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If you are interested in updating you home, or simply changing the look, but have a small budget, then consider decorating with window blinds. There are many types of blinds available in as many colors as you can imagine, so finding exactly what you are looking for that will enhance your home’s charm is easy.

The most popular blinds include Venetian, Roman, vertical, mini and woven wood blinds. Each of these blinds offers a different look and style that can enhance your home without changing it.

Venetian blinds are horizontal and can be raised or closed to either block the sun or increase privacy in certain rooms of your home. These blinds are very popular and generally are always enjoyed.

Roman blinds are made of fabric in order to shade windows more softly. They can be pulled aside to let light in if necessary.

Vertical blinds are simply vertical, and generally longer than horizontal blinds. They are often times used for doors, patios, and the like because they can be opened left to right instead of lifted, or else opened all the way.

Mini blinds are also affordable and easy to decorate with. These are a type of Venetian blind that are smaller and used inside the window rather than outside.

Another option is woven wood blinds that are made by weaving different wood fibers with grasses or reeds for a natural appearance. These provide an entirely different look than the other blinds, so if you are interested in a… Read the rest

A technology that was developed for use in outer space may now help zap dirt and allergens in your home.

It’s yet another case where “rocket science” has come home to improve life on earth. The technology, an X-ray analyzer “gun” used on Space Shuttle Discovery, has been adapted to measure exactly how much soil cleaning products remove from carpet.

That’s good news for homeowners because this technology is being used to keep today’s durable stain-resistant rugs cleaner and help them last even longer.

Periodic Deep Cleaning

Vacuums and wet-cleaning equipment that you buy or rent can remove loose soil, spots and spills. But even with this type of regular cleaning, soil builds up.

Proper carpet care requires periodic deep cleaning, preferably every 12 to 18 months, to remove trapped soil and residues, say experts. Professionals using portable extractors and equipment mounted in service vans do this type of cleaning. Your carpet warranty may require such periodic cleaning.

Not all cleaning equipment and solutions clean equally well. Independent testing shows that various cleaning detergents and spot removers clean no better than water.

These cleaning products can leave a sticky residue that attracts soil back to the carpet, degrading carpet appearance. There are also vast differences in the soil removal capability of carpet cleaning equipment, especially extractors.

Seal of Approval

Fortunately, the X-ray fluorescence technology enhanced by NASA has allowed the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) to develop a new Seal of… Read the rest

Beauty and functionality should not be considered as two concepts that cannot go hand in hand. It is the general misconception that items that are beautiful or elegant looking usually fall short in the area of performance and functionality. Please keep in mind that this is just a case of generalization. Indeed, both beauty and functionality can go together in solid fusion, a higher level is achieved. There are a lot of examples that can be presented regarding this but we will be focusing on a specific item: cedar chests. We will look at how both beauty and storage functionality can be combined to form something that can be considered as a work of art that is practical yet possesses aesthetic values.
Cedar’s natural characteristics

1. Wood Care

Wood is considered to be a very attractive material used for the construction of storage systems, but it also has its drawbacks. Some types of wood are prone to rotting while there are some like cedar wood which have natural resins that make it rot resistant. To make cedar last longer, it should be maintained by applying a preservative every other year or so to preserve its natural beauty and protect it from the harmful effects from exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Cedar’s natural oils also prevents insects from going into your clothes. But in time, the pores in the wood become clogged which prevents the oils from getting out. To resolve this, get cedar oil extracts from the… Read the rest

If you don’t live in Southern England, chances are that you might not have noticed the water shortage problem in the UK, but you might have heard of the hosepipe ban and were left puzzled by London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone plea to Londoners to stop flushing the lavatory after relieving themselves! Two unusually dry winters have left the reservoirs only about half full in Southern England. In the Thames water region, around London, there has been less than 70% of the rainfall that was expected since November 2004.

The British are probably unaware that Londoners use an average of 165 litres of water every day, higher than the national average of 150 litres and about one-third higher than other European cities.

These must be depressing figures for any British household, but you don’t have to panic yet! By educating yourself about conserving water in simple ways, you can breathe easy and perhaps even use a hose or sprinkler to water your garden after all!

In this article, we’ll debate the big question-does it takes less water to take a shower or have a bath?

First of all, let’s take a look at a few facts:

# A full bathtub holds approximately 140 litres of water
# Standard shower heads dispense 20-60 litres of water per minute
# Shower heads with flow restrictors dispense 10-15 litres of water per minute

An average bath requires 100 to 200 litres of… Read the rest