Use Your Favorite Color One of the most obvious choices for your bedroom’s color scheme is your favorite color or combination of colors. Do you love blue or brown or pink? Whatever hues you favor, there is a shade or tint that will work beautifully in your room. Think about the colors that make you feel good. Take a look in your closet; is there a particular color that dominates your wardrobe?...

If your dogs are to be allowed to run about in the yard, you’ll probably have to make adjustments in terms of what you have on your property and how you maintain it. If you fail to make some accommodations, the dogs may make a mess of your yard. Avoid Urine Spots With Hardscape Dogs and lawn grass do not mix well. For small areas, consider switching from a grassy expanse to hardscape, which consists of non-living landscaping materials such as bricks, concrete pavers, and stones....

If you’re struggling with how to keep dogs away from your yard, here are some methods that can help. Why You Should Keep Dogs Off Your Lawn Keeping dogs out of your yard goes beyond just wanting to avoid having to pick up unexpected dog poop. Dog urine can damage grass and other plants. Plus, some dogs might dig in your yard, as well as chew on or otherwise damage landscaping....

Although many factors take place in decisions like these, your zodiac sign is a fun way to give some insight on how you might choose to style your surroundings. We’ve gathered some quotes from prominent interior designers that radiate each sign’s preferences for interior decorating. Check out yours below. Aquarius (January 20 to February 18) “I always put in one controversial item. It makes people talk.” — Dorothy Draper You like things to be a little off the wall in terms of style, which isn’t surprising....

Establish a Narrative This is a practice that designers implement in commercial and residential spaces alike. “For our team, having a strong narrative helps drive all the design decisions for a project,” explains Dan Mazzarini, interior designer and principal of BHDM Design. When working on a recent renovation of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, Mazzarini and his team turned to the city itself for inspiration. “Using the notion that Atlanta is ‘city in the forest,’ we crafted an indoor/ outdoor experience,” Mazzarini shares....

With some overlap in cementitious ingredients, grout and mortar do share a few properties. But largely, grout and mortar should not be used interchangeably. They are designed for different uses since they have different compressive strength levels, textures, appearances, and makeup. What Is Grout? Grout fills and firms up the spaces between tiles. Grout helps to hold the tile in place (though most of this is done by the mortar, underneath)....

Update Your Area Rug Old traditional: Oriental rugs New traditional: geometric prints, animal hides, or rugs woven from natural materials such as jute, seagrass, or sisal. Whether your bedroom floor is covered with wall-to-wall carpet or bare wood, an area rug is a great way to add a dose of color, texture, or pattern to the space. Oriental rugs are the very definition of a traditional, classic style—you’ll add a lot more pizzazz to your room with something more contemporary on the floor....

What Is Backwashing? First, you may have heard of the term backwashing. You can’t go to a pool supply store and ask to buy a backwasher. They might know what you’re talking about, but you’ll give away that you don’t know the correct terms for the parts of your pool. Whether you buy your pool equipment from a local retailer or shop online, this is an important word to know for general pool maintenance....

In This Episode Shyama is an artist who is inspired by her plants. Her living room is an art gallery/plant showroom and both compliment each other. You can see that her work is influenced by her collection. She uses tons of patterns, greens, and botanical themes, and her work is fantastic. What She Values Most in Plants Shyama loves her plants for more than their beauty. “What I value most about owning plants is just that they’re this living thing that’s constantly changing and growing....

It turns out, if you put wax paper on the top of your fridge, it keeps the surface from getting sticky and accumulating debris and dust. And after trying it for ourselves, here is the ‘what,’ the ‘why,’ and the ‘how’ about the wax paper trick, and why you should probably consider using it in your kitchen (and other hard-to-dust areas). What Is the Wax Paper Cleaning Hack? So where did this come from?...

What Transition Strips Are A transition strip is a piece of metal, wood, or plastic that covers the gap between two dissimilar floor coverings and which acts as a type of ramp from a higher to a lower floor. Ideally, floor coverings continue from room to room throughout the house with no interruptions or gaps. In this perfect world, one floor is installed all at once and it works for all areas....

Problems With Dirty Feeders In addition to diseases that are spread by moldy seed and bird feces, dirty bird feeders pose other problems for birders, including: Foul odors that may attract insects, mice, rats, or other unwanted wildlife Accumulations of grease and debris that can damage lawns or flowerbeds Community rule violations, such as conflicting with HOA guidelines about outdoor appearances Excessive wear and tear on feeders, leading to damage and unsafe feeders...

Here are some tips for growing popular vegetables in a container garden.​ Harvest frequently to keep the beans coming. Even the pretty flowers are edible. You can start seeds in late spring and start a second batch in midsummer to extend the harvest well into fall. Bush beans aren’t as productive as pole beans, but they start producing earlier and you can succession plant throughout the summer. Either type will need regular water, perhaps daily in hot weather....

A high-quality bathroom remodel can also pay you back by boosting resale value. One way to ensure the best bathroom remodel is to hire a bathroom contractor with experience who can see your project through to its successful completion. In addition to hiring a quality licensed contractor, hiring a designer can help save time and money in the long run. Interview Three or More Bathroom Contractors When you speak to just one or two bathroom contractors, you gain only a limited set of viewpoints....

How to Help: Keep your cat indoors, and take steps to discourage feral cats from visiting your yard. If your cat enjoys time outside, provide vigilant supervision or consider building a catio or other enclosure your pet can enjoy without threatening birds. How to Help: Minimize chemical use in your yard, and when you must use chemicals, read application instructions carefully and follow all recommended use guidelines. Better still, eliminate chemicals and let birds be your natural pest control and weed-eaters....

This chart will help you decipher the Samsung dryer error codes and perhaps even save some money by preventing a visit from the repair technician. The first step before you do anything else to get the dryer back in operational mode is to unplug the dryer and wait at least 30 seconds before reconnecting. Sometimes just doing this will help the dryer’s internal motherboard reset and begin to function properly....

Thankfully though there are some really amazing plant products out there that can make caring for your plants a breeze. Instead of worrying that you won’t be able to keep track of them or repot them correctly, for example, you can rest easy knowing that a few products can help solve your plant care problems. We spoke to a couple of plant influencers to see which plant products they swear by....

Underground Service Underground service cables are connected to the utility company’s pole and fed down a pipe into the ground. Then, they run horizontally through a bored hole in the ground and up into a ground-based transformer. The primary connection to the transformer is called the line connection. The secondary side of the transformer has service cables that connect to your home’s electric meter and service panel (breaker box). Alternately, there may be a pole-mounted transformer where the secondary is fed down the pole, underground, and then run to your home and up to the meter inside PVC pipe....