Repainting Your Rooms
Without a doubt, your first impression of any room in a home when entering it is often determined by the color of the walls, even more so than the choice of carpeting, furniture, and fixtures. Warm colors evoke one set of moods while cool colors bring out an entirely different kind of feeling.
Selecting specific colors to create a mood is recognized by experts who understand the power of color psychology. By choosing the colors that are right for you, you can change your home without doing a major renovation.
Warm Colors, Cool Colors, Or Something Neutral
The Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute has identified two groups of colors for setting the mood. I'll add in a third group, neutral colors, and then explain what I mean:
Warm Colors -- Red, yellow, and orange are the brightest colors you can possibly choose, each evoking varying degrees of warmth and energy. Passion, intimacy, and sexuality are some of the feelings ascribed to a room with a red wall, but less so with orange. Yellow can be wonderful choice in dark rooms or hallways, but take care: if the shade is too bright it could create anxiety!
Cool Colors -- Green, blue, and violet are some of the coolest colors, offering a sense of peace and calmness. Green and blue, of course, are natural landscape colors -- the two colors which evoke relaxation. The perfect color group choice for a baby's bedroom, play areas, and many other rooms.
Neutral Colors -- If it is white, then it is right. White walls look great in any room as they signify cleanliness and purity. Popular in kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms, white and close variations of the same are popular choices, the easiest to match with whatever you're doing with a room.
Of course, some colors are virtually impossible to use and those include black, brown, and gray -- shades which if mixed with white can look fine, but by themselves would create a mood too negative for any home.
Ultimately, your room color choices should depend on your tastes as you'll be spending the most time in your house. If you decide that you don't like a particular color or shade, you can always repaint the wall to suit your desires. Not a big home improvement project and a cost effective one at that.
Your a/c unit, though a technological marvel, needs regular care and maintenance. Also, your home needs to do its part to keep the cool in and the hot out. Let's take a look at some tips at how you can make your unit work efficiently and save you money on your electric bill:
Use A Programmable Thermostat -- A timer can kick in at just the right time, bringing in cool air moments before you arrive home for the day and automatically adjust upward soon after you leave for work. By programming your a/c, you'll cool your home only when it needs to be cooled, saving you money.
Change Filter -- Help your a/c run efficiently by periodically changing the filter. A clean filter works in harmony with your unit; a dirty filter will cause it to work harder, using more electricity in the process.
Keep It Maintained -- An annual maintenance of your unit will cost you around $125 but it will pay off in a unit that runs more efficiently, pollutes less, and lasts longer.
Improve Insulation -- Is your home properly insulated? If it is, then your a/c unit won't work as hard to bring you a cool house, but if it isn't look for gaps around windows and doors, close up blinds and shades during the day, and keep doors open to all of the rooms.
Keep Them Free -- Inside, you want your air ducts to be free of obstruction in order to deliver cool air to your home, but you'll also want the condenser to be free of leaves, yard waste, shrubbery or any other obstructions which can get in the way.
Replace Your Unit -- Older units are much less efficient than the ones available today. Contemporary units all come with a SEER rating -- Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio -- which determines how efficient your equipment works. Some newer units can pay for themselves over time as they deliver energy savings for you.
Many people cannot imagine living without air-conditioning especially folks suffering from medical conditions, the very young, and the elderly. When summer heats weighs in you'll want your a/c to respond accordingly -- keep it in top shape and it'll provide you with many years of indoor climate control.
2008/07/30 Home Tips
Home Building Tip
for the week of: Aug 29
Their Own Room
Does your child wish they had their own bedroom? Now is the time to design a space where a bedroom can be divided into a seperate lofts for their personal space. View ideas from our bedroom gallery.
Weekly Tip:
check out these child bedroom ideas
Air Conditioning Maintenance
How has your summer been so far? Maybe a better question to ask is this one: how hot has your summer been? If you have central air-conditioning or even trusty window units, then your home probably is keeping you cool and comfortable even when outdoor temperatures swelter.
Your a/c unit, though a technological marvel, needs regular care and maintenance. Also, your home needs to do its part to keep the cool in and the hot out. Let's take a look at some tips at how you can make your unit work efficiently and save you money on your electric bill:
Use A Programmable Thermostat -- A timer can kick in at just the right time, bringing in cool air moments before you arrive home for the day and automatically adjust upward soon after you leave for work. By programming your a/c, you'll cool your home only when it needs to be cooled, saving you money.
Change Filter -- Help your a/c run efficiently by periodically changing the filter. A clean filter works in harmony with your unit; a dirty filter will cause it to work harder, using more electricity in the process.
Keep It Maintained -- An annual maintenance of your unit will cost you around $125 but it will pay off in a unit that runs more efficiently, pollutes less, and lasts longer.
Improve Insulation -- Is your home properly insulated? If it is, then your a/c unit won't work as hard to bring you a cool house, but if it isn't look for gaps around windows and doors, close up blinds and shades during the day, and keep doors open to all of the rooms.
Keep Them Free -- Inside, you want your air ducts to be free of obstruction in order to deliver cool air to your home, but you'll also want the condenser to be free of leaves, yard waste, shrubbery or any other obstructions which can get in the way.
Replace Your Unit -- Older units are much less efficient than the ones available today. Contemporary units all come with a SEER rating -- Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio -- which determines how efficient your equipment works. Some newer units can pay for themselves over time as they deliver energy savings for you.
Many people cannot imagine living without air-conditioning especially folks suffering from medical conditions, the very young, and the elderly. When summer heats weighs in you'll want your a/c to respond accordingly -- keep it in top shape and it'll provide you with many years of indoor climate control.
2008/07/02 Home Tips
Magnet For Burglars?
Our neighborhood crime watch association got together earlier this week to discuss the rise in criminal activity taking place in an adjoining subdivision. Though we haven't been hit with a crime wave yet, group members decided to go over some of the tactics being used by burglars to gain access to homes.
One of the problems faced by that subdivision is that it is easily accessible to several highways. Police believe that crooks are hitting targeted homes and jumping on entrance ramps leading to busy roadways for a quick getaway.
Though nothing can be done about the easy highway access, our neighborhood crime group -- with the cooperation of our town's police department -- developed a list of precautions homeowners can take to help protect their homes. A few points surprised me and are certainly worth following:
5 Ways To Take A Bite Out Of Crime
Stopping Mail and Newspaper Delivery -- Surprise, surprise! If you halt your mail or newspaper delivery, who else besides your regular carrier or mail deliverer knows that you are away? Instead, have a neighbor or friend pick up your mail and newspaper on a regular basis and hold these items for you.
Posting Alarm Signs -- This one surprised me the most: if you announce that your home is protected by XYZ alarm company, you've given crooks some valuable information. Burglars can pick up the schematics of your particular system and quickly deactivate it. Instead, post a generic sign announcing that your home is protected by an alarm system.
Trim Your Landscaping -- Bushes in front of your home look nice, but they can also obscure what is going on at your house from the street. Keep bushes trimmed, preferably below window level.
Big Pooch Won't Help -- Unless your German Shepherd or Rottweiler is a trained guard dog, he won't necessarily deter thieves. Larger dogs aren't generally barkers, while smaller dogs will bark frequently and announce their presence before crooks can gain entrance to your home.
Leaving Lights On Doesn't Help -- Another surprise for me: leaving lights on actually helps burglars find their way around your house. Instead of leaving one light on, it is recommended that you have several lights hooked up to timers, scheduled to go on and off at intervals.
These days we don't always know our neighbors which makes combating crime much more difficult. Your neighborhood watch association can keep crime in check if everyone is vigilant, not just a few dedicated members.
2008/06/09 Home Tips
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