Happy Holidays!

The holiday season is a time to spend with family & friends. Even if you are alone during the holiday season, you can make it special. Take time to relax...let the spirit move you! If you don't want to go all out, light some candles!

Christmas is my favorite holiday. The selection of tree decorations are vast and beautifully designed. You can create a theme for your holiday decorations. Each year, buy a few more decorations to add to your tree. I prefer neutral decorations with white lights. Below are some decorating ideas that I wanted to share (photos by Photobucket).














Christmas trees are the favorite decorating item for the Christmas holiday. Make yours grand and exciting to look at. It will warm up your home and help you enjoy this time of year. Remember it doesn't have to be about gifts...it's a time to remember that you are blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you and yours the best during the holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving!

Window Design

Do you have blinds at your windows or nothing at all?

Selecting window treatments seem to be a task many don’t want to undertake. Choosing curtains don't have to be a hard task. Curtains make a room look more complete, as well as, bring a certain aura to a room.

Sheer window treatments are a great choice when it comes to bringing natural light into a room. For plants lovers, it is important for natural light to shine through! Sheer curtains allow natural light to brighten your home. In the winter, sheers can be layered and still allow light to filter into the room, while giving your home natural heat. Sheers don’t make a room feel overwhelming but calming and sophisticated.

Looking for a more neutral look...one to accommodate both sexes? Try some of these designs.

Got a design dilemma? Let NDesign help you!

Three Elements of a Great Outdoor Space

Big or small, inexpensive or extravagant, your outdoor living space is an investment toward creating your own personal sanctuary. But it doesn't have to be overly complicated: just include fire, water and earth, says landscape designer Michael Glassman. Here, he describes several ways in which you can use these elements to create a cozy open-air refuge.

Fire
“In a recent national survey, the No. 1 one request for an outdoor room is the outdoor kitchen," says Glassman. "The idea of dining under the stars is wonderful. Have you ever noticed how food just tastes better when you eat outside?"

Although outdoor kitchens can involve pricey, extensive projects, the idea is to extend your home's living space into the backyard. So if a built-in gas grill with all the accoutrements isn't in the budget, a charcoal grill will cook your meals up nicely. Whether you're serving a few or a family feast, you can find a variety of stylish outdoor dining tables and chairs to suit your needs.

On a cool, crisp evening, cozy up to a heat source — like an outdoor heater, chiminea or fire bowl — with a cup of tea and a good book. Or enjoy the ambiance and smell of a wood-burning fire in a custom-built or pre-fabricated fireplace.


Water
The sound of a gurgling fountain is a soothing addition to your backyard oasis. Keep it simple with a tabletop fountain or get more elaborate with a professionally installed bubbling stream at the patio's edge.

Overhead structures like a gazebo or screened porch provide comfort and protection from rain, giving you more opportunities to spend time outdoors.

A palapa, or thatched roof structure, also provides protection when it's rainy, hot, bright and sunny. Call your local building or planning department to find out if you need a permit for a structure like this (in most communities you don't need one). Electrical outlets for a fan, heater or other device usually require some type of authorization.

Earth
Earthen elements, such as plants, rock, and other natural materials, provide year-round interest. Some elements, like stone paving and rock walls, anchor the space, while others, such as trees, shrubs and flowers, are fleeting and change throughout the seasons.

Incorporate earth tones into your accessories to connect them with nearby plantings, mulched beds and stonework. For example, outdoor carpets provide the indoor look outside. They're made from a weather-resistant fabric that's durable and won't mildew. They're easy to clean, and they dry quickly.

Outdoor furniture can also enhance the earth element by incorporating pieces made with different grains and colors of wood. When selecting furniture for your outdoor room, aim for comfort. Then consider the size; don't over- or under-scale your furniture for the size of the space. Finally, consider durability. Select items of good quality that won't easily fall apart in the elements.

Fighting Household Clutter

Learn how to get your house in order no matter what the season!

by Jake Grove, Scripps Howard News Service

With the change of seasons comes the unenviable task of committing to house cleaning. But this year, rather than just cleaning behind the refrigerator or dusting the ceiling fan, why not get the whole house in order? This could be the year the house ceases to be a giant storage bin for old T-shirts and knickknacks from 1972 and becomes a place to live in again. It can happen, and it all starts with organization.




Organizing first starts with a desire, according to Deniece Schofield, author of Confessions of an Organized Homemaker and Confessions of a Happily Organized Family. Schofield said you have to want your house organized before getting started, and that is often the most difficult part.

"There are people who will never be organized in their whole lives," she said. "Then there are people who will try and they either will or won't make it. In the end, the people who are concerned about it are the people who will get organized."

Once you've decided that being organized is a priority, it's time to figure out what needs to be addressed first, second, third and so on. Just like going to the grocery store, Schofield said that is the time to make a list. The list should have small goals on it for each room.

Instead of saying, "Clean the living room," break the living room down into segments that need to be organized. For instance, the list might include alphabetizing your videotapes or CDs, finding a place for magazines or remote controls and cleaning up the mass of wire behind the entertainment center.

Schofield said making a list for each room helps keep your goals in mind without all the stress of thinking about it every moment of every day.

"(The list) is always reminding you, so it takes the pressure off your brain and puts it on paper," Schofield said. "Then you can prioritize, choose a place to start and get going."

From the list, it is time to get started on a few projects. Start going through a few things and separating them into four categories. Schofield suggested splitting items into As, Bs, Cs and Ds. An 'A' would be things used every day, a 'B' is something used on a weekly basis, 'C' is for items used monthly and 'D's are those things that you have not used in a six months to a year and won't use any time soon.

Such a system won't be easy, especially for the pack rat that exists in everyone, but it is necessary to get the organizing process started.

While going through these items, think about where they might go. One of the simplest ways to organize is to put the things that always seem to end up in a room in that room. It sounds easy, but Schofield said common sense is sometimes the hardest thing to accomplish in the home.

"All useful items should be stored conveniently," Schofield wrote in her book, Confessions of a Happily Organized Family. "For example: 'Where are the scissors?' 'I left them in the bathroom and forgot to put them back.' If the scissors keep showing up in the bathroom, it sounds like you need to keep an extra pair of scissors there."

Be creative. Instead of running out every five minutes to pick up another storage bin, bookshelf or shoe rack, find a use for some of the things you have lying around your house. She said that most people would be surprised at the different uses that can be found for items like crates, shower rods and empty canisters around the house. This will save you money and give you a chance to declutter a few things around the house.

Finally, Schofield said not to be afraid of the time it will take to organize a home at first. She said it took her six months to get things together. But by delegating a few jobs to family members and taking the time every so often each day, the job eventually got done.

"The biggest reason people don't organize is because of time," Schofield said. "We have time, but in small increments. Taking 15 or 30 minutes a day to get organized will get the job done, it just won't get done in one day or even a week. Be patient."

Houseplants help clean indoor Air

Decorating with houseplants will not only make your room inviting, but will also improve your indoor air quality.

HOUSEPLANTS HELP CLEAN INDOOR AIR
Deborah L. Brown
Extension Horticulturist

Our space program has led the way to a fascinating and important discovery about the role of houseplants indoors. NASA has been researching methods of cleansing the atmosphere in future space stations to keep them fit for human habitation over extended periods of time. They've found that many common houseplants and blooming potted plants help fight pollution indoors. They're reportedly able to scrub significant amounts of harmful gases out of the air, through the everyday processes of photosynthesis. Some pollutants are also absorbed and rendered harmless in the soil.

Plant physiologists already knew that plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen as part of the photosynthetic process. Now researchers have found many common houseplants absorb benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene, as well.

Chances are, all houseplants are beneficial in this regard, at least to a certain degree, though they haven't all been tested. Of those tested, not all have proven equally efficient cleaners. Nor can we assume all harmful pollutants can be removed in this manner.

Some houseplants are better at removing formaldehyde from the air, while others do a better job on benzene; none is much help when it comes to tobacco smoke. But there are enough known plants that do a good job of removing pollutants from the air we breathe to cause us to view houseplants as more than just an attractive feature in decorating the interior environment.

These are three of the worst offenders found in relatively new homes and offices. Newer buildings are constructed largely with man-made building materials and furnished with synthetic carpeting, fabrics, laminated counters, plastic coated wallpaper, and other materials known to "off-gas" pollutants into the interior environment.

The advent of the "energy crisis" a number of years back has increased the problems associated with indoor pollutants. Newly constructed buildings are better insulated and sealed tightly to conserve heat or air-conditioning. While it does save both money and energy, this new found efficiency has its downside in that pollutants may be trapped indoors and have less opportunity to dissipate to the outside. The phrase coined to describe this unfortunate result is "sick building syndrome."

If your home is old enough to be leaky and drafty, you may not need to worry about "sick-building syndrome." But if you live in a newer, energy-efficient home with windows and doors tightly sealed, or you work in a building where the air feels stale and circulation seems poor, the liberal use of houseplants seems like an easy way to help make a dent in the problem.

NASA scientists studied nineteen different plant species for two years. Of the specimens studied, only two were primarily flowering plants; chrysanthemums and gerbera daisies. Though commonly used to bring a touch of color indoors, particularly for holidays and special occasions, these plants are generally not kept indoors very long. After they're through blooming they're usually discarded or planted outdoors.

Most of the plants tested are "true" houseplants, kept indoors year-round in our climate, though they may be placed outdoors during warm summer months. One is the common succulent, Aloe vera (now renamed Aloe barbadensis), also known as "medicine plant." Many people already have one in a bright kitchen window because of the soothing, healing properties its viscous inner tissue has on burns, bites and skin irritations.

Most of the plants listed below evolved in tropical or sub-tropical forests, where they received light filtered through the branches of taller trees. Because of this, their leaf composition allows them to photosynthesize efficiently under relatively low light conditions, which in turn allows them to process gasses in the air efficiently.

Soil and roots were also found to play an important role in removing air-borne pollutants. Micro-organisms in the soil become more adept at using trace amounts of these materials as a food source, as they were exposed to them for longer periods of time. Their effectiveness is increased if lower leaves that cover the soil surface are removed, so there is as much soil contact with the air as possible.

Best results were obtained with small fans that pulled air through a charcoal filter in the soil, cleaning more than foliage could alone or in combination with a "passive" pot of soil. Even without the fan and filter, however, houseplants did remove trace pollutants from the air.

The NASA studies generated the recommendation that you use 15 to 18 good-sized houseplants in 6 to 8-inch diameter containers to improve air quality in an average 1,800 square foot house. The more vigorously they grow, the better job they'll do for you.

With the exception of dwarf banana, a fairly unusual plant in this area, the bulk of the list of plants NASA tested reads like a "Who's Who" of the interior plant world. They are:

Ficus benjamina (Weeping fig)
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Chlorophytum comosum (spider plant)
Epipiremnum aureum (golden pothos)
Spathiphyllum `Mauna Loa' (peace lily)
Aglaonema modestum (Chinese evergreen)
Chamaedorea sefritzii (bamboo or reed palm)
Sansevieria trifasciata (snake plant)
Philodendron scandens `oxycardium' (heartleaf philodendron)
Philodendron selloum (selloum philodendron)
Philodendron domesticum (elephant ear philodendron)
Dracaena marginata (red-edged dracaena)
Dracaena fragrans `Massangeana' (cornstalk dracaena)
Dracaena deremensis `Janet Craig' (Janet Craig dracaena)
Dracaena deremensis `Warneckii' (Warneck dracaena)