Tips on Creating a Wonderful Dining Room

What is a house without a dining room? Every single person can never resist a well-designed dining room on any household. After all, it is the only place where all the fun happens. You can spend quality time with your family and at the same time, invite some friends over. All those exciting activities can only be done inside a place

that has a friendly and comfortable atmosphere, the dining room.

So if you were to design your dining room, aside from making it as inviting and as comfortable as possible, you must also strive to make it reflect your personality, or other things that could contribute to your dining room’s aura and beauty. Those things may be a little bit daunting, but you need not fret. Here are great ways to create a wonderful dining room:

It would be awkward to have a room that is way off the entire house’s design and concept. You don’t have to go out of your way to make your dining room very inviting. It would help to actually know and understand your personal style. That way, you’ll have a dining room that reflects who you are which can add to the room’s charm.

Eye strain could result from too many colors

inside the dining room. Remember that it’s a room where you eat, and possibly the food are too colorful on their own. The dining room should be a place where you can relax and enjoy the food, so mixing too many colors won’t help. From furniture to color, everything should match or complement each other. Better yet, just make sure that the furniture’s and walls’ colors don’t try to overpower each other. It would also be great to associate a touch of red inside the room, as red is known to stimulate the appetite.

Obvious enough, to have a room that’s comfortable, it shouldn’t limit you in your movements. To make that happen, you should consider the size and the space of the room. As there is too much action that could possibly happen inside the dining room, you have to make sure to have enough space. Small dining rooms should have small sized furniture or little furniture. And large dining rooms may have plenty and large furniture, so as to make proper use of the space and to keep it from appearing barren.

So with all the furniture around, you would want a neat and proper arrangement. This could possibly be the trickiest part. Actually, you can play all you want and decide on how you should arrange the things inside your dining room. Invite some friends and guests over, and take note of their reactions. Their reactions shall help determine the perfect arrangement for your dining room objects.

As a final touch, you could add extra things that can balance (complement) or accentuate (compliment) your dining room. You could start with your window and play with curtains or blinds.

 

The Benefits of a Summer Kitchen

 

Summer kitchens have been around for a long time, especially before air conditioning. A summer kitchen provides enough room to cook your meals, can fruits and vegetables and bake without heating up your house. A summer kitchen is like an enclosed porch and if you already have one that’s great. Just remodel it to fit your needs.

If you are starting from scratch that’s okay. Try to use reclaimed lumber and furnishings to help cut cost. You’ll need to start by building a frame. Search on the internet for designs that you like. If you are an inexperienced carpenter, hire someone to build your addition.

Once you get your frame up, it is time to add the roof. Make sure you have an area in the roof for ventilation. After the roof is done, you will need electrical and plumbing. Once again, if you do not know anything about either, hire a professional. Plumbing should be simple. All you need is a sink. Electrical will be a little harder. Think about what appliances you want. A stove is necessary, but you might also want a refrigerator for extra cold storage. Add at least two to three outlets so you’ll be prepared. You can never have too many.

Now it is time to screen in your porch. Make sure you cover the entire area, stapling the screens in place as you go. Don’t let the screens sag. Pull it tight, but not to tight.

As far as appliances go, you wouldn’t have to buy brand new unless you just absolutely want to. If you choose a refrigerator, measure carefully to make sure you are going to have enough space. A stove and sink are musts.

Also consider countertops and cabinets. A countertop space will be handy when preparing foods out on your screened-in kitchen. Cabinets are not necessary, but can be handy for extra storage. Unless you want brand new, hit a salvage yard or a reclaim shop. You will save alot of money. If you decide on a large addition, opt for adding a table and chairs. It’s eating outdoors without having to worry about biting insects.

Do not grill inside your screened-in kitchen. Consider it part of your house. Grilling needs to be done outside unless you have a special section added to your cook stove just for that.

Make sure to always clean up good. Do not leave food sitting out. You might attract unwelcome creatures at night looking for something to eat.

A summer kitchen might not keep you cool while cooking, but it will keep excess heat from building up in your house. Another benefit, an extra stove and refrigerator to use at the holidays.

 

Properly Dusting Your House

 

Sneezing, wheezing and Asthma finds its way to torture you. This is, of course, not a thing to have happen, so to combat this you begin dusting your house. Sounds like a good idea to clean up the dust to give your lungs a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as simply dusting whatever you can find whenever you want. If you want to make sure the dust is effectively dusted, you’ll want to go about the task keeping a few things in mind.

Generally when you dust your house, you may find you have an assortment of various dusting tools to get the job done. While you can use whatever you want, I find the good old fashioned rag and paper towels work best in conjunction with dusting cleaners. The two types of cleaners you should always have in stock are glass cleaners and all-purpose cleaners. You can use the glass cleaners for windows, glass in tables, marble/granite countertops, lights, TV screens (Careful! Read your TV’s manual for information on how to clean the screen), and many other surfaces. The all-purpose cleaners are used for anything else the glass cleaner isn’t utilized such as wood tables, counters, shelves, pianos, wood furniture, and others. If you want, you can get a wood cleaning product specifically designed for wood, but if you’re on a budget, an all-purpose cleaner will be just fine.

Now that you have the product cleaners, you can grab a cotton rag and some paper towels. The paper towels are generally used for the glass surfaces or whenever you use the glass cleaner. This is to help alleviate any streaking on the glossy surfaces. A good cotton rag is ideal as it’s soft and absorbent. If you don’t have one, an old cut up cotton shirt will work perfectly. Try to steer clear of cleaning rags like those used for washing dishes. These rags are pitted and rough giving you inferior absorption as they are meant for scrubbing/wiping countertops, tables, and dishes.

First things first when dusting your house: You want to start at the top. That means you’ll want to go to your highest level of your house, and start with the highest shelves and the tops of moldings. The reason for this is quite simple. Dusting isn’t perfect, and as you continue to dust, you’ll find that some of it is brushed off. Not all the dust sticks to your rag. So, as move from high to low, you have the greatest chance of picking up the most dust. Another thing to keep in mind is that of your rags and paper towels. When they get dirty, don’t hesitate to throw them in the laundry and grab a new one (you can throw the paper towels in the garbage of course!).

From the top levels, move to the mid levels and then the bottom. By the time you are done, you’ll find that most of the dust has been collected, giving you some breathing room. In addition to picking up the most dust, this technique gives you the best time to vacuum your house. Moving from top to bottom, the dust will most likely settle on the floor of your house, ready to be vacuumed up. This is why you’ll want to dust your house before you vacuum.

Using these tips, you’ll find that your house stays cleaner with the recurrence of dust appearing at longer intervals. This is beneficial for your health and that of others. You’ll no longer wonder why your futile attempts at dusting left you with a cloud of dust that never seemed to go away.

How Would You Know If Your Roof Needs Repair?

 

When was the last time you checked your roof? If it has been a while since the last time you had it repaired by a roofing specialist, then you know you ought to have it checked by them once again. Better yet, why not do it on your own? You can look for damages on your roof all by yourself and at the same time you won’t have to spend some money. Interested to save some cash while maintaining the health of your roof? Here are ways to get you started:

Things you would need

• Ladder (always be careful while using this!)

• A pair of binoculars

Start from ground level

Before you use the ladder, you can check your roof while still on the ground by using a pair of binoculars. Look for dark spots, misshaped lines and missing shingles in the roofing material. You can also look for washed off shingle granules.

Have a closer look

When you finally decide to go up, use a ladder and avoid stepping on shingles as much as possible, as they can easily be damaged. Look for loose or missing shingles, mold and decay, loss of granulation, and curling. Remember that a loose shingle doesn’t directly mean it’s a bad one, there are more signs you need to find first. You also need to inspect the roof for any signs of unevenness or sag. Indicators of a weak framing are cupping and buckling, so pay extra attention on these. Check the gutters for rust and clogs.

Flashings. These are metal pieces that can be found on waterproof spots of the roof. Try to look for puckering or buckling in the material, looseness and tears. Make sure to inspect your chimney as flashings on them are more prone to damage.

Tar and patch. These things are usually used to fix any small problems if you had some work done to your roof before. You may to take a closer look before you can spot some. It is possible that the roofing cement used on the patches only last a few years, so make sure you check on these. The place to go is in your attic.

Chimney. Don’t forget the chimney! Inspect it for cracked joints, damaged bricks and any leaning.

Have it repaired

Don’t attempt to fix the roof on your own, though. If you find any of the problems stated above, it’s best to call over a roofing repairman.