How to Make Your Garden Safe for Kids to Play

The backyard can be a fun place to hang out for old and young alike. However, special safety precautions should be taken when kids are playing. They will tend to run around a lot, not pay a lot of attention and accidents can happen. That is why it is very important to know that they can play around safely in the garden.

Here are a few tips to help you out.

1. Careful with the swings

If you do install a set in your garden, be careful with it, the majority of injuries in the backyard are related to swings so. If you install more than one, try to keep two swing seats at most suspended from the same section of the support structure in order to limit the pressure exerted on it at any given time, they should be made out of a softer material such as rubber instead of a hard wood and.

2. Cover important areas

Kids playing around in the backyard are going to fall down…a lot. You can limit the damage this will do, even though there is not much you can do to stop this. Cover all the important areas where the kids will be playing with a material which is capable of absorbing a lot of the shock damage such as mulch or sand.

3. Remove tripping hazards

Part of the reason why kids will fall down a lot is because they run without looking where they are running. In order to limit the chances of them falling over, remove as many tripping hazards from the backyard as possible. This usually refers to bigrocks and stumps, concrete footings etc.

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Vintage oriental carpets: great look… great investment

Decorating a home can be expensive and often what you pay for floor coverings can never be recouped. But finding a great vintage oriental carpet can mean the next time you decide for a complete re-decorate, you may actually make money.

The key is finding a vintage oriental carpet company that can assist in finding a great carpet that is well made and will rise in value. This is much like finding an art dealer that will ensure your money is well spent.

Many believe that oriental carpets all look the same and are of the same colours but few are aware of the amazing range of designs and colours available today.

It is even possible to have a custom design woven for you at a fraction of the price of some inferior quality but “designer rugs” whose prices will never go up.

Handwoven, hand knotted oriental carpets do not even have to look “oriental”.

A bespoke oriental rug company that uses natural dyes and quality handspun wool can create a masterpiece that will rise in value rather than depreciate as soon as you buy it.

Natural dyed carpets that are well made and taken care of will always find a market with collectors. Oriental carpet prices are fair and not over-inflated with hype.

Vintage carpets that are unusual in pattern or colours are more apt to increase in value more quickly. Of course, like art, the price is often subjective to who is buying it and how much they will pay, but a reliable oriental rug dealer will have posted prices that are held accountable. The will also if selling rugs online have a no quibble return policy and impressive client list to assure the client of reliability.

A vintage carpet might be aged ten years or nearer to a century but it is the quality of the making that will make it unique. The knots per square inch will mean a longer wearing and cleaner, crisper image.

At Sharafi & Co we pride ourselves in sourcing the best in Persian and Oriental vintage carpets.

Is It Safe To Depend On Customer Reviews When Buying Furniture Online?

Back in the days, you’d be hard pressed to count a handful of people willing to make large purchases online. Large meaning they will need to part with a sizeable amount and then wait for the purchased items to arrive.

Today though, thousands of purchases are being made online thanks to the fact that more and more sites now have security measures in place that make them trustworthy to consumers. When it comes to buying online though, you still have be very careful as not all online stores are equal. Some take customer service seriously while some are just in it for the money.

One great tool that can help you with online shopping is the review/s left by people who have bought from a particular store. Would these reviews help you though? It really depends on what they are saying and what you want to know.

For example, if you want to know if an online retailer would promptly deliver what you will order, you can check reviews if there were people who were unhappy about the wait. If most of the reviews are about the quality of the products, then you can be sure that they had no trouble about the wait since people online love to share they would certainly highlight the shipping promptness if they had a problem with it.

On the other hand, if you are looking for information about the quality of a product made by a certain manufacturer, you have to go through different websites since most manufacturers offer their products through different retailers. If there is really a problem with their products, it would show not only on one retailer site review but on others as well. So as to the question whether it is safe to depend on these reviews, the short answer is yes. You still need to be very careful in analyzing just what the reviews are saying so that you can make a better decision.

Best 9 Ideas For Halloween Decorations

It’s time to Halloween parties and have some spooky fun. When there are parties there should be decorations too. Do you have any ideas of how to make your indoors look like a spooky house?

If you trying your hand in crafting the decoration items for the first time, here are some of the ideas for Halloween decorations which help you to make homemade items at a very less cost but do not appear so.

Boo Bottles:
Glass bottles, straws of different colors, white paint and black marker are all what you need. Remove the labels from the bottles and spray paint with white. Once the paint dries up draw faces with the black marker. Drop some straws inside the bottle removing the cap. That’s it. Nice center pieces are ready for your room.  

Cobweb Coasters:
The things you may need are bobby pins, twine thread, white paint, 3/8 inch flat metal washer and toy spiders. Fix the bobby pins on the washer and wrap the twine thread through them. Spray the white paint to give the ghostly look you want. Put some toy spiders on the web to make it complete.  

Vampire Napkin Rings:
To make your table look scary you can tie the napkins with vampire teeth. Tie the white napkins at the center with a thread and fix the vampire teeth. Sprinkle drops of red color to give the ghoulish look to the set.  

Ghostly Lanterns:
Take empty gallon milk jugs and draw faces on them. Fill the jugs with holiday lights and keep them at the entrance of your house to give the ghostly glow to your house. You don’t actually need to spend much for this.  

Wicked Witch Candy Dish:
Take an old pair of heels and wrap it with sparkling paper and decorate it. Fill it with the treats to make it a perfect Halloween candy bowl.  

Hanging Bats and Ghosts:
Change egg cartons into bats. Cut the egg cartons, paint them black and complement it with sparkling eyes. Convert leaves into ghosts by painting them with white color and draw the faces with black marker after the paint dries up. Hang these bats and ghosts to give a perfect look.  

Long lasting Pumpkins:
Take empty jars, clean them and wrap them with orange construction paper. If you don’t find a construction paper tissue paper also works. Add the facial features using black paper. Put a tea candle inside it or a battery operated bulb. Your pumpkin glows even after Halloween.  

Candy Corn Garland:
Take paint chips in yellow and orange colors and make a garland out of them and put it at the entrance of your house. You can cut these paint cards into lantern shapes or any other shape you like.  

Candy Corn Vases:
Take clean empty bottles and spray paint them with orange yellow and white and they make your table perfect for Halloween.

All these ideas for Halloween decorations are very cheap and can be made from the reusable items in your house.

Touring Model Homes

I like to consider myself an expert when it comes to home architecture - after all that's how I've been making my living for almost a decade. Model homes are a fascinating and fun place to tour when you are looking for design and redecorating ideas.

Each home will always have a distinct color scheme and theme. For example, the home might have a Country French theme designed with reds, golds and greens. The furniture, artwork and accessories (if it's well done) will always follow this general color scheme and theme.

If you think you want a contemporary theme - go sit in a contemporary model for awhile. If it feels good to you then you're pretty safe to move right along in that direction. But what if you don't like it? And you are still convinced that this is the theme that you are going to love. It's most likely the color scheme throwing you off.

Try try again; go sit in another contemporary model. Color has a powerful psychological effect on people and if you don't like the color you won't feel comfortable in that home.

If you've gone to three distinctly different model homes in the style that you feel you want to redecorate in and still don't get a comfortable feeling you may just need to modify the style a bit. Model homes are rather strict in their approach to their themes.

If the model was designed with a country theme you may see chickens and plaids, but that doesn't mean that you have to have chickens in your house! Take what you like and leave the rest behind.

This is especially notable with contemporary design. The contemporary look can be quite beautiful in a picture but it can often feel cold and stark in reality. That doesn't mean that you can't take elements of that style and soften it up utilizing color and textures that you find more comfortable.

You can have a contemporary themed home without sitting on a straight board sofa with a stainless steel coffee table in front of it! Again, take the elements you like and work with them - leave the rest behind.

Take a look at this for example.. if you wondering how the  $24.5 Million house looks like then watch this video