The benefits of being in nature and its healing, calming effects are well documented. Unfortunately, we live busy lifestyles that allow little time to enjoy our favorite outdoor activities in nature. Maybe it’s time to add natural elements to modern kitchen design. Being surrounded by natural and organic elements instantly makes us feel calm and at peace. In recent years, we have grown more aware of the decreasing natural resources of our planet. That’s why it is essential that we bring more natural design elements into our homes. No wonder kitchen design and architecture experts always try to incorporate a natural touch in our homes. Bring Nature Inside Your Kitchen There are plenty of ways to use your kitchen design to bring nature indoors. You can incorporate lots of green plants, add natural stone or brick, or even plan your window placement so it overlooks your green backyard. Adding natural furniture elements, such as modern wooden tables and chairs, makes perfect … [Read more...] about Add Natural Elements to Your Kitchen Design
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Decorate Your Home with Jigsaw Puzzles
When you decorate your home with jigsaw puzzles, you create homemade beauty and wonderful family experiences. Jigsaw puzzles are a great and fun activity for both adults and children. They are a unique and beneficial family and solo pastime. It doesn’t matter whether you prefer 1000 piece puzzles, wood brain teasers, or 3D mechanical puzzles. All of these share one key element—they give you a real mental workout. We know that puzzles are very beneficial for children because of the physical and cognitive brain skills they develop. But did you know that adult brains can benefit from puzzles too? Puzzles exercise both sides of the brain, improving your memory, problem-solving skills and spatial reasoning. Plus, working on a puzzle can put you in a good mood. Jigsaw puzzles can be valuable in other ways too. Have you ever lost a few jigsaw puzzle pieces and then ended up throwing the entire stock away? Or do you keep the old pieces somewhere stashed? Well, now you can put those … [Read more...] about Decorate Your Home with Jigsaw Puzzles
How To Make A Holiday Wreath
It’s not difficult to make a holiday wreath. Here’s how to make your own Christmas holiday wreath that honors a centuries-old tradition. Some people might see a pile of evergreen branches. But other creative folks see boundless possibilities! Don’t discard the branches you have trimmed from your fresh-cut Christmas tree. Instead, use these trimmed branches to create your very own DIY holiday wreath! A quick history of making wreaths Many historians believe the history of wreath making goes back to ancient Greece and Rome. Wreaths were made of fresh tree leaves and small twigs and branches. The branches and leaves were fashioned into a circle, which was then decorated with flowers and small fruits. Other historians trace the origin of the modern holiday wreath to about 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus. These evergreen wreaths were adopted by early Christians, who made “Advent wreaths” to celebrate the season of Christmas. Over the years, the Christmas wreath has become a … [Read more...] about How To Make A Holiday Wreath
Decorate with Simple, Sustainable Holiday Containers
What do you do with containers on your front porch or deck once you have yanked out those sorry-looking, frost-killed petunias? Now is the time to welcome the holiday season by decorating with holiday containers filled with seasonal arrangements of greenery and other natural material from your yard and landscape. It’s easy to forage for material from your property on or around your home for your holiday containers. With pruners in hand, I venture into roadside edges and woods and gather lichen-covered branches, fall-colored foliage, pine cones, and seed heads. All of these make amazing accents for my arrangements. Be sure to get permission from the landowner if you are roaming around to avoid anyone chasing you off their property! I always ask neighbors permission to browse on their property—and I promise them a beautiful holiday arrangement in return. Holiday Decor from Your Own Yard As a landscape designer, my first consideration in planting any tree or shrub … [Read more...] about Decorate with Simple, Sustainable Holiday Containers
How to Create a Goth Garden
Halloween marks the beginning of the trifecta of big Fall and Winter holidays. Whether you are into scary gardens, a witch’s medicinal ‘cures and curses’ herb garden, or a Goth garden full of vampires and zombies-- creating a Halloween landscape doesn’t have to be a nightmare. But trends being the way they are, Goth gardens aren't just for Halloween anymore. A sinister-looking Goth garden can be awesome all year long. A Goth Garden and the love of Goth gardening is inspired by the dark, brooding Gothic gardens popular in the Victorian era. Quite simply, a Goth garden suggests a fascination with cemeteries and death. Themes of death and decay dictate the use of black plants. Today, expressing your inner dark side with homemade or store-bought tombstones, gargoyles, flickering lights (no open flames, please) and cobwebs will add drama as uneasy guests make their way to your front door. A Scary Goth Garden Creating a Goth garden is the perfect time to repurpose any lifeless … [Read more...] about How to Create a Goth Garden
