Top Internet Marketing Techniques

The Internet offers many means of affordable marketing, often with full-color imagery to go along with text. And multimedia components add some spice to the mix and increase online visitors and purchases. Here are some top Internet marketing techniques to help increase your sales and income.

1. DIRECTORY - Create your own directory on a specific industry topic, placing your own ad or banner along the top. Then invite others to add their website links via a link exchange program, listing themselves in your directory. This will result in lots of free advertising for you as your directory expands with links across the World Wide Web. Enter “link exchange software” into your favorite search engine for help with setup.

2. TEACH A COURSE – Write out a simple step-by-step instructional class in your area of expertise. Then break it up into smaller segments and set them up in an autoresponder as email messages with your ads included at the top and / or bottom of each message. Invite website visitors to sign up through on online form or email subscription address offered through the autoresponder service. Then as people sign up, they will learn more about you and your products and services.

3. EZINE EBOOK – Forget about small daily or weekly ezines. Try publishing one large monthly e-zine as an e-book format, preferably an Adobe .pdf file. Include a large number of articles with each issue and regularly featured areas like inspirational quotes, industry tips, favorite sites and advice from the pros. Also insert full-color graphics, multimedia components like audio file links, if you like, and ads. Then you can charge a monthly rate, with an annual discounted package purchase, and sell advertising spots.

4. TIP OF THE DAY – Set up your own Tip of the Day targeting your own area of expertise, relating to your own products and services. You can set it up on your website in a targeted box, via autoresponder, a blog, an RSS feed, an audio file or others means of communication. Add your own ad along with your tip for whichever product or service you want to target or maybe even your own online store for all. This will gently remind your target audience where to go to learn more.

In summary, by using Internet Marketing techniques customized to fit your own products and services, you can reach out and increase your website traffic and purchase opportunities. Internet marketing can mean a more affordable way to grow your business.

7 Valuable Tips For Article Writers

1. Let your affiliates use your articles to earn commissions.

Simply make your articles available to your affiliates to publish in their ezines or on their web sites with their
affiliate links in your resource box.

You'll be able to increase the success of your existing affiliates.

You'll also be able to get your new affiliates started on the right track by providing them with a unique and powerful
way to begin promoting your business.

2. Post your articles on your site.

Not all article writers do this, but it's a great way to showcase your expertise and increase your visitor's trust in you.

It can also help you to get more new affiliate sign ups. Just let your visitors know that they can use your articles to earn commissions.

3. Write to one person.

A good way to draw your reader into your article is to write as if you're writing to a friend.

By doing this, your article won't turn out like a "business document", and you'll be able to make your writing more personable and get more traffic to your site.

4. Do an article swap.

You could swap an article to be published in another writer's ezine, or you could swap articles to be published on each others' sites.

5. Start an article announcement list.

Get more ezine publishers and webmasters to reprint your articles by running an email list that tells them when you've written a new article or articles.

Like publishing your articles on your site, your list can help you to get more new affiliates.

Your list can also keep your existing affiliates up to date on any new commissionable articles you have for them to publish.

6. Use autoresponders.

Make your individual articles and also a "master list" of your articles available by autoresponder.

Include your master list email address in your posts to article announcement lists, along with your publishing guidelines and other information.

That way you'll be able to further promote your past articles, and you'll get more of your articles published by webmasters and ezine publishers that enjoy your writing.

Autoresponders can also be used to publish your article announcement list (or ezine).

With broadcast capable autoresponders you'll be able to double opt in your subscribers, easily send out your
announcements, and your autoresponders can easily take care of your subscribe and unsubscribe requests.

7. Create ebooks.

For example, you could make an ebook compilation of your best articles on a specific topic such as ezine publishing or copywriting.

Add to the profit you get from your new ebook by publishing articles in it where you're able to earn commissions, or by
making it available to your affiliates to rebrand with their affiliate links.

Autoresponders Generate Online Profits

If you ask online marketer how to convert website visitors into buyers, most will give you the same answer: the sales are in the follow-up.

It’s much more than just increasing your traffic volume. After all, most of your visitors won’t decide to purchase your products or your services when they first visit your website. But that’s not to say that they won’t be interested in your offer tomorrow or next week, or that they won’t be interested in future offers.

Therefore, it is necessary to get your visitor's email addresses so that you can inform them of current and upcoming offers. You do this by using an opt-in system that invites them to subscribe to your mailing list. By gathering their names and email addresses, with their permission of course, you are now able to contact them periodically with information, usually by sending them an ezine as well as an occasional freebie.

There are no problems as long as you’re only dealing with ten or twenty subscribers, as you could just email them individually. However, such numbers aren't going to make you many sales. You should aim for a mailing list that could reach into the thousands. That number of subscribers would make it difficult for you to prepare individual emails for each name on your list.

The basis of an ideal mailing list, therefore, is an effective autoresponder system that provides the power and flexibility to email your subscribers in a timely and efficient manner.

A mailing list of considerable size powered by a good autoresponder system consistently provides earnings for many Internet marketers. A lot of online businessmen make significant profits from their mailing lists alone.

Okay, but what is an autoresponder system? An autoresponder system is like a digital secretary. It takes care of your subscribers by providing an opt-in system that allows visitors to subscribe to your mailing list. An autoresponder system also takes care of the sending of emails to your subscriber base.

You can prepare your messages in advance, program them into the autoresponder, and preset the intervals by which the messages are delivered. You can even separate your subscribers into various groups. You could have a group for those who have not yet placed an order, for example. You could have another grouping for those who have already made a purchase. This allows you to use two different marketing approaches in dealing with each of the groups.

A good autoresponder system can help you build trust in your products or services. With a good autoresponder, you can also provide an efficient technical support program. If your subscribers email you a question about one of your products, for example, you could preset the autoresponder to reply with a general FAQ to send them the information.

Not all autoresponders are designed the same and much care should be taken in choosing the right one for your particular needs. Here are some questions you should ask before you decide on a particular autoresponder service:

* How many accounts can you create? Some business plans might
require that you have different accounts for different products.

* How many lists can you build? There are also some business plans where you might need different lists for different groups of subscribers.

* How many follow-up messages can you preset? Do you need a lot of follow-up messages or do you know yet? Quite a few autoresponder services provide for unllimited follow-ups.

* How many subscribers can the system hold? And also, how many subscribers can the system respond to?

* How much customization is allowed? You need to be able to personalize your email messages with each subscriber’s name and other customizable information.

* How does the system gather subscriber information? The process should be simple and convenient; otherwise, the visitor will not subscribe.

* Will you be able to send your messages in html and text formats? Most autoresponder services allow both formats.

* Will you be able to track your subscribers for the purpose of target marketing? This my or may not be important to you.

* Is the scheduling system fully automated and flexible enough for your current and future needs?

* Is the autoresponder easy to use? Do they have a demo area so that you can try it out?

Now, does the autoresponder service you are considering provide answers to all of the above questions? If so and if it is offered at a reasonable price, then you should grab the deal as soon as you can.

Remember, if you’re running an online business, a good autoresponder should be one of your primary investments. It could be the key to an excellent conversion rate, more sales and more profits.

Creative Ideas To Profit With Autoresponders

An interested visitor who has been strolling through your
site has finally come to just what she is looking for and
is about to make a purchase. It's a sunny afternoon, and
her cat, who happens to be sitting on the moss under the
visitor's large fifty-year-old snow-rose bonsai tree,
suddenly jumps down, and the priceless tree topples over.

In the blink of an eye, your visitor exits your site, and
your sale is dust - unless you have had the foresight to
utilize an autoresponder that has captured her email
address. If you have installed an autoresponder, you can
then follow-up with her, and in all probability, make the
sale when the poor woman has finished repotting her
precious bonsai.

Autoresponders are remarkable, versatile programs that do
so much more than just automatically answer your email.
Here are a few ideas that will help you to creatively and
productively use your autoresponder to transform the casual
visitor into a profitable customer. Use your autoresponder
to:

1. Publish a newsletter. Certain quality autoresponders
will manage subscriptions and follow-up with interested
prospects. Your newsletter can keep your visitors informed
about your services or products, while building your
reputation as a credible expert in your particular
business.

2. Publish a newsletter only for your affiliates. Inform
them of current sales you are running and of promotional
material that your affiliates can use themselves to
increase their commissions. Include tips, advice, and
techniques that your affiliates can use to successfully go
out and promote your business.

3. Write reviews. Cover books, software, music, e-books,
movies, etc., and put each review in an autoresponder.
Review your affiliate programs, using a link to your
affiliate's page in your autoresponder.

4. Distribute your articles. Writing and distributing
targeted articles is a powerful tool to build your business
credibility, bring traffic to your site, and increase your
sales potential. If your articles contain valuable
information, many editors will print what is known as a
resource box for you. A resource box contains your bio and
a brief description of your service or product. It can also
contain your autoresponder address. Let's say you've
written fifty articles. Put them on separate autoresponder
accounts and create a master list that contains the titles
of each article, the autoresponder address, and a brief
abstract. Then promote your master list. Additionally,
include your publishing guidelines so your affiliates can
add their articles to your list, increasing the number of
writers who are represented in your article list.

5. Create mailing lists. Inform subscribers to your
articles when you've written new ones that they may want to
publish in their own newsletter or website.

6. Automate your sales process. Use an ad to insure
repeated exposure of your message, which has been proven to
effectively increase sales. In your ad, put your
autoresponder address where a visitor will be exposed to
numerous marketing materials. This multiplies the chances
of converting visitors into customers. For example, if
you're selling a particular product, put testimonials about
how spectacular it is on your autoresponder, and add a
detailed, enticing description of your product.

7. Distribute advertising. Let's say you sell advertising
on your website or in your newsletter or e-zine. Set your
autoresponder to send the information about rates and how
to place an ad automatically to all prospects' email
addresses. Then have your autoresponder follow-up. It can
also send notification of any special deals you are
currently offering.

8. Distribute an email course. Each day, have your
autoresponder send out another lesson. Just be sure that
each lesson has quality content - not a sales pitch. Your
content will do the selling for you, and will do it much
more effectively. You can include tips centered on a
different topic for each lesson, illustrating how your
product will benefit the reader. Include the tangible
benefits the visitor will reap by purchasing your product.
Make sure to include a paragraph or two at the end of each
lesson enticing your prospect to consider making a
purchase.

9. Automate a reminder about your service or product after
a visitor has completed your course. This will increase the
possibility of sales from visitors who have taken your
course but are dragging their feet about actually making a
purchase. You can also use these reminders to promote new
products or services, and the products and services of your
affiliate programs.

10. Distribute free reports. This gives your visitor an
idea of the type of information you can provide and the
quality of your product or service. Make sure these reports
are not sales letters or you will more than likely lose a
potential customer than gain a sale.

11. Create trivia quizzes on your site and place the
answers in an autoresponder. Your visitor will then be
motivated to request your autoresponder, and you will have
a record of the visitors' email addresses who took your
quiz. Or create a contest and have any visitors that enter
send their responses to your autoresponder. Your
autoresponder can be set-up to send them a confirmation of
their entry.

12. Offer a trial version of your product. Give your
prospects a sample of your ebook, course, software,
membership, etc. People who are exposed to a little taste
often end up wanting the whole pie. You can also capture
their email addresses when you offer them a free trial from
your website. Set up your autoresponder to give
instructions on how to obtain their free trial, and then
make sure to follow-up to try and close the sale.

13. Link to hidden pages on your autoresponder. For
example, a hidden page could be your affiliate page that
contains graphics, promotional articles, and text links
that interested affiliates can make use of. Inform visitors
that they may have free access to your affiliate page by
simply requesting your autoresponder. You will then gather
a list of visitors who may be interested in becoming your
affiliates.

14. Use an autoresponder on your order page. Post a request
form for visitors to be notified of special offers or
discounts in the future. This creates a very effective
mailing list that contains the names of people who are
already your customers.

15. Put your links page on your autoresponder. It should
contain up to fifty links that would be of particular
interest to your visitors. Make sure to add your own
promotional copy at the top or bottom of this page.

Now that you have proof that autoresponders can be used
creatively, see if you can come up with some brilliant
ideas of your own!

How Autoresponders Boost Sales by up to 400%

Imagine going to bed and waking up in the morning to find that you made sales while you slept - all because of your autoresponder!

What exactly is an autoresponder? An autoresponder is an automated email program that responds to an incoming email with a message written by you. The message can be written once and loaded in the autoresponder and forgotten about. It's as easy as that.

Some Uses for Autoresponders

1. Use autoresponders as an immediate acknowledgement to those who send you information. Let the recipient know that you have received their message and when to expect a reply.

2. Create a FAQ document to answer commonly asked questions about your product or service. Use the familiar question and answer format.

3. Collect names and email addresses by using a capture form. This allows you to build a list and as marketers keep saying, lists lead to repeat sales.

4. Make all your articles and newsletters available via autoresponder.

5. Offer free reports or e-courses to show your expertise to your customers. This is a great way to capture prospects' name and email address for future follow-up.

6. If you publish an e-book, put the different chapters or excerpts in your autoresponder.

7. Archive issues of past ezines and put some of the best ones in an autoresponder and let your prospects access them.

Before you send out information via an autoresponder you should always check the content for spam triggers that may prevent your messages being delivered. To have a free check on your emails/messages go to: http://www.merchant-account-service.com/stop_spam_mail.html

If you are not using an autoresponder already you may be losing up to 400% of potential sales. Research shows that autoresponders increase your exposure to your prospects and this increased contact with them leads to higher sales.

Remember if you're not using an autoresponder and gaining these sales, your competitors will!

Modern bedding ideas

Modern bedding isn't just beautiful- it can also be very practical, extremely durable and quite affordable. Even luxury bedding for the modern bedroom doesn't have to break your bank account.

Our busy lives today mean there is little time to spend in traditional homemaking. Modern bedding has to fit into our modern lifestyles and provide for easy care as well as comfort. After a long day at the office, no one wants to come home and sleep on scratchy bedding. On those precious days off work, no one wants to spend all their time doing laundry and ironing pillow cases so that they have no wrinkles. With today's modern fabrics, whether it's 100% Egyptian cotton, or blends, it's just not necessary to spend lots of time spend caring for your bedding. Of course, doing laundry does take time, but you shouldn't need to spend any extra time making bedding for the modern bed look nice.

One of the most popular ways to make your bedding modern is to choose Dwell. The Dwell line was created by its designer and founder, Christine Lemieux, in 1999 because she felt there simply were too few modern, colorful, beautiful graphics and other designs in quality bedding for the modern home.

She designs bedding using very bright colors such as lime, butter yellow, chocolate, charcoal and ocean blue to create patterns like trellis, awning stripes featuring broad, bold striping, thin stripe which uses various widths of striping to create outstanding bedding patterns and dot or cube. Along with these bold graphic patterns, solid sheets and border sheets allow mix and match to create a very modern look for the bedroom.

An absolutely fabulous choice in luxury bedding for the modern room comes from Amenity. Using 400 thread count 100% cotton to create the duvet and pillow shams, the Twig design in bright blue peacock or cocoa, uses a solid background to highlight the large graphic of a tree.

Drift is another great design which features a graphic of a dandelion head against the tan or cocoa background. The Amenity Leaf design places large leaves on the solid background colors. The pillow shams for each of these selections are solid in the same color as the background of the duvet. Very modern in appearance, these bedding choices make the modern bedroom's focal point the bed. This gives a clean, uncluttered look to the bedroom by focusing attention on the bedding with these bold, modern looks.

Nygard International Home Bedding has a very modern appearance that is so modern it is almost retro!

The Coco bedding from Nygard uses "urban suede" which is a type of faux suede in large square of cocoa and black to create a great bedding set. The faux suede is created of 97% cotton and 3% spandex resulting in fabric that is soft, plush and the best part is that it is machine washable! The large blocks of color break the bed into quarters and the tailored styling make a bold, modern statement. This top quality bedding is extremely affordable- the prices are much lower than you would expect for material that looks just like suede.

Western Bedding has created an outstanding modern set of bedding that has a very Zen element.

Using black and white in tailored designs, Western Bedding has created a very striking bedding set. The comforter, created from 50% cotton and 50% polyester has solid black jacquard on one side and the reverse is a black and white graphic print. The geometric jacquard weave provides a sense of texture and is repeated in the bed skirt. The pillow shams are crisply tailored and feature cording details. The sheets and pillow cases are 220 thread count 100% cotton percale in bright white with a black twist cord detail. Add decorative pillows with engineer-sharp geometric appliqu‚s and buttons to complete the ensemble.

When decorating with modern style bedding, especially with bold colors and geometrics, it is very important to keep a modern, uncluttered look in the bedroom. Avoid mixing modern linens with antique furnishings- the effect will simply not look attractive. Keep your other items organized and mostly out of site as well to keep with the theme.

Platform beds and waterbeds lend themselves perfectly to modern choices in bedding. If you select a two-color geometric for your bedding, choose modern accessories in those same colors, but also add a few carefully selected accents in another bold, bright color.

For example, if you select Western Bedding's black and white modern ensemble, consider adding a red throw pillow and a red lamp to your modern black and white bedroom. The effect will be absolutely stunning!

The result of having a modern bedroom will be an inviting but crisp, clean bedroom that has you feeling more organized and on top of the world!

Caring for your Wood Furniture

There is nothing like wood furniture to add elegance and beauty to a home. Whether it is a thick, all-natural butchers block table, an Art Deco wooden dresser, a simple mahogany dining room table or a sleek, modern coffee table, wood furniture is a staple in homes across America and the world. Make sure your wood tables, vanities and dressers stay gorgeous for generations to come with these simple solutions and guidelines.
Stain, Stain, Go Away!
Ever gasped after a child inadvertently left a giant scratch in the surface of your dining room table? Or cringed when a well-meaning adult accidentally knocked over a drink onto your beautiful wood coffee table? Well, fear not. One of the best attributes of wood furniture is that it is simple to touch up or renew its original luster.


Small nicks and scratches can usually be disguised with the help of a store-bought scratch cover product. For larger scratches, try using a felt tip pen or shoe polish in a color closely matched to the finish of the furniture piece. Shoe polish applicator bottles filled with the stain work well for the cover-up job, as do Sharpie markers. Coloring in the scratch is easy and surprisingly effective.


Get rid of pesky water spots on your wood furniture by allowing the spots to dry completely, then rubbing real mayonnaise onto it with a soft cloth, until the spots disappear. Erase color rings left on tables by cups and glasses with a homemade mixture of cigarette ashes and cooking oil. Prep the stain first by scrubbing it with an abrasive pad or sandpaper. Then, rub the oil and ash concoction into the wood.


And what about candle wax, marring the beautiful finish of your wood dining room table? Wait until the wax cools, then apply ice. Once the wax becomes extremely hard and brittle, gently scrape it off with a plastic spatula. Finally, polish the table with a rich cream polish, and buff away any residue.


Remove or Disguise Scratches and Stains

Problem: Solution:
Nicks, Scratches Magic Marker or Shoe Polish
Water Spots Mayonnaise
Color Rings Sandpaper, Ashes and Oil
Wax Ice

An Ounce of Prevention, a Lifetime of Protection
Prevent serious damage to your wood furniture by taking care not to position it in direct sunlight. Unless you are going for the weathered picnic table look, shield all wood furniture from the drying influence of the sun. Also, protect your dining room table’s finish using an inexpensive table pad when the table is not in use.


When eating a meal or entertaining guests, use a tablecloth or placemats to protect the finish of a wood table, especially when serving hot food. Place hot serving dishes atop a hot pad and candle holders over a large felt protector with a plastic top, since plastic prevents wax from running.


Use coasters beneath all glasses and mugs to protect your coffee table, dining room table and wood dressers from unsightly rings and water spots. Beware, because not all coasters are created equal. Metal coasters can sweat onto the wood, and plastic coasters can react with certain finishes on some wood furniture pieces. So consider choosing wooden coasters with felt backing and a waterproof material on top to further ensure the longevity of your wood table tops. The best coasters are those that taper up on the sides, preventing leakage.


Protect Your Wood Tables from Damage

Protect From: With:
General Harm Table Pad (when not in use)
Sun Damage Location out of Direct line of Sun
Heat Damage Tablecloths, Placemats, Hot Pads
Wax Felt Protector with Plastic Top
Water Damage Wood Coasters with Felt Bottom and Waterproof top

Proper Care and Cleaning
Polishing wood furniture every week goes a long way toward protecting the finish from damage and helping your wood tables, chairs and dressers look their best. Beware, though, of cheap polishes, or any polish that contains silicone or alcohol. Alcohol can do permanent damage to a wood surface, as can any household cleaner that contains ammonia. An excellent polish can be easily made at home, by combining lemon oil with 3 parts olive oil.


Now that you know about polishes, don’t forget to clean your wood furniture as well. Regular cleaning is especially important for coffee tables and dining room tables where food and drink are daily staples. Use a very mild soap, such as a diluted mixture of hand soap and water, as a cleaning agent for your wood furniture. And if you really want to ensure your dining room table or heirloom wood desk stays beautiful, have your wood furniture buffed and polished by a professional service once or twice a year.


Make Your Own Polish and Cleaning Agents

Type: Mixture:
Homemade Wood Furniture Polish = 1 part Lemon Oil + 3 parts Olive Oil
Homemade Wood Furniture Cleaner = Hand Soap + Water

*Stay away from Alcohols and Ammonias


Now you are fully armed to properly care for your wood furniture. And don’t be disheartened if you are unable to make a nick or small stain disappear completely. Signs of use can add character to a piece of wood furniture, and are often barely noticeable. Whether it is a dresser, coffee table, bookshelf, desk, or dining room table, wood furniture is the perfect addition to any home.

Great Tips for Choosing Furniture

You’re finally going to do it! No I don’t mean tie the knot, I mean your finally
ready to buy that new furniture you’ve been dreaming about. We adorn our
bodies with fashion which makes a statement about who we are. Your furniture
does exactly the same thing for your house. It’s your fashion statement for your
home.

Here’s some helpful tips on getting the most value for your money, and choosing
furniture that will work with your home and your lifestyle. You’re friends will be
green with envy when they see your new look.

First you need to know the size of the rooms you are going to be furnishing, right
down to windows, and walls that might not work well. You can either purchase a
piece of software that will help you design a cozy room or grab a pencil and
paper and start sketching. If you have any original pieces you are keeping, then
make sure to work them into your room plan.


Once you’ve decided what would look good where, and how large of furniture
you can purchase, you need to set your budget. Decide how much money you
are willing to part with and stick to it.

Once you know how much your going to spend you’ll be able to decide on the
type of furniture. Determine the type of use the furniture will get. Are you buying
furniture for a family room or a living room? If your buying for a family room
you’re going to want to look at furniture that’s built to hold up with high use. If
your buying furniture for your living room, and it’s more of a show room then you
might look at fancier, less functional furniture.

When deciding on the type of furniture also take into consideration your lifestyle.
Do you have pets that are going to claw or chew? Do you have small children?
Is your home air conditioned? Leather is a great example of a piece of furniture
that looks good, but can be downright uncomfortable in the hot weather, unless
you have air.

Once you’ve narrowed down what you’re in the market for, make a list itemizing
each piece you’re looking for. Include sizes that will work, color preferences, all
the fine details. You’d be surprised at what you’ll forget once you walk into the
furniture store. It’s easy to get distracted because of all the choices. But with list
in hand you’ll be prepared.

Make choices that will last you for years. Don’t choose trendy furniture that you’ll
be tired of in six months. Furniture is a big investment, so keep your tastes in
check and choose furniture that will look and feel good for years to come. You
can add some trendy small ticket items such as vases or wall décor. Keep your
furniture colors easy to work with. That way you will be able to do a room face lift
just by changing out small ticket items, like pillows, ornaments, and wall art.

Once you’ve found that perfect piece of furniture, get physical with it. Check the
construction of it, watch for low quality assembly. If you buying a couch or bed,
sit on it, move around on it, see if it fits your body well. Check to see if you can
feel springs, if the buttons are attached well, if the seams are finished properly.
Don’t take any piece of furniture at face value, get underneath and check the
entire construction of it.

Once you’ve made your choices, all that’s left to do is pay and wait for delivery.
If you have old furniture in the room, it’s easier to dispose of this before the new
furniture arrives. Prep the room, so that when the delivery guys arrive they can
place the furniture where it belongs.

Stress free furniture shopping can be accomplished with just a little bit of pre-
planning. Now all that’s left to do is enjoy your new room!

Basic Furniture and Its Place In Design

When it comes to furniture, you have several different types. There is basic, custom handcrafted, and thrift shop types to name a few. The basic type of furniture is found in any retail store and can be an affordable and fashionable way to create just the right atmosphere in any room.

Furniture can be a utilitarian device in your home or it can define your personality. In some cases it can do both. Certainly you have been in the home of a friend or relative and wondered what the heck they were thinking when they decided to put that couch and that table together. Furniture is a personal aspect of the home, and discovering ones personality in their furniture choice and decoration attempts may be frightening at best.

There are times though when financial limitations cause a slight change in what you want in furniture and what you can actually afford. Going into debt over furniture is never a wise decision. Using your imagination and utilizing that which you can afford in an imaginative way is not only fun but also it allows a whole new meaning for your personality to pour through the grand design of your home.

Lets face it we can't all be interior design specialists, nor do we all wish to be. There is nothing wrong with wanting your living space and the furniture in it to reflect a refined element. Decorating your home in the style of say, Early American Flea Market is not really a refined definition of style. However if you possess the innate quality to lean toward eclectic and have the great luck of making that work for you… Early American Flea Market is not such a bad “style” after all.

Some people have a talent for accurate furniture choice and decorating specific rooms or areas. But mostly the coming together of a room works simply because they are not afraid to let their true colors show. Basic furniture has its place in our society and in the “true colors” part of decorating a home. There should never be any qualms about utilizing all the styles and colors of basic furniture available. And you should always let your spirit flow.

A Guide to Good Furniture Care

During my long career in the furniture business I’ve often been asked, “What is the proper way to care for my fabric?” After all, you’ve purchased your dream furniture piece but you’re terrified to use it out of fear of damaging it. But you don’t have to live in fear! After extensive research and testing I have found the following guidelines and suggestions to be helpful.
Upholstered Furniture
Because of the wide variety of fabrics and fiber combinations, there is no guarantee that these methods will be completely successful and I recommend that a professional upholstery cleaner be contacted in particular cases. However, these simple solutions will keep your new upholstery crisp and clean for years!
• Vacuum at least once a week to remove grit that can cause abrasion, and be sure to dust vacuum the top surfaces as often as possible. Professional cleaning is the best way to make a slightly soiled sofa look new again, but weekly vacuuming will make professional cleaning a less frequent event. (Never brush any fabric with a stiff fiber or metal brush, since they’re destructive to the fibers. Instead, use your vacuum attachments like the upholstery brush or the attachment for dusting draperies and furniture. The latter brush has longer bristles and is less abrasive to your upholstery fabric. It may be your best option if your fabric deserves a softer brushing.)
• Reverse the cushions each week after vacuuming. Rearrange the furniture occasionally to ensure even wear of the cushions and other areas.
Cushions and pillows filled with down or similar cushioning material should be hand-fluffed and reversed regularly to retain their original softness and resiliency.
• Protect fabrics from the sun. Fabrics should not be placed in direct sunlight because the ultraviolet light will cause the fibers to degenerate and colors to fade. Occasionally dyes can fade from impurities in the air as well, but protection from the sun is a good way to prevent premature loss of color.
• Keep pets off the furniture. Pet urine and pet body oil can be difficult to remove.
• Use proper care with structural weave fabrics (where the design is created by the weave) to protect against snags. These fabrics may be cleaned by sprinkling dry powder cleaner over the fabric, spreading it uniformly and letting it stand for the recommended period before vacuuming with gentle suction. (However, I do recommend professional cleaning with stains on a woven fabric.)
• Caution those wearing clothing with transferable dyes, such as blue jeans, that the dye could transfer onto light-colored furniture.
Fabric Cleaning Guide
Today’s new fabric treatments improve the chances of your fabric’s survival. Fabric protection products are usually applied by the retail store for an additional cost. Most of the various brands work the same way by causing spills and soil to sit on the surface of the fiber instead of migrating to the fiber’s interior.
Today’s fiber protection products are free of ozone damaging chemicals, and most are hypoallergenic and invisible to the eye. Some even provide additional UV protection from color fading caused by intense light. One of the greatest benefits of fabric protection products is that they come with specific written warranties that provide peace of mind.
Whether your new upholstery has been fabric protected or not, you should follow the same basic guidelines in cleaning liquid spills or surface soil that can’t be brushed off (such as newspaper ink).
Fabric Cleaning Codes
Before attempting to clean a spill or spot on your furniture, you should identify the fabric and the correct cleaning method recommended by the manufacturer. This information is represented by a cleaning code (W, S, WS, or X) often found under a cushion, on the bottom of the furniture or on the manufacturer’s tag. If you cannot find this information, contact your salesperson at the furniture store where the item was purchased.
W – Spot clean only with water-based shampoo or foam upholstery cleaner.
S – Spot clean only with water-free cleaning solvent. Do not overwet. DO NOT USE WATER.
WS – Spot clean with upholstery shampoo, foam from a mild detergent, or a mild dry cleaning solvent. Do not overwet.
X – Clean only by vacuuming or light brushing with a non-metallic brush. DO NOT USE WATER OR DRY CLEANING SOLVENTS. Do not use a foam or liquid cleaner of any type.
Never apply cleaning solutions to visible areas of your upholstery fabric without first testing on areas that are not visible. It is important to pretest for color loss and fabric compatibility.
Cleaning Instructions
As a general rule, when a spill occurs, it is important to clean the fabric immediately. The longer a spot remains, the harder it is to remove. It may even become permanent.
Blot, don’t rub. If the spill is still “fresh”, use a clean, dry and very absorbent 100% cotton cloth. Should you have to use paper towels to blot out spills, be sure the paper towel (or cloth) is white, as colors in the towel may, when applied to a wet surface, fade onto the upholstery. Color from one fabric can rub off onto another fabric, even when dry -- a process known in the industry as “crocking”.
If blotting with a dry cloth doesn’t quite finish the job and you have cleaning directions from the furniture manufacturer, follow those. If none are available, use the instructions provided here.
I hope this information has been insightful. Use these tools when necessary, but most importantly, enjoy your upholstered piece -- it was meant to be used!

The Perfect Home Based Business and How to Start

Day by day people scour the internet looking for a home based business to set them financially free. What happens more often than not is that people end in worse shape than when they started. Why you ask? The answer is not so simple.
The key to finding a home based business starts with knowing yourself. That means knowing what you are good at and what you do not do well. You must also be honest with yourself when doing this. We would all love to be perfect in every aspect of life but the truth is we are not and we have to accept this fact. This is important because picking a business in which most of the tasks that need to be done are your strengths will increase your chances of success.For example let's say you are not much of a talker. You do not talk much to people who you do not know and you keep to yourself usually. You are however extremely organized and love to write. It would most likely be in your best interest to be an article writer or ghost writer. They do not require you to do much talking or go to meetings all the time.
The next thing you need to know is the product or service that you will be offering. The more you believe in your product or service, the more you will sell. Now before I go on there is a handful of people in the world that could sell ice to an Eskimo or sell water to a fish but these people are the exception rather than the rule. For most of us if we do not believe in what we are doing we will not reach the level of success that we desire. People will be able to tell if you believe in your product or not. So if you are looking at a network marketing company try being their customer for a couple of months before you join the business. Once you try the product or try the service then you will know how you feel about it. On top of that you will be more prepared to answer question about it because you have become familiar with it.
Once you picked a business that relies on your strengths and a product or service you can believe in you have to choose what your budget is going to be. Remember that most home businesses take at least months before you really start seeing results off so it is important to keep within a budget until then. If you decide to join a mlm you may have the type of sponsor that says you should buy this or buy that it will really help your business. Remembers that you need to stay within your budget. If the recommended items are out of your budget ask your sponsor to rank the items by importance. This way you can stay in budget and get the items most needed first.
OK now you have your business, our product, and your budget now you are ready to start your business. Just remember that it is a business and should be treated as such. Running a home based business can be more difficult than running a traditional business. Running a business from home offers many distractions; Kids, TV , your bed, etc. You could have followed this guide perfectly but mess this up and you will not succeed. If you do not take it seriously you will just be wasting money and wasting time and since how most people start up home based businesses to have more time and more money you would be defeating the purpose. Make sure the home office is secluded so that when you are working you cannot be distracted.
Now that you have your business running you must market it. Marketing is how you get customers. Now there are many forms of marketing such as newspaper ads, flyers, TV ads, mailing lists, pay-per-click ads, power-linking, and many others. How you market your business is up to you. Each technique has its own strengths and weaknesses. Obviously you will want to keep your budget in mind when picking a method of marketing.

5 Essential Factors Of a Good Bedroom Design

Dear friends, successful design is a relative term. What is good or successful for me may not be so from your point of view.
But when it comes to interior design, there are certain factors which are always present no matter what the use of the space is. Let's have a look at the bare minimum design factors a space must have so that it can be called a comfortable and habitable space.
1) Proportions of the room.
The word "proportions" is always used in the design field. Every interior space which is being used by humans must be proportionate. Proportions are extremely important in any design.
Every 3 dimensional object has properties such as length, width and height. When these 3 are in accordance with the proportions of various parts of human body we call it a "proportionate" design.
For example a handle of a wardrobe must have dimensions such that our fingers can hold it properly for effortless and smooth action. or a chair seat must have enough are so that we can sit comfortably. Again the type of seating will change the dimensions of the chair. A chair in waiting lobby of a bank will be different than a sofa.
So proportions play a major role in interior design and furniture in your bedroom must also follow these rules. The dimensions of the double bed, it's height from floor level, height of wardrobe, dimensions of dressing table, etc...all these matter as far as function is concerned.
2) Natural light entering the room.
There is no alternative for naturally lit spaces. Sun being the strongest source of light and also helps to keep the biological balance of the planet Earth, it is very much necessary in the interior spaces.
Study shows that natural light can penetrate in an interior space up to 20 feet (Approx. 7 meters). Using appropriate position for window opening can easily achieve this.
3) Natural Ventilation
A free and unobstructed flow of air can be a great way to keep the atmosphere cool and clean in an interior space. This is possible where bedrooms are located at the corner of the building where 2 sides of the bedrooms have external faces.
Where it is not possible to provide windows on adjacent faces or opposite faces, a ventilator above the window is used. The concept behind the ventilator is simple. The lower half the bedroom height is always used by the habitants. Because of the constant use of this are the air temperature rises and air becomes light weight.
This hot air rises above and must need an escape. At such times ventilators above the window openings play a major role of circulating the flow through the room in an upward direction. When the lower portion of the room becomes empty fresh air from window takes its position, thus maintaining a balance.
4) Clear Movement Patterns.
Every bedroom has certain exit points attached to it. Such as
a) Exit to balcony/ terrace.
b) Exit to toilet block/ walk in closet
c) Exit to backyard (if on ground floor)
If we draw an imaginary line from the entry point to all these exit points, ideally the should not intersect. Since all other areas are already occupied with furniture, keeping the inside circulation space clear, helps to achieve a comfortable space.
5) Good Provision For Inclusion Of Accessories.
Accessories in a bedroom have equal importance. When all other factors mentioned above are fairly met what remains is the use of accessories which can make quite a lot of difference in the comfort level of the habitants.
a) The first and the most important is a good provision of artificial lighting. This includes basic lighting as well as special decorative lighting for decorative purposes.
b) Special provision for upholstery and linen. Small details such as curtain rods, provision for bed canopies can make the room extra decorative.
c) Use materials that are easy to clean and maintain. For example if you are using PVC flooring sheets on top of standard tiled flooring, is it washable? Think of what will happen if your child uses it as a painting canvas.
The discussion above was an attempt to look for some universal factor that can affect the comfort level of the users in a bedroom. Finally the feeling which you get when you use your bedroom is most important and is a good measure to decide the success factor of the design project.
However it is important to note that these are not the only factors that need to be looked upon, but I'm sure these can help as a starting point for further creative thinking.

Organizing Your Home: The Master Bedroom

As we move through the house, we’re going to hit the master bedroom next. I want this room to be a haven and an escape for you. You won’t see your room as that if you don’t like it and the decorations you have in it. Remember: small steps!

1. Walk in to your bedroom as you walked in to the family room and look at it critically. Is it cluttered? What’s the first thing that you notice? Do whatever that is first. If it’s making the bed, do it. If it’s putting dirty clothes in a basket, do that. Whatever it is, get it done.

2. Does your bedroom fall under the Law of Flat Surfaces? If so, start by clearing off the dresser(s) and headboard. If you have papers there, look through them, pitch what needs to be pitched, and file away (as you did in the study) what needs to be filed. Once you can see the tops of the dressers and headboard, run over them quickly with your duster.

3. If you have lots of things on your dresser tops and top of the headboard, the next challenge is to de-clutter. You’ve already done the paper-aspect of this—now look critically at the other things you have. Do you have too many jewelry boxes? What about baskets that are supposed to organize things? Now is the time to determine what you absolutely love and wear all the time and what you hardly look at and almost never wear. Pull out the things you’re not crazy about and get rid of them. Give them away, throw them away, or sell them online. It doesn’t matter—as long as what’s left is what you truly love. If you have too many “organizing baskets,” now is the time to realize that more things to hold your clutter isn’t “organizing”—organizing is paring down what you have and then keeping it orderly. Go through your baskets and determine which perfume bottles are your favourites and which ones you just don’t use anymore. There’s no glory in keeping 35 scents on your dresser if all they do is collect dust and make things look messy.

4. Let’s move on to the floor. Can you walk freely in your room? If not, use the laundry-basket method and pick up the things on your floor. Deposit the items in their correct location and run the vacuum. No moving the bed or dressers—just sweep where you can easily walk.

5. Look at your windows—are they grimy? What about the window ledges? Grab your rag and window cleaner and give them a quick once-over. You’ll be amazed at how much dust you pick up and how clean your ledges will look after that!

Keep going in the master bedroom—we’re going to go inside closets and dressers next! On to Pt. 2!

Tiles are the foundation stone for your stylish bathroom!

Tiles can increase the value of any home. Ceramic tiles, mosaic tile, floor tile all add an extra quality to your home. Tile can be found throughout a home from the kitchen, bathrooms, and even the flooring. Tiles are widely available in most home improvement stores and also in specialty stores throughout the company. Finding the right tile for a home with the right color, design, and even pattern can seem overwhelming. But, the results of this project can be beneficial for years to come.

Ceramic tile is one of the strongest that can be purchased. It comes in many colors and textures as well as designs and patterns. Mosaic tiles, or tiles that form a pattern once laid properly are an elegant element that can be added to a home. Mosaic tiles also offer a wide range of selection.

Bathroom tiles add quality as well as extra security. They can protect drywall and paint from water damage if properly installed. Floor tiles provide the same level of protection. These tiles are usually easy to clean and maintain. While normal mopping and washing can be effective, often an extra measure to keep them up to standard is to scrub the grout and edges with a brush. Elbow grease being the best cleaning product. While this does not have to be done each time the tile is cleaned, doing it regularly will improve the look of the tile overall.

Proper installation is important when adding tile to a home. If done improperly, the tile can often break or chip away. Consider hiring a professional so that the tile lies smooth and even and looks its best. When choosing the tile, do not forget to choose a grout that will benefit it. Grout, or the substance that is used to fill in the cracks between tiles, comes in many different colors and qualities. Again, this item is widely available at home improvement stores.

Tile, whether mosaic tile or ceramic tile, can enhance the quality of a home. It is an added investment into a home and should be done so with the overall supervision of a professional.

Home Improvement

is an art that most women have imbibed in them. Home Improvement increases the worth of the family residing in it. Also By maintaining it and improving it, you’ll ensure it continues to increase in value.
Maintaining Your Home
Taking regular care of your appliances and checking plumbing and heating/cooling systems regularly can save on costly repairs or even more costly replacements. Review your home inspector’s report to help you prioritize tasks. It is worthwhile to consult a professional for anything you have a hard time fixing or inspecting. Some professionals may charge a fee.
Cosmetic Changes vs. remodeling
you have visions of color and comfort. The back porch could use a fresh coat of paint. The kitchen cabinets need to be updated. When do cosmetic changes (paint, window treatments) turn into major remodeling and renovation projects?
To keep the cost of remodeling from increasing dramatically it’s best to set a budget first and work to maximize the features you want within that budget. This may also help set the limit between cosmetic and major improvements
Many homeowners believe that any improvement will automatically increase the value of their property. Appraisers offer a more cautious perspective.. In other words, if you live on a street of modest two- and three-bedroom bungalows, don’t turn your home into a six-bedroom mansion.
Cosmetic changes such as new paint, flooring and window treatments are considered matters of personal style and therefore, add the least amount of value to a home.
Your home is your greatest financial asset. Take proper care of it and most likely, it will do the same for you.
Planning takes time and includes lots of mundane tasks such as getting permits and financing. But the benefits are immeasurable both in time and money saved.
Individual plans will vary depending on the scope of the project. Steps overlap and sometimes changing in one aspect of your plan forces changes in others. But almost every plan will include at least these five steps.

1. Dream It
Make sure your concept for the addition blends with the existing houses materials and design. For example: Adding on a Cape Cod family room to a 50s ranch style home would look silly at best.
Do a quick sketch of the addition you're planning even before consulting with a builder or designer.
2. Design It
If your plans require the removal or alteration of a supporting wall, contact a building engineer or architect to learn if your idea will affect the strength of the existing structure. Major structural changes may increase the time and cost of your project. A consultation may provide you with alternatives.
3. Paying for It
Establish a budget for this project and determine where the money is coming from. The money available will impact the scope of the project.
Remember that anything not included in the original contract will cost extra. It's tempting to start making changes and expanding the original plan. Try to control yourself or you might be adding hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars that will shatter your budget and your time line.
4. Permits and Codes
If you've hired a local contractor or architect, he should be able to tell you if your idea will pass the building inspection. A professional should be able to handle the entire permit process, from drawing up plans, applying for the permit and scheduling inspections.
If you're doing it yourself, visit your planning department and research the codes that pertain to your project. If the agency requires certified plans, you may still have to consult with an architect or engineer who can provide them.
5. Timing
Establish a time frame for the project. Much of an addition is exterior work and will need to be accomplished according to the seasons. Your start date should be the date you actually beginning construction, so make sure your financing is in place before this date.
Your time frame needs to take into account who is doing the work. If this is a do-it-yourself project, your time will probably be more limited because of job and family. If the job takes eight full days to complete, and you can only work weekends, it will take you four weeks. Consider if the money saved by doing it yourself is worth the extra time.

The Lamps in Your Home!

A lamp is more than a light. Lamps allow the owner to set mood and too add to the design of a room. They are very functional and sometimes the only source of light in a room. Floor lamps are very popular these days, but table lamps are still bought and used as well. There are many types of lamps, and of course they come in many styles and colors to fit anyone’s home.

A lamp is a statement of taste. Lamps can be soft and inviting or bright and useful. They can have a decorative lamp shade or a glass bowl shaped top. Floor lamps are often tall, thinly shaped lamps that bring light to a large area by cupping the bottom of the bulbs and forcing light up. Table lamps tend to force the light down and out to lighten up a smaller, more intimate space. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t find a lamp that fits your needs as well as your tastes. In fact, you can even custom order lamps and lamp shade to match your desired look.

But, before you decide to make that decision, check out the lamps in department stores and specialty stores. While most home improvement stores offer a wide variety of floor lamps, hanging lamps, and table lamps, you can find an even larger selection in a lighting store. These stores are few and far between due to the overtaking market of home improvement stores. But, check the yellow pages for your area lighting store and you should find a few. There you will be in awe of all the different options you have. There will be choices in every style imaginable. If you still can’t find what you are looking for, check catalogs and even the Internet. Specialty stores nationwide will ship lamps and accessories to you.

Adding some extra light to your home may have been your initial quest when trying to find a lamp, but you will soon see that there is more to look for in a lamp. The design will fit your home and the color should match your home. The details on the lamp or lamp shade can even be found to match your furniture, tables, or other items in your home. Finding a great lamp is a fun adventure into the world of lighting.

Do You Make These Window Replacement Mistakes ?

Whether it's a misguided baseball, or storm damage, sooner
or later most homeowners will have to deal with window
replacement, a chore that is not high on any handyman's
list of things they want to do with their spare time.

This could involve storm window replacement, replacement of
window screens, or installing an entire replacement window.
No matter the reason for the work, you really need to take
a few things into account before heading for the building
supply store.

The first consideration is the age of your home. Older
houses, particularly farm-style or country houses, tend to
have very old types of windows, consisting of wooden sashes
and hardware that is no longer made. If you wish to keep
the antique look intact, you might have to search out a
supplier of obsolete or out-of-date locks and fastenings to
complete your work.

Most modern houses lean towards convenience, and window
replacement for them is fairly simple, involving a building
industry standard sized window that is easy to acquire.
These are also the type of windows that have such features
as sliding multiple panes that save you the bother of storm
window replacement.

They do, however, have screen panels for summer, but screen
window replacements for modern windows are also easy to
obtain, and pop right into the sliding tracks.

If you're considering window replacement for energy
efficiency, it is unlikely you will get exactly the same
dimension windows that you have now, unless they are custom
made. In that case, it would be wise to seek the advice of
experts at your building supply store, or hire a
professional to make sure you get the most out of your
remodeling dollars.

Marble Floors and How to Maintain Them

For honed marble used as traffic surfaces, care should be taken to prevent accumulations of liquids or other materials that result in safety hazards and staining. Regular daily mopping should be performed. Floor marble is any honed finish that is used as a traffic surface. These surfaces should be mopped and scrubbed in a manner that will not leave a hazardous slippery film.

Again, wet with hot, clean water and then lightly sprinkle an abrasive cleaner (i.e, chlorine bleaching type household scouring cleanser) over the wet stone, or put 1-2 handfuls into a pail of 2-3 gallons of hot clean water.

Using a scrubbing motion, mop the marble surfaces with this solution (or with hot clean water if you are sprinkling the cleaner directly on the stone). Rinse with clean hot water and dry with mop or cloths. Power scrubbers can also be used for the procedure.

Often it is also desirable to protect special interior areas and to enhance the coloration of
Honed marble in areas where a polished finish is not practical. In such cases sealers may be applied after the marble has been cleaned. This minimizes maintenance and prevents staining - especially around toilets and urinals in restrooms or in food preparation areas and busy building entrances.

Sealers should only be applied to clean interior marble. Always follow the manufacturer's directions for proper application. Terrazzo sealers are excellent for this purpose. So are silicone based stone sealers.

In all cases sealers should be made of a clear, hard finish type suitable for traffic surfaces and definitely non-yellowing. Do not use soft finish waxes, paste wax or resins. These coatings can collect dirt and grit. Some acrylic-base liquid floor waxes can be used in place of permanent sealers, but may give limited life.

Home Improvements – The Fun Stuff

Planning home improvements necessarily involves addressing numerous practical matters. That doesn’t mean you should ignore the fun stuff!
The Fun Stuff
The first thing to plan for in home improvements is the practical stuff. The second thing you need to talk to family members about is the fun stuff.
Most people have colors they like and colors they don’t like. They have things that interest them and things that don’t. Get your family to talk to you about those things. Each person’s bedroom, or bedroom area, should reflect his or her taste and interests.
A boy who likes green, football, and backpacking can easily have a sage green (it “reads” as more neutral than many shades of green if re-sale of your home is a concern) room with cream woodwork, cream interior shutters, and cream ceiling. Framed football posters and wilderness scenes might be pleasant. Bedding with a rustic motif (rows of stylized pine trees?) from L.L. Bean or Plow and Hearth would work right in. Add a touch or two of a bright color like red or yellow.
Does he need a desk in his room? A chest of drawers? A bookcase? Would he enjoy having a bulletin board? Even if they’re small, most rooms need at least three lamps so that illumination is general and even. The shades are usually best in warm, neutral colors. (Light coming through green shades tends to make people look sick.) Lamp shades should be level and the seams should be toward the wall so they’re not visible. When the bottom edge of most lamp shades in a room are the same height from the floor, the room tends to look serene and cohesive.
Hanging pictures usually look best if the bottom edges of the frames are the same height from the floor and level with each other, too. There are exceptions to this and every generalization of course. A grouping of pictures can have the bottom tier follow the “rule” while all of the other pictures are higher. A picture over a fireplace often looks good higher than the other pictures in the room.
Pictures usually look best when they have a relationship to furniture or an architectural feature. Pictures centered over a chest, bed, bookcase, or fireplace are good examples. Pictures don’t tend to look good if they’re scattered willy-nilly around a room, or if they’re up near the ceiling (unless they’re part of a grouping), or if the height at which they’re hung varies wildly with no rhyme nor reason.
A girl who loves pink, the ballet, and swimming can have woodwork the same cream as her brother’s while her walls are a soft pink (a pink with a hint of yellow in it tends to go well with cream), and her art work reflects her interests. If she loves to read, make sure she has a good reading lamp near her bed, or near a comfortable chair, or both.
A cream colored dust ruffle with widely spaced pink stripes and a quilted plaid coverlet in pink, green, yellow, and blue on a cream background might look nice. Add cream fabric window shades with large pink polka dots and I’ll bet she’ll smile.
The bigger point is to simply have fun with some of your home improvements. There is no need to look exclusively at practical matters.

How to Choose the Right Flooring to Fit Your Lifestyle

(ARA) – Choosing the right floor for your home is a big decision. It sets the tone for the whole interior of your house, and is the foundation for everything else you put in a room. Your choice should fit not only the way you want your home to look, but also the way your family lives.

“When making a decision about flooring, keep in mind such factors as design options, comfort, warmth, safety and maintenance,” says Piera Marotto of Forbo Linoleum, Inc. “And don’t forget you can have fun with color!”

Each family is unique and will have different demands and expectations for their flooring choice. A large family with kids will have a different set of needs than a retired couple. Pet owners will have particular requirements as well. Allergy and asthma sufferers will need to keep a clean and dust free environment.

For households that have light traffic, carpet is one option. It is an attractive addition to a room and the color choices are virtually unlimited. It is however, high maintenance -- regular vacuuming and shampooing are mandatory, and stains are a constant worry.

Hardwood floors are a classic choice for many homes, and they work with most kinds of décor. However, they are sensitive to climate changes and may expand and contract throughout the year. They are also susceptible to water damage and need constant maintenance. These kinds of floors can also be quite cool in the wintertime.

A flooring choice that has a lot more flexibility is Marmoleum. Made mainly from organic materials, it is an environmentally friendly surface that is easy to maintain and is enhanced by time. Exposure to the air serves to increase its durability, yet it remains a comfortable and warm surface on which to walk.

“Homeowners today want a flooring product that is easy to clean, comfortable to live with and one that looks great too,” says Marotto. “Marmoleum is an exciting alternative.”

Cleaning involves just the occasional dust and damp mopping. Unlike with other surfaces, muddy footprints and other stains don’t sink in. They can be easily wiped off with a damp cloth.

Not only is Marmoleum practical, it can enhance any interior design style from retro to modern to country. Available in sheet or tiles, it can be customized with decorative border and corner pieces. Colors range from solids to cubed or spattered effects and can be mixed in unlimited ways. Some of the color palettes offered include mixed greens, rhythmic blues, grey-dations, sunsets boulevard, and neutral color collaborators.

“If you can imagine it, you can create it,” adds Marotto. “Have fun with it!”

For more information about Marmoleum, or to find the dealer nearest you, log on to www.themarmoleumstore.com or call (866) MARMOLEUM.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Organizing Your Home: The Kitchen

Arguably, the kitchen is the heart of the home. We cook there, eat there (hopefully as a family), entertain there, chat at the table, do homework, and any number of other family-related things. A disorganized kitchen discourages us from doing the above; we don’t want to cook and eating will likely then take place in front of the TV. We don’t want to entertain others or sit and chat because the clutter distracts us and makes us feel ashamed of not keeping things in better order. So let’s get to it!

Please understand that this room CANNOT be done in one day or in one chunk of time. I’m willing to bet it took more than one day for your kitchen to look the way it does—so it will take more than one day to un-do it. Be patient and attack these different tasks in small chunks of time—small steps! You’ll find that as each one is done that you’ll be motivated to do another and another. And then when it’s all done, you’ll not want to mess it up, and so be motivated to keep it organized! Oh happy day!

1) Unload your dishwasher. If your dishwasher is full of clean dishes and not put away, you won’t have a place to put your dirty dishes as you clean up. If you don’t have a dishwasher, take a look at your sink. If you’ve got clean dishes in your dish rack, put them away now. Then move your dish rack to the counter and put an empty dishpan under the sink. You’ll see why as we keep going.

2) Take a look at your countertops. Are they piled high with papers, dishes (dirty), and appliances (some you haven’t used in weeks or months)? Are they stained (underneath the stuff on them)? Let’s clear off one countertop at a time. Pick your smallest one and clear everything off. Put it on a table or other surface where you can go through the things. Put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher (or dishpan under your sink), go through the papers (junk mail = trash can, bills go to the study, etc.). Put the other miscellaneous things you’ve found in separate piles to be schlepped to the appropriate rooms where they belong. Then look at the naked countertop. Take a cleaner of your choice (I love the Lysol disinfecting wipes, but you could use a spray cleaner, a bleach cleaner, or simple window cleaner) and a rag and start wiping from back to front. Sweep the crumbs in to the garbage can. Now put only the things which are *necessary* back on the counter. That means no excess paperwork, no hairbows, etc. If you need space for a coffee maker or other small appliance, you now have it!

3) Move to the next counter and repeat the same steps as above.

In Part Two of Organizing Your Kitchen, we’ll take a look at the next round of steps to create a kitchen you’re proud of!

Principles of Interior Design

Whether you are working with existing furnishings and fabrics or “starting from scratch” with an empty room, you should always use the elements and principles of design as a guide in choosing everything. The elements are your tools or raw materials, much like paints are the basics to a painter. The elements of design include space, line, form, color, and texture. The principles of design relate to how you use these elements. The principles of design are balance, emphasis, rhythm, proportion and scale, and harmony and unity.
Principle #1: Balance
Visual equilibrium in a room is called balance. It gives a sense of repose and a feeling of completion. A well-balanced room gives careful consideration to the placement of objects according to their visual weight. The elements of line, form, color and texture all help determine an object’s visual weight, which is the amount of space it appears to occupy. Balance also refers to how and where you place the elements (line, form, color and texture) within a room. To maintain balance, try to distribute the elements throughout the room.
• Formal balance, often referred to as symmetrical balance, creates a mirror image effect.
• Informal balance uses different objects of the same visual weight to create equilibrium in a room. It is more subtle and spontaneous and gives a warmer, more casual feeling.
Principle #2: Emphasis
Emphasis is the focal point of the room. The focal point should be obvious as you enter the room; it is the area to which your eye is attracted. Whatever is featured, as the center of interest –a fireplace, artwork or a window treatment framing a beautiful view – must be sufficiently emphasized so that everything else leads the eye toward the featured area. You can add emphasis to a natural focal point or create one in a room through effective use of line, form, color and texture.
Principle #3: Rhythm
Rhythm supplies the discipline that controls the eye as is moves around a room. Rhythm helps the eye to move easily from one object to another and creates a harmony that tells the eye everything in the room belongs to a unified whole. Rhythm is created through repetition of line, form, color or texture. It can also be created through progression. Progressive rhythm is a gradual increasing or decreasing in size, direction or color.
Principle #4: Proportion and Scale
Size relationships in a room are defined by proportion and scale. Proportion refers to how the elements within an object relate to the object as a whole. Scale relates to the size of an object when compared with the size of the space in which it is located.
Principle #5: Harmony and Unity
A well-designed room is a unified whole that encompasses all the other elements and principles of design. Unity assures a sense of order. There is a consistency of sizes and shapes, a harmony of color and pattern. The ultimate goal of decorating is to create a room with unity and harmony and a sense of rhythm. Repeating the elements, balancing them throughout the room, and then adding a little variety so that the room has its own sense of personality accomplishes this. Too much unity can be boring; too much variety can cause a restless feeling. Juggling the elements and principles to get just the right mix is a key to good design.

9 Simple Strategies for Home Organization

Home organization means being able to find your stuff when you need it, not after an hour or more of searching. But home organization doesn't necessarily mean you're neat or clean. It doesn't even mean you're not a pack rat. Home organization just means everything has a place and you know where that place is in your home.

Of course, when you practice "home organization" and "clearing clutter" together you do inevitably get a neater and more organized home. Why? Because you can find your stuff when you need it AND you're not tripping over your stuff. So instead of allowing yourself, or your family, to consistently put your shoes in the entryway (where you do know their location), you designate another spot such as a shoe rack in the foyer closet. That's blending home organization with clutter clearing techniques. Here are 9 strategies for home organization that also may help you clear clutter in your home:

1) CLUSTER LIKE ITEMS - When you organize an office storage closet at home or work, put the different types of paper beside each other on a shelf. And what goes with paper? Envelopes. Put the different types of envelopes adjacent to the paper. Adjacent to that you might put writing instruments used on paper like pencils and pens. And so forth. Organizing holiday ornaments? Keep bins of Christmas supplies together. Keep bins of Easter decorations together. Then put all of these holiday storage bins in one clustered area in your garage or attic. You can also use the cluster mindset for toys and sports equipment.

2) MAKE THINGS CONVENIENT - This simply means put most frequently used items toward the front of shelves or on shelves within arms reach or at eye level of the user (whether that's you, your spouse or your children). Put infrequently used items in those hard to reach cabinets in corners, cabinets above your refrigerator, in the attic, etc. Put shelving or other organizers in convenient places such as put shoe racks, umbrella stands and hanging baskets for gloves in a closet near the entryway you use most often.

3) LABEL IT - Invest in an inexpensive label maker. You'll have fun labeling items (e.g. home recorded DVD tapes) or labeling places where items should go so they always get returned to the same spot. For example, label specific garage shelf spaces for hand tools or power tools. That way nobody in your family will ever forget where they got an item they're using and they'll know where its exact "home" is.

4) DON'T KEEP AN ITEM IF... - ...you can find it elsewhere. So much research, forms and other paperwork is easily accessed these days through the Internet. Just keep a simple list of Websites and useful phone numbers and then you'll always know where to return to or who to call in order to access that information again.

5) HANDLE IT ONCE - And handle it now. That's how the organizing professionals suggest you handle paperwork, whether it's incoming mail or something on your home office or work desk. If you can't handle it now, then put it in a tickler file labeled with a specific intention (e.g. holiday cards to mail by month, bills to mail by week).

6) MAKE IT YOUR SYSTEM - I once knew a woman who placed labels inside her kitchen food cabinets. So cans of green beans and peas always went on their designated label or row and a can of tuna went on its labeled space. When you could see the label that just meant it was time to buy more tuna or green beans. Was this a bit over the top with detail? Not for her. The system suited her personality. It worked for her. Lesson learned: Own your home organizing system. You can use other people's home organizing tips but only if they suit you, they suit your thought process and they mesh with your daily routine. You're the ultimate user of the home organization system.

7) BE FLEXIBLE - If your entire home organizing system, or just part of it, is not working, change it. Try a different method. Put something in a different spot. Observe other peoples homes and work spaces for ideas. Look at photos in home decorating magazines for ideas. Don't be afraid to admit temporary home organization failure and start again as often as needed. It's okay!

8) BE PATIENT WITH OTHERS - You know the cliché...you can't change other people. Unfortunately, that cliché is usually true though so many of us choose to learn it the hard way. Don't expect everyone in your family to start immediately singing your home organization tune. They may never do so. But you can try for compromise and understanding. And you can make subtle polite requests like "honey, will you put your shoes in the closet for me so I can vacuum that area" or "will you put the car keys here when you get home so I can find them in the morning without waking you."

9) GET HELP WHEN NEEDED - Not everyone is good at clearing clutter, especially quickly; nor is everyone good at thinking in an organized, almost analytical, way. And that's okay. But if that's you, consider calling in a paid professional home organizer (search online or in the phone book). Even if you just hire an organizer for a few hours or a day, he or she will at least be able to help you brainstorm about organizing your home in a manner that suits you. Then you can take that next step toward home organization on your own. And keep stepping until you get it done eventually. You will!

Things You Should Know About Gardening

Gardens come in different varieties like the plants you find in them. There are several gardening tips that can be used for all type of gardens.
1.Mulching protects your garden topsoil from being blown away. It also provides nutrients as it decomposes and improves the appearance of your gardens. Mulching has other benefits and is one of the most recommended gardening tips by gardeners and farmers alike.
2.Healthy plants are more disease resistant. Plant are like people, a person with a strong immune system can combat diseases. A healthy plant does the same.
3. Pests can be eradicated by cleaning the plant with a watery solution of soap. Just make sure to rinse after. This gardening tip is best heeded for fruit bearing trees or edible plants.
4. Using compost fertilizers are a great way to have healthy plants. It is also a great way to save money on expensive fertilizers. Non -organic fertilizers also tend to leave chemical residues that can accumulate in garden soils and harm not only the plants but the gardeners as well. They cause toxins to go to the water supplies. Another gardening tip recommended not just by farmers and gardeners but also by environmentalists.
5. There are several plants that are only suitable for a specified climate, a certain kind of soil or can only grow with certain plants. You have to know what plant grow in the conditions you have in your area this is for you to avoid unnecessary purchases. This is a money saving gardening tip.
6.Landscaping is a good investment which can double the value of your home. This is one gardening tip that can earn you money.
7. Growing grass on bare ground is an easy way to make your home look better and appreciate in value. This is one gardening tip that promotes earning money while growing grass legally.
8. Aside from looking great in your home, trees also provide some sort of protection from direct sunlight exposure and strong winds.
9. Vines on the walls, fences and overhead structures also would offer some protection and would also look great.
10.Flowers are beautiful, but they are also expensive. Get one that is resistant to many elements. Flowers from your local community already have developed resistance to conditions present in your area.
11.For most gardens plants, their roots go only as deep as 6 inches. Putting fertilizer deeper than that would be a waste of money. Put them shallower as they seep down when the plants are being watered.
12.Earthworms are important to plants. They till and aerate the soil for the roots to breathe. Non-organic fertilizers can kill them. This gardening tip dates back to the old days of gardening.
13. Having several kinds of insects that are beneficial to your garden would be good. These insects can be encouraged to stay by having diverse plants in your garden.
14. Spot spraying weeds with household vinegar, instead of using commercial weed-killers, can eradicate them. This is another environment friendly gardening tip.
15. Avoid putting too much mulch on tree trunks, this would encourage unwanted pests to reside on them.
16. Use plant varieties that are common to your area or have been taken from an area with similar conditions.
17. Be sure to know the plants that are poisonous. If you are intent on growing them, make sure to have the necessary cure available in your household. Take note of this gardening tip, it can save your life.
18. The best time to water plants is during mornings.
19. Before planting a new plant in your garden, you must consider its height and size when it matures. This garden tip can help you save money in the future.
20. Newly transplanted plants may require special attention during its first week. This is to reduce the stress and shock it got during transplantation.
And last but not the least of the gardening tips...
21.Plants are living entities. If you want them to grow in your garden you have to treat them as such. They need to be taken care of. They are like your pets, you look out for them. In return you get that feeling of contentment watching them thrive.
A good way to take care of them is to consider that plants might have some feelings too.

10 Facts About the Internet That Nobody Ever Told You

Most of us like to consider ourselves computer literate if we can check our email, update our social network status and send text messages with instant messenger software. If you are really smart then you might be able to build a web page, program a software application or even edit the Windows registry. But how much do you really know about the internet? This article will discuss ten things about the internet that you should probably know but that maybe nobody told you before.

1. The Internet Started As A Military Project Called DARPA-NET

In the late 1960s a division of the Department of Defense called the Advanced Research Projects Agency created one of the first decentralized computer networks that was first used to transmit research papers between scientists. This was the first time that a computer network of that nature had been developed, and it slowly began to grow into a community of those people who used the network to download and upload increasingly complex data.

Today we take for granted the fact that you can use your web browser to access information on a computer server located thousands of miles away, but this type of decentralized and nonlocal communication capability did not always exist. This initial primitive form of the internet we know today began by connecting universities, research facilities and military installations, with the further development of networks in other countries.

2. You Dont Need To Be A Spammer To Make Money With Email

Ask your parents how they think you might be able to make money on the internet, and their response might be sending out those darn Viagra emails! But it is possible to use email to make money without spamming, and it is something called opt-in email marketing. Opt-in marketing is where you send a newsletter or individual emails to a list of people who have agreed to receive it, and there can sometimes be a double opt-in procedure to make sure that it is a legitimate lead. This form of emailing usually is targeted at specific niche market segments, such as automobiles or stock traders.

If you are going to try your hand at email marketing, you need to know what the terms safe list and suppression list mean. A safe list is a list of email addresses by people who have agreed to receive posts and advertisements in exchange for being able to send out their own. A suppression list is a list of email addresses that have requested not to receive any emails from a particular source, and continuing to send email to an address that is listed on a suppression list could be a potential legal violation.

3. You Can Build A Website Using Only Notepad And Paint

Most people who want to start their own website end up not doing it for a number of reasons, such as not knowing how to build one themselves or believing that they need the most sophisticated software around in order to build a website. However if you have knowledge of basic HTML, you can build a website using just the default tools that come with your computer. And it doesnt need to be a website that looks like it was built in 1993 either, because there are thousands of free website templates available that look very professional and can be made unique with some basic HTML and image editing.

You can use MS paint for literally all of the image editing that you will need on your website, but you will want to save the file as a 24-bit bitmap file so that it has the sharpest picture. If you are willing to spend some money on your venture then you do not need to purchase a full-fledged digital editing suite but it might be a good idea to use a JPEG compressor so that the images on your website will load faster.

4. You Can Use Your Home Desktop Computer While You Are On Vacation

Imagine that your daughter or your wife is sitting at your home computer reading emails, when suddenly new programs start opening up and the text editor opens itself and starts typing What do you think youre doing? Thinking the computer has become possessed, she runs out of the room terrified. She then hears the phone ringing, and it is you from your hotel room in a foreign country letting her know that it is you who is controlling the computer.

Most operating systems come installed with remote desktop software, which can allow you to use a virtual private network connection and operate one computer from another computer. If you are concerned about having your laptop scanned as you go through the airport, it might be a good idea to just keep all your sensitive information on your home computer and then access that information from your laptop using remote desktop software.

5. You Can Use Your Internet Service Just Like A Phone Service

There are some companies that now offer a phone service called VoIP which stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, which acts just like a traditional landline phone service except it uses your existing internet connection to make calls. There is also free software available which can do the same thing, except you can just use your microphone and speakers on your computer to talk to the person you are calling.

One of the traditional benefits of having a landline phone is that it will still work during an event such as a power outage, so it is important to consider the fact that a VoIP phone line would not work at a time like this.

6. Your Neighbor Might Be Able To See Your Passwords

Even if you use a home wireless internet network that has a password to be able to access it, it is still possible to view somebody elsee data that is transmitted wirelessly. There are a number of different types of software and hardware that can be used to accomplish this, although it is much easier to view information that is unencrypted as opposed to password protected information. A popular wireless transmission protocol called WEP can be cracked without needing to resort to traditional methods such as brute force password attacks if you have smart enough computer software.

Every year in Las Vegas there is a conference called Defcon where the smartest computer hackers and programmers descend on the city for a few nights. Sometimes they will post something called the Wall of Sheep where they will run software that will automatically intercept any wireless data that can be interpretted, and if there is anything like financial data or account passwords they will post it up on the wall for everyone to see, because you were not smart enough to secure your data.

7. The Internet Can Be Accessed With Cell Phones And Mobile Devices

Most people who do not have the latest mobile gadget assume that internet access must be confined to a desktop computer or server, but in fact most cell phones and mobile devices that are being released today have built-in internet access. Some devices can make use of any Wi-Fi network that is within range to reduce any long distance communcation charges.

Today many important and essential functions can be performed using an internet-enabled cell phone such as internet banking or even trading the financial markets. Most new cell phones also contain the capacity to forward emails to the phone and even contain a typical computer keyboard for composing documents.

8. An .SHMTL Extension Means That The Web Page Is Secure

Most people are familiar with the basic extensions that web pages have such as HTML, HTM, or PHP, but the extension SHTML is not seen as frequently and it is important to note it when you see it. Todays web browsers can inform you whether or not a web page is secure, which means that any information that you enter cannot be intercepted, so it is a good idea to see whether or not you are on a secure web page.

As you might have guessed, SHTML would stand for Secure HyperText Markup Language or Secure HTML. This type of page format would not be important for a typical video or content site, but if you are on a web page where you need to enter sensitive financial information then it is important to know that your information is secure.

9. You Can Host Your Website From A Home Computer

It is possible to host a website using just a home computer without the need for a server room or typical hosting costs. While this is not an option recommended for people who do not know enough about computers to run an operating system such as Linux, there is no reason why you cannot use a fast computer to host your website from home. This option should only be used for small websites that would not attract a lot of traffic, such as if you just had some personal documents of files that you wanted to upload and have access to from any computer.

This approach has some obvious limitations and pitfalls, such as the fact that your computer could only handle a certain number of queries which would create a traffic bottleneck, and you need to keep your computer and internet access on 24 hours a day.

10. In As Little As A Few Years, Basic Internet Access Could Be Free

There are many skilled and brilliant people working at both large and small internet service provider companies in America and abroad, and with the incredibly rapid rate at which technological advances are occurring the idea of metering bandwidth and storage might soon be as outdated as 8-track players.

There was a time where 8-tracks were at the cutting edge of modern technology, but now they cant be given away. With large hosting and ISP companies switching to things like solar energy to run and cool their servers as well as microprocessor chips that are getting smaller and faster, surely prices will continue their descent downward to the point that internet access may become as universal and ubiquitous as water.