Kitchen cabinets add a dimension to the home that is enjoyed by all the family, and the reason that so much care should go into the choice of kitchen cabinets is that there are so many variables. This article covers all the elements to be aware of when picking your kitchen cabinets, and helps the consumer to make wise choices, bearing in mind likes and dislikes, though going further than that to cover what contributes to successful choices.

We plan a kitchen layout possibly once or twice in a lifetime, and it is the planning stages that lead to the successful choice of kitchen cabinets. There are so many variables that need to be taken into account. This article is written to address the variables and to help the buyer to make a wise choice, bearing in mind the size of kitchen, the space available for cabinets, and also the incorporation of appliances to blend in with their cabinet choice. It also covers costs as budget does matter to those choosing to replace the cabinets which make their kitchen updated and stylish, functional and within a price range which is affordable.

*Planning.
*Dead areas.
*Accessories.
*Storage.
*A ppliances.
*Finish
*Weaknesses to look out for.

PLANNING

In the planning stages, making a graph of the layout of your kitchen is essential. Many professional kitchen installers will present you with different layouts, though having the basic measurements written down is essential. Here, mark where there are doors which open into the kitchen, since these impede the installation of cabinets close to them. Take note of where the windows are, since this matters to the installation of cabinets for the wall area. Look at where you are likely to want a cooker hood over a hob, since this also changes the amount of space required for the choice of cabinets.

Mark out the area which is available for cabinets, without getting in the way of fixtures and features you have no control over. Mark also the areas where you have existing electricity supply, and where you need more power points before buying cabinets. In drawing out a plan, it is wise to make two plans on the same piece of paper, one showing lower cabinets, and one showing the wall mounted cabinets. Before deciding which areas should have fitted cabinets, also look at what you wish to incorporate into the kitchen as free standing items such as fridges need their space as well and you may wish to incorporate existing ones. If this is the case, measure them, and allow for this in your plans.

When faced with the empty space between four walls, it is difficult to know where to start an interior decorating project. An empty room is similar to a blank canvas, but like the painter who stares at the matte white surface, a designer needs to know what they want to create. It’s the same for any homeowner trying to start a room. Often people begin by choosing a piece of furniture they like, only to discover upon delivery that it is too

traditional, too contemporary, or not at all what they wanted for their interior decorating design. Without a clear idea of the type of room they want to develop, a homeowner ends up with a complicated mix of objects, lamenting the loss of the masterpiece they had hoped to create.

As any artist will tell you, creating a masterpiece takes time and some inspiration. Creating an interior requires the same. Art is a means to express a certain emotion. Rooms are decorated to inspire a certain feel. Isolating this is the first step in turning an empty room into a living work of art. The feel can be many things. People often want their main living spaces to feel warm and inviting or cool and sophisticated. The feel a room is intended to inspire determines what elements will go into it.

Isolating the feel is easier than it might sound. There are hundreds of books on the market with pictures of well designed interiors. Equally as accessible are the many home magazines available at supermarkets and bookstores. Further down on the list, but just as common, are home themed catalogues and websites. All of these are resources in determining the feel of a room. Start by looking through them. It should be immediately apparent if a room is appealing or not. If so, set it aside. After several have been collected, go back through them paying careful attention to the feel the rooms in the photographs inspire. Do they bring memories of the beach? Are they formal and elegant, or do they remind you of a sleek and powerful office in a New York City high rise? Finding this feel is the start to creating a masterpiece out of the blank canvas of your room.

Deciding on the feel you want to inspire may seem easy compared to choosing what goes into an interior decorating project. Again, the pictures can help. Look at the ones that most closely exhibit the feel. Start with colors. Colors come with a powerful psychology and can do much to inspire emotion. Blues and some greens are cool colors, excellent for rooms that receive sunshine or for giving a room a refreshing breathy feel. Conversely, reds and golds are warm colors and bring a cozy or elegant feel to the room. Furniture style also plays a part in determining the feel of a room. A dominance of straight lines and minimal upholstery loft brings about a different feel than furniture that incorporates rounded edges, springy cushions or a high level of detail. Lastly, by paying attention to the types of window treatments in use, and any accent pieces, a design can be polished off to inspire the perfect feel.

The idea of creating from a blank canvas is always a refreshing one, but is often not practical. Most rooms have a few elements that can’t be hauled away or gotten rid of. Often, flooring materials are too costly to change, and built-in units have to be worked around. Sometimes, certain pieces of furniture must remain. When embarking on a creation already in progress, make a list of what has to stay. Knowing this makes it possible to see what feel a room is already inspiring. Once this is determined, the idea is much the same. Find the feel you hope to achieve and use the appropriate styles and colors to help bring your room closer to your idea of a masterpiece. Bringing about a change in feel can be done in simple ways. Floors can be covered with a large rug, colors can be changed and even built-ins can be coaxed into exhibiting a different feel by the objects placed around them. It may not be possible to change an Old English Traditional interior to a sleek and minimalist room, but it is possible to come closer to this feel by carefully blending what is there with new objects closer to the ideal design.

Largely, art and interior decorating are about inspiring or expressing a feeling. Both work with the principals and elements of design to create a pleasing effect, but knowing in advance what that will be is the first step to creating any work of art. By knowing how to break down what you see, it is possible to turn any room into a work of art.

Learn more about this author, Kathleen Hesketh.

When remodeling, wise choices can quickly increase the value of your home. Not only will you receive added value in the equity of your home, but in beauty and style as well.

In the decision to choose where to add extra value to your property, consider these options:

CURB APPEAL

What you have inside your home won’t really matter, if potential buyers, appraisers, or your friends are turned off by the exterior of your home.

Replacing old aluminum siding and weathered windows will not only increase the attractiveness of your home, but add energy efficiency as well for families wanting to control energy costs.

The addition of landscaping or flower beds helps the home look more attractive and softens the look of the yard.

“GREEN” MATERIALS

More and more, families are becoming concerned about their “ecological footprint” or the amount of energy and “stuff” they are using from their environment.

Updating your home so that it’s better able to conserve energy or water, as well as heating and cooling costs, makes a big impact on your monthly energy usage and therefore your energy bill. Money spent on energy conservation will benefit your family now and another family that may purchase your house in the future.

The use of “green” or enviromentally-friendly materials has also become important. When remodeling your home, consider items that have been constructed of recycled items or items that have little impact on the environment.

KITCHEN

The kitchen is often the heartbeat of the home, where many family members and guests gather for food or conversation. Money spent on improving your kitchen will almost surely result in an increase in home value.

Home improvement projects in this area don’t need to be expensive. Painting cabinetry and trim, replacing drawer pulls/knobs, and updating counter tops can make a huge improvement. Changing an out-dated light fixture with a new fixture takes just a few minutes and can make a dramatic difference. If you have more money in your budget, replacing a vinyl floor with ceramic tile, cork, or laminate flooring can also make for huge improvements.

BATHROOMS

Bathroom s boasting fixtures/tile of harvest gold, olive green, pink, and turquoise will always increase in value with an update to a more neutral color. If the bathtub and sink are already white and in good condition, updating the bath cabinets, sink tops, and light fixtures will provide continuity and value.

If you have the space (and plumbing nearby), increasing the number of bathrooms within a home can automatically increase a home’s value by as much as $15,000 or more. This is particularly true with homes that only have one bathroom. Adding a second bathroom greatly increases the worth to potential new homeowners.

FLOORING

The trend now tends to be toward hard wood and laminate flooring, versus carpeting. A change from carpeting to hard woods, especially in areas such as living/family rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, will add value to any home.

Remodeling your home doesn’t need to be expensive. Remember to keep the value of your neighborhood in mind when taking on the next home improvement project. You’ll want to keep the value of your home in line with the values in your neighborhood and not “overbuild” for the area.

If a home improvement project seems overwhelming, don’t hesitate to use the services of remodeling professionals and contractors which can often be found through the use of a remodeling and home improvement social network, either in your local newspaper or online. Your home will look more professionally-finished, and you’ll reap the benefits through higher home value.

Learn more about this author, Starla Ross.

How could this have been prevented? There’s a rather simple solution to be positive that will not occur again. You need a Fabric And Paint Chip Notebook.

A Fabric And Paint Chip Notebook is easy and fairly quick to make, then keep updated. It holds samples of the colors throughout your home, such as walls and ceilings, curtains and drapes, linens, etc.

There’s more than one way to make one of these, and it doesn’t have to be in a notebook. You can change it to fit your particular likes and needs.

What To Do

First, you will need a small purse or pocket size spiral notebook, small blank 3 x 5 index cards cut in half or heavier stock paper, cut in small squares, a small paint brush, and something such as newspaper to paint on.

When you paint a room, before beginning the room, take a half of the 3 x 5 index card or square of stock paper, and paint one side of it with the paint you are about to use for the room. Make sure your surface is covered with the newspaper to prevent an accident. Allow this to dry. The reason I like to paint the sample first is that if I wait until after painting the room, I might run out of paint, or forget to make the sample.

Do this for each room or part of a room that you paint, each time, unless it is the exact same color. Once the sample is dry, tape or glue it into the notebook, and on the same page, write the paint color name, type of paint, such as latex or oil based, and the room or room area it was used on.

Fabrics can be done in the same manner. When you buy new drapes, for example, it is often hard to match colors. It doesn’t have to be difficult. Curtains and drapes usually have huge hems. You can carefully use sharp scissors, turn the curtain over to expose the hem area, and cut a small spot to place in your notebook. It is important not to cut through, of course. This also works well for some bed linens, but not always. If there is not enough of a hem to take a sample without it being obvious, I opt for no sample rather than ruining the piece.

While this might bother some, cutting a small area of their drapes and linens, it’s a nice idea when it comes to shopping for those matching colors, plus it saves many repeated and unnecessary trips back to the store for returns.

Wall paper samples are the easiest and most convenient to place in the notebook. Simply cut a small sample of the wall paper, place it in the notebook, and make a note of the name of it, perhaps even the place of purchase, and the room or room areas it’s located in.

Perhaps you’d like to buy color coordinated items to match wall decor. Some items, such as a painting, cannot have a sample taken from it to place in your Fabric And Paint Chip Notebook. One idea is to take a photo of the object with a digital camera, in good lighting, so that the finished photo’s colors match that of the actual object. You might print this off on good photo paper and add to your notebook, or keep with it.

Decorating the home can cause frustration to take the place of what should be a fun and exciting time. Don’t let mismatched colors bring you to the point of gloom and despair. Try making your own Fabric and Paint Chip Notebook.

Learn more about this author, BlondieWrites.

Very briefly if you come in contact with poison ivy wash your hands as soon as possible. Use soapy water and get between the fingers and under the nails. Repeat the process several times, and use isopropyl alcohol or a like solvent like witch hazel to help separate the oil from your skin. This part applies in every case- remove all your clothing and wash it separately from all other clothes. Washing it twice isn’t always necessary but it certainly doesn’t hurt. The last thing you want is the oil finding it’s way back onto your body after you have just gotten rid of the rash. Second, anything you may have been using which came in contact with poison ivy should be scrubbed down to help prevent re-contamination.

Now assuming you have a rash there is no magic bullet to just get rid of it over night. The only thing you can really do is treat it to speed the healing and ease the pain. A common way to soothe the rashed area is to use an ice pack to help quell the area and ease the bubbling effect it creates. Something that works really well is soaking the area in whole milk, the fat is important here, because that eases the itching and burning sensation and that is exactly what you want as scratching only spreads the problem. Burrows Solution is an antibacterial solution that can lessen the burning sensation as well. The key to these steps are that they constrict blood vessels in the area which is what relieves the itchy feeling. Remember when you itch you just add time to the life of the rash.

After using an ice pack, cool compress, or whatever method you choose for this purpose, and give the are a soak in milk, or saltwater which helps clear the infection, be sure to apply something to help keep the itching at bay and dry the blisters. Calamine lotion is a time tested and true agent that does the job extremely well. Other excellent products are Aveeno Anti-Itch Cream with oatmeal, Band-Aid Anti Itch gel, or Aloe Vera. It is important to pair one of these or a similar agent to truly knock out the rash as soon as possible.

To further reduce the time and pain a poison ivy rash inflicts on the body, oral antihistamines can work wonders. Be sure you are able to use them and have no adverse physical reactions or allergies before using one. Benadryl is the most common solution here as it reduces the swelling, itching and burning the rash carries. If you have any doubts or aren’t sure about dosage ask a pharmacist or better yet your doctor before using an antihistamine.

Finally it sounds basic but is extremely difficult to carry through on, just don’t scratch! Scratching is poison ivy’s friend. It excites the area opening up blood vessels with causes more of the urge to itch and it spreads the infection. Don’t pop blisters, again your are just spreading the infection. keep your rashes exposed to open air as much as possible so your skin can dry out more quickly.

If a rash persists or it is just too painful to deal with please see your doctor. They can provide prescription strength treatments to ease a particularly pesky infection. They can also drain blistered areas in a safe sterile manner to ease your pain further. If you have trouble breathing, more than 1/4 of your body covered in a rash, rashes on the genital region, an odor, colored pus, or rashes/blisters around the nasal openings or eyes see a doctor at once. Poison ivy doesn’t prove lethal often but in some rare cases it is just that. Be safe and see a doctor is any of the above fit the nature of outbreak you are dealing with.

Learn more about this author, Amanda Fox.