Backyard Design To Promote A Healthy Family

Spending time outside to eat, talk and play bonds family members — from small kids to adults — in incredible ways. With that in mind, how can you design your backyard to be an inviting, activity-boosting space where the whole family wants to spend time? Here’s a look at some key tips for turning your backyard into a favorite family destination.

Start With the Big Picture

Before buying new pillows for the lounge furniture or flowers for the beds, consider this: What do you want from your backyard? A space to entertain on weekends, or a space to eat dinner together every warm night? Do you want areas for sports and/or a fire pit? Once you know what you’re looking for, you know where to start. Think about what already works well for your goals, and what doesn’t. This can guide your efforts in design.

Add the Right Elements

Based upon your desires and goals, add elements to the backyard that make it more usable and enjoyable. By creating a fun and functional outdoor space, you can promote health and wellness for everyone. Consider adding the following:

1. Outdoor lighting makes your yard usable at night as well as day. Consider landscaping lights to highlight your foliage, string lights to illuminate eating areas, and solar-powered lights to take advantage of the power of the sun in creating evening ambiance.
2. Give yourself and your loved ones protection from the sun’s blazing heat with quality shade structures. From umbrellas to canopies, shades can make eating areas and seating nooks more comfortable.
3. Outdoor Seating and Play Areas. Fancy furniture might be fun for the adults, but if you have small children, be sure to include them in your design, too. Make sure there are seating and play areas for everyone who will need them. Differentiate a few seating nooks where adults can gather as well as larger, informal spaces where the whole family can spend time. Likewise, consider adding a sandbox or a tree swing for kids.
4. An Outdoor Grill. There’s nothing quite so quintessentially summer as grilling outside or picnicking on a beautiful day. Use this season to make big, healthy dinners of fresh produce like corn on the cob or zucchini grilled with herbs and oil. Getting everyone together is half the fun of spending time outdoors, and eating deliciously healthy food is icing on the cake.
5. A Fireplace. There’s nothing quite like a cozy fire to create backyard warmth and ambiance on a cool night. You could buy a fireplace or, if you’re handy, make one using DIY tutorials online. In either case, a commanding fireplace will turn your yard into a true showpiece for entertaining and relaxing.
6. A Backyard Garden. A backyard garden is more than a way to boost your summer vegetable crop; it’s also a project you and your kids can work on together. Whether you add a raised bed garden or plot out space in the yard itself, help your family connect to nature and understand where food comes from by growing from seeds or starters to a wide variety of plants.
7. Sports Equipment. Children aren’t the only ones who benefit from time to play. Give the whole family an excuse to get active and have fun by including a bocce ball court, some baseball gloves and balls, a soccer ball and other activity-encouraging features that you can enjoy together.

When it comes to smart backyard design, the key is knowing your own family and what works best for your needs. Look at the way you work and play together and turn your yard into a space that cultivates time outside! Then, when you’re hanging out with loved ones in the yard throughout this season, you can build memories and relationships that last a lifetime.

 

About the author:

Brent Derbecker is the National Sales Manager of Superior Skyspan, a shade division of Superior Recreational Products. The company designs umbrellas and shade structures for any unique space to improve your outdoor comfort and protection.

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How long will my appliances last?

We’ve not yet entered a new dawn in terms of how robust technology can be; nothing lasts forever and everything will, at some point, be beyond functionality. So what about all of your appliances at home? Considering the money you spend on each individual appliance in your home, you might be curious to find out how long your appliances will last.

Take a look at our infographic below to see the average lifespan of your household essentials.

 

Dishwasher – 9 years

Microwave – 9 years

Tumble Dryer – 13 years

Refrigerator – 13 years

Extractor Hood – 14 years

Washing Machine – 15 years

Freezer – 16 years

Gas Oven – 18 years

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from UK Home Improvement Blog http://www.ukhomeimprovement.co.uk/how-long-will-my-appliances-last/

5 Tips That Work When Staging Your Home

Home staging is an important part of selling your home. Especially with the upcoming generation of home buyers, visuals are everything. Most times, a prospect will first find your house on Trulia or Zillow (or one of hundreds of other sites) so staging each photo to show how a room can be used and it’s size will be a determining factor in whether the prospect decides to go to an open house or request a tour.

Here are 5 tips that really do work when staging your home.

1. Rent furniture that appeals to the majority. Don’t use some beat up couch you got in the dumpster during your college days! Many furniture stores offer pieces just for home staging! Take the time to choose items that almost everyone would like and would really draw out the positives in each space. If you have a weird corner or nook, make sure you dress it up so instead of it being an awkward area you show the potential it has by furnishing it.

2. Clean up your curb appeal. This is especially important for taking a photo. Even if you know you plan on selling next year, during the summer take a photo when your yard looks best so you have it when posting your home on the dozens of sites where prospects go to look. This will also give your prospect an idea of what the home looks like in summer even if it’s winter when they buy the house.

3. Rip off the wallpaper (unless it’s really nice wallpaper). Home buyers love neutral, clean walls. Help them envision their home by taking down your wallpaper or even wallpaper borders that could distract them from seeing their own decor in that space. This is such a simple item to do and yet many home owners just leave their personal touches without thinking how it might affect the prospects view of the place.

4. Light it up. No one wants to live in a dark, dreary place. Invest in good lighting fixtures and curtains that allow the natural light in when staging your home.

5. Invite the outdoors in. There is just something about having plants incorporated when staging your home that instantly draws the eye. Especially if someone is seeing your home during the winter, plants bring a sense of peace and prosperity to a home’s zen.

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Easy Meal Prep for the Week

The success of a healthy lifestyle is almost entirely dependent upon the food that you use to fuel your body – without fresh, satisfying options on hand, it’s easy to fall off the wagon. That’s why so many health-conscious people sing the praises of meal prep. An afternoon’s worth of cooking, packaging and preparing for the week ahead will make it nearly impossible for you to grab something that’s not in line with your goals.

All you have left to do is learn some tricks of the trade in order to make the process as easy as possible. Here are seven of them:

Find Your Recipes for the Week

You can’t determine your shopping list without first deciding what’s on the menu for the upcoming week. Many meal preppers peruse sites like healthy recipe boards on Pinterest or their favorite healthy-eating blogs to find recipes they can whip up on Sunday to last through the workweek, when time – or a lack thereof – leaves them unable to cook each day.

As you get into the meal-prepping groove, this step will become easier. You might also be able to come up with a list of go-to protein-starch-veggie combos that you can buy and cook in advance and invent meals of your own.

With dinner and lunch sorted, plan your snacks and breakfasts, too. Write everything on a chart or calendar that you can post on the fridge – and snap a picture to keep on your phone. That way, you’ll remember what you’re supposed to eat, and when, all week long.

Always Write a Grocery List

With every last snack planned out, you’re ready to hit the grocery store. Your menu makes it incredibly simple to write your grocery list. Having a list will make your trips to the store a breeze, too, as you grab only what you need to make it through the week. Furthermore, proper shopping will create a dearth of snacks and unhealthy options sitting around the house, which will help you stay on track with your preplanned menu.

The Freezer Is Your Friend

On a particularly productive Sunday, you can meal prep for the upcoming week, as well as for weeks or months in advance. If you have a slow cooker in your kitchen, then take the time to prep and freeze all of the ingredients you’d need to make a freezable slow cooker dinner. Then, on a weekday morning, you can throw the frozen base in, set it to simmer throughout the day and come home to a warm meal.

If you don’t have this appliance at home, find a big-batch soup recipe or other easy-to-freeze meal that you can defrost and enjoy when you’re in a pinch. You can also grab bags of frozen veggies that you can quickly microwave as a dinner side dish, omelet add-in or stir-fry base.

Get Roasting

Your oven has multiple racks for a reason: So you can fit multiple things inside of it at once. This comes in handy during meal prep days, when you’ll be getting a week’s worth of food ready in one fell swoop. The good news is that many meats and veggies roast at the same high temperature, so you can cook trays and foil-wrapped foods all at once.

If temperatures vary too greatly, start with what roasts on a lower temp. Once that’s done, amp it up for your second batch. This saves you time on preheating and cuts down on electricity usage and, therefore, costs.

Quick Oats? Yes, You Can

One meal-prep task you’ll likely look forward to is creating oatmeal jars, which make it easy for you to grab a to-go breakfast that’s not heavy on sugar or light on flavor. With all the ingredients sealed into a mason jar – there are plenty of recipe ideas available online, or you can create flavor combos on your own – you simply fill it with hot milk or water while you get ready for work. When you arrive at the office, crack it open and spoon into a creamy breakfast that’s fresh, comforting and satisfying.

Bonus tip: You can do the same prep for salads and green smoothies, too!

Upgrade Your Container Game

Your rag-tag Tupperware collection may have served you well in the past, but it won’t be fun trying to stack and store mismatched pieces in a cramped fridge. All serious meal preppers should have a fleet of containers that match so it’s easy to package and put away everything you’ve cooked. Make sure the new containers you buy come in an array of sizes so you can portion everything out properly.

Stick to Your Plan

Finally, the most important step of meal planning is to stay true to your plan. Find support in friends who also meal prep, or seek out a Facebook or Instagram group that shares tips, tricks and compliments. When it’s tempting to veer off course, remember that you pour hours into your prep as you draw up a menu, shop and cook – sticking to your guns makes all of the effort worthwhile.

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How to Make Your Own Soap

You should pay close attention to the quality of food you put into your body. Equally important are the types of products you use on your skin from day-to-day. Perhaps you haven’t really thought about the kind of soap you use to wipe away dirt and grime, but you should understand what ingredients are in your soap every time you purchase a bar.

Why Do It Yourself?

You’ll most likely find that many kinds of harsh detergents and synthetic fragrances are ingredients in your favorite brands. These chemicals can be linked to skin irritation, allergies and migraines. Even some antibacterials — triclosan is one example provided by the FDA — are considered a possible carcinogen.

You can avoid these health hazards altogether by learning how to make your own soap. Making soap will not only be better for your body, but is a fun way to save you money. It can even become a unique gift you share with your family and friends! Don’t worry: The task isn’t extremely difficult. You’ll need some basic ingredients and some molds to start.

Find the Right Mold 

Before setting up all your ingredients for your first homemade soap batch, you’ll need to look into purchasing soap molds to shape your crafty creations. Try using the sites Bramble Berry or Mold Market to find the silicone mold in the shape and style you want.

If you’d rather not spend the extra money, you can be inventive with what you have around your kitchen. Muffin tins are a great substitute for soap molds, or you could use a bread pan to create one large soap bar you cut afterwards. Be sure to spray your tins or pans down with oil before pouring your soap, or line them with muffin liners or parchment paper for easy removal.

Tips Before You Begin

Becoming a creator of your own soap feels a bit like being a mad scientist — from exploring new fragrances from oils and herbs, to experimenting with design and shape, soap-making is a fun and entertaining way to take care your body. You won’t be an expert immediately, and it will take some time to perfect complicated recipes.

Still, if you’re willing to start out small, you’ll soon be on the road to amazing creations. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Make sure your measurements are accurate. Use a kitchen scale in grams or ounces for the best results.

• Use distilled water instead of tap water. You won’t have any unwanted minerals in your mixtures that could interfere with the process.

• Begin simple before trying more complicated recipes.

Castile Soap

A mild, pure soap, Castile soap is a great way to begin your foray into the world of soap-making. The recipe below makes six large bars.

Ingredients:

• 20 ounces olive oil
• 2 ½ ounces palm oil
• 2 ½ ounces coconut oil
• 3 1/3 ounces lye crystals (sodium hydroxide/caustic soda)
• 8 ounces cold water
• 1 ounces of fragrance or essential oil

This particular recipe uses the cold press method and is easy to follow. Feel free to add your own herbs or petals at the end while your soap is setting.

Calendula, Oatmeal and Honey Soap

This soothing soap has oatmeal and honey to gently exfoliate and the calendula to act as an anti-inflammatory. It’s the perfect way to enjoy a long soak in the tub after a long day and makes about 10 bars.

Ingredients:

• 18 ounces white melt-and-mold soap
• 5 tablespoons calendula petals, dried
• 4 tablespoons coarse oatmeal
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 10 drops bergamot, neroli or mandarin essential oil

You’ll be sure to fall in love with the beautiful citrus fragrances and the nourishing honey after making this soap from the full recipe and process.

Drying your own Calendula Petals

If you would like to try your hand at growing your own calendula for soap or other skin-care products, be sure to choose the medicinal variety of the plant Calendula officinalis. You will want to harvest the petal once the flowers have fully opened up and you have morning sun to evaporate any dew.

Place them in a shady place on a drying screen, turning them once or twice a day until they’re as dry as paper. Finally, pull the petals off the flower buds and put them in a glass jar for storage.

Once you’ve created your first few bars of soap, you’ll never want to give the hobby up.

Feature Image Credit

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10 Tasty Zoodle Recipes That Make Eating Healthy Easy

Zoodles, or noodles made from zucchini, are the newest trend in healthy eating. Replacing high-carb and high-calorie pasta, zoodles offer a healthy and unique alternative for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

You can create your zoodles by hand or invest in a spiralizer to make zoodles in no-time. Once you have zoodles, you can experiment with hundreds of recipes. Keep reading for 10 healthy and easy-to-make zoodle recipes to get you started.

1. Zoodles with Avocado Pesto

This is a creamy, fresh and light dish that blurs the line between pasta and salad. The avocado taste goes great with the unique flavor of zoodles, and this recipes adds chickpeas and tomatoes for a healthy edge.

2. Zoodles and Eggs

Perfect for a quick and healthy breakfast, zoodles and eggs is a simple way to make dish you can enjoy on the busiest of mornings. You can also personalize this dish as you would an omelet. Just add any of your favorite ingredients for a unique dish.

3. Chicken Zoodle Soup

What’s better than chicken noodle soup? This is a great alternative to your favorite comfort food. Next time you’re enjoying a cold winter night by the fire or trying to fight off a cold, this recipe is exactly what you’ll need.

4. Thai Salmon with Zoodles

Thisspicy salmon and thai zoodle recipe is easy to whip up and tastes amazing! Don’t worry, if you don’t like a lot of spice, just lower the amount of crushed red pepper you put in. You can make your sweet chili sauce as the blog recommends or just buy from the store for a meal you can make in under 20 minutes!

5. Baked Ziti Zoodles

This meal is as fun to eat as it is to say. It’s a cheesy and creamy alternative to baked ziti. It’s also made all in one pan for easy serving and clean-up.

6. Mason Jar Instant Ramen Zoodles

Ramen noodles are a quick and easy meal, but they’re definitely not a healthy option. With just a little bit of prep work, you can create a quick, easy AND healthy meal comparable to those bowls of ramen. Make as many jars as you want, and you’ll have multiple grab-and-go meals for your busy days of running around.

7. Greek Zoodles

This dish uses all of your favorite Greek ingredients such as olives and feta cheese to create a flavorful and healthy dish. All you have to do is boil the zoodles and mix with the rest of the ingredients, and your dinner is ready to be enjoyed.

8. Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Zoodles

This warm and creamy dish will be your new favorite comfort food. It’s quick to make, and with a big bowl of this for dinner, you’ll feel indulgent and healthy all at the same time.

9. Spicy Zoodle Bowl

A colorful bowl of zoodles and veggies will look perfect at your next outdoor barbeque. This dish requires no cooking — only mixing. With how yummy it tastes, you’ll be asked to bring it to every event you attend.

10. Mason Jar Zoodle Pasta Salad With Avocado Spinach Dressing

Creamy and healthy pasta salad in a jar. Can it get any better? This recipe lets you make a super simple pasta salad you can take with you anywhere. All you need to do is shake and enjoy!

Have you fallen in love with zoodles yet? Next, try inventing your own zoodle recipes. It’s a very versatile food that goes great with a variety of flavors, so get creative and enjoy your new go-to in the kitchen.

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10 Furnishings and Fittings Every Nursery Should Have

Starting a new family can be exciting, nerve-wracking and – at times – absolutely terrifying but it is a process that many young (and even old) couples will go through at some point in their lives. Whether you’ve been trying for a baby for a while now, or you were lucky enough to conceive on the first go, a little bundle is on the way in some form or another, so you need to be prepared for when he or she finally arrives. 

Taking baby clothes aside for one moment, you will need to set up an established space in which your new baby will live and grow. A dedicated baby room or nursery is ideal to help your baby grow and develop, and will ensure that you won’t have to sacrifice any of your own bedroom space for a crib or other supplies. Getting a decent nursery together takes time and a little know-how. Read on for our top ten furnishings every nursery should have. 

1.       Baby Monitor

It is important that you have some form of communication between your baby and you when you are not in the room. Regular and irregular sounds heard on the baby monitor will help you to gauge the safety and condition of your baby, so that you can take action accordingly. While baby monitors do not always prevent accidents, this is a staple in any nursery as they drastically reduce your chances of walking in and finding a very ill baby simply because you haven’t checked on them in the night. 

2.       Night Light

Soft light is comforting to babies and young children and when we are at an age where everything is new and sometimes frightening, having a soft, warm light there to ward the nasties away can really help a young child get to sleep. You can buy night lights in a wide range of colours and shapes, so get one that engages and excites your baby.

3.       Mobile

Placing a mobile above your baby’s head will help to soothe him or her to sleep and helps to improve their focus and concentration when they are awake. Having mobiles that contain sparkly or shiny objects and objects that squeak and rattle will also help to develop the baby’s senses. Remember that everything is a learning curve when you have only just been born!

4.       Window Shutters

Window shutters are far preferable to curtains or blinds as they are made to be ‘baby-proof’ with no dangling cords or spare bits that a baby could grab hold of or place in their mouth. It might seem like a bit of a non-issue, but it is important that you are vigilant when making sure that every single thing in your baby’s nursery is safe and does not present a hazard to them. Babies explore many new objects by putting them in their mouths, so making sure that nothing is ‘ingestible’ is essential. 

5.       Blackout Curtains

It is likely that your baby will be taking naps at odd times throughout the day, so blackout curtains are essential if you want them to get a bit of good, undisturbed rest. Blackout curtains simulate the night time, creating a calming and soothing atmosphere where babies and young children can sleep easy, so this is often a good investment for new parents. 

6.       Colourful Pictures and Drawings

Babies are sensory creatures. As they are constantly learning about the world around them, they are taking in everything they can see, hear, touch, smell and taste. So it would make sense that you provide your new baby with plenty of stimulus in their room, no? By adding pictures and drawings into your nursery, you can start to help develop your babies mind and imagination, giving them a good head start when they eventually start reading and writing and processing what they can see properly.

7.       Nappy Disposal System

You might be thinking, won’t a bin be enough? If you are thinking this, chances are you may have never smelt a full nappy before. A specially designed nappy disposal system will keep those dirty nappies out of sight and mind until you are able to properly dispose of them in the rubbish outside. It is important that you buy a system that eliminates any odours as these can quickly accumulate and draw unwanted attention from flies and other creatures. You want to make sure that your nursery smells as fresh as your baby, so make sure to get a proper disposal system!

8.       Bookshelf and Books

While these things may not seem so essential right at the very early stages of your baby’s development, there is no such thing as being too prepared when thinking about a new child. Having a bookshelf and books ready for the development of your child already in the nursery will help to get you in the habit of reading to your child when they go to bed. They might not understand all the words, but at first, they can listen to the sound of your voice, and it starts a regular routine for you as well. 

9.       Portable Music Player

Music is soothing. If your baby is having trouble sleeping, playing a little bit of music may help lull them to sleep. Music is also sensory so your baby will still be learning and absorbing information, even when asleep. This will also be a good idea to calm you down when the baby has perhaps had a rough night and you have to stay by his or her side until they fall asleep. Just make sure that you either turn it off or turn it right down before you leave the room so that you can hear things over the baby monitor without the music getting in the way. 

10.   Baby Swing or Bouncy Seat

When the baby gets a little older and a little bigger, they will need a few more things to keep themselves occupied. A baby swing and baby bouncer will help your baby to build their muscles up and will keep them safe and secure while you clean up or do other small jobs. Remember that a bouncer is not a substitute for a responsible adult, so make sure to stay in the same room as your baby!

Hopefully this article will have given you a good shopping list to make room for your new baby. Having a new baby can be a challenging part of starting a family, but they do bring a whole lot of joy and happiness to many families. Just take it one step at a time and don’t be frightened to ask for help if you need it. Everybody starts off at the same point as you, so accept help offered where needed and you should be just fine.

Article provided by Mike James, an independent content writer working together with Sussex based company, The Window Shutter Company who were consulted over the information in this post.

from Home My Heaven: Home Improvement Blog UK http://www.homemyheaven.co.uk/2016/04/10-furnishings-and-fittings-every.html