Wall Coat Rack – Tips on How to Use it
Tony R Clark asked:
A wall coat rack is no longer something you simply fling your coat on when you come home from work. Today they are designed to be a useful addition to any room in the house. With many very attractive designs now available a wall rack can add to your decor and need not be confined to a recess behind the door. In fact in some areas they can become a focal point.
In bedrooms for example, an attractive wall coat rack can double up as a place to hang everything from a dressing gown to a bag or shoe holder, and even a dirty washing bag.
There are so many designs available, and some even have animal heads on them which will certainly create a talking point. Great perhaps in Dad’s den!
Storage cupboards, plate racks, cubby holes for the kids bits and bobs, key rings, mirrors and book stands can all be incorporated in your wall coat rack. And there will not be any more excuses for not having somewhere to put things.
A wall coat rack in the kitchen, particularly one with a shelf or shelves, can help keep the worktops tidy but at the same time make items like cookery books, oven gloves, tea towels etc., very accessible.
Even in your garden shed a wall coat rack has a multitude of uses. Tool bags, garden sheers, waste bags can all hang from the hooks, and be found easily instead of rummaging about trying to remember were you put them.
A wall mounted coat rack is an item most of us rarely give much thought to in our home, but if you look around you will see that it’s an item very much undervalued and can certainly sort out many of your storage problems. Produced in a variety of materials and designs, there’s an attractive wall coat rack to be found for any room.
cookery books
A wall coat rack is no longer something you simply fling your coat on when you come home from work. Today they are designed to be a useful addition to any room in the house. With many very attractive designs now available a wall rack can add to your decor and need not be confined to a recess behind the door. In fact in some areas they can become a focal point.
In bedrooms for example, an attractive wall coat rack can double up as a place to hang everything from a dressing gown to a bag or shoe holder, and even a dirty washing bag.
There are so many designs available, and some even have animal heads on them which will certainly create a talking point. Great perhaps in Dad’s den!
Storage cupboards, plate racks, cubby holes for the kids bits and bobs, key rings, mirrors and book stands can all be incorporated in your wall coat rack. And there will not be any more excuses for not having somewhere to put things.
A wall coat rack in the kitchen, particularly one with a shelf or shelves, can help keep the worktops tidy but at the same time make items like cookery books, oven gloves, tea towels etc., very accessible.
Even in your garden shed a wall coat rack has a multitude of uses. Tool bags, garden sheers, waste bags can all hang from the hooks, and be found easily instead of rummaging about trying to remember were you put them.
A wall mounted coat rack is an item most of us rarely give much thought to in our home, but if you look around you will see that it’s an item very much undervalued and can certainly sort out many of your storage problems. Produced in a variety of materials and designs, there’s an attractive wall coat rack to be found for any room.
cookery books
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
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Categories: Home Improvement Tags: Storage Problems
Have You Got Sharks in Your Kitchen?
Samuel Duckworth asked:
The sharks we are talking about are carpet sharks, more commonly known as silverfish.
Like their water dwelling namesakes who mainly graze along the bottom of warm shallow seas, silverfish thrive on damp conditions and love to eat anything starchy. This includes sugar, flour and paper. The carpet sharks that live in the sea and those in our homes are also both nocturnal which means that we often have an infestation before we are aware of it.
The bad news is that silverfish can live up to eight years. The good news is that they are fairly easy to eradicate once you know that they are there. So, how do you get rid of silverfish once they appear in your kitchen?
The first thing you need to do is thoroughly clean your whole kitchen. This includes all kitchen cabinets and drawers. Silverfish like dark places and will hide in cracks behind tiles and under the lining paper in drawers. If possible get your kitchen steam cleaned as this will eliminate not only the silverfish but some of their eggs as well. However, the eggs are tiny and you may have to repeat any treatment to catch eggs missed the first time. The added benefit of a good steam clean is that it will remove deep grease and lingering odours and leave your kitchen feeling newer and fresher.
Now you need to work out how to keep your kitchen clear in the future. Silverfish like warm damp atmospheres so increasing the ventilation will help. Consider installing a better extractor hood over your cooker or even change the filter on your existing one. When cooking, particularly boiling or steaming, make sure that doors and windows are open to increase ventilation. If this is not possible then install a dehumidifier or at least wipe down surfaces with a dry cloth once the cooking is finished.
As silverfish feed on starchy foods, make sure that worktops are kept clear of food residue and that food such as biscuits is safely stored in boxes to reduce the risk of crumbs ending up loose in cupboards. If you keep cookery books in the kitchen, consider moving them to another room or at least protect the covers with a plastic contact cover. Books that are already contaminated can be wrapped in a protective cover and placed in the freezer for a couple of days to kill the insects. Don’t do this if the books are damp or you will damage them further.
Finally, a green way to keep silverfish away is to keep sprigs of lavender or bay leaf in your cupboards. Lavender also works to deter ants so sprigs in your kitchen and a pot of lavender outside your door and you could soon be ant free with no more worry about carpet sharks.
Create a video blog
The sharks we are talking about are carpet sharks, more commonly known as silverfish.
Like their water dwelling namesakes who mainly graze along the bottom of warm shallow seas, silverfish thrive on damp conditions and love to eat anything starchy. This includes sugar, flour and paper. The carpet sharks that live in the sea and those in our homes are also both nocturnal which means that we often have an infestation before we are aware of it.
The bad news is that silverfish can live up to eight years. The good news is that they are fairly easy to eradicate once you know that they are there. So, how do you get rid of silverfish once they appear in your kitchen?
The first thing you need to do is thoroughly clean your whole kitchen. This includes all kitchen cabinets and drawers. Silverfish like dark places and will hide in cracks behind tiles and under the lining paper in drawers. If possible get your kitchen steam cleaned as this will eliminate not only the silverfish but some of their eggs as well. However, the eggs are tiny and you may have to repeat any treatment to catch eggs missed the first time. The added benefit of a good steam clean is that it will remove deep grease and lingering odours and leave your kitchen feeling newer and fresher.
Now you need to work out how to keep your kitchen clear in the future. Silverfish like warm damp atmospheres so increasing the ventilation will help. Consider installing a better extractor hood over your cooker or even change the filter on your existing one. When cooking, particularly boiling or steaming, make sure that doors and windows are open to increase ventilation. If this is not possible then install a dehumidifier or at least wipe down surfaces with a dry cloth once the cooking is finished.
As silverfish feed on starchy foods, make sure that worktops are kept clear of food residue and that food such as biscuits is safely stored in boxes to reduce the risk of crumbs ending up loose in cupboards. If you keep cookery books in the kitchen, consider moving them to another room or at least protect the covers with a plastic contact cover. Books that are already contaminated can be wrapped in a protective cover and placed in the freezer for a couple of days to kill the insects. Don’t do this if the books are damp or you will damage them further.
Finally, a green way to keep silverfish away is to keep sprigs of lavender or bay leaf in your cupboards. Lavender also works to deter ants so sprigs in your kitchen and a pot of lavender outside your door and you could soon be ant free with no more worry about carpet sharks.
Create a video blog
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
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Categories: Home Improvement Tags: Carpet Sharks
Don’t Be a Scatter Hoarding Squirrel, Get a Cleaner
Samuel Duckworth asked:
The days are growing shorter, the nights are cooling down and the smell of autumn is in the air. Creatures everywhere are frantically going about their winter preparations, storing food and eating more to build up a layer of fat to see them through the lean times ahead.
One animal which seems to delight in this autumn bonanza is the squirrel. Anyone lucky enough to have a cob nut or walnut tree nearby can pass hours of fun, watching these bushy tailed creatures scampering along phone and electric wires to retrieve nuts and take them to secret burial sites. Of course, as those clever squirrels want to keep their bounty for themselves, they take great care to hide it from others. Sometimes this involves digging a pit and covering it with rotting debris, other times they use a scatter hoarding technique. Scientists have proved that squirrels have an amazing sense of spatial perception and recall so that they can always find their buried treasure.
The squirrel sense of instant recall is something that few humans can match. Whilst we may shine at the party game of remembering twenty objects on a tray, quickly shove those same objects into various cupboards around the house and a good few will be lost forever. Unfortunately, when tidying our homes in a hurry we do tend to use the scatter hoarder approach and our possessions finish up in the nearest cupboard with is generally the last place we would think of looking.
One way to solve this last minute panic tidying is to get a cleaner. They not only clean your home with love, they believe in a place for everything and everything in its place. Tell your cleaner that spoons always go in the second drawer down and that is exactly where every spoon will go. Explain that your cookery books should be in order of height and then title and you never need to search for a book again. Your cleaner will tidy in the way that you would like to if you only had the time.
The only problem with this technique is that because everything can be put away in the right place, everything will be put away in the right place. You won’t be able to get away with pretending to look for those embarrassing photos of you wearing your fancy dress outfit last New Year because you will know exactly where they are.
This is where you might have to employ the squirrels’ last trick, fake hiding. Squirrels dig holes and pretend to hide nuts in them to stop watchers from knowing where to look. Surveys have shown that up to a fifth of all squirrel burials are fake and this percentage goes up if humans or animals are watching. Have a hidey-box or a work-room that the cleaner is not allowed to clean. Hoard your special possessions in that place and no one will know.
Create a video blog…instantly.
The days are growing shorter, the nights are cooling down and the smell of autumn is in the air. Creatures everywhere are frantically going about their winter preparations, storing food and eating more to build up a layer of fat to see them through the lean times ahead.
One animal which seems to delight in this autumn bonanza is the squirrel. Anyone lucky enough to have a cob nut or walnut tree nearby can pass hours of fun, watching these bushy tailed creatures scampering along phone and electric wires to retrieve nuts and take them to secret burial sites. Of course, as those clever squirrels want to keep their bounty for themselves, they take great care to hide it from others. Sometimes this involves digging a pit and covering it with rotting debris, other times they use a scatter hoarding technique. Scientists have proved that squirrels have an amazing sense of spatial perception and recall so that they can always find their buried treasure.
The squirrel sense of instant recall is something that few humans can match. Whilst we may shine at the party game of remembering twenty objects on a tray, quickly shove those same objects into various cupboards around the house and a good few will be lost forever. Unfortunately, when tidying our homes in a hurry we do tend to use the scatter hoarder approach and our possessions finish up in the nearest cupboard with is generally the last place we would think of looking.
One way to solve this last minute panic tidying is to get a cleaner. They not only clean your home with love, they believe in a place for everything and everything in its place. Tell your cleaner that spoons always go in the second drawer down and that is exactly where every spoon will go. Explain that your cookery books should be in order of height and then title and you never need to search for a book again. Your cleaner will tidy in the way that you would like to if you only had the time.
The only problem with this technique is that because everything can be put away in the right place, everything will be put away in the right place. You won’t be able to get away with pretending to look for those embarrassing photos of you wearing your fancy dress outfit last New Year because you will know exactly where they are.
This is where you might have to employ the squirrels’ last trick, fake hiding. Squirrels dig holes and pretend to hide nuts in them to stop watchers from knowing where to look. Surveys have shown that up to a fifth of all squirrel burials are fake and this percentage goes up if humans or animals are watching. Have a hidey-box or a work-room that the cleaner is not allowed to clean. Hoard your special possessions in that place and no one will know.
Create a video blog…instantly.
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
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Categories: Home Improvement Tags: Electric Wires
Incorporating an Office in Your Kitchen
Susan Pitters asked:
Designers report that it is becoming increasingly popular to incorporate a space to work at complete with computer, in the kitchen of the average home. Most families don’t have the space for a complete office to be fitted, but many are wanting to be able to watch children do homework and surf the net, and for you to keep an eye on them, answer the telephone, pay bills and write the next day’s shopping list. All in the hub of the home – the kitchen.
It has therefore become a challenge for designers to work out ways in which to accommodate an area within the kitchen that will perform these functions.
If you are contemplating designing a kitchen yourself, you will first need to decide what activities you want to do there, and who will be using the space allotted. Although different for every member of the family, it is necessary to establish how many people will be using the computer at once, for example, so that sitting room can be allowed. (Children often access the computer in twos or threes!)
When deciding exactly where to place the office area, try not to interfere with the traffic flow in the kitchen. Also avoid being near heat and water. Imagine where the seating will be when people at the ‘desk’ are using it, and make enough space around this area to move.
Start with positioning the ‘desk’ which should be least least 40-42 inches long in order to work at comfortably. Kids need space to spread out their homework books. The work surface may be part of the cabinetry plan you have for the rest of the kitchen and integrated fully into it, or it may be made of a contrasting material or color in order to define the area better. If space is limited, think about making it the same as the kitchen proper. Then, if and when you need space to stack the dinner plates or leave a pie to cool, you can spill over from the kitchen onto the worktops here, quite seamlessly and naturally.
Design the space under the desk so that you have at least two cabinets or cupboards that can easily store the computer ‘tower’, providing enough height and depth, and adequate ventilation. Make sure that the desktop / work surface has a cavity for running cables and leads down through it to the tower, and that there is a power point close by inside the cabinet. The power cables should be run through hollow plastic channels or wire trenches for aesthetics, safety and to avoid wires getting tangled up.
Above the work surface you should have at least two sets of power points to support your telephone, printer, fax machine, charger, and whatever other device you want to be able to keep here. If the work surface isn’t long, have cabinets above it starting at a level at which you won’t bump your head every time you lean forward to sit down, and rising to an aesthetically pleasing height. (Look at the height in line with your other wall cabinets and see how it all looks together). You can use these cabinets for paper, supplies, equipment, office filing systems and any other office related business.
Alternatively, you could use the wall cabinetry to house the computer tower and printer, fax and power sources, while using the lower cabinets for paper and filing. It is sensible to decide what will work best in an ergonomic way for you.
The height of the ‘desk’ or work surface is really important. Match this to your height and the type of seating that you will use to work there… especially if you will be sitting for extended periods of time. The standard desk height is about 29-30 inches. But you would be very wise to add a slide-out drawer under the desk top so that you can hide the keyboard and mouse when not in use. Not only will this help in the integrated, seamless look that you may be striving for in the kitchen, but it will keep things tidy and clean.
The chair or stool you choose for the desk should be suited to your needs. A good idea is to get a swivel chair that is the right shape and form for desk work. It could be a gas-lift chair so that different people can use it equally comfortably. Make sure that it is comfortable and easy to move away out of the kitchen when you want to.
Lighting is very important. General lighting won’t be adequate over a work surface, so you will need to install some sort of task lighting. This could take the form of under cabinet recessed halogen ‘downlights’ above the work surface, and in front of the person working. Or you could use a small fluorescent bar light, set under the cabinets. Another option is a pendant lamp hung over the work surface. The lighting should also be glare-free. Shadows and glare on the computer can easily be avoided with some planning.
Shelving above the middle part of the desk top can be very useful. You can use it to place photographs, to showcase special items, or use it for books. If not office books, then cookery books.
Once you have planned your kitchen – office, you can look forward to many happy days being right in the action, in the heart of your home.
Kansieo.com
Designers report that it is becoming increasingly popular to incorporate a space to work at complete with computer, in the kitchen of the average home. Most families don’t have the space for a complete office to be fitted, but many are wanting to be able to watch children do homework and surf the net, and for you to keep an eye on them, answer the telephone, pay bills and write the next day’s shopping list. All in the hub of the home – the kitchen.
It has therefore become a challenge for designers to work out ways in which to accommodate an area within the kitchen that will perform these functions.
If you are contemplating designing a kitchen yourself, you will first need to decide what activities you want to do there, and who will be using the space allotted. Although different for every member of the family, it is necessary to establish how many people will be using the computer at once, for example, so that sitting room can be allowed. (Children often access the computer in twos or threes!)
When deciding exactly where to place the office area, try not to interfere with the traffic flow in the kitchen. Also avoid being near heat and water. Imagine where the seating will be when people at the ‘desk’ are using it, and make enough space around this area to move.
Start with positioning the ‘desk’ which should be least least 40-42 inches long in order to work at comfortably. Kids need space to spread out their homework books. The work surface may be part of the cabinetry plan you have for the rest of the kitchen and integrated fully into it, or it may be made of a contrasting material or color in order to define the area better. If space is limited, think about making it the same as the kitchen proper. Then, if and when you need space to stack the dinner plates or leave a pie to cool, you can spill over from the kitchen onto the worktops here, quite seamlessly and naturally.
Design the space under the desk so that you have at least two cabinets or cupboards that can easily store the computer ‘tower’, providing enough height and depth, and adequate ventilation. Make sure that the desktop / work surface has a cavity for running cables and leads down through it to the tower, and that there is a power point close by inside the cabinet. The power cables should be run through hollow plastic channels or wire trenches for aesthetics, safety and to avoid wires getting tangled up.
Above the work surface you should have at least two sets of power points to support your telephone, printer, fax machine, charger, and whatever other device you want to be able to keep here. If the work surface isn’t long, have cabinets above it starting at a level at which you won’t bump your head every time you lean forward to sit down, and rising to an aesthetically pleasing height. (Look at the height in line with your other wall cabinets and see how it all looks together). You can use these cabinets for paper, supplies, equipment, office filing systems and any other office related business.
Alternatively, you could use the wall cabinetry to house the computer tower and printer, fax and power sources, while using the lower cabinets for paper and filing. It is sensible to decide what will work best in an ergonomic way for you.
The height of the ‘desk’ or work surface is really important. Match this to your height and the type of seating that you will use to work there… especially if you will be sitting for extended periods of time. The standard desk height is about 29-30 inches. But you would be very wise to add a slide-out drawer under the desk top so that you can hide the keyboard and mouse when not in use. Not only will this help in the integrated, seamless look that you may be striving for in the kitchen, but it will keep things tidy and clean.
The chair or stool you choose for the desk should be suited to your needs. A good idea is to get a swivel chair that is the right shape and form for desk work. It could be a gas-lift chair so that different people can use it equally comfortably. Make sure that it is comfortable and easy to move away out of the kitchen when you want to.
Lighting is very important. General lighting won’t be adequate over a work surface, so you will need to install some sort of task lighting. This could take the form of under cabinet recessed halogen ‘downlights’ above the work surface, and in front of the person working. Or you could use a small fluorescent bar light, set under the cabinets. Another option is a pendant lamp hung over the work surface. The lighting should also be glare-free. Shadows and glare on the computer can easily be avoided with some planning.
Shelving above the middle part of the desk top can be very useful. You can use it to place photographs, to showcase special items, or use it for books. If not office books, then cookery books.
Once you have planned your kitchen – office, you can look forward to many happy days being right in the action, in the heart of your home.
Kansieo.com
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
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Categories: Home Improvement Tags: Pay Bills
A Simple Guide To Building Kitchen Cabinets
Ray Nwambuonwo asked:
Building kitchen cabinets is certainly within the reach of most people, especially if they are of a regular size. Even though carcasses come in different sizes, they are all essentially built in exactly the same way, so once you have put the first couple together the rest should be a lot easier to manage.
But admitting your kitchen isn’t a regular square or rectangle shape? What if you have a sloping roof? Or an awkward recess? Or simply an irregular wall that needs to be hidden behind your kitchen cabinets?
In this case, building kitchen cabinets might not be as easy as you think. Proper preparation is required here to make sure the finished kitchen looks as good as it should. Here are some tips for making your ideal remodel come true.
Building cabinets of an irregular shape needn’t be as hard as you think. In fact, in some cases – such as the above example of the irregular walls – you might not need to butcher regular size cabinets at all.
Find out if the range you are considering has wall cabinets that are the same height as floor cabinets. If it does, simply buy a wall cabinet in place of a floor cabinet. They are not as deep and will save you the trouble of trying to cut an awkward shape in the back of your floor cabinet.
Building kitchen cabinets that need to go under a sloping roof can be done in two ways. The easiest option is to buy several different heights of cabinet, so that the cabinets are staggered in height. Attractive boxes can be bought to fit in the gaps, or alternatively you can use the space for storing cookery books.
Secondly, and depending on what style door you choose, you can cut down both the door and the cabinet, so as to allow a perfect fit between the sloping roof and the cabinet itself. Make sure the door won’t scrape against the wall when it’s fitted.
When you are building kitchen cabinets, it’s important to fit all the carcasses in place first, before you fit the doors or interiors. This is the quickest and easiest way to install any kitchen, and it means your doors will stay wrapped up and safely stored away while the main building work is done.
Imagine how you will feel once you hang the doors and get them level, you can then stand back to admire your new kitchen. Your joy will be infectious to everyone around since you designed and built it.
Kansieo.com
Building kitchen cabinets is certainly within the reach of most people, especially if they are of a regular size. Even though carcasses come in different sizes, they are all essentially built in exactly the same way, so once you have put the first couple together the rest should be a lot easier to manage.
But admitting your kitchen isn’t a regular square or rectangle shape? What if you have a sloping roof? Or an awkward recess? Or simply an irregular wall that needs to be hidden behind your kitchen cabinets?
In this case, building kitchen cabinets might not be as easy as you think. Proper preparation is required here to make sure the finished kitchen looks as good as it should. Here are some tips for making your ideal remodel come true.
Building cabinets of an irregular shape needn’t be as hard as you think. In fact, in some cases – such as the above example of the irregular walls – you might not need to butcher regular size cabinets at all.
Find out if the range you are considering has wall cabinets that are the same height as floor cabinets. If it does, simply buy a wall cabinet in place of a floor cabinet. They are not as deep and will save you the trouble of trying to cut an awkward shape in the back of your floor cabinet.
Building kitchen cabinets that need to go under a sloping roof can be done in two ways. The easiest option is to buy several different heights of cabinet, so that the cabinets are staggered in height. Attractive boxes can be bought to fit in the gaps, or alternatively you can use the space for storing cookery books.
Secondly, and depending on what style door you choose, you can cut down both the door and the cabinet, so as to allow a perfect fit between the sloping roof and the cabinet itself. Make sure the door won’t scrape against the wall when it’s fitted.
When you are building kitchen cabinets, it’s important to fit all the carcasses in place first, before you fit the doors or interiors. This is the quickest and easiest way to install any kitchen, and it means your doors will stay wrapped up and safely stored away while the main building work is done.
Imagine how you will feel once you hang the doors and get them level, you can then stand back to admire your new kitchen. Your joy will be infectious to everyone around since you designed and built it.
Kansieo.com
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
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Categories: Home Improvement Tags: Cabinet Building