The Perfect Lights for Summer Nights

What are some of the best lights to install for summer nights? These tend to be lights and lanterns that can be put up in your garden or around conservatories and the back of your home; uses can include everything from creating a pleasant atmosphere to making your home more secure. With a wide range of lights available through suppliers like BLT Direct, what are some of the major types that you should be looking out for when preparing for summer evenings?

Projector Lamps

These high powered lights can be found in energy saving forms, and can be placed in different parts of your garden to provide strong directional beams to illuminate individual areas.

Solar Lights

Representing an eco friendly approach to lighting your garden at night, solar lights can be fitted as spot lights, lanterns, and many other types, and absorb light during the day for use in the evening.

Spot Lights

A good way to provide directional light for parties, spot lights can be set up to only illuminate particular parts of your garden; this might include lighting up sheds, water features and foliage. It’s also possible to use spot lights for outdoor parties to guide visitors to your home.

Coloured Lights

Investments in coloured lights can pay off in terms of atmosphere and changing the mood at parties - you can go for coloured light tubing, as well as incandescent bulbs and decorative strings of bulbs.

Shatterproof Lamps

These outdoor lamps can be found in metal halide forms, and are designed to be able to withstand being dropping onto a hard surface, which might include a patio floor or path. Also useful as a form of protection against pets and bad weather.

String Lights

A versatile option, string lights can be hung over fences, along window beams, or in trees to provide atmospheric lighting for outdoor parties. Can also double up at Christmas time as seasonal lights.

Post Lights

If you have a patio, it can be worth investing in post lights that are permanently fixed into the ground using stainless steel poles, and can light up chairs and tables when you’re sitting outside.

Lanterns

Different sized garden lanterns can be found, which can be hung from branches and the walls of your home as more traditional complements to contemporary lighting. Make sure that you follow proper health and safety rules, though, when hanging lanterns.

LED Sensors

When fitted to outside walls, LED sensor lights can be useful as a way of detecting movement - you can use them while sitting outside for parties, or you can keep them running if you’re going away from home and want a remote sensor to be able to detect intruders into your garden.

Floodlights

For when you need a decent level of coverage throughout your garden on summer nights, floodlights can be easily set up, with just a few able to illuminate your entire garden. This can be a particularly good option to take if you need even lighting throughout an outdoor space.

Author Bio: Emily blogs about interior design and DIY. To find out more about different lighting options for your home, she recommends checking out BLT Direct . She also writes about ways to save money around your home.

Romantic Lunch

 Lunch can also be romantic, right?

Location : Ah Poong restaurant, Sentul City, Bogor, Indonesia

The Weekend in Black and White

Easy Tips on Shopping for Waterproof Clothes Line Covers

You can do laundry two ways: one, get a service to do it, and two, do it at home. A steam laundry service costs money and it takes quite a while before you get your laundry back. Meanwhile, when you do your laundry at home, you save money and get it done quicker. All you really need to do is take a little of your time and spend it to do the laundry.

But what happens when dark clouds threaten to keep your laundry wet and no one is home to bring your clothes inside? Sounds like a big problem when the clothes you hang get wet and dirty again because you will need to redo the laundry all over.

Hanging your clothes and linen outdoors will not be a problem when you have waterproof clothes line covers. This is a good accessory to get because it will keep your laundry dry and free from dirt — in any weather. It is a simple solution to the problem. You may want to start browsing the web now for clothes line covers but before you go any further, here are some recommended shopping tips to help you choose the best clothes line cover.

Choose the right size.

With different clothes lines (e.g., rotary, ceiling mounted, or retractable) for different homes come different covers to suit each size and type. So keep your shopping time quick and easy by determining the type of clothesline you have. If you have a rotary clothesline, then get a waterproof rotary clothesline cover. If you have a folding frame clothesline, shop for folding frame clothesline covers.  

Look for topnotch materials.

From unpredictable weather to extreme heat, natural elements will affect the quality and longevity of your clothesline cover. It is always best to put a bit more money in items you will need to use for a very long time. A clothesline cover that is waterproof and created from UV stabilised material will ensure that it will keep protecting your clothes and linen, under any kind of weather, for many years to come.

Consider wider coverage.

Large families will generally need bigger coverage. More people in the family will mean more laundry to load and dry. So try to look for bigger clothesline covers. Get the dimensions of your clothesline and use that information to choose the appropriate cover. Manufacturers will indicate the size of your clothesline so you need not do the measuring on your own.

Choose versatility in design.

You can actually use your clothesline cover for another purpose. Some covers are designed in the most contemporary style that you can use it as an umbrella for backyard lounging. Find covers featuring multi-fit design so you will be able to use it as protection for your clothes and linen on laundry days, and as a lovely shade for those chill-out weekends in your backyard. You would want to maximize the investment you spend on getting the clothes line cover, so you probably would want to consider getting a sort of multi-purpose one.

About the Author: Kenneth Lawrence is a “handyman”. His craft involves DIY home concepts and he shares his ideas, guidelines and tips about home improvement through blogging. Kenneth shares that he got his clothes line cover online through http://www.clotheslineshop.com.au/.

Out with the Old, In with the New

There are many different reasons for changing up the look and feel of a home. For some it's about livening up the place while for others it's about increasing the value. No matter what the reason might be, home decoration is simple and can be done with very little cost when done correctly.

Wall Finish

The color of the walls in a home are always at the top of the list when it comes to home decoration so it would seem pointless to add this to the list of home decorations tips. What is rarely seen is advice on the wall finish applied and just how big of a difference it can make. With such a wide variety of options it would make sense to become familiar with the benefits of each of the different finishes available.

Matte, Eggshell, Semi-Gloss, and High Gloss are just four of the more basic choices and they are the most popular ones as well. These four basic finishes alone have the ability to create a completely different look and feel so understanding their applications and potential is key to a successful paint job. There are quite a few additional finishes that can be considered so do the research and make the best decision possible.

Creating a Soothing Retreat

Once again, most home decoration tips begin with tips on painting individual rooms in a home. They typically talk about colors schemes and patterns but very few ever speak of using white to help create a soothing retreat in the home. There are times when a retreat from life's stresses becomes necessary so having a place to retreat to might be beneficial.

Why not consider taking an empty room in the home and turning it into an all white "reality break" room. This will require going beyond simply painting the walls white. Everything in the room will be white including comforters, pillows, end tables and carpets. The calming, soothing effects of an all white room can be quite rejuvenating and it just might surprise you.

Accent Pieces

Home decoration can sometimes be as simple as adding a single piece to a room. For many this one piece is the cocktail table. There are more varieties of cocktail tables than imaginable and they come as casual or as elegant as is needed. The ways in which this one accent piece can change the look and feel of a room amaze even the most experienced home decorator.

Accent pieces don't end with cocktail tables. There are numerous options when it comes to single items that have extreme influence in a room. The direction taken and the pieces used come down to preference and with a little creativity; anyone can alter a room with little effort.

Home decoration is constantly evolving from one thing to another and with a little creativity; anyone can bring their home to back to life.

Author Bio: Joana Hall is an avid writer who likes to write blogs on Home Decoration. She has written many articles on modern bathroom accessories. In this article she is providing the readers some valuable information on out with the old, in with the new.

Bedroom Makeover: It Does Not Have To Cost a Fortune

You have just finished watching a home decorating show or just flipped through a magazine dedicated to home decor. You are inspired to redecorate your entire bedroom, then realize that you don't have thousands of dollars to do so. What now?

Even though you don't have the budget you want, you can use the budget you have. The following tips will help you take your dull space and make it like new.

Start with Color

Picking a paint color is time consuming when you are not sure of where to start. It does not have to be. Look around the bedroom, including your clothes closet and see which colors catch your eye. If you don't find anything there, look around the rest of the house. Maybe you have an accent piece like a vase or lamp that has an appealing color in it. You are sure to find a color or two that will intrigue you.

Once you have found your color, hold the object up to one of the bedroom's walls, to get a better idea of how it will look on it. If the color is bright and will blind your eyes with the morning sun, consider toning it down some. If the color is too dull, do the opposite and bring the shade up a bit. To find that just right color, bring the item or a picture of it to a paint or home improvement store. One of the store's associates can help you find a color chip that reflects you. Buy the paint and get started.

Spend Less and Get More

Now that the paint has dried, it's time to really spruce up your bedroom. Again, it does not have to cost a fortune. Hit the local flea markets, garage sales, dollar stores, department store clearance shelves and chain stores to find accent pieces that complement your personal style. Don't be afraid to add patterns and experiment with different fabrics as well.

The following 8 inexpensive suggestions will help complete your bedroom makeover:

·         Replace the bed spread and sheets.
Doing so can dramatically make your room look brand new.

·         Change your lamps or just the lampshades of your present lamps.

·         Add more pillows to the bed.
Your bed will look and feel more comfy.

·         Add a bench to the foot of the bed.
You can lay out the next days' outfit and have a place to sit to put on your shoes.

·         Put up a picture or two up.
Putting prints or a picture above the headboard is very popular these days. You can also reframe the pictures you may already have in the room.

·         Renew the dresser or armoire.
Give them a distressed look or simply change the handles.

·         Move the furniture around.
This will give the room a different dimensional look.

·         Add sheer or patterned curtains to the windows.
Like the bedding, different window treatments renew the bedroom.

Last, but not least- Have fun and enjoy your new space.

Author Bio: Joana Hall is an avid writer who likes to write blogs on Home Decoration. She has written many articles on personalized mats rugs. In this article she is providing the readers some valuable information on bedroom makeover: it does not have to cost a fortune.