It's still Fall but Winter will be here before you know it.  Make it much easier to enjoy and prepare your garden next Spring by doing a few things now to winterize it.

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Bring Your Home Back To Life Without Breaking The Bank

 

Everyone has those periods where your home starts feeling a little bit stale. Maybe you've lived there for a few years, and it's started to feel like the place just sort of blurs into the background of your life. You can walk through the whole place without really even realising it.

The vast majority of people have one of two reactions to this. They either decide that it's a sign to start over and that the best option is to sell up and find a new place to fall in love with. Otherwise, they decide that it's time to break out the power tools and make some serious changes to the style and shape of the house. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with either of these options; they certainly have their benefits! However, they do come with a pretty hefty share of drawbacks. For one thing, they can both be incredibly expensive. If you're short on cash and you feel as though these two are your only options for bringing new life to your home, then you're going to end up feeling pretty frustrated. Not only that but they are also pretty time-consuming. When it comes to selling or remodelling your house, you're likely to have a timetable that works regarding months, maybe even years! So what are your other options? Well, fortunately, there are actually a lot of things that you can do to feel like you're living somewhere new and vibrant without having to break out the tools or hire a real estate agent. Here are just a few that you might want to try to bring a bit of joy back to your home.

Rearrange

Rearranging a room can often have as much of an impact as completely remodelling it. Sometimes, for no reason that you can fully discern, a room just feels wrong somehow. This is often down to the fact that it's just not arranged in an interesting way. If that's the case, then your best option is to try experimenting with the layout. The problem could be that it just doesn't feel like it flows between the other rooms properly, or it could be that the way it's currently laid out makes it feel much smaller than it actually is. Whether it's your bedroom, living room, or your office, there are always things that you can do to try and adjust is and make it feel like something completely new. And the best thing? If you do rearrange it and then decide you preferred it the way it was, then there's no reason you can't just change it back. Unlike a major DIY project, you're never married to one specific layout. Take some time and experiment with different arrangements until you come across one that feels right.

Adjust how you think about light

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People tend to take light for granted a lot of the time. People often just rely on a single light, usually hanging from the centre of the ceiling, in order to illuminate a room. What people tend not to realise is that you can actually make a lot of difference to a room simply by changing the way that you light it. Do you want a room to feel more open and spacious? Why not try to bring in more natural light by creating more space near a window. Or perhaps you want it to feel warmer and cosier. You should also think about how much light the windows in your home are actually letting in. Having your windows replaced is more of a significant task than just rearranging things but it's far simpler than a lot of other remodelling options and can make a big difference. Companies like www.philadelphiawindow.com can make the entire process as simple as possible. If that's the case, then you might want to try using lamps with softer light laid out across the room. This is not only great for creating an incredibly relaxing ambience, but lamps also act as decorations in their own right.

Be bold

One of the reasons that so many people find their homes to be kind of boring is that they usually decorate them in incredibly safe, predictable ways. It might seem like a good idea at first since you want to avoid making any particularly bad design decisions that are going to end up looking horribly dated almost immediately. But by only ever using subtle, neutral colours, you stop your home from being able to be in any way exciting or unusual. There are plenty of services that allow you to create large murals on your walls which can bring a huge amount of life into any home. In fact, if you're really feeling creative, why not try getting the whole family involved and turn an area in your home into one giant piece of art? By creating a place in your home which is eye-catching and exciting you can pretty much guarantee that you're not going to get bored of it.

Declutter

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Sometimes the problem with your home is just that there's too much stuff in it! Now, there's nothing wrong with decorating and having mementoes and keepsakes around can be a fantastic way to bring a sense of unique personality to your home. But there's a fine line between interestingly appointed, and cluttered and cramped. If you feel like your home is too small or that you don't have the space to feel comfortable anymore, then it might be time to start throwing some things away. Keep what's truly important on display, of course, you don't want to end up with your home losing its individual personality. And if you really feel like you can't bring yourself to part with your keepsakes and knick-knacks then you can always put them in a box and store them in the attic or garage. That way you can not only keep them, but you can have them in rotation so that you've always got something new and interesting on your shelves.

Repaint your front door

This might be one of the simplest, yet most effective things that you could possibly do in order to make your house feel like new. You probably interact with your front door so often you forget what it even looks like. You might know off the top of your head that it's blue, red, green, or whatever colour it is, but that doesn't mean that you actually look at it and take it in. By painting your front door suddenly your home isn't quite as familiar anymore. This is especially effective if you paint it in some way that's totally different from what it was before. This might seem like an incredibly small thing that you wouldn't otherwise even really think about but it's incredible just how much of a difference it can make to the way that you feel about your home.

This is not to say that there's a never a time when it's not best to sell your home and move somewhere else. However, that's such a big, potentially permanent decision that it's not one you should take lightly. The truth is that if you move house because your home doesn't really excite you anymore then there's a pretty good chance that you're just going to end up going through the whole process at the new place. It's often a whole lot better to make the most of the home that you have rather than constantly trying to go somewhere new every couple of years.

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Meet My Houseplants

I realized as I scrolled through Tik Tok that I wasn't the only person that became obsessed with houseplants during the lockdown this year.  In fact, I always thought I could never have houseplants because my house didn't get enough light inside. But boy was I wrong.  So without further ado, here are my plant babies!

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How I Enjoy Nature in the Fall

I love spring and fall because they are the inbetween seasons that have good weather that isn't too hot or too cold.  Here's how I enjoy nature in the Fall.

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Easy Ways To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

 

Image via Pexels - CC0 Licence

Becoming greener in our approach to home energy use has become a goal lately for many people. Not only are we more aware than ever of the impact our personal habits have on the planet around us, but recent global events have tended to make us more aware of saving money. The good news is that taking a kinder environmental stance can also go hand in hand with reducing your utility bills. Now that’s what you call a win-win situation. Making these changes around the home doesn't have to be difficult - sometimes just a small action can make a big cumulative difference further down the line. Here are some easy steps you can take to make your home more energy efficient and save the planet and your wallet:

Drop Your Thermostat

Just the simple act of turning your thermostat down by five degrees could really make a big difference. Try purchasing a cosy and stylish wrap that you can wear as an extra layer around the house. Or you could try a smart thermostat that lowers the temperature when you aren’t in the house - this could save you up to 15% a year on your heating bills.

Put In Low-Flow Showerheads

If you know that your water efficiency could be better, adding low-flow showerheads could really help to reduce what you use. They limit your flow of water to under 2.5 gallons per minute, and that’s versus around 5 for a conventional shower head. If you tend to shower a lot, this is a very practical way to reduce what you use.

Get Solar Panels Installed

If you live in a location with lots of sunlight, getting solar panels installed is definitely the way to go. They do have a fairly high upfront cost, but you can find grants available in some cases to help cover the cost of purchase and installation. They can help heat your water and generate electricity - some homes generate enough to sell back to the providers! There’s quite a lot to know about the different types of panels available, so do your research.

Service Your HVAC System

Keeping your furnace and A/C system in balance is an absolute must. Most problems are actually just caused by a build-up of dirt and debris that can clog the system and force it to work much harder to heat or cool your space. It’s easy to clean your HVAC yourself so make it part of your cleaning schedule, or you can schedule a maintenance appointment instead. If your coils are clean, parts properly lubricated and connections tightened, the unit will run more efficiently - lowering your bills and having less impact on the planet.

Unplug Your Unused Appliances

Did you know that you could have a ‘vampire’ in your home? Rather than a bloodsucker, this term actually refers to appliances that continue to draw down electricity while they’re in ‘standby’ mode. Things like laptops, cell phone chargers and televisions all continue to use power, even when the device itself isn’t in use. On its own, one of these isn’t going to make much difference, but getting into the habit of not leaving these devices going is key - collectively, they can make up around 10% of your energy usage in a typical year!

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How to Buy a Gift for the Men in Your Life

 

Birthdays, Christmas, Anniversaries, or ‘just because’ --buying gifts for the men in your life can be extremely challenging. You want to make sure that you find something just right for them, to let them know that you’ve been thinking of them.

It’s even harder when they appear to have everything they need, but the expectation to present a gift is still very much there.

Follow this guide to help you to choose the perfect gifts for men!

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A key to buying gifts can be outlined by this very simple rhyme to help to limit the variables when it comes to gift buying.

Something they want

Everybody will come across something they want at some point or another. That could be something you see in a store that screams the name of the person you’re buying for at you, or something they have expressed a desire to own or do. For example, if you know that the person you’re gifting to enjoys going to see movies, why not gift them with a movie pass that they can redeem at any point they want? Or maybe something decorative to help them to personalize their space a little better. Anything that they want, but not necessarily would want to spend their own money on

Something they need

Now, we all have that list of things that we need or need replacing. Gift-giving time is the perfect opportunity to gift our loved ones these things that they may use every day, but maybe of a slightly higher quality to those that they would usually buy for themselves. For example, somebody who needs to use a walking aid to get around might want to choose from a selection of high-end canes to make their movements more stylish and comfortable. Just because the gift is from this category, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be special.

Something to wear

Clothing can be a challenging one for men. Some men are happy for others to help them to choose clothing for them, but others may be set on their ideal style. For those worried about this, a pair of good quality, or novelty socks can be a great addition to a gift for men. A special occasion coming up? A nice tie, cufflinks or a pocket square is a thoughtful gift. Does the man you’re gifting for enjoy a particular sport or hobby that requires special clothing? Why not research around that. If this hobby or sport means a lot to them, it will mean equally as much to receive a gift that reflects that.

Something to read

Books are always a good choice for avid readers. If you know that someone has read a particular book by a particular author then you can always ask the store associate to recommend some titles and authors that are similar. Another choice may be an e-reader so that they can choose whatever books they want. Books not really their thing? Maybe consider a magazine subscription related to their favorite hobby.

Did you find these tips helpful? How do you choose gifts for loved ones?

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