Archives for 2014
7 Kitchen Flooring Materials to Boost Your Cooking Comfort
August 14, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Give your joints a break while you’re standing at the stove, with these resilient and beautiful materials for kitchen floors
love the look of polished concrete floors in kitchens, but concrete — along with other nonresilient floor surfaces, such as stone, ceramic and porcelain tile — can take a toll on your joints. I’ve heard complaints from many homeowners who regret putting in a hard flooring material in their kitchen because of the subsequent knee, hip or back pain they feel after standing or walking on it for a long period. Fortunately there are plenty of softer, resilient kitchen flooring types available that are as functional as they are good-looking.
Coastal Home Captures Every Inch of Ocean View
August 13, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Set on the coast of Chile, the Catch the Views House from LAND Arquitectos was designed to perfectly frame the beautiful seascape and landscape surrounding it. Volumes are stacked one atop another, like playfully stacked stones at the beach.
The exterior of the home is colored to match the stones at the beach, and the home’s volumes are arranged on the hillside in a way that lets them capture as much of the surrounding natural beauty as possible.
The home’s interior is similarly arranged around the goal of “catching the views.” Oversize windows, a long terrace, and unlimited sunshine make this coastal home almost unbelievably bright and airy.
10 Perennials to Extend Your Garden’s Summer Color
August 11, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Revive summer-weary gardens with outstanding late bloomers such as toad lily, Russian sage, blanket flower and more
When the dog days of summer get the best of your garden blooms, there’s still time to create a fetching landscape. Sure, you could head to the local garden center for mums, but if you want something less predictable, check out these no-fuss perennials that bloom with abandon — often up to frost. You’ll get color now, plus repeat performances for many autumns to come.
How to Design a Colorful Flower Bed
August 8, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Delight the eye through 3 seasons with bright flowers placed just right. Get flower bed location, shape and color ideas here
flower bed filled with masses of color to grab your attention, blooming from spring through fall — what could be better in any garden? If what you want is a flower bed filled with masses of the same plant, such as a bed of impatiens or roses, it’s easy to get it right. But if you hope to have a judicious mix of colors and shapes and flowers that will fill the space throughout the growing season, you’ll need to take some time to plan ahead and follow some basic design guidelines.
The latter part of the summer is a good time to look at your flowering beds and borders and see what is and isn’t working, especially as the plants mature, and think about the changes you might want to make. You also still have some time to tweak what’s there, adding in some late-summer and fall-blooming annuals and perennials. You can also search nurseries and garden centers for perennials to plant this fall to give them a head start for next year.
Better Places to Stash That Soap
August 7, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Banish gloppy bars and flimsy pumps, and the only things you’ll need to clean are your hands
Every bathroom needs soap next to the sink. But soap dishes can become unsightly and a breeding ground for soggy scum. The dispensers that liquid soap are sold in aren’t particularly sturdy or attractive, either. So what’s the stylish and stable alternative?
There are plenty of attractive soap dispensers out there; you simply want to match the design to the style of the room. Or find an unconventional container and adapt it to liquid soap. Or consider some ways to get that bar soap off the vanity, so the only things you’ll need to clean are your hands.