Posts Tagged ‘diy’

How To Go About Landscaping For A Pool

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Many people like the idea of having a pool in their backyard. If you do as well, you must realize that it takes either a lot of work or a lot of money to set up. Then there is the continuous maintenance of the pool and its water. If you are concerned that you will lose all of your garden, there is no need, because you can design your pool so that there is a fair bit of vegetation incorporated into it. In deed, there are many suggestions you can use when landscaping for a pool.

When landscaping for a pool, you need to have a design to work to. You can either have a tailor-made drawing drawn up for your backyard, you could make your own design or you could use one out of a periodical. There is no reason why you can not create your own blueprint. The best way to start would be to get some suggestions from landscaping publications or other household periodicals.

The best way of going about landscaping for a pool is to plot the precise size and shape of your backyard on a sheet of graph paper to scale. Plot in any immovable objects such as downpipes, a shed or septic tank. If that limits the size of your pool too much, you can have these objects moved if necessary. Nothing is impossible, but it does add to the cost. Once you have adequate space, you are ready to start planning.

Copy and adapt from drawings from magazines by all means, but if you feel that you are not up to it, have the drawing made for you. A local architect can do it, or ring up the local technical college and ask one of the lecturers or students to do it for you. It is not as expensive as you might think. If you have the drawing done for you, make sure that you have thought about what you want and make sure that the drawer knows about it.

If you prefer lots of flowers, it is best to have raised flower beds. This will prevent your flowers from spreading too far and will allow you more control. The flowers will have to be quite hardy and resistant to chemicals such as chlorine. The air will be more humid around the pool too.

You will have to have some shaded area for when it is very hot. Trees are a good idea, but they can take a very long time to grow. Palms look fantastic by a pool, but some species can take five years to grow high enough. You could check out the possibilities of planting semi-mature trees or look for faster-growing varieties. In the meanwhile, you could set up a grass-roofed lean-to or some umbrellas.

Lighting is also an important consideration. The pool ought to be floodlit at night to prevent people falling into it at night; but not only for that reason, it looks good as well. Accent lighting on the plants and trees really brings atmosphere to the pool and these lamps can be solar powered so that you can move them around when you want to.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is at present concerned with outdoor accent lighting. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Outdoor Wall Lamps.

Transforming Your Garage Into An Art Studio

Monday, July 5th, 2010

If you have a garage that is just used to store a bunch of old junk and you have an artistic interest in drawing or painting – you have an awesome opportunity awaiting you! If you really want to put in the effort to transform your garage into an art studio, it’s time to get rid of all that junk or find a new place to store it.

By utilizing the space in the garage, you will have ample room for all of your supplies and equipment, and you won’t have to constantly move your art supplies from room to room, as you would if you tried to use some space inside the house. When your intention is to transform your garage into an art studio, it’s important to take the time to educate yourself about the process in advance.

One thing that you will want to keep in mind is how you are going to set everything up. You may want to make a list of materials that you are going to need such as easels, drop cloths, and other important things that will help you to be able to express your creativity. Once you have you list made out you will be able to start thinking about where everything is going to go.

Think about how you want to be set up in the room – where you want to face and where you want to stand. For example, if your garage has windows you might want to look out of, or if you want to face the door, those are things to take into consideration.

Transforming your garage into your own art studio is a large project, but if you use some forethought, you will be able to get the work done efficiently. You can be confident that your finished art studio will be conducive to creativity, by making the necessary preparations, including making a list of needed items, and deciding where they will be arranged.

Would you be interested to learn more about patios such as stone patio ideas? If you are, please take a look at my website Backyard Patio Design Ideas.

Using Discount Lighting In Your Home Decor

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Lighting is the one, single most important means of altering the atmosphere of any room. Therefore, it stands to reason that if you improve the lighting and appearance of your house, its value will also rise. Lighting improves any decor. However, you do not have to use expensive lighting, budget or discount light is just as good in many cases.

There are thousands of kinds of lighting, at least one of which will go well with the type of decor that you have. Lighting is best kept subtle. Up lighting, down lighting and back lighting are fantastic ways of lighting up objects in a room. The days of one pendant lamp hanging from a rose in the centre of the ceiling are long gone so if you do have to have one, at least put a dimmer on it.

Using many lights in place of one powerful light does not have to be more expensive. Typically, the one powerful light was a 100 watt bulb, so you could have four 20 watt wall lights and still save 20% on electricity. Or you could use one 40 watt bulb in a standard floor lamp or table lamp for reading or working and save 60% on your lighting bill.

Besides the savings, a wrought iron floor or table lamp is far more beautiful that a hanging light. How about candelabra? You could make use of candelabra to startling effect, whether you use candles in them or small light bulbs.

Candles have made a big return too. Many people use candles for subsidiary or even back-up lighting and candelabra are one of the hottest latest trends. Interior designers are buying them up antique shops and painting them bright colours. You can see them in the photos of the houses of many celebrities. A lot of people use candelabra in conjunction with aromatherapy too.

Another aspect of lighting is security. A well-lit house is less likely to be burgled than a dingy house. Outside lighting can also play a key role in security measures. External lighting that is controlled by movement or heating sensors to switch them on are the best means of discouraging burglars.

External lighting is the best deterrent, but it can also be beautiful. Back or up lighting on a water fall, a pond or a beautiful arrangement of plants or bushes is amazing in the dark. Spotlights have a role to play in lighting up garden plants as well.

If you would like to give your fish free, organic meat to eat, put a floodlight or even an ultraviolet light at the pond side. If you switch it on for a few hours after dusk, hundreds of flies, moths and mosquitoes will be drawn to it and fall into the water, where your fish will be waiting for them.

You can have a lot of fun with lighting and the possibilities are infinite. Both indoor and outdoor lighting can increase the beauty of your home and garden, but they also have functional uses: they enable you to see what you are doing and what other people are doing, which is why they are a good deterrent. Good lighting also makes anyone living alone feel more secure.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several subjects, but is at present concerned with researching wrought iron floor lamps. If you would like to know more or check out great offers, please go to our website at Wrought Iron Light


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