Saturday, May 16, 2009

Air Bed

Air Bed

In this article, we will provide you with information on the bedroom air bed. It is but obvious that, the first thing that strikes our mind on hearing about air bed is camping. Well, the fact is that, the airbed provides such an extreme comfort that nowadays; it is preferred by many people for their homes. Bedroom Airbed is another name for assured good night sleep.

The reservoir of benefits of an air bed is pretty large. Very light in weight, an airbed is easily portable. You can, without any problems, set an airbed using an electronic air pump that blows up the bed in less than a minute. You don't need to buy any special bedding, as the size of an airbed is the same as that of a regular bed. So, the regular bedding would suffice your purpose.

Airbeds are very useful in preventing bedsores and thus, are very commonly found in the hospitals. Some airbeds have hybrid mattresses, which are equipped with coil springs that have air chambers. These air chambers can be puffed up to get the desired firmness.

The comfort of the airbed can be attributed to its ability to spread the body weight evenly. The shape of an airbed varies according to the shape of body lying on it. Another advantage of using an airbed is that, it is able to reduce the dust mites. While, on the other hand, the regular bed gets infected with dead skin and dust particles, thus giving rise to allergies. Owing to the multiple benefits, Airbeds are increasingly become the choice of people.

Arranging Living Room Furniture

Arranging Living Room Furniture

Arranging living room furniture in a right way decides whether your living room looks cluttered and overstuffed or an organized comfortable room where you like to spend most of your time. We will learn how to make a living room furniture layout and see how living room furniture placement can help us in making our lives easier. The first step to plan how to put the furniture in the living room is to measure up the room and draw a sketch of the room on a graph paper using a scale such as � in to 1 ft. Note down where and how many windows and doors are situated in the living room, their size, the height of the windowsills and the space between the windows and the doors.

Be sure to mark the location of the electrical points and outlets, telephone point, cable and light switches in the living room to help you know what goes where. You can also use small-scale furniture paper cutouts to see your living room will look after arranging the furniture. Choose a focal point of the living room and arrange your furniture and lighting around it. Some of the popular focal point ideas in a living room are a fireplace, a view from the window, window opening out in a garden, a large bookcase, sofa with a special painting hung above it, a home theater system or big size plasma television.

You may also turn one of the corners of the living room in a focal point using an interesting lamp, tabletop waterfall or other unique decorative pieces on it along with the lighting to highlight it. Set up conversation areas for your guests. There should 4 to 10 ft of distance between your sofa or loveseat and chairs, so that people can talk to each other easily. Less than 4 feet of distance will make your living room too cramped, while more than 10 feet of distance between sofa and the chairs will make conversation difficult. Legroom between the sofa, loveseat or chairs and the coffee table should be at least 14 to 18 inches.

Try to make pathway to walk freely in the living room without stumbling on the furniture that is at least 2 to 3 feet wide. Furniture placement and layout in a small living room can be quite challenging. In a typical apartment living room with space restraints, we will usually find that the entertainment center is the biggest piece of furniture and has to be placed at the right position first. Rest of the furniture is set around it. The sofa goes directly opposite to the TV and you may place the chair at an angle. It can be turned around to watch TV or talk to the person sitting on the sofa at your convenience. Two chairs on either side of the sofa will give a balanced look to the room.

In a small living room, the height and mass of the furniture should be too contrasting. A low table against a high back chair can be visually balanced by adding a tall piece of art above it. Do not use bulky cabinets and sleek metallic chairs together. Maintain visual harmony and thematic balance in your living room decor. Keep the number of the pieces of furniture down to avoid cramped look in a small living room. Use two love seats facing each other instead of four chairs or one sofa and two chairs instead of one loveseat and three or more chairs. Tall living rooms can be subtly divided into separate conversation and work areas by using a sofa or other big piece of furniture that does not need support of a wall to divide up the room.

Aromatherapy Home Solutions

Aromatherapy Home Solutions

Aromatherapy refers to the use of selected fragrant substances as oils, lotions, inhalants and other forms to affect the mood of an individual and promote his or her health. In home, we can make use of these tips while bathing in bathrooms and feel fresh for the whole day and even get rid of all those bugs, insects and cockroaches in hidden corners of our homes. Today, fragrant aromatherapy candles or a bag of aromatherapic potpourri is quite in vogue and are known for their calming and stimulating effects and are quite effective as energizers too. Make sure that you are not allergic to any of the substances used here before you make use of them. Here are some aromatic therapeutic solutions you can use for your home:

* Aromatherapy uses essential oils extracted out of fragrant plants by compressing them. They are either inhaled or mixed with bath water to affect the mood as desired. They are also used to keep away insects, freshen up clothes and polish furniture.
* Essential oils get absorbed through our skin in our body and can heal us by stimulating specific areas of our brain, whether they are mixed with bath water or used for massaging our body.
* A healthy spray that protects your houseplants and garden can be prepared by adding 6 to 8 drops of the mixture in a gallon of water prepared by mixing together lavender and thyme oils. Thyme oil in water helps to grow healthier cabbage and cauliflower while basil oil favor growth of broccoli, potatoes and tomatoes. Yarrow oil for cucumbers, chamomile for onions and carrot extract for lettuce are a blessing for your kitchen garden.
* Add 2 tablespoons of soap dissolved in 2 cups of boiling water to two cups of turpentine and one cup of melted natural beeswax and then add 10 drops of cedar wood, cypress or sandalwood oil to make a great-looking furniture polish that can be used for all wood finishes.
* For the fresh smelling clothes, throw a cloth with two drops of bergamot, lavender, neroli, cedar wood, petit grain and sweet orange oils in the dryer with them.
* Mix about 6 drops of lavender, lemongrass, citronella and peppermint oils in one cup of water to prepare a room spray that can rid us of mosquitoes, ants and cockroaches.
* Mix together citronella oil, cedar wood oil, garlic and clothes freshener and put a couple of its drops in the collar of your pet without diluting it. It gets rid of the fleas in the fur of your pets and do not harm them a bit.
* Mix together eucalyptus, thyme, rosemary, tea tree, lemon and marjoram oils. To immune yourself and your family against colds, make a room spray by adding six drops of the preparation per cup of water or adding 4 to 9 drops of it in the water of a humidifier.
* Mix together lemon, bergamot, lavender, sweet orange, oregano and thyme oils and mix 8 drops of it in a liter of warm water to use a bathroom freshener. You can also use it as a cleaner by pouring 2 to 3 drops of undiluted mixture on a wet sponge and wipe down all surfaces using wash water. Add more oil to the sponge when necessary.
* Pour a few drops of undiluted peppermint and spearmint oils near the living areas, edges of the ceiling and other holes to drive off mice and other bugs from the home.

Apron Kitchen Sinks

Apron Kitchen Sinks

In the present times, as more and more people are becoming aware about the concept of kitchen d�cor, the sale of kitchen sinks is increasingly gaining momentum. Today, the kitchen sink is not just a mere accessory, but a great decoration item for adorning the kitchen. When it comes to embellishing your kitchen with classy kitchen sinks, there is a vast array of kitchen sinks available for you to choose from.

People who wish to decorate their kitchen in the traditional style, for them apron kitchen sinks are just apt. They lend a warm classic look to the kitchen that reminds of the olden days. Made from cast iron, these apron sinks serve as the perfect choice for small kitchens. Read on to know more about the apron sink for kitchen.

The past decade has witnessed an enormous growth in the production and sale of apron sinks. The manufacturers are coming up with distinctive varieties of apron kitchen sinks, differing in their designs. The best thing about going in for apron kitchen sink is that, it can go well with virtually all kinds of kitchen settings, then be it country style or the ultramodern style.

Antique Living Room Furniture

Antique Living Room Furniture

Besides the functional use of furniture, it also has an ornamental use in the living room. If you want to recreate a period lifestyle or adapt your living room to the popular fad of a time period, you may want to buy authentic antique furniture of that time that reflects the particular traits that makes it unique and in keeping with the social taste of the times. It is their link to history and perhaps some astonishing stories from the past that are often passed down with heirlooms from generation to generation that attracts so many people to antique furniture pieces and sometimes make them much more expensive than the brand new items.

An epoch from furniture timeline exudes similar style of craftsmanship, use of material or theme that identifies a piece to belong to that period. To buy an antique furniture piece, you must have good knowledge of furniture history and styles in different countries and periods. People often pass of d\fake antiques that are not even faithful reproductions of the antique you want. It can be quite complicated to identify true antiques, imitations, variations, alterations and restorations and though, the seller may not always intend to cheat you, he or she may have marred the authenticity of the furniture due to lack of skill and knowledge and going for totally incompatible furnishing requirements.

So, buying antique living room furniture requires a lot of research and eye of an expert. Arts and Crafts Movement in America is reputed to produce the best furniture designs and arts craft furniture living room style puts best pieces belonging to this period on display in the living room. The artistic elements of the furniture and its affordability made it popular with the masses. It is quite functional and is also known as 'Mission style furniture' sometimes as the furniture designs were derivatives if Franciscan missions in California. Also known as Craftsman furniture, arts and crafts living room furniture has distinctive design elements and was usually plain and simple. It was quite durable and heavy and had strong joints and was usually made with hardwoods such as solid white or red oak that was quarter-sawed to highlight the wood grain in a special way and was then treated to have long-lasting finish.

Arts and Crafts chairs and tables are generally made up of wooden slats with straight legs that have stretchers in between. The dark leather upholstery was most popular then and quality craftsmanship; good proportions, highlighted wood grains and rich colors mark them as unique. High quality handmade arts and craft furniture for your living room can be quite expensive. Cheaper quality furniture made by machines could also last very long. Victorian living room furniture on the other hand is extremely ornate and had exquisite carving details on display.

The furniture from this era is usually made up of darkest wood unlike light mahogany finish and satinwood that were used previously. The popular materials used for Victorian furniture were dark mahogany with a reddish tinge, rosewood, black walnut and bog oak. Rich deep hue of dark oak was preferred and the size of the furniture was often colossal. The relief work in the furniture included skilful and ornamental carvings of flowers, fruit, animals and human figures. The Victorian furniture used to be quite expensive. However, from today's perspective, we can put it down as massive, clumsy and ill proportioned. Only the cabinetry of the Georgian period is still treasured today.

Antique Kitchen Sinks

Antique Kitchen Sinks

If you want to give a classic look to your kitchen that resembles the styling of the Victorian era, then what can be a better idea than installing an antique style kitchen sink? The vintage kitchen sink will take you into the flashback thus reminding you of the glorious past. It is not an easy task to find out the real antique sink in today's times. If, by chance, you happen to come across a vintage sink, it might not be having the requisite accessories that enable it to function properly.

The antique kitchen sinks of the 19th century were mainly made up of copper, marble and porcelain. They were basically brought from Italy, France and Continental Europe. It is pretty difficult to find the sinks of the 20th century in their original shape and condition. If you are fortunate enough to discover one, then it is for sure you'll have to pay an extra price for it. But, the look that these ancient sinks lend to your kitchen truly has an unbeatable charm.

Antique Kitchen Lighting

Antique Kitchen Lighting

If you want to lend a traditional old style look to your kitchen, then what can be a better idea than to embellish your kitchen with antique kitchen lighting? The kitchen antique light fixture can add wonders to your kitchen by giving it a warm soothing feel. Read on to know more about antique lighting for kitchen.

You can give your kitchen antique light fixture an entirely new look by remodeling it in a manner that lends a candle effect. Well, you must be thinking as to how to go about achieving such a theme. Well, it is here that lighting comes to play a vital role. Choose bulb lights that seem to flicker, thus resembling the candles. It is just apt to produce the dramatic effect.

For further adding to the traditional theme, you can make use of the lava lamps that were extensively used in the 50s and 60s. The traditional lava lamps with the bright lighting are still in trend. Also the motion lamps of the 1920s are becoming popular. When it comes to antique lighting, it is preferable to incorporate more lights but at lower wattage.

The lower you fix the antique light fixture, the bigger it will appear to be. Never try to highlight your kitchen by using a single high wattage bulb, as it can mar the very look of your old style kitchen. A better idea is to go in for secondary lighting like opting for ceiling lighting fixture that has multiple arms. Make sure that the basic designing and finish of your antique kitchen lighting goes well with the overall setup of your kitchen.

Antique Kitchen Cabinets

Antique Kitchen Cabinets

Antique kitchen cabinets give your kitchen a distinctive look and this is what sets it apart from others. There is no dearth of styles, when it comes to decorating your kitchen with antique kitchen cabinets. If you don't want to spend adequate money on searching for antique cabinets for kitchen, then you can try out some easy ideas to add antiquity to your kitchen cabinet. There are basically two procedures of adding antiquity, namely, staining and distressing.

Well, its upto whether you want to use a single method or use a combination of both, to make your kitchen appear fascinating. The method of staining works well in case of cabinets that have a light paint color. All that is required is a dark stain, plenty of paper towels and brush. Apply a single layer of the stain on the portion that you want to paint and then wipe it off as per your wish. Repeat the activity till it reaches your satisfaction level. For the natural look, stain more on the edges and handles of the cabinet.

Another popular way of giving your kitchen cabinet a traditional look consists of distressing. The method is apt for the painted cabinets. The changed look will make the cabinet appear as old as after hundreds of years of use. Some people resort to chains and hammers, however, for kitchen cabinets; a few sandpapers would suffice the purpose. All you have to do is to remove the finish and make the cabinet appear dull. Take a medium grit paper and rub off the finish on the door and the edges of the drawer and your antique style kitchen cabinet is ready to adorn your kitchen.

Antique Bedroom Furniture

Antique Bedroom Furniture

In this article, we will provide you with information on the antique furniture for bedroom. Antique bedroom furniture, with its exquisite designing, serves as a real feast for the eyes. It adds to the beauty of your room and gives it a distinctive look. These days, antique furnishings for bedroom are coming up with gold embellished headboards and nightstands with vertical mirrors.

There are antique beds containing a chest of drawers, two nightstands and a mirror. Presently, you can also find antique bedroom furnishings equipped with TV armoires and cloth hangers. The elegance of antique bedroom furniture has simply no match. Its classic look has an unbeatable charm. It is owing to this fact that antique furniture style is increasingly gaining popularity.