Getting the Decor Look You want with Cushions

Throw or scatter cushions are right up there amongst the most versatile and useful items of home decor. Easily taken for granted, we often forget their impact when it comes to introducing a new look or pulling together a colour scheme. Regardless of the style of the room, well placed and coordinated scatter cushions add the finishing touch to any look. If you’ve never considered how valuable an aid to home decor they are, here are a few tips.

Practical Cushions

According to House and Garden we should use cushions for display purposes as well as for sitting comfortably. They suggest tying scarves around them as a way to not only dress up the cushion, but to showcase the scarf too. Scatter cushions are also wonderful for softening hard edges, such as in window seats, and can add a feminine look to an otherwise masculine setting, such as when places against leather or propped up against the metal headboard of a bed.

Achieving a Modern Look

When grouping cushions go for odd numbers rather than even. Cushions grouped in threes or fives have a more modern edge than those grouped conventionally in pairs. Large cushions look more modern and cleaner than lots of smaller ones. Pattern-wise, stick to geometric blocks of colour rather than small or fancy prints, and if possible take colour inspiration from existing colour in the room, for instance by taking one colour from a piece of art and mirroring it in the cushion. If you’re apt to forget which colours are already in your room, take lots of photos on your smartphone and refer to it as you shop for accessories such as cushions.

 

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The Traditional Look

Fabrics play an important part in creating the right mood and atmosphere in a room, and silks or velvets are lovely traditional fabrics to include in your cushions. Shape is important too, so include round cushions as well as square ones, mixing and matching for an informal look that’s inviting and cosy-looking. Trim such as edge piping or tassels also help give a more country or cottage feel, as do floral patterns rather than modern geometrics. Keep trim small and neat, saving more flamboyant trimmings for larger cushions. Adding in a throw or two, which Houzz suggests should be carefully corner folded, adds to the traditional look and helps create a welcoming atmosphere.

A Casual Mix and Match, Eclectic Look

Cushions are at their best when they don’t look too fussy. They should invite you to sit on them, lie against them, or stack them on the floor if that’s what takes your fancy. The very best way to achieve this relaxed look is to go for an eclectic mix of styles and shapes. Browsing selections such as those at http://www.dunelm.com/ will give you a great idea of what’s possible. Try going for different colours, fabrics and designs that you can swap around at will.

Switching the cushions in a room is the fastest way to change or add a pop of colour. It doesn’t cost much either, meaning everyone can easily update and freshen their decor.

Moving in New City

Your decision to move in Apple Valley, Minnesota with your family is never wrong. Based on Money Magazine, in 2010, the city that located in northwestern Dakota County, MN was the 20^th greatest place to live in the United States. For your child’s education, this city offers one of the best school districts in the state.

You’ve gone through with all hassles in moving out of your previous home. There’s no one will doubt that any kind of moving means lots of works to be done, furthermore if you move into a new city. In this case, starting a new life in a totally different city can be more difficult and complicated. Let’s say that you’ve moved into the new property and started to unpack boxes as well as arrange all of your belongings; yet there are still lots of things that need to be considered for you to settle down. Changing the city is really a big change in one’s life.  

So, what you should do after the last box moved into your new home? Besides unpacking boxes, checking belongings and redecorating, as a new city resident; you should also carry out important stuffs such as setting up utilities, updating insurance policies, and making some required registrations.

Before you get busy in all the chores, why don’t you cool down first and host a party?  Housewarming party is arranged to celebrate the new home and invite friends, relatives along with new neighbours. It’s a great way to get to be familiar with new people in the city and it’s a great time to introduce closest people to your new home.

Don’t need to throw a big party. You may hold it sooner as the main purpose is to announce that you’ve only just moved in. Though it’s just a simple event; make sure that your home is already clean and presentable. If you are too tired to perform house cleaning tasks, getting cleaning service for moving in Apple Valley would be a great idea. Let the professionals clean your home and make it ready for a party.

Setting up your living room furniture and locating unpacked boxes into one room. You decide what kind of party that you want to have, yet a housewarming party is usually an informal occasion. For example, you may only serve snacks and drinks for arriving guests. For friends and family, you shouldn’t make special printed invitation as you may spread the word with the help of social media sites or email.

Well, it surely needs time to settle down in a new city. After introducing your new place, make the new house really feel like your comfortable home! 

How to Prevent Mold and Mildew from Growing in Your Home

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Most people recognize visible mold and mildew thanks to the distinctive spread of staining and the sometimes fuzzy appearance of spots on walls, flooring, and other surfaces. What you might not realize is that every home has mold. Although oftentimes it is not visible, mold spores exist within your structure - there's no doubt about it. And furthermore, there is probably a wide variety of mold types hanging around your house, just waiting for the right circumstances to flourish. Luckily, chances are good that mold is not present in dangerous levels within your home. So even if you've run tests and found mold, you needn't panic. And you can do a lot to control the situation and prevent mold and mildew from growing and spreading in your home.

The place to start is with mold testing, and you can either hire professional technicians or save some money with a home test kit that you mail in to a lab for results. The point of doing this is not to uncover mold in your home (you already know spores will be present), but to find out what types of mold are lurking and set a baseline to compare against for future testing, which you might want to perform annually if you're worried about the potential for mold growth. When you have this information you can more easily spot warning signs and see when mold levels are on the rise, allowing you to take action early.

From there you need to find ways to control the humidity in your home. Mold and mildew require a combination of heat and humidity to flourish. And while you can't necessarily avoid heating your home if you want to remain comfortable, you can definitely keep humidity at bay in a number of ways. The first thing you'll want to do is check humidity levels in your home and you can easily accomplish this task with a home hygrometer. Ideally, your humidity should be somewhere from 30-50% if you want to avoid the potential for mold and mildew growth without drying the air so much that you suffer other respiratory hazards. And during the winter, those numbers should drop below 40% to prevent the potential for condensation in the home.

So now you just have to control the humidity. There are a couple of ways to go about this. You might want to start with a home energy audit. If your region suffers high humidity levels, there's a good chance your home interior will reflect it. But if you seal leaks, install proper insulation, and ventilate appropriately, you can significantly cut the amount of humidity that seeps in from outside. As a bonus, this will likely make your home more energy efficient. From there you can place portable dehumidifiers in problem areas, or even install a whole-home dehumidification system. These strategies should give you the opportunity to control your home humidity levels. And when you don't give mold and mildew the fuel they need to grow, you can avoid the many health and safety issues that could result from colonization.