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DIY Cleaning Products: Cheaper, Healthier and Greener

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We’ve all been there. Someone spills something on a rug, couch or floor and the right cleaning product is nowhere in sight. The initial panic is followed by a trip to the grocery store where you find yourself in an endless aisle of cleaning products unsure of which to pick. Bleach may be the best disinfectant but it’s bad for your home. Aerosol sprays may knock out shower grime but they hardly qualify as green. This paradox of choice of disguises the reality of the situation that the best solution is actually making your own cleaning products. Using a few common household staples you can clean basically any mess you can think of and you can do so know that you are not negatively impacting your family, your pets or the planet.

The Complete List of DIY Cleaners For a Healthier Home

We are big fans of DIY cleaners and believe that once you get the hang of mixing these formulas you will not even notice the difference from your old store bought products.

salt and pepper

All Purpose Cleaner

Mix 1 part white vinegar with 15 parts water and pour into a spray bottle. Adding salt to the mixture adds abrasion that helps tackle tougher stains and caked on grime. If you miss the fresh scent of your store brought brand add a squeeze of lemon and your home will smell like fresh in no time.

Hardwood floors Cleaner

Our old friend white vinegar is the answer again, but this time only dilute slightly with warm water and mop over hardwood for sparkling clean floors. If you can’t bear to part with your Swiffer wet-jet for convenience, try popping the top off and filling it with your homemade solution instead of paying for refills.

If you tried using the all-purpose cleaner and areas by the stove are still clinging to remnants of last night’s dinner, take a sponge and dip it in a mix of water and baking soda to tackle caked on grime. Preventative cleaning is also a must in the kitchen. Keep a cloth handy and wipe down counters with water and dish soap after every meal to avoid any unsightly or odorous build-up.

How To Tile A Wall

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How to tile a wallTiling of a wall is essential because it makes your house look better and renovated. Tiles are more reliable as compared to paint. Though tiles are expensive than ordinary paints but they can last for longer and makes the house look more attractive as compared to paints.

Taking Measurements

It is very important for you to take all the necessary measurements. Measurements are taken so that you can realize how much width and length of tiles would be suitable for the process and you can also decide how much tiles will be required to make your wall full of tiles. These measurements are important to be taken so that you can allocate specific pattern in the design of your tiles and follow the needed instructions.

Make Sure Your Wall Is Level

This step is extremely important because it assures that your tiles are neither vertically nor horizontally having bumps or some interruptions in there fixing. In this step, you need to wash your walls with soup so that all straight regions can be obtained. You can even use a knife or any other hard material to remove everything attached to your wall. Holes in a wall must be recovered by using a paste or cement so that the work for tiling a wall can begin.

Refurbishing Your Old Wooden Porch

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DeckAside from the aesthetic look that your wooden porch is adding to your home, it also makes a great hangout area for you and your guests, drying space for garments or storage space for garden utensils. But after a couple of years down the road, you might notice some fading or even some mildew on the wood. If you want to refresh your porch and make it feel nice and cozy again, the simplest way is by refurbishing the wood. Refurbishing the wood of your wooden porch is simple enough to do it yourself.

What You Need

This will vary, depending on your method.

  • Sandpaper or Electric sander
  • Deck stripper
  • Deck finish
  • Paint Roller
  • Paintbrush
  • Paint tray
  • Water bucket
  • Protective gear (gloves, goggles, mask)

Preparation

Before you can begin, you need to move all the obstacles out of the way. Remove furniture or plants standing on your porch so that the refurbishing can begin. If you have a power washer or one you can borrow or rent, you can give it a low pressure clean. In the case where the wood is splintering or untreated, it is best to use the garden house to clean any dirt or debris. After a good clean, it will be easy to spot stains on the wood.

The 3 Most Important Questions To Ask Before Hiring A Designer or Architect

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Your goal is not to build a house, addition, or remodel. Your goal is to create a home that’s uniquely suited to you and your needs and desires. To do that, you need to find not just any designer, but YOUR designer.

We’re not all the same, although many people think that we are. We are all expected to be wonderfully talented people and to know how to design and document a project. But that alone won’t create your perfect home. What makes us different is how we do what we do and who we are.

Finding your designer is one of the most important aspects of getting the best out of your project and getting the home you ultimately want. So, how do you find YOUR designer or architect?

Here are the 3 most important questions to ask before hiring a designer or architect. Understanding how your designer works and what separates them from the rest will go a long way in building confidence in your project and in helping you decide who is the best fit for you.

working with an interior designer

Biggest Trends in Smart Homes Today

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We don’t generally think about technology when we think about home maintenance, but it’s probably about time we started to consider it. Many homes now have smart thermostats, smart locks, video doorbells, and smart appliances as well. All of that integrated technology can make our lives a lot easier, but only when it works seamlessly and that has a lot to do with the manufacturers themselves. There are three main areas they’ve focused their attention on: energy consumption, convenience, and security. This is a solid foundation to build upon and matches up pretty well with what consumers are actually looking for.

smart homesIt Starts with Convenience

If the manufacturers of smart home technology gadgets and appliances are going to convince more people to adopt their products they have to first show them that it will actually make their lives more convenient. The problem is there are still a lot of people that aren’t really buying in. Most surveys suggest somewhere between 10 and 20% of the population have some type of smart home related technology in their homes. There’s a lot of room for growth.

Why the slow rate of adoption? It turns out many aren’t really convinced that it will make their lives more convenient. This is partly because of the fear of something new and partly because the manufacturers have to do a better job of selling the benefits. Yes, it can be a little complicated getting everything set up in the first place if you’re not overly tech savvy, but once you get past that initial set up it really can make life a lot simpler.

Take a video doorbell such as the popular Ring model for example. These amazing devices allow you to see and talk with whoever rings your bell – even if you’re on the other side of the world! All you have to do is set up your device once using a free app for your smartphone and you will always know who’s at your front door. If it’s a friend or family member you can even let them in if you have a smart lock installed as well. There’s no doubt these technologies will make our lives easier and the companies selling these devices are now starting to focus on this convenience aspect when selling their devices.

Reducing Energy Consumption

Reducing energy consumption is one of the primary concerns of most home owners. We’ve touched on traditional ways to do this in other articles on this site such as this one that explains how to install insulation without tearing down your walls. Now we want to talk about how you can do it with smart technology. The most obvious way to reduce your energy usage using smart technology is by installing a smart thermostat such as the Nest.

These devices can actually learn your habits and when used in conjunction with sensors can even make adjustments when nobody’s in a particular room. You can set daily schedules and vacation schedules to automatically make adjustments when you’re not going to be home. This can easily save you several hundred dollars over the period of a year and is well worth the reasonable investment in a smart thermostat. Most manufacturers are doing a good job of selling smart devices as great tools for reducing energy consumption and that’s why almost all new homes have them.

Making Sure it’s All Secure

We all want our homes to be secure so it’s probably no surprise that smart devices that help us with this are doing quite well. In fact the adaptation rate of this type of smart technology is well ahead of other smart devices. One of the simplest smart security devices you can install is a smart lock and, as we’ve already touched upon, when used in conjunction with a video doorbell they can also be quite convenient. If you’re thinking of installing a new smart lock, but you’re not that comfortable with this type of DIY job you may want to check out are article How to Install New Doorknobs for some helpful advice.

When used together the video doorbell and smart lock can act as your own personal security guard. You can see who’s at your door, interact with them, and control access all from an app. Home owners that have these devices installed are typically very happy with the added security and convenience. Just remember to protect all of your smart devices behind a network firewall to prevent cyber criminals gaining access to your network and potentially your home.

It’s pretty clear that smart technology can make our lives better and by focusing on convenience, security, and energy consumption, technology companies will have greater success convincing more of us to jump on the bandwagon.