Category Archives: Indoor Living Spaces

Holidays & Gift Ideas, Indoor Living Spaces, Outdoor Entertaining, Outdoor Living Spaces

The Right Lighting Sets the Valentine’s Mood

Comment

Messy Melting Candles

Candles are a traditional source of ambient light during romantic dinners, but, frankly, they’ve become rather cliché.  Besides being a fire hazard, candles can be stinky and messy.  A more modern approach to cozy meal time lighting comes from an energy-efficient, solar-powered source.  The Frosted Solar Lantern not only provides gentle, romantic lighting for the perfect Valentine’s Day dinner, it makes a beautiful centerpiece.

Place the solar panel in direct sunlight throughout the day, and the lantern will provide enough ambient lighting for a long, leisurely dinner, and more.  Different patterns etched into the frosted lantern panes cast a beautifully unique design on the table, helping to set the mood for the evening.

For a memorable Valentine’s Day, impress your dinner guest with something different, out-of-the-ordinary, and completely eye-catching to go along with your sparkling dinner conversation.

Frosted Scroll Solar Lantern  Frosted Dragonfly Solar Lantern

Indoor Living Spaces, Innovative Solutions, Outdoor Lighting Ideas

If Only I Had More Light…

1 Comment

Indoor Outdoor Solar Light

Finding what you need in the storage shed, garden shed, garage, or other dark space can be a challenge when you don’t have the benefit of light by which to see clearly.  Many homeowners simply live with the situation because the hassle and expense that comes with installing electrical wiring for outdoor light fixtures is not pretty.

Surprisingly, solar lighting can offer an easy and inexpensive solution to the problem of dark storage spaces.  The Solar Multi Light is one example of a solar-powered light that can be used in indoor spaces.  As long as the included solar panel is mounted in a sunny area outside, the actual light can be used in any indoor space where extra light is needed.  

Solar lighting, in general, is attractive to many homeowners because no wiring needs to be installed, and electrical costs are zero.  Solar lights have evolved over time, too, to provide more light for longer periods of time, making them ideal for any number of outdoor applications.  Homeowners concerned with appearance can also appreciate the many attractive styles in which solar lighting is now available.

 

Healthy Ideas, Indoor Living Spaces

Soothe the Senses for Elemental Stress Relief

Comment

Wall Fountains and Waterfalls

Relieving stress naturally can be as simple as soothing the senses.  Wall fountains and waterfalls — which come in tabletop, wall mounted, and free standing varieties — bring the soothing sounds of flowing water into the home, but they also bring a visual element. Not only are waterfalls and wall fountains beautifully conceived and able to fit into any home’s decor, the water itself lends another dimension of stress relief to the equation. Watching the dance and trickle of water as it flows across rocks, down textured surfaces, and into a basin at the bottom enhances our auditory experience. When we listen to sound machines or audio recordings of nature sounds, we may feel the need to close our eyes to block out visual distractions around us that take our minds away from the goal of relaxation. In contrast, the visual attributes of wall fountains and waterfalls transport us toward that end by giving us something beautiful and elemental to focus on with our eyes as we listen with our ears.

Tabletop FountainFurthermore, the water that flows in a wall fountain or waterfall changes its sounds subtly at every moment. This dynamic quality keeps our listening experience from becoming tedious or repetitive, which can easily happen if we listen to sound machines or audio recordings regularly. We can also choose to dramatically change the “song” of the water in our wall fountain or waterfall simply by rearranging rocks or other features in the basin or by adding a new element — such as a seashell, leaf, or small piece of wood — along the water’s path. We can even place our own fingers in the water’s flow to change the sound of the water as it moves; feeling the water stream across our skin would bring yet another sensory element to our experience.

Indoor Living Spaces

Spruce Up a Room in One Easy Step — Paint Not Required

Comment

Affordable Redecorating Does Not Require Paint

The floor may be one of the most neglected areas when it comes to decorating. Adding an area rug to the floor has just as much impact on a room, though, as adding a fresh coat of paint to the walls. Area rugs define a space more effectively than furniture alone, and they help tie together the various elements in a room to make it feel like a unified whole.

Outdoor Rugs for Indoor DecoratingConsider using an outdoor rug for your indoor redecorating. Outdoor rugs are an ideal choice to use as indoor area rugs, especially in high traffic areas of the home. Outdoor rugs are made with durable materials that can stand up to all kinds of abuse, but they are just as beautiful and soft to the touch as traditional indoor rugs. They are much easier to clean than indoor rugs, which gives them yet another advantage over standard indoor area rugs.

Sprucing up a room in your home doesn’t always require spending loads of money or splashing on a new coat of paint. A simple addition, like an outdoor rug, might be all that is needed to freshen a room and give it new life.

Backyard Fun, Holidays & Gift Ideas, Indoor Living Spaces, Outdoor Entertaining, Portable Fun

The Key to Bringing the Party with You

Comment
New Year's Eve Party

Photo Credit: Getty Images

So many exciting events are coming up…New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl are two in particular that rank high on our family’s “Best Excuses for Hosting a Get Together” list.  Frankly, the best part about get togethers, aside from the wonderful company, are all the yummy eats and lip-smacking drinks.

Whether or not you like to spike the eggnog at your party, you’ll want to have plenty of beverages on hand for thirsty guests.   At our house, there’s no room for a stocked bar, so we keep our GoBar Portable High Top Bar tucked away until we need it for special occasions when drinks will flow continuously.  Once we set up the bar in a convenient spot near the food table, we stock it with whatever we’ll need for the evening ahead.  Beer, wine, soda, juices, blender, ice buckets, and glasses can all be kept on the bar and on the sturdy storage shelf, which remains hidden behind one of three festive skirts.

What are festive skirts, you may ask?  This is one of our favorite features of our portable GoBar.  Depending on the theme for the party, we dress our GoBar in one of the three skirts that are included with the bar.  For the New Year’s party, we choose the formal skirt, the Super Bowl party features the football field skirt (of course), and our summer beach party requires the tiki-themed skirt.  They add an extra touch of fun and flair to each of our parties.

Now that our friends have experienced the GoBar, they ask us to bring it with us to their parties.  Because it is lightweight and portable, it’s never a problem.   We’re not planning to stay up until midnight this New Year’s Eve, nor do we care which teams finally make it to the Super Bowl — what we love about these events is spending them with family and friends and having a memorable time.