Create a Hotel Suite Style Bedroom on a Budget

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If you adore the style of a classy boutique or a plush hotel room and you wish to recreate the similar look in your bedroom, it can be done with ease. Some things to keep in mind

are shaking up the bed, a sophisticated ambiance, good lighting, and simplicity.

The bed is the most crucial item to focus on when you want to go for the comfortable and the exquisite appearance.  Buy bedsheets that at least have the 400-thread count

for the bed covering.

Use more fluffy pillows and add an additional padding to the bed for added comfort. Choose a good color combination for your room that speaks of your personality yet exudes an elegant and sophisticated look.

Simplicity is the key to a classy look. You don’t have to concern yourself about fancy designs because carefully selected plain elements actually look a lot nicer than busy decorations.

Keep the windows simple also. You do not need to put a valance over the window if you don’t like it.  In fact, one is not required to attain the look you are trying to achieve.

Use a sheer curtain to allow the sunlight to enter and a heavier curtain that matches the bed style and bedding you chose for the room.

The curtains should be easy to pull back to let the light in when you need it and to keep the light out in times when you choose to have a darker room.

You can bring home the elegance of a hotel suite. Remember to stay with the simple colors but go plush and fluffy with your bed items.  Being simple is not expensive and you can still get the look you love even on a tight budget.

Basics on Creating a Zen Style Room Design

Do you wish to redesign your room or home into an Asian-inspired setting? Why not try making a Zen room?

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Zen interior design conveys tranquil and peaceful moods, a connection with nature, and distinct minimalist elegance. These are the key points to start with.

Flashy colors and clutter are eliminated. It does not employ the use of complex shapes and patterns, excessive and ornate furniture or excessive ornaments. In fact, Zen isn’t merely a style at all. Zen pertains to a pure state of being.

A lot of people associate Zen with the Japanese culture, but its actual roots come from China. It focuses on meditation, inner awareness, and gaining enlightenment.

Creating a Zen your home is not difficult, but you must enter into the proper state of mind. The focal point is on the present moment, being calm, still, and simply being there.

The initial step is to clear the clutter from the room/s. Remove ornaments and trinkets hanging about. Clearing the clutter is important in Zen for doing so helps in clearing the mind as well.

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Be rigidly decisive when scanning through your stash. Decide only to keep those things that serve an important purpose. If you can’t seem to throw away some items, store them away out of sight.

Free your home from any extra furniture pieces. This includes the ones on the ceilings, walls, and floors, too. Anything complicated or fussy is not Zen.

When you think of color, choose soothing and calm hues. Choose earth tones, warm, and neutral colors only. Make sure to allow sunlight to enter the room. This will be the primary light source during the daytime.

Always keep in mind that space, light, and function are significant in a Zen home.

© Athena Goodlight on Gomestic

How to Spray Your Tree Safely

Protecting your fruit trees from pests during the summer is almost impossible without the use of pesticides or chemicals. This may scare some people to believe that the actual fruits will have traces of chemicals. When pesticide spraying is done correctly, all pests can be removed without harming the tree. If you are spraying chemicals, most likely you will be using a hose end sprayer or hand pump.

It is easier to regulate the right mix of chemicals if you are using the pump sprayers. Unfortunately, you will not be able to spray so far. It won’t reach the treetops. This can be achieved using hose-end sprinklers, but acquiring the right mix of chemicals is more of a challenge. Everything counts in the water pressure for this to happen, although sometimes, the water pressure is not constant. One day it could be less, where their chemical content would be higher. The types of materials obtained by application of the hose are usually very strong. They must be severely modified before they are weak enough to use.

When you mix the chemicals for spraying, you have to follow the instructions precisely.  These are hazardous chemicals, so it is best to do exactly what the professionals recommend including putting on appropriate protective equipment. When dealing with chemicals like this, always wear rubber gloves. Use the exact portions suggested on the label. Estimation does not work in this case, and could result in the death of your tree or not eliminating any pest. You should start by mixing the right amount of pesticides, and then topped with all of the water.

Now follows the fumigation. The aim is to spray similar extent in all areas. You would not want to spray in such a way that it accumulates enough to drip out of the leaves. Use a ladder to get within spraying distance of all parts of the tree. Since the pesticide wide, full scans to reach each piece. Never go over the same part twice, because that is when the chemicals start to leak.

If you are spraying a large and well developed tree, must stand on a ladder at the base of the trunk. Spray in all segments from the inside out. After completing the spraying of the canopy, you are now ready to pull out from your position and work on the rest. Once you've finished cleaning, be sure to thoroughly clean thoroughly every bit of equipment you used, including clothes. Do not include clothing worn to spray with the rest of her family's clothes.

The main thing to remember when spraying pesticide is to prevent dripping on the ground. If this happens, pesticides will be absorbed by the roots of trees and channeled the actual fruits on the trees. Pesticides only remain on the outside so it is always best to clean the fruit thoroughly before eating, you will have nothing to worry about being poisoned.

Preventing Moth Infestation in Your Fruit Garden

 Having a steady turn out of fresh fruit coming from your backyard is really a nice thing. A lot of people reach to accomplish this dream. Nonetheless, several people fail to understand how easy it is to get a fairly severe infestation of worms in their fruit. There is nothing more unpleasant than biting into an apple off of the tree you have slaved over for so long, just to find that you have not been persevering enough with your pesticides.

 

Even though it appears like a hassle to constantly be spraying pesticides, it is something that you must not overlook. Spraying pesticides is a reasonably quick and easy procedure, and you should not have to do it too often at all.  It is worth it to just get out there every couple of weeks and spray in your yard.

 

Spraying can look like a time consuming operation. After all, you've got to go out and get all the supplies, combine the chemicals, apply them, and tidy up everything you used in the procedure. Occasionally you’ll even require a ladder to reach all sections of the trees. The whole process can take as long as four hours when you have several huge trees. Practicing this every 2 weeks can get quite tiresome and annoying. Nonetheless, you must always persevere. Normally being adamant in your steady spraying will help prevent infestations of things like moths, but at times it’s just not sufficient.

Usually you will be able to acknowledge when moths have laid eggs on your trees by the endings of the branches. If you discover something that appears like a group of moth eggs, you should automatically prune the branch you detected it on and destroy it. Check out the rest of the tree really good. Should the eggs hatch, you will have a huge number of moth larvae creeping around through your tree and into your fruits.

 

No one wants to be in the situation where you couldn’t find a single fruit on your tree that didn’t have a worm inside. And then end up having to cut down the entire tree then start completely over. Preventing the infestation of uninvited guests is much better than having to cut down a tree and start completely over  due to a little laziness.

If you have not taken up spraying pesticides in the past, you must go to your local gardening  store today. Figure out what pests are most prevailing in your area, and get the correct pesticides to keep them from ever visiting your trees.

by Tip Writer 

Dealing With Problem Birds on Your Cherry Trees

 If you are lucky to get a cherry tree in your garden, there is much pleasure that can come from them. Eating the delicious cherries that came from your tree is a rewarding experience in itself. Some people are impressed by the fact that you have a cherry tree, as they are generally not regarded by non-gardening aficionados as an exotic type.

However, along with delicacies that can come from a cherry tree, there are several annoyances as well. Creatures seem to attract uninvited guests more than any other plant in the world. Almost daily there seems to be a new type of plague that swarms the tree, trying to grab a bite of her delicious fruit. No one can blame them, but if you prefer to have them eat delicious fruits, they must have their own trees.

Among the major problems that a lot of people deal with, are that the birds consume much of fruits of the tree. This may seem almost impossible to stop. After all, they can go from any angle and make a quick peck at the cherries. They can also sit undetected on the branches and eat out all day. A bird definitely has versatility to its advantage. These little guys can be a nuisance to the capture or shoo away. However, there are many different ways that can discourage the birds from your place.

The most exploited to trick to shoo away the birds is to put a plastic owl in the vicinity of the house. If you find any animal that usually eats birds and buy a plastic version, usually the real birds to follow their instincts and avoid it. These can include snakes, hawks, owls, scarecrows (they do not eat the birds in general but are most likely to scare the birds away). Most can be bought at your local garden store. If you prefer a different, more natural looking version, try to search online, then you're sure to find something that works.

If you purchase a plastic animal of some sort, you can usually cure the problem of birds infestation for a while. However, other birds are very brave (or just stubbord), and shall eat proceed to eat the fruits anyway. Almost any reflective surface or noisy objects keep birds from getting too close. The use of reflective tape designed to scare the birds is very popular. Use this in combination with a variety of wind chimes to scare them. When you have a plastic animal along with the themes of reflection and noisy items, almost all birds will be too scared to get even closer.

While flying animals take a little more than their share of the fruit, it is good to still consider leaving a tree just for them. While they may appear as pests sometimes, the birds may be the only thing that adds cheerful life to your garden. If you're used to birds and suddenly you drove them all away, you'll soon think there's something missing from your garden, which, deep inside, you really loved all the while.

Basic Ways to Deal With Gopher Infestation

There are lots of misleading information out there regarding gophers. You may regularly receive unsolicited catalogs proclaiming the virtues of page after page of guaranteed, fancy, expensive, long-term and so called cost-effective solutions to your gopher troubles. There’s just one problem. Most of them may not work.
 
Anything that is electronic and expensive is constantly popular, correct? Electronic "sonic" gadgets that cast various sound frequencies (vibrations) into the ground seem to be a joke since all the professional pest control people laugh at its mention.
 
All else considered, here are three fundamental ways to efficiently deal with gophers:
• Use poison to eliminate them. The set back for this practice is that, every year, dogs, raccoons, cats, opossums, and birds die when they eat up those gopher poison. There’s likewise the risk of kids getting hold of the stuff. This is certainly not a great idea, so do not do it. The idea was brought up because readers usually think about it.
 
• Use a trap. There are a few very effective traps on the market. They’re likewise safe to use around pets and some wildlife. But killing the gopher is a must. Some will find it easy to do, but some won’t be able to stomach the task. Think about it carefully before choosing on this option.
One more problem with using poisons and traps is that you’ve got to keep using them each time you see a new gopher putting its head out through your lawn. It never ends.
 
• An environmental, nontoxic, humane, painless, and lasting solution to gopher infestation is to prevent them ahead of time before they even happen. Fencing them out of your yard is the way to go by digging a narrow 3 ft-deep trench along the inside of your fence. If you are not able to go down that far, just dig as deep as you can. Put an underground chicken wire fence in the trench all along the inside border of your yard and place the dirt back in. One-inch mesh is recommended so that tree roots can easily pass through the fence.
If that will be too much of a task, an alternative will be putting an underground fence around your garden. When you choose this option, make sure to stretch the chicken wire fencing above the ground at least twelve inches to get the ones that poke their heads out. Gophers regularly come out of their holes to feed on surface plants during the night. This is how they are caught by barn owls.

Source:
Subterranean rodents by  Sabine Begall & Dr. Hynek Burda

Lost Harvests: Prairie Indian Reserve Farmers and Government Policy by Sarah Carter, 1993 


© 2011 Athena Goodlight

Cliff May Home Design: Fusion of Indoor and Outdoor Lifestyle

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One of the most influential figures in Western design is Cliff May, credited with establishing the form of the modern Western ranch house. Born in San Diego, a descendent of the Estudillo family whose restored 19th century ranch house was once called "Ramona’s Marriage Place," he grew up exposed to the best of California living. From childhood he experienced at first hand the pleasures of thick walls with deeply overhanging roofs, wings spread wide to shelter gardens and patios, materials that become even more beautiful with age and that support a richly full lifestyle with little upkeep. He has designed homes, wineries (including Mondavi in Napa Valley), apartments, office complexes, grand estates and low cost subdivisions all over the world based on his deeply felt philosophy that "simple is best." The buildings and interiors he designs, which he feels were strongly influenced by interior designer Paul Frankl, fuse all the elements of his youth — ranch house and mission architecture, Craftsman traditions, exposure to the work of Irving Gill. His own work is exhaustively modern. His designs are always inventive, never slavish imitations of the past. He slices off masonry and walls of the traditional ranch house and replaces them with glass. He opens up roofs with skylights and floods the interiors with natural illumination, providing glimpses of clouds and stars. He believes that living on a grand scale has little to do with fragile materials, superfluous ornament or glitter. He believes that good design is based on an appreciation for nature, organic materials used in an honest way, superb scale, ample proportions and beautiful craftsmanship. Like the best of Mediterranean design, his structures are rooted in the past, functional for the present. They balance drama with comfort, romantic imagery with durable, realistic solutions.
 
Modern-day Spain, Italy, France and ancient Greece continue to influence the West. Architects go to Barcelona to admire the work of Antonio Gaudi. Designers make their yearly pilgrimages to the Milan Fair and the Venice Biennale in search of new inspirations. Just as in the past, Italy is a land of artists producing quality and beauty. Modern Italians grow up surrounded by natural and man-made beauty in a land ablaze with color. With little opportunity to build new cities, or even many new buildings, these artists have turned to the creation of environmental products of all kinds: furniture, lighting and textiles, all of which are colorful, charismatic, sometimes whimsical, sometimes serious. Many are one-of-a-kind craft objects, handblown glass, carved wood, embroidered textiles. Some, like the designs of Mario Bellini for Olivetti, are the result of high technology and are intended for industrial production and use.

References:
AN AMERICAN VERNACULAR Cliff May’s Ranch Homes by Ed FitzGerald
Western Ranch Houses by Cliff May and Paul C. Johnson

© 2011 Athena Goodlight

Tips on Maintenance and Repair of Ceramic Tiles

Although ceramic tiles will last as long as the lifespan of the house, small repairs will occasionally become needed. This could occur if walls must be opened up to reach hidden plumbing for mending, when single tiles are incidentally scratched or cracked or if tiles become loose and come out completely.

There are several different reasons why ceramic tiles may become loose on bathroom or kitchen walls. The leading cause is poor workmanship within the original ceramic tile installation. Nevertheless, it may also be made by settling of the foundation, by leakages inside the wall which cause decomposition of the backing material, by heavy tremors nearby or by inadvertent damage when nearby fixes are being made.

Whatsoever the reason, replacing these loose ceramic tiles has been overly simplified in very recent years by the creation of ready-mixed tile cements, that are available in most paint and hardware shops. These get rid of the needed work with mortar cement, which should be mixed prior to each job, and they can be bought in small cans and in quarts or gallons. This kind of tile adhesive is put on in thin layers to the backside of the tile, instead of the thick applications normally needed with conventional mortar cements.

Prior to readjusting the loose pieces, scrape off completely the old cement still on the back and edges of every ceramic tile. Apply a broad smear of adhesive the backside of the tile with and then push firmly into its position on the wall. Leave to set till the adhesive becomes hard, then fill up in the open joints surrounding each tile using grout. Grout is the pasty stuff used to fill in the spaces in between the tiles. Professional tile setters utilize a white portland cement mortar which they mix on the job. Even so, home handymen would find it simpler to buy ready-mixed grouting stuff from the tile dealer or hardware store. This is rubbed in between the open joints using your finger tip, and the excess wiped off right away using a damp sponge or cloth.

When grout must be set to a multitude of ceramic tiles after whole parts have been substituted, it is much easier to thin the grouting stuff slightly using water and then cover it on over the entire area with an old paintbrush. Rub considerably into each joint using a soft cloth, then smoothen the joints by rubbing with your finger tip. Wipe away the excess with a damp cloth or sponge until the faces of every ceramic tile is clean.

References:

Popular Science Magazine

Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair by Jennifer Gehlhar

© 2011 Athena Goodlight