Having a small bathroom doesn’t limit your creative options as much as you might think, but actually increases the possibilities for style. You may not be able to have a separate bath and shower, for instance, but combining the two saves space and provides for imaginative ideas. You could even use the corner of the room for this shower/bath combination, allowing more space for storage and other bathroom surfaces.
When decorating a room, either from scratch or to change what you already have, it helps to have an idea of the big picture in mind. Another way to come up with idea about how you want the room to looks is by taking inspiration from an object already in the room, such as an area rug or the color of the sheet.
The summer months are perfect for trying out new kitchen gadgets, and none more so that that sparkling BBQ you bought in winter for a great price, but haven’t had a chance to use yet.
When deciding what accessories to buy to go with your outdoor kitchen, consider this exclusive basting pot from Williams-Sonoma. It is perfect for adding flavors to steaks, chicken or other meats, and you don’t have to wonder where to put the brush when you’ve used it.
There are many ways to participate in home recycling, from reusing items, to recycling paper and plastic. A new contributor to this economical trend is battery recycling.
Through the national program Call2Recycle, the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) can help you recycle your old portable rechargeable batteries and used cell phones. This corporation is dedicated to preventing rechargeable batteries and cell phones from ending-up as waste, therefore contributing to the preservation of natural resources. With the popular Richard Karn, a.k.a. “Al” from TV’s Home Improvement, as their spokesperson, this campaign is sure to have success.
To have the most amount of kitchen fun, multiple gadgets are a necessity. Or are they? What with rice cookers, waffle irons, the almighty kitchen aid stand mixer and ice cream makers, you are bound to have more kitchen gadgets than you know what to do with. Not to mention a cupboard’s worth of manuals which you will have to search through any time you want to use any of them.
As the hot summer months take their toll, what better way to cool down than with your favorite flavor of ice cream? Or better yet, homemade ice cream? Why not try the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker with Extra Freezer Bowl available on the Williams-Sonoma website, and able to make ice cream in as little as 20 minutes.
This nifty kitchen gadget is simple to use, just add the ingredients and flip the power switch. It also has extra space for your favorite add-in, like nuts or candy, and can make sorbet or frozen yogurt as well as ice cream.
There are a number of cool kitchen gadgets available for the contemporary chef, and but site which boats a large variety of progressive and insightful gadgets is www.knifecenter.com.
Among the many useful kitchen gadgets presented on this site, three of the coolest are the Chef’n Garlic Zoom, the Chef’n Wisecracker Crab Cracker and Splitter, and the Chef’n Palm Peeler.
The Chef’n line of products promises to solve problems in food preparation and cooking by creating innovative and uncommon gadgets for the everyday chef.
If you’re like me, opening all kinds of different food and condiment containers - from new ketchup bottles to stiff jar lids - can be a hassle. There are a number of accessories from opening either a bottle, or a can, or a jar, but now there is one that can do all of this, and more.
Crate & Barrel have created a modern 6-Way opener which is perfect for any kitchen. Along with its sleek design, this kitchen gadget can open snack bags, jar lids, bottle tops, pull tabs, safety seals and bottle caps.
Without a doubt the most important appliance in any kitchen is the oven or stove. With the development from wood-burning, to gas and electric ranges, there are many options concerning how to power you stove, as well as what is looks like.
If you have a modern kitchen, then an electric stove seems like the way to go, but you could also purchase a dual fuel range, which can use either gas or electric. For a more tradition kitchen appliance, Heartland Appliances Inc. is always a good bet.
This funky Tritech Stainless Steel Halogen Spotlight makes a very fashionable statement to you under cabinet lighting, providing both task lighting for times when it’s most needed, as well as excellent ambient lighting to accent your kitchen design style.
Lighting Your Kitchen Task Areas
If you’re having a hard time seeing if that was cayenne or cyanide you’re putting in the sauce, maybe it’s time to improve your under cabinet lighting situation. There are many types of cabinet lights, including the old standard fluorescent, LED under cabinet mount lights, xenon and halogen. For best results, it is suggested to use xenon lights under your cabinet as they are cooler and have a longer bulb life than halogen.
It’s been almost 4 months since we held our “$5000 Remodel, Blog & WIN Contest“, and my sincere apologies to our Grand Prize Winners, John and Sherry of ThisYoungHouse.com for my belated post about how their amazing blog won our contest. It’s sort of a blessing in disguise though, as I can take this opportunity to announce that they’ve remodeled! - They have a new blog design! ….Very nice, I might add - it reflects the style and motif of decor for the house. Great job John & Sherry, your home and blog provide inspiration to me and many others!
We had over 50 entries into this contest, and gaining entry wasn’t simple. There was lots of work involved for each contestant - not just in the remodeling project itself, but contestants were required to extensively document and blog about their project in order to gain the favor of the judges. We were very happy at the high quality of many of the blogs that entered - it meant judging wasn’t easy either.
I must admit, our judges did an excellent job of selecting this outstanding example of what our contest was looking for. ThisYoungHouse.com exceedingly met all of the judging criteria we set forth, and we’re sure you’ll agree they made it fun and interesting to learn about their extensive remodeling project. The following will describe what John and Sherry did to meet all these requirements, and you’ll see why our judges were so impressed.
At the bottom of this post, I’ve embedded a recent video from ThisYoungHouse.com, featuring Sherry bringing the viewer on a guided walk-through of their close-to-being-finished-but-never-done remodeling project.
1. Leisure Room- Many homeowners want a sunroom so they can use it as a breakfast/sitting area. These rooms are the perfect space for drinking your morning coffee and reading the paper. Specially designed to include cable and electrical outlets, homeowners can enjoy a quiet place to read, watch TV, or just enjoy the scenery.
2. Guest Room- More and more, families are looking for a convenient yet attractive way to accommodate overnight guests. Instead of putting your family and friends in a cramped office or in the middle of the living room, a sunroom can double as a leisure room during the day and easily be converted into a comfortable guest bedroom at night with the use of a day bed. You will find this a welcome alternative to adding a conventional, single purpose bedroom to your home.
A Conservatory is really just another, wonderful class of Sunroom.
Other names used for Conservatories include: Orangerie, Solarium, Green house, Atrium, Garden Room, Patio Room, and more.
A well-designed, high quality conservatory or sunroom will quickly become the most used room in your home.
As with any addition to your home, you should absolutely seek out the help and advice of an excellent contractor, designer and/or architect to help you decide what styles and materials will best compliment your home, your lifestyle, and your budget.
Installing exterior vinyl window shutters is usually a simple, straightforward task when installing on wood or siding. However, if you are installing plastic shutters on a brick surface, some things need to be taken into consideration.
First of all, some bricks are reinforced with metal. This makes it an extremely difficult task to drill through the brick. I tried this once and it took me all day just to mount 3 pairs of shutters because I had to continually switch back and fourth between a masonry drill bit and a steel drill bit.
So, you’ve been going crazy trying to decide how to decorate your kitchen backsplash. What materials should you use for your backsplash? Should you use tile or marble, glass or copper? What would look best, as well as be functional?
Here’s a unique idea!
(Above is a sample of Julia’s hand painted kitchen backsplash tile mural, called “Wine and Cheese”)
