Furniture Designs

By Rakhee Varpe

There is always so much talk about making a small room look larger but what do you do when your room is so big that you can't seem to make it feel comfortable? Well, with the right furnishings and tricks you can make your extra-large room feel less like a museum lobby and more like a cozy home.
Color Choice - While you don't have to have a palette full of dark colors, you do need a few to close the room up a little. Even painting one wall dark will make a drastic improvement to draw the wall in toward the room's core. Some people even prefer to paint the ceiling a darker shade than the walls as well.
Scale - Large rooms can accommodate big pieces of furniture. This doesn't mean that you have to stuff it full but you can choose large sectionals, shelving and pieces of art that would dwarf a smaller room.
Arrangement - If you have the extra space in your room, why not add extra seating and set up a small reading or game area? What about adding a small bar or using screens to create a room inside a room?
Accents - Be sure to incorporate the dark colors in your palette into your accents and make sure that they are scattered throughout the room, not just all in one area.
Having a large room can certainly be challenging to decorate if you desire that warm home feeling but with a little extra thought, you can cozy up the space without making it appear cluttered. Also, don't forget plants! You have space for extra-large leafy greens so take full advantage of this wonderful opportunity to bring live art into your home. Home comes alive not because of mere beauty of its structure but due to the people who stay in them, this is true beyond doubt but this love nest, called home, needs all the best home furnishings decor and furniture to transform them in to truly dream space. Home decor and furniture if decided with some thought and application can transform your home to an altogether new height, never seen before.
Home decorating accessories ranging from carpets, pillow covers, Rugs, curtains add charm to your home, coupled with home furniture. Furniture & furnishing which is available in all shapes and sizes which cater to customers of all pockets. Home decor items which have been out of bound for ordinary customers due to their exorbitant pricing are now days available at competitive rates, thanks to stiff competition among producers and ever increasing number of sale promotion offers round the year. Home decor items are making brisk sales due to the increasing interest people are showing in buying home decor items owing to aggressive marketing campaigns and largely due to the impact of both print and visual media. Interior design magazines have given the much needed fillip to home decor items and home furniture's which has managed to show case arty interiors as symbols of upwardly mobile population and are considered as the best way to flaunt their money in public. Whatever be the case home accessories and home furniture designs sales are not going to show any signs of decline in the times to come.

For more information visit here: http://www.at-home.co.in/

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Organizing a Community Trash Removal Day

By Andrew Stratton

Trash removal is something that every person needs to think about for their residence. It is also essential for business owners. What you might wish to do for your neighborhood is to organize a clean-up day that will enhance your surroundings and be good for the environment. This is a good opportunity to bring families together and get them outdoors and helping each other to beautify the community.
Organizing a trash removal event is easy if you know how to prepare for it. Get ready to enhance the place where you live to make it cleaner for everyone!
You need to choose a day for the trash removal event. Select a date that is approximately two to four months away. Planning as far in advance as possible is always smart. Choose a second date as a backup in the event of rain or other inclement weather conditions.
Your best bet is to select an area in your community that is heavily used and tends to draw people on a regular basis. Parks are a good example of an area that might need a good clean up. Lakes, beaches and areas that are found along roads that are travelled frequently could use some help in the trash removal department. Just make sure you make plans to clean up an area that will be safe for everyone involved.
It is strongly recommended that you ask for permission from the county, city or town before you start making serious plans to round up the garbage in an organized event. Doing so makes you a responsible and conscientious citizen of the community.
Once you receive permission to hold a trash removal event you can then move forward with your plans. Organize a committee to publicize the outdoor makeover and then ask for volunteers. Some of the best sources for soliciting people to help include schools in your town, churches, synagogues and special interest groups.
You will need to make up fliers and then put them up in strategic areas of your community. Distribute as many throughout your neighborhood and your city or town as you can. The more creative and colorful you make them the better. Ask committee members to help get the word out and to put up fliers in designated spots. The more visible the fliers are the better this bodes for the turnout on the day.
Find out if you can post fliers in grocery stores and other local stores. Also check into schools, community bulletin boards in recreation centers and malls, fitness facilities, beauty salons, veterinarians, churches and the like.
For even greater visibility post information about the upcoming plan on websites such as Craigslist. Prepare a press release and send it to local newspapers or find out if your town or city will post a sign on a busy street for little to no money.

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Renovating For Energy Savings

By Allan N Johnson

High numbers of people renovate their homes over time, adding rooms or changing internal walls to alter the properties' varying requirements. These add-ons or changes can take advantage of the many energy efficient improvements which might decrease drafts, stop dampness and condensation nuisances, or may be planned to accommodate better air movement and quality. Talking to an expert in home improvements in can help you choose the most energy efficient savings for your home while improving or extending it. They want you to save money from your energy bills.
Think energy savings as you plan home extensions
Many people look to create more living space by adding either one room extensions or converting garages or carports. At all stages of your renovations you need to consider heat loss when you want your rooms warm during June to October. There is a range of energy saving plans your renovations expert will suggest to keep the heat in when you want it, to lower your heating bills. Equally, you will want to keep your air conditioning bills low so those same experts will suggest means to keep the heat of the sun from penetrating your home so you don't need to operate the cool air condition for long hours.
Where new construction joins your current home, there might be openings that need to be both filled and sealed. You will need to consider further insulation and almost certainly air sealing at the top of foundation walls, all around windows, anywhere the ceiling has been modified and any potential air leaks via hatches and light fittings. You must not forget the sealing of light fixtures and wiring boxes and anything goes through the exterior walls to the outside elements.
Can 2 storey home builders in help you?
Experts in two storey buildings can help you look at upper floor dormers to extend or rearrange them to give you energy savings. Heat loss can be high in dormers. They are usually at the highest level of the building and that is where your heat gathers; heat rises - you learned it in school. They might suggest perfectly sealed rigid board so you can cut down on air leaks and heat loss.
Above or alongside the dormer, the crawl space is often a neglected source for lost heat and air movement. You will be able to suggest to your experts that they deal with the problem while completing your other works.
Windows that are energy efficient will reduce your energy bills and aid your comfort levels. This is particularly important in older properties where the windows may not have been upgraded for many years.
Downstairs, your expert in home renovation might suggest those large covered porches can be closed in to give you both extra space and storm proof the front entrance against rain and sun, heat loss and eliminate drafts.
Why not talk to a builder about your goals and your home? Some advice could help you plan for optimal space and lowered utility bills.

Next Level Homes provides a reliable Home Renovation in Perth building service focused on quality workmanship and personalised service. We provide a complete Design and Building service for any Home Improvements and exclusively designed new homes.

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Teenage Binge

By Sue L Bell

Secondary school teachers are a cynical bunch - particularly those who have been in the system ten years or more. In this time, we've sat through a lot of professional development sessions aimed at enhancing our teaching and assessment skills.
The problem with these sessions is they are often delivered by people who have never been teachers, academics who've rarely been in a classroom, ex primary schoolteachers or those who left the profession because they could make a better living lecturing others how to teach.
However, another category of lecturers combine some of the above with a social welfare specialty. Recently, an ex-primary school teacher visited our school to deliver a lecture on drug and alcohol abuse amongst teens. He's an engaging speaker who I've seen before, armed with a wealth of statistics and research for his Powerpoint presentation.
The statistics confirm many teenagers are binge drinking. The research also suggests girls are becoming increasingly aggressive due to alcohol. The alarming rise in drinking and risky sexual behavior amongst teens is fuelling the debate about how schools and parents should work together to prevent the problem.
Certainly, if I recall my teenage years they were not filled with drinking and parties - something much more prevalent now and with increasingly younger teens. I also remember it was socially unacceptable to get blind drunk, which is often the aim now, as it was social suicide. So what's changed?
Unfortunately, the carefully prepared statistics can't tell us that. The research only confirms that alcohol abuse is increasing - something most teachers already know - and the usual suspects were there: bad parenting, lack of school prevention programs and the media. He spoke at length about parenting and his suggestions for controlling wayward youths. He also mentioned he'd never had a drink, even as a teenager, and that he didn't have children.
I admit, I found it disconcerting to be lectured about these things from someone who had no experience of alcohol and wasn't a parent. It's like taking family planning advice from a priest. Furthermore, whilst the Powerpoint presentation showed depressingly familiar images of drunken teenagers, I couldn't help but feel desperate for more than this.
What I would have liked to see, finally, were Powerpoint slides offering solutions. I've had enough of the distressingly familiar statistics accompanied by pictures of drunken teenagers. Where were the slides of teenagers who weren't drinking and who weren't disaffected? Surely, these individuals have something to contribute to this whole affair. What are they doing to avoid the pitfalls of alcohol abuse and risky behavior? It's as if our entire psychology focuses on the despairing and neglects the happy people.
I'm also ambivalent about the "parents must work with schools to solve this together" mantra. What I'm longing for is a fresh examination of this whole issue. Is there a bigger problem that none of us is prepared to address? Indeed, do we even know how to address it? Our culture is confident with the language of statistics and yet it's illiterate navigating the vernacular of wisdom. Statistics are no match for the vast world of the human unconscious and its need for meaning and beauty - a need often unmet in our society.
It's as if the very structure of our culture is crumbling due to an obsession with money, possessions and entertainment. There is, I feel, a profound societal malaise occurring which our children are sensing. We have access to more information than ever before and yet it lacks context. We have traded information for meaning, entertainment for quiet reflection and possessions for human intimacy. We don't value the natural world unless it's to drain its resources, so we ignore its wonder, preferring to fix our eyes on deadening screens rather than into the anxious eyes of others. In short, we've lost our way and our children know it.
As one teacher commented later, these presentations earn good money for their presenters and it is those earning $40,000 or less a year who are left to manage the problem. You see, teachers are a cynical bunch because we listen to well paid researchers who tell us little we don't know and who can't solve student problems either. The issue is too big and too systemic to be contained within a Powerpoint presentation.
As he packed to go, I couldn't help wondering if the man himself contained part of the solution. Maybe if he'd thrown his slides away, turned to his audience, looked each of us in the eye and said, "Look, I really don't know what's going on here, but I'd like to tell you why I've never had a drink." His ability to navigate life as a functional human being without recourse to alcohol and risky behavior would have had us riveted and may have told us something truly wise and useful.

More articles on http://midlifexpress.com

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Funny Kids Stories With Moral Themes

By Jasmine Montford

Obviously, funny kids stories with moral lessons at the end are meant to elicit laughter at the first instance and then to inspire deeper thought about kids and their delightful personalities. You will even re-learn the joys of being a child again and, in the process, gain a better perspective on love, life and logic. Here are a few excellent examples of such funny kids stories.
Kids' Logic
Kids being kids, their logic is decidedly different than adults and, thus, can be hilarious to adults. The lesson in these funny kids stories with moral is for adults to always keep their minds open to the way kids see and explain the world and the people around them. You never know when hilarity can ensure after a seemingly simple adult-and-kid interaction.
• During Sunday school, little Sammy asked his teacher this question: "If the people of Israel are called Israelites, are the people in Paris known as Parasites?"
• Little Paul was known to run in and out of rooms in the house whilst slamming the doors, among other mischief. His mother finally grew exasperated and asked him, "How do you expect to get into heaven?" Paul replied, "Well, I'm going to run in and out all the time through heaven while slamming the gates until St. Peter says, 'For God's sake, Paul, just come in or stay out!'" (His mother was probably saying the same thing to him, a theme most often repeated in many funny kids stories where kids are fond of using adults' words against them.)
Kids' Take on Religion
Yet another theme for funny kids stories with moral lessons is religion. Keep in mind that kids see religion through adults' teachings on the subject and, as such, their views are simplistic.
• As the preacher's monotonous sermon dragged on for an hour, little Casey became restless. Finally, she whispered in her mother's ear but it was loud enough to be heard by those sitting nearby, "Mom, if we give Pastor Robert the money, will he stop talking and let us go?"
• Young Peter told his mother that he wanted to become a preacher when he grows up. His mother asked him why and he answered, "Well, I figured it's better to stand up and yell at people than sit down and be yelled at."
And that is why we all love reading funny kids stories with moral lessons because of their hilarious endings!

Only Funny Stories is a site offering funny news stories, funny love stories and many other funny stories and jokes. Visit them online today and fill your life with humorous funny stories and more.

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Our Kids and Porn in Our Scary Postmodern Day

By Steve Wickham

Reading Playboy magazines and watching the odd "blue" movie was typical for most of us in our curious teenage years. The more our parents shunned it, the more curious we became. Yet, the world has changed. Teenagers today are ensconced by an unrelenting Internet that gives them instant access to harder porn we ever saw, and, at any time of the day or night they choose. This porn involves predatory behaviours and sexual acts involving children and animals, and it is particularly damaging regarding women's roles in sex. Worst of all, it is desensitising otherwise gentle minds.
Children younger and younger are exposed to more lethal material than would ever have come past our eyes.
THE ADVENT OF "PACK" MENTALITY
Part of the male biology and psychology - innately wired into masculine form - is the predilection to hunt. But what is a vital survival instinct is dangerous when it isn't tempered by mature males supervising the less mature males. Simply put, young men and boys don't have the male role models they often need to become men.
It's nothing new that our First World society has lost the meaning of manhood.
As a result we see boys flocking together, without significant positive "strong" male role models, and their pack mentality runs wild. The potential grossness of their acts whilst they are in their packs runs to the extremes as they seek to outdo each other. And even if some of the well-cultured boys are put off they are less likely to raise any protest; no one wants to be taken as a "sissy".
At the extremes, and, not wanting to scare anybody, but this does occur, packs of boys go out in hunt for young girls alone, preferably virgins. They may even go out with a plan to pack assault. It is a collision of disastrous proportions when girls end up alone and in compromised positions. And when such crimes are committed we can expect that young girl's life, beyond a miracle of grace, to be ruined, such is the malicious intent and damage done - with perhaps little or no remorse.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FATHER'S ROLE
Not all families have a father, so the duties below may fall to an influential other person, preferably someone the kids concerned can look up to. Typically teenagers may be beyond the advice of parents.
We need to find a way of getting this message into them early.
Boys, as are girls, are hungry for intimacy, but they just don't know how to establish an intimate relationship and be a "man" at the same time. The father figure must establish within them this sense of worth to be more the complete man; one who is able to get in touch with his feelings.
A real man has emotional courage as much as physical courage.
An influential man, preferably the father, needs to instil in the boy that the primal urge for intimacy is just as strong at the primal urge for sex is. And if the boy is not connected to his intimacy, and he rampantly explores his sexuality, particularly as it abuses another person, he will need drugs and alcohol to dull the primal pain his soul will emit, because his lack of intimacy is hurting another person. The influential man can also instil in his daughter that she is so much more than a piece of meat; that she has every right of the highest respect from men. He should instruct his sons, too, that girls and women are to be held in the highest respect.
We have to believe in this root of intimacy - that men, not only women, have the need to love and be loved. To commit sexual assault is not only an assault on another person; it is an assault on our person, too!
***
We need to get into the minds of boys and girls from an early age about the dangers of online pornography. If we don't, we put them in the way of great harm. This is no gentle warning; what kids have access to these days is far more sinister than most of us realise. We need to talk to them about the importance of intimacy in balancing sexual desire.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Steve Wickham is a Registered Safety Practitioner (BSc, FSIA, RSP[Australia]) and a qualified, unordained Christian minister (GradDipBib&Min). Steve writes here: http://tribework.blogspot.com.au/

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Baby Name Meanings Are As Crucial Today As Ever

By Craig Leroi Dalton

When choosing a name for your baby it is not enough to just be enchanted by the sound of it. Baby name meanings are equally as important since the parents want to make sure that they are giving their child one that has a positive connotation. No one wants to be surprised later to discover that the selection so naively chosen to commemorate the birth of the special little human into their lives could be the subject of ridicule.
Names and meanings represent a challenge for parents since they are trying to give one to an individual they have yet to meet. They have the best of intentions but if the personality of the infant and the name assigned to him do not match there will be a disharmony each time he hears it. The selection is subjective since the parents too want to feel comfortable with what they will be calling their child.
Most parents feel better about their choice when they are comfortable about its meaning. Traditionally the names of a cherished family member were included in the child's first or middle name. Today's parents are concerned about how the baby's personality will match up with the chosen selection.
Often the parents choose several names and when they meet their child for the first time will be able to decide which best fits the child. The name Cliff for instance, in the UK is short for Clifford. This was a popular choice in the 1950s but not so now. It originates from the Old English meaning for cliff or slope as well as ford or river crossing. Its meaning was thus 'ford at the cliff' and it eventually became a surname Clifford. This practical selection does not strike the same chord with some parents who might be looking for more spiritual meanings for the names of their children.
Some families choose the names of religious figures such as Jesus in the Catholic culture. This selection has never stopped being popular because the culture consists of avid Christian believers who feel strongly about the presence of this symbolic entity in daily life. Other cultures steer clear of any religiously connected names and elect to find names more pagan in origin that reflect the names of nature such as Wave or Wind.
Some parents choose the names of their favorite rock or movie stars. They like what the idol represents and want to be able to have that meaning carried over to their child's identity also. They may simply like the unusual stage-name and would like to hear it used on a daily basis in their home.
It is clear that choosing a baby's name takes time and research. Some people wait until after the child's birth until they get to know the personality of their child. Others leave the choice up to the baby's siblings. The children are encouraged to think of names that make them feel happy.
It is true that baby name meanings play an important role in influencing the personality of the child. Conscientious parents try keeping their baby's personality in the forefront. Much time and research is dedicated in selecting this all important label that we assign our offspring for the rest of their lives.

Learn the key secrets about baby name meanings. Go to TheMeaningOfNames.org where you'll find fun facts about the meaning of names given to babies since 1880. You can search more than 5 million records in the American baby names history database.

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