General Home Development

Household maintenance is an ongoing process. Just when you think you’ve wiped up the last crumb, dusted the last shelf, and mopped the last undefined floor stickiness, it starts all over again. Vacuuming can be the toughest part; different messes require different clean up. With a wet and dry vacuum cleaner you can handle any type of mess.

A wet and dry vacuum cleaner – also known as a shop vac – has the ability to clean dry material such as dirt, debris, and other allergens, as well as wet messes such as small spills or even larger floods resulting from appliances or water that has collected in a basement after an excessive rain. With one flip of a switch, the wet and dry vacuum cleaner can go from one project to another seamlessly. The design of the wet and dry vacuum is simple; a hose – that comes standard with several attachments – plugs into a large tub canister that is usually on wheels allowing you to move freely from one spot to another. The tub should be emptied periodically and can be done so by lifting the lid of the tub and removing the motor.

While a wet and dry vacuum cleaner is far too large and awkward to be conducive to every day cleaning, it has enormous functionality in tackling more complex projects. And the wider hose allows it to pick up a variety of materials without the threat of it getting clogged. For these reasons a wet and dry vacuum cleaner is kept by homeowners to handle larger projects and by industrial cleaning crews that tackle considerable clean-ups on a frequent basis.

While these systems are rarely found in your local retail outlet, finding a suitable wet and dry vacuum cleaner can be as easy as visiting your nearest home improvement store. Do some research before you go, however, so that you can narrow down choices by user and industrial reviews, inclusion of attachments that will meet your needs, and price. When you find a wet and dry vacuum cleaner that is suitable for your requirements then you’re ready to purchase.

For easy to understand, in depth information about wet and dry vacuum cleaner visit our ezGuide 2

If you are getting ready to design a room for your child you have a fun project ahead of you. It is a project that you and your child can do together and where you can spend some great quality time with your child. If you want to make this experience to be as good as possible you should read this short article which will give you some great tips to help you make the perfect room for your child.

The first tip is to not force you own opinions and tastes on your child. This is easy for us to do and your child will be more than happy to go along with you which is why you need to be careful here. You do not want this though. It would be much better if your child can start expressing their own individual tastes instead of mimicking yours. So be careful not to suggest too much. The next tip is to learn what colors your child likes. Let them choose their favorite colors to use. If they are too young to choose let them pick out a few favorite colors from their crayon box and use them as a guideline for picking colors. Lastly be sure to use your imagination. Take themes and ideas from your childs favorite things. Some things to consider are your child’s favorite sports, favorite movies or even cartoons that they watch. This will give you a great idea of the things they like the most.

I hope this article has helped you get some ideas to help you decorate your child’s room. Above all else remember to keep it fun so that you and your child will have a great and memorable experience.

Go to the authors website to get information and tips on thedecoratorlist.com/orangecounty.htm Orange County CA interior design and decorators .

Waking up to an iPod alarm clock doesn’t get any easier – you choose the music, you choose the time! Compared to a traditional clock radio, the iPod alarm clock is a breath of fresh air with clear, crisp sounds that you have pre-selected.

Rather than waking up to the sound of a hyped-up DJ, the boring news, or that song that just makes you want to scream, you can select the music and songs that will help start your day on the right foot. So, if you still own that old alarm clock radio, don’t you think it’s about time you stepped up and entered the 21st Century with an iPod alarm clock?

Why Use an iPod Alarm Clock

The iPod alarm clock is not an iPod itself, but an alarm clock that is made specifically to work with your mini music player. Most of these clocks are built with two or more speakers to provide much better sound reproduction than can be attained with a regular alarm clock radio. You can expect superior sound with richer midrange and full bass sound in a desktop model.

The Benefits of Waking Up on Your Own Terms

The beauty of these alarm clocks is that you can program your favorite morning tunes to play at a certain time to nudge you awake from your deep slumber. To help, these clocks also have the classic alarm buzzer in case you need a little extra incentive to get up in the morning. Of course, if you are not quite ready to face the day’s challenges, it has a snooze button that let’s you finish that dream that was just getting exciting!

Another benefit is that the iPod alarm clock is not restricted to just your iPod tunes, but incorporates an AM/FM radio in case you want to catch your favorite morning DJ show. The radio station will also play through the same sound system as the iPod and provide you with outstanding quality sound.

The iPod clock has an automatic reset feature that sets the alarm, and wake up music, to the same time every day until changed. So, if waking to a particular favorite tune and set time every day is good for you, this clock can make it happen. If you finally get bored of the same old music, changing the setting is as easy as a click of a button.

This is truly one of the coolest clocks for waking you in the morning that is available today. The iPod alarm clock combines the unruly task of waking you each day with the high quality sound of your favorite songs. If you need to be up and out the door by a certain time every morning, this alarm clock is the only way to do it!

Bill Wilson is a professional researcher and freelance writer for many popular home designer publications. To learn more about an

Are you considering a home audio system for your humble habitat? If you are considering a home audio system you may also want to consider making it hurricane proof and weatherproof and that includes the ability to withstand a lightning strike on your home. Home audio systems can be very expensive and chances are during a large storm you will want to turn on the music and forget about the weather outside.

The only problem with this scenario is the weather has not forgotten about you. For instance if you live in a mobile home, they are considered “Tornado Magnets” and you are sure to get hit with a Tornado. But a hurricane will bring with it very strong winds like a Tornado, as well as lightning and thunderstorms, which can last for 10 to 12 hours before it passes.

This is a lot for your home to endure and the chances of a lightning strike are far greater during this time period. You should therefore consider this when installing your home audio system of the potential eventuality of a lightning strike on your house. If you do not have a home audio system yet and you are going to batten down the hatches and refuse to evacuate, then perhaps while the power is out it might be a good time to install a home audio system.

This makes sense and as long as you have your Mikita battery-operated drills and power tools available so you can still work even though the power is out and you will have all day or all week to install the system and do it to perfection. Maybe the hurricane might be a good thing, as it will give you free time to install your new home audio system. Consider all this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; WorldThinkTank.net www.WorldThinkTank.net/

Bath décor – nothing is more beautiful (to me at least) than a room that is “perfect”. The correct room design, the correct furnishings and let us not omit its décor. A room that is pleasing to the senses – beautiful, luxurious, a pleasure to be in. A room designed to be lived in. Those are beautiful rooms to me and one than can stand out through its bath décor is obviously the remodelled bathroom.

A bathroom has such potential for dramatic bath décor and this is something that can be utilized to increase a home’s selling price or increase the joy experienced in living in it.

Some of my favourite examples of dramatic bath décor are:

1) Skylights – Nothing adds more elegance, more panache to a bathroom than a gorgeous skylight contained in a vaulted two-story ceiling. Accentuated with a low hanging paddle fan perhaps.

2) Lighting – This often overlooked method can be used to obtain the functional lighting levels that are required in a modern remodelled bathroom but please realize the opportunity you have with the bathroom’s bath décor if you incorporate a stunning light fixture of some kind. Decorative generally works best around the mirror(s) with recessed ceiling mount lighting fixtures providing the utilitarian lighting levels needed for general overall illumination.

3) Plumbing Fixtures – These consist of:

a. Your Tub/Shower Unit - is it an antique-looking unit to be accessorized with the same type of faucets and towel bars or modern to be paired with modern accessories?

b. Your Sink Unit – Do you want a common sink & vanity cabinet or will you opt for a stunning free-standing pedestal based unit?

4) Wallpaper and paint – These are two of the old standbys; utilize them in conjunction with your other bath décor opportunities and your remodelled bathroom will be a stunning victory over the mundane!

By integrating these different opportunities to make your bath décor your very own, you can design and create stunning bathrooms for very little money, depending on your exact bath décor.

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John Mann, “The Electric Mann”, has been involved in the residential construction industry for over 25 years. He’s worked as an Electrical Contractor and a General Contractor in Residential Remodeling and is an expert on Kitchen and Bathroom Design and Remodeling.

Signup for his

You looked at installing a underground sprinkler system on your property. And then stopped short when you realized the thousands of dollars it would cost! How could plastic pipe and sprinkler heads cost so much? Here is a lasting inexpensive water irrigation system that is near maintenance free and will have your neighbors wondering why they never see you watering your garden and plants. You can claim yours to be an environmentally friendly garden soaker system (or water drip system), using the minimum amount of water to sustain your plants and shrubs.

Get the water as close to the plant roots as possible. Using less water is important to our global environment.

Communities now encourage water soaker systems instead of sprinkler systems. Water applied near the ground will mostly be absorbed into the earth where it is needed by the plant and grass roots. Water sprayed above the plants and grass lands on the leaves and flowers before dripping to the ground. This longer exposure to the air will cause much of the sprayed or sprinkled water to evaporate into the hot summer air.

More than ever now communities control the watering of lawns and gardens during the summer months. Sometimes you are restricted to garden watering only - not lawns. An automatic water timer system combined with a soaker hose system makes plenty of sense in reducing the amount of water dispensed to water your garden plants and shrubs.

So how can I make an effective soaker system for my garden for under $500?

With some off-the-shelf components, you can have a simple but elegant soaker system that with be automatic and near maintenance free. With a simple water timer system, Y-connectors, faucet multipliers, some 1 1/2” ABS pipe, quality 1/2” garden hose and your choice of soaker hoses or irrigation hoses for potted or hanging plants, border gardens, row gardens or (dare I say) even lawn sprinklers. You now have the elements for a simple soaker irrigation system for your garden. This do-it-yourself automatic water irrigation system will ensure you urbanext.uiuc.edu/hortihints/0108a.html water plants at the best time every day; specifically, early morning and late afternoon. As an added home security feature, when you are away from home your garden will sustain its beauty and make it look like someone is at home.

Here is the material list required for your automatic garden soaker system. (Note: there is a complete Picasa image gallery of all the required components of this inexpensive soaker system at picasaweb.google.com/carl.chesal/GardenIrrigationSystem ):

1) Select your water timer – I selected Orbit from Home Depot. Make sure it has a battery timer so power outages won’t alter your scheduled watering times. It should allow for at least 3 watering zones.

2) Select your main faucet multiplier (or Valve splitter) that will attach to your outside water faucet and can accommodate the 3-4 water zones plus a spare to allow for regular garden hose watering. You can secure these special faucet multipliers from garden centers or at leevalley.com/ Lee Valley Tools

3) Enough 1 1/2” ABS pipe (and glue) and 22.5 degree elbows to run underground (6” - 10” depth). Use the 22.5 degree elbows only to allow for easy insertion of the garden hose into the ABS pipe. You can cut further costs by burying the garden hoses directly underground. The ABS piping does provide added protection from accidental puncture from aerators, pitch forks and other garden tools. This ABS pipe can also serve double duty to run low voltage wire or speaker wire to the remote areas of your garden.

4) Enough quality garden hoses to run through the ABS pipe and connect to the soaker hoses in all your garden beds.

5) Soaker hoses for all your garden beds.

6) Enough Faucet multipliers (Valve splitters) to extend each watering zone with soaker hose as required.

Creating your automatic garden soaker system involves more of a landscaping effort than anything else. Here are 3 steps to completing your eco-friendly automatic garden soaker system (Note: refer to the Picasa image gallery for details of component assembly):

1) Bury the ABS pipe feeding the garden hose through it as you connect and glue the pipe sections. Bury the pipe 6”-10” under your lawn or sidewalk. Have both ends extend out of the ground using the 22.5 degrees elbows so that the stiff hose can still be easily pulled through the pipe.

2) Connect the soaker hoses to the ends of the garden hoses and weave the soaker hoses through your garden under plants and around shrubs. Follow the installation instructions of the soaker hose manufacturer.

3) Install the water timer and water zone valves on the faucet multiplier. Connect the hoses for each zone. Follow the installation instructions of the water timer manufacturer. Do not set the water time for each zone more than 20 minutes each. Set two water times – early morning (around 6 am) and late afternoon (around 7 pm).

Maintenance of your Irrigation System and Preparation for Freezing Winter Temperatures:

1) Disconnect the [zone] hoses at the main faucet where the Water Timer is located.

2) Using a Shop Wet Vac, suck the excess water from each zone hose. Use electrical tape to secure the vacuum pipe against the end of the hose. Turn on the wet vac and let it run for 10-15 minutes. Empty the water extracted before repeating this for each hose at the main faucet. You will extract enough water from the hoses so as not to incur any winter damage to your hoses from freezing water.

3) Tape a plastic bag over the ends of each of the [zone] hoses. This will prevent little critters from getting in the hoses and clogging them when you reconnect the system in the spring.

4) Remove the water timer and faucet multiplier. Store them in a warm place where they will not freeze.

5) Note: you DO NOT need to disconnect and remove the soaker hoses. They should last 4-6 years before you need to replace them. Check the soaker hoses each spring for holes. You can patch these holes with high-friction Silicone tape. You may also leave outdoors all-year-round any valve splitters that were used to increase the soaker hoses in a particular water zone.

You now have an inexpensive water soaker system that won’t break the bank. You have saved thousands of dollars and can boast of being a friend to our environment. You clearly are doing your part for water conservation and the ecology. Nice going!

Carl Chesal is a business and channel development consultant, trainer, internet marketer and professional photographer. His hobbies include landscaping and woodworking. He operates BizFare Enterprise Inc and Foursight Photography.

Carl with wife, Janet, also operate a number of e-commerce web-sites, like homeandbodyhowto.com Home And Body How To

In this next instalment in our series on the history of chairs we’re going to pick up with English chairs.

Although much English furniture comes from French and Italian influence, the early forms of English chairs owe very little to influences outside of England itself. This is especially true towards the end of the Tudor period. It was during this time that the French began to take their chair designs from the English.

The squat style chairs with heavy backs that were carved like a piece of paneling gave way to taller, more slender and elegant chairs. The framework of these chairs were less carved and new directions were taken as far as how these chairs were ornamented. Cabinet makers of the Restoration began to take advantage of the opportunities given to them to design these new chairs. Chairs began to take on an elaborate construction with graceful semicircular ornaments that connected all four legs by a vase shaped knob in the center. The arms and legs of the chairs of this period were scrolled with the splats of the back containing a rich arrangement of spirals and scrolls.

The most popular of these chairs were the ones made so by the cavaliers who had been exiled by Charles II. During the reign of William and Mary these chairs degenerated into chairs that were more stiff and rectangular with a solid fiddle shaped splat and a cabriole leg with pad feet. Chairs that were a bit more ornamental had cane seats and caned backs. It is from these forms that the Chippendale chair was developed. This chair had an elaborately interlaced back, graceful arms and square legs. The Chippendale chair to this day is one of the most popular designs in history. It was created by Thomas Chippendale who lived from 1718 to 1779. He was one of the big three furniture makers of the 18th century along with Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite. In 1754 he published a book of his designs which included the Chippendale chair design.

Sheraton and Hepplewhite tried to lighten the design of the original Chippendale chair, which even in the hands of the one who created it was a very heavy piece of work. Sheraton and Hepplewhite were successful in their attempts to modify the design and lighten the chair and to this day the modern Chippendale is comparatively slight next to just about every other chair of its type.

Another man who attempted to make major changes to the Chippendale design was Robert Adam. Adam lived from 1728 to 1792. He was a Scottish architect who lived in Kirkcaldy. He set up his business in 1758 in England after returning from a grand tour of France and Italy. It was then that he started work on his variations of the Chippendale design which can still be seen throughout the world today. Historians say his success is attributed to the fact that everything he designed he did so down the smallest detail.

In our next article in this series we’ll continue with 18th and 19th century chair designs.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to chairs.selection-guide.com/ Chairs
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Before you begin your home improvement project be sure that you realize that any home improvement project can and will be very dangerous. A lot of the work you will be going to do when remodeling or repairing your house, you will be using very powerful tools that may cause injury if you don’t use them properly or have somebody that knows how to use them.
There is no way to successfully take on any home improvement projects if you’re not careful and know what you’re doing. Spending a little more time on safe planning and organization will make sure any home improvement or remodeling project you have go safer and easier.

When using any very powerful tools, it would be a good idea to read the manual and follow all the instructions that it says to do. Make sure all the adjustments are tight and be sure to make sure the guard works if your tool has one before you go and use the tool. Another step you should take in using a power tool is to keep them very dry and plug them into ground out lets only. Make sure you’re careful to not to damage the power cord and also make sure you don’t store any of your power tools while there are still plugged into a ground outlet or any outlet.

Make sure you keep all body parts away from any sharp object on the power tool such as the blade or drill bit that you’re using. You should also, if your cutting any small pieces of wood, make sure there secure properly instead of holding them to avoid injury. You might also want to invest in work gloves when handling rough materials to avoid injury but be sure to take them off when operating a power tool so you have complete control of the tool.

Also be sure to wear some kind of protective eye wear when operating any kind of power tool. Be sure if you want to change blade on a saw or clean it to unplug its power source. You might also want some professional help on when securing a bored when cutting it so it doesn’t back fire towards you and get injured. Don’t forget if you’re working with electricity or water to shut off the main supply of it to avoid injury.

If you’re working on ladder you should never lean to either side of the ladder and always keep your weight to the middle of the ladder. I t may take a little bit longer to get off the ladder or move it but it is worth it so you don’t have any injury to yourself. The most common injury in a home improvement project is someone falling. If you are not used to all the physical work involved when remodeling or doing a home improvement project you might easily injury yourself. Don’t overdue your self when you are lifting heavy objects. Get some body to help you when your lifting heavy objects and also make sure to take many of breaks and drinks lots of water.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about remodeling as well as toolsandequipmentplus.com tools and equipment at toolsandequipmentplus.com toolsandequipmentplus.com

Lamps and lighting fixtures for the home are in abundance - in shops and malls, designer outlets, mail order catalogues and online. The home decor market has increased as consumers have become more style savvy, with more disposable income not to mention the explosion of home makeover television programs.

That the home lighting market has gone into such overdrive should come as no shock. In particular the last decade has seen a great rise in lighting manufacturers and a proliferation of many innovative and highly creative lighting designers.

But lets not forget what really lies behind this exciting new upsurge in the design of light fittings: lamps and light fixtures for your home.

A good quality light fitting is one which satisfies the aesthetic requirements (for example, has colors which will match and/or complement the colors of its surroundings) and adheres to safety guidelines as well as being properly constructed. For instance, floor lamps need to have sturdy, robust bases so that they do not tip over easily. For safety reasons, properly manufactured light fixtures should not overheat and scorch the shade or object of light focus, and so forth. As
well as these other factors for consideration are the ease of installation, ease of maintenance, portability, durability, economy and adjustability.

To choose the correct light fixture for your surroundings, try to visualize the lighting effect you desire:
What do you want the light fitting to do?

Will the light source provided by this fitting be adequate for the task at hand?

Will this light source be complemented by other light fittings in the room?

How will this light fitting be controlled?

Depending on the type of light fitting you have in mind, the distribution of its light is affected by using the principles of diffusion, refraction or reflection and are further affected by the type, shape and style of fitting and the materials it is made from. For example, spotlights, desk lights and ceiling-mounted downlighters emit a precise and focussed beam of light on the objects they are directed at.

Baffles and louvers are other light-manipulating devices commonly used in light fixtures. A “baffle” is a device attached to a light fitting to help prevent glare. The grooved indentations often seen on the inside of many cylindrically shaped light fittings are “baffles”. The grooves have the effect of reducing apparent brightness when you look into the light fitting from certain angles.

Louvers are blades, made from translucent or opaque plastic and metal, which reduce glare by preventing a direct view through the opening of the light source fixture.
Despite the use of louvers and baffles in many lighting designs, the most common way of manipulating artificial light in a room is the shade. This could be an integral part of the light fitting (as with spotlights) or separate (as with the traditional table lamp).
The choice of lampshade is highly personal and is affected by factors such as the color, fabric and size of the shade. Of course, one is so spoilt for choice these days that it should not be too difficult to find the exact lampshade you need to match a particular style or color theme.

There are many factors to be taken into consideration in the design and creation of lamplightworld.com lamps and lighting fixtures and we should be thankful that this task is taken care of by highly skilled designers and manufacturers.

This leaves us, the consumer,
free to think about the type of fitting, Tiffany lamp or lamplightworld.com/lamp-world/sconces/ wall light? And the different colors, styles and designs they come in.

Lauren Tyler writes exclusively for lamplightworld.com LampLightWorld