So you’ve already found the perfect shower curtain for your bathroom and a wonderful wall paint, but there’s still something missing. Maybe you just need some artwork for you bathroom to finish off your look.

The question is, what artwork should you buy for your bathroom? Most likely, you are not going to want your most prized piece of artwork to decorate your bathroom. On the other hand… many of your guests are going see your bathroom — why not surprise them with a beautiful piece of artwork? Besides, something beautiful will make you happy, too.

If you already have the piece of artwork you want to display in your bathroom, make sure that you choose colors for the rest of your bathroom décor that will compliment that particular piece of artwork. Otherwise, make sure you choose a piece of artwork that will work with what you already have, not against it.

When selecting artwork for your bathroom walls, be sure to keep in mind the color scheme that already exists in that room. It would be a great pity for your pictures to clash with the tiles, paint, or wallpaper.

If your bathroom is monochromatic (painted only in one color and variations of that color), you are going to want to get a painting of similar tone and color. You certainly don’t want to use a bright piece of artwork that will break up the continuity that you have already established with that one color.

When two colors that are complimentary or opposites on the color wheel are used, one color is usually subdued and used in the larger area, while the other one is more intense and is used as an accent. Decorate this kind of bathroom with artwork whose dominant color is the same as the less dominant one in the bathroom. Be careful! If you are using complementary colors, avoid using both of them in equal intensity!

Although it may seem obvious, it is important to mention that whatever artwork you choose, you want it to match. Although you want a beautiful piece of artwork, you don’t want it to stand out like a sore thumb in the bathroom. The artwork is there to accent the bathroom, usually not the other way around.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on bathroom decor, please visit Fantastic Shower Curtains.

Most gardeners know that just the right amounts of sunshine & water combined with great soil and hard work bring their backyard oasis to life. Quickly, after the snow melts, the ground thaws and our singing feathered friends return. Each spring gardeners across the country look forward to rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty to cultivate their soil to create a garden of their favorite flowers, shrubs and trees.

A gardener’s shovel is to an artist’s brush. A gardener’s choice of colorful flowers, shrubs and trees is to an artist’s collection of paints, pencils and oils. An artist’s signature is to a gardener’s…hmmm?

The choice of garden décor that is placed throughout the landscape is undoubtedly the signature of a gardener. What does that mean? Simply, a gardener that chooses a sailboat weathervane over a rooster weathervane is more likely to be a water loving individual rather than a country/farm loving individual. It’s how they choose to express themselves in the garden.

Let yourself be known
The garden is an excellent place for one to set aside the hectic lifestyle of today for a moment, a weekend, or anytime that enables you to step into you backyard hide-a-way. The person that you are inside can be expressed with the garden décor you choose. Your choice of garden décor, your choice of its finish and your choice of its size all factor into the person that you are. Garden décor is an essential part of the garden; it brings happiness, joy, and it can even refresh the soul of its visitors.

Enhancing your garden
Even the most colorful gardens can feel empty without the addition of some garden décor. A bed of roses is very beautiful, but add an elegant sundial or a birdbath, and now the bed of roses become incredibly beautiful. Garden décor adds style, brings comfort and let’s gardeners set the stage for another’s imagination. Each piece of garden décor can help create a scene, a story or a memory that brings life and meaning to the garden.

Conclusion
Gardening should always be fun and not a chore. Your passion for gardening is hard work but always fulfilling. Gardening should be about you and your artistic ability to create a space that is warm, inviting and a stepping stone into who you are as a person. Your garden décor will speak volumes of you and how you define yourself. It will be your signature to your backyard canvas!

Chris Hallinan is the owner of, http://www.TheGardenChest.com , a successful garden décor company. The Garden Chest offers quality weathervanes, cupolas, hose holders, outdoor furniture, bird feeders and other garden décor products. This article can be reprinted only if this byline is attached to it. You can contact Chris at chris@thegardenchest.com with any questions or comments.

Your kitchen is one of the most important rooms in your house. Not only do you rely on it to cook, you do most of your socializing and entertaining in there as well. And one of the first things people notice about a nice kitchen is the cabinets. Not only is it important to have cabinets that are functional and that provide adequate space, they tend to be compared to as a nice peace of furniture. Below I will step you through the steps necessary to install your own cabinets enabling you to feel proud of your accomplishment and saving you a ton of money.

1. First you must remove your old cabinets. Be sure to turn off all electrical breakers and shut off all water valves in the kitchen. Once that is done start removing the old cabinets and cap off water pipes and electrical wires.

2. Remember to always keep your work space clean to prevent accidents. Once the area is clear of all unwanted items use a level and draw a line across the wall parallel to the floor about 3 inches up from the floor. At this point you want to find the high point in the floor and from there measure 34 1/2 inches and draw a level line across the wall to determine where the top of the cabinet base will be.

3. From your 34 1/2-inch line, measure up another 19 1/2 inches and mark a level line across the wall to determine the bottom of the wall cabinets.

4. At this point locate the wall studs, then, mark their locations above and at least 5-6 inches below the mark you’ve made for the bottom of the wall cabinets. Draw some vertical guide lines on the wall between the two horizontal lines to give you guidance when attaching the cabinets. Be sure to place those vertical lines in the center of each stud.

5. To provide a ledge to support your cabinets fasten a temporary 2-by-4 support rail to the wall, aligning the top edge of the 2-by-4 with the line for the bottom edge of the wall cabinets.

6. Install the corner wall cabinet first. Always drill pilot holes to prevent splitting through the cabinet framing support rail and into the wall studs. Do not use nails but instead screw the cabinet to the wall using two to three screws that are long enough to penetrate the studs by at least 1 1/2 inches. During this phase make sure that the cabinet is level and plumb and to adjust the position, back off the screws, and add shims behind the cabinet at stud locations as needed.

7. Next install the adjacent cabinets. Secure each cabinet to its neighbor with a clamp and check it for plumb. Once you have the cabinets aligned properly use screws to attach them together, be sure not to use the shelf-peg holes that you will need for shelves later.

8. Once all the wall cabinets are in place, install the corner and/or end base cabinet. When necessary, use shims to level it and raise it up to the high point of the floor. Once level from front to back and from side to side screw it to the wall studs.

9. Finally place screws through the cabinet back and shims where used into the wall studs. Always trim all excess material from the shims with a sharp utility knife.

That’s it, I know it sounds easy but don’t be fooled it will take some detailed planning on your part and most likely a helping hand from a friend. Good luck with your project.

Dennis Watson - Just helping others succeed.

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Profiting big at resale with the right kind of kitchen remodel.

You see it all the time. People say you can get 70 % of what you spend on a new kitchen back at resale.

To me that means you just suffered a 30 % LOSS!!!

On a $60,000 kitchen that’s $20,000.

NO! NO! NO!

I want remodeling to bring ALL the money back at resale and then make MORE $$$. An investment by definition is supposed to make money. YES!!!

I want to see the $$$.

The other part of remodeling is to make resale faster. People want great, functional kitchens and top quality appliances.

An interior designer I know told me I know all the cheap ways to decorate and remodel. But where designers often go wrong is in over decorating and making choices that don’t work well for resale. The bonus of good brisk resale is my goal. A really decorated space may actually hurt resale. A real estate appraiser once told me that relo companies hate to see the phrase “designer colors”. It usually means they will have to paint the whole house before they can sell it.

Say you are working on a kitchen. What do you do? The following hints can apply to your whole remodeling project, not just kitchens.

First, think paint. In any room it’s the one single step that can clean it up and make it look NEW and PRISTINE. An expensive custom paint treatment may turn many buyers off.

What is the other thing a potential buyer wants to see regarding paint color?

“Oh, this will go with my stuff,” they say as they look at your hard work. Have you seen their stuff? No, you haven’t, so how are you going to insure it goes with their stuff?

If it’s going to go with their stuff IT HAS TO BE NEUTRAL IN COLOR! It’s also good if the walls are a warm neutral somewhere in the cream, pale yellow, tan or khaki range with white trim. Your own treasures can bring in accent color and your own personality, but exercise restraint.

Cabinets can look architectural. Architecture can bring design strength and enduring beauty to a space more effectively than decorative items. Think Shaker. It’s almost Zen in its level of restraint. It’s also classic design without a lot of decoration and it’s easy on the eye. How will your cabinets look if you trim them out with a nice crown detail and under cabinet trim and lighting? That serenity is great for resale. For resale, less is more.

In the important task of remodeling kitchens for resale, there are five ways to make money when you sell.

1.Reuse the cabinets if possible. There are LOTS of creative ways to update cabinets, most involving paint. If you really hate the doors, just replace them, and reuse the cabinets. For resale it’s better to have them in good repair and clutter free. New cabinets may cost as much as $50,000 and may only be MDF. Good old wood cabinets like the ones in many older houses can be functional. They often need some repair, but the work you do will make you thousands of dollars.

2. Leave the sink, fridge, and stove where they are, but get new ones. Many buyers will view the stove as an ego item like a luxury car. This is the place to spend the money, not too much. Just enough.

3. Replace counter tops with a high quality material like granite in strategic locations. Use something cheaper, but still nice in other areas.

4. Make the floors work with the look of the house. Like cork for mid century modern, black and white tile for Victorian, or slate or wood floors for country. Ceramic tiles are great and less expensive than other materials. They’re great value.

5. Pulls and handles for cabinets and sinks can be updated to current style and expectations. It’s like changing your hair so you avoid looking your age.

There it is. Get a great look that doesn’t cost $60,000 and require major construction. If you are handy you can do a lot of the work yourself. If you feel you can’t, hire a professional. Many vendors of appliances and sinks and fixtures will do installations and deliveries for free or a small fee.

You don’t want a potential buyer to think DIY, but if you do it yourself, it’s really going to save BIG $$$ and make you feel proud. I have gotten better at doing the work than many people who claim to be pros. You can too.

Michele Roman breaks with the traditional rules and tells all about renovating your home for big profits. Learn her secrets (Free) at http://www.sell-my-home-for-more.com.

Every little girl dreams of having a fairytale bedroom, even the ones that can act like a real tom-boy! =)

Use your daughter’s childhood years to create memories that will stay with her for a lifetime. It’s really not as difficult as it sounds!

All it takes is some creativity and a little bit of shopping. It doesn’t even have to cost a lot to transform a ho-hum bedroom into a little girl’s dream land fantasy world. This is the time to let out your own little inner kid and have some fun!

The fairytale concept covers alot of themes, from castles, princesses, knights and dragons, to fairies with lots of glitter and lace (of course), so the first step is to figure out what your little girl would really enjoy. That’s an easy one to figure out…just ask!

Let’s look at some designs that might be perfect for a young lady’s dream bedroom.

ZZ Designs is a pretty popular bedding designer that you may have heard of- they offer several selections you may want to consider.

The first is their Fairy Princess Bedding set which includes a quilt featuring a castle motif with a creative hem that reflects the shapes of the towers of the castle. Placed over a white bed skirt with white frilly or billowing drapes, this choice of 100% cotton can begin your dream bedroom design.

The color scheme of the bedding includes white, pink, lavender, and purple. You can even add a canopy for her bed with 10 yards of shimmery fabric to really finish off look. Just put a nice stable hook in the ceiling at the center of her bed and then let the fabric halves hang and billow from the center down, and attach toward all the corners of the bed. There are other more detailed instructions for creating your own canopy type effects, just type it in to your browser! Pretty nifty!

Another ZZ Designs selection you’ll want to check out is called A Little Sugar and Spice. Shades of pink vary from very light to a more dark pink. The 100% cotton quilt features bows, hearts, butterflies and flowers. Each pillow sham features three beautiful hearts. This set is available up to queen size.

California Kids Company offers a quilt that could become the decorating center piece of the perfect little girl’s fairytale bedroom.

The hand-made 100% cotton quilt features appliqués of a castle, carriage, slipper and other princess designs. This line provides lots of choices because the same design is available as a duvet cover, and both the quilt and duvet cover are available up to queen size. Matching print sheets, pillow shams and bed skirt, dust ruffle, window dressing, bed canopy for camelback or regular canopies and a whole collection of other accessories give you lots to mix and match to best fit your space.

No matter what bedding you choose, you’ll definitely want to add something like the Princess Castle lamp by CK Designs. A pink castle with blue accents holds a pink shade on the tallest tower top. The lamp is operated by a pull chain which features a glow in the dark quarter moon to make the lamp easy to find in the dark.

This is a thoughtful choice for any little girl’s fantasy bedroom. It’s often difficult to teach children to sleep alone in the dark but the comforting presence of the shining moon can be used to comfort her that SHE is in control and can get to the light easily if she wakes up frightened or has a bad dream.

A beautiful touch for a bedroom with few windows but a lot of wall space is That’s My Room’s Castle Window Mural. It creates the feel of a stone arch window facing toward another beautiful castle in the distance. This can add an airy touch to a bedroom that has no attractive outdoor scenery to open the windows toward.

You could hang a billow length of satiny cloth around the mural so it looks like real drapes- and you’ll have a very realistic looking window added to your child’s castle!

How about adding some neat little finishing touches like a glittery wand, some sparkly little shoes that you could customize with glitter and lace. You could buy a few little castle figurines and place them just so for the perfect daydreams!

Decorating for your little princess can be fun. If you never had the dream bedroom you always wanted, you know how much a perfect bedroom can mean. So fulfill your little girl’s dreams while you can!

All too soon she will grow up and move into her very own castle.

Patricia Bowlin informs and entertains you as you shop for home bedding! Find out everything you need to know about chosing the perfect pillows, comforters, and bedding here now.