Archive for 'Home Decorating'
Many Ways To Do Home Carpet Cleaning
Posted on 15. Jul, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Most people dread home carpet cleaning more than they dread going to the dentist. It’s usually not the actual home carpet cleaning process itself that is so painful to them, but paying for a professional carpet cleaning service. It seems pretty sad to shell out all of that money and time only to know that your carpets are only going to get filthy again. But you don’t absolutely have to hire a professional carpet cleaning service. There are many ways you can do home carpet cleaning yourself.
Rent The Equipment
There are many places where you can rent a carpet steam cleaner. This writer used to work at a pharmacy that also did a brisk trade in renting out carpet cleaning equipment. Since many allergy sufferers need their carpets cleaned more often than others, many pharmacies or chemists will often have a carpet cleaning rental service. You can also check with your hardware or DIY store for rentals.
The only real disadvantage here is that you have to do all of the work yourself. This means you have to move all of your furniture if you want to do an especially thorough home carpet cleaning. But, if you really only need to do some areas of your carpet rather than every single square millimeter, then even spot cleaning with rental equipment can be worth it.
Use A Shop Vac
Another way you can do your own home carpet cleaning for less money is to use a portable wet/dry vacuum, usually called a “Shop Vac” after one of the most popular brands. These are normally kept to clean up the inside of cars or cleaning up after tinkering in your woodshop. This isn’t good for the whole carpet not unless you have strong knees. This does, however, work great for spot cleaning or for the parts of the carpet your guests will notice.
You have to first get on your hands and knees with a bucket of hot, soapy water and scrub the carpet, or parts of the carpet that really need attention. Then, you take the Shop Vac and just vacuum up all of the water and soap. You really should try this on just one discreet spot on your carpet (say, the part under a table) to see if the carpet will change color or become damaged after such a home carpet cleaning.
Worse comes to worse, you can always check the web or your local paper to see if your local professional carpet cleaning service has coupons.
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Home Decorating Tips
Posted on 11. Jul, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
If you are into home decorating and are trying to decorate your living space, you may feel a little overwhelmed. Home decorating does not come easy to most people, but there are many television shows and online web sites that can offer you help. Your house design may be improved if you follow these tips.
Tip One: Know What You Want From The Room
Home decorating can get confusing if you do not know precisely what you want from the room you are designing. The first step is to know what you want from the room. Do you want it to be a play room, a formal sitting room, or a media room? Do you want your kitchen to be a chef’s kitchen, an eat-in kitchen, or do you prefer to eat in the dining room? Do you want your bedroom to simply be a place to sleep, or do you want it to be a haven or a retreat as well?
In addition, part of knowing what you want from the room is knowing who will be in the room. You have to remember who lives in the home and who frequents the room. For example, if you have young toddlers, you do not want expensive glass pieces in a formal living room. If you only have one large living space, you probably do not want a formal space at all if you have a toddler. Instead, you would want a more relaxed, comfortable living space.
Tip Two: Focus On One Piece
A room can get convoluted and cluttered if you have too many important pieces in the room that you are trying to focus on. Instead, try having one main piece that focuses the entire room. When choosing this piece, make sure that you keep the size of the room in mind. If you have a small bedroom, you do not want a large four post king bed. While the piece may be stunning, it is just too large to really make a good home decorating impact on your bedroom. Home decorating is about tasteful, manageable pieces. Try to find a focal piece that really fits in your room and makes a statement without overwhelming the room.
Tip Three: Do Not Follow Fads
Home decorating is about being fresh and fabulous. This does not mean following fads exclusively. While trends may be fun to follow and add some life and interest to your home, try not to follow them exclusively. If your home decorating is based on fads, in just a few years (or maybe even a few months!), your home will be completely out dated. Instead, stick to classic ideas that you freshen up with bright colors.
If you follow these three tips, you will have home decorating skills that people will envy!
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Interior Design In Your Home
Posted on 09. Jul, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Home decorating is not the easiest task for many people. Some people do not find it naturally easy to do home interior design, and even seemingly simple things like choosing colors can be very difficult. However, thanks to many different technological advances and advancement in do it yourself painting and decorating, even the most lost home owner can realistically do their own home interior design.
Technological Advances In Do It Yourself Home Interior Design
Technological advances are making it easier to do your own home interior design and not have to pay a professional thousands of dollars to do the same work. Many home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowes offer online paint buying guides that allow you to virtually paint your home on the computer. You can put different colors and textures together and actually see how they look before you do the home interior design. In addition, Lowes offers a unique color matching program. You can bring in any piece of color to the store and using a special machine, they can create a paint that matches the color exactly. So if you find an amazing piece of furniture and want to have it be the focal point in your room, you can now find paint that matches it perfectly.
Advancements In Do It Yourself Home Interior Design
In addition to technological advances, other advances have been made in do it yourself home interior design. Instead of having to choose the paint colors for your house from a thousand different paint chips, there are now booklets available at almost every place that sells paint with compatible colors. These booklets have pages with several dozen colors that go well together on each page. Instead of looking at a paint sheet with four shades of the same color, you can see what yellows go with what blues, or what browns go with what greens. There is no longer any excuse for the non color oriented person to not be able to do simple home interior design.
Decorating Your Home
Even with the painting made simple with home interior design, you may still be leery to actually decorate your home. Do not be afraid to try new things in your home. If you use neutral colors on your walls, make sure that you use some color in the decorations to make the room pop. Most stores that sell home furnishing sell things in sets, so even if you do not feel comfortable choosing individual pieces, you can still have an excellent home interior design by using items that you purchased in sets.
Anyone can design their home beautifully!
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The Advantages Of Renting A Carpet Steam Cleaner
Posted on 08. Jul, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Unless you have a medical condition, hotel or office that needs always to be looking its best for your customers, there really isn’t much of a need to buy a steam carpet cleaner. Some people who have a lot of pets add a carpet steam cleaner to their Christmas or Hanukkah gift lists. If you don’t have the time to use a carpet steam cleaner and do all of your carpet cleaning yourself, then it would be easier on your nerves and your wallet to hire a carpet cleaning service. But if you have the time, then there are many advantages to renting a steam carpet cleaner periodically.
Less Expensive
In the long run, renting a carpet steam cleaner once or even twice a year is going to be less expensive than either hiring a service or buying a carpet steam cleaner outright. You also don’t need to take any time off of work in order to wait for a professional service to arrive. You also don’t have to worry about getting the carpet steam cleaner fixed if you are getting a rental.
The only thing you have to buy outright is a carpet cleaning shampoo, and even that’s an option. However, some rental places will insist on your using only a certain brand of carpet cleaning solution. This is usually because it’s the easiest solution on the machine, which gets used a lot. A very thick shampoo or one with strange homemade ingredients can sometimes damage the carpet steam cleaner.
Easy To Find
There are many shops and stores that are more than eager to rent you a carpet steam cleaner. You can start your search at a drug store, pharmacy or chemist. You can also ask furniture and electronics rental shops. You can also check out your local hardware or DIY stores. Some vacuum shops will also do rentals of carpet steam cleaners. You might even know of a church that might rent out their carpet steam cleaner as a way of making a few extra bucks.
Take Your Time
Usually when you rent a carpet steam cleaner, a manual or set of operating instructions will come with them. However, that’s not always the case. But many manufacturers of carpet steam cleaners put all of their instructions online. If you know the exact make and model number of your rental cleaner, than you can download and print out the instructions.
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The Advantages Of Using A Carpet Cleaning Service
Posted on 03. Jul, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Although you need to pinch your pennies more than ever, there are many reasons why hiring a carpet cleaning service can wind up saving you money in the long run. This is especially important if there are any health issues in your family such as asthma or allergies where your doctor has recommended that you get your carpets cleaned on a regular basis.
You Can Sue Them
This is an important advantage of using a professional carpet cleaning company rather than just trying to do it yourself. The odds are very big that you will never need to sue a carpet cleaning service, but isn’t it nice to know that you have that option? Your carpet cleaning service will know that you have that option and will bend over backwards to help you resolve any situation that may arise after the cleaning. Their business depends on word-of-mouth recommendations.
Time
You’ve heard it so often that you probably don’t listen to it, but your time is money. If you work very hard running your own business or bouncing back and forth between two jobs, then you don’t have much time to go rent carpet cleaning equipment, move your furniture around, read the directions and cross your fingers hoping you are using the rented equipment right.
Some carpet cleaning services will be in and out in only an hour because they are so used to cleaning carpets that they know all of the short cuts and have access to quicker drying carpet cleaners. They also know how to make sure there isn’t any residue left, which can often happen when you use rented equipment. Getting the job done right and quickly is worth money.
They Come To You
In these times of four dollar a gallon gasoline, you don’t need to add more driving trips to your strained gas budget. When you rent carpet cleaning equipment, you usually have to haul it around by car to and from your home. You don’t have to spend a drop of gas when you hire a carpet cleaning service. They come to your home. If they don’t, get another service!
Special Offers
In order to get or to keep your business, carpet cleaning services will often ruin promotions, coupons or even a discount for repeat customers. This differs with each company. It’s worth looking into to make savings in money, time and aggravation in the long run as well as living with cleaner carpets.
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Studying Interior Design
Posted on 03. Jul, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Is your home the envy of the neighborhood? Do you constantly get complements on the style of your home, or do people often ask you to decorate rooms in their homes? Are you about to enter the career world, or want a career change? Do you consider yourself artsy and creative? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might want to seriously consider studying interior design.
Job Description
As an interior designer, you will never be bored. Being an interior designer means that you will have many different job opportunities. Home interior design has much more to it than you may think. There are many different rooms in the house and you will have the opportunity to design kitchens, formal living rooms, basements, family rooms, recreational rooms, bedrooms, and offices. There are so many different rooms and concepts for a house and interior design encompasses all of them.
Personal Touch
As an interior designer, the most important part of your job will be your personal touch. Anyone can paint a room and put pictures on the wall, but it takes a true interior designer to make a house a home. An interior designer is a talented individual, and your personal touch is what will keep your clients asking for more. Every interior designer has a personal touch that they bring to their designs. Some focus on modern design while others focus on contemporary or traditional interior design. No matter what your style is, with a personal touch you will be able to wow your clients.
How To Become An Interior Designer
Becoming an interior designer is like many careers. You can go to school and learn the trade, but if you do not have innate talent your designs will be lacking that special wow factor and people will notice. If you do have talent and drive, you can become an interior designer without going to school. Simply apprentice with another interior designer to learn the ins and outs of interior design. Even if you have the passion and talent, you will have more success if you follow an established interior designer before going out on your own. That way you will be able to learn what your region likes and dislikes, what stores have the best materials, and what retailers offer the best discounts. If you have a passion for interior design, do not let anything stand in your way of becoming a top notch interior designer!
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The Best Home Dcor Design
Posted on 28. Jun, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Choosing a Home Dcor Design
The factors used to determine the best home dcor design is strictly an individual choice. What you like and don’t like should be taken into consideration when choosing your home dcor design but it’s also beneficial to be expand your scope of choices and be willing to experiment and incorporate a different home dcor design, along with your personal preferences. Selecting a theme for your home dcor design and then creating a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere in the home to fit the theme is the first step. The second step is accentuating the theme by creating the visual aspect of the design through the use of color and accessories.
Types of Home Dcor Design
The types of interior design are numerous and should reflect your personality. The basic home dcor design which includes furniture, accessories, flooring and window dressings, can revolve can range from a heavy or dark dcor to a more light and airy home dcor design. For example, Spanish or Mediterranean dcor may include dark wood for furniture pieces along with earth tones contrasted by vibrant colors. On the lighter side, there is the very popular French Country dcor. You’ll find sophistication and sleek, contemporary lines with Scandinavian dcor while the unique and exotic style of Feng Shui is very relaxing. There are many other home decors with specific themes such as Victorian, Rustic, Farmhouse and Country Cottage decors that might suit your needs. Home dcor design can range from simple to chic.
Cutting Costs
The cost of accessorizing your home can range from very cheap to extremely expensive depending on the home dcor design you’ve chosen. To keep it inexpensive, check local flea markets, private sales and thrift stores as these are good sources for finding bargains on accessories such as paintings, artwork, china pieces and plants for very little money. Auctions are another avenue for finding unique pieces and antiques for your home many times at very reasonable prices and companies that specialize in making reproductions based on original designs is a good way to get at item you want at a much lesser cost.
The End Result
Experiment and be as creative as possible with your home dcor design. Try unique color combinations for effect, use different textures to visually enhance an area or use a variety of fabrics and bold patterns as contrast. Find a point of interest in each room and use accessories to enhance the interior design but keep the accessories minimal so the point of interest remains as the main focus. Too many accessories can make the room overly busy so that know one knows what the focal point should be. Keep it simple and let your creativity shine through as you put it all together. The results you can achieve will only be limited by a lack of imagination.
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Who Needs Professional Carpet Cleaning?
Posted on 25. Jun, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
It can be hundreds of dollars just to get a few rooms in your home with carpet cleaned by a professional carpet cleaning service. Do you really need to hire them and spend all of that money? Can you just buy some commercial carpet cleaner at Kmart and do it yourself? The answer depends on a lot of circumstances. There are times that you would be best off getting professional carpet cleaning.
If You Own Property
Whether you are trying to sell a house or are renting a complex full of apartments, you should definitely get professional carpet cleaning. You need to make the best impression on new renters or home buyers that you can. Professional carpet cleaning usually makes the property smell better, as well. This can help relax a potential buyer or renter.
When you own property, you have a million details to handle and need to sell or rent as quickly as possible. A dirty, smelly carpet can make all of the difference as to why you’re loosing money on your property. Getting professional carpet cleaning can also make a big statement to your buyer or renter in that you care about the property and not just the money.
If You Have A Lot Of Pets
Not all pets will track in dirt or have accidents on your carpet. If you have a lot of fish, for example, you probably don’t even have a lot of carpeting or problems with the fish tracking in mud and dead mice. Some breeds of dogs keep themselves really clean and some individual dogs hate getting dirty and so they wouldn’t get your upholstery or carpets dirty.
But even if you have a lot of guinea pigs that only get a few hours of “floor time” a week, there’s bound to be accidents. Regular vacuuming just doesn’t do it in order to get rid of ammonia vapors or mold growth that can make your pet’s breathing more difficult. Professional carpet cleaning can use pet and kid friendly ingredients and make your home healthier for your pets. Please do not use this article as a substitute for your veterinarian’s advice.
The Chronically Ill
If you are chronically ill, then you probably don’t have the physical strength to handle heavy rental carpet cleaning machines. If your doctor recommends that your home should be as free of dust mites or mold spores as possible, then professional carpet cleaning should be looked into. It also is emotionally lifting for a chronically ill person to be in a clean room.
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Utilizing an Interior Design Consultant
Posted on 21. Jun, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Undertaking the responsibility of completely designing and decorating your home is a big commitment. The time required can be significant even if you’re using the best interior design software to help plan the project. To prevent the stress and frustration of trying to do the project on your own, using the services of an in-store or professional interior design consultant is the first step in having your home designed efficiently and in a timely manner.
In-Store Interior Design Consultant
You can find a reputable interior design consultant to help guide you through the decorating process at major department stores, specialty stores and even building supply stores where each department has a trained interior design consultant. In-store consultants can address installation and delivery issues and work specifically with their stores merchandise making them very knowledgeable about their products they sell. In addition to answering questions and suggesting ideas to better aid the customer in their decorating choices, they have the opportunity to sell additional decorating items from other departments. Being able to purchase all or at least the majority of the items you need for your project at one location will save you time and in some instances, can also save you money.
Professional Interior Design Consultant
A professional interior design consultant is a designer that may work for a corporation or large consulting firm or is someone who works freelance or has their own business. An interior design consultant of this caliber has the expertise to not only work on interior designs for homes, they also do design work for other types of buildings such as restaurants, office buildings, schools and malls. They are experienced in reading blue prints and must understand building codes. Their goal is to please the customer, stay within budget and meet the customer’s deadline.
Plan of Action
Depending on what type of home dcor design you are planning to do and the extent of how much is to be done provides an interior design consultant with the first step in creating a plan of action. Once they have determined these two factors, the interior design consultant will then have the information needed to plan the best way to utilize the space, whether it will be one room or the whole house. The interior design consultant will assess the available furniture and accessories that can be used and also determine additional materials, furniture, lighting, flooring, window treatments and accessories that will be needed within the allotted budget.
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Alternatives To Buying A Commercial Carpet Cleaner
Posted on 21. Jun, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
In order to get clean, good-smelling, healthy carpets, do you need to buy a commercial carpet cleaner or hire a professional carpet cleaning service? Either way can cost you hundreds of dollars. If you have a large home and little time, then perhaps buying a commercial carpet cleaner or hiring a service is what you should do. But if you only have a few rooms with carpeting or if you rent an apartment, buying a commercial carpet cleaner is not a viable option. Here are other things you can do.
Rent A Machine
If you don’t have the money or the storage space for a commercial carpet cleaner, the odds are you can rent one for a day, instead. There are many kinds of stores that will rent commercial carpet cleaner machines. Some will look like round canisters and a hose attachment and some will look a lot like big upright vacuum cleaners.
This is especially recommended when you are moving out of your apartment and hope to get your housing deposit back. When the landlord sees a clean carpet that doesn’t need replacing, they usually give the deposit back. This is, of course, provided you haven’t damaged anything else in the apartment.
Spot Cleaning
You might only need parts of your carpet cleaned instead of the whole thing. In this case, buying a commercial carpet cleaner would be overkill. You only need to do spot cleaning. This does require time, elbow grease and buying carpet and upholstery cleaning products from the grocery or department store. You should do a test spot first with this carpet cleaner to see that it doesn’t stain or discolor your carpet. Otherwise, you’ll need a service with their commercial carpet cleaner to fix your mess!
In spot cleaning your carpet, you need to wipe up what you can with a clean color-fast cloth or paper towel. Dampen the area to be cleaned with a wet paper towel. Just use water. Then apply the cleaning fluid or foam. Wait as the directions indicate, then mop it all up with more clean cloths or a paper towel. You often need to scrub at it with the cloths or even a carpet brush. This can take quite a while, depending on how much carpet you need cleaned.
Worse to comes to worse, you can always get rid of the carpet (if you own the place where you live). This way you will defiantly never need to buy a commercial carpet cleaner.