My Ideal Living Room

I want to have a living room like this?  For me Living Room is the center of attention.  It's important to maintain scale as much as possible. 

  
Today's living room are so simple, but elegant.  And take note ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY too.

Most of the houses I've visited and observed are very classical and comfortable to live in.  

And here are the trends that I observe that  make it more ideal to keep your LIVING ROOM a place for get-togethers.

• NEUTRAL COLOR SCHEME

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Shades of brown, beige, grey, and taupe will give your room a tranquil, relaxing effect.  But for it not to look "boring", you can use bright colors for your throw pillows.

• USE OF WALLPAPER

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Wallpapers give visual effect/appeal to a room.  There are so many different materials, designs, and textures to choose from.  They can also help to make the room looks larger, more elegant, brighter, or darker.

• STONE FINISHES FOR THE WOOD FLOORS, INSTEAD OF WOOD

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Granite tiles are now in because they are easier to clean and are not easy damaged by water (i.e., flooding) or terminate infestations.

• ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY

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Forget all those lamps inside your living room.  Today's living rooms have big windows, curtains made of light, breezy, material and LED lighting fixtures-all the better to make the room bright and comfy.  Airy too without damaging the household electricity bill.

How To Strip Wallpaper

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There are so different ways to strip off your wallpaper.

(1)  STRIPPABLE WALLPAPER:  Most new wallpaper in the market today are strippable.  

How to know if your wallpaper is strippable?  

First,  test a small area to see if its peel right off.  If it peels off leaving only the glue on the wall, you have easy job on it.  Meaning you have a strippable wallpaper.

Here's how to remove STRIPPABLE WALLPAPER:

TOOLS and MATERIALS 

1. Sponge
2. Hot Water
3. Broad 6" Paint Spatula(PALETTE KNIFE)
4. NEUTRALIZING SOLUTION

PROCEDURE

1. Soften first the paste underneath the paper with sponge and hot water.
2. Scrape the paper off with 6" Paint Spatula.  And remove as much as possible all the paper residue on the wall.
3. Rinse the walls with a NEUTRALIZING SOLUTION OF 1 cup vinegar mixed in 1 gallon of water.

(2)  UNSTRIPPABLE WALLPAPER: The older commercial wallpaper.  In order to remove old wallpaper you have to modify commercial wallpaper remover.

TO MAKE WALLPAPER REMOVER;

COMBINE THE FOLLOWING 

• 3 gallons of very hot water
• 1 bottle of wallpaper remover with reactive enzymes.  Label should have enzyme based.
• 1/4 cup liquid fabric softener.
• 2 tablespoon baking soda.

WALLPAPER REMOVER is more easy and less messy than steaming.  This is used only for UNSTRIPPABLE WALLPAPER or difficult to remove wall coverings.

TOOLS and MATERIALS

1. Sprayer or paint roller
2. WALLPAPER REMOVER
3. BROAD KNIFE or Paint Spatula
4. Sponge
5. Small perforation tool
6. White vinegar
7. Water

Make certain plan to move all your furniture away from the walls and better put some old newspaper or old clothes on your floor to avoid damage.

GOOD LUCK and BE SAFE!!! 

Source: RITA HUTNER info guru 

HOUSEKEEPING SECRETS

You are familiar of salt, tea, vinegar, lemon and many other all-natural substances use as housecleaning products.

Here I will share with you another secrets use in housecleaning.

COFFEE. Add coffee to your rinse cycles to keep dark clothes dark.  

You can add clothes perfume
conditioner here just to make it smells good.

BANANA SKIN.  Use to polish mildly tarnished silver items.  First you need to blend a few banana peels in some water to make a paste.  Then rub the banana on a silver with a soft cloth.  And finally wash off polish and dry with a clean cloth.  (You can also use it without blending it with water.  Just simply rub the banana peel to the silver).

CHARCOAL and RICE.  Minimize silver tarnish with rice and charcoal.  All you need is to put a few charcoal briquettes or a small bowl of rice in a cabinet where you keep your silver spoon, fork, etc.  You can put a briquette inside a silver teapot or coffee pot, this will prevent moisture from building up.

BUFF UP SCUFF MARKS WITH TOOTHPASTE.  Scuff marks are black-streaks that usually left by items that have a hard rubber bottom such as heels, hard-soled shoes, ladder, furniture, toys, and so on.  By using toothpaste put a small amount on a clean cloth, using firm, circular motions, wipe the area.  Clean it after using damp cloth and dry thoroughly.

A SPRINKLE OF BICARBONATE SODA WILL FRESHEN A CARPET.  Sprinkle soda before you vacuum.  This will remove odors and help lift stains.

HAPPY CLEANING!!!

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USES of MAYONNAISE for HOME

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Think of mayonnaise as sandwich spread.  Not anymore.  This kind of spread will help you make a good sandwich not only for food but also for HOME/HOUSEHOLD use.

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Make plant leaves shiny and healthy.  Professional florist use this kind of trick to keep houseplant leaves shiny and clean. They use paper towel with small amount of mayonnaise and rub it to the leaves gently, and you will see the brightness and shiny of the leaves over a week or even in months.

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Remove crayons marks. A simple way to remove crayon marks on wood furniture.  Rub a mayonnaise on a crayon marks and let it soak in for several minutes then wipe the surface clean with a damp cloth.

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Clean piano keys. If you see that your piano keys is turning to yellow, just clean the ivories with mayonnaise applied to a soft cloth.  Wait for a minute, wipe with damp clothes and the piano keys will look new again.

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Remove bumper sticker. Want to get rid of those bumper sticker on your car?  Well rub mayonnaise over the entire sticker.  Let it sit for several minutes and wipe it off.  The mayonnaise will dissolve the glue.

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Get road tar or pine sap from your car.  Slather some mayonnaise over the affected area.  Let it sit for several minutes.  And use soft rag to clean it.

Source: Extraordinary uses for Ordinary Things Magazine

DIY: OPEN-SHELF POTTING BENCH

Looking for a nice garden and lots of beautiful scenery inside your yard.  

Well try this DO IT YOURSELF POTTING BENCH. 

This bench is so simple to make, be sure that you have a butt joints and notches cut into 4 legs for stability, a circular saw and a straightedge guide.  

Just to give you TIP for joints using screws, drill and countersink pilot holes before securing so that it will prevent from splitting.

And finished it with two coats of Waterproofed paint or clear polyurethane to protect the timber.

HAPPY GARDENING!!!!

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Tricks on how to give new life to old furniture

Well I love household cleaning in spite of my hectic schedule.  But I would like to share this with you some tricks I've learned from my mother.  Do it yourself clean family tricks. 


HOW TO REVIVE YOUR WICKER CHAIR

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• Use vacuum cleaner -  Use the brush attachment to lift dust, dirt, and lint from woven reeds.
• Wipe clean - use a moist cloth with paint thinner.  (1) Try little amount of thinner on a moist cloth clean the part with an inconspicuous spot to make sure it will not damage the finish.  (2) But for stubborn stains, use paintbrush or old unused toothbrush moistened with thinner and  rub lightly.
• Bring up the sheen - apply some furniture wax with a clean soft cloth.

MAKE TIGHTEN THE SAGGING SEAT 

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Here is one thing I've learned from my father to save money the next time my wicker chair seats stretch and droop:

1. Make sure the chair is made from rattan or bark, not paper rushing.
2. Turn the chair upside down and wet the underside of the seat by wiping it with clean sponge soaked in warm water.  Once it wet make sure that the top of the seat is dry.  If your done with this gently push down on the damp underside and turn it upright.
3. You will see the difference, once it dried out the seat is much and more tighter.

MASK FURNITURE SCRATCHES

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• Easy and cheap way to hide scratches is to put wax crayon that match the color of your furniture wood.  Then rub tightly to blend it.

PROTECT WITHOUT FUSS

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You don't need fancy chemicals to clean and protect wooden furniture's.  In fact those product can do more harm than good. All you need is to love nature, do not use those sprayer that said to help restore the beauty of it.

• TO PROTECT WOOD: Avoid moisture by using coasters of drinks and wiping up spills immediately.  And avoid it by cleaning with water.
• DUST REGULARLY: Use a soft dry cloth.
• WAX ONCE A YEAR: Use a product such as JOHNSON'S PASTE WAX-only if the finish of the wood is intact.

*Paste wax will help protect the wood without penetrating from wet and will stop the dust from binding with the surface. Just pick a wax that matches the color of the wood.  But if the wood is cracked or the finish has rubbed away, just keep the paste altogether.