Painting and Decorating Tile
Ceramic tile can be beautiful and elegant. But it can also be bland and uninspired. If you want to add a little color or creativity to your tile, here's how! Remember to clean your tile and let it dry before you begin any project. 1. Seal...

Tips and Suggestions To Help You Plan and Build Your Own Log Home
Log Cabin Homes : They have come a long way. Here are some tips and suggestions to help you plan and build your own. Plus be sure to consider the floor plans and not overlook anything. Typically, log cabin homes are small structures that have...

What's Underfoot? A Quick Guide to Patio Surfaces
Patios and terraces have always been popular outdoor spaces. Whether a Parisian courtyard or a rooftop alcove, only porches and sunrooms beat out these paved (or semi-paved) retreats in a recent survey of my readers as the most ideal outside living...

Why Hardwood Flooring Is Still A Good Investment
1) Hardwood flooring has a timeless air of quality Hardwood floors have decorated some of the most exclusive mansions and estates in history and still exudes a feeling of permanence and classic quality compared to manufactured floors. 2)...

Why Laminate Flooring Is The Perfect Choice For Family Households
If you've ever had carpets or vinyl flooring you've probably had your share of stains, spills, and rips that no matter what you do, you can't quite wash out. Or perhaps the family pet has scratched the carpet edging, or even worse - had a bathroom...

Ten Steps to Perfect Pasta
I'm amazed at how often I get e-mail from a disgruntled home cook, lamenting the fact that, once again, a dish of pasta has turned into a culinary disaster. I hear stories of overcooked, undercooked, tasteless pasta that may also be stuck together,...

Help Choosing Door and Window Hardware
Who would be the best person to help you find suitable fixtures and fittings for doors and windows? Architects are trained to create designs that are structurally sound, functional, and aesthetically pleasing. They also often have a basis...

Using Candles in Feng Shui Decorating
The basic belief behind Feng Shui is that there are five elements, some combinations of which create a productive cycle, and some a destructive cycle. When one of these five elements – water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, respectively for the...

External vs. Submersible Pumps. Which one should you Use?
For many people, it's never been a question of whether to use a submersible pump vs. an external pump because most people have smaller ponds and are used to just using a submersible pump. They're easy to install, and are pretty reliable - so why...

How to Choose Water Garden Plants
So the water garden bug has bitten. You’ve dug and leveled and sweated and said words you hope that no one else has heard. Now it’s time for the fun part – picking out your water garden plants! Plant varieties within these four categories are...

Maintaining Oxygen Levels in Fish and KOI Ponds
Severe environmental stressors are the most frequent causes of sudden fish death in garden ponds or other fish habitats, and the lack of oxygen in the water is the number 1 stressor of all. Two major factors contributing to fish-pond oxygen loss...

Hot-Weather Fish Feeding Facts
Summertime provides the best time of the year to water garden – and also to be on the alert for high-temperature problems. To remain healthy and continue growing, fish need to get all the nutrients available from their food, so feed them food...

Wildlife in Winter Ponds
This may seem contradictory, but you want to leave a little bit of debris in the pond when preparing it for winter. Some water gardeners net out the fish, completely drain the water and scrub out the pond, refilling it with fresh water. Frogs,...

Winterizing Your Pond
For many parts of the country, it's getting to be that time of year again. Time to start thinking about getting your fish and plants ready for old man winter... Every year, as the weather gets colder and we start heading into winter, many of our...

What to feed your fish during colder winter months
With air and water temperatures dropping in most parts of the country, now is the time to greatly reduce the amount of food you are feeding your fish. When your water temperature starts falling below 65 degrees, you should consider switching...

Storm Warnings For Ponds
California has earthquakes; we in the south and east coast have hurricanes. One thing we all share is power outages. Ours are usually caused by storms. Most power outages last only a few hours and only happen a few times a year. A hurricane is...

Summer Pond Tips
Use an oxygen tester and air stones to keep your available oxygen level to at least 7.0 parts per million of dissolved oxygen in 90 degree F. water. Koi and goldfish start showing signs of stress at oxygen levels of 4.0 ppm and will start dying at...

Hand Feeding your Koi
One of the most rewarding and entertaining things about having a Koi pond is when your fish finally start eating out of your hand. There is no better way to learn each fishes' personality and temperament than to have them nuzzle your fingers when...

To Salt or Not to Salt Your Pond...
The important question of whether or not to add salt to your pond is often confusing for beginners and forgotten by experienced pond-keepers. To newbies and pro's alike we have this to say: 'Add Salt Today to Keep the Fish Doctor Away' True,...

Renew Thyself Daily, with Candles! - a Candle Review
One of my favorite quotes is a quote of a quote in Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, a writing he found on the bathtub of King Tchingthang, which Thoreau describes, ' ‘Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and...

Five Easy Ways to Give Your Kitchen Designer Wow!
A beautiful kitchen is the heart of any home (even for those of us who spend most of our cooking time around the microwave!) Time spent together in the kitchen can bring a family closer together and make wonderful memories (although my own memories...

Why It's Important to Get Pre-Approved
Having a pre-approved mortgage will give you the confidence of knowing exactly what you can spend on a home before you start looking. You will also be protected against interest rate increases while you look for your new home. Your Mortgage...

Making a First Impression When Selling Your Home
So you've decided to take advantage of the booming real estate market and put your house up for sale. As you know, buying a house is the most important purchase a consumer can make. So it's understandable that when prospective buyers come...

5 Factors of Selling a Home
There are five major factors to consider when selling a home. These factors will greatly influence not only the final price you will get for the property, but also how quickly it will sell and how much grief you will suffer through the sale....

When is the Best Time to Move?
As Realtors, we are often asked, 'When is the best season to move?' This is a tough question, one we cannot answer for you. Most people are asking about price, do they fluctuate throughout the year? NO. Just the number of homes on the market...