Archives for 2021

You likely keep your home as clean as you like, picking up clutter and cleaning the truly dirty areas, like the kitchen and bathrooms, on a regular basis. However, no matter how attentively you tidy up and wipe down your home, it could still be a toxic environment if you have the following common items in your home:

Carpet

Brand-new carpet is no small investment, and it can do wonders to make one’s home feel clean, fresh and cozy. Unfortunately, brand-new carpet is also one of the most significant sources of toxins in the home. Often called “new car smell,” the odor that accompanies brand new carpet is actually volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which are gases that can irritate the skin, eyes and throat and cause damage to the respiratory and nervous systems. Worse, long-term exposure to VOCs can have exceedingly serious health effects, like certain types of cancer. VOCs are used in the adhesive that secures carpet fibers to its backing, so it isn’t possible for homeowners to wash them away.; though VOC off-gassing can diminish over time, carpet VOCs might never disappear entirely.

Ripping out your carpet and replacing it with a different type of flooring can help, but you need to be careful of the type of flooring you choose. Laminate and vinyl flooring can be just as bad at emitting VOCs as carpet. Tile and natural wood floors are your best options for keeping indoor toxin levels low.

Paint

Indoor paint color trends change every year, and many homeowners repaint regularly to keep their interiors feeling fresh. Unfortunately, doing so is certainly introducing excess toxins into the indoor air, which can make a home feel unclean and unhealthful, even if it looks on trend.

Like carpets, paint contains high quantities of VOCs, which in this case act as solvents to keep the colored pigments mixed with the other ingredients. VOCs are the reason pregnant people are advised to avoid painting the nursery; some VOCs can affect the reproductive system, resulting in miscarriage, early labor, birth defects and other issues.

Greater awareness of VOCs has led some paint companies to create low- and no-VOC products, but you should be careful to investigate exactly what that means. It might be better to use more natural paints and pigments, like milk paint and chalk paint, which have never contained VOCs, or wallpaper, as long as you use a VOC-free adhesive.

Furniture and Mattresses

The most dominant items in your interior décor could be major sources of indoor toxins. Typically, furniture undergoes extensive manufacturing processes, which oven subject it to all sorts of chemicals that can off-gas VOCs into the home. Wood furniture, for example, can contain pesticides, adhesives, stains and sealants that emit VOCs. Couches, cushioned chairs and mattresses can contain foams and synthetic fabrics that are similarly toxic, and they also tend to be sprayed down with VOC-producing fire retardants.

The solution here is the same as before: Get rid of furniture that could be toxifying your home and replace it with pieces that are known to avoid VOCs. You can find non-toxic mattresses that utilize natural materials to provide comfort, but doing the same with other pieces of furniture might be more difficult. You might see if your mattress manufacturer offers furniture options as well, which is the case with larger natural and sustainable brands.

Candles and Air Fresheners

You don’t want your home to smell stale or stinky, so you probably light scented candles to generate more pleasing aromas. Though there is little evidence that burning wax is dangerous to human health, the scents used in these products often involve VOCs, particularly formaldehyde and benzene, which can irritate the skin and respiratory system. For this reason, you should avoid plug-in air fresheners as well. An essential oil diffuser is your best choice for healthfully scenting your home, but you should be careful to use essential oils properly to avoid negative effects from this source.

Cookware

When you cook a meal from home, you usually want it to be a combination of delicious and nutritious — but if you are using non-stick pots and pans, you could be introducing toxins into your food. The chemical that prevents adhesion to pots and pans — called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) — wears off into food over time. Studies show that it causes damage to the liver, thyroid and immune system.

Fortunately, there is a wealth of alternatives to non-stick cookware. You can use stainless steel, glass, ceramic or iron pots and pans to avoid PFOA in your kitchen.

You might think your home is clean, but there are some clear signs that your home is filled with toxic chemicals. If your eyes, skin and respiratory system are regularly irritated or if you suffer from chronic dizziness or headaches, you might look into replacing any of the above products around your home with safer, healthier alternatives.

The living room rug can be a game changer on how the space looks and feels. It can either sit in harmony with the room or make a big statement to add a whole new vibe to the living area. Whether you are looking to give your living room a quick spring refresh, or starting from scratch and looking for inspiration, we have many gorgeous living room rug ideas to spruce up your space.

Living room rugs have many useful practical attributes. These natural insulators cut down on draught and heating bills. Besides being soft and comfortable underfoot, rugs soften footfall and absorb noise. And when it comes to style, what better way than rugs to add colour, pattern, and texture to your living room space?

Here are some trendy living room rug ideas that you can seek inspiration from. There are lots of rugs online sellers that you can from and you can use the following guides to design your space:

1. Layer Up Your Living Room Rugs

Layering rugs is an easy and inexpensive way to add some textures and patterns to a living room. The key is to choose a large area rug in a neutral shade, made of sturdy material like jute that will ground the subsequent rugs you put on top. Then, add layers with either a small single rug in the centre, or multiple overlapping rugs.

2. Choose An Area Rug to Work With Your Layout

Pick an area rug as a starting point and design your living room furniture layout based around the rug. Use the rug as walls and float the furniture around that rather than pushing them all against the edges. Allow breathing room between the furniture pieces so that there’s more light flowing around the space. Make sure the rug is placed centrally and it’s big enough to sit your furniture fully or partially.

3. Use Rugs to Create Zones

For a large or open-plan living room space, you can use rugs to zone your space. Basically, instead of partitions, you throw down different rugs with different vibes to lend a separate feeling to each space. For example, if your living room, kitchen and dining table share an open-plan space, add in a rug to the living room space to give it a separate feeling. Highlight the kitchen area with a low pile runner and use an area rug under your dining table.

4. Use A Corner Sofa And A Rug To Create A Nook

A great décor idea for open plan living rooms. Position a corner sofa atop a rug that’s slightly bigger in size, instantly creating the effect of a cosy nook within the larger room. Add a small coffee table in the centre, and voila you have your mini living room!

5. Let Your Rug Decide The Colour Scheme

If you’ve got your eyes on a colourful rug, go for it and decide the colour scheme of the rest of the space based on the rug. You could also use a rug featuring bold patterns as a contrast to a neutral living room. Team it up with furnishings in accent colours to add a punch.

There is no doubt about it that wintertime is one of the more difficult periods within a year to try and move. Many factors need to be kept in mind during the winter, plus having to move around and pack your belongings in the cold doesn’t help your case either. Most moves, whether it be long-distance, short distance, or even a business moving, are all in the summer months. It tends to be easier and far more predictable to move in the summer months thanks to the weather and the fact that it’s much warmer outside.

November through February are the months that tend to be off-peak for moving companies. This means that it can be fairly more affordable to move, and it’s far easier to find some reliable moving services to assist you in your journey. These tips will help you and your family out when moving during the winter season. 

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Keep your winter wear close

Whenever you’re packing up your belongings, you’ll want to make sure you know where all of your winter wear is located. This includes sweaters, hats, gloves, coats, and anything else to keep you warm during the move. You’ll want to make sure that you have all of your winter clothes readily available so it may be best to have those packed up last so you know where they are at all times.

Stock up on winter supplies

When it comes to winter weather, there is no telling when you may be stuck in the snow, in rain, or some type of nasty weather. You should always keep some items well-stocked in your cars such as a first aid kit, space blankets, salt, shovel, and an extra cell phone to call for help. While it may not be likely that you’ll be stranded in your car, you should always look for ways to be prepared in case an emergency hits.

Cover your floors

Whether it’s snowy outside, or all wet and muddy from the rain, you’ll want to avoid trailing that inside your home. To combat this, you can lay out some plastic tarp to walk on, a trail of cardboard, or even place everything outside on a tarp. It’s important that your floors stay protected so it’s best to try your best to avoid anything getting on them. It can be tricky achieving this during the winter months.

Make sure your utilities are turned off

Just right before you move, it’s best to get your utilities turned off at your old home and have the new home be fully functional with utilities. This also includes making sure that any storage units you were using get cleared out. The last thing you’ll want to deal with is arriving at your new home in the middle of winter and there isn’t any electricity. So it’s best to be sure that once you arrive, your new home is fully functional. It can sometimes take up to a couple of days, so be sure to plan out everything accordingly.

You are unlikely to spend a lot of time in your garden during the winter. Additionally, your garden will require less attention due to the cooler temperature and lack of plants that may thrive. However, now could be a good time to start thinking about cleaning up your garden before winter so that you don’t have as much work on your hands come spring. It’s natural that you don’t want to spend too much money, particularly at this time of year, so check out these suggestions for how to care for your garden before winter arrives.

Protect your wood

Water seeping into cracks, freezing, and breaking the wood may swiftly affect and destroy hardwood furnishings and decks in cold weather. Water softens wood, which causes it to decay, which is a huge nuisance if you’ve invested a lot of time and resources on your garden. Rather than sitting back and watching things happen, invest in some hardwood varnish to reduce the likelihood of having to replace it the next year. This will allow water to flow off rather than sit on your hardwood surfaces, leaving your furniture and decks looking like new for next year. It’s also a smart idea to cover wooden furniture with tarps throughout the winter to protect it even more.

Bring the heat

If there’s a chance you will be entertaining in your garden over the winter, whether it’s for a family tradition or for bonfire night, you’ll need to keep everyone warm. Why not look at fire pits for sale to gently burn and keep people warm? They’re cosy, super useful for heating snacks, and they look great too. It’s a no brainer.

Rather than replacing, repair

It’s reasonable that as Christmas approaches, you don’t want to spend money on replacing any damaged parts of your yard. Paving and concrete can deteriorate and even break as a result of use and weather conditions. Re-enforce this by hiring paving contractor Lubbock to touch up the concrete.

Prevention is key

Weeds are a hassle, and you probably won’t want to spend more time in your garden digging them out in the winter. Preventing weeds from growing is a smart way to solve this problem, and weed killer can be found in almost any home store or supermarket these days. Your garden will look as fantastic as it normally does after a fast spray treatment.

Conduct a last clean-up.

Finally, as has been said several times today, you will not want to spend too much time gardening during the winter months. As a result, you should conduct a last clean-up of your garden to avoid having to do so. It involves giving your grass, bushes, and trees a last trim, removing dead plants, making sure fallen leaves don’t litter your yard, and even refreshing your bird feeder so the birds don’t go starved this winter. As a result, you can relax and enjoy the celebrations without worrying about your garden!