Modern life is rubbish

All the stuff that make today’s lifestyles so convenient can easily be distracting, especially in the bedroom. The very first stage of making your beautiful boudoir is to get rid of any traces of technology and practicality. Ban the TV and relocate the hair-straighteners since there’s no glamour in gizmos and gadgets. Hide as much of the clutter as possible with bedroom storage that will go in drawers or cupboards but display your most prized perfumes and place your rings and necklaces on show with a jewellery tree.

The essence of boudoir

This style evokes an opulent, sensual and rich lifestyle so colours such as purple, pink, gold and black give the perfect look. Your room can be as flamboyant as you desire, but wall coverings will give the most striking change so use pink and purple wallpaper with a strong pattern. Using bold floral prints and stunning damask will give your room a feeling of femininity and extravagance.

Materials play an significant role in the boudoir bedroom. Diverse textures and finishes produce an intimate feel so incorporate plenty of colourful cushions with mixed fabrics created from rich and heavy materials. For an air of sensuality, floaty materials like silks and organza can be draped throughout the room.

If you like the Moulin Rouge style of boudoir, opt for bohemian elegance by including vintage furniture pieces and elegant swagging around the windows. Dress your bed in silk and satin and place candles round the room to spark the romance. Colours to go for include scarlet, gold and black. For a 60s style boudoir, synthetic animal skins with deep pile carpets and fun cartoon’ish furnishings will establish a naughty, fantasy themed room. Choose a blend of black, white and red colours throughout the room.

Lighting the passion

Light plays an important role in creating a sultry ambiance. The boudoir look embraces extravagance and so should your lighting fixtures. Vintage crystal-drop chandeliers are perfect for the dramatic centre piece while antique brass and crystal wall lights controlled by dimmer switch will create the right mood.

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.

Get the right light

As with other spaces in your house, natural light is always preferable so if possible use glazing in interior doors to permit light to enter the hallway from other rooms. For artificial light you’ll want to consider the height of your ceilings. For people with low ceilings, wall uplighters will give the impression of height while for taller hallways you can install feature lighting like pendant lights or a luxurious chandelier.

Storage space

As you enter and exit the home you will need a place to hang up your coat, pick up your keys and grab your shoes and bags so a few hallway storage pieces can make life easier, keep everything tidy and look great too.

For your hats and coats, wall hooks are ideal for compact spaces while a coat stand looks great if you have more floor space to play with. Keep all your keys, letters and small items to hand with a wall storage unit and prevent people tripping over discarded shoes with a shoe storage unit

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.

Aga servicing

When it comes to servicing, think of your Aga as you would your car and have a regular service booked in. Most people choose to service their Aga cooker every couple of years but a yearly service is prudent. An Aga stove that burns oil definitely needs regular servicing due to the way pipes feed oil into the burners. Small carbon deposits can build up inside causing a drop in performance and efficiency and the potential for total malfunction.

A gas burning Aga should have a yearly service while a solid fuel burner converted oven will need a good sweep down every six months with the main chimney swept out annually. Whatever type of energy source you use to power your Aga, a regular service will keep your oven and stove running smoothly and reduce the likelihood of an expensive repair bill should something go wrong.

An Aga is for life…

With these simple maintenance tips, proper cleaning plus regular servicing you’ll be able to keep your Aga running smoothing and enjoy worry-free cooking for life. Speak to an Aga dealer to ensure you get the right products and servicing plan.

1. Start a craft club. You can knit with friends and share ladies knitting patterns with one another to save money and share ideas.

2. Are you always casting on too tight? In order to loosen the cast on, be careful to space the stitches across the needle as opposed to placing them right against one another. Another trick to rectify this problem is available if you have a variety of knitting accessories and needles in varying sizes. Use a size or two greater than the one you planned to use and this will help to keep it loose.

3. Is your edge curling up? Many ladies knitting patterns will show a finished edge or a change in the stitch to prevent curling. Keep in mind that a stockinette stitch will curl and if you use this throughout your project you will have to finish it in order to make it lie flat. Finishing with a garter stitch will prevent this from happening.

4. Biasing and worming in your finished knitting patterns? There are some yarns that naturally lend themselves to these types of complications. Cotton, chenille and sometimes wool have this issue, but there is a simple preventative measure. Add in a strand of sewing thread. You can use an identical colour when you do not want it show or you can make it a part of the design element and choose a different shade.

5. Do you have uneven sides? The most typical reason for this is accidentally adding stitches. One of the primary reasons is due to holding the yarn in front of the needle when you are knitting. Get into the habit of keeping the thread behind while knitting and you will not be as prone to adding a stitch.

6. When practicing, make gifts for family and friends. How about clothes for dolls and pets also? Practice makes perfect!

7. Did you know that knitting patterns from other countries may have different terms? If you have a great pattern from another country don’t be afraid to use it. But do some research ahead of time on the Internet and check abbreviations, translating them into familiar language if needed.

8. If you are starting with sweaters, use a mattress stitch to sew pieces together for a seamless look.

9. If you don’t have blocking tools to finish your projects, hand wash it, lay it on a thick towel to dry and use pins to hold it in place.

10. Knit with your children. A mother daughter knitting session can be a lot of fun. Don’t get discouraged if their little hands have difficulty stitching, teach them finger knitting first

Geopathic stress is natural radiation from the Earth that comes to the surface, but is altered along the way by electromagnetic fields caused by underground water, collections of certain minerals or fault lines. This radiation can be responsible for conditions ranging from infertility, cancer, migraines, joint pain, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and insomnia. The World Health Organisation also recognises Sick Building Syndrome is a result of geopathic stress.

Practitioners are available that can rid buildings of this radiation, or alter the building or its contents in such a way that the radiation is longer an issue. One such method is ‘dowsing’. In dowsing, a dowser uses tools and intuition to seek something (for example a water source, in ‘water dowsing’) – in this instance, the unconscious mind seeks the radiation that is infiltrating a building or room. Once the streams of radiation are found, methods are used to rid the radiation or move it, or alter the room or building so that the geopathic stress is no longer an issue. For example, if someone is suffering from insomnia, a dowser locates any geopathic stress and may find that the bed is lying on a geopathic stress line. By simply moving the bed, the sufferer will find they not only sleep better, but they have increased energy levels and become headache free. Another method that can be used in healing sick buildings utilises channelled energy to eliminate the negative energy (this can also be used on a person). This is known as ‘vortex healing’.

Another healing method is the ‘Alexander Technique‘. This is used to treat people, usually suffering from physical pain and/or stress caused by poor posture. By gaining awareness of how we stand, walk, sit and move in general, we can prevent issues that may arise as a result of poor habits, such as slouching. With this technique, the patient is taught to ‘treat themselves’ by monitoring their posture with a view to curing and preventing problems caused by it. It has been said that after learning how to use this method, patients not only find their pains have decreased (or disappeared), their overall posture is improved and they find more energy and suppleness. This then extrapolates to all areas of their lives.

These healing properties – the Alexander Technique, dowsing and vortex healing – can all work together to help heal sick minds, bodies and buildings. In the fast-paced world we live in today, we need all the help we can get!

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?

You can even get a bicycle lift and hoist if you want to save space. Perhaps you have minimal garage storage and you want to use all the space efficiently. Consider a wall bicycle hook as an alternative for storing your bicycles. The hook is quite inexpensive, so everyone can afford to have better storage for their bicycles.

If you have gardening tools such as a rake, a shovel and a broom, you can get a wall mounted garden tool rack to keep all your tools in one place. This saves time as you can grab the tool you need within seconds rather than having to search for them for hours, not knowing the last place where you left it could be.

Old clothes, cloths, tiny nuts and bolts or a hose might be kept in garage storage as well. You can get a hose hanger for the hose and a rack for old clothes or cloths. Storage units with drawers are excellent for all sorts of items, ranging from clothing material to hardware tools. You can even get a rolling storage bin for your recyclables. It is easy to move around, especially when you need to get rid of the contents at the recycling centre.

With so many new ideas to sort out your garage storage, you should be able to organise your garage into a better storage facility so that you can get the items you need without having to waste time searching for them. Being organised is the key to having tidy garage storage.

Many of the products we use are not environmentally friendly at all. A drinks can left on the street or in a gutter will stay there indefinitely. It is not biodegradable so once it is created, it will forever be. Companies have long ago found ways to reuse these products so that they are not polluting our beautiful Earth. The problem happens when people don’t take the items to be recycled and instead just toss them out or throw them in the garbage to sit in the landfill forever and ever.

Recycling is a major contributor to the solution of global garbage. It works, but only if you participate. You can lead a horse to water and so forth. The responsibility belongs to all of us, as citizens of the world, but it begins with you and your family.

The number of items in the store made from recycled materials is growing. Our shelves could be filled with more of these things if everyone does their part to help. Most towns and cities provide recycling containers for residents to use. It could be a small bin or a large trash can.

If you don’t have such as service in your area, buy your own trash can or other supplies to gather your recyclables together. You can schedule a pickup or take them to the appropriate recycling plant for processing once a week or month; whatever time frame fits your schedule. The point is to do it! You can even make a little money collecting aluminium cans or returning glass soda bottles for deposits.

Begin with city sanitation. Whoever picks up your recycled products should have literature on how to package your recyclables. Cardboard is typically broken down and tied together. Old newspapers are tied together in bundles much like they are delivered to newsstands. Bottles are grouped together based on the number on the bottom or the label.

Have separate recycling bins for the waste in the house. Mark them clearly so no one gets confused. If kids want to make money, let them collect cans from neighbours.

Get in the habit of breaking down boxes after you use them. This includes cereal boxes, tooth paste boxes, gift boxes, and the like, not just heavy duty cardboard. All of these paper products can be used for recycling.

Envelopes and old bills can be recycled, too. To protect your information, shred them first and then bag the shreds for recycling pickup. Most of us just toss out these envelopes in the regular rubbish but recycled envelopes can be put to better use.

Recycling saves on pollution and landfill space. If we can continue to reuse some items, why not do it? I personally can’t think of a reason not to. Can you?

By supporting Sarah Smith Textiles, you are supporting a good cause. Besides, all the products are made in Britain using 100% Fairtrade materials. So, now you can purchase the Fairtrade cotton apron or re-usable bags you’ve been eyeing, and use them in peace knowing that there is not even a single soul being exploited in the process. The shopping bag comes in very handy if you are constantly going on shopping sprees, or simply just nicking down to the local shops to collect a few last minute groceries. As for the cotton, you get to choose different vibrant colours, such as red and pink.

Grab the Fairtrade re-usable shopping bag and use it every time you go shopping to promote this cause. There are also Fairtrade cotton tea towels and Fairtrade cotton oven mitts available for all your kitchen needs. They are all made from Fairtrade materials, 100% certified, come in many vibrant and cheerful colours and are washing machine friendly. This is why you can use the tea towel and oven mitt again and again as they last for a long time, just like the re-usable bags. Each and every one of the products available from Sarah Smith Textiles is truly unique with its own statement and cause. Buying the items will help the people behind the scene gain sustainable income for their families. And what a great talking point when you have guests – show them your oven mitts and tea towels and spread the word.

You can obtain all the products from aprons to towels in different colours and at reasonable prices. However, the one thing that is really useful in every household is the Made in Britain Ultra cleaning cloths that comes in 3 cloths per pack. They are durable and absorbent so you don’t have to waste money buying more cleaning cloths, when you can have just one pack of these and use them for a long time. Apart from looking nice, they perform well in the kitchen too, giving you more reasons to use products made from Fairtrade materials.

So, if you are thinking about getting good quality products that are made from materials approved by the Fairtrade, remember to check Sarah Smith Textiles for their range of products that come in different colours, sizes and at reasonable prices. What’s more you can shop happy in the knowledge that everyone benefits from the production of these products, and they are indeed the biggest gift in life as they can help many lives.

The canvas art print is different from the general photographs or paintings that are used to decorate the walls. It is in fact the combination of both and is unique in itself. For the canvas prints, you can make use of your own photographs or use any other floral pictures that are available with you. There are companies that can help you to get the photographs converted into canvas prints . When selecting a company, make sure that it provides you with good quality products at the most affordable price. Apart from floral photographs you can send in your own photographs that can be converted into canvas prints and maybe used as a wall hanging in your home. Abstract designs are also very popular for canvas print and they look very appealing. If you wish to know about these canvas prints or want to get one for yourself then you can contact Yourimage2canvas.

Initially, photos were taken on photographic plates and films by a still camera but the major revolution happened with the advent of digital photography. Digital imaging uses an electronic image sensor to record the image on a set of electronic data, rather than relying on the older method of chemical changes on films. The concept of digital photography caught up very rapidly among the modern generation as the process was considerably faster and near perfect. Unlike chemical photography (which resists manipulation because it involves films and photographic paper) digital photography is highly manipulative. Even images, shadows, light effects, manipulation of colouring to one’s choices and tastes can easily undertaken in digital photography.

This, in due course of time, paved the way for canvas printing that utilises digital inkjet technology. Images from photos, art or true copies of images could be reproduced on canvas and even made better than the originals both in clarity and colouring. Images can be supplied as negatives of films, transparencies, prints or digital files. If it is non-digital, then it has to be scanned and made suitable as per the resolution desired for the chosen size of the canvas.

The canvas print material is generally made of cotton. Sometimes, a more cost-effective variety of plastic based polycanvas is used, however, both these are good enough to reproduce photographic images onto canvas. Nowadays, modern large format printers are in demand for they are capable of printing on to the canvas measuring 60” or more. Among the modern inkjet printers capable of printing directly onto canvas are HP Design and the Epson Stylus. Again, the Giclee canvas printing is the most popular printing method for it is cheaper and gives the same clarity as the other prints. It involves spraying of more than 4 million droplets of ink per second. It is the best for taking canvas prints for renaissance to modern art paintings as well as for advertisement purpose. This is very popular in the UK.

After the image is printed, the canvas is trimmed and then glued or stapled to traditional wooden bars. These are either framed or hung as they appear or are protected with glass. The wooden frames can be of one’s choosing and are available in variety of forms, from plain to exquisitely carved ones. In other words, printing on canvas includes the latest in photography, the most current in digital inkjet technology, the glamour of the visual media and the art of the real traditional painter all combining to form that rare piece of visual treat unmatched by any other.