Category: Interior Design

A new baby is a wonderful, exciting time in your life. Before you bring home the newest family member, you need to get your house ready. Issues like allergens and choking hazards make the typical home unfit for a newborn. Be sure you’re ready to keep your baby safe at home long before the new baby is born and home from the hospital because you’ll have little time to do it when the baby arrives.

Remove Allergens

Babies have very sensitive immune systems, which means you need to get rid of allergens before you bring your new baby home. Any household plants that produce pollen need to go. Vacuum with a HEPA filter to rid your home of dust. Scour the bathroom to remove any mold or mildew. Use only environmentally friendly products without any harmful chemicals while cleaning.

Clean the Bedding

Image via Flickr by boujiandnouna

You’ve bought lots of new bedding for the baby, including mattress pads, blankets, and pillows. All of that needs to go in the wash with baby-friendly soap before you snuggle the new little one down to sleep. Get several sets of everything, so you can change it often and keep it clean of dust mites. If you’re using any bedding you already have at home, make sure it gets thoroughly washed and dried.

Install an Air Purifier

An air purifier is a great way to improve your IAQ beyond what your HVAC filter is capable of. Install one that uses a HEPA filter or a carbon filter for better air within the house. It will trap harmful particulates, including bacteria and mold spores, and clean the air your baby breathes. You can use a purifier in the baby’s room, or get your HVAC company to install one for the house.

Create a Changing Station

Diaper changing can quickly become a dirty, hazardous chore if you’re not careful. Create a station with baby wipes, towels, diapers, and a handy covered trash can before the baby comes home. Keeping everything to do with diapers in one spot ensures bacteria does not get in the rest of the house as a result.

Remove Breakables and Sharp Objects

Before you know it, that new baby will be starting to crawl, and you won’t have time to baby-proof the house after the baby comes home. Put anything breakable away, either in closets or up on high shelves. All sharp corners need to be smoothed or capped, and outlets need to be covered. Keep cords wrapped together and off the floor, and eliminate any trinkets that could become choking hazards.

Though babies grow into adventurous toddlers and kids who always seem to be getting into scrapes, they’re delicate when they first come home. It’s up to you to remove both the visible hazards, like sharp objects and the invisible ones, like allergens, from your home. You won’t always be able to protect your children, but you can protect your newborn. Start preparing months in advance so you can take care of everything.

In any room of your house there will always be ways that you can maximise your space but when it comes to your bedroom it can seem like such a challenge. For starters, your bed can often cause problems as it is not the easiest obstacle to work around  – and therefore space ends up getting wasted.

Here are ten smart ways you can maximise your storage space in your bedroom.

1.    Maximise underneath your bed

This is simply one of the smartest and easiest ways to add a whole area of storage to your room. If you don’t have any storage under your bed then you have several options:

1. Make your own DIY storage solution
2. Get some boxes, put them under your bed and add a bed skirt to hide them
3. Buy a new bed – Divan Beds Centre have a great range of storage beds perfectly designed for those smaller bedrooms.

2.    Minimise clutter

Go through your room and dispose of anything you no longer use or need – if you are a hoarder, you will need to be brutal.

3.    Organise your drawers to your best advantage

Taking the time to store your clothes properly could give you more storage space instantly. Vacuum packing out of season clothes is a great way to give you more space. Don’t just throw everything in your drawers either, fold things up and organise your t-shirts vertically – this way you can fit more in and it’s easier to see your clothes too.

4.    Purchase multifunctional furniture

This could include a bed with drawers or even a bookshelf. If you decide to buy a large piece of furniture, ensure it can hold multiple different things and that it doesn’t block valuable space or take up too much room on your floor.

5.    Use other rooms in your home

Remember you have other rooms in your home. If you have a spare room that you don’t use as often as the others, store some things in there, or simply just try and space your items out across the whole house and not cram it all into one.

6.    Utilise your walls

Get as many things removed from your floor as you possibly can. Wall-mounted storage will make your room look a lot bigger. Change your table lamp for a pendant and use shelves around the room.

 

7.    Use vertical spaces

There may be plenty of up and down surfaces that never get utilised in your room – put them to good use. Get some slim wire baskets and line the back of your door. This is great for hidden storage and you can fit so much stuff on them.

8.    Helpful add-ons

Look for single-storage items such as hair dryer or straighteners hooks. These can be put inside cupboards or on the side of a set of drawers or a bedside table.

9.    Use the corners

Use the corners in your room. They often get neglected as people think there’s not much you can do but, you’d be surprised. Check out this article by Houzz on how to make better use of bedroom corners.

 

10.    Light

Brightening up your room will make it look bigger, so get as much natural light in as possible.

The History of Neff Appliances

Carl Neff produced his first oven in 1877 in a small town in Germany’s Baden-Württemberg province. He was a master locksmith before turning his hand to ovens, and you could see that craftsmanship in the very first one, built by hand by NEFF and his six partners. Their focus was ensuring their product was well-built and straightforward to use – qualities that NEFF Appliances still hold dear today.

 

During the Belle Époque, Carl Neff noticed the increasing need in patisseries as the people flocked to them to discuss art and culture all while eating a delicious baked treat. The bakeries were struggling to keep up with demand and NEFF saw an opportunity to innovate his ovens further, now offering commercial NEFF ovens.

Innovation in the kitchen

 

In 1949, NEFF produced an oven with two separately heated sections. For the first time, people could cook more than one dish at a time. This innovation was an exciting development after the hard and desperate period of the war.

 

It was during the war that Dr Alfred Neff inherited the company from his father, Carl. He continued striving for the innovation his father founded NEFF on and the company played a large part in the time known as Wirtschaftswunder, or the economic wonder. Soon ‘Made in Germany’ became a proud marker of exceptional engineering.

 

So, Alfred searched for the company’s next challenge, and soon they branched out into refrigerators and washing machines. Nowadays NEFF offers a vast range of fridges from full American-style to built-ins to compact under-the-counter models.

As time went on, NEFF kept developing and produced more efficient ovens in the 1960s that allowed a family to cook more food at once. Plus, they made available space-saving built-in models for kitchens. You can still combine various NEFF classic or premium appliances either horizontally or vertically to create your perfect kitchen in a small footprint.

 

Introducing Circotherm…

NEFF continued to innovate in the technology sphere bringing out the Circotherm, a convection oven that circulated the heat, with the intention that cooks and chefs everywhere could cook separate dishes on different racks without the flavours mixing. Then they added interior lights so you could check on the progress of your food, and small rollers to shelves so it was easier than ever to take food in and out of the oven, which led to the Slide and Hide models with doors that can disappear when you open them.

 

…Easy Clean, Variosteam and Flexinduction!

EasyClean was the next significant technological advance for NEFF, and now they even offer the Pyrolytic self-cleaning model.

 

But they weren’t finished yet. The Variosteam adds steam to the oven while you’re cooking so you’ll never have a dry roast again. And the Flexinduction hob lets you place a saucepan anywhere on its shiny, black surface and will heat only the area under the pan. It’s like magic!

So much has changed since those first early days in the 1800s when Carl Neff and his partners put together their first oven by hand. NEFF has become a household name synonymous with quality and fantastic German engineering. Their products, always functional, are stylish and beautiful additions to any kitchen, whether you’re cooking a roast for the family in one of their inventive ovens, or just grabbing that first espresso of the day from the coffee centre. Affordable quality is what everyone deserves in the home, and NEFF has brought just that to the masses, sharing technological advances not only with commercial industries but with anyone who has a kitchen.

The standard solutions for the kitchen cleaning can be very boring and can even prove to be less effective than some alternative ones. We at the House cleaners – Helpling summed up some of the unusual ways to clean your kitchen. These awesome tricks are not only very efficient and useful, but you will also feel like a scientist doing experiments in his lab. Above all, you will have fun and experience the kitchen like you’ve never done before. Here they are, the 7 kitchen cleaning tricks that really work!

1. Remove oily, dusty kitchen grime

When you combine cooking oil with dust, you get a cleaning nightmare that accumulates on high surfaces in the kitchen. The solution isn’t distant at all – grab a microfiber cloth, dip it into in very hot water and remove the dirt. Make sure you constantly dip the cloth into the hot water, since the heat of the water softens the burnt oil – and you won’t have a problem returning the shine to your kitchen surfaces.

2. Get the dirt out of your kitchen crevices

All of your mixers have some hidden areas that are hard to reach. These places get filled with the ingredients you used – flour, eggs, cocoa powder, and should be cleaned as well! So, get your own spear (I mean a toothpick or some pointy-ended skewer) and charge these enemies of yours! You will also have fun doing it, or at least I find it satisfying to excavate these ancient remains of the previous baking endeavors.

3. Banish lingering kitchen smells with the amazing vinegar

Vinegar does wonders, with everything basically. One of the things it is good at – deodorizing the kitchen. All that food you cook produces some kind of smell and not all of them are pleasant. In fact, after some time, even the pleasant smell becomes annoying, so you’ll want to freshen up the air in your kitchen. You can avoid the usual stuff – pick the vinegar. Simply simmer white vinegar on the stovetop, turn on the burner, let it boil for some time and then turn it off. Let that sit for some time and your kitchen will be rid of the unwanted smells.

4. Getting rid of the fruit flies

Yes, the fruit flies are so boring. And you don’t want them in your drink or your food. Luckily, you can get rid of them easily. Halve two or three pieces of lemon (or any other kind of citrus) and place them in your oven, directly on the rack. Leave the oven door propped open for a few hours – or even the whole night. The citrus will attract the fruit flies and they will gather inside the oven. In the morning, close the oven door and turn the broiler on. All that is left now is to let the oven cool, toss the citrus and wipe out the base of the oven. The fruit flies are no more and your kitchen smells amazing, too!

5. Your old white sink is white again

 

Lemon comes to aid once again, alongside with the baking soda. Baking soda is usually used, well, in baking, but its cleaning properties are more than awesome. These two combine perfectly and will clean just about anything – including your old white sink that is no longer white. And once again, it is so simple. Just sprinkle some soda in the sink, grab a lemon half and use it as a scrubber! Your sink will be white once again and your sponge will be saved from the ugly sink germs, so you will be able to use it longer. Make sure you use leftover lemons from cooking or juicing, they will be enough for this cleaning task.

6. Grout cleaning is no longer hard

Here we have another amazing combination – baking soda and vinegar. If your tiles are horizontal (like those on a shower shelf or the kitchen counter), simple sprinkle baking soda along the grout lines, then pour or spray some white vinegar over the baking soda and watch it react! If you want to clean the vertical tiles, make a thick paste of baking soda and a bit of water, apply it to the dirty grout, let it sit for some time and again, spray it with vinegar. After letting it sit for a few minutes, grab an old toothbrush – and get to scrubbing!

7. Clogged drain breathes again

You’re having a clogged drain, or you just want to deodorize it? The solution is much more simple than you thought – you won’t need to call the plumber. Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by a 1/2 cup of vinegar (as you can see, these two, soda and vinegar, are an awesome combo), then cover it with a wet cloth (this is optional), wait about 5 minutes and finally flush it with hot water. The drain will be good as new! Baking soda is the ultimate kitchen helper – let’s just mention a few examples. Extra greasy dishes and pans? These won’t be a problem when you’ve got soda – dial up your dish detergent’s power with it. You can use it to clean and freshen-up your dishwasher or coffee maker simply by running an empty cycle with baking soda. Options are limitless – be creative and know that you can’t make a mistake with baking soda. And don’t forget to combine it with vinegar, together they make wonders!

That’s just something to get you started, feel free to experiment with these. The vinegar, baking soda, and lemon trio will keep surprising you with the effectiveness it brings! Plus, they are edible so you can use them risk-free. So get to your lab (kitchen!) and try some of these really amazing problem solvers!

 

As time passes, the ways in which we heat our homes changes to suit new styles and functions. From fires in every room – if you could afford it – to central heating that emanates from the clunky radiator in the corner of your room.

Yet, soon style begins to preside over functionality, with options opening up for the ways that you can heat your home, which means you can make sure every room is perfectly heated without compromising the style of the room. And these days, the options are constantly becoming more interesting, so you can always be up to date with the newest interior fashions.

If you’re thinking about new ways that you can heat your home that are stylish and innovative, then we’ve got some amazing ideas for you to consider.

Picture Copyright: Shutterstock

Heated glass doors

Who knew that your glass doors could provide heat for your home?! Aside from being a great natural light provider for homes, there is now the chance to buy glass doors that are not only covered in thermally efficient coating that will prevent heating leaving your home, but will also radiate heat into your home from their integrated heated glass solution. Glow Heated Glass offer an incredible selection of bi-folding doors that will not only let in sunshine and calming breezes through summer, but will also keep you warm while you look out at freezing winter nights. This innovative design means you can stylishly heat your home in a way that is completely invisible.

Picture Copyright: Shutterstock

Stylish Radiators

If you decide that you still enjoy the reliability and ease that radiators provide, then you could easily find a more stylish version of the typical heating option. There are so many options you can consider for your wall-mounted radiators that you’re sure to find something in the style that you’ve been looking for that will compliment your own interior design.

Picture Copyright: Wikimedia

Infrared Heaters

Infrared panel heaters are a streamlined and stylish solution for heating your home, as they are a heater that will warm the area rather than the air. Infrared panels offer the chance to decorate your home in an interesting and versatile way, while they are still a practical and functional design option for heating your home in an unconventional way.

Picture Copyright: Shutterstock

Under floor heating

There is nothing worse in winter than stepping out of bed first thing in the morning to cold floor around your home. This problem can be eliminated easily though when you have heated flooring! Not only will you never have to suffer chilly toes again, you will also have the chance to heat your home with this innovative idea that will easily create a warm and toasty room wherever you lay the heating.

If you’re looking for a contemporary and stylish way of heating your home in a way that is both interesting and attractive to look at, then any of these options will be perfect, as you can guarantee that you will find an option that will perfectly suit your style and design within your home.

It may seem beyond your reach right now, but creating the perfect master bathroom is something you can definitely have if you put your mind to it. And in fact, it only requires a few must have features to make your master bath ideal for just about everyone in your family.

Doing a beautiful master bathroom is usually done when you buy your own house and want to do something special for your family. If you are, however, undertaking this for your house you are planning to rent to another family, you may want to monitor if they are subletting it and potentially risking the remodeling you just invested in.

If you’ve been dreaming about revamping your master bathroom for a while, we’d like to tell you about a number of incredible features that we feel should make your ultimate wish list.

Hidden Storage Spaces

For some reason, we never seem to have enough storage space in our bathroom. We always need additional room to put things like towels, toilet paper, additional bars of soap, toothpaste, tooth brushes, and anything else that you might need to store in this room.

If you plan on redoing your entire bathroom, you have to consider your storage options.

And since bathrooms have definitely evolved since the days of the double vanity, there are certain things that you can add that you may have never considered.

Some fantastic options include: recessed niches, pullout shelves, and wall cubbies.

By adding them to your bathroom, you’ll have more than enough room to store everything that you could ever possibly need in your bathroom.

A Bathroom with a View

For some of you, having a bathroom with a view is unfortunately going to be a pipe dream if your neighbors live really close to you. And that’s unlucky because it’s always nice to peer out the window at a gorgeous view while leisurely soaking in the tub.

On the other hand, if you have a home with a lot of privacy, you should definitely add large bathroom windows so you can enjoy the view outside. It’s a lot more pleasant to have a great view that you can enjoy and appreciate as you look out your window in the bathroom.

How about Adding a Sauna?

Every bathroom needs a sauna, right?

Some people love to build up a great sweat. Others live in a really cold climate and could benefit from the heat on those cold winter days and nights.

The great thing about saunas is that they really aren’t even that expensive. And typically, they do not need to take up a whole lot of space.

You can put one right in your bathroom and it would be very effective.

So, if you’re afraid that it’s going to cost an arm and a leg to put a sauna in your bathroom, think again. This inexpensive option is something that just about everybody can afford.

Adding a Japanese Soaking Tub

If you are adding a bathtub to your bathroom, instead of just having a shower, we highly recommend choosing a Japanese-style soaking tub instead of a traditional full-size version.

Why do we recommend this?

It’s the ideal type of bathtub for smaller spaces, for starters, but this kind of bathtub is perfect because it allows the bather to fully submerge under the water.

These Japanese soaking tubs can help remove the stress and strain from your day as you soak in the tub and let all your worries float down the drain.

How about Live-Edge Wood?

This excellent feature is perfect for modern and rustic bathroom interiors alike. It really helps bring your bathroom to life and makes it look absolutely amazing.

Conclusion

When you are looking for luxury bathroom fixtures, make sure to choose the best for your bathroom, such as gorgeous bathroom accoutrements that are designed and handmade in Italy.

At the end of the day, you know better than anyone what your key elements should be for the perfect master bathroom. Please use our guidance and add features and amenities as you see fit to make your bathroom divine.