House Design News

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• Make your living room cosy
• Hooper/Abad Residence by Poteet Architects
• Proper pH for Your Veggie Garden

Make your living room cosy Posted: 08 Dec 2013 11:34 AM PST When the winter season approaches, there's nothing better than coming home after a long day at work to a cosy living room, where you can relax and unwind from the long day. Trying to create a living room that's cosy can be a difficult task, especially if the room you are working with large, has high ceilings or lots of windows. To help you make your living room a cosy place to come home to each night, here are some top tips to help get you started. Lighting has a massive impact Lamps can help give a room a soft glow, helping it to feel more warm and cosy. Just one large light can make the room seem too bright and harsh. With modern décor, it's often difficult to find a balance that suits the style of the room, as usually modern rooms lend themselves to brighter lighting, however you can find a balance with lamps dotted around so that you don't have to rely on natural light or the main light to create a warm atmosphere. A fire can really make a room cosy and can sometimes act as great lighting into a room. If you have one, make it the focal point and use it as lighting during the winter months. The use of colour Many homes tend to go with black and white furnishings as they are neutral colours that can pretty much go with anything. While this approach may save you money for when you come to change your room, it's often difficult to get a warm feeling with these colours. Reds, oranges, maroons, browns can really help bring warmth to a room and can be done through the use of wallpaper, paint and furnishings. If you want to keep to white or black, try using cushions, rugs, throws, paintings, ornaments, lamps that have colour in them to help create a welcoming and warm atmosphere. The materials you use When you think of the word 'cosy', the word soft tends to follow suit. A leather sofa doesn't really fit into the 'cosy' mix and can often be perceived as quite cold. If you only have a leather sofa and don't plan on changing it, make sure you spruce it up with throws and soft pillows. It's also useful to use thick curtains that have a warm colour to help enclose a room and shut out any draught from the windows. Finishing touches If the space you have is large, it is worthwhile adding some finishing touches around the room to help keep it looking busy. This can be done with vases, ornaments, photos, paintings, lamps etc. Sometimes people use a large living space as their dining and living room area. If this is something that you are looking at doing, make sure that you make a clear separation between the dining and living room space so that it feels as though you have two separate rooms. You can do this by separating the space with the back of the sofas. Ian Shaw from Morley Glass provided this article. Ian is an expert on all aspects of glazing in residential and commercial properties. He also takes a keen interest in advising people on eco-friendly construction methods via informative articles for various websites.

Hooper/Abad Residence by Poteet Architects Posted: 07 Dec 2013 11:34 PM PST Poteet Architects, Based in San Antonio, Texas. One of their work is hooper/abad residence.

Proper pH for Your Veggie Garden Posted: 07 Dec 2013 10:07 PM PST As a novice gardener, you’ve probably not thought much about the pH of your soil, but it’s an important part of successfully growing vegetables. If you’re an experienced green thumb, you know that pH measures how much acidity or alkalinity is in your soil. Soil pH is important because it dictates how easily plants can take nutrients from the soil. Don’t worry: most plants have a wide pH range in which plants can thrive. But if you’re unsure, consult your trusty gardening book for the preferred pH for your specific plant. What Affects pH? Many considerations factor into what affects the pH level of any given garden. First and foremost, regional differences, climates and environmental factors all come into play. Everything from amount of rainfall to vegetation type to temperature can affect soil pH, says Organic Gardening. You’ll find acid soils in Eastern states and the Pacific Northwest, which tend to get heavy rainfalls and feature forest cover. Light rainfall and prairie cover indigenous to the Midwest create a more neutral pH. Areas of the United States that experience little rain typically feature alkaline soils. But pH levels can even differ between you and your neighbor, as your soil could have been farmed in from another part of the state during construction, for example, giving you a much different type of soil than the lady down the street. Testing pH It’s easy to test the pH level of your soil yourself. Just pick up a simple home soil test kit or a portable pH meter, which may vary in accuracy but can help provide a good range for your particular soil. You could also call in a professional to take samples of your soil and analyze it in a lab setting. If you have vegetables that thrive best in alkaline environments and you find your soil is too acidic, you’ll have to correct it before planting. This involves adding ground limestone. If your soil is too alkaline and you need it to be more acidic to accommodate your desired plants, you’ll need to add powdered elemental sulfur. You can spread all of that using a garden spreader or by hand–just be sure to wear heavy work gloves to avoid getting it on your hands, and wash thoroughly after you’re through. Organic Gardening points out that adding organic matter is the most environmentally friendly option, rather than, say, incorporating peat moss, which is not a sustainable resource. Compost buffers the pH, bringing both acid and alkaline soils closer to neutral. Veggies and Their Preferred pH Levels Not sure which veggies will thrive in your garden? It’s important to first test your soil, then match up the best vegetables to plant based on the results. As a general rule, acid soil is one with a pH lower than 7.0 and alkaline soil has a pH higher than 7.0, according to The Garden Helper. For example, the optimal pH for avocados, beans, cauliflower and celery is 6.0 to 7.0, while the optimal pH for rutabagas, pumpkins, shallots and spinach is 5.0 to 7.0. Yams tend to accommodate a wider range of 5.0 to 7.0, while onions have the narrow range of 6.2 to 6.8. Keep these basics in mind when planning out your super yummy garden, and your vegetables are sure to thrive. This article was written by Fergie McLachlan, organic gardener who grows her own organic veggies and has a fully organic flower garden. She is excited to share her gardening tips with you so can get the best soil for your plants when the growing season begins.

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