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A Kitchen Tile Backsplash adds Drama
Add drama to your kitchen walls with a functional backsplash over your countertop, sink or cooktop. Basic requirements are materials that are easily washable and (if over the cooktop) that can take some heat. That leaves many decorative alternatives.
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Posted in Home Improvement
Tagged backsplash mosaic tiles, ceramic tile backsplashes, kitchen backsplash designs, kitchen wall tiles
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Guide to Kitchen Countertops
Granite is the favorite material for countertops, but granite countertops may not be suitable for every kitchen remodeling project. You should be aware of the alternatives before you make your decision. Keep in mind that islands, backsplashes and special-function areas invite the use of more than one material. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of all the popular countertop choices.
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Kitchen Cabinet and Storage Upgrades
Homeowners remodel a kitchen for many reasons: Among them, because they are tired of a dated look; because they have inadequate storage and work space; to make room for new appliances; to make it easier for an older or disabled member of the family to prepare meals; to repair damage from a disaster or mishap; because they plan to sell their house and want to get a better price. Each homeowner’s remodeling situation is unique, with different goals and budget. Here is a range of updating, upgrading, replacing ideas for cabinets and storage.
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Posted in Home Improvement
Tagged home improvement, kitchen cabinet renovation, kitchen cart, kitchen island, kitchen remodeling, kitchen renovation, remodel kitchen cabinets
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Best Choices in Kitchen Flooring
Savvy homeowners choose kitchen flooring based on looks, durability, ease of cleanup, comfort (when standing on it), and – if they have a large expanse – its quietness. Be sure you factor in all these criteria when you select your flooring because performance will be as important as looks over years of use.
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Posted in Home Improvement
Tagged bamboo floors, ceramic floors, cork floors, hardwood kitchen floors, home improvement, kitchen flooring, kitchen remodeling, kitchen renovation, laminate kitchen floors, linoleum floors, vinyl floors
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Keep your Home in Good Repair to Maintain its Value
Owning a home is not just a matter of paying the mortgage and flopping down in front of the tv every night. A home is a big investment whose value you will want to maintain as long as you live in it. Home maintenance is not the favorite set of activities of most homeowners. But it’s something that has to be done ot get the most pleasure from living in your home and, it will preserve the value of your investment. So, here is a reminder list of what you will need to do to keep your home in good repair.
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Posted in Home Improvement
Tagged exterior painting, home improvement, home maintenance, home wear and tear, termites
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A Kitchen Renovation Will Boost the Value of your Home
As a homeowner you want to get the most benefit out of living in your home. So you have probably been thinking about improvements to make it more functional and more comfortable – improvements like updating wall colors, adding a deck, or perhaps a more extensive renovation like adding bedrooms or modernizing the kitchen. Home improvements nearly always add value to your home because they make it more attractive to potential buyers down the road.
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Posted in Home Improvement
Tagged home improvement, improvements that boost value of home, kitchen design, kitchen renovation, reface cabinets, refinish cabinets
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Ambient Assisted Living: The Future of Seniors’ Independence
If robots are to be useful beyond doing domestic chores, they will need to be able to distinguish between normal and abnormal conditions in the home environment, and recognize and act to ameliorate adverse health and safety conditions without supervision. So they will need to monitor and communicate as well as act. To accomplish the goal of enhancing independent living, robots will need to become caretakers for their charges.
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Posted in Senior Living at Home
Tagged aging population at home, assistive living, assistive robots, healthcare robots, independent living of seniors, socially assistive robots, Wakamaru
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Scams that Target Seniors
Scams can target anyone, and they do, but seniors seem to be targeted more. This article explores various types of scams that target seniors — especially elderly seniors — and gives specific advice to protect against them.
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100-Watt Light Bulb, Goodbye
The 100-watt light bulb is history. Not yet well-known, except perhaps in California where it has already happened, Thomas Edison’s incandescent bulb is rapidly being phased out. It’s not because no one wants to use a 100-watt light bulb anymore (many Americans do) nor because there are cheaper alternatives (there aren’t). This article is about available alternatives, which you will need to buy when the 100-watt bulbs in your lamps and overhead fixtures burn out.
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Solar Lighting for Safety, Beauty and Fun
The lighting technology that enabled cool LEDs to replace hot high intensity discharge (HID) lamps for indoor grow lights for plants has enabled a revolution in another lighting category – outdoor solar lighting. This revolution has been made possible by the availability of bright white LEDs at reasonable prices. Solar lighting costs have declined to such an extent that solar lights are competitive in price with wired lights but offer far more convenience and significant operating cost savings.
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Posted in Solar Lighting
Tagged garden lighting, landscape design lighting, lighting to highlight a facade, new ideas in solar lighting, outdoor solar lights, outside lighting, path lighting, post-mount lights, solar accent lighting, solar chandeliers, solar lights with remote panels, stake lights, walkway lights
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Home Staging: How to Make a Huge Room Feel Cozy
Cozy and comfortable are what buyers want in a house. But they also want lots of space. Houses over 4500 square feet, which became popular a few years ago, generally have large rooms. These can be a challenge for a homeowner to decorate and, once decorated, an even greater challenge to make look cozy to a potential buyer.
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How Safe are CFL Bulbs in your Home?
Citing the State of Maine’s CFL Breakage Study Report, this article explores the issue whether CFL bulbs are safe for use throughout your home.
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Posted in Home Lighting
Tagged bias of EPA Energy Star, break a CFL, breathing mercury vapor, CFL light bulbs, cleanup of mercury spill, danger of mercury in CFL bulbs, energy savings of CFLs, health hazards of mercury vapor, how safe are CFL bulbs, Maine CFL breakage study, using CFL bulbs in your home
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