Incorporating Lighting Trends 2010, In Smaller Budgets & Spaces
2010 is the year to flaunt your taste in aesthetic and luxury lighting. Utility is an inevitable criteria, but the coming year is sure to see more lavish and grander tastes in the area of decorative lighting. But for most of us, who have already invested in their lighting installations and are not planning remodeling in near future, there are easier options to incorporate the decorative lighting trends for 2010. Lack of space and budgets is a common issue that comes in way of buying a trendy accessory. So here is a list of the defining Decorative Lighting Trends 2010 and tips and suggestions to how to manage to bring home some of these trendy accessories.
Grout Be Gone!
Monday, February 1, 2010
You know that icky black stuff in between your tiles? The grim that takes so much effort to get rid off? Well, apparently there's an easier and greener way to do it. I'm all for green methods, especially if it means I have to break into much less sweat. Heh.
Article taken off http://home-owner-tips.suite101.com
How to Clean Grout in Bathroom and Kitchen Tiles
Easy and Effective Grout Cleaning Tips for Homeowners
Feb 1, 2010 Prerna Malik
Grout in tiles can become really dirty and grimy. Here are some easy and effective ways to clean grout in kitchen and bathroom tiles and keep them looking fresh and new.
Grout is a mortar-like compound that is used to hold the tiles together and also, prevents water and other liquid from seeping through the gaps. Kitchens and bathrooms are two areas with more tiles than any other room and because of the high traffic and moisture in the air; the grout tends to become dirty, moldy and grimy. Here are some ways to clean grout easily and effectively.
Cleaning Grout with Oxygen Bleach
Oxygen bleach is available in powdered form and can be safely used to clean tiles and grout. According to Tim Carter in The Washington Post, “Oxygen bleach is nontoxic, doesn't produce harsh fumes, and is color- and fabric-safe.” Moreover, the bleach is effective at removing food and greasy stains since the oxygen ions break up the stain molecules, making it easy for homeowners to simply scrub a little and rinse grime away.
Carter recommends mixing good quality oxygen bleach with warm water according to manufacturers’ instructions and then pouring the solution on the floor to flood the grout lines. Allow the solution to sit for at least 15 minutes before beginning to scrub. It is a good idea to keep pouring fresh solution while scrubbing since this will make it easier to remove stains and grime.
Green Cleaning Tips for Grout
Homeowners can clean grimy and moldy grout with an eco-friendly yet effective cleaning solution, which is made by mixing half a cup of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide with water and spraying this solution on the moldy grout. Use a toothbrush to loosen and scrub away the grime. This may take a little time but it is an effective and safe way to clean the tiles in the kitchen or bathroom.
Using Commercial Grout Cleaners
There are many commercial, chemical grout cleaners available in the market. However, homeowners should try to clean grout first by using either oxygen bleach or home made cleaning solutions, since these options are infinitely safer and better than chemical-laden commercial cleaning solutions, which may harm one’s health and well-being.
Tips for Keeping Grout Clean
Homeowners can keep tiled flooring clean and grime-free by following a few simple tips.
Tim Carter recommends adding oxygen bleach powder to water used for mopping. Allow water to sit in the grout joints for 30 minutes. Rinse with clean water after 30 minutes to keep grout looking clean and new all the time.
Install an exhaust fan in the kitchen and bathroom to remove the excess moisture from the air.
Wipe stains and other marks clean as soon as possible.
Cleaning grout may certainly be a challenging task yet with the right cleaning solution, it can be easy and painless. Using cleaning solutions such as oxygen bleach will surely keep grout looking fresh and clean.
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Getting to know your food chain. The past six months have been an experiment of sorts ... one that has exchanged random shopping at the big box sprawlmart for planned trips with well thought out shopping lists. We've tried to eliminate as many boxed .. ready-made off the self items as possible. Slow at first. Now 90% of our store bought goods are in a somewhat pure unadulterated state. I.E. .. organic, single items ... brought home and fashioned into meals. Shopping in this manner
takes many months of practice. Strategy is involved. Care, love, and thought put into each dinner, lunch and breakfast. Learning to enjoy simple basic food. Practice, practice, practice until new patterns are established. Rediscovering the time and commitment involved in cooking at home. Not eating out. Making a little extra dinner to have for lunch the following day. Having a well stocked pantry and freezer affords us to make just about any meal without a trip to the store. Making do with what is on hand. Re-thinking recipes to fit what is on the pantry shelf or in the freezer. Making use of the produce we froze last fall, herbs we dried, local honey from the nearby farm .. each a treasure to use in the dead of winter.
This coming year skills will be fine tuned to become second nature. The garden will be planted with better purpose and use of space. More attention to the number of jars of pesto, salsa, beans, pickles, stewed tomatoes, etc. to tide our family from one harvest to another. Getting up front and personal with our food chain.
Do you have any goals with your food chain?
Photos: Popcorn picked last fall ... from a local u-pick farm ... eliminating the middleman and preserving quality control is a by-product of knowing your food chain.
Sowing seeds
Woo, hoo - I quickly put seeds of ruby chard, regular chard, Siberian kale, red Russian kale, Oriental giant spinach, bulbing fennel, and some various Asian greens in my cowpots late this afternoon. The heating pad felt warm; maybe the pots will warm up too and the seeds will germinate....
This is all very unscientific and hardly precise (hmm, I don't actually sound like I was trained as a scientist), but this is a celebration of February 1, and spring to come.
But it was lovely to actually poke a finger in some nice potting soil and contemplate what's to come.
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