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About smithdiana

Diana Smith is a full time mom and a part time writer interested in environment and ecology. She enjoys seeing her readers getting useful information from her articles.

Creating a Perfect Closet

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Everyone dreams of having a big walk-in closet with plenty of storage space for all of their clothes, shoes and accessories. That is possible, we just need to utilize what we have and keep things organized. If you don’t know where to start or how to create your own perfect closet, here are some tips that can help you.

bed-1839184_960_720Utilize the Space

In order to utilize every inch of your closet, you should use its corners, depth and height efficiently. All these areas should be accessible to you and you can easily install pull-down rods or shelves to use everything to the maximum. Corners can be tricky to use, but if you incorporate a carousel or a custom-made corner rod, you will utilize the available space to the fullest and always have enough storage for all of your clothes.

Add a Vanity

Sometimes, shelves and rods are not enough for all the things you wish to keep in the closet. To make things more interesting and provide more storage, you should consider adding a vanity. An elegant vanity will not only look gorgeous in your walk-in closet, but it will provide you with more space to store your things. Use the drawers to nicely fold your shirts, jeans and blouses, while the top of the vanity can be used as a nice display for your makeup, jewelry and perfume bottles. What is more, there are vanities that come with a built-in mirror, which makes a comfy station for putting on makeup before work.

linen-542866_960_720Maximize Vertical Space

If you don’t have enough space to create depth and length in your closet, you will have to go up. Every inch of vertical space should be used smartly in order to be able to have enough storage. Your options are vast; you can install pullout rods at the highest point of your closet and be able to store things very high. Beneath those rods, you can always put up a few shelves and leave space for foldable clothes. Additionally, you can rely on smaller cabinets and short shelves on various levels and always be sure you have enough space for your shirts, pants and jeans. You can even opt for custom-made closets, such as wardrobes in Brisbane where every square inch is used to its fullest potential.

Quality Lighting

Lighting is an essential part of every wardrobe. You will try out outfits in there and you need to see how everything looks. You can go small with adding a few lamps or pendant lights, but there is a far better solution. Add LED lights in hanging rods and it will allow you to clearly see every garment hanging on that rod. Also, an overhead light is a must; so put up a few lighting fixtures next to the mirror or on your vanity. Just make sure the lights are bright enough so you can clearly see what you are doing.

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Provide Seating

For those who are indecisive about their outfits, trying clothes on can become tiring. That is why it is a smart idea to provide some comfy seating. You can introduce a small built-in bench, a fancy chair or even a whole couch, if it can fit. Nevertheless, a place to sit on will save you so much trouble. Firstly, you will have a place where you can try your shoes on. Secondly, you can sit and contemplate about your next outfit. Lastly, if you and your friends like trying out clothes together, you will have a place to have a nice cup of coffee. Additionally, a seat will provide you with some space for the clothes you plan on wearing the next day.

It’s not easy to create a perfect closet, but it is not impossible. These simple tips and a few additions to your closet will put you on the right path of creating your dream wardrobe. Just be patient and organized.

 

 

Renovate Your Home The Eco-Friendly Way

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There is nothing more satisfying than changing the old and dull appearance of our home. Apart from opting to add some modern details to add a touch of freshness to your home, it is important to go green and protect the environment. The best part about opting for an eco-friendly home improvement solution is that it can save you a lot of money on electricity and water bills. In order to help you reduce your carbon footprint and have an amazing time while renovating your home, we have prepared a few easy-to-follow steps for you.

water-1882395_960_720Reduce water waste

One of the easiest ways to save money and go green as well is to reduce the amount of water you waste around the house. Start by installing low-flow showerheads and toilets. Normal-flow showers can account for 17% of the overall household water usage. This way, you will get to save up to 2,900 gallons of water per year. More importantly, make sure that you turn the tap off if you are not going to use it. This applies to moments when you are brushing your teeth or taking a shower – ask yourself: “Do I really need to keep the water running for this long?”, and “Should I turn the water off while I’m shampooing my hair?”

Use paint that doesn’t harm the environment

If you want to paint your home in funky colours and still protect the environment, make sure to invest in non-VOC paint. Volatile organic compounds or VOC, have a high vapour pressure at ordinary room temperature. They are toxic, and inhaling them for a longer period of time can cause serious respiratory problems. Even worse, they can cause skin, eye, and throat irritations. When they get in contact with nitrogen oxides, they can create a form of ground-level ozone or smog, which contributes to climate change. Explore various non-VOC paints, and make your home a safer place for your family.

substantiate-665217_960_720Insulate your home

The more you invest in high quality insulation, the less you will have to pay for electricity, oil or wood needed to heat your home. The effects of great insulation are extremely good, because it traps the heat inside your home during winter, and keeps your home cool during summer.

Renovate your home using recycled materials

The biggest advantage of using recycled materials is that they are eco-friendly and affordable. There are numerous recyclable materials that can be found in common households, from plastic and paper, to steel and organic compounds. Additionally, another great place to start looking for them is around a heritage building centre or a demolition yard. You can find carpets, windows, bathroom fixtures, and many more items made from recycled materials which are cheap, but don’t lack the good looks. This way, you will both get an affordable deal on materials for your home and protect the environment.

Invest in energy efficient ventilation

More and more households are investing in wind ventilation systems. The benefit of using them is that they can cool the room. Additionally, it is a system exclusively powered by wind, which means that it doesn’t require any additional investments in order to function properly. The best thing about them is that they can be installed in every room. In order to get the best that wind ventilation systems have to offer, we recommend opting for a whirlybird because of its excellent performance and affordability.

wood-482288_960_720Use barn wood

Using reclaimed wood is an ideal “green” alternative for home improvement. It is basically reused material made from barns, factories and warehouses, hence the name “barn wood”. You can apply your DIY skills and use it for designing your very own custom chairs, floors, decking, and countertops for the kitchen. If you want to add a touch of antiquity to your home, don’t forget to use barn wood for your next DIY project.

As we can see, it doesn’t take much effort to renovate your home the eco-friendly way. All it takes is patience and ingenuity.

 

Make Your Bathroom Safe for Kids

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The fact is: children cannot look after themselves. Think back to your very own childhood – without a doubt, you can recall more than a couple of instances when you ended up hurt on account of your parents’ or guardians’ momentary lapse of attention. Of course, child injuries are impossible to completely avoid, but steps can be taken to keep them at bay. Now, bathroom is a part of any home that has a reputation for being dangerous for children, which is why you need to pay special attention here. We hope that this guide will help you in making your bathroom as safe as possible for the little ones.

bath-1677843_960_720Sharp Objects

Okay, so the bathroom may not contain as much sharp things as the kitchen does, but these items are still a threat here. We’re talking razors, scissors, clippers, tweezers, you name it! Well, although simply keeping these items out of children’s reach goes without saying, kids have a way of being hell-bent on reaching what they want at the moment. This is why keeping sharp objects locked away inside a cabinet is just as important as having this cabinet placed beyond their reach. Additionally, pay attention to water glasses, mirrors and other items made from glass. Forget about glasses, get plastic cups instead, and, when it comes to mirrors, well, keep them safely locked away with sharp items.

Electricity

The concept of the invisible is extremely foreign to children (unless we’re talking imaginary friends) and electricity is among the top high-risk factors. Of course, you have been taught all about keeping your blow-drier away from the bathtub, but it’s important that you note that hair irons are equally dangerous near water. When it comes to the power outlets in the vicinity of your tub or sink, make sure that these are protected by a ground-fault circuit interrupter and teach your children thoroughly about the rules of electricity.

The Toilet Lid Should Always Be Down

If there are toddlers in your home, the toilet lid should always be closed. Stumbling upon your kid casually sipping water from the toilet unfortunately isn’t the worst-case scenario here. Curious as they are uncoordinated, toddlers can easily lose their balance and dive into the toilet bowl. This scenario is even more worrying if you have plumbing issues, so make sure that you have your emergency plumber check for blocked drains whenever they make a visit! Finally, installing toilet locks is recommended.

baby_in_bubble_bathBoiler

The fact that your boiler can electrocute you while in shower may or may not be a myth, but it is always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to kids. Unfortunately, this isn’t the worst of it – your kid may turn the wrong faucet a tad too much while you’re not looking and they may end up with severe burns. The majority of boilers offer an option to set the heat to your preference, so you should aim at the ballpark of around 120 degrees max, just to be safe. Serious burns can occur in no more than three seconds after being exposed to hot water.

Never Leave the Kid Alone

Okay, so this might be applicable to the majority of scenarios that include children, but it is doubly true for the bathroom. You may want to go answer the phone or the door, thinking that your kid is safe and cozy, but bear in mind everything that was mentioned here – things can easily go awry!

Not thinking about all the bad things that can happen to your kid inside a bathroom is easier, but this is never the smart way to go – every parent knows this. Keep yourself informed and keep an eye on the little ones, they are very slippery!

 

Upgrade Your Home With These 4 Home Tech Solutions

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You have lived enough in the dark ages. It’s time to make your life a whole lot easier by simply installing a couple of gadgets around your home. Regardless if you want a smart air conditioning system, virtual assistant or something else, smart home tech has advanced so much in the past couple of years and it has become affordable to almost everyone that there really is no reason not to upgrade your home. For all of you who don’t know what gadgets to get, we have put together a list of the most interesting ones to give you a little look at what smart home tech has to offer.

electronic_lock_with_number_padNo more keys

Keys are a thing of the past. Let us introduce you to keyless locks. With these locks, you won’t need stacks of keys for each door and you won’t need to worry about losing them and then having to change the lock.

Keyless locks have a couple of types. The first and the most popular one is a fingerprint reader lock. This technology was something we’ve only seen in the movies not so long ago, but today it is available to everyone. Install one of these cool locks and you will never have to worry about forgetting your keys. The second type is a key card lock. A bit older technology, but still infinitely more cool and secure than regular keys, the key card will let you store all your keys in one piece of plastic. Lastly, we have code locks. A lot of companies use this system, but it is making its way to residential buildings.

Control hub

If you hate having ten, twenty light switches around your house and memorizing what each turns on, then you should definitely install a central control station also known as control hub. You will have all your lights, appliances, basically every piece of electronics in your home under one perfectly-sized touch screen.

You can turn the lights downstairs, start your washing machine, increase the heating or cooling, turn on the computer, etc. Control hub lets you do all this and much more.

furniture-998265_960_720TVs built into the walls

Long gone are the days of TVs sitting on a TV stand in the middle of the room. Let us introduce you to wall-mounted TVs that are literally hidden behind the paintings. You may have seen this tech in some millionaire’s home, but today it is easily affordable to everyone.

You can get any type of flat screen TV, mount it behind the painting or inside of the wall and once you turn it on it will pop out. Also, there are a couple of technical things you need to check before you mount your TV in a wall. Go talk to Brisbane’s TV wall mounting experts and they will help you determine what you can and cannot do when mounting your TV.

Smart thermostat

Last on our list is the smart or automated thermostat. These things are great. Not only will it track the movement around the house and adjust the temperature according to what rooms are occupied or not, but it will also remember your schedule and heat up or cool down the house right before you get back from your work. On top of that, the smart thermostat will save you so much energy because it turns on and off depending if you are home or not.

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And that is all from us. As you can see technology has come far and it’s only getting started. Who knows what we can expect in the near future, what gadgets will run our homes, but until then let’s enjoy what we have now.

 

 

 

How To Perfectly Light Up Every Room In Your Home

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Good lighting is essential if you want to achieve a pleasant atmosphere in your home. Houses and apartments with plenty of natural light are in luck, because most days, they won’t have to worry about staying in dim lit rooms. However, those homes that are not as lucky, have to think about the right choice of lighting in every room, so they could read, eat, bathe, and do all the other activities easily.

lamps-453783_960_720Living Rooms

Living rooms are areas where people gather and interact for most of the time. This is why the room should be appropriately lit, providing a family with a good atmosphere to talk, read, watch TV or just rest. One of the best choices for the living room would be lights that bounce off the ceiling. Unlike recessed downlights, these will provide you with ambient illumination, and they’ll create the sense of brightness. You won’t have to worry about shadows or other inconveniences. Cove or valance lighting would fit a room’s architecture perfectly, so consider them a possible choice for your living room as well.

Kitchens

Being the place where you prepare food and do a lot of cleaning, kitchen requires proper and strong lighting. What’s more, families tend to spend equal amount of time gathering in the kitchen as they do in the living room, so the more windows you can install in the kitchen to get the natural light, the better. However, ceiling mounted or recessed fixture as well as under cabinet lighting will be a perfect solution for a kitchen. To avoid shadows from an overhead light, install under cabinet lighting to illuminate the countertops.

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Dining Rooms

The focus of the dining room is the table, so the lighting fixture is usually placed just above the table. This way, it provides perfect illumination and ambiance. You could also consider dimmers, so you could get a more relaxed atmosphere when you want. A chandelier is a great choice for dining rooms, because it’s both elegant and illuminating. Wall sconces also look elegant, and they’ll provide sufficient lighting for dining and chatting with your family members and guests. What’s more, consider installing cove lighting on two opposing walls while having a dimmable chandelier above the table.

bathroom-1940171_960_720Bathrooms

Considering we spend time in the bathroom to take care of personal hygiene and viewing ourselves in the mirror, the room should have an adequate lighting and even more careful placement of them. Central ceiling mounted fixtures are the ones most often used, but they’ll only cast to many shadows and won’t be useful. Lighting both sides of the mirror would be the best alternative. Wall-mounted fixtures are perfect for small bathrooms. Wall sconces on each side of the mirror and one on an opposing side will flawlessly illuminate the room, minimizing the shadows. Installing lighting fixtures isn’t easy, so be sure to contact emergency electrician 24 hours whenever you need them; that way you won’t be at risk of electrocuting yourself.

Bedrooms

If you like reading in bed, you will definitely need proper lighting. Wall-mounted lighting fixtures are an excellent choice for this purpose. Install those with adjustable arms, and you’ll be able to direct them whichever way you need. Floor lamps, a pair of sconces on a wall mirror or architectural lighting can serve as the perfect ambient light. Furthermore, if you prefer floor and table lamps, over wall-mounted fixtures, feel free to opt for those, because they’ll also be suitable for a bedroom.

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Proper lighting is of great importance for every room in the house. If the space isn’t well illuminated, it’ll affect not only your eyesight, but the whole atmosphere in the room. Therefore, be sure to choose proper lighting fixtures for every room, and avoid any inconveniences.