Guest Post - 5 Ways to Increase the Comfort of Your Home

When you think about home, probably the first thing that comes to your mind is comfort. The more comfortable your home is, the more relaxed you are, both mentally and physically. That being said, aiming at making your home as comfy as possible makes a lot of sense. And if you don’t know where to start, here are five great ways for increasing the comfort of your home.

Bring the nature in

Filling your home with plants really is a good idea. Not only that potted plants can cheer up your place but they can also help you improve the air quality inside of it. For example, aloe plant is considered to be one of the best natural air purifiers out there. Of course, there are other plants you can go for such as spider plant, dracaena and peace lily. No matter which of these you decide to go for, there’s no doubt you’ll be making your home more comfortable. Introducing plants into your home is possible even if you spend a lot of time at work, since there are so many low-maintenance houseplants you can opt for.

Go for comfortable and warm floors

Another thing that can make your home more comfortable is your floor. If you pick the right type of floor, you can ensure your home is as cozy as possible. For instance, carpet flooring is an extremely popular option right now as it can provide you with all the coziness you need. In case you want to go for something more lasting, hardwood flooring is also an interesting option. However, it doesn’t offer as much comfort as carpet flooring and you’ll have to throw in a couple of cozy rugs to get that barefoot soothing feel. For ultimate coziness, you can consider the idea of installing floor heating.

Invest in air quality

We already talked about how plants can help you increase air quality inside of your home. Even if you do get potted plants for your home, it’s still a good idea to spend some money in order to make sure the air inside of your home is both clean and fresh. The best way to do this is to get a ducted air conditioner for you and your family. Many new air conditioners have been designed specifically to help you reduce your energy consumption which is an important thing to have in mind if you want to go green. Of course, getting a brand new air conditioner is recommended, simply to avoid dealing with repair issues.

Think about the lighting

You won’t be able to fully relax in your home until you get the lighting right. Of course, you need lighting in order to be able to perform your everyday tasks but too much lighting can sometimes cause stress. Therefore, what you might want to think about is installing dim lights in your home. That way, you’ll have separate lighting for when you want to just sit down and relax. Switching from standard incandescent bulbs to LED bulbs is also a smart move. Not only that these little things consume less energy but they also create less heat, which should help you achieve that cozy environment you’re aiming for.

Get rid of the clutter

No one is able to fully relax in a messy house. So, if you have a lot of clutter just lying around, it might be the right time to get rid of it. In case you’re not sure how to do it, there are certain strategies you can use. For instance, you can take three different boxes, labeled keep, sell and donate, and use them to separate your clutter. That way, figuring out what you really need will be made easier and you’ll manage to help someone along the way. When it comes to selling the clutter you have in your home, you can always have a garage sale or sell your things on eBay or Craigslist.

If you want to turn your place into a real sanctuary, following these five ways should help you get the job done. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should ever stop looking for new ways to add comfort to your home.

Lana Hawkins is a young architect and a home décor blogger on Smooth Decorator. She enjoys writing about interior decoration and landscaping. Lana is interested in sustainability and green building, and that's where she gets most of her inspiration from.

Guest Post - 7 Ways for Filling your Home with Positive Energy

Did you know that your home can have a big effect on your mood? Being in a place full of positive vibes and energy can benefit both your body and mind. When we and our children are surrounded by things that we find comforting and pleasing, we tend to feel happy about life. On the other hand, being in a home filled with negative vibes can trigger bad memories and easily bring you down. Instead of letting your home become a negative place, let’s take a look at 7 ways for filling your home with positive vibes.

De-Clutter

De-clutter your house today and get rid of various items that no longer have much use in your home. By doing this, you and your kids will feel much more comfortable and happier. The truth is that cluttered spaces create stress and nothing helps more to bring positive vibes in your home than reducing waste and clutter. There are many effective ways to de-clutter your home. For example, it is recommended to use multi-purpose products and always choose quality over quantity.

In those rare cases when you are just too busy to de-clutter your home yourself, you can always hire some help. If you have time, involve your family! Decluttering a house together might be a great bonding experience, bringing you all together and instilling a sense of duty in your children.

Create Happy Memories at Your Home

Creating happy memories at your house is one of the best strategies to fill your home with positive energy. If you and your family travel a lot, print out pictures from these vacations and hang them on your shelf or your wall. By doing this, you’ll remind yourself of all those happy times. Think of other items that bring back cheerful experiences and put them in your home.

Introduce More Plants

Introducing plants is one of the best ways to increase the oxygen levels in your home. Fill your living room with fresh flowers and potted plants to create more positive energy. Plants like jasmine, cactus, rosemary, orchids, and lavender in your home can help you experience nature indoors. Keep in mind that some plants require more attention than others. Therefore, it is important to choose something that you can look after on a regular basis.

Maintain an Organized Home

Maintaining an organized home is an important step in creating a positive atmosphere. Scrub off the greasy kitchen counters and dusty coffee tables. Get your kids to help by organizing books and accessories in a proper order. Repeating these actions at least once every two weeks will help preserve a positive interior atmosphere inside of your home.

Create a Space for Relaxation

Besides making your entire home an enjoyable place to live in, you and your family should also create a special space, room, or a corner just for relaxation. You can use this space for a variety of activities like practicing yoga, reading, meditation, or for anything else that can lift your spirits up and raise positive vibrations.

Let Fresh Air Flow in

Oxygen-deprived places can be really unpleasant and bring out all those negative vibes that you wish to avoid. The easiest way to increase the oxygen levels in your house is just to open your windows and let the fresh air flow in. Fresh air boosts energy levels, improves overall health and helps you sleep better.

Let There Be Light in Your Home

Artificial lighting is not that good for your home. It can cause insomnia, stress, and headaches. This is why it is important to open the curtains during the day and let in plenty of natural light. A home that is exposed to plenty of sunlight is a place you definitely want to live in.

The truth is that it’s really not that difficult to bring in positivity in your home and get rid of all the bad vibes. By following these simple steps, you and your kids will create a home packed with positive energy and awesome vibes.

Melanie Saunders is a blogger and content manager at 1300 Rubbish – experts in the field of rubbish and junk removal. Personally, a huge fan of sustainability and green living.

Guest Post - How To Keep Your Family Safe From Carbon Monoxide Poisoning From Your Heating System

There is no doubt about the warmth and comfort home heating systems provide us whenever winter comes. It’s hard to imagine living a life without the gas furnaces, water heaters, and boilers that keep us from freezing whenever temperatures take a steep dive. It’s even harder to imagine your heater breaking down in the middle of winter because getting heating system repair can get a bit tough in the middle of a blizzard.

Our heating systems, however, are not without risks. Since there is combustion involved in their operation, they produce carbon monoxide, a gas that is deadly to both humans and pets.

One scary thing about carbon monoxide is the fact that it’s odorless, tasteless, and colorless. In other words, it’s tough to detect. You could have a carbon monoxide leak inside your home and not know it.

The consequences of a carbon monoxide leak are unimaginable, and that’s why you have to take all possible measures to protect yourself and your loved ones from carbon monoxide poisoning from your heating system. Here are a few tips to do just that.

Install carbon monoxide detectors

A carbon monoxide detector is the best way to alert a household that there is, indeed, a CO leak at home. CO detectors are affordable, dependable, and widely available. No matter how small the leak, these CO detectors will pick it up and promptly raise the alarm, which should allow anyone at home to get out to safety.

The best CO alarms are those that you can plug into an outlet and has a battery backup.

Since carbon monoxide tends to stay near the ground, plug your CO detectors—which you should have on every floor and bedroom—into outlets closer to the floor.

Keep your vents clear

Your ventilation systems should be clear of debris so in case of a carbon monoxide leak, the CO can make its way outside and dissipate there. Make sure floor vents, dryer vents, and chimneys are free of any obstruction.

Know the symptoms

The better you know the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, the faster you can act to get your loved ones to safety. Those symptoms include:

• dull headaches

• shortness of breath

• dizziness

• nausea

• confusion

• blurred vision

• physical weakness

Contact your local fire department as well to deal with the CO leak.

Conduct yearly inspection and maintenance

An annual inspection of your heating system by HVAC professionals should help ensure that it’s working perfectly and that there is no danger of a CO leak. If they find small issues that could lead to a carbon monoxide leak, they will immediately deal with it before anything untoward happens in the future.

Michelle West is the Senior Content Editor of Precision Air and Heating, a local AC repair company in sunny Arizona. Michelle enjoys writing about topics that help people all over the country make their homes more efficient and environmentally-friendly.

What Retirement Reveals

So you’re finally retired. Wonderful news! Now you can get to all those books you have been meaning to read, take a trip when and where you want, spend more time with friends, children and grandchildren, and volunteer at your favorite charity. Being retired gives you the freedom to make your own schedule, and also means you will be home a lot more than you were in the past.

However, spending more hours at home means having the time to actually look at your home. Often our retired clients will tell us that after a few months of being home they start noticing how much “stuff” accumulated over the years. Collections from no longer living relatives are in the attic, keepsakes from children are in the closets, a garage filled with old sporting equipment and a basement filled with boxes.

Retirees try to figure out how all these piles took over their space while they were at work. What to do? Where to even begin? Maybe it is time to call a professional organizer.

A professional organizer will come to your space and access the situation. You will get a clear understanding of the time and cost necessary to help you sort, review and organize the areas of your house which are cluttered and could benefit from finished organized systems. A professional can assist you in making hard decisions that can be challenging on your own, such as what to keep, where to donate and how to appraise items which may be of value. Many professional organizers will remove your smaller unwanted items at the end of the session, arrange for donation or junk pick up for larger items and set up a walk through with an auction house for possible sale items.

Organizers have knowledge of the best storage solution for your space.  In addition to containers you may benefit from shelves and other storage solutions. At House to Home Organizing, one of our popular services is our concierge shopping service that makes your life that much easier. Shopping in a crowded store overflowing with options can be stressful. Let us bring the solutions to you.

Retirement can be great for relaxing, but sometimes it can be hard to restart physical activities. It is really important to note that Professional Organizers provide manual labor and momentum which is something everyone needs when reducing clutter. It can be easy to start a project but many people get distracted easily and never finish. Organizing requires serious decision making, focus and energy.

Every job is different as to where to start and the time needed to complete. Having a no charge consult at is a great way to understand the process and the time commitment. Spending more time at home should be a pleasure not a burden. So if you are looking to enjoy retirement, want to spend your time doing the things you love as opposed to de-cluttering, do yourself a favor and call a professional organizer. You will not be sorry!