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7 Beautiful and Budget Friendly Christmas Decoration Ideas

November 20, 2012 by Trish

Christmas is a time of celebration, light, fun and frolics; and while all of these are seen en-mass in shops, on streets and from the side of the road it is nice to be able to do the same in your home. However, like most highly lauded events, there is expense involved and Christmas can be quite an expensive addition and this doesn’t stop for Christmas decorations.

Fortunately, with a little innovation, a festive willingness and some skill you can ensure that your Christmas decorations shine, but don’t bankrupt Santa.

Gold Pinecones

One of the best ways to ensure that your Christmas looks great but doesn’t go overboard financially is to buy a pot of gold paint. Placing pinecones in paint is a great way to create a cheap but beautiful decoration that can be used on tables, mantle pieces or in baskets or bowls. You can even place some thread around them and use them on the Christmas tree. It’s a low cost way towards looking great.

Have a Drink

One thing that a lot of us will find an abundance of during the period of Christmas is empty bottles. These can be used as a great candle stick holder once cleaned and can really add a dramatic effect to your home.

Go Rummaging

Put on a warm coat and a pair of gloves and use Mother Nature for your decorations this Christmas. Natural evergreens, branches and berries are wonderful items to display beside candles and really create that Christmas feel. Do be sure you place the candles behind a hurricane glass or on a stand to prevent the items catching fire.

Ribbons

Christmas bows can be used to create that wonderful warm Christmas feel. Why not add a coloured ribbon around the pillows on your couch or chairs to make them look like Christmas gifts. It’s a simple and also dun way to bring the season of joviality into your home.

Entry Hall Décor

Why not gather some branches from your home and then add a little spray paint to them and place them in a case in the entry hall or in your dining room. This can create that festive feel for guests and also looks very sophisticated. Make sure that there are no creepy crawlies in your branches before you paint them.

Add light

Lights are one of the things most associated with Christmas and really give that warm festive feel some depth. Making your own luminaries is not that hard and can really yield some fantastic results when they are placed on mantle pieces or stair cases. There are numerous places to find instructions online and they are very low cost Christmas lights.

Wreathes

It’s also quite easy to make your own wreathe and can be achieved by bending greenery into a circle and then tying it with some string or twine. Look for a good thick piece of greenery for this and then if you like you can intertwine berries and other materials within for colour.

Enjoy your Christmas and take time out to enjoy yourself during this most feted of holidays.

Cormac Reynolds writes for Festive- Lights a UK company with a wide supply of Christmas decorations including lights, trees and other items.





Filed Under: Home and Lifestyle, Recreation Tagged With: beautiful, budget, celebration, christmas, Christmas lights, decoration, drink, entry hall, ideas, light, pinecones, ribbons, wreathes

6 Tips for Recovery After Rehab

November 19, 2012 by Trish

Going through the process of rehab is a big step in an addicts life, but not a lot of people think about the process recovering addicts go through once they leave rehab. The first few months out of rehab are perhaps some of the most difficult because you are free to make your own decisions once again and temptation can easily creep back into your life. There are many ways to avoid relapse after rehab. Here are six tips to continue recovery after leaving rehab.

Create a plan of action

So you’ve been released from your six month long recovery treatment. Now what? Boredom and lack of direction might be one of the worst things you can have when you’ve just left rehab. It’s necessary to create a plan laying out your objectives for your future. By creating a plan, you’ll be organized and will have a set schedule to follow to keep you busy and on track.

Continue therapy sessions

Even though you’ve left the treatment center, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your treatment process is over with. Remember that you still have the option of visiting with a counselor as often as necessary for as long as you need. This allows you the freedom to go about living your life once again but keeps you in check with a counselor still to slowly ease you back into the real world.

Exercise regularly

Exercise is extremely important during the healing process and continues to be critical after rehab. Not only does regular exercise help you stay fit and active, in turn boosting your confidence, but in addition it releases endorphins which lift your mood and keep you thinking positively. Whether you have a gym membership, go for regular runs outside or even do an activity such as yoga, exercise will help you feeling great and will keep you healthy.

Eat healthfully

Going along with exercise, healthy eating can improve your overall health and the way you feel about yourself. Making sure you get the proper vitamins and minerals into your diet have even been linked to curbing cravings for drugs or alcohol. Living a healthy lifestyle after rehab can be the beginning of a new chapter in your life to keep you clean and feeling better than ever before.

Make new friends

Chances are, many of the friends you had before rehab aren’t the type of people you should be spending time with post rehab. This is a great opportunity for a fresh start and time to meet new people with no connection to your past. Building relationships is essential for happiness and feeling complete, so this is definitely an important tip to follow through with. The more relationships you have, the more support you have if you’re ever feeling weak.

Rediscover your spirituality

If during your addiction you lost touch with your spirituality, post rehab is a great time to rediscover it. Faith in a higher power or guidance through a spiritual being can be enough to get you through the days and believe that you can succeed in your efforts to be clean.

Attached Images:
  •  License: Creative Commons image source

Lisa Trank is a freelance writer who is very familiar with addiction. After a family member admitted to addiction and visited rehab for treatment, Lisa learned a generous amount from this experience. She follows the rehab advisor in an effort to research the best treatments for various addictions and suggests anyone else facing an addiction do the same.

Filed Under: Health Fitness and Beauty, Rehabilitation Tagged With: avoid, decisions, exercise, healthy eating, life, new friends, plan, recovery, rehab, relapse, temptation, therapy

Why You Should Buy Rugs: Five Amazing Benefits That These Home Decors Provide

November 18, 2012 by Trish

There are necessities and optional commodities and in today’s economic climate, it is easy to see which among these general classifications should be prioritized. When people think about carpets, they don’t really associate it with that much importance as these are neither life-changing nor life-preserving. Yes, this is an understandable sentiment, especially among those struggling to make ends meet. But frankly speaking, the above rationale is an outdated perception towards carpets and should be corrected before any decision towards purchasing them can be finalized. There are a number of advantages to having a rug at home or in the office that should be acknowledged. Listed below are some of them in order to give you a clear insight as to why you should definitely consider them as a part of your home décor.

1. They add more personality to your home.

With their flamboyant colors and designs, it is easy to appreciate what carpets do to your environment. They inject life. They add warmth. And above all, they reflect the purpose of any specific area in your home. There are times when they tie together different ornaments you put into one room so they serve a common theme. In some instances, they solely carry the responsibility of highlighting space features and making the room look more elegant. Commonly, they represent your tastes and character so that visitors know more about you without even having to start a conversation. And although it may seem unnecessary to have all of that responsibility rest on an inanimate object, there is a certain convenience to just making the carpet a focal point in your home décor and discussion.

2. They protect the hardwood floors from damage.

If you have children or pets at home, then perhaps you understand how difficult it can be to keep expensive wood or tile floorings free from damage and scratches. Moreover, you would certainly appreciate the way rugs could cover up high traffic areas and spare them from the pressure of foot traffic, spills, and furniture movement. Yes, there are alternative ways to maintain the pristine nature of your brand new flooring, but you can’t always polish them or guard them from your dogs or your family’s activities. When you are tired or are going out, it is comforting to think that you have a rug in place to absorb all the shock and stains that could have seeped into the flooring materials.

3. They minimize the risk of slips.

Rugs produce friction which improves stability within a solid surface. When you rely mainly on hardwood floor that does not have fibers that oppose or latch on to the bottom of your feet or shoes, you stand a greater chance of slipping. Now, these could lead to debilitating conditions such as sprains, or worse, fractures. It could even pose more danger to kids and older people who have no control over their gait and are less aware of their surroundings. In spite of the chances being slim, the fact that it can happen is threatening enough. And it definitely will keep anyone at home from visiting the hospital if there are carpets and runners positioned to discourage people from speeding.

4. They absorb noise.

Ever wonder why concert halls and recording studios are fixed with wall to wall carpeting? It is because they could use a lot of help when it comes to eliminating unnecessary sounds from the environment. Carpets are very good when it comes to that as adding cushion padding beneath them should enhance their innate ability to reduce noise. They also make good sound barriers between floors so transmissions don’t get mixed up. Furthermore, you can certainly benefit from using them in the bedroom, where you do not want to be disturbed by foreign sounds or foot traffic.

5. Cleans out the air from dust particles.

Given their material, it is easy to see how carpets help out in maintaining the quality of air in the room. It is no secret that they are quite effective when it comes to trapping dust and silt, thereby keeping them from mixing with the air we breathe. This keeps us from having allergic outbursts and developing rhinitis. But then again, they do have a limited capacity. And eventually, this characteristic may backfire and expose you to more allergens than you can handle. This is why it is important that you regularly vacuum carpets within your house so they can serve you their purpose more effectively.

Of course, there are downsides to their use such as high maintenance demands and expensive price tags. There may be cheaper alternatives but more often than not, these cheap counterparts easily wear out. If you choose the right provider, you can take care of these problems and make the most out of the benefits these products provide.

Attached Images:
  •  License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/

Cedric Loiselle is a highly talented writer providing quality articles for a wide range of niches. These include business and finance, health and fitness, as well as home improvement and real estate.

Filed Under: Home and Lifestyle Tagged With: absorb noise, benefits, carpet, floors, Home Decor, personality, protect, rugs, slips

6 Bright Storage Ideas for a Boy’s Bedroom Without Breaking the Bank

November 17, 2012 by Trish

When you’re on a tight budget, creating enough storage for your son’s bedroom can be difficult. Solid shelves, bookcases, wardrobes, drawers and so on can be expensive and generally very uncreative to look at. But when you try to make the move to providing a more exciting bedroom for your son, the price increases and your budget goes out the window.

So how do you combat that? How do you create an adventurous themed room for your son on a tight budget, which includes enough storage to keep track of his abundance of toys, books and games?

Mainly it’s a case of getting a little hands-on. If you’re ready to put in a little DIY effort, you can make the most of cheap storage options, both brightening up the room and providing organizational solutions.

Peep Behind the Door

Finding over the door shoe racks made of canvas or plastic are a fantastic idea for creating a series of pockets to store little odds and ends in. Got nowhere to put those small toy soldiers or colouring pencils? Just pop them in the storage on the back of the door.

This also creates a ‘safe place’ for your son to put little treasures or important pieces he would otherwise lose.

To add the spark of creativity and brightness, you can try colouring in the canvas or plastic with Sharpies. Alternatively, washable colour pens would mean you could recreate the design over time. As a 5 year old he may want trains, but at 15 he may prefer song lyrics on the pockets, so washable pens allow for future change and development.

One’s Trash is Another’s Treasure

Everyone knows you can pick up a trash can for very cheap from Target or similar low budget stores. Why not use these as storage? You can select colours that fit in with the bedroom and colour-coordinate the bin to what is stored inside; say your son has a race car themed bedroom, why not choose red for homework, amber for clothes and green for toys to create the illusion of traffic lights.

This creates a sense of organisation within the room as well as a cheap and bright solution for storage.

Having Fun with Laundry Bins

Some parents feel that soft storage solutions are a better idea because there is less chance of injury when the item has no sharp corners. Why not look to laundry to help with storage?

Many budget stores produce laundry bins for kids which feature cartoon characters or football themes or train themes etc. Instead of relying on these solely for holding dirty laundry, why not consider them as a hiding place for stuffed toys or shoes or bed linens for your son?

Give Old Furniture New Life

You’re on a budget so you don’t want to go out and buy brand new, expensive, solid wood furniture. However, get yourself to a thrift store or garage sale and see what’s on offer there. Someone’s old beaten up wardrobe could be a treasure to you.

Take it home and repaint it to the theme of your son’s bedroom. Wardrobes have enough surface area to create great football murals; just look on www.NFL.com for ideas of what to paint!

Alternatively, you can dress them up with chalkboard paint in order to create a fun surface for play. This allows for your son and his friends to create their own decoration for the bedroom, while still having enough room for storage.

Stick ‘Em Up

Magnetic paint is a great budget lifesaver for avoiding cluttered desk. By painting your wall with magnetic paint, you create a surface where your son can stick up all his artwork and later notes and homework, rather than shoving them on shelves or leaving them scattered on the floor.

You can paint over magnetic paint with normal latex indoor paint so the wall matches the rest for the room, but secretly holds the power of magnetism!

You can also use it for magnetic hooks which allow your son to have picture frames, or coats and bags to clear the floor area.

Give It a Name

Labeling storage bins, racking pockets and shelves creates an extra level of organization in your son’s bedroom and allows him to be on the same page as you in terms of where his possessions belong. Not only does it instill a sense of discipline when it comes to organization, but also helps him with his reading skills.

Benjamin Baker is a freelance writer who loves having flexibility at work. He says that being a freelance writer allows him as many fishing trips a year as he wants. When he’s not writing or on fishing trips, he’s searching www.menshideaway.com for as many fishing gadgets as he can find. He jokes that a man is only as good as his fishing gadgets!

Filed Under: Home Decor Tagged With: back of door, bedroom, bookcase, boys bedroom, budget, chalkboard paint, garage sale, labeling, laundry bins, magnetic paint, old furniture, parent, repaint, shelves, shoe rack, storage bines, storage ideas, theme, wardrobe

4 Great Tips in Providing the Perfect Guest Room for the Holidays

November 16, 2012 by Trish

The holiday season is quickly approaching, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. It’s the best time of the year for many. But, for others, not so much. There are several reasons why some people might struggle with the holidays from tight budgets, loneliness, and overall stress.

However, another reason why people might not enjoy the holidays as much as others is because they travel, either to get away for a break…or to visit family. If they are traveling for a break, they might be doing so because that is what they enjoy. However, if they are traveling to see family, there might be some discomfort in not being in their own home on the holiday.

While they are visiting family and enjoying that aspect of it, most people would prefer to be in their own home at this time.

So, if you are expecting overnight company during the holidays, there are several things you can do to make it cozier, as well as more comfortable, appealing… and to feel at home, away from home.

1. Provide a Clean Guest Room

Give your guest room a thorough white-glove approved cleaning. Take the window treatments down to launder along with the comforter and other bedding. If there is carpeting, give it a shampoo…or take the rug out to have it cleaned if you have hard surface flooring.

Dust out the hard to reach areas and make sure windows and mirrors are also shiny and reflection-friendly. Removing lamp shades to clean will get rid of unseen dust that could make the room smell musty. This is especially important if your guests have allergies.

2. Make Small Repairs and Improvements

While you are cleaning you will be able to notice if there are areas in need of repair, such as outlets not working, paint touchups on the trim and walls, or a squeaky door. It’s also a great time to change out light bulbs, so they don’t burn out while your guests are using the lights.

If you want to make some minor home improvements in the room to make it more cozy, try the following:

  • Update the ceiling fan
  • New area rug
  • Indoor Colonial raised panel shutters
  • Create a dressing area

Repairing issues in the room and making small improvements will help a guest feel more at home. But there are other areas to consider as well, to help them feel right at home…

3. Make it Functional

Perhaps one of the most important areas to consider is the functionality of the room. When I stay at someone’s home, or even in a hotel, I want to be able to do more than simply sleep in the room. Although that is the main function of a guest room, it’s not the only thing a guest will appreciate being able to do.

However, for sleeping purposes, make sure the bed is comfortable, and has enough pillows and blankets. Of course, a person’s comfort will depend on their preferences such as a soft or hard mattress. One way to avoid that would be with a high quality air mattress that can be inflated and deflated to adjust to the desired firmness.

Beyond the bed and bedding, you might want to provide them some reading material, a lamp to read by, and a place to put their reading material as they fall asleep.

A television and stereo system would also be nice, especially for anyone staying more than one night. This will make it easier for them to ‘get away’ and get a little privacy at times. Space might be limited, so a great option for music would be the compact Bose stereo, which could sit on a small table top. Or, a docking system for an iPod.

If they are accustomed to a little noise in the evening, they might appreciate a white noise machine, or a dehumidifier to drown out other household noises they are not used to…or unwanted silence.

4. Decorating without Overdoing It

I have never traveled at Christmas time, but I can imagine that if I did, I would want the room I am staying in to reflect the holidays…at least a little. Of course, I wouldn’t want it to be obnoxious, or filled with faux aromas that would make it difficult to breathe, either.

Placing a subtle wreath on the door or wall, a couple flameless candles with greenery, and a crystal bowl of beautiful ornaments on the table would add a nice touch. I also have a trio of what I call Charlie Brown Christmas trees, which are small pre-lit trees. I have put these in the corner of my mom’s room when she stays.

In Closing

When a guest trusts you to spend their holiday with you and your family, you owe it to them to provide the best guest room possible. It will make for a much nicer holiday for everyone in the home.

Mark Harris lives in White Rock, B.C. on Canada’s stunning west coast. As an Internet marketer and freelance writer, Mark is always looking for new angles on projects. For example, when visiting http://www.sunbeltshutters.com/, he thought he would combine his love of home improvement with the upcoming holidays to write about preparing the home for the holiday season. When Mark is not working, he enjoys spending time with his wife, walking the local beaches, kayaking, and hiking.

Filed Under: Home and Lifestyle Tagged With: clean, clock, comfortable, Decor, dust, great tips, guest room, holiday, holidays, lighting, radio, reading material, repair, TV, vacuum

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