Category Archives: ORGANIC HEALTH & HOME

Tips from fixing the room to finding health remedies in the kitchen.

Picture Perfect: Designing A More Instagrammable Home 

Picture Perfect: Designing A More Instagrammable Home

When it comes to creating a beautiful home, a lot of us turn to Instagram for inspiration. On there we see stunning photo after photo of other people’s picture perfect homes, so it’s no wonder we feel a little jealous at times. Do you wish that your home was an Instagram-worthy space? Don’t worry; you’re not alone – a lot more people than you think feel this way about their homes.

Now, the good news is that making your home more Instagrammable is fairly simple, it’s just as case of smartening it up (inside and out) and working out what the best angles are to snap shots from. For a more Instagrammable home that you can be proud of, here’s what you need to do:

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Make maintenance and repairs a priority

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that maintenance isn’t important when it comes to creating a picture perfect home because it is crucial. Both inside and out, it’s important to deal with any maintenance issues right away, firstly to prevent further damage from occurring and secondly to ensure that your property always looks its best.

One area that far too many of us neglect is our roofs, whether you need hail damage repair or are in need of a whole new roof, it’s a cost that’s worth paying for, especially if you want your home to look the part. Believe it or not, the roof of your property plays a big part in its curb appeal and how Instagrammable it is. Other important areas include the interior and exterior paintwork, the garden, and the general smartness of the property. Not sure what needs fixing? Then have a home inspection performed.

The floor matters

When it comes to snapping a shot of a room in your home, including the floor can help to create a more eye-catching image. This means that the flooring in your home matters, and so, if you aren’t keen on the flooring that you have, or it’s old and grubby, it’s a good idea to replace it. Or, at least, invest in some new rugs to brighten the space up.

If you are thinking of replacing the flooring in your home and want something that’s eye-catching and Instagrammable, it’s a good idea to take your time picking the perfect flooring type. Whether you opt for plain marble flooring or patterned Spanish-inspired tiles, it doesn’t matter, just as long as you choose flooring that matches your home’s design style and is well fitted.

Minimalism is key, as is a focal point

When you look at all the most Instagrammable homes, the one thing that they have in common is the fact that they are designed in a minimalist way. So, if possible, it’s a good idea to make your home a more minimalist space – aka somewhere that is clutter free. The key to a clutter-free home is having plenty of smart storage space and being organised about how you store things. For storage solution ideas, have a browse online – there’s plenty of ways you can incorporate lots of storage into your home without impacting the look of the space.

As well as a minimalist space, it’s also important that each room has a focal point. This could be a beautiful fireplace, a unique piece of artwork, an eye-catching coffee table – it doesn’t matter what, just as long as it’s eye-catching.

There you have it, everything that you need to know about designing a more Instagrammable home.

Tia, and TipsfromTia.com  is trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good, from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter or Instagram

 

Personalize Your Property: Making a House Feel Like Home

Personalize Your Property: Making a House Feel Like Home

Most of us have an idea in our head about what our homes ‘should’ look like. We browse Pinterest, Instagram, and blogs and view perfectly styled homes, many of which look very similar because they all follow the same trends. While using these images for inspiration can be useful, don’t forget that ultimately our homes are personal to us. They should be decorated to our own personal tastes. This is how a house really feels like a home, and it allows us to feel happy and inspired by our surroundings. If your property is currently a little boring, here’s how you can spice it up and add personality.

Add Texture

Bringing in different textures to the room makes it look interesting and exciting. You can do this in a variety of different ways. A selection of decorative cushions in different fabrics and soft throws draped over furniture works well. Rugs are a great way of adding texture to wooden floors, and flowing curtains over the top of blinds can look homely and finish the window area off nicely. Don’t be afraid to mix materials either. A wooden dining table for example can look incredible paired up with some industrial looking metal chairs. A mirrored dressing table or gloss wood desk could look cool with a transparent acrylic ghost chair. Have a think about different textures that would work well together for a surprisingly awesome finish.

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Add Colour

Another way to add interest and personality to a room is with color. If you’re a fan of neutrals, this can be a scary concept, but it doesn’t have to be. You could add a little color with a cushion or two, a piece of art, some faux flowers or a couple of lampshades. One or two splashes of color against a plain backdrop can look really effective. Choose an accent shade that works well with the rest of your décor. Some typical color combinations are gray/blush pink, black/white, black/red, navy/yellow and cream/duck egg. When you’re planning out your color scheme, you could take a look online for color combinations that look great together and look at rooms which have been decorated in a similar way.

Think About Wall Décor

Bare walls can make a room feel stark and uninviting, even if the rest of the décor is styled nicely. You could display a piece of art you really love or lots of different smaller pieces in the form of a gallery wall. You could hang a mirror, a clock or put up a shelf to display some decorative items. You don’t want it to look too fussy or cluttered, but a few key pieces can really help to tie the room together and make your home more interesting and personal. Another way to add interest to the walls is to use statement wallpaper and create a feature wall. In living rooms, this is often the wall which has the fireplace on it. In bedrooms, it’s the wall behind the bed. It can help ‘break up’ a bland, blank canvas, and balances nicely when the other three walls are plain. People can be a little dubious about statement walls, but you don’t have to pick really bold and ‘out there’ wallpaper. If bright and bold isn’t your kind of thing, go with a neutral in a subtle design. It will still bring interest but without needing to venture too far out of your comfort zone

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Think About Lighting

Lighting in the home should never be an afterthought. As well as being practical (for seeing at night!) it also allows you to tailor the ambiance in the home and set the mood for whatever you’re doing. Whether you’re eating, watching tv, doing a craft or just socializing, you’ll want different kinds of light for each task. A couple of different lamps around the room with different bulb brightness will allow you to adjust the light as you need. Alternatively, you could consider ‘smart bulbs’- you can adjust the brightness of these through an app on your phone so are handy to have. Your overhead lighting is just as important. You could go with a ceiling fan such as https://www.mylightingsource.com/store/categories/1480/Casablanca-Fans. These can be useful for keeping your home cool in summer and look stylish too. Alternatively, you could choose a design that fits with the theme of the rest of your room. For example, a glittering chandelier would work well with a vintage or glamorous theme. Something with metal and exposed bulbs would look very cool and industrial. Spend some time working out what would look best in the room based on the size, style, and materials.

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Have Fun With Furniture

Furniture is a big investment, it’s certainly not something you want to be replacing every other year and so when you buy you want to get it right. For this reason, choosing fairly classic pieces is the answer. This is because they won’t go out of style and will work with various décor changes over the years. However, there are still ways you can have fun with furniture. For example, you could invest in a classic sofa, but team it up with a bold accent chair. This would be a lot cheaper to buy and also replace in a few years if you fancy a change. You could go with a fun color or pattern, and use cushions in similar colors on the sofa to tie them together. You could invest in a solid dining table but buy stylish on trend chairs to go with it. Again these could be replaced in future for less money than buying everything again. You could even find a cheap, solid piece of furniture such as a sideboard or chest of drawers from a junk shop and upcycle it. It costs hardly anything to do, but you get an interesting and unique piece of furniture to decorate your home with.

Tia, and TipsfromTia.com  is trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good, from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter or Instagram

Healthy Habits Everyone Should Adopt

Healthy Habits Everyone Should Adopt

One of the biggest misconceptions that a lot of people have is that there’s some kind of trick to getting or staying healthy. As though people who are healthy have figured out some kind of secret that they’re keeping from everyone else and if you can just find out what it is you’ll be able to be healthy too! Of course, this is obviously ridiculous.

There is no trick to being healthy, it’s a process and one that people stick to thanks to a lot of hard work and dedication. However, there are ways to make that process easier. One of the best things to do is to develop some healthy habits. They say it takes twenty-one days to form a new habit, and whether that’s accurate or not it’s certainly something to keep in mind. Turning something into a habit so that it no longer feels like work may take a little bit of time, but it is absolutely something that you can achieve. Here are some of the best habits of healthy people that you should start trying to develop straight away.

Going for checkups

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There’s a bizarre habit that a lot of people seem to have where they try and put off going for any kind of medical appointment for as long as possible, even if there’s something wrong. Not only is this a terrible idea but you should also be getting yourself checked up even when there isn’t anything wrong as far as you know. Doctors and dentists are there for a reason, and their job is much easier if they’re helping you prevent any problems with your health than trying to fix them. The best thing to do is to set schedule specific times to make appointments just to have a checkup to make sure that everything’s okay. That way you’re much less likely to end up with something wrong.

It’s important to keep an established relationship with your doctors in case you need a script or a 2 day medical certificate when you are under the weather.

Waking up early

We all love to sleep, and no one likes getting up the morning. Even a morning person would sometimes rather curl up under their blanket and stay in bed rather than get up. But people who live healthy lives are often those who have realized that getting up early has a whole host of benefits. Going to sleep at a sensible time and getting up as soon as your alarm goes off are the best ways to make sure that you have decent amounts of energy throughout the day. Just make sure that you never touch that snooze button unless you want to feel groggy and miserable all day long!

Stay hydrated

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Keep a bottle of water with you at all times. If you’re drinking from it throughout the day, it will eventually become second nature to you. One of the major problems that people have most of the time is simply that we are not staying hydrated enough. By getting into the habit of drinking water constantly, you’ll be able to make sure that you never end up dehydrated which can cause you to feel bloated and lethargic.

Tia and TipsfromTia.com are trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip, email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on TwitterTikTok, or Instagram.

Repurpose Your Old Items into Spring Fun

By Guest Blogger Aimee L.

Repurpose Your Old Items into Spring Fun

 

paintPhoto Credit: coyot, Pixabay

 

Spring is here, and people around the country are spring cleaning by scrubbing their houses from top to bottom, clearing boxes out of garages, and pulling weeds and winter debris from yards. You’re probably going through stuff that you no longer use or need or have outgrown. Before you haul it off for donation, consider repurposing it. If you think outside the box and add a little paint, you can turn old items into something new and fun.

 

Cookie Sheet Memo Board

 

There’s always an area of the home where little papers pile up. The papers get lost in the pile, so the coupons expire, the memos get forgotten, and the receipts are completely disregarded. A memo board is a great place to store these items so that they’re literally in your face. Instead of buying a boring, corkboard-style piece, repurpose an old cookie sheet and create your own memo board.

 

To start, spray your cookie sheet with a metal primer, adding a fun color of spray paint afterward. Next, you’ll cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover the baking surface of the cookie sheet and use Mod Podge – a popular crafting supply that acts as an all-in-one gluing, sealing, and finishing medium – to secure it to the cookie sheet, allowing it to dry overnight. Lastly, spray a layer of glossy clear paint to the entire board to protect the paint and fabric. Attach your papers with magnets, and you’re done!

 

Old Bed Spring Reimagined

 

If your child has outgrown her crib or toddler bed, don’t toss the bed spring. Instead, use it to make a memo board, a craft supply storage center, or a trellis for your garden. Acting as a trellis, the wire frame allows climbing fruits and vegetables and ivy to weave their way up and through the wiring as they grow. You will need to prime the metal by spraying it with a can of metal primer, and then spray paint it a color of your choosing. This will prevent rusting and make it more aesthetically pleasing. Seal and protect by spraying a coat of glossy clear paint. For more structural support, consider enclosing the bed spring in a wood frame.

 

To use the bed spring as a craft supply storage center, follow the same steps above. In addition, you’ll need items in which to place your supplies and ways to attach them to the springs. Place pipe repair clamps around glass jars (such as mason jars or old spaghetti sauce jars) and tighten the clamps. These can be secured to the springs using twine or zip ties to store pens, scissors, rulers, and more. Attach wire baskets using S-hooks to store glue, paints, fabric samples, and more. You can also use clothespins on the wires to attach some items, and magnets on the thicker edges to attach notes and other papers.

 

Dragonflies from Ceiling Fan Blades

 

If you have old ceiling fan blades, table legs or spindles lying around – or purchase them at a Habitat for Humanity Restore or Goodwill for just a few dollars – consider creating a dragonfly to hang inside on a wall or outside on a fence or tree. Start by lightly sanding the fan blades and table leg or spindle. Next, use a marker to draw the wing shapes on the ceiling fan blades. Cut along these lines with a scroll saw or jigsaw, wipe the blades with a damp cloth, and allow it to dry.

 

Now you’re ready to apply primer and paint to the blades and table leg or spindle. Seal the paint and protect your dragonflies using a clear coat of spray paint. A hinge can join two blades together to make wings, as well as join the wings to the body (a table leg). Use drawer pulls, washers, or other hardware to create the eyes, and antenna straps, metal wire, metal plumbing straps, or other strips of metal for the antennas.

 

There are many other ways you can repurpose cookie sheets, bed springs, and ceiling fans. There are also other items to repurpose like old Tupperware and kids’ toys. With some imagination and a little work, you can repurpose your stuff into fun, bright, and creative spring décor, gifts, storage units, and more. With other items, utilize the right boxes, and you’ll find that your storage situation is much more organized.

Tia, and TipsfromTia.com  is trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good, from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter or Instagram

Habits Of The Highly Healthy Guys

Habits Of The Highly Healthy Guys

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When it comes to achieving something in life, a lot of men like to seek the advice of industry leaders, they like to know what highly successful people did to get to where they got. What were their habits? Things like, what were the writing habits of highly successful authors like JK Rowling? What were the approach habits of highly successful entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs?

But what about when it comes to your health?

It is something we recently overheard a wonderfully healthy elderly man talking about. He was questioning the habits of highly healthy people and using that as his inspiration to stay wonderfully youthful, and here are the highlights of what he was saying.

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Get Into the Habit Of Exercising

Physical exercise is undisputedly important, but making everyday exercise a habit is no easy feet. What highly healthy people do is find an exercise that they enjoy – really enjoy – one that will make you smile, one that you will want to get up and do every day for no less than 30 minutes. It could be walking, running, surfing or anything. Just do something you love.

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Get into The Habit of Forgiveness

Highly healthy people forgive because they understand the negative repercussions of holding onto something and letting it eat away at their health; their mind, body, and soul. Everyone has been stung by the actions or words of other people, but highly healthy people don’t let the resentment get to them. They forgive because if they don’t they will be the ones that suffer.

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Get Into The Habit of Screening

Highly healthy people know and embrace the fact it is better to prevent than aid. They see the importance of getting checked and getting checked regularly. They see the importance of asking questions about their health and asking questions in general. How can they change their diet, what is HIFU used for, how can they get a better night’s sleep; all of these will help because the more they know the less stress there is to affect them.

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Get Into The Habit Of Smaller Portion

Far too many people eat far more than they need to, which is partly the fault of the restaurant industry that has grown its plate sizes over the years. What’s more, anything we can’t finish we get put into a doggy bag. But not highly healthy people. They prefer quality over quantity knowing that what they put in their mouth is what keeps their engine running, and the better the fuel is the better they will operate; head through to the heart.

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Get Into The Habit of Doing Something New

The thing with highly healthy people is they all know the shortness of life and the importance of new experiences. They understand how new experiences challenge their mind and body to keep them healthy by optimizing their mental and physical well-being. It doesn’t have to mean you do different extreme sports every day, but simply doing the same tasks at work in a slightly different way each time. All of this will fight of tedium and the state of comfort our bodies don’t thrive from.

Tia, and TipsfromTia.com  is trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good, from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter or Instagram