MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION WITH YOUR HOME

When you’re trying to get to know someone, nothing can give you a closer look into their personalities than their home. Is it filled with tasteful furniture which matches the carpet and walls? Is it spotless and clean, or does it have its share of dog hair and stains on the carpet? All these things will cause someone to have pre-conceived notions about the inhabitants. Therefore, if you frequently have guests over to your house, you should do all you can to present a house with decorating that will give a good impression.

You may consider enlisting the services of an interior designer. These are people who have a full and perfect understanding of colors, shapes, and light levels. They will know exactly how to decorate your house so that everything has the perfect compliment and contrast to everything else. This is a good route to take if you have a good chunk of money to spend on interior decorating. The services can be fairly expensive, and you may end up needing to buy entirely new furniture.

Another option is to use the resources found in online tutorials to give you an idea of how you should decorate your house. Many web sites offer free home decorating tutorials to train you in these matters. There are also dozens of home decorating discussion boards. With a digital camera, you can take pictures of your rooms and post them on the boards for free advice about what you can do with the colors and patterns of everything within your home.

Home decorating may seem like a silly thing to spend your time on, but when you have an interior decor that you are proud to show to guests, you will realize that every bit of time and money you spent on it was worth it.

PAINTING KITCHEN CABINETS

One of the quickest and most economical ways to give a tired kitchen a make over is to paint your kitchen cabinets. Applying a coat of light paint to dark wood will not only brighten up a dingy kitchen, it will also give the illusion of more space. It doesn’t matter if your cabinets are wood or veneer, with the proper preparation both surfaces can benefit from the application of good quality paint. Bear in mind that kitchen cabinets take quite a beating – from sticky little fingers to oil residue from cooking, so the better quality the paint, the longer the paint job will last.

This project can take about three days to complete, so allowing yourself enough time is important. The key to any successful painting job is preparation and when painting cabinets this is most important. Generally, you don’t have to bother with the insides of the cabinets, other than the insides of the doors and maybe the frames, so you can save yourself a lot of time and energy by concentrating on the outer surfaces only.

PREPARATION:

• Remove all doors and hardware.
• Hardware is expensive and very often it can be salvaged rather than replaced. If it has been previously painted, you can soak your hardware in a bucket of paint remover (outside or in the garage – as the fumes can be dangerous). After a day or so in solution, carefully remove hardware, using rubber gloves, and then soak in a bucket of warm, soapy water. If necessary, you can then give the pieces a quick scrub with a scouring pad. In most cases, the paint will peel right off and your hardware will look brand new.
• Before you begin to apply paint to kitchen cabinets, the surface must be thoroughly cleaned. Washing cabinets with a solution of warm water and TSP will remove most, if not all of the accumulated grease and oils. Allow to dry completely.
• Next, a quick swipe with fine sandpaper (A good fine paper for this project is a 200 to 300) will roughen up the surface, allowing the paint to adhere better.

PAINTING:

• Choose a good quality, washable paint. Kitchens look brighter and cleaner when the cupboards are finished with a semi to high gloss paint, but that is entirely up to your own preference.
• Lay the cabinet doors on a flat surface in a room with plenty of ventilation. Paint the outer edges with a brush then use a roller to finish the job. Allow to dry according to manufacturers’ recommendation. When thoroughly dry, turn over and paint the other side. You will definitely need two coats of paint, and if you have the time and energy, three is better.

ASSEMBLY:

• When paint is completely dry, you can then re-assemble the hardware install the cabinets and your kitchen will look brand new.

REPAIR @ REPLACE YOUR HOME APPLIANCES??

One dilemma that many a person now faces in the 21st century is what to do when a home appliance breaks down or goes on the fritz. Of course, for many people the initial inclination is to phone up a repair person and have the machine fixed. On the other hand, many people in this day and age are quick to merely go out and have the busted appliance replaced with a new unit.

In point of fact, there are some factors that you do need to take into consideration when attempting to decide whether to repair or to replace a home appliance that is not working correctly. Perhaps the most important factor to take into consideration -- about everything else that might come to mind -- is price.

Many basic home appliances are now priced in such a manner that is you have owned and utilized the equipment for an extended period of time it makes more economic sense merely to go out and make the purchase or a replacement product. For example, many elementary clothes washer and dryer units are now priced in many countries around the world at fairly reasonable rates. In other words, the cost of repairing a failing used appliance may be such that you actually “save” money in the greater scheme of things by making the purchase of a new unit.

On the other hand, many people at this point in time actually are making very significant investments in their home appliances. For examples, there are some people in some parts of the world that are paying tens of thousands of dollars or other equivalent monetary units to equip their kitchens with the latest home appliances. In point of fact, many people are spending on a refrigerator what it costs to purchase an automobile.

If you are such a person who is forking over a significant amount of cash to purchase home appliances for your residence, you naturally will want to give serious consideration to having the item repaired. In these instances it is not simply a matter of spending a few hundred dollars (or the equivalent) to replace a home appliance on the blink.

Finally, some people actually do become attached to a particular home appliance -- particularly those associated with the kitchen. If that is the case, and if repair costs are not outlandish, it does make sense to have the item on the blink repaired rather than replaced.

Decorating Ideas For Kids Rooms

Kids room decorating are an opportunity waiting to come to life! No where else can you mix and match a variety of paint schemes along with creative stencils, stickers, sparkles and get away with it. Best of all, your kids can be involved in transforming their room into their own accomplishments while redecorating at the same time.

Some creative ideas on decorating kid’s bedrooms:

1) Furniture - Make a whole play area from an ordinary bookcase. Choose bright colors that match your child style and add features such as cutout doors for a doll house or castle effect. Add texture materials to one or two compartments that create a window or door like feature. When your child has out-grown the design, you can easily remove the materials and doors and replace them with the original materials that you saved. Other ideas can be used with Lego or large building blocks to create more designs to match your child’s age.

2) Walls - Turn your kid’s walls in a big canvas. Paint is the perfect solution and least expensive way to create a kaleidoscope impact while offering unlimited color options. Just changing one wall or adding stripes, borders, sponge or stamping techniques can bring new life to an ordinary room. Use wavy or splat design patterns, or turn one wall into a mural effect. Choose a bright base and pick accent colors to achieve the best effects.

3) Ceiling - Create a magical night sky on your child’s ceiling with glow in the dark decorations. These can be fun and even comforting for your child to be able to lie in bed and gaze up at the night stars

4) Doors - Use wooden letters that spell your child’s name and glue them on the door. Painting them in the theme color of your child room will dress up the door nicely. Closet door hardware can be replaced with wiggly handles or their favorite cartoon character. By matching the door hardware with wall plates you can carry the pattern through out the room that accents their style.

5) Shelves - Using shelving materials can be the least expensive way to pick up the clutter and organize a room. Painting with the same colors or add design features with stencil or stamping can quickly dress up any room. Different shelve designs can also be used to border a window that eliminate the need for expensive window treatments.

6) Accessories - Large cork boards can quickly turn a bare wall into a busy space. Cork boards also eliminate holes in walls from nails or tacks that later need to be repaired. Wooden picture frames can be painted to help accent the room. Fans blades can be reversed and painted with designs to add cool effects when in use and then can be reversed when it comes time to re-decorate.Decorating your kid’s bedroom is a great way to give them a place they can call their own and you may just find your kid spending more time in there!

I LOVE THESE..

Hi .. welcome to the HOME DECOR. As a woman who works, and also a housewife, I was concerned how to decorate the house. I'm interested to share some tips on decorating the house with attractive. To me, home is a place that must be interesting, beautiful, clean and comfortable place to live. Beautiful and comfortable home is also important in the happiness of a family. In this blog, you can get some tips on how to decorate the house with a simple, but beautiful and attractive, especially to the families who have young children. This is because, families with small children often have problems in home decorating. I will share with you some interesting tips. You are also encouraged to contribute good ideas to me to be loaded in this blog. Till here..Happy surfing.. :)