Hand-Painted Floors

Your home decorating says a lot about what is important to you. Not only do hand painted ceramic tiles compliment your kitchen cabinets, they can complete your home improvement project by instantly giving any room a designer look.

Those who appreciate the finest details will enjoy the unexpected pleasure of custom artwork in their home.

"Art to Walk On" can now be a fashion statement about you and your home. Using today's glazes, finishes, paints and techniques, a wide variety of designs, inlays, wood graining and faux finishes can be used to create "Designer Floors" of many special effects. Painted Wood Floors can create any marble or exotic wood species, making for truly a One-Of-A-Kind design and custom floor pattern.

* Material Requirements
* Preparing the surface
new floors
old floors
* Priming
* Applying the base color
* Marking your layout
* Illustrated diagrams
* Applying the tape
* Painting the secondary color
* Removing the tape and finishing off

read more...

Carpets can be eco-friendly

Sometimes it's hard to beat the warmth and softness of carpets, but if you want to be green and healthy (carpeting is well known for harboring dust mites, pet dander, and mildew, all of which are hard to get out even with steam cleaning), consider carpet tiles. These are typically created from recyclable materials and are very easy to install as well as clean. This makes them a beautiful choice as well as a simple option for carpet across an entire room. You can even get outdoor carpet tiles to spruce up balconies or rooftop decks.

Some environmental benefits of corn carpet include:
• Reduced CO2 emissions by the lack of petroleum in the product
• Built-in stain protection
• Biodegradable in landfills

Shaw flooring has a slightly different spin than their main competition. They have a “cradle to cradle” approach to manufacturing. Conventionally, products are made from natural raw materials, developed into a product and eventually wind up in a landfill. Shaw’s innovative “Cradle to Cradle” approach utilizes carpet recycling centers across the country. These centers collect old carpeting, which is then manufactured back into new carpeting. Right now, Shaw has 32 recycling centers across the U.S. with plans to add more. They expect to collect close to 300 million pounds each year and that’s the equivalent to a 12’ roll of carpet over 10,000 miles long!

read more...

Kitchen Remodeling: Improving the Design and Function

Renovating and modernizing a kitchen increases its function and convenience, along with increasing the value of a home. The following are do-it-yourself ideas for upgrading a kitchen.

1. Hardware – replacing or adding hardware to kitchen cabinets and drawers is a relatively quick and straightforward method of upgrading cabinets. Replacing hardware that came with the cabinets to reflect the owner’s tastes and style are an inexpensive way to increase the value of a kitchen.

2. Cabinets – refacing cabinets is one the most economical methods of increase the value of a kitchen. Refacing is typically about 50 percent cost of complete cabinet replacement. Refacing comes in many forms such as replacing the doors of cabinets with laminates, wood, glass inserts, completely removing some doors, or painting to present a more modern appearance.

3. Faucet – install a new elegant, water efficient faucet at the kitchen sink. The right faucet will improve the overall appearance of any kitchen.

4. Lighting – replace existing light fixtures with new upgraded models. Older light fixtures tend to discolor over time and simply become outdated. Replacing light fixtures is a good return on investment, because of their relatively low cost compared to the costs of other upgrades in a kitchen.

read more...

Decorating The Bathroom For Guests

Making your house spruced up as well as spic and span is essential when guests are expected. The guest bathroom should look great and even smell better as there is nothing as terrible as smelly and nasty toilets which give a kind of indication to guests that perhaps they are not as welcome. There are quite a few small and simple things that you can do to ensure that the bathroom is in great shape and also feels so nice and welcoming. For one, you should have a night light in the bathroom so that guests do not trip up and fall in the dead of night. Similarly, there should also be scented candles or an electronic air freshener so that your guests can have a toilet that smells all so fine without a hint of any odoriferous gases which are such a huge put off. It is also useful to have disposable toilet seat cover so that the bathroom does not become sloppy or untidy. This will make suer that they have a wonderful and pleasant stay and are pleased by the efforts you have made in even taking care of the smallest details that make a huge and a big difference to the kind of experience that they have.

While sprucing up the toilet do make sure that you also have toilet paper under the sink and also some other items like hair dryers for the use of your esteemed guests. It also makes great sense to ensure that there is toothpaste and other things like soaps which are of great use to guests. While people sometimes carry their own toiletries, you cannot really bet on it all the time and hence you should be well equipped with these essentials to avoid embarrassment and hassles later. In addition, having things like shaving gel and deodorants or shampoos would also make a great difference to your guests and ensure that they are happy with all your efforts.

read more...

Ideas for Tabletop Accessories

When decorating a living room with a nautical theme, opt for coastal colors such as sea foam green or pale blue. They are popular color choices for beach homes, and whether you live along the coast or in a city high-rise, the colors of the coast will help turn your living room into the nautical getaway you have always wanted.


Another idea for a stunning tabletop display can be made using a large clear glass bowl, floating candles or fishing floats, and flat glass marbles. Cover the bottom of the clear glass bowl with flat blue or green glass marbles, and fill the bowl three-fourths from the top with distilled water. Add floating candles in a nautical theme or colorful fishing floats. This tabletop display will add considerable color and interest to your nautical-themed living room unlike anything you will find in a store.

Save money by making tabletop accessories with various treasures found on the beach, and if you do not have access to seashells, colorful beach glass, and beautiful polished stones, look for them in your local craft store. Craft stores are a great source for nautical accessories. Fill a large clear glass vessel with alternating layers of small shells, beach glass, and shiny polished stones. This simple display will look incredible as a centerpiece on a coffee table, on a side table, or on a living room shelf.

read more...