Now that it’s 2012, it’s time to start thinking of new home design ideas. If you already have a home, naturally there is only so much you can do, but if you’re in the market to buy a new house or have one custom built, these stylish new ideas are a lot easier to work into your building plans. Either way, they’re equally suitable for renovation or designing from scratch. These are some of the freshest ideas for the new year. They can inspire you to make small changes too, since it is possible to get an “effect” even without knocking out walls. Painting and adding accents are both a lot easier than structural changes, and can be done fairly inexpensively. Continue reading
Herbs have been part of the human experience dating back to prehistoric times. They were and continue to be used for a number of purposes, especially in the areas of health and medicine.
The first recorded use of curative plants dates back to 2200 BC. Hippocrates, who is considered the father of modern medicine, listed some 400 direct herbs commonly used in his day. One of those he lauded for its practical application was mustard. The Greeks also used parsley to treat stomach ailments and marjorum as a tonic, while Greek athletes would cover themselves with lotion made of bruised mint leaves after bathing. During Roman times dill was used to purify the air in banquet halls, while in ancient Ethiopia, celery would be put to use as a stuffing material for pillows. On the other side of the earth, the Chinese were particularly fond of artemisia.
The Middles Ages were a time that saw the wide use of many herbs, including rosemary, which would be consumed as a tranquilizer and for the treatment of headaches. Also during this period mint was employed as a cleaning agent and also to purify stagnant drinking water, and artemisia juices were put to use as a rubbing agent to protect babies from the cold in middle age France. Chives have long been popular for seasoning, and other herbs with a long history of use include basil, saffron, sage, savory and thyme. Even Shakespeare had a place for herbs, describing mustard a “desirable condiment” in several of his plays.
Early immigrants coming to America brought different types of herbs from their native lands, though many were already available in the new world, including anise, lavender, parsley, sorrel and watercress. Settlers found a wide use for herbs, from the treatment of physical ailments and flavoring. Herbs would be burned to provide fragrance and used to improve the taste of meats before other means of preservation were developed. They would also be useful in dyeing fabrics. The use of herbs in early America would also create a new field of trade, the exchange of plants and seeds. But even before the arrival of the early settlers, herbs were being used by native Americans for a variety of purposes, including eating, dyeing and tanning.
The wide use of herbs continues today for flavoring, scenting, disinfecting and for both healing illnesses and preventing them.
When my husband and I were house hunting we had a list of things that we wanted our home to have. We wanted a fairly open living floor plan where the kitchen, dining, and living areas had a good flow between them. Hardwoods were also pretty important to us, and we needed closet space and storage. Aside from those things we were pretty open. It would have been nice to have had beautiful updated bathrooms too, but our dream home did not have that at all. The house we picked was built in the 1950s, and the second we walked in we feel in love. For a house of that age it was really open and the hardwood floors throughout made it even better. The lighting and the molding was all new to the home and it gave it a more current feel, but you still got the charm from the farmhouse that you would want. Continue reading
Outdoor kitchens, and indeed any outdoor living spaces, are among the most popular and valuable home improvements people can make. Not only do they contribute to the attractiveness of a home that will soon be placed on the market, but they also make living in the home on a daily basis for the long term vastly more satisfying. There is nothing like having a beautiful outdoor space with simple and functional, yet lovely, furniture for entertaining guests. Today, we will be focusing on the outdoor kitchen, one of the easiest ways to open up some space for getting together with friends and loved ones while preparing delicious meals. Continue reading
If you want to make home decorating elegant and simple, it’s always more important to have a few quality items than a ton of cluttering junk objects assembled for the sake of taking up space. Whenever you are seeking to overhaul the look of your living space, try to go for quality instead of quantity. This can be very hard to learn, but once you have developed a knack for it, it will make your life much easier and your home more beautiful. There is great elegance in simplicity. Continue reading
Natural and man-made disasters can ruin your creative efforts and completely destroy all the hard work you have put into your interior designs for the rooms of your house as well as the exterior work like painting, siding, shingles, and even the landscaping. The last thing you want to hear when you switch on the radio or television is that a flood, fire, blizzard,earthquake, tsunami, tornado, or hurricane is headed your way — but sometimes that is the way things happen. Continue reading
For many homeowners, the idea of having their own wood burning outdoor pizza oven is very appealing, but few people know where to begin. Everyone likes the taste of an authentic Italian style pizza cooked in a brick oven over the coals of burning wood at a super high temperature, resulting in perfect crust that is crispy outside, and chewy but well done throughout, yet the same people often fail to consider designing and building their own perfect outdoor pizza oven. As it turns out, this is surprisingly easy to do. As a project, it could be finished in two partial weekends, or one very concentrated and devoted one.
Homeowners are proud people, an as such, they are often busy dreaming up new ways to decorate their digs from a fresh coat of paint on the walls, to a whole new interior design format. Today, there are computer programs you can use to help redesign your interior. They guide you through the process of mapping the house out, identifying supporting walls and studs, and recommending where to knock walls out or add them in. Other software is free to use via the Internet, and it can really help you apply your imagination to your design efforts. Continue reading
Creating an amazing bedroom that you will love it hard enough, creating something young, fun, and safe for your children is a whole other challenge. Everyone that see’s my kids rooms can’t help but say how cool they are, so I decided to share some of my decorating tips with you on how to design a kids bedroom. Continue reading
Are you one of those people who are always looking for a new way to design your closet? I know that I am! I have searched everywhere to find some of the best closet design ideas and I have finally found them! Continue reading