Plants and Pools: How Can You Prepare Your Yard's Landscaping When Adding a Pool?

A pool can be the focal point of a backyard oasis, with the right landscaping. Planning your landscaping and preparing your yard for your new pool takes considerable thought. So, here are a few points you need to know about landscaping when installing your pool.

What Not to Plant

The wrong plants can create extra pool maintenance as will planting grass too close to the pool. For example, bougainvillea will shed tons of pretty pink flowers into your pool that can clog your pool’s jets and drains. You will want to avoid these kinds of plants around your pool. You'll also want to avoid plants that attract a lot of bees, such as honeysuckle.

Grass too close to a pool can also create problems. Not only will grass clippings fly into the pool, but the roots can eventually cause damage to both in-ground and above-ground pools. In fact, do not plant anything with invasive roots, such as oleander, around a pool.

Plants Appropriate for Around the Pool

If you want a tropical look and feel, stick with non-shedding poolside plants. Go with plants like canna lilies, bird of paradise flowers, and hibiscus plants. These are hardy plants that do not shed.

While lawn grass must be kept away from the pool, decorative grasses, such as feather reed grass, zebra grass, and mondo grass are very appropriate for around the pool.

In desert regions, succulents are a good choice. They can withstand heat and intense sunshine like cactus, but unlike cactus, they do not have dangerous thorns.

Landscaping Around Above-Ground Pools

While in-ground pools have a rim of cement decking, above-ground pools do not. That means, before you decide on any plants, you'll need to decide what to surround them with. Several inches of gravel or decorative rock around the pool is a popular option. However, before you lay down any rock, put down a layer of landscaping fabric to prevent weeds. The rock should extend two or three feet from the pool.

Not only does the decorative rock look attractive, but it also allows for evaporation. This keeps water from building up around and under the pool. Once you have your rock laid out, you can plant it around the perimeter of the gravel. You can place potted plants around the pool too. Potted plants also give you the option to change your landscaping seasonally.

When you’re planning the landscaping for your above-ground pool, talk to your installation company about which plants work best for your area and style of pool. They can give you specific advice for what will work well in your yard.

With some research into the best plants for your region, your pool's landscaping will not only create an oasis but will also be relatively low maintenance.

Organizing a Birthday Party on a Budget

We partnered with a costume company. for this post. The opinions in the post are honest. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on our personal views. We are excited because we know you will love it.

There’s nothing more joyous than watching the look of excitement and happiness on a child’s face as they celebrate their birthday. From the cake to the presents, marking each milestone with a celebration is something that both parents and children enjoy. For the former, however, there’s a lot that goes into planning a party, especially if you want to stay within your budget. 

Are you looking to organize the perfect birthday party without breaking the bank? If so, here are some excellent tips that will help you plan a birthday party on a budget. 

Create a Checklist of Items You Will Need for Your Party

The best way to ensure your child’s party goes off without a hitch is to plan out everything ahead of time. But what exactly do you need to include on your checklist of items to plan out or purchase? Let’s dive into a few key items that every birthday party should have. 

• Cake: The cake is one of the most essential items to take care of in advance. Ask your child what flavor they’d like and make sure that you place an order with your local bakery in plenty of time for the party. 

• Entertainment: Whether it’s clowns, live music, or even traveling zoos, entertainment is a must if you want to keep children and their parents entertained. You might want to think about incorporating a themed costume aspect into your celebration, allowing parents to join the fun by donning pirate outfits or whimsical fairy attire, adding an extra layer of fun without breaking the budget.

• Decorations and Supplies: No party is complete without themed birthday party supplies. Once you and your child have settled on the theme, create a shopping list of items like candles, napkins, paper plates and bowls, balloons, streamers, banners, and tablecloths (plus whatever else you may need). 

• Seating: For the most part, you may have room in your dining area to seat children. However, you’ll likely need to purchase some additional folding tables and chairs if you plan on using your backyard space or inviting more people than you currently have furniture for. If you really want to go above and beyond, you can even get your child their own custom furniture to help them celebrate their birthday in style. 

Why is planning the above so crucial to your budget? When you know what you need to look for, you’re better suited to compare different options to find one that’s most affordable. Once you have this list in hand, you’re ready to find the budget-friendly products you need!

Prepare Your Space for Your Guests 

The appearance of your home plays a major role in how your adult guests perceive you. Every adult wants to have a kid-friendly space that’s organized and clutter-free. The problem? Getting started in your organizational journey can seem like a major feat. Fortunately, every journey begins with a single step!

Take some time to create an organizational strategy that will help you get your belongings organized, develop child-friendly systems so that everyone in your household can clear clutter more effectively, and create a space that you and your guests will love. Who knows? You may even find some items you need for the birthday party that will save you some money you may have otherwise spent on new supplies. 

Come Up With Your Gift Ideas Ahead of Time

Having a birthday gift list for other parents helps them pick out the perfect gift for your child. However, you also need to think about what you may be getting for your child’s birthday as well. The sooner you come up with ideas, the sooner you can find discounts that help you stay within budget. Whether you’re looking for the basics like a charming birthday card or something more personal like a framed birthday picture, there are plenty of great, affordable gift ideas out there that your child will love. 

Feel Free to Get Creative With the Invites

Once your house has been organized for the event, you’ve gotten all the items on your checklist, and you’ve sent out gift ideas and purchased your own gifts, the only thing left to do is to send out official invitations. Invites to birthday parties are the most affordable aspect of party planning as you can easily send out e-vites with your favorite pictures to save money on physical invitations that could potentially get lost. 

Then, you can use the money that you saved to purchase something that highlights your child’s big day, like a custom picture frame with their best picture to showcase when parents arrive.

Planning a birthday party for your child should be anything but stressful. If you want to make sure that you’re organized, prepared, and ready to stay within your budget, use the birthday planning guide above to plan ahead for the big day!

Guest Post - Understanding the 5 Principles of Sustainable Interior Design

We partnered with a furniture company for this post. The opinions in the post are honest. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on our personal views. We are excited because we know you will love it.

Interior design has a huge impact on the environment as products and materials to be used affects its sustainability. Therefore, interior designers should approach this by incorporating sustainability principles in their designs, hence attracting more clients. As a result, people can enjoy and connect with their encircling spaces ecologically. Moreover, the interior design accommodates amazing alternatives to produce sustainability by the use of regular materials.

5 Principles of Sustainable Interior Design

Biophilic and Natural Design –

On this aspect, we have to on look at interior design’s beneficial effects in our lives. With the different approaches of natural materials and elements in an interior, our various perspectives and aspects of life improve. This consists of mental health and physical well-being. 

Mental health is positively affected when nature involving plants and water are applied in living/working spaces or accommodations. This connection is helpful for people to lower blood pressure, release stress and improve focus and performance when working or studying. This can be innovated by the usage of a wide variety of pots and plants to create beautiful biophilic designs. 

For physical well-being, it’s concerned with the usage of explicit natural resources. Hence, limiting the use of volatile particles from the materials used through the lack of chemicals. This highly promotes the use of acoustic and antibacterial materials in interior design. 
Design for Flexibility and Longevity –
To sustain an interior design, the longevity of any material to be used should be greatly considered. This will prevent products and materials from getting discarded too often. Therefore, the best approach to this is designing timeless and durable spaces and restrain the wish to reorganize the entire design after a while.
However, people tend to grow and change all the time hence want their surrounding spaces to be part of their growth. They then reflect those changes by relying on their interior designers to come up with adaptable ideas fitting their changing needs. Creating flexible spaces is among the keys to longevity as replacing or adapting is easier rather than renovating or demolishing the individual details of a room in its entirety.
Design for Waste Minimization –
Interior designers have a big responsibility of acting sustainably. They play a major role when it’s about waste minimization. Therefore, with the limited resources, the mindset of discarding products immediately after they are outdated and replacing them with currently trendy is not any more justifiable. Luckily, the sector of design is turning out increasingly conscious of the necessity for sustainable thinking. Therefore, it is undergoing a developing interest in sustainable trends such as repurposing, recycling, and upcycling. These processes give rise to a new life of outdated materials instead of them being discarded.
Additionally, synthetic materials can also be the best option in reducing the exhaustion of natural resources. Interior designers will greatly promote the conservation of the environment by opting to use the renewed or recycled wastes to create and develop amazing ideas. As a result, wastes become raw materials for new products thus eliminating a lot of wastes.
Design for Energy Saving –
Energy consumption highly contributes to climate change. Therefore, interior designers have come up with great ways that promote energy efficiency. They have a great influence on lighting and heating, two critical factors affecting the climate. To achieve this, the use of the right lighting and the implementation of artificial lighting are the best solutions. Rooms with darker walls need more light hence lighter colours will reflect appropriately. Besides, reflective surfaces bounce lights around thus increasing the quantity of light in the room. 

Also, on how to manage the temperature of the building, the windows should provide good insulation and be of high quality. Drapes, curtains, and window coverings; shades, and blinds are the best choices when managing the building’s temperature. They can be opened and shut when needed. Furthermore, installing home automation remotely controls lighting and heating systems.
Creation of a Healthy Environment –
Interior design is associated with a lot of materials and some of them might not be linked to pollution but can be toxic. To establish a healthy environment, many factors are considered. 

Clean air, good lighting, efficient heating, and good acoustics are the main factors. With many people spending time indoors: at schools, in offices, and at home, these factors should be leading in the priority list of any interior designer. 

Designers should implement the use of benefiting quality products when decorating either a house or an office. Equipment or furniture used should be of materials with moderate emissions of pollutants. Other products such as carpets can also be used as they trap dust particles hence act as an air filter, therefore, promoting an environment free of germs from the dust particles. What makes for a healthy environment depends on the setting. For example, mental health facilities may require Knightsbridge Furniture to establish a safe and welcoming environment.

Final Thoughts

Interior designers have a huge responsibility to create amazing things out of the locations we live in. Hence, they must be guided by sustainable design principles to provide a decent and convenient environment. As much as they are dealing with the commercial sector, a healthy environment should be valued.

Author Bio: This article was written by Martin Desmond of Wizer Energy. Martin and his team provide comprehensive Domestic and Commercial PV Systems installation services across Ireland.

Color Psychology in Interior Décor – Infographic

Here at House to Home Organizing, we love to help people to declutter and get their homes in tip-top shape. However, did you know that you can incorporate psychology into your color choices for your home too? With so much color choices available in paint stores, it can easily get overwhelming in your renovation project. Even if you're planning to overhaul just one room, choosing the color can be a stumbling block. Coupled with that is the fact that the choice of color has such huge repercussions for the rest of the home's theme so you really want to get it right! Of course, you can use magazines, home décor TV shows or social media to help inspire you with color choices too. Pinterest and Instagram are fantastic places to begin your color choice journey; both platforms have tools for saving any inspiration you find so that you can easily refer back to it at any stage. Another great tip is to look at wall art in the room as a source of inspiration. You can use that to form the idea or theme of your color choice too and create a really cohesive look! 

We also like to ask the opinion of a small select group of family and friends - ask too many though and you might incur a wide difference of opinion and thus end up in even greater confusion about what direction to take your color journey! 

The guys at EZ Living Interiors have put together this infographic below; it outlines color by color what is suitable for different areas of the home. We know that it can be challenging when it comes to color selection because there are so many to choose from! Coupled with that is the worry that you're not selecting the right colors for the "look" that you want to achieve. That's why incorporating the psychology of color into your decision making process is the ideal way forward. The graphic also examines the interesting concept of the 60-30-10 rule for timeless-s decorating. Sometimes having an anchor like this when in your color selection mode of the renovation can really focus the mind and allow you to think in a clearer way. Check out the full infographic below for all the details!