We are living in an ever changing world, dynamic as it is we often need to have more and more stuffs in the house. Just remember not to be over consumerism, i suggest that we should stash our properties better — bicycle, toys, watches, books, cooking utensils, ingredients, toys and multimedia all ring the bells for clever storage. However, with the clutter of those often in one place at home and the limitation of space, how then to do it? First two important things : fill every possible spots and discard those that you no longer need!

First Idea : floor to ceiling shelves, with strong color, and proper sizes will create a strong divider and characteristic to the old monotonous look whilst adding up new spaces.

Second Idea : dedicated media unit that will store all your AV in a neat and hidden way. Electrics are cool but can destroy the whole atmosphere of colors and design that you might have designed. So prepare a closure or sliding structure that can hide it.

Third Idea : surrounding the entry and exit way. Surrounding the door with shelves of books and CDs collection could utilize those high empty spots. Provided that it is done neatly and with strong colors, the result will not give a crumped eerie feeling.

Fourth idea : if you have things of the same sizes, you can have something more exact in sizes to maximize spaces. Those are books and CDs or other collections. Otherwise, adjustable spaces is suggested.

Fifth idea : bespoke shelving creates an unlimited design ideas. irregular sizes here and there, overall shapes of a tree or an abstract look, open or closed storage, all of them  could combine with the snug of the dolls or other minuscules of your room. Be sure to dedicate a full wall to strengthen its contour

Sixth idea : use hidden spaces, such as ceiling high clothes storage or under bed rooms. Those are mostly hard to reach so be sure to only store things that you will access rarely. Seasonal bulky things such as winter clothing and long johns are among the possibilities.

Seventh idea : don’t hide the warddrobe, show them! if you have great collections and taste for clothing or shoes. it could be an artistic way to put your stuff in an interesting way that the couple or the kids could enjoy into. Not to forget that you remember which clothes you have not used for a long time.

Eigth idea : Dig into the depth. for hidden or precious goods such as winery and other temperature sensitive goods. The idea seems workable. Make sure that it is accesible and you will not be trapped inside!

Continuing our last edition discussion on Japanese home, we are now looking at a deeper cells of Japanese home design. To be reminded, Japanese home are modular can be re-arranged as much as you like it to be, rooms are designed to be multifunction and the spaces are to be as connected with the nature as possible.

Some design elements that we have discussed earlier could be a used as a home improvement but what we are going to discuss here might be of easier to make into reality. We will discuss tatami, genkan, the garden and oshiire which are a bigger space consumer in a Japanese style house. Get ready to be refreshed with the originality of what makes the Japanese home, the traditional one, not the one of the apartments..

First, Tatami. According to some experts, environments that echo the tendencies of nature promote more efficient learning, working, and recuperating. In Japan, where nature, spirituality, and mankind have long been intertwined, one of their most basic design building blocks—the tatami mat—typifies this kind of approach. The smell of a newly laid tatami room is an interior equivalent of a freshly cut lawn. Then there’s the feel underfoot: firm enough to walk across, yet buoyant enough to sleep on.

It was during Heian period that tatami became the unit of measure of room size and were used to cover the entire floor. The 3-by-6-foot proportions, based roughly on a prone adult, could be applied to furniture and architecture alike, keeping everything nicely in sync and standardized.

There are three standard sizes of tatami depending on where in Japan you are: Kyoto has the largest at 3.1 by 6.3 feet, Nagoya tatami are 3 by 6 feet, and in Tokyo they are 2.9 by 5.8 feet. Half-size mats, called hanjo, are used to fill the square gap remaining after the rest of the room is laid, while three-quarter size mats, daime-tatami, are generally used in teahouses.

Second, Genkan. Any person entering the house must first remove their shoes, and the dedicated area where this takes place is the genkan. Often recessed into the floor, it is tiled or laid with concrete. Shoes are lined up facing the door, so they can be put on again easily. This space area element are subtle yet useful enough to indicate sections and percept of cleanliness.

Third, Garden. Gardens enjoy high status in Japan, and their design is considered a fine art. A few features are commonly found, including rocks, lanterns, and water, over which a bridge or stepping stones will transport the appreciative stroller. All gardens have a clear point from which they are best viewed.

Fourth, Oshiire. The oshiire is a cupboard intended to store zabuton (sitting cushions), futon, makura (pillows), blankets, and sheets. Roughly one tatami mat in depth, it usually contains shelves. All bedding is put away daily.

In conclusion, the Japanese home style is more evident during the old times, with the advent of the Japanese economy, such a view and concepts of living design has often become a museum like example. Nowadays, though, some of the tradition is still kept intact. Such as the culture of keeping everything neat, putting the bedding in a good place, availability of tatami like-room. Well the Japanese home design might start to extinct but the value that underneath them still can be seen in the society at large.

What makes a home for Japanese? For a fairly small part of the world, Japanese culture is renowned for its delicacy, naturalist and nobility. This also includes the home where they live in. The construction of a Japanese home design has several elements that also reflect this cultural idea.

So, what is it that makes the Japanese home design so unique and different? The elements that make them are modularity of the interiors, usage of natural elements, smart-yet-simple joints and the behavior consideration of all of them. The simplicity and the unity of those are not to be neglected too. Some which you could consider putting them in your home.

 First Element, Fusuma. They are sliding doors that run on wooden rails and can be easily moved or removed to create flexible room divisions. Remove them to join a room with the other room and it should be light weight too. Traditionally they are the same size as a tatami mat, made of wood and paper, with a black lacquer border and a clever finger catch. They are often decorated with graphics or scenes from nature.

Second Element, Roka. Roka, meaning “hallway” refers to wood-floored passages that run both inside and out, sometimes to extended outbuildings. The concept here is unity and similarity of materials here and there.

Third Element, Shoji. Running along the same rails as the fusuma, shoji panels serve to divide the house into necessary spaces and serve as external walls. Where the fusuma are opaque, the thin paper of the shoji (made from mulberry bark, not rice paper as many believe), allow light to pass through the house creating ambient lighting.

Fourth Element, Engawa. The engawa is a wooden veranda area that sits outside of the tatami space and is usually open, but capped by large eaves, protecting the shoji from the weathers.

We first stop here for the four elements of Japanese home which differentiate them from the other designs. Those are the Fusuma, Roka, Shoji and Engawa, all of which are made from wood and natural materials and simple modular characteristics. We absolutely have something to learn from these smart Japanese designs! We will continue this article with another overview of the infamous tatami…. Let’s meet on the next writing!

What makes a home for Japanese? For a fairly small part of the world, Japanese culture is renowned for its delicacy, naturalist and nobility. This also includes the home where they live in. The construction of a Japanese home design has several elements that also reflect this cultural idea.

So, what is it that makes the Japanese home design so unique and different? The elements that make them are modularity of the interiors, usage of natural elements, smart-yet-simple joints and the behavior consideration of all of them. The simplicity and the unity of those are not to be neglected too. Some which you could consider putting them in your home.

When any room can be a living room, bedroom, dining room, or study, the need for simple, clutter-free, and clean living prevails. This is the case with the Japanese home, you can transform a room into anything you want it to be. Everything is portable, partition-able, and highly adaptable in the traditional Japanese house, where rooms can be as large or small as required.

First Element, Fusuma. They are sliding doors that run on wooden rails and can be easily moved or removed to create flexible room divisions. Remove them to join a room with the other room and it should be light weight too. Traditionally they are the same size as a tatami mat, made of wood and paper, with a black lacquer border and a clever finger catch. They are often decorated with graphics or scenes from nature.

Second Element, Roka. Roka, meaning “hallway” refers to wood-floored passages that run both inside and out, sometimes to extended outbuildings. The concept here is unity and similarity of materials here and there.

Third Element, Shoji. Running along the same rails as the fusuma, shoji panels serve to divide the house into necessary spaces and serve as external walls. Where the fusuma are opaque, the thin paper of the shoji (made from mulberry bark, not rice paper as many believe), allow light to pass through the house creating ambient lighting.

Fourth Element, Engawa. The engawa is a wooden veranda area that sits outside of the tatami space and is usually open, but capped by large eaves, protecting the shoji from the weathers.

We first stop here for the four elements of Japanese home which differentiate them from the other designs. Those are the Fusuma, Roka, Shoji and Engawa, all of which are made from wood and natural materials and simple modular characteristics. We absolutely have something to learn from these smart Japanese designs! We will continue this article with another overview of the infamous tatami…. Let’s meet on the next writing!

We want to control the pest and weeds, we want to keep the garden in the best color and shape. However, sometimes we are too much dependent on the use of those dangerous chemicals which bring in the long term is not beneficial to your garden! You don’t want to put poison in your garden are not you?

Pesticides, Herbicides are the most common tools that we use to fight those disturbing factor away. Keeping the lawn, the vegetables, and the herbs looking perfect, does not always depend on these two dangerous items. Some of the consequences and how to use more natural ingredients are described here.

For example, a pesticide used on a specific plant won’t necessarily stay there. It can easily wash off the intended victim and the runoff can wind up in sensitive watersheds where fish, algae, and, through a nasty ripple effect, whole ecosystems can suffer. Even if the pesticide stays inside the garden gates it can have a detrimental effect on the garden itself by discouraging (and possibly killing) natural enemies of the very pests you are trying to ward off. Instead, increase ladybugs—that are predators of leaf-destroying aphids—into your garden. Attract them by planting small, sweet-smelling plants like carrots, fennel, and dill and letting them flower. Equally powerful “good bugs,” like the lacewing, will show up and pitch in as well.

To kill aphids outright you can also mix up an organic, lower-impact pesticide of your own. Mix two teaspoons of liquid castile soap (Dr. Bronner’s, for example) into a liter of water, then spray the mixture onto the affected leaves and stem of the plant. This soap mixture will kill the aphids, but it can also kill the good bugs, so use it sparingly to maintain a diversity of insects in your garden.

When you try to fight pests to the garden, it is better to take the approach of ecosystem management rather than to destroy them off. Use natural enemies and elements to really make your garden really living. If you want a trouble free garden, do not plan on putting some problematic plantation. Simply avoid them! Better to plant something that is manageable and beneficial.

You start going into gardening but always confused on those vocabularies that the green vendor is telling you? Perhaps it is time to do some homework to increase your basic knowledge on what is the pop on the home garden.

Basically the trends of the involved vocabularies are about problem and how to solve them. As they are important for your success in the garden, you want to make sure you fully understand what your supplier meant with something. You don’t want to hurt the beautiful blossoming one without reason are you?

Bolt: it is the abrupt appearance and maturity of vegies flowers. Mostly, it is considered as a bad thing. Why? The reason is that when the vegetables plant grow their leaves in this period they result in a tough texture or bitter taste.

Deadheading: The cutting off of “dead” flower heads once plants are done blooming to encourage new blooms.

Nitrogen fixation: A concept most important to veggie gardeners: Nitrogen can be replenished by legumes (such as peas and beans) that convert nitrogen in the air into nitrogen stored in their roots, which is then available as a rich nutrient in the soil.

N:P:K: The elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Together they are responsible for most of the healthy growth of your plants. Fertilizers are labeled with different ratios of N:P:K, which influence what parts of the plant will flourish.

Pony pack: Like a six-pack of beer, flats of plants bought at nurseries to be transplanted in your garden. They can come in anywhere from four to 80 plants a flat.

Striking: Putting a cutting from an existing plant into a planting medium to start a new growth.

Volunteer: A plant that planted itself. The seed for the volunteer may have flown in on the wind or been deposited by fruit (such as a tomato) that has fallen. If conditions are right, the seed will sprout and a new plant will grow.

These several words are what you should need to jumpstart your gardening experience. Remember you are not Adam in the Garden of Eden, your hard toil now determine the health and success of your garden. Do not let them stand by themselves uncared. Put a better attention to your home garden and we hope they did not left unattended!

Gardening does not need to be limited by space or the level of building you are living. Here we are going to observe some possibility on interior gardening. You know, something like a green sprouts in the room of your apartment. However, choice is limited to one, the contained gardening. For some of you who stay in a many leveled building, this is the way to look for some greenery and soil around the house.

Some of the important things to be considered are the container itself, sufficient sunrays, full nutrient of soil and drainage of the water. These components should be carefully examined to ensure that the inner garden really live. Limited spaces do not mean we will have limited selection of vegetables to grow; we can start with something simple such as mint….

Naturally, a bit of investigation on which plants fare well in the household is critical for the indoor gardener. But a few simple limitation and requirements always apply. Start by choosing a pot that is at least double the size of the plant. Selection for the right soil at the start will not only permit the plant to thrive in the proper potted environment but also sort out any drainage problems. Sculptural succulents will fare better in drought-tolerant cactus mix than that sprig of mint, which is much better off in soil with the moisture of a wrung-out sponge

Also keep in mind that even the most shade-tolerant vegetables need at least five hours of sunlight to thrive, with most veggies and herbs needing a minimum of eight hours to grow really well.

If an edible indoor garden is your aim, start with herbs and salad greens like arugula, oak leaf lettuce, and mesclun lettuce mixes. They do well sown by seed into containers: Generously sprinkle some seeds on the top of your potting soil, then cover them with a thin layer of compost. Keep the soil consistently moist and in full sun, and you should start eating fresh baby greens in about a month.

Some simple tips on the indoor-in room gardening has been discussed here. Make sure that you consider what commitment you can keep by the gardening. Watering, keeping enough sunlight, the right soil, etc. works together in a parallel combination to make a good garden. Some greenery in your apartment room would be a great interior element too!

Door is often neglected items of our home. Once installed, we will rarely take another look at it, unless there is huge renovation underway. However, door is what you mainly deal with everyday! You slammed it when you are angry, you close it when you sleep, you lock it when you go away, you greet your guess right on the door! it is not suprising to see that your door is expensive.

So, door is important. Now, there are two kind of door. Inside and outside, simple yet often made similar, but in reality they are different. Outdoor require more protection to weather and all the other better than the interior counterpart characteristics. It could include also noise reduction, temperature sealant, etc.

Inside and out, doors are workhorses for your home. They have to function smoothly and reliably, as they’re opened, closed or slammed thousands of times over the course of their lives. And they’re often the first thing you see when you enter a house or a room, so they have a big implication on the style of your home. No wonder they can be pricey!

Exterior doors also have to contend with rain, snow and damaging UV radiation, all while keeping out drafts and temperature extremes. Interior doors don’t see that kind of punishment, bur durability is still important. Other considerations include noise suppression and the effect the material has on indoor air quality.

OUTSIDE: WEATHER COUNTS. Although exterior doors have a lot to do with curb appeal, factors like energy efficiency, security, fire protection and durability are just as important The major choices for doors are wood, fiberglass and aluminum.

WOOD Custom wood doors arc expensive, but tough to match in appearance when properly maintained. Because the material is easy to work, it lends itself to different shapes, sizes and molding profiles. Many species of wood are available, and these doors can be color coated, stained or painted. Wood is less durable than other materials, and needs regular maintenance to protect it from sunlight and water, which can make it crack, warp or rot. Door overhangs are a good idea. In addition, wood is a lackluster thermal insulator, with an R-value (R-value is the heat insulation measurement) that’s several times lower than that of the insulating foam used in other types of doors. Cladding a wooden door with aluminum is one way to beat some of those problems. Colors are somewhat limited, but the bump in performance is not. Fiberglass doors, in the other hand, are more heat resistant but also come with lower price. Skilled provider could provide you texture with the door and colorings, remember to have the foam insulation as the fillings to even make it more temperature insulating.

SOLID WOOD either painted or finished with a clear coat or traditional garnish. Solid-core doors like these are dense, heavy and more dimensionally stable dun wood, so they’re not as likely to warp. Environmentally savvy buyers can specify solid-core doors made without urea formaldehyde adhesives tor better indoor air quality.

PANEL WOOD. However, panel wood is not a bad option too. Panel wood doors have often become visual gems in early American homes, and wood doors can be equally important architectural elements in other interiors. On the surface board and outer wood veneers is the original wood sheeting, or be completely composed of engineered material and painted to look like wood.

INSIDE: SOUND AND AIR QUALITY Interior doors are also available in many materials, styles and price points. Wood, solid-core molded doors and hollow-core doors are the three most common options. Hollow-Core. Hollow Core doors are made with thin facings of plywood or fiberboard and internal supports of another material, like-e cardboard, for stiffness. They are inexpensive, but usually sound tinny and don’t buffer sound as well as solid-core doors.

So, what do you think of replacing your door? Additional Door might be the option that you can consider instead of changing the old memorable ones. Some countries and state government even propose tax cut or reduction on new doors that fulfill some criteria such as weather protection, energy reduction, carbon emission, etc. Remember that when you go in-out and do activity in the house, you will face the door. Make the best option for the long term!

Once Adam eaten the fruit of knowledge, the apple, it becomes clear that human need to toil on the land as they have sinned. The toil of land continues toward agriculture and changed thoroughly into several different usage and objectives. From foods to medicine to beauty element, all the greenery have had different meaning during their subsequent time.

Some of us would like the garden of our homes becomes like the eden, calm, peaceful, natural and completely automatic bliss of taking care for itself. However, gardening seems to materialize from the hard ways, from the Babylon’s hanging park to the Mendel’s magic bean, gardening has become a new interest…….

Art of gardening come into the world, exaggeration added, on the dutch during the 16 century where they begin the race for tulip. The tulip craze era was started by their desire to make their space limited home to have the best of the best things. Some of them even put mirror on the garden just to create the image that theirs was boundariless.

Around the same time the rigid geometry and topiary feats of the French garden held aesthetic sway across Europe, only to be replaced a century later by the more natural, if atavistic, English garden with its false ruins and sylvan lakes.

Colonial Americans, however, desired more utilitarian gardens. Food and medicine—especially in New England, where settlers struggled with harsh winters and stony soil—trumped good looks.

As cities grew denser, and the largest swaths of urban green space were dedicated to public parks over private gardens, city planners like Ebenezer Howard sought a new balance of culture and nature. At the turn of the 20th century, Howard published Garden Cities of To-Morrow, a book proposing suburban living that promoted greater harmony with the natural world and greater proximity between agricultural and city centers.

Not 20 years later Britons and Americans alike got a taste of gardening as part of the war effort. During both world wars, politics, patriotism, and national identity staged a horticultural coup: Victory gardens, grown in the yards and converted flowerbeds of private homes and in larger public plots, were touted as a means to support the troops by decreasing demand on commercial produce.

The postwar boom and a rash of urbanites rushing to the suburbs gave rise to a surge in the sprawling ornamental lawn that before were only found on estates. Tellingly, some of those magic ingredients for fertilizing and faster growth first appeared in 1951, making lawns grow greener and faster. Other synthetic fertilizers and pesticides followed suit, making a few bottles of chemicals and the gas-powered lawnmower the 1950s’ biggest addition to the home gardener’s tool shed.

In the past two decades, however, there is a different idea on the gardening. As the world economy and the weather come in a pace of decreasing, a new need arise for a sustainable and utilitarian way to save and use the natural to work and help the society. Genetic arrangement, resistance toward bugs and weeds, faster growth and bigger yield is the result of those effort to maintain the mankind need for ever more food and beauty. Today, home gardening is much more advanced and technologically dependent. Still we put in awe of what God has made in the world since Adam’s fellness.

We fancy something natural and ecologically friendly. One of the newest and the hottest stuff for the past decades is the innovation vfor solar power water heating. It’s free, it’s not expensive, it can be installed on virtually any house and its hottt.

You might consider on owning one so that you read through these, but which one would you actually need? what kind of hot water systems that you actually wanted to have? the system has evolved through some times by now and there are some types you need to consider like what we are going to write here. Put your attention toward the requirement and choose the best fit for your dwelling place.

First Option, No space for a solar hot water system? A heat pump may be the answer. It uses energy from the surrounding ambient air and doesn’t need direct sunlight. It transfers heat from the air to water stored inside a hot water tank, saving about 60 per cent on your hot water bill and an average of 2.4 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year. Heat pumps cost about $3000 (before rebates in some country; A federal government rebate of $600 applies (with some restrictions)). This one does not need heavy change on the structure as it has smaller size, in the form of tube and thus easier to install.

Second option, the normal stuff, water heating is the largest single energy user in households, gobbling up about 25 per cent. The integrated tank/solar water heater was developed in the 1950s in Australia and Israel. Today, almost every building in Israel has one. yet only 10 per cent of Australian houses do. If you live in Australia, rebates are available from state and federal governments. For new and replacement gas boosted solar hot water systems, Australian government even give a state rebate as much as $500 for natural gas boosted systems (in gas reticulated areas) and $700 for bottled LPG boosted systems (in non reticulated areas). The federal rebate is $1000 to replace electric hot water systems. Costs and hot water usage vary greatly, so its hard to calculate ‘typical’ costs and payback times. But its suggested that a gas boosted solar water heater can pay for itself within five years compared with an electric or bottled LPG boosted system, and within eight years compared with a natural gas hot water system. Larger households are likely to recover their costs sooner. Be aware that sunlight is the core of this innovation, on which roof will you pack these new system?

Two of the options above actually does not really explain the details such as How difficult the plumbing be? or how long will it be effective. If you are in the winter, you will surely enjoy lesser hot water, but not that much actually as it will depend more on how big you want the capacity is. The bigger the more expensive and the more renovation it might need. But its hotttt!

Its hot in the summer and you dream of a way to cool yourself off in a big chunk of water. Perhaps, you want to have a swimming pool right in the back yard. Now, the problem that often arise from the building of swimming pool is its cumbersome maintenance. Cleaning, water change, heating, chemical use! sometimes it is more problematic to own one rather than enjoy it.

So, this is your home and you want the best of it, to enjoy it rather than work on it. you want a solution that works, an environment and pocket friendly one. Perhaps, first time investment is what we need to consider. As there has been so many examples of pools with sustainable concept, a swimming pool that is effective and efficient. Here we have some generic ideas on how to improve our swimming pools.

Unfortunately, our love affair with them has always been trouble some. They rely on chemicals and can lose up to three times their volume per year through evaporation, splashing and backwashing. Pool blankets, a requirement for new pools, can reduce evaporation by up to 95 per cent, reduce the amount of chemicals needed and heat the pool so it can be used for more of the year. A blanket and roller costs about $1100 a good investment even if your pool isn’t new. Variable speed pumps are also now available, reducing energy use (and the bill by about $350 per year).

Aside the traditional chlorine and salt systems, there has been existed a product so called MagnaPool, which is low in chlorine and rich in magnesium and potassium. Therefore, the water is usable for another living being and can water on the garden once diluted. Designed for energy efficiency, it costs from $2500 more to install than conventional systems or from $5500 for a retrofit. It saves about S500 a year in running costs compared with a salt system. There’s also the DeltaUV system, which uses ultraviolet light to sanitize the water. It costs less than $2000 and Is easily installed to turn on and off with the filter pump.

Then there’s the really green option, a truly natural swimming pools. They’re built to operate the way Mother Nature does, to clarify and purify natural ponds. Through biological regeneration in a planted area, natural pools clean and maintain themselves as a living organism, without the use of chemicals or back washing.

as they are plantation based, they use about 80 per cent less energy than a standard conventional pool and the only water loss is through evaporation. The system is living, self sustaining, but that doesn’t mean swimming with frogs. Environmentally friendly does not mean dirty and uncontrolled. Bionova’s two basin system means the pool can be separated to the regeneration area and look like a conventional pool. Or it can have an organic- look to blend with the biological regeneration area. They can be contracted from around $70,000.

So, what do you think of a pool? many possibilities of making the swimming pool really works. Of course you should also consider the improvement out of a swimming pool and your need. Better it be design, cost and the sublimity with your home. A good swimming pool not only looks good but also don’t mess too much. Happy swimming!