interior | home improvement

The Utilitarian Charm of English Garden Design for Cottages

April 6, 2020

The English cottage garden is a style that is in re-discovery today. As in every successful revival, the new version improves on tradition with new insights and ideas. The English garden designed after the cottage style has been around for as long as there have been cottages in England. Of course, up until reliably recently, they were not considered a style of English garden design at all. It's just that their beauty caught on with the gardeners of the country after a while. People began to notice that the traditional English garden design used in poor cottages across the country really possessed a lot of excellent gardening know-how and aesthetics to hand down.

To look at the traditional English garden design for cottages, one thing is clear. The humble gardener always fills every space available in his garden with every useful plant he can get his hands on. The most useful kitchen garden plants are the ones that come first – fruit, vegetables and herbs. If blooming plants are found clinging to all kinds of places in an oddly recognizable way in the traditional English cottage, it's because these enter the garden in a supporting role – flowers and all of the herbs are always welcomed in as a way to fight pests with . And sometimes, to help supply the family medicine cabinet.Yarrow, for instance can help fight a fever.

The traditional English garden design in cottages was one of a recognizable kind of chaos. Rambling roses would be all over the house, cabbages, Larkspur, gooseberries and poppies would always line all the garden paths, and hollyhocks would go along the boundary walls. The cottage garden was always so full of color and so delightful that there was a charm there in the way everything seemed to be on top of everything else. It was the very image of domestic bliss, and it's a style that's in reval all over North America now. To do the same for your own home and garden, here's what you need to do – leave out all decorative plants, and instead, decorate with useful plants.

Begin your English garden design with an apple tree instead of the flowering crab. And plant it in a flower bed surrounded by flowers rather than out on its own. Plant those flowerbeds densely with kitchen herbs alongside of the flowers. Cabbages, carrots and other vegetables can be quite beautiful and they should not be considered alien to the theme of the garden. In an English cottage garden design, they are the theme. Give them the most prominent placing, and raise sunflowers and runner beans up their stalks. You could have a tidy layout even if you do choose an English cottage garden. The basic theme is to fill every available space and to not judge plants for being what they are. You can plant marigolds to keep rodents away, and you can plant garlic right alongside a flower bed to keep insects off. It's all about utilitarianism …

Knowing How to Introduce Use Gothic Interior Design

April 6, 2020

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| house, interior

Be aware, however, that there are good places to use certain designs, and then there are places that are not as good to use your favorite designs, no matter how much you like them. Gothic interior design is a good example of such a design. Although there are many things you can do with Gothic interior design, you will do well to understand where the best places are to use it. Otherwise you might discover that you are not getting the effect that you had wanted in the first place.

The Need for Big Spaces

The concept behind Gothic interior design is that it is tall, big, and amazing. If you plan to introduce Gothic interior design and the colors that go with it, you will want to think about having a big space in which to put it. If you attempt to use Gothic interior design in a too-small space, the effect will be to make the space look crowded, and in addition, it will make your home look much smaller. Therefore, you need to have big open spaces available that you can reserve for your Gothic interior design.

What Will Work?

Several main rooms can look really great with a Gothic Interior Design interior design feel. First of all, you might consider using this theme in your entry way as you plan the design of your home. The effect of walking into an entry way that has been designed using Gothic interior design offers a great feeling. This is because it makes the whole house seem large and on a magnificent scale. Yet another place that you might consider using Gothic interior design is your dining room. Here is an area where you can open up the ceiling and make it look much larger using a wide variety of Gothic interior design tips.

As long as you keep in mind that you will need wide open spaces to properly introduce Gothic interior design, you will discover that it does wonders for the way your house looks. And it allows you to get the most exciting effects out of the spaces where you have chosen to place it. …

Sell My House Fast For Cash – Quick House Selling Process

April 4, 2020

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| house

If you are looking to sell your house fast for cash, you will find that the traditional method of selling your house through an estate agent can be a lengthy and problematic process. You would have to find a few agents to get comparisons, arrange for a valuation, paint & fix up your property, hold open days, show ‘browsers’ around, wait for an offer, negotiate a price, wait to see if the buyer can get a mortgage, wait if there is a chain involved, pay agent and lawyer fees, If sale fails – start again, all could be complete in 4 – 6 months if you’re lucky! You will also find that today’s UK housing market is not what it used to be, buyers are hard to find and most people that would like to buy are unable to get mortgages.

If you need a fast house sale for cash, then selling your house through estate agents is not the best way for you. An easier way to sell your house fast is to use property investors (cash buyers) who specialise in fast house sales. They offer to buy your house fast, no matter what condition it is in, so there would be no need to spend money painting or fixing up your property. One such company is Buy Sell Property Fast. They appreciate that everybody has different reasons for wanting a fast house sale, their services are tailored to meet your needs every step of the way.

One reason is that you may be selling your house fast to resolve your financial problems. If you are facing severe financial difficulty paying your mortgage, struggling to pay your household bills, car loans, your credit cards or other personal loans then specialist property investors can help stabilise your current financial position by quickly buying your house from you. This will help you avoid getting deeper into debt and also stop the threat of having your house repossessed.

Specialist property investors such as Buy Sell Property Fast can offer you a very fast property sale, usually within the course of a week or in extreme cases within 48 hours. This could allow you to repay and settle your outstanding mortgage and any loans that may have been secured on the property. Their legal team can confirm the sale of your property very quickly and put you back on track through financial stability.

You can also sell your house to them and then rent it back from them. It is very important to deal with this type of problem head on, don’t try to hide from it. If you take remedial action NOW, you can stop the repossession threat on your home.

Other reasons for wanting to sell your house fast include – Relocation or emigration, separation and divorce, bereavement, repossession, ill health, broken property chain or even a failed property investment.

Whatever your reason for selling, specialist property investors such as Buy Sell Property Fast can offer you a very fast property …

If You Love Lebanese Food, You'll Love the Cook

April 3, 2020

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| kitchen

Watch out for the invasion of the Lebanese food. Rich pastries, milk cakes, ground mutton in rice with lots of tomatoes, and tabbouleh are among the local favorites of the locals in the US, miles away from the Lebanese soil. The health conscious troop to restaurants with these specialties and the number of satisfied patrons are increasing.

Spaghetti Aside, There's Hot Stuff Cooking

In a Lebanese restaurant, discover people milling for vegetarian specials. For meat lovers, there's the mutton and beef served up in style and with the tastiest of flavors. There's fish cooked in a special way. You'll want more of the same in your next stop. For those with a sweet tooth, there are pastries stuffed with walnuts and almonds that will delight even the most persnickety of old maids.

What is a Lebanese specialty? Every meal is a balanced one. Expect fresh vegetables, stews, and salads. Ask for the Mezze or Maza. You'll have a king's meal of appetizers, cheeses, olives, and pita bread. By itself, this concoction is already a splendid one, especially when downed with a bottle of Muskar White.

Aside from the fusion of various spices that produce the distinctive and delicious dishes, the cook is a friendly fellow who does not run out of stories to tell while he shows off rows of bottled pickles, olives, nuts, grain, herbs and spices, and piquant cheeses made from goats milk. The cuisine does not focus on sauces, but on herbs and spices. That makes their food different from a host of other cusines.

There is a colorful array of fresh vegetables – zucchini, cabbage, artichokes, potatoes, carrots, and much more. Everything in the kitchen is used up from the mutton and beef bones. These are boiled for soup stock; excess meat is ground and even the surplus bread is toasted and recreated to reappear in an exciting new dish. Nothing is wasted in the Lebanese kitchen.

Biblical Food and Wine

Lebanese heritage can be traced back to biblical times, and even farther back. The bible mentions of bread and wine celebrated by the Jews in a foreign land – that was and is Lebanon. And for centuries, their culinary expertise was famous throughout the Mediterranean.

The wines of Lebanon are produced by vast fields of different grape varieties to produce different wines. The fame of the wines was even used to honor a person "his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon." (Hosea 14: 8).

It is not surprising that the Lebanese are blamed for their warm hospitality. Go to a Lebanese restaurant and you will savor the warmth and good cheer. The cook will go out to greet you (that's why you'll love him) and somehow you'll be offered glass of wine and some tidbits on the house.

Get News and Good Food

If you are a Lebanese in foreign soil, you will not want to for the latest news from Lebanon. Some restaurants offer the latest newspaper from which you can keep …

Installation Considerations for Wall Hung Bathroom Suites

April 2, 2020

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| bathroom

A wall hung bathroom suite can be the ideal addition to a contemporary bathroom remodel, adding just the right air of easy to clean practicality and minimalist style. Keeping the bathroom floor clear is an especial advantage in small bathrooms, where the extended floor area on show makes the bathroom appear larger than it is.

If you’re thinking of buying a wall hung bathroom suite, think about the installation stage early on in the decision making process. You need to know whether your bathroom walls are strong enough to bear the weight of a wall hung suite and (in the case of the toilet) its occupant. Of course, structural supports will be in place – your wall hung toilet and concealed cistern will be supported by a metal hanging frame hidden in the wall or within your bathroom furniture units – but your wall has to have sufficient inherent strength. If it does not, consider whether it is worth the additional effort and expense of strengthening or replacing the relevant wall, or whether a streamlined back-to-wall suite would make a suitable compromise for you.

Another thing to remember is that you won’t have the floor standing aspect of your sanitaryware (the pedestal of your basin and the floor of your toilet bowl) to help you in ensuring that the item in question is level. If you’re considering a DIY installation, make sure you have a spirit level, and you know how to use it! Wall hung bathroom suites look less attractive if they’re attached to the wall at a slant.

When you buy your wall hung toilet, you’ll need to purchase a mounting frame and concealed cistern, too. Often, these are sold separately rather than as part of a single pack: do make sure you’ve got everything you need before installation day, to save yourself a potentially costly last minute dash to a local bathroom supply yard.

Think, too, about where your existing soil pipe is positioned. If it goes out through the wall, you should be able to find a wall hung toilet with a waste outlet that will match your existing soil pipe, and this will minimise work and keep installation costs down. However, if your existing toilet has an outlet for waste that goes down through the floor, no wall hung toilet will be able to use the soil pipe you already have. The cost of moving the pipe should be factored into your bathroom installation budget, and you should consult a plumber as to the practicalities of the work involved.

Your bathroom suite manufacturer should supply fitting instructions along with your bathroom suite: ensure that you do follow these instructions as not only could you miss out a vital step by not reading them properly, your sanitaryware could also become damaged through incorrect installation and misuse.…

Moving With The Ages With Mosaic

April 2, 2020

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| house

When we take a look at history, we notice one common factor prevalent in all walks of life and that factor is 'revival'. Whatever is 'in-vogue' today will revive or resurface after some years. Taking this survival factor into consideration, people generally hesitate to throw out old items that they are fond of, often convoking them that the item will resurface as the in-thing sometimes in the future.

This revival factor can be observed in the field of commercial and residential architecture as well. Traditional and historic styles of arched facades, tapestries, pillars etc. are often seen resurfacing over the ages.

One such work of art which has revived itself over the years since the 4th century BC is the art of Mosaic. Mosaic art is often associated with designs in bathrooms made of tiny square tiles, installed in monochromatic sheets. However this is a very restricted view of mosaic art.

Ancient mosaic work composed of pictures, landscapes or mythological events initially staged out of water-smoothed pebbles and later from non-symmetrical pieces of scrap material and pieces of broken pottery. Intricate mosaic work illustrating events from the bible have been observed in floors, walls, pillows and even ceilings of European churches.

The ancient art of mosaic has grown in popularity over the ages. Although its origin can not be specifically established, there is enough evidence to prove that various civilizations have actively used this art form. The first school for mosaic artisans was developed by the Greeks and initially this art was used to decorate floorings. The Romans however started using mosaics to decorate walls so increasing its popularity. In Pompeii, archaeologists have uncovered evidence showing homes of common people exhibiting mosaic work on walls.

Modern mosaic works depict revolutionary revival of this art. The décor of any structure can be enhanced by the use of mosaic patterns and scenes enveloping the primitive as well as the contemporary ages to create much valued and accredited art works.

The ancient art of mosaic faces competition not only from ceramic tiles which are practical and offer varied choice of colors and patterns but also from hardwood floorings which are visually appealing and make a style statement. Even then, mosaic medallions or 'emblemata' used for floor covering make a house look distinctly exquisite.

Persian rugs which were used in formal areas and foyers are being replaced by mosaic carpets which are easy to maintain, practical and resilient. These mosaic carpets prove especially beneficial and safe in areas facing heavy traffic and convenience issues.

Using mosaic indoors in places like kitchens and bathrooms adds beauty, practicality, ease of maintenance and a stylish appeal of its own. Similarly, an outdoor pool, fountain, lawn or patio can be enhanced using this work of art. …

7 Ways to Learn How to Tile a Bathroom

April 1, 2020

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| bathroom

Learning how to tile a bathroom might not seem important, but it is. If you can do your own tile work, you'll save hundreds of dollars on the cost of a professional tile setter. Laying your own bathroom tile requires some tools and skill, but it's not too hard for the average person to learn. All you need is dedication and a little practice. If you'd like to learn how to tile a bathroom, here are a few tips to help.

1. First, figure out how many tiles you'll need for the area you'll be tiling. This is a reliably simple process – measure a tile, then figure out how many will fit in the space along the top. Then, figure out how many fit along one side, and multiply the two. Add a few more tiles than this number, however. You may break some, or have miscounted, and having extra tiles is better than running out. Plus, some additional tiles can be kept on hand if one is ever damaged. Just replace the tile with a spare, and your bathroom will look as good as new.

2. Use a tile gauge to determine where your tiles should go. You can make one on your own – it's just a piece of wood marked with the positions of the tiles. When making the gauge, lay out tiles on a flat surface with spacers between them, and line up the tile gauge with them. Mark where the tiles lie, and you'll have your very own gauge.

3. Line up the center. Draw a vertical line down the wall in the location where your middle tile will be located. This allows you to tile outwards from this point, and to have a well lined up design.

4. Start at the bottom, not the top. Lay the tiles from the bottom up, and remember to use spacers, so that each tile is even laid.

5. For straight cuts, a tile cutting jig is invaluable. It'll help you cut individual tiles to the right size to fit in your bathroom. Curved tiles will require the use of a tile cutting saw.

6. Use grout to fill all gaps. Once your tiles have set, you can remove the spacers and fill in the areas between the tiles with grout. Use a waterproof bathroom grout to keep water from being trapped between tiles.

7. Seal everything well. Use silicone caulk or acrylic caulk to seal any gaps or seams between your tile and the tub, sink, or other fixtures. Run a damp finger along a bead of caulk to seal it.

If you learn how to tile a bathroom, you'll be able to have better control over your remodeling job, plus you'll save a lot of money. So, if you'd like to develop the skills for the job, research tile in depth and talk to an experienced tile setter for more information. You could be laying your own tile soon. …

Pros and Cons of Wild Animals As Pets

March 30, 2020

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| general

Many people find the idea of having wildlife as pet as exotic and exciting. However, if you want a wild animal as a pet, you should have thorough understanding of the animal and its behavior and needs. The people who have these animals as pets are invariably trained to handle them, but even they will tell how unpredictable these animals can be. You may have read stories in the newspaper of zoo keepers being mauled by their wards.

So, having wild animals as pets has become quite a sensitive and controversial issue. Some people like to highlight the pros, while others just point out the cons. However, both should be weighed equally and only then a decision should be taken to keep a wild animal as a pet.

Here are some pros and cons of wildlife as pets.

Sometimes, conventional pets like dogs and cats cannot be kept due to lack of space. In such circumstances, one can keep a wildlife like a hedgehog or gecko as a pet as they do not require that much space. Some wild animals have their own benefits. Like a hedgehog can be used to keep insects and others pests at bay in a house.

Often it has been seen purchasing a wild animal can be cheaper than purchasing a pet that is popular and has a pedigree.

Also, many proponents of wild animals feel that some species have a better chance of survival if they are adopted. It has been seen that the dart frog is facing a problem in the wild as its natural habitat is diminishing. Hence, if this animal is adopted, it will have a better chance of survival.

However, there are sufficient cons and disadvantages of owning wild animals as pets. First of all, one has to take into consideration the welfare of the animal. Having a wildlife means giving due consideration to its diet, exercise and social interactions. Often, the animal will not have any interaction with other animals of its own species and will be left to leading a lonely and solitary life. Also, the owners will not be equipped to provide proper care to the animals as they may not be well-versed in these things. Many wild animals look cute and cuddly when they are small. However, as they reach adulthood or sexual maturity, their wild side takes over and the animal becomes aggressive. This is the time many owners abandon their pets or give them away to zoos.

Wild animals are carriers of many diseases that are lethal to humans. For instance, reptiles and amphibians are carriers of salmonella infection and each year thousand of people in the US contract this disease due to their pets. Also, rats imported from Africa are known to carriers of monkey pox. An outbreak of this disease occurred in the US in 2003 when Gambian rats brought in the monkey pox into the country.

Above all, the demand for wildlife as pet is increasing. So, many illegal traders are …

SEO Training for Business – Keep It In-House

March 30, 2020

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| house

For your business to survive in the new age, it's important to make sure your website is the best representation of who you are and what you do. Not only should visitors and potential customers and clients be able to easily navigate menus and click straight through to points of sale, but the work done to optimize the backend is necessary to ensure that you are sufficient to keep you on top of relevant search. With your staff's workload, however, you may feel it's necessary to hire an SEO firm to handle these tasks. In reality, maintaining the search optimization for your website is simpler than you think, and less expensive when you keep it in house.

Rather than hand your website over to an outsourced group, you have the option instead of bringing SEO experts into your office for a series of workshops designed to train staff to take charge of various aspects of site optimization – everything from keeping the code clean for spiders to better cache your information, to properly linking anchor text. Even if there are people in your office with some experience in maintaining websites and working to achieve high rankings in Google and Yahoo, the benefit of SEO training keeps everyone up to date on new paradigms in search, so you can stay ahead of your competition.

Why is it better to keep your SEO strategies in-house? For one, it's less expensive than outsourcing. You have the option of bringing in one or two employees to do the work, or parsing the responsibilities among your current staff. Also, keeping the web work inside retains security. Let's say you're interested in hiring an SEO firm. There is the risk, either during or after your tenure, that the firm could sign on to work with a competitive business, and apply the techniques used to help you towards their success. Why let that happen, when you can control your search rankings?

Search optimization training presents intensive groundwork for your Internet success. When you hire trained SEO agents to demonstrate the steps involved in creating and promoting a powerful web presence that includes your website, social media profiles, videos and even e-mail marketing, you'll discover that the time invested in SEO will not divert from your company's duties, and as certain staff become more profitable in optimization your business will reap more benefits. Keep the business of your website in-house for an affordable solution by hiring an SEO trainer. …

Amazing Interior Ideas For A Minimalist House – Make Your Small Home Look Bigger In Simple Ways

March 29, 2020

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| home improvement, house, interior

There are a lot of ways to decorate and structure house with small or limited space. One of the simplest is by painting wall color with bright colors. In addition, use simple furniture and make the small limiter without using large space. We can make room limiter by differentiating the floor and ceiling height. By using this concept, the limited room and sections of a house can be optimized in placing decorations and main furniture.

Currently, residential interior design must also follow the popular trend in home improvement world, minimalist trend.

Interior design should fulfill the main need and requirements of the owner, which also considering the personal taste of the owner. Needs and lifestyles of each generation is different, which influence the criteria for selection of the house is also different. For example, some home owner consider the need of a house near the center of activities or routine daily activities.

Simplicity impression reflects the architecture of the house, shape and arrangement of the interior and finishing stages. Organic shape furniture with a pattern of dynamic stripes give the soft and comfortable impression that still in accordance with its function. Furniture upholstery material will shift from any flowery motives to plain motives. The concept of interior design will not change much.

The basic concept of spatial planning aimed at creating the impression of spacious and comfortable room. This impression can be created by applying a rather large openings in the walls of the house. The concept was applied to resolve the limitations of residential land and a large architectural openings have proven capable of giving the impression of wider space. …

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