Posts Tagged ‘home care’
Kitchen Flooring
December 8, 2011 | 
Author Dear readers! Kitchen is the most important part of every home. Nowadays everybody wish to cook in modular kitchen since it is equipped with all the modern appliances which would help them to complete their cooking process with comfort and fun. Many people have started renovating their kitchen in order to provide an elegant look. We can easily convert the look of the kitchen by changing its flooring. It would change the complete appearance of your kitchen and make them great. When it comes to kitchen flooring options, there are too many types.
According to your home theme you can pick up the suitable kitchen flooring option. But you should consider two important factors before choosing the flooring option for your kitchen, one is durability and another one is ability. These are the two significant things which would be considered as must before going for a kitchen flooring option. Because as you all know kitchen is one of the busiest parts of every house, so the flooring should be easy to clean and maintain. In these days there are various kinds of materials are available regards with kitchen flooring, find out the right type to change the ambience of your kitchen.
Posted in Flooring | 
Tags: floor covering, flooring, home care, home improvement, interior design ideas, kitchen flooring | 
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Sew tabs with café curtains
A method more usually associated with café curtains is to sew tabs along the top edge for the pole to go through. Make up the basic curtain first. The length will be from a point about 7.5cm below the rod to the bottom point of the finished curtain. Add 15cm for a double 7.5cm bottom hem, and 2.5 cm for a top hem. Café curtains should not be too full, so 1 ½ times the width of the pole is ample. Add 10cm for a double 2.5cm hem at each side. Café curtain look best from the outside if they are lined – bagged type of lining works well. Make up the curtains except for the top edge. Make the tabs from the same fabric as the curtains. Cut enough tabs to fit at 15cm intervals along the width of the curtain. Measure the circumference of the pole; add on a total of 2.5cm for seam allowances and another 5cm for movement.
This will be the length of the piece of material to cut for each tab. The finished width will be about 6 or 7cm, so double that for the two sides and add 2.5cm for seam allowances. Fold each piece in two along its length, right sides together, without creasing the fold. Sew along the seam 1.5cm in from the edge. Open out the seam and press it. Turn the tab inside out, position the seam down the center of the tab, and press down the side folds. Press towards each other by 2.5cm. Pin the tabs 15cm apart and ensure that all the raw edges are enclosed allow a 1.25cm seam allowances at each end of the tab. Try the curtain on the pole to see that all the tabs lie comfortably. Then remove it and stitch along the top edge of the curtain so that the tabs are fixed in place and the top edge is closed.
Café Curtains
Café curtains are an attractive and well established way of dressing a window. They fit over the bottom half of the window which gives privacy to people sitting in the room, traditionally, of course to diners eating at café tables. At the same time they let in daylight through the top half of the window. In some circumstances you could consider them as an alternative to net curtains. Café curtains look especially good on sash windows where the frame is divided by a horizontal bar. The curtains can be fitted to the height of this bar for a neat visual effect. You could consider hanging café curtains with a matching pelmet. There are many ways of making café curtains.
Most types fit into two end sockets, after the curtain is hung on it, or you can use other arrangements. A d-i-y or department store should be able to provide you with a good range of rods and fittings. One of the simplest methods is to attach clip-on rings through which the pole is slotted. You make up the curtain in the usual way, but also turn down the top heading into a double hem, forming mitered corners there too. Then clip on the rings at regular intervals across the top. Or you can sew large curtain rings along the top edge, at intervals of about 10cm, with a neat buttonhole stitch. Again, the top hem should be completed first in the same way as the bottom hem. A cased heading is the next easiest method and suitable for sheer fabrics.
Staying Organized
After you have begun to organize your home and life, you must maintain your organizational efforts or risk ending up right back where you started. The tips in this passage will show you how to stay organized as you go forward. In order to keep your momentum going, adopt these strategies for keeping your home the way you want it.
Keep get rid of Clutter
There are some ways that help you how to identify and deal with clutter in various areas of your home. To continue your organizational efforts, periodically go through your entire home and distinguish between the belongings you need or want and items that can be thrown away, donated filed, or put into storage. If an item hasn’t been used in several months or years and has no importance or sentimental value, get rid of it!
Change your behavior
Figure out what’s causing the clutter in your home and take steps to eliminate the mess. For example, when you get undressed at night, instead of throwing your dirty clothing on the floor, place the clothes directly in a laundry hamper. Remember, clutter comes in many different forms. After you’ve identified the cluttered areas of your home, figure out the causes and address the underlying issues.
Make a proper place for everything
After you decide where something belongs, you’ll have little trouble finding it, so establish a home for everything in your house. As soon as you’re done using the tool, piece of paper, or any other object, make sure you put it back in its proper place. Adopting this practice not only helps you stay organized, it also greatly reduces the amount of time you will spend cleaning your home in the future.
Posted in General Home Tips | Tags: home care, home maintenance, home tasks, small tasks in home, suggestions to maintain home, tips | No Comments »
Bedspreads and Valances
The traditional bedspread offers an almost limit less range of design possibilities. The instructions here cover a variety of types from a simple throw over bed spread to more complicate fitted styles. By adapting them you will be able to achieve exactly the effect you want, whether you are designing your bedspread or copying one from a magazine or shop display. A valance covers the base of the bed when a duvet or a half-length throw over bedspread is used. It can be made from the same material as the sheets and duvet cover, probably polyester cotton sheeting in the same or a contrasting color or a heavier fabric.
The part of the valance that covers the base of the bed under the mattress is never seen, so it can be made from lining fabric, calico, or a piece of old sheeting as long as it is not worn. If it stretched out right to the sides of the bed it might just be visible between the mattress and the base, so it is surrounded by a narrow border in the same fabric as the sides. There are various styles a simple gathered frill, box-pleats, or kick pleats at the corners of a straight-sided valance. It can go all round the bed or just round the sides and bottom if the head of the bed is against a wall.
Duvet cover and Cot Lining
By comparison, making an outer cover for the duvet is simple. Buy polyester/cotton sheeting as large as the duvet, adding a 10cm margin to both the width and length to avoid restricting the duvet itself. Sew it round the top and two sides making a French seam. Turn in the allowance at the bottom edge into a double 2cm seam, stitch up about 10cm at each side and attach poppered tape or Velcro to close the opening.
Cot Lining
Washable and reversible cotton/polyester quilting is by far the best material for lining a cot as its padding will prevent the baby hurting itself against the cot bars, and it will keep out draughts. You will need fabric to go round the four sides of the cot but it need not go right up to the top of the bars about 30cm high is easily enough to protect a baby’s head. The base of the cot lining goes under the mattress so it can be made from lining material, calico or other washable left-over fabric. You will also need 2.5m of ribbon to match the quilting. Cut the fabric for the four sides and the base, including seam allowances of 1.25cm. Join the two short ends to one of the long sides so that the right side of the seams will face in towards the cot. Trim the seams, press them and cover them with binding to neaten them. Also bind the raw edges of the two end pieces and round the top edge. Sew the base to these three sides, right side of quilting to under side of the base – all the raw edges will eventually be hidden by the mattress. Turn the structure so that the seams are inside. Then deal with the remaining long side, first binding its side and top edges and then sewing it to the open edge of the base, wrong sides together. The fourth side has to be unattached, except at the base, so that when the side of the cot is let down it doesn’t get in the way. Cut the ribbon into 12 equal lengths and attach six in three pairs down each long side of the cot lining at each corner and at or near the middle to correspond with a cot bar. The ribbons are tied round the bars to keep the lining in place.
Posted in Soft Furnishings | Tags: bed room decor, bedding, decorating your home, home care, home maintenance | No Comments »
Duvet
You may think it worthwhile to make your own duvet only if you have an unusually large bed. Alternatively you may want to convert an old eiderdown but you will have to supplement the filling as an equivalent duvet needs more down. The duvet consists of a channeled bag filled with goose or duck down, feathers or synthetic material. Goose down is considered the best and most luxurious because it is the lightest, but synthetic filling is the cheapest, easiest to handle and is washable.
The bag is divided into compartments to keep the feathers evenly distributed. Its light weight and flexibility enable it to sink around the sleeper’s body, eliminating pockets of cold air and providing perfect insulation. You can buy the type of filling you prefer from a good upholstery supplier. The fabric used for the duvet itself must down proof cambric which is waxed on one side to stop the sharp quills poking through. The cambric is covered by a second bag which is taken for washing. To decide upon the size of the duvet, measure the bed from top to bottom and from side to side. Add at least 20cm at the bottom of the bed for the overhang, and at least 40cm to the width measurement for the overhang at the two sides.
It relies on its weight to seal up the gaps at the side of the bed and it you have insufficient overhang; you may well find that the edges are not sealed. To all these measurements add a further 2.5cm at the top, bottom and both sides for the seam turnings. Cut two pieces of cambric to these measurements. Sew them with French seams around the two sides and top. If the cambric is too small to make the bag from one width, sew widths together using a French seam, joining right sides together first. Trim the seam turnings turn the bag inside out and machine sews round the seams again.
Posted in Bedding | Tags: decorating your home, home care, home maintenance, soft furnishings | No Comments »
Bordered Pillowcase
Again, you will have to make this type of pillowcase from three pieces of material. The bottom piece should be the width and length of the pillow plus 8cm for turnings, and room for getting the pillow in and out. The top should have an extra 14cm added to the width and length which allows for borders of 6cm and a total of 2cm of turnings. The pocket section should be the width of the bottom section and 16cm deep. First machine sew a narrow hem along one of the short ends of the bottom piece, then along one of the long ends of the pocket.
Fold under all the edges of the larger top piece by 1cm and press down another 7cm. Miter the corners and sew down the mitering to form a neat border. Take the pocket piece and, with wrong sides together, slip the raw edges between the folded borders at one end. Tack it and then machine-zigzag only along the long edge. Now place the prepared bottom section on the top piece, wrong sides together, so that the hem is at the pocket end. Insert all the raw edges evenly between the borders. Tack them in position and zigzag stitch to finish. All the raw edges are thus hidden within the border. If you want the border to be in a contrasting material cut four strips the length of the pillow plus twice the depth of the border, plus 1cm for two 1cm turnings.
Each piece should be about 14cm wide. The top and bottom sections of the case will have the same dimensions this time. Fold the strips in half lengthwise, and miter and stitch the corners, right sides together. Turn and press the border, and slip it between the prepared main sections of the pillow case. the inside edges of this version will be raw so you should machine zigzag them or overcast them by hand. Instead of fabric strips you could use lengths of rushed lace and slip a single layer of it between the top and bottom of the pillowcase.
Posted in Soft Furnishings | Tags: home care, home improvement, home maintenance, small tasks in home | No Comments »
Measuring the Window
The first job is to measure up for the curtains. Take a notebook and pencil to the window, together with a rule and a chair or stepladder for standing on. A meter stick or an extending steel rule is useful. Sketch a picture of the window on your notepad and determine how far on each side, and above and below, the curtain should extend. First the height above, which will be where the track will fit. If the window is extremely small, 8cm will be sufficient. If the window is slightly larger, say one meter or more in depth, and then a distance of 12cm will be approximately right for the position of the track. Determine the finished width of the track.
Remember that if the window is wide you will need more space at each side for containing the curtain when it is drawn back. If you have chosen to fit the track 12cm above the window, then a distance of 12cm on each side will be appropriate. If the window is smaller, and the track lower, it should extend less at the sides. Lastly work out the length of the curtain. Put a small pencil mark on the wall below the sill at the point where you think the bottom of the curtain should hang. Again, 12cm or a little more below the window will be about right. If the curtains are to hang in a recess, let them fall to about 1cm above the recess. Floor length curtains should hang about 1cm above the floor.
Posted in Decorating Decisions | Tags: decorating your home, decorations, do it yourself, home care, home improvement, window coverage, window decor | No Comments »
Tracks and Fittings
There is a bewildering array of curtain track fittings hanging system, and manufacturers change their ranges often. So the best way to choose is to study the range of tracks currently available. Your choice will depend on your decorating scheme, on the type of heading and on the weight of the fabric. These will dictate the style and material of the track it might be aluminum, plastic, brass, brass plated metal, or wood. You might prefer a pole which would look elegant in some period settings, especially when used to carry full length curtains in a large room. If you prefer the convenience of a track but the appearance of a pole, there is available a half-section pole which conceals a track mechanism. If you are using a pelmet, a board will probably be essential to carry the weight, but a valance can be carried on a curtain track.
Tracks are available that can be bent to follow the contours of the area, such as a bay or dormer window. For a dormer window, a continuation of the track round the sides allows you to draw the curtain completely away from the window in order to let in as much light as possible. If you prefer detachable linings, you may find it useful to install the type of track which takes a special kind of hooked glider on which you can hang both the curtain and the lining. Most manufacturers make a system for opening and closing the curtains with a single pulled cord which will save the fabric from handling. You should also consider this if the curtains are very tall or heavy. It is possible to install an electrically operated opening and closing system. if you are to close and open the curtains by hand, you can fit rods to the inner edge hooks to avoid handling and possibly soiling the curtain fabric itself. Or you can fit a tasseled draw-cord.
Posted in Curtains and Blinds | Tags: decorating your home, decorations, home care, home maintenance, interior design ideas, window coverage, window decor | No Comments »