's an excellent way to save space; pans take up a lot of cupboard space, so by hanging them up, you'll be able to save yourself an entire cupboard for additional storage.

2. The living room
A great way to save space in the living room is to do away completely with hefty TV stands and install your TV on the wall. Corner sofas are another great space saving techniques; they make use of corners that would otherwise be left bare and unused.

3. The bathroom
Saving space in the bathroom can be tricky; after all, there are a lot of essential items - such as baths, sinks, showers, and toilets (check out this Toilet Review Guide) - to fit in and finding additional space to use can be a challenge. Corner sinks and vanity units are an excellent idea to save space; they are specifically designed to sit in bathroom corners that would otherwise go on used and are a great space saving technique, you can take a look at some examples here. Rounded bathroom furniture is another good thing to invest in; unlike convention, rectangular shaped furniture, rounded furniture has softer edges, and is usually slightly smaller in size than other types of furniture. The softer edging helps to create the illusion of more space, and the rounded edging fits in better with smaller bathroom styles. Shower curtains are another clever storage area.

If you have a combination bath-and-shower (a great space saving solution in itself), a shower curtain is definitely better than a glass door; they're easier to move, and can be pushed back to create the illusion of space around the bath area. Glass doors are more fixed, and can look clunky and in the way. Shower curtains can now be bought with pockets in them, giving you handy storage space for items such as sponges and shower gels; you can use it to store bath items that would otherwise be kept in messy rows around the bath, thereby freeing-up space around the bath.

4. The bedroom
Considering all the things we have to find room for in our bedrooms, it's a good thing that there are some clever storage techniques out there. If you aren't fortunate enough to have a bed that comes complete with storage drawers, you can improvise by investing in a sliding shelf for under your bed to store bed linen and other items. Under-bed storage items are a great way to save space, and help you to utilize room that you already have in your room, but otherwise go unused. If you store items under your bed anyway, an under-bed storage unit can help to make your room look tidier by hiding items that may otherwise poke out from under the bed.

How to Choose the Best Slipcover for Parsons Chairs - Guest Post

A slipcover may not seem important, but it can make the difference between a professional look for your sitting room and a design that is made just for the sake of it, without too much effort. Most times, the attention to details is the one that pays off, and this is true especially for interior design. Even if you don’t work in this domain, it’s not hard to get the right slipcovers for your room. But if you need help with this, read on.

Where to Get Slipcovers for Parson Dining Chairs?
There are lots of places to get slipcovers, but as usual, the most interesting things are found in hard to reach stores and in garage sales where people don’t need their stuff anymore. You should start by going to the local shops found near you, since there are high chances to find what you need. However, the easiest thing to do is to search online for some great items. Try Amazon and Ebay, and you can even find some serious sales there.

Read Reviews
If you are buying online or if you know the brand and the material of the slipcover, then you should totally read the reviews. These are important from several points of view. On the one hand, it’s great to know what type of material you have there, how resistant it is etc. On the other hand, it is particularly useful to see how other people incorporated the respective slipcover into their own design. For example, you might think a yellow slipcover is awesome (and maybe it really is!), but does it match your red parsons chairs in the room?

Check the Size
Not all slipcovers may fit your particular type and size of chair, so you should make sure you are buying the right size for you. If needed, then you can write down the size your chairs have and then check before buying anything. It is quite easy to get tricked about the space and size, especially if the colors are somewhat odd.

Test the Possibilities
If you’re not sure how the slipcovers will look, there’s nothing wrong with testing them before. Regarding the size, you can test it with any slipcover you have around (or you can borrow one): pay attention to the corners, the size, length and so on. About the color, you can test the way in which the slipcover will be integrated within the design with any material in that color. Place the material on the chair and step back in order to see the final effect. If the blanket, shirt or dress you are using to replace the slipcover don’t really match the rest of the room, you should probably reconsider it.

Gadgets that give your home a warmer feel

When skies are gray and the weather is chilly, there’s nothing like coming back to a nice warm home. A roaring fire is a real treat, but that’s not practical for everyone, and even when it is it will often only heat one room. The good news is that constantly evolving technology has led to the development of some great gadgets for keeping your home snug. These are some of the best.

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Smart thermostats
Once upon a time the only way you could control heat sources in your home was to manually turn them on and off. Thermostats made it much easier, enabling you to set precise temperatures for your central heating, and now the next generation of thermostats lets you do that from wherever you are – even if you’ve gone overseas on vacation and forgotten to turn the heating off. You can make sure you have a warm home to return to even if you’re working irregular shifts, and it’ easier than ever to avoid waste, which also makes this good for the environment. in addition, you can sync it to other apps, so that, for instance, if your fitness app notices that you’re working out, it can tell your boiler to heat water ready for a shower.

Thermal bedding
If it’s hard to get your home to warm up in the mornings or if you tend to get cold at night, thermal bedding is a great solution. It’s now much more diverse – and much safer – than the traditional electric blanket. A thermal pillow, for instance, can aid relaxation, and some emit a gentle scent of lavender, known for helping people get to sleep. You can even buy thermal coverlets that are separately adjustable on different sides, so you and your partner can both be comfortable even if your preferences vary. Thermal blankets can be used in bed but are also great for keeping you warm as you wander round the house upon waking, or for curling up in on the sofa at the end of a long day.

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Innovative lighting
Feeling warm enough isn’t just about the actual temperature of your home – it also has a psychological element. Few things factor into this as much as your choice of light. Even little details like having a lighted outlet cover in each room to help you find your way around at night can make a difference. One of the great things about the shift toward diode based lighting is that it offers a much wider range of colors, including lights whose color you can change. Using lights with yellow or pink tones makes your home feel much warmer than using blue tinted or plain white lights, and with a set-up like this it’s easy to temporarily change the lighting if, for instance, you need to be able to see better to clean up a spill.

Luxurious faux furs
Home always feels warmer when you have something to snuggle up in. These days there are faux furs as good as the real thing. They’re more affordable, have none of the same ethical issues and give the home a real touch of luxury. The secret is a technological one – not only have the materials used improved, but designers have discovered that mixing short hairs with long ones enables a fur to trap much more air, creating an insulating barrier that stops body heat escaping. It’s even possible to get thermal fur pillows that generate heat internally so that you’ll feel as if you’re hugging a snugly animal.

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A cozy kitchen
A warm kitchen at the heart of your home can make a big difference to how cozy the whole place feels. If you use a kitchen range that’s on all the time, heat from it will spread throughout the house. If that’s not practical for you, using a slow cooker can have a similar, if subtler, effect. It will also spread delicious smells throughout the house. Thinking about the hot food you’re going to enjoy in a few hours’ time will make you love being in your home. In the mornings, try a bread maker with a timer switch so that you can wake up to the warm scent of fresh food being prepared.

Gadgets like these can make all the difference if your home is feeling chilly. They’ll not only heat it up, they’ll make you feel cozier and more at ease. A home like this always feels welcoming, whatever the weather.

How to Light Your Home Like Hitchcock Would

When you walk into a room, what is the first thing you notice? For me, it’s the lighting. My mood instantly changes for the worse when I walk into a poorly lit space. It feels unwelcoming, even lazy. It’s as though the house doesn’t care anymore, its proverbial light has burnt out.

I get it, it does come off as a little odd that I have assigned a sort of humanness to space, but don’t we all do that? We appreciate space based on our experiences and conceptions. I associate the darkness with depression dereliction, and if you’re still reading, I’m going to venture a guess and say that you do too. So, what can we do to make our rooms more appealing. One way to go (and my personal favorite) is to highlight the architectural intricacies of my home with light, much like Hitchcock elevated feeling in his films using light.

Lights, Camera, Action!
Every area of the house is designated for a particular use, be it to eat, sleep, relax or bathe. We know what a room is used for based on the furniture and appliances stationed in the space, along with how the light is used in the space.

Kitchens are bright because we need to be able to calculate seasoning to tablespoon and chicken grease to counter space. It’s a functional space where we cook and eat and must keep clean. The living room is often warmly lit. This way we may sit comfortably in the space and enjoy playing a game of Yahtzee with our family or catching up on the piling Last Week Tonight episodes in our DVR. The bedroom is a little a more dimly lit, helping us to get cozy and ready for bed.

How does lighting design come into the feeling of our home? Isn’t it the furniture pieces that tell us how the space is used? Architectural lighting, such as with recessed, track and dimmers help us to create atmosphere. Alfred Hitchcock understood what lighting design could do in a space, and he knew how to change an audience’s perception of a character or a scenario in seconds. Let’s examine three of Hitchcock’s films and discuss how we can bring his lighting mastery into our own homes.

Rear Window, 1954
Hitchcock is known for creating menacing, suspenseful moments in his films through light manipulation. Movie buffs are quick to forget the scenes in which we’re first introduced to the protagonist of the story. The lighting is (to use an overused description) warm and inviting. The lighting gets us into the headspace of the character, into his emotional state. This is probably why the beginning of Hitchcock’s films are usually so engaging. In Rear Window, we are introduced to a man named Jeffrey, a news photographer stuck at home with a broken leg. When we first see Jeffrey in his apartment the interior is naturally lit. To get the “natural” look, Houzz suggests layering multiple light sources. Layering will bring attention to your furniture, wainscoting and other elements of the home. We can layer using recessed lighting (to provide the overhead light) floor lamps, (to provide the task lighting) and table lamps (to provide accent lighting). Layers of light create a “natural” looking light source, seemingly bringing daylight into a dark house.

Vertigo, 1958
In this Hitchcock film, the director focused on bringing a vivid and saturated color scheme to the forefront. In Midge’s apartment, in the flower shop and out at dinner, color permeates the space. To fill your living space with bursts of color, highlight a mustard, teal or sienna accent wall with a table lamp. Using an accent lighting source will bring the user’s attention to the space around them. You can also accessorize your space with colorful throw pillows or a rug to bring in texture and create mood.

Marnie, 1964
We are shown two different housing interiors in this film. One is the title character Marnie’s mother’s home, and the other is her husband’s family’s home. We see the societal differences between Marnie and her husband in the way the family homes are lit. The mother’s house is dark and sepia-toned, while her husband’s is bright and enchanting. Light and color can trick us into feeling particular moods. The darker somber home will make us quiet and reflective, while the brighter, cheerier home will enliven our spirits and bring out good energy. For a “positive vibes” space, layer task and accent lighting. This will create a mood of contentment and put you in a positive head space. If you have dimmer technology, use it! Using a dimmer gives you complete control of the lighting without needing to fill up your home with lamps.

It’s astonishing what a little light and color can do for a home. All it takes is a coat of paint and some new light fixtures to make it happen.

Kid's Room Interior Design Guidelines

There are quite a few ways you can help work on room design if you have kids, but you will need to keep quite a few things in mind when you work on said designs. Kids will need a special place where they can sleep, play, study and generally have fun while being connected to their room. To make that work you will need to have a creative and practical solution that will serve a purpose for your kids and yourself when the time arrives:

• One of the more important parts and choices of what you need to do will be the colors of the walls you can choose as well as those of your ceilings and other smaller colors. You can make use of the softer hues and colors out there to make studying and sleeping far easier and free of distractions.

• You can keep your kids art around or some family oriented photos as well to fill the empty space on your walls, as well as possibly the ceilings too if you have what you think will work. You can work on this by yourself or you can combine your cleaning efforts by asking your kids about what they would like as well.

• You could get some chalkboard paint to make an art corner where the kids can draw and paint without worrying about making a mess. It will take some painting and thorough house cleaning, but in the end it will be a job well done and your kids will have a chance to enjoy a creative outcome you can rely upon.

• There is a great way to make your very own reading corner or even a gaming area, but you will still need to work hard on it if you want to make it last a long time. Make sure you have a nice set of seating spaces to work with and it will pay off quite nicely.

• You may need to consider using a set of organizers for potential school supplies, textbooks and so much more. Kids will often figure out the details themselves, but you can help them out to make cleaning after them easier to handle as well. Boxes for toys, as well as other organizing items will make it fun instead of some unbearable chore.

• Improving the storage capacity of your home and using a mirror to create the illusion of space will make things easier to handle. This will also serve to allow the kids to be able to see themselves and to have fun while you work on things together.

• You will need to also work on rooms that allow kids to move unimpeded as they go about their day. Ask some questions about potential design solutions so they can enjoy it. Kids will are shorter than grownups so that means you will have a great chance to use smaller and shorter pieces of furniture that would fit their size and needs more accurately.

Read more helpful tips and advice on: barnetcarpetcleaners.com

Mother's Day Gift Idea | CLEAN Fragrances for Body & Home #ad

I don't know about you, but when it comes to shopping for Mother's Day, I often feel overwhelmed. I like giving high-end, quality gifts to show my appreciation for the important moms in my life. However, I still have the hardest time picking out the right gift. No worries this year, CLEAN Body and Home Fragrances are here to save me from the shopping stress. Just the name "CLEAN" makes me feel good and I am sure the special moms in my life will agree. These premium products stand behind their name, CLEAN- Simple, Nostalgic and Conscious. The packaging is very attractive and is sure to make any mom feel extra special. 

I love the selection of fragrances- Warm Cotton, Air, Cool Cotton, Skin and Rain, Fresh Laundry and more. They are soothing yet invigorating at the same time. The Warm Cotton is the BEST! I love how simple and clean it smells (pun intended).

Let Mom find her own unique scent with the CLEAN Rollerball Collection which includes 5 scents; each can be worn alone or layered for a new experience. I personally love to mix fragrances, so this is perfect for me. 

PRICING: $18.00 / 5 x .17 Fl. Oz.

Availability: CleanPerfume.com

The CLEAN Warm Cotton Home Collection candle and reed diffuser are perfect for moms who love a fragrance-filled room. After all of the stresses of the day, these are perfect items to create a calm and peaceful aroma in any room. CLEAN Home Fragrances scents include; Warm Cotton, Rain, Skin and Fresh Laundry. I am putting the Fresh Laundry scent collection on my wish list. I am a sucker for that type of fragrance!

PRICING:
Home Candle: $40.00 / 7.5 Oz.
Home Reed Diffuser: $42.00 / 5.0 Fl. Oz.
Home Linen & Room Spray: $34.00 / 5.75 Fl. Oz.
AVAILABILITY: CleanPerfume.com

If you are searching for luxury items for mom, look no further. CLEAN Body and Home Fragrances have you covered. Be sure to follow CLEAN on Facebook and Twitter for product promotions and updates.

I received product samples in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own as always. 

I would love to punch some people on HGTV

I just wanted to share some random thoughts that come to mind while I'm watching my favorite shows on HGTV...

• I really can't stand when they show a married couple reenact their morning routine in a small bathroom. Do people really brush their hair or teeth at the same exact time each morning and bump into each other like that? We don't. Our master bathroom in my home is smaller than some bathrooms in hotels, but we never complain.
• Couples that can't agree on colors, finishes or anything for that matter. They have heated on-air arguments and someone ends up in fake tears. 
• When they have over-the-top expectations for an itty bitty budget. 
• When people have a budget of over a million dollars and end up buying a 1,200 square foot home. 
• Why do the men have to get inside the tub? I would be so embarrassed if my husband did something like that on camera. Sadly, he probably would.
• I do LOVE when the host shows a house that has everything a couple is looking for-- all custom features, open and over-sized spaces, gourmet kitchen, dream back yard and everything else only to burst their bubble when the sales price is revealed. It ends up being like $400K over budget, Hehehe!
• There is always going to be that one woman who freaks out because there's a dead bug on the ground. C'mon man, it's DEAD! 
•  People and the whole "open floor plan" thing. I don't really get it. When I'm in the kitchen cooking, I don't want to be bothered. I don't need to see my family or guests while I'm in there. It's my "me time" and I don't need anyone talking to me during that time. 

Vinyl Wall Art Decals for Nursery - Best Choice for Your Baby’s Room

For a new couple who are well-off, it can be exciting to have a baby. The joy of expecting can be difficult to believe at first but when the realization finally dawns on the mind, there is excitement brimming in the minds of would-be parents. The entire process seems more real once you begin to plan the nursery for your bundle of joy that is soon to arrive. As a new parent, you want to make the room of your kid more special and make it look like a safe haven for your child. Vinyl wall art can make the decoration more beautiful. When you use wall decals for nursery, you can be assured that you are creating a room that can be more inviting for your baby. You can buy from wallstickersshop.co.uk if you want to decorate your children’s room.

Advantages of Using Vinyl Wall Decal for Nursery

You can get a lot of advantages out of using wall stickers for nursery.

1.    Many individuals, especially those without an artistic bent of mind, find it extremely hard to decorate nurseries properly. You can use vinyl wall art to make a perfectly themed decoration for your baby nursery walls and transform the simple room into a fantasy land for your baby. It can be really simple to use this type of instant wall decoration. You do not require any professional assistance for the placement and installation of these stickers. It is very simple to set up and can be performed by any person.

2. As your baby continues to grow up, his or her maturity and interests will obviously change. You can easily customize the walls by removing the old vinyl decals and replacing them with fresh wall decals for nursery. You wall can be a sign of the growth and maturing tastes of your child over the years as they continue to make their journey to adulthood. You can easily peel off these vinyl stickers and change them as your kid grows up. This can make an economical as well as sun decoration for your child’s room. A lot of teenagers do not like to use cartoon characters or alphabets in their rooms. You may easily remove them and stick an inspiration picture or a family photo, whichever is loved by your child.

3. Vinyl wall art can be an excellent way to add flair and color to your nursery. You may select geometric designs, characters from fairy tales or other artistic stuff to express your thoughts and your love for your baby. You can create a nursery wall where you can display the achievements of your child in vinyl lettering as he or she continues to grow up.

4. Decals are available in a variety of shapes and sizes that you can choose from for your nursery. You can create a beautiful summer garden blooming with cute animals, bright flowers and streams to make a personal and warm environment where your baby can live and grow up in. You need to select those decals that you wish to have and peel off their backside to paste them smoothly on the walls of the nursery and provide it with a fun décor.

5. You need to tamper with paints and stencil which need some amount of finesse that you will probably be lacking in. You will not have to worry about any spills or drips and find out that your nursery does not look as bright as it is supposed to be. When you use vinyl wall art, you can get the bright colors that you deserve. You may even take the stickers, which have been designed for your nursery, along with you as you shop for the perfect wall paint that can match the color of your stickers. In case you paste them in a wrong area, you can also easily peel off the backside of the stickers and move them over to the exact spot that they should rest on.

6. The majority of wall stickers for nursery and replaceable and reusable. This means you can easily peel them off and store them for use for the next generation. This can really be the best way to transform the room of an older kid back into a nursery.

Things to Remember While Going for Vinyl Wall Stickers for Nursery

When you are looking for the best wall decals for nursery of your baby, you need to keep a few things in mind.

7. You can select from thousands of designs to customize the wall of your baby nursery in the most apt manner. Wall decals can be availed in a lot of colors that you can choose from to match the paint and overall decoration of your walls. There are many vinyl wall art decoration items available, which include Vinyl Wall Word Art, Vinyl Wall Lettering and of course Vinyl Wall Stickers which are the most common. You may even opt for customization.

8. You may even use your own photos or your family photos for vinyl wall decals. If you show off an enlarged family portrait as a wall decal, it can appear as if it has been painted by a professional artist and hung on the wall as was the custom in the olden days. With wall decals in vinyl, your creative designing options are truly endless.

9. Wall quotes, flowering trees and branches, customized photos, stars, lettering and geometric shapes are some of the more famous types of vinyl wall art. You can browse the online catalogs or directly call up a qualified representative in order to have a discussion about your artistic ideas.

10. Bright shapes and colors on walls can make a warm atmosphere for newborns and also learn to recognize shapes, stars and dots from an early age. It can be a god idea to coordinate dots of varying colors and sizes on the wall that can match floor tiles, crib sheets, furniture and curtains of bright color.

With wall art decals for nursery, you can showcase your creativity and make just the type of growing environment that your kid will love growing up in. It can be fun to use wall decals and you will be surprised at the number of options that you can pick from.

What are Vinyl Wall Art Stickers?

One of the most inexpensive house decorations now is vinyl wall stickers and wallpapers. However, do you know much about this kind of stickers?

In chemistry, vinyl is one of the alkenyl functional groups. An industrially important example is vinyl chloride, precursor to PVC, a plastic commonly known as vinyl. So it can be widely used in our daily stuff and you don’t worry if it it harmful to our bodies.

The vinyl wall stickers are harmless, beautiful. Innovative and easy to apply. Nowadays, they are not any longer just used in our home. People have most public places or commercial areas pasted on some wall stickers to attract people’s attention or just play as a warning. It is even a special and joyful way for people to get information from the wall.

Mostly, buyers apply this easy wall stickers in the house decoration. Since there are plenty of patterns of this rising decor way, pasting some wallpapers can show your individualities to your guests and even make your life more interesting and beautiful. For instance, one of our top sales are the nursery decal series for kids. It includes some styles like cartoon animals and plants, growth chart, black chalkboard and alphabet. Your kids will be very delightful if their growth will be accompanied with such cute animals that can only be seen in the zoo. And the growth chart wall decals can make you witness your son  growing taller and taller.

Since its special texture, it can be used not only on the walls, but also in the windows or furniture. We have a lot of holiday-related wall decals that will make your family full of the holiday atmosphere, especially the Christmas theme decals pasted on the windows.

Don’t bother with the complex tools of pasting, our wall decals are very very easy for you to apply. You just need to peel of its cover and paste it. Your fingers can finish all the process. What are you still waiting for? Buying this easy wall stickers is definitely your best choice for decoration your house.