Your bathroom in bamboo

Bamboo has become very popular in flooring. But there are other area's in the home for its use. This includes cabinets and shelving.

Bamboo is not only a renewable resource, but it is one of the most durable hardwoods and the most water resistant.

Most of the time your bathroom vanity is made of medium density fiberboard, and this is the cheap way to go. Now you can use solid bamboo. Not only will your vanity be durable it will be a start in going green.

Winter bulbs

Dozen of spring flower bulbs can be coaxed to bloom in the winter. Some take some effort but it can be done. Thats because not all spring bulbs need a cold period. Your amaryllis and freesia are great bulbs to coax early. 

Metal Roofs

Why do some choose metal roofs? Well, it may be due to the fact that metal roofs offer, more resistance. They are great against moisture damage and damage from the sun. They also last much longer than other roofing materials. If you go with a standing seam roof, the raised edge will help to direct water off your roof, which prevents water from staying there causing any damage.
 

Cozy Reading

If you or some one in your family is a avid reader, you know how important it is to have a cozy reading area. This is a place in your home where you can be alone and enjoy your books. It's a area that is decorated for your reading space. There's nothing like curling up to a good read. And having your own reading area makes it even better. It only takes a few cozy elements to make your space your own by adding some warmth and comfort.

Pen Stains

At some time or other we have all had a ink stain on our clothes. If this happens to you treat the item with rubbing alcohol. Just put the item on top of a white towel and work from the outside in. Bot the stain with alcohol, and watch the ink go to the under side.

 

DIY

If you are a DIY do person, you know you are saving tons of money. And you are also putting a personal touch on your project. Here are just some idea's for the DIY person.

How about making your own headboard. Maybe for your bedroom, or your child's, this is a great weekend project.

Even painting a room is a great DIY project, getting it done by a professional can be not only timely but pricey.

How about refinishing some old table tops and re surfacing them. It's a in the garage project, but if you pick up some old tables some place you can make them to fit your style decor.

Putting some molding or chair railing up in a room not only adds style, but can save your walls from getting hit by chairs. Its easy and can add so much depth to your room.

If you like painting, how about doing some faux on a wall in your home. You can give the room your own personal touch.

For the real thrifty and crafty person, you can even make some new lambs to go in any of your rooms.

What ever DIY project you are doing, it will be with your own style and touch.

New Tool Alert for Construction

A new tool is coming, called the Stinger CN 100, it is a new cap nail tool. It is from National Nail Corporation. The tool will secure underlayments and roofing felt. Its light and compact. It drives five caps per second, which is ten times faster than hand driving.

El submarino

On a cold night, my family loves it when I make hot chocolate. And the best one is my El Submarino. The recipe comes from Argentina, and it is easy to make and really good. It is a cup of hot milk, with a piece of chocolate that comes on the side. You put the chocolate into the hot milk and as you stir it, you get a rich hot cup of hot chocolate. The best part is the chocolate that waits for you on the bottom of your cup.

 

Hot water Boiler

It Winter, and many have their heat on. But if you live in a apartment, your getting heat from a boiler. And it must be ready. The boiler is what gives you heat that comes into your apartment from the baseboard, or radiator.

The boiler is different that your home furnace. It provides radiant heat. Their systems are also more complex than our home furnace's.

They can have issues like noisy pipes, inconsistent heat, and also leaks.

One thing for sure, only a professional can work on these.
 

Green at the Laundromat

You don't have to only be green at home, you can be green even at your local laundromat as well. And while doing so you can also save your self a little money.

First tip is, instead of using several washers and dryers, try to fill one up as much as you can. Instead of throwing a few pieces into several washers and dryers, this save water, but saves you money.

Using cold water, helps your clothes from fading, but also is green in a water it leaves little carbon in the air.

On the market today is green laundry soap, this is a big help in going green.

Two products in every home white vinegar and baking soda. These two ingredients are the earths most friendly laundry products. The vinegar helps reduce odor and softens your clothes and therefor no fabric softener is needed. Also baking soda helps with odors and helps boosts the performance of your detergent as well as your bleach.

When getting ready to dry your cloths try and grab one that is already warm. The left over heat will dry your clothes faster, which will save you money.

Keeping a clean lint trap will also help to save energy, this is not only good at home but for the laundromat to.

Of course on a sunny day, hanging your clothes out, not only makes them smell fresh, but saves money and energy. You can also get indoor clothes lines as well.

Stucco and what it is

I have been asked exactly what is stucco? Well it is a mortar mix that you use for siding. Mixed with sand and lime with some water and a few other ingredients, mostly cement.

Stucco has become popular lately, it give a nice architectural look to your home. Back in the day, many Italians used this for their homes in Europe. Stucco can also me molded into shapes that are used on the home as well.

Its a nice addition to your home, but must be done by a professional, this is not for the DIY person.

 

Green Seed

Items around the home can be used for starting your seeds. Items like plastic cups from smoothies, or just plain plastic cups work great. Plastic cups with lids are even better. You can keep the lids on until you see your seedlings, then just pop off the lid and leave it off.

Using the plastic in this way is great, theres no waste left behind after drinking from the plastic cut.

What I do first, is get some stones or pebbles and place them in the bottom of my cup, before adding my soil. This is a great way to start your fruit seeds as well as your veggie seeds.


  

The Wonder Product

Do you know the one thing we all have in our home that is called a wonder product? Well its also known as vinegar. There are so many things you can do with it besides using it in cooking.

Vinegar originally came from wine that had gone rotten. And today in thousands of homes it is the number one staple.

Uses for it, is in the hundreds. It can be used on and in our homes, our cars, our gardens and so much more.

Here is just a few ideas what vinegar can be used for. First its great for hardwood floor cleaning, one cup vinegar diluted with one gallon of warm water will clean them. Mildew problem, vinegar used straight from the bottle will clean your tile and your grout mildew.

Vinegar will also kill not only weeds, but that nasty looking stuff that grows between our side walk cracks.

Our pets can benefit from vinegar also. Its great for itchy scaly ears. This is done with one tablespoon of vinegar to four tablespoons of water. Put solution on a rag and clean your pets ears. Vinegar also gets rid of skunk smells for those pets that happen to get sprayed. You can also spray vinegar around the yard to keep felines at bay.

Vinegar in your dish washer not only cleans the dish washer it can be used in the rinse cycle.

For your car, you can put vinegar in with your washer fluid, also wipe it diluted onto your windows to keep them frost free.

To keep your cut flowers fresh a pinch of sugar with a pinch of vinegar will do the job.

Add some vinegar to your laundry and you can see stains like ketchup and mustard disappear.

And you can of course clean your coffee pot with vinegar. Just make a pot of coffee with hot water and vinegar and see how shiny your pot looks.





 

Christmas Lights to Hang

How many of you buy to many Christmas lights, don't follow directions when hanging them, or hang them using a unstrudy ladder? Believe it or not there are alot of you out there.

There is a wrong way and a right way. The first step is to view your home as if you we're the passerby, and get some good vantage points. Vision where to place your lights as if you are the passerby viewing your decorations. View not only the house, but the porch and yard as well. Vision is the key here. You can even make a rough sketch before you start, after all you don't want a news report with your house, as the worse decorated do you. And you surely don't want to have your house look like a Griswold re-do.

Beware

Just want to let scammers know that this blog is protected. I have been getting alot of scam comments, but they are filtered and monitored and can not go through. But it is a hassle for me to have to delete and filter them out. So I thought I would save the spammers and scammers know you can stop wasting your time now.

Faux Stone Veneer

Any home that has stone, will give you a feeling of solidity. And today the stone doesn't even have to be real. You can use faux stone veneer.

These stones although heavy, are no way near the weight of real stone. They are manufactured and are fitted and put together with mortar. They come in panels which make installation much faster.

When looking at them, everyone will think they are real.

The faux stone veneer is not as durable as the real thing, but will take some abuse.

They also make fire rated veneer is also available for over the fire place.

Poinsettias and Poison

 With the Holidays, and children, many wonder if poinsettias are poisonous to children, and pets as well. The answer is no, there is no danger to either.

There are a few toxic euphorbias, but poinsettias are not one of them.

 

Debt Free Christmas

How many times have you not paid bills in order to have Christmas gifts. Well, why not bring the New Year in, stress free with these few tips.

Pick names, if you have a large family. That why everyone still gets a gift but you only have to buy one.

Homemade gifts are always received by the heart. Gifts in a jar is just one idea. Homemade cookies are another.

Just setting a budget for your self and sticking to it, helps with the stress.

If you must, how about downsizing your list. Do you really need to buy for so many people.

Shop early, and use coupons. Also only buy items on sale.

Second hand gifts can be turned into homemade gifts by adding your special touch.

Happy Holidays

Office Green

Our home is not the only place to go green, how about your office as well. With a few cheap gadgets you can go green at the work place.

Available now are soy based toners, and they are recyclable, nontoxic and have no petroleum. They work with HP and Canon printers and Fax's.


Also available is the western digital caviar green power hard drive. Save with reducing power, and increase your energy efficiency. They run quieter and are cooler than other hard drives.

For lights, go LED, they use eighty percent less energy, and last way longer than your standard bulbs.

You can also use a occupancy motion sensor light switch. Easy to install it turns on only when your in the room. No more worrying if you left the switch on.

Question of the Day

Do you think you can install tile flooring over plywood?

The answer is NO

Tile should be installed on cement board to help with water.