Bathroom Decorating Themes - A Look At Some Popular Decors

These days - with a greater emphasis on personal grooming than there may have been in the past - we are spending increasing amounts of time in the bathroom. With this being the case, it makes good sense to have your bathroom be a comfortable, indeed engaging place to spend some time. Homeowners usually don't need too much persuading that they should give some thought to decorating their bathroom, but the question that then arises is "how?" or "what bathroom decorating themes should I employ?" Below is a discussion of some of the more popular themes.

Modern (Contemporary) Bathroom Dcor

Contemporary bathroom dcor is best characterized by its clean lines and gleaming surfaces. It shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that this type of dcor is more commonly found in your modern urban apartments. Stainless steel fixtures such as sinks, medicine chests, bathtubs, shower walls, faucets and spigots feature heavily in contemporary bathroom decor and are available in wide variety of shapes. Glass and ceramic fixtures will also tend to feature in the modern bathroom dcor.Lighting also plays an important part in contemporary bathrooms with fixtures ranging from simple to funky and available in all colors, shapes and styles. A light dimmer can be useful to soften the light to achieve a particular mood or to brighten the light whilst applying makeup

Rustic (Country) Bathroom Dcor

A country theme should be redolent of a slower pace and a relaxed atmosphere and country bathroom decors tend to be dominated by classic bathroom fixtures - with the clawfoot tub being one of the more notable examples.

Country decors in general tend to be dominated by wood, but with wood and water not mixing that well it's best to stay away from wooden floors. However, wood can be worked in just about everywhere else. Wooden pegs and racks can be used to hang bathroom towels. Open storage cabinets - for toiletries and fragrances - look good when made of wood, and a wooden toilet seat will always look the number.

Vintage (Retro) Bathroom Dcor

As with all bathroom decors, a vintage bathroom dcor should fit in with the overall theme of the house. This can be one of the more difficult bathroom decors to successfully implement as finding vintage fixtures often means burrowing around salvage yards - and then there is also the question of whether they meet today's building-code requirements.

There are however, some manufacturers who have bought back some vintage-style sinks, faucets, bathtubs and toilets whose designs were first introduced in the 1920's. Porcelain tiles with a smooth finish are needed to finish this look.

Asian Bathroom Decors

Asian Bathroom Decors are a popular choice for anyone working within a confined space. They tend to be characterized by their simple elegance and combination of traditional bathroom design with distinctly Asiatic touches. Decoration tends to center around potted plants and the use of screens, with soft lighting also being employed.

Pursuing a bathroom decorating theme will ensure that your bathroom doesn't turn into the poor cousin of all your house's rooms and have it be a place that can draw favorable comment.

For more information on bathroom decorating themes go to http://www.home-improvement-site.com

Do I Need a Home Inspection? - Real Estate Advice

Most home inspections today run between $300 to over $1000 and sometimes you don't really get your moneys worth. There are home inspection companies that guarantee, any problems that they miss will be repaired at their expense over a desired period of time, usually a year. It seems like, most home inspection companies are just inspecting the property and have no guarantees or liability from their inspection.

It's not a good idea to buy or sell a home without getting a home inspection from a licensed home inspector. This is like having a second opinion from someone who is usually skilled in the process. I would like to point something out to unsuspecting, potential home buyers and sellers. Sometimes a home inspection company will get a little behind in their work and need to hire other home inspectors if these home inspectors don't have any experience in the construction business or have never inspected a home before. In other words there fresh out of home inspector school. You might not get a good home inspection.

You can always ask the question, how long have you been in business?... How long have you been a home inspector?... have you ever worked in the construction business or have any skills in home building and remodeling. If the answers to these questions are satisfactory, it doesn't mean, that they're telling the truth and being sincere and could lead to problems later if they are lying to you.

Let me rephrase the question now, "Do I Need a Home Inspection" from an unqualified home inspector? Absolutely not. But how can you really tell the difference and is the report going to be worth the money that you paid for it.

What would you say, if I had the solution to your problem. How about a pre-home inspection, using a home buyers checklist? What if I could give you a check list with questions, that you could ask your home inspector? Some of these questions are not going to be part a regular inspection but should always be asked and make sure you get the answers to them, before purchasing the property.

Would you be interested now? What if I told you, for under $20, you could purchase a home buyers checklist, now for the tough question, this checklist could save you thousands of dollars and prevent you from purchasing a home with major construction problems or defects, and can be used on every house you look at.

Don't buy a home without purchasing a professional home inspection checklist. These lists of questions can save you some serious headaches and stress in the future.

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home buyers guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your looking for some more home inspection or home building ideas.

What Are Bathroom Sets?

Bathroom sets are accessories that are useful additions to a bathroom. At the macro level, they can consist of furniture like bathtubs, sinks and vanity cabinets. At the smaller level, they can include things such as soap dispensers, rugs, towels, towel racks and curtains.

When choosing a bathroom set it is important to have the all components coordinated. You really should start with a general theme and work outwards from there. If the bathroom is for children then you can use their favorite cartoon characters on the towels, mirrors and even tiles. There are many accessories like soap and toothbrush holders that are shaped like well known cartoon characters.

If on the other hand the bathroom will be used mainly by guests you will probably want a elegant and homely feel. Generally, natural white and lighter colors are used in these types of bathrooms. The bathroom sets can consist of fancy towels, toilet seats and decorative toiletries that are all coordinated.

One popular theme is a country-style bathroom because of the warm and comforting feel that they tend to give. For this type of bathroom, the accessories that you need will include braided curtain knots, baskets for towels, frills, wooden holders and light natural tones. Alternatively, a natural bathroom theme can still have a cozy and relaxing feel. These bathrooms consists mainly of light greens, plants and vines with light brown tones.

You don't need to completely remodel your bathroom for a new look. The addition of a new bathroom set of rugs, dispersers, towel racks and curtains can make a tremendous change to the bathroom's look.

If you want to know how to choose the best bathroom vanity or bathroom sets for your home checkout the Bathroom Vanity Guide today.

What is a Three Way Home Electrical Light Switch?

A three way home electrical light switch is a special light switch that can be used in your hallways, large rooms and stairways. These light switches are specially made to operate one light or a group of lights from two different locations.

They are most commonly found in hallways and provide a homeowner with the option of turning the light on at one end of the hallway and turning it off, when they are finished walking through the hallway and are about to enter into another room.

Before three way home electrical light switches were made, people would turn the hallway light on and leave it on or they wouldn't turn the hall light on at all, because they knew that after they walked down the dark hallway, they wouldn't be able to turn the light off at the other end.

Three-way light switches are also used in stairways. It makes a lot of sense, to be able to turn your stairway light on, at the bottom of the stairs and then after you have walked up the stairway safely, you can simply turn the stair lights system off.

As homes become larger, it's not going to be uncommon to find three way light switches being used at either end of large rooms. If your living room or family room was located within the center of your home and had an entrance at each end, it wouldn't be a bad idea to install a light switch at each end, for travelers who are simply walking through these room.

Remember that three-way light switches, are used to operate lights from two different locations.

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Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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Installing a Tub Surround

If your tub/shower enclosure has seen better days, why not give it an update? One of the easiest, cost-effective ways to replace your dingy enclosure is to purchase and install a shower/tub surround kit.

Why panels?

These handy kits generally come with three or five pieces. If your enclosure is perfectly square, a three-piece kit (with a back panel and two side panels) is the way to go. But if you're dealing with crooked walls or walls that aren't plumb, the five-piece kit (with a back panel, two corner panels, and two end panels) offers more flexibility.

Not only are these panels water-resistant, they're also easy to clean and will almost instantly revive your bathroom-what's not to love about that? And they come in a variety of materials, from solid surfacing to pressed fiberglass. Though thicker panels are usually more expensive, they're more stable and easier to work with.

Prep work.

Before getting to work, protect the bottom of your tub from dings and scratches with a heavy cloth. If your current shower interior is solid, flat, and in good structural condition, you can install the panels over the existing material (just be sure to give it a good cleaning first, and scuff tile with sandpaper so it'll better grip the adhesive). For drywall, cut out damp sections and replace it with a moisture-resistant version. If you've got a tile surround, simply stick loose tiles back in place with ceramic-tile adhesive. But if several tiles are loose, just remove them altogether and replace them with moisture-resistant drywall.

Now comes the tricky part: removing the showerhead, faucet, and spout-as well as other accessories such as wall-mounted shelves or soap dishes.

Using a tall piece of cardboard, make a template of the side of the tub with the bath fixtures. Measure the exact locations of the faucet handles, showerhead, and tub spout. Cut holes in the cardboard, hold the cardboard up to the wall to make sure the holes align with the fixture placements, and mark the locations on the surround panels.

Installation.

Measure your walls and trim your panels accordingly. Following manufacturer's instructions, apply the adhesive, then attach the panels to the walls and let them dry thoroughly. Replace the hardware, and seal joints with caulk.

For more detailed instructions, check out Popular Mechanics and This Old House. Or watch this step-by-step video, courtesy of HGTV.

Lexicon Consulting, Inc

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Attic Handrail Safety - Do it Yourself Home Repair

Some stairways that lead up to your attic will have a safety or guardrail to prevent people from falling down the stairs or off of them. Attic handrail safety can provide homeowners with a little peace of mind if they just follow the few simple steps. Make sure that the handrail is at least 42 inches in height. 42 inches is the minimum height for guard rails and can be found in the uniform building code.

The uniform building code is the Bible to the building industry and sets the standard for new construction and remodeling.

The 42 inches will be measured from the floor to the top of the handrail. Some older homes will have handrails that are 36 inches and some of them will be even 30 inches in height. A 30 inch handrail provides limited protection for anyone who is over five foot tall. 30 inches becomes the center point for any one over 60 inches and these people could easily fall over the short handrail.

Now for the homes that don't have any attic handrail safety systems. Some homes that were built before the 1960s won't have a handrail system at all in the stairway. Keep something in mind here, when these people were building these houses, some of them were trying to save money, some of them figured that it wasn't going to be a big deal and other builders simply forgot to install them.

It's not hard to install a working attic handrail for safety but keep in mind, that if the handrail isn't the right height, it will provide you with limited protection. Attic handrails that are lower than 30 inches can provide young children or others who are shorter than five feet with very little protection but can be a safety hazard to anyone over 5 feet tall.

If your attic doesn't have a safety handrail, use caution and be careful in these areas of your home. It wouldn't be a bad idea to install a locking doorknob if your attic access has a door that can be secured to prevent small children or other people from entering these unsafe areas.

Home Attic Repairs

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your looking for some more Home Remodeling Pictures or home building ideas.

Cheap Disneyland Hotels in Anaheim

Disneyland is a famous theme park known worldwide. All Disneyland Parks have lodgings around because visiting the park usually takes a whole day. Hotels nearby are accessible to tired visitors who do not like to travel long back home.

Visiting this park in Anaheim may be quite expensive already so here are some cheaper lodgings around to save on costs.

Motel 6 - Anaheim Main Gate
Located in Walt Disney Way Anaheim California, this hotel is close to the main gate of Disneyland resort. The hotel offers complete facilities needed. They have heated outdoor swimming pool and hot tub. Motel 6 is a pet-friendly hotel.

The hotel offers abundant dining place, shopping malls and theme parks providing fun for all the families. They have a check-in age limit, 18 years old and above.

They offer free local call services to all their visitors. Internet access is available.

Anaheim offers you a boulevard with hundreds of picturesque palm trees. Its convention center is just adjacent to the wonderful places of Disneyland resort.

Jolly Roger Hotel
This is another Anaheim hotel near the Disneyland resort that many people love. This is located at West Katella Avenue, Anaheim, California. They offer the most comfortable accommodations at affordable prices. The staff is very friendly.

The hotel is located just next to the Convention Center. There are complimentary shuttle services.

Jolly Roger is only 10 minutes away from The Block at Orange, Crystal Cathedral and Angels Stadium.

Ramada Main Gate
This hotel is just across the street to Disneyland resort. They provide all your vacation needs. They offer purchase tickets and tours at their concierge area. You can have your vacation photos processed while having a little snack of pizza.

They have an onsite coffee house and mini mart. Shops are available everywhere for you to purchase your souvenir items. There courtyard are newly- remodeled.

The hotel has a gigantic pool that you should not miss. There is also kid-friendly pool. If you want to enjoy other places, there are also tour services to major attractions in the place.

Disney Paradise Pier Hotel
This hotel is located at the South Disney Drive Anaheim. They have a pool at the rooftop with a serene ambience.

The hotel is designed for surf lovers. They have the Mickey Mouse lifeguard lamps displayed. Their room numbers are surfboard numbers. Their room views are either rooftop pool or California adventure.

The Paradise Theater has the Disney flick for the kids, while adults can have the Mickey's Beach Workout for exercise. Restaurants are offering great meals that children will surely love.

Visiting Disneyland Anaheim is not that expensive if you know how to look for affordable accommodations.

For more information on Cheap Disneyland Hotels and Disneyland Hotel Paradise Pier please visit our website.

How to Find a Excellent New Home Builder

Looking for a good home builder or contractor, isn't an exact science, but hopefully, by the time you're done reading this article, you will at least have a better idea, what you will be looking for. Let's get started.

As a general contractor, the most important thing that I would be looking for any new home builder, would be experience. You can't sacrifice price for experience. If you're looking for the cheapest contractor, there's a good chance that this person will be lacking experience in home building knowledge.

How long has this person been in business? Just because you're new home builder has only been in business for five years, doesn't mean that he isn't capable of building your home. The same holds true for someone who has been in business for 30 years. Just make sure that these people have actually built homes in the past.

What is their attitude like? This is the second most important thing and I tend to focus on this more than experience, sometimes. If you don't get along with the person, you're not going to have a pleasant home building experience. If you think that there lying to you, scammers or generally don't feel comfortable with them, but they seem to have the most experience and build more homes in your area than anyone else. I wouldn't think twice about getting rid of them and finding someone else.

Last but not least, you should contact some of the people that they have worked for in the past. Talking to past clients, is going to play an important role in making your final decision. You need to find out, if these home builders, treated their clients fairly and were they generally happy with the overall outcome and performance, not only of the homebuilder, but each one of his subcontractors.

I would recommend writing out a list of questions and offering your new home builders past clients a free meal. Offer to take them out to dinner, lunch or breakfast, this way you will have their undivided attention and get the low down on your potential future home builder, it could be the best money that you ever spent.

If You Live in Northern San Diego County or South Orange County, and You're Looking for a Great Contractor, Click on This Link San Diego Home Repairs

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Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home inspection checklist to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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Pebble Tile For the Bathroom - How to Work Around Them

Would you like to know the purposes of the pebble tiles? There are actually plenty of them. For one, you can have them in your pond or garden. They can add that Japanese Zen touch, which always denote peace and calmness. You can also utilize them into your walls, especially when you want to achieve texture. There are a lot of them that are very smooth to touch, so they will always feel good into your hands. There will also be a pebble tile for bathroom.

Here are some guidelines in choosing pebble tile for bathroom:

1. Determine what kind of look you want to achieve in your bathroom. There are countless designs of bathroom tile for bathroom that you can pick, and each of them will have a completely different effect than the others. If you want to achieve a more natural look, it would be best if you stick with natural or unpolished pebble tiles. You can also go for polished or glass pebble tiles when you want something that looks completely different. There are also multicolored ones, which are just perfect when you want to be more creative and liberal when it comes to your designs. If you do not have any idea of what to choose, you can try to skim through home magazines and online bathroom designs.

2. Identify where you are going to attach the pebble tile for bathroom. You can use the pebble tiles right into your walls or into your floor. You can place them all over the area or in a specific location. You need to have a clear idea of its placement, since the size of the pebble tile that you are going to select will be dependent on the size of the area. Normally, though, these pebble tiles are measured at 12 inches by 12 inches. You can purchase them by piece or by bulk. Of course, you can definitely save more money when you settle for the latter.

3. Know if you want a professional to work on it or not. Just like any home project, you have two choices. You can have someone work on the pebble tile for bathroom, or you can complete the project on your own. There are advantages and disadvantages for each. If you want to minimize errors or if you do not have any idea on the equipment or additional materials that you are going to need, you should hire a professional. It will cost you hundreds of dollars, but you are assured that they will be perfectly done.

You can also work on the pebble tile for bathroom without any professional help, but you have to rely on your quick learning. There are some guidelines that you can read both online and offline, such as in magazines and books. The pebble tile manufacturer may also have their own instructions on how to install them properly into your bathroom. You have to follow them to a T to avoid committing mistakes along the way.

Kyle Tyler Helps you get creative! - Learn more about how you can easily decorate any surface at home or in the office with pebble tile for the bathroom

Visit Kyle's website at: http://www.PebbleTile.Info

Fixing Ceiling Cracks - Home Repair Advice

It's not uncommon to find cracks in your plaster or drywall ceilings. It's not uncommon to find cracks in your wood ceilings either, but this article is about plaster or drywall ceilings that have small or large cracks in them and what actually causes the cracks and how you can repair them.

Believe it or not, most cracks in your ceilings and in your walls, on any drywall or plaster home interiors, are going to be the direct result of structural movement within the house. This could be from a small earthquake, the framing components are starting to shrink, as the lumber starts to dry it out or it could even be from your house settling. Larger cracks might signify problems with your foundation or even your soil.

If you have a large crack in your ceiling, and this would be something that you could stick a quarter into, you could have a structural problem and I would recommend contacting a home repair contractor in your area to evaluate your situation.

You realize that you have cracks in your ceilings and they're not very big, how do you repair them. The easiest way would be to apply a paintable caulking into the cracks and repaint the area. This could save you some frustration in the future, especially if the crack starts to become larger.

The best way to fix the crack, would be to apply some fiberglass drywall tape and then apply a standard drywall joint compound to finish the ceiling correctly. If your ceiling has acoustic or wall texture, you will need to reapply to finish over these areas to match your existing ceiling correctly.

If you have hairline cracks, I wouldn't even worry about them, unless they become larger. However, you could always apply a little bit of caulking and repaint them.

I would like to remind you something that I already said before in this article, if the cracks are larger than the width of a quarter, you might want to contact a building professional. You could have some serious structural damage occurring in your foundation or framing.

Ceiling Repair Advice and Tips

If You Live in Northern San Diego County or South Orange County, and You're Looking for a Great Contractor, Click on This Link Reliable Home Repair Contractors

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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Bathroom Decorating For Safety

It's a place for relaxation. It's a place to become beautiful. It's a place to forget about the rest of the world. It's a place to slip and fall and break your hip while you're cleaning up after all the splashing your little boy did before bedtime. That's right. Welcome to the bathroom.

The thing about the bathroom is that while you do everything you can to keep in line with the interior decorating ideas you find in the magazines and make it beautiful and most of all, enviable, you still have to find a way to make it efficient and of course, safe.

Shower Curtain

Your shower curtain is a good place to start in determining the look and feel of your bathroom as well as taking care of some of the related safety concerns. If you choose a fabric shower curtain you'll be able to periodically wash it in hot water to kill the germs, mold and bacteria that frequent your bathroom. Plus, a fabric shower curtain will add beauty and elegance to an otherwise functional space.

While a plastic shower curtain is cheaper it won't look as nice as a fabric shower curtain and depending on the climate and your ventilation system you'll be forced to change it out often to avoid major mold and bacteria buildup. On the other hand, you could always install a glass door on you shower or bathtub/shower combo for a clean, long-lasting, durable solution to your shower time privacy. Many glass doors are or can be etched to match any bathroom motif you choose.

Bathroom Floor

But your shower curtain is not alone in the fight for a balance between beauty and functionality. Your bathroom flooring is a huge part of keeping your bathroom neat and safe. Single sheet linoleum will keep excess water from getting under your bathroom floor and creating a black mold hazard. In addition it looks clean and is exceedingly simple to take care of. And don't worry about the way the flooring looks. You'll be covering it with bath rugs and bath mats anyway.

A good bath rug is both absorbent and beautiful-you don't have to get a bath rug that has that rubber coating on the bottom and is made shaggy. There are plenty of other options to choose from, like knit or cotton towel. If you have a large bathroom a carpeted area or a less functional area, you can put a higher quality decorative rug in that area to beautify your bathroom.

Bathroom Lighting

Bathroom lighting is the next step in creating a beautiful and safe bathroom. For a true mix between beautiful and functional, a dimmer is the most appropriate lighting function. When you're trying to relax, you can turn the lights down low and when you're trying to clean, bathe your kids, cut hair or do makeup, you can turn the lights up.

Remember, if you know how to go about it, you can have a bathroom that is both beautiful and functional.

Sarah Crosset has worked in the interior decorating field for many years and loves to share her home decorating experiences and ideas with home owners everywhere. Her number one tip for the bathroom is to lay some area rugs; as they will instantly brighten a room. Try outdoor area rugs from http://www.HouseOfAreaRugs.com for a vibrant practical look.

How to Fix a Leaking Showerhead Faucet

A leaky showerhead can be both annoying and costly. After a few hours, the constant dripping noise is as brutal on the eardrums as nails on a chalkboard. And, even though a singular drip is only a few milliliters of water, it doesnt take long before that leaky showerhead wastes hundreds of gallons adding an extra zero to the end of the water bill.

Most homeowners dont realize that a leaking showerhead is pretty simple to fix. Theres no need to buy a new one or, worse yet, hire a plumber. You can finish the job yourself in just a few short minutes with nothing more than a screwdriver, an adjustable wrench, and a washer that you can buy for a nickel at any hardware store.

Now that youve decided to take on the job yourself, you need to understand the two most common things that go wrong with showerheads. Either they start leaking at the point where the pipe screws into the actual showerhead, or the holes in the showerhead become clogged, causing water backups and creating a leak.

First, youll need to unscrew the showerhead from the outlet pipe. To protect the showerhead from damage, wrap a towel around the point where the head screws onto the outlet piping. Take the pliers and remove the head from the outlet. Youll see the washer. Pull it off and replace it with the new one. If you think you need a tighter seal, use plumbers tape across the threads before screwing the showerhead back in.

Also, if you have a rotating or swiveling showerhead, you might as well take an extra step while you have it taken apart. To increase the swivel range and flexibility, take some lubricant, preferably silicone, and lube up the interior swivel ball before you screw the head back in.

If the holes in the showerhead are clogged, take off the faceplate by removing the screws attaching it to the head. If you cant remove the faceplate, thats okay, just keep the entire unit unscrewed. The reason showerheads get clogged is the lime deposits that are formed and get stuck in the holes over time. To get rid of the lime deposits, take either the faceplate or the whole showerhead, and soak it in a bowl of white vinegar for at least eight hours. This will dissolve the deposits, and make them easy to remove by sticking a toothpick or small nail through the holes in the showerhead. After that, scrub the faceplate with a stiff plastic brush and screw the unit back into the wall.

Nancy Dean is a freelance author who contributes to several websites, including All Faucets . Coming from a family full of carpenters, she enjoys both doing and writing about home improvement projects.