Giving Your Hallway the Wow! Factor
If you’re thinking of decorating, the hallway can be the forgotten area of the home since it is usually seen as a space to be passed through to be able to reach connecting areas. Being a ‘transient space’ has its disadvantages as homeowners would rather spend time, money and effort on decorating ‘living spaces’. That’s a real shame because it’s the first part of your house that visitors are greeted by and who doesn’t want to create the best first impression? With some forward planning, the right wallcoverings, lighting and storage, your hallway can acquire the wow! factor.
Colours and coverings
Selecting the most appropriate colours can help make the entrance to your home as light and attractive as possible. Dark hallways can be a bad idea in smaller homes so heavy and strong colours on the wall need to be avoided. On the other hand, should you live in a period property that has far more space, then classic colours that are in keeping with the general décor (like greens and reds) can enrich the look. For narrow spaces, select neutral colours on the wall.
Changing the colour on the walls will make a significant impact on the sense of space. Some people like to continue the colour scheme used in connecting rooms while others select a colour that complements and gives a different look. Wallpaper has undergone a huge design revolution recently and wallcoverings with neutral colours and embossed designs look fantastic. If you’d rather paint but need a cool feel, wall stickers can bring some interest to the walls.
Adding to the walls
With many hallways being narrow and long there’s usually a premium on floor space so utilise the walls to create your design statement. A properly placed mirror reflects light and helps to make your hallway look bigger – given the space is the entrance/exit point of the home, a mirror also allows everyone to check how they look when coming or going.
Photos are also a great idea to give your home an individual touch. Black and white prints offer a real chic appearance while a selection of different sized photo frames give your hallway a gallery feel. If you’re going to add a piece of art to the walls, make sure it will be lit correctly to benefit from the full effect – a long, narrow picture light will provide you with the right look.
Looking After an Aga Cooker
The Aga cooker is the most durable oven on the market due to its cast iron casing and multiple layers of enamel protecting the surfaces. The Aga is such a solid construction that you’re only ever likely to own one in your lifetime (it’s highly likely that it will outlive you!). However, like most things in life, an Aga oven requires a little bit of tender loving care to keep it functioning and looking its absolute best. In this article we’ll explain what you should do to look after your Aga.
Aga maintenance
The maintenance required for an Aga is not as difficult as you may think and a bit of common sense will keep it operating with few problems. One of the main causes of damage can come from small spillages while cooking. Some Aga models work as heat storage units which means they are always on. This provides a great way to slow cook food and keep the flavours in but any spillages that haven’t been wiped away immediately dry and stain the surfaces very quickly.
Always clean up any mess before this can happen and ensure you use Aga approved cleaning products or you could damage the appearance of your oven. Be careful when cleaning the hotplates though as you could scold yourself. Any substance that spills onto the hotplate will eventually carbonise so you can simply brush it away.
As with the home, an Aga range cooker can get a bit grimy over time with grease, fat and other substances accumulating in the nooks and crannies. Make sure you give your Aga a bit of spring clean every so often but don’t tackle it all at once as it will soon become tiresome and you won’t do the best job possible. Take on a specific area each day until you’ve got it gleaming again.
10 Hot Knitting Tips
Knitting can be a lot of fun and a great past time. When you first start out you will want to choose projects that are simple so you can master the basic skills. As you get more comfortable with the process, then you should challenge yourself and expand the types of knitting patterns you use. You will start off with the basic knitting accessories and grow your collection as you gain confidence and want to grow the number and type of projects you partake in. Whether you are a beginner or you have expert skills, you can enhance your hobby by using these top ten hot knitting tips:
Healing Problem Houses
We’ve all heard someone say ‘that’s a sad house’. Either more than one person living in the house has passed on, or people become sick. Perhaps the house has seen more than its fair share of divorces or arguments. It may be known locally as a ‘haunted house‘. The atmosphere surrounding the house is negative, and no-one seems to know why. Maybe you own such a house and want to sell. Or maybe you’re tired of being sick all the time. The good news is: there is a cure, and it will work.
Organise Your Garage Storage
Every home should have garage storage for your vehicles, or anything else that you would like to keep safe. From cars to bicycles and gardening tools, there is something you can buy to help you keep things organised. I am sure you wouldn’t want to have a bike at the front while another on the corner of your garage. This would be a mess, not to mention the fact that you have to find each and every thing at a different place. Why the hassle when you can group things accordingly?
Get a bike stand to store as many bicycles as you have in your household. Perhaps your son and daughter have their own bicycles and it would be great to have a designated place for them to store it. You might even have your own bicycle. Why not keep all the bicycles in one place so that it is easier to get it when you need it?
Teach the Family to Recycle
In our fast paced world, it is easy to ignore that every day we are adding to our mounting waste. For many, the fact that the landfill is nowhere near us, it’s easy not to think about how full it is getting. Teaching your family to recycle helps to combat this problem, even if you don’t realize how bad it might be. Just because you don’t see the problem on a daily basis doesn’t mean it does not exist.
Sarah Smith Textiles
If you are looking for re-usable bags, cotton aprons or tea towel that are made from Fairtrade materials, Sarah Smith Textiles has everything you need. They use purely 100% Fairtrade materials to produce these products, ensuring that no one is being exploited in the process of producing the materials (such as cotton). The truth is that in some parts of the world, there exist big companies that exploit the human resources of those under-developed countries, make them work for very low pay – and such exploitation is what Fairtrade sets out to abolish. Fairtrade seeks to banish the exploitation of these workers and provide better working conditions for those involved.
Add Beauty To Your Home With Floral Canvas Prints
Floral canvas prints are by far the most common type of print used in interiors. The reason for this is that the prints are appealing to the eye and make the room livelier. But if you are bored of using floral photographs or curtains but still want these prints in your interiors then you can opt for canvas prints that have floral prints on them. Are you wondering what canvas prints are? It is basically a technique wherein the digital photographs are converted and are printed on canvas.
Celebrating Memories On Canvas
Nothing has evolved more significantly and at a faster rate than the visual media, thanks to photography and its related developments. Capturing images in the mind and transforming them into art and sculpture was prevalent among all civilised human societies since the earliest times. However, it was only with the discovery of the printing process that the art of photography assumed importance and reached the heights of glory that we now experience today.
Furniture Shopping Online
Never before has the ability to purchase cheap furniture been as easy as it is now! Buying all of your needs in furniture from The Furniture King as you shop online is the easiest and most convenient way to do your early Christmas shopping and not have to worry about the hustle and bustle of busy checkout lines. So, sit back and relax as you select the perfect pieces of furniture to go with the new décor of your dreams.