Place | South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

25 Feb

Renovation Pitfalls: Decorating Your Bathroom

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

I have always found the bathroom to be one of the most difficult rooms to decorate because of the unique atmosphere, and I am not just talking after taco night.

The bathroom is hit with a high amount of humidity on a daily basis. We use hot water to take our showers, some people have laundry facilities in the bathroom, and my little kids love their bath time. The steam covers the walls with little droplets, and more than a little water gets sloshed out of my children’s bath and onto the floor and walls.

You need to take this into account when decorating a bathroom. You can’t put up some random paint or wallpaper and expect everything to go according to plan. Here are some of the biggest pitfalls with bathroom decorating.

Water: When you have small children, bath time is more than just their time to play. It’s also quiet time for Mommy and Daddy. They splash water all over the floor and around the tub. If you have any fabric or paper decorations, then they will get soaked. I once had a fabric covered Kleenex box… well, not any more.

Untreated wood or wood that has been cut may begin to rot because of the barrage of water. I once made the mistake of cutting a vent hole into a sink cabinet. A few months of daily splashing later, and the wood began to soften and rot where the water hit the untreated part of the wood. I ended up getting a new cabinet.

Humidity: Hanging wallpaper in areas of high humidity is a difficult job. The problem isn’t putting up the wallpaper. It’s putting it up again and again because of the peeling from humidity. Standard wallpaper that you would put up in a living room isn’t meant for humidity. The glue that holds it to the wall can heat up and soon, panels start peeling. Make sure the wallpaper you buy is rated for use in the bathroom.

It’s also not a good idea to use a cheaply made water-based latex paint for the bathroom. The humidity can break down the paint, and soon you have pieces chipping off and peeling left and right.

Mold: The most disgusting and potentially most dangerous problem about decorating in the bathroom is the spread of mold. Mold loves warm, damp places, and there is no better place in the home for mold growth than the bathroom. It can start growing up your walls, around the crevices of your tile and on rotting wood. You can help solve the problem by using paint that discourages mold growth and by occasionally cleaning the bathroom with a water-bleach mixture. The bleach kills the mold, but be careful. Inhaling the bleach fumes can cause severe respiratory problems.

The bathroom can be a beautiful place, but make sure that you take the proper precautions, or else you could end up with a watery mess.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/ms-ito/2543809132

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23 Dec

The Trials and Errors of the Do-It-Yourselfer

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

Being a do-it-yourselfer isn’t an easy task, and sometimes we get labeled as “Tim the Toolman Taylor.” All because we didn’t do every little thing on the repair correctly and got a little shock, started a small fire and ended up in the emergency room… again.

Why do we do it? There are many reasons. It could be that we believe the home is our castle and we should be responsible for taking care of it. It could be we are just too cheap to call that plumber, or we like to learn new things and home repair is a great place for learning. There is nothing quite as fulfilling as finishing up a repair and seeing it work, whether it’s putting in a new ceiling fan or unclogging the toilet. It’s a victory, and in life, there are far too few of those.

There is also nothing as disappointing as spending hours on a project only to have it not work or, even worse, break something else. I think we have all blown our share of fuses because we overloaded it with “too many” electrical components.

There are basically two types of do-it-yourselfers: the ones who know what they’re doing, and the ones who are feeling their way as they go. My dad knew how to do everything. If there was any repair work, from shingling the house or fixing the stove to unfreezing water pipes, then my dad had it covered. If he didn’t know how to do it, then he knew someone who did. We’d invite them over, and my dad and he would work on it together, and my mom would cook an amazing meal as a thank you for helping us out.

I am pretty skilled myself when it comes to home repair, thanks to years of watching my dad, but I still make mistakes, and sometimes I get in a little over my head. I had several friends from college who where suburban kids and never so much as lifted a hammer in their lives, and when they got older and bought homes, they decided to become do-it-yourselfers.

God bless them. They are committed, and over the years, they have made their mistakes and learned many lessons along the way… sometimes the hard way. This people are what being a do-it-yourselfer is all about. To them, it’s not a job or a project, it’s an adventure. I am always ready to help out a friend who has taken on a project and maybe has gotten a little lost or started that small fire.

Whatever the reason, these repairs are stories. Stories that you can tell your friends, children and grandchildren years later. They will love to hear about the time Grandpa accidentally took out the power for the whole neighborhood. What may seem like a disaster or a nightmare at the time becomes an anecdote years down the line. I have my stories, and my children have heard several already, my wife has made sure of that.

My advice for the intrepid do-it-yourselfer this holiday season is this: Whatever happens, don’t give up. Call in the professionals when you need to, but don’t be afraid to tackle it on your own. At the very least, it will make for a great story.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/jsmjr/44753468

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19 May

Overseeding a Lawn

Author: admin // Category: Tips

Overseeding a Lawn

The goal of most lawn mavens is to show a thick, lush cover of green foreground, welcoming any and all to a home where one cares greatly about his appearance. I could make a long, long list of guys and gals to whom this means something magical and serves a vital role in their well-being. Sure, some are a bit “out there” and darn near obsessive with it all. It happens!

In the end, a lush lawn is, by any criterion, gorgeous to look at and improves such things as air quality and the maintenance of dust control for a home. What we often overlook in the maintenance end of any lawn is a certain “tired” nature a lawn can acquire after a period of years. It is for this reason the entire notion of “overseeding” takes place. An informed sprinkling of grass seed over an existing lawn is never something to overlook. It is one chore which may be the easiest of all toward maintaining a healthy lawn. It also allows the introduction of new species of seed to augment or to ameliorate existing conditions, leading to an improved stand of grass lawn. Whether we are looking for an improved substance to walk on or one which may be, say, more disease resistant, overseeding allows this function.

Typically, overseeding commences with a real low mowing of the existing lawn – at a severely low setting. Seed is then sprinkled over the entire lawn, with some manual raking with a grass rake to follow. This “bedding” of the seeds allows contact with soil and some protection from elements while the germination period transpires. It also allows a couple of weeks between mowings, which we would do without a catcher.

Naturally, watering the new seeds is required on a very regular basis, either by one’s own devices or by rain. But attention to this detail is fairly vital. In the end, what one finds is a far lusher stand of lawn than before, with an improved top, lush as when it was initially installed, if not more so. A gradual shifting from here can tale place, in terms of the grass chosen. Bear in mind many types of grass combine exceptionally well.

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28 Oct

Simple Landscaping Ideas

Author: admin // Category: landscaping ideas, Tips

Simple Landscaping Ideas

Home is where your heart is. It is the place to go when you want to relax, have fun and do what you want. You will want every place in your home to be attractive – just the way you want it. This applies to your yard as well, and considering that your surroundings affect the way you feel, the appearance of your yard is of great importance.

Landscaping is an art. It is a place that contributes to the tranquility of your surroundings. Landscaping helps you achieve the aesthetic quality you desire for your garden and/or yard.

Landscaping does not need to be done by a professional design team. That is the beauty of it. You and your family, including your children can help assist in designing your surroundings for a more family type environment.

Here are some ideas to start you off.

You might want a garden, full of blossoming flowers, something that encircles your whole house. This is great since it will serve as the perimeter for your landscaping project.

Other ideas include assigning spots for other family members. Your children will want a play area where they can run and play with their friends. You might consider planting a shade tree to protect them from the harmful effects of extended exposure to the sun.

Another point to consider is an area your older children (or you and your spouse!) can use to play sports, grill some steaks or just relax in a chair and get the tan you desire. This is an important feature for your yard because you can consider it a place where you have fun and just relax.

Other areas should also be reserved for drying your clothes (if you choose not to use a dryer, for trash cans, and for your pets. These areas should be as close as possible to your house for easy access.

To be more artistic and aesthetically appealing, be prepared to use basic landscaping materials such as rocks, pebbles, trees, lawn and fences. These will help you achieve the view you want people to see and the functionality that a basic yard needs.

Perhaps a good thing to remember when designing your own yard is that you and other members of your family have artistic capabilities too. Remember that your homes yard requires a familys touch so youll be proud to say that you have created your own yard.

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