Author Archive: josh andrews

Using Planters To Make Your Home Fresher

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Planters in your home can be an enormous boost to the health of family members and to the overall feel of your home. Using planters in your home can make it feel fresher, and reduce dust, as well.

Oxygen and Moisture

Most people know that plants create oxygen. But, did you know that they also absorb carbon dioxide? A plant in a 6 inch pot will completely change out the air in a small room once a day. That is pre3tty significant, when you think about how tight modern homes are constructed. So many times, in our efforts to keep allergens out of our home and to make our homes more energy efficient, the windows and doors seal very tightly. This keeps outside air from coming in, and our climate controlled air from escaping. However, the nasty side effect is that everything else stays inside, too. The houses do not get “aired out”. Not only do germs stay in the house, requiring germicides for cleanup, but all of the off-gasses from construction materials stay in the house, too.

Carpeting, paint (even low VOC), drywall, varnish, and other construction materials all have VOCs, or volatile organic compounds. They contain formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene. In addition, most things we bring into our homes, such as grocery bags, contain these chemicals.

Plants, however, absorb all of these chemicals. The foliage and roots all thrive on these gasses, which serve as fertilizer for the plants. So, when you have planters in your home, the plants absorb gasses and release oxygen!

In addition, plants release about 97% of the water they absorb into the atmosphere. This is a part of photosynthesis. Studies have shown that, in homes where homeowners have a good selections of house plants, the people who live there are less likely to have dry sinuses. The incidents of sore throats declines, and even problems with dry skin are lessened. The added moisture from plants is a great antidote to the forced-air heat we use during the winter.

Which Plants To Choose?

In general, the best plants to put in your planters in the house are the kind with large leaves. This is because the larger leaves absorb more carbon dioxide and VOCs, and release more oxygen and water.

Other plants that are good for this are ferns. While the individual leaves are tiny, there are so many of them that the total surface area is huge, yielding the same results as larger-leafed plants.

During the night, plants do not perform photosynthesis. Therefore, the release of oxygen and moisture stops. However, some plants perform photosynthesis during the night. This can be a big help in the bedroom, especially if you have trouble with sinuses while you sleep. Succulents such as jade plants, sedum, hen and chicks, and others, as well as orchids and bromeliads are great for keeping the air fresh throughout the night.

Plants can create a relaxed atmosphere in your home. With planters in your home, you can enjoy cleaner air and better health.

Choosing Mattress Covers For Your Baby

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Choosing a mattress cover for your baby may not be as simple as selecting the best coordinating colour in the store. It also may not be right to reuse the mattress materials that were in your old crib left from when you were a baby. You’ll want something that is not only safe, but something that will be easy to wash and then dry on a pully clothes airer .
A lot has been learned about infant safety, and one of the most stringent rules has to do with materials that are used in infant bedding. Your mattress and the mattress cover can present a real health threat to your infant. In fact, doctors are now saying that many of the cases of SIDS in this country may very well be due to the off gasses emitted by infant bedding.

Foam Stuffing

Most baby mattresses are filled with polyurethane foam, which is made from petroleum and several chemicals. Some additives, such as benzene, toluene, and formaldehyde can be toxic. In some cases, the chemicals used to fabricate the foam are hydrochloric acid or hydrogen cyanide. Care should be taken that the foam in your infant’s mattress is not made by processes that use any of these chemicals, and that none of them are in the foam itself.

Waterproof Coating

Most baby mattresses and mattress covers are made of some waterproof substance. Quite often, this is vinyl. However, vinyl is made of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. This is one of the most toxic substances used in the plastics industry. Vinyl itself is made from the by-product of the production of PVC, and is tempered with plasticizers to make it soft, like cloth. PVC itself is very rigid and hard. The plasticizers, called phthalates, have been associated with premature births, early onset puberty, reproductive damage, kidney and liver damage, cancer, and asthma. In some mattresses, the phthalates may make up as much as 30% of the weight of the vinyl surface. These chemicals can leach out of the fabric and be inhaled by the infant, or absorbed through its skin.

Some phthalates have been banned in the last few years, but there has been no recall of infant mattresses that were manufactured with these chemicals. No new mattresses can be manufactured with some of the phthalates, but there are still some classified as reproductive toxicant that are allowed in manufacture.

Fire Retardants

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Fire retardants are required on all PVC materials use in mattresses, because PVC is very flammable. The unprotected PVC burns at an alarming rate. The fire proofing chemicals used on PVC are polybrominated diphenyl ethers, otherwise known as PBDE. This has been known to cause hormone disruption, immune suppression, memory problems, cancer, and behavioural changes.

So, what can you do to protect your baby? Choose a firm mattress and cover, so that your baby won’t accidentally suffocate. Make sure it is not made with any of the chemicals mentioned above. The foam in the mattress should be very dense so that it is firm enough. For waterproofing, simply put clear plastic wrap over the surface, and cover it with safe, clean cotton sheeting.

 

The Popup Hotel: Luxury Inside A Small Package

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One of the most popular trends across the UK today is the popup hotel. This isn’t your grandpa’s camping experience, to paraphrase a popular auto advertisement. This type of camping is a comfortable as a bed and breakfast, and as luxurious as a 5 star hotel. You receive the same services when you stay in your spacious tent, from room service to mints on your pillow every evening.

Glamping

The popularity of The popup hotel has coined a new phrase in travelers’ lexicons: “glamping”. That’s because there is nothing muddy, hot, and bug-ridden with this type of camping. It is glamorous camping, or “glamping”.

With the popup hotel, not only do you sleep in a real bed every night, you have a private bathroom, climate control, and catering! The company provides all linens and pillows, as well as toiletries just as you would find in a fine hotel.

Climate control alone is enough to make the popup hotel popular with people who would normally eschew camping because of extremes in temperature. This way, you can hike until it gets hot, and retire to your tent to relax in moderate temperatures.

Gorgeous Locations for Popup Hotels

The popup hotel follows some of the most popular festivals, so you can easily find lodging in these great facilities. But not only can you have luxury accommodations on the grounds of the festival, you can also enjoy a solitary stay on some of the most gorgeous locations in the UK. Your own, unique campsite will be set up for your arrival, waiting for you to begin your holiday. This has become a popular way for newlyweds to celebrate their wedding trip, and for veteran spouses to celebrate landmark anniversaries.

Popup Hotel Amenities

These romantic settings are reminiscent of centuries old Yurts, but provide the spaciousness of safari tents. Complete with throw rugs and electricity, a make-up parlour and, in some cases, a restaurant and bar, the popup adventure proves to be private as well as luxurious.

Besides comfortable beds, you also have a living area in your popup hotel, with comfortable chairs and TV, if you want! It’s just like a hotel, but more glamorous.

Plenty of Space in Popup Hotels

You can even get suite accommodations with your popup hotel. Do you want to bring your kids with you on your holiday? That is no problem – they can enjoy the glamping experience, too, and still give you and your spouse the privacy you desire.

Since there is electricity and gas available for the tent, you can cook for yourself, or take advantage of the catering provided. Or, if you wish, you can cook outside and enjoy being part of the outdoors, just as you would if you were camping out.

One With Nature

With the popup hotel, you are one with nature. These zip-up tents even have a front porch, or stoop, complete with lounging chairs so that you can enjoy the world around you.

Exercise At Home Using Your Furniture

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Who says you need expensive workout equipment to exercise? You can workout at home using your furniture as equipment, and get in great shape without costing a dime!

Furniture Sliders

You don’t have to go to a weight loss boot camp to get fit, those discs you buy to move heavy furniture around are actually excellent workout equipment. Available at most drug stores and furniture stores, these discs range from 2” to 5” in diameter, and make it extremely easy to move heavy furniture in your home. Your TV, sofa, and refrigerator can glide easily over carpet or solid floors without straining your back.

These furniture sliders also help you move your body over the same surfaces. Place each foot a slider, preferably on carpet. Then, do jumping jacks, except you slide. Slide your legs out until you are in the jumping jack position, then slide them back together. Talk about a workout!

Next, place your hands on the sliders, and get into a pushup position. Push your hands out in front of you, supporting your weight, and stretch out as far as you can, balancing on only your toes and hands. Then, slide back. The further out and back you can slide, the better your workout will be.

Stairs

You know that stair-stepper at the gym? Yeah, you have one at home. It’s called stairs. Sure, the stair-stepper can be adjusted for tension, simulating higher steps. To do this at home, climb up the steps 2 at a time. Bend the knee of the upper leg deeply, as if you were doing a runner’s stretch, then ease back into a standing position and climb up the step.

Another good use of stairs is to climb and descend them backwards. This tightens up your glutes. Just be careful to hold onto something so that you don’t fall.

Step Aerobics

You can use thick phonebooks to make your own step for step aerobics. Wrap the books up snugly with duct tape so that the pages don’t slide around.

Soup Cans

Many people have found that soup cans make excellent weights. Most cans weigh about a pound apiece, and are great for beginners. As you advance, you can add cans to a tote and do your weight lifting that way. Plus, you have a snack handy afterward!

Use the cans when you do bicep curls. Believe it or not, you’ll feel it the next day, if you are not in very good shape right now. Then, hold the can in your hand, and point your elbow to the ceiling with your hand down behind your shoulder. Keeping your elbow pointing up, slowly straighten your arm until your hand is pointing up. Then slowly lower it to the starting point. As you advance, switch to a tote with several cans for this exercise. It helps to eliminate that flabby arm problem that plagues so many women.

There are many more exercises you can do using furniture and household items. Basically, if you can work out in a gym, you can work out at home, too.

Custom Fabric For Your Home

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Furnishing your home is an important job, nobody likes to have unfinished rooms and areas still in the style of the previous owners. That’s why it’s important to make sure you make your house your own. There’s noting quite like having everything finished and looking just how you like it, even down to the coasters on your table.

You may find though that when your home starts to get decorated, things never finish, ongoing decoration is something that I think happens to everyone. You’ll be walking through a shop and then you find something that you like and decide that an addition to the room is appropriate. There are some special touches to your room though that you may not have thought about. One thing I find when decorating, is that my local shops just don’t have enough choice. I like being able to look at a wide selection of the same item, I find with places like The Range and Dunelm Mill that they have a lot of different items but not enough actual selection between products like colour scheme. But there are places out there that do have a wide selection, the internet is where it’s all at!

There are all kinds of places to buy customised items online, here is a look at a few of them.

Ebay

Of course, ebay is a great place to purchase original and also out of production furniture. It’s not all second hand things on ebay either, there are a lot of new products on there. Once thing you have to be cautious of though is falling for fake merchandise. There are so many items available for purchase that you might just get yourself something that isn’t quite authentic. If this does happen I believe there are channels you can go down for a refund back from paypal / ebay.

Ebay has such a vast array of items that you should be able to find whatever you are looking for. There aren’t many times I’ve gone on there looking for something and not come away with what I wanted (or something else) So I highly suggest using this for your purchases.

 

Inchyra

You only have to visit Inchyra to know that your going to be in for  high quality items. They originally started as a linen company, producing some great linens with some fantastic designs. they then took that idea, and started combining their linens with household items such as cushions, towels and aprons. Inchyra now sell a whole range of home items, from kitchen to Bathroom, but not just fabric items. Inchyra’s products have a particular style that I believe would fit with any home theme.

Mollie and Fred

Mollie and Fred is another rather unknown website, but they manage to sell some great items on their website. I think they are less producers, but just enjoy buying and selling great items. They have a wide selection of homeware and some great gift ideas, but I would say that this site is definitely dedicated to a younger crowd. They have some interesting product lines that I think are definitely worth a look, so check it out.

 

 

 

 

Creating Your Own Luxury Furniture

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Luxury furniture isn’t out of everyone’s reach, you can easily take something that is uncomfortable and improve it to a stage that is unnecessarily luxurious, all you need is a bit of sewing knowledge. Well, that isn’t strictly true. Sewing knowledge might be helpful but I think in the end you need a knowledge of quality filling, linens and fabrics as well.

worn sofa cusionsIf you don’t have the right skills you may end up with something worse than the worn product you had to begin with, but if you make sure you read up and have a look online, you shouldn’t have any problems creating something worthwhile.

Fabrics

Choosing the right fabric for you upholstery is important, you want to get something that is soft, is not coarse and is strong enough to withstand years of sitting and pressure. If you can find something along these lines then you are on the right track. There are many fabric and linen shops online that you should be able to check, a place I usually go to online has a wide selection of quality British linen. It’s great being able to choose what pattern/colour/texture your furniture is going to be.

Stuffing

If you’re going to be upholsering sofa cushions, then something you need to look at is replacing the stuffing. There are a wide variety of stuffing and filling options available, whether you’re looking for a natural animal filling such as wool or cotton, or whether you are happy with synthetic filling such as polyester or coir fibre. Each have different properties, Synthetic fibre tends to be stronger and more resilient whereas wool and cotton are softer but weaker. As mentioned before, you need to really know what is going to do the right job, if you can work that out, then I say go for it.

Construction

The next stage is obviously construction. I won’t detail a guide in this article, but make sure to keep your eyes peeled in the future. Good luck with your upholstery, I hope you end up with the furniture that you want!

Defining Luxury Furniture

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So everyone will have encountered some luxury furniture sometimes in their lives, and if they haven’t, they need to LIVE A LITTLE! But how do you know that the item you came across is true luxury furniture? I mean, what constitutes luxury furniture?

Well, first you have to narrow it down a little, what is the definition of luxury? Well, a luxury good is a good that is optional and not a necessity, but how would one apply that to furniture? Well, it’s not just optional goods, its items that are also above the standard of necessity. Now, people may try and judge necessity differently, some people have higher standards then others after all. But in this instance luxury furniture is furniture that goes beyond what your used to.

I encountered some luxury furniture recently actually, in a little B&B in Somerset. They had this luxurious sofa that vibrated and even had storage units that kept drinks cold. Now if that isn’t luxury furniture, I don’t know what is.

Buying Furniture, What You Need To Know

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Everyone has bought furniture once in their lifetime, unless your quite young of course, but you’ll of had furniture in your bedroom when you were younger and you should know what to expect when it comes to quality. We’re living in a time now when mass production is a big thing (no pun intended). You can go to a shop like Dunelm Mill and pick up all kinds of different furniture items and decorations, if you like that kind of thing that is. This type of furniture seems very popular, almost too popular, it’s the kind of thing where you’ll go round somebodies house and you’ll spot something you have or someone you know owns all because its the same.

Now when it comes to complete wooden furniture, its also very similar in that department. Furniture can be mass produced just the same, the wooden stuff, and all the other stuff too. Just make sure when you look into buying your furniture, that you get it from a high quality furniture shop.

You really don’t want to get caught out, especially when you spend a lot more money on furniture than  one should. When your spending hundreds of pounds, don’t let your money go to waste.

 

Attic Conversion, What Furniture Should You Get?

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Attic conversions can be quite a big deal, especially if you’ve already had a free loft insulation grant. there’s no doubt about that. But if you’re interested in knowing what furniture you should get for an attic conversion, you should really look into what the new purpose of the room will be for.

Purpose

The purpose of an attic conversion can be for anything, alot of people feel that they would like to make use of extra space, maybe have a nice quiet place to read or relax. Others will make their attic an extra bedroom, and if you have the space, why not? There are lots of other ideas too, such as a home office or a luxurious bathroom with a large bath or shower. But as you can see, with all these possibilities it’s going to be difficult discussing what furniture might be needed.

Fit For All

If you have a set style in mind then you may be able to work out what furniture you require beforehand. I’ve been looking into several different types of furniture for my own attic conversion. I got the talented team at Attic Designs to take a look at my loft to see if there was anything they could do and it seemed like they had some brilliant ideas including creating the perfect entrance to the room.

Furniture

As for furniture, they gave me some good ideas, but also gave me a lot of things to look through, they helped me decide on what I was going to do which was great. I ended up knowing exactly what I wanted. So I guess the moral of the story is to talk to the people doing the conversion. Hopefully from that you can grasp exactly what you want for the finished job.

Installing Gates Onto Your Property

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Having gates installed onto your property can give your property a whole new look, I know it seems like a small addition but gates really do make all the difference. It’s not just about asthetics either, gates add an extra level of security to your surrounding land, if your property is encapsulated by walls and the only entrance point is your drive, using gates is a great way to keep unwanted people out!

The style of gate and functionality can add to how well they appear from the outside. For instance, you can have double gates that open in the centre, you could also have a singular gate that swings out or inwards, or the least popular is a rising gate, that could lift up to allow your car onto your property. Now choosing a gate is entirely down to you, but you have to decide on a few key factors. A singular gate will take up alot of space when it opens, you’ll decide wether you want it to open inwards or outwards and if you have enough space to allow it to do so. Imagine you have 3 cars on the drive, is there enough space to allow the gate to open? Or if it swings outwards, will it be taking up space on the road? These are the deciding factors for this type of gate.

The next thing is the size of the gate, if you have a large gate will it be hard to move it? Perhaps you could have an electronic system to automatically open the gate. The next thing would be the material, I personally am a big fan of wooden entrance gates as opposed to metal, I find that the thicker wooden beams make for a much more aesthetically pleasing gate, but that’s just my personal preference.

The decision is really yours, what suits your property is up to you, have fun out there.

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