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Site news, image problems

Julie — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:45:45 +0000

We are working on fixing some database related issues that caused all images and links to other resources in our posts to break. Hopefully this will be resolved within the next few hours.

Update: Most problems are solved, the only remaining problem is when you want to see a larger version of an image in our posts then those links have gotten mixed up in the database outage.

Site news, image problems is a post from: DIY Guides

Get a Free Home Make Over – TLC SEEKING COUPLES FOR $25,000 HOME MAKEOVER

Tom — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 06:13:55 +0000

Here is a bit of news for you, good luck!

The TLC network is looking for fun, outgoing couples who live together in the Los Angeles area for their new home makeover show “Our House.”

The concept: We give you $25,000 and three weeks to do whatever you want to your home’s interior. You can re-floor, re-furnish, break down walls, install extreme fixtures and make it your dream house! And you have to do it all YOURSELF! (with a little help from your friends and the occasional plumber).

We\’re looking for married couples, dating couples, new home owners, long-time residents, couples who are strapped for cash and couples who just need a change. Whatever your story — as long as you own your house and want TLC to pay you to re-invent it — we want to hear from you!

Please send an email to OurHouseCasting@gmail.com with both of your names and ages, a phone number, your house’s location, photos of you both and a brief explanation of why you want to makeover your home.

Image:
Fickr CC

Get a Free Home Make Over – TLC SEEKING COUPLES FOR $25,000 HOME MAKEOVER is a post from: DIY Guides

Maintaining the Proper Humidity Levels in Your Home

Mike — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 12:33:08 +0000

Maintain the Proper Humidity Levels in Your Home

We have to make sure that our house has the proper humidity level especially during the winter when the heaters are working in full steam. In many cases, furnaces can remove too much of moisture from the air and generate static electricity as well. If the air is too dry and filled with dust and bacteria, we will only be faced with faster aging and drying, respiratory problems and many other health-related problems. 40 percent to 60 percent of humidity level is the optimal condition which human is most comfortable with, the some goes to the air temperature of 66 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. 45 percent of a relative humidity is ideal for the indoor health and comfort. With proper humidity levels, a home feels warmer than a dry home during the winter or even at lower temperatures. Here are the steps on how to make sure your house maintains its proper humidity levels.

You will need:

Humidifier
House plants

Steps:

First, you must always take notice to the frequently air rooms. The quantity of pollutants in the air can be reduced with proper ventilation and can help to maintain humidity as well.
Plants are among the best purify elements for the air by preventing harmful substances and increase the humidity of the air. Fern and Scheffler are the best types of plants that can be used as a natural humidifier.
The green color of the plants is also beneficial as it helps one feel calmer and fresher. Another natural element that you can add to your house is the tropical fish. The covers of the aquarium created with holes can help the water to evaporate. The permanent evaporation of water can create human-friendly conditions for us.
If you have the budget to spend more, a good quality of humidifier is also the best investment to your home humidity level. Nowadays, you can find variety of humidifiers with a whole different range of prices.
Choose the best and most suitable humidifiers for your home. There is an evaporative humidifier which is the most common type of humidifier. The evaporative humidifier is build with a reservoir that holds cold water and dispenses it into a basin.
A wicking filter will help to absorb the waters from the basin and a fan will blow the air through the moistened filter. As the air passes through the filter, some of the water will evaporate into the room.
Humidifiers with ultrasonic machines tend to work silently. They have the capacity of holding one to three gallons of water and radiating high frequency ultrasonic wave water to produce fine mists.
Some have additional features that will cost you more such as the purifying air. You also need to be careful not to overdo when humidifying.
Molds and fungi can grow when there is too high humidity level and could also cause the surfaces of the furniture to swell.

Additional Reading:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4582598_ensure-proper-humidity-house.html

Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremylevinedesign/3197502527/

Maintaining the Proper Humidity Levels in Your Home is a post from: DIY Guides

Magnetic Knife Block From Henckels

Tom — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:04:01 +0000

We usually don\’t post that much news here at DIY Guides but this knife block from J.A. Henckels is just too cool not to mention. Since magnets are pretty much the ugliest thing you can find we applaud everyone who tries to make great design out of a knife block.

This beauty will be available later this year, not sure when, for $80.

Be sure to watch J.A. Henckels for updates.

Magnetic Knife Block From Henckels is a post from: DIY Guides

More How to Guides

Tom — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:31:37 +0000

In order to get a better focus on what we do here on DIY Guides we have started a more general “how to” site called Guidezee. On Guidezee we will be much broader in the terms of questions we try to help you out with, we are doing a slow start over there but at the moment we put up a few guides about etiquette so if you want to learn how to handle bad neighbors or how to stop swearing so much we will help you out there. Nick and Julie will write for Guidezee for starters and when we start to pick up speed we will add more writers.

We hope this will help us to focus more on home improvement here on DIY Guides since we get to write more wacky guides at Guidezee.

More How to Guides is a post from: DIY Guides

Activities for Christmas

Mike — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:11:12 +0000

It\’s nearly that time of the year again. The time of this season for giving and receiving, of course, Christmas today is as much a traditional holiday as Chinese New Year, Eid and Diwali as well as a commercially-driven celebration such as Valentine\’s Day. Here\’s a list of activities to do during this joyous time of the year:

Spend time with family members

Had a tiff with Mom over your choice of clothing? Annoyed by your brother\’s constant loud music blasting throughout the house? Forget it all. This a season to forgive. Take a day off and go get some fresh air outside of the usual environment your family is used to. Go to a park and have a picnic or even just play a game of Monopoly together. At least for just one day, spend some well-deserved quality time with your family.

Meet up with long lost friends

Family is important but so are friends. So, how long has it been since you last met your high school friends or college / university mates? Can\’t remember? Well, it\’s high time to pick up that phone and start calling and reconnect with each other. It\’s better to take the first step yourself than to wait a huge reunion that might or might not happen. Go out for a movie or head to nearest karaoke to sing your hearts out. If neither is to your taste, there is always the unofficial national hangout place: the local bar!

Give, give, give…

It\’s not only about those you know but who you don\’t too as it is after all the season to give and share. Take some time out and visit charitable homes and gain new experiences along the way. Who knows? You might be able to make new friends at the same time too. In any case, if you have any extra items to give away, that is even better. There are many homes or charitable organisations which take in used items that are still in good condition. Volunteerism is definitely undervalued but never under-appreciated.

Shop till you drop

Not literally of course! The shopping malls are not only a spectacle to behold during this season but great places to spend. Not only are there sales everywhere, there are also many choices to choose from no matter what your budget is. Just look out for the big \’Sale\’ sign hanging in front of the shops and you\’ll be sure to find a bargain!

Travel

Since it is such a long holiday, why not take a breather and have a vacation? There are so many choices to choose from either locally or overseas. Nowadays, no matter what your budget is, there are various options to choose from; you can travel on budget with budget airlines or travel in comfort with all the frills attached. Take your pick and go on your very own adventure!

Engage your inner couch potato

If spending money, battling traffic jams and large crowds is not your kind of thing, then staying at home would be the best option. Since it is Christmas, there would most likely be a lot of feel-good movies or entertainment programmes on TV. It might not be such a bad idea to relax and unwind in front of the tube once in awhile.

No matter what activity you choose to engage in this Christmas, just have fun and enjoy the trappings that go with the season!

Activities for Christmas is a post from: DIY Guides

Cool Kitchen Designs

Julie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:07:35 +0000

So lets kick start with some amazing kitchen design that hopefully will inspire you in some way.

Valcucine:

The first kitchen to be made completely out of aluminum and glass.

Antoine Lebrun:

A rather unique concept by Antoine Lebrun were they have created an eco friendly kitchen environment. Don\’t expect to be able to buy this anytime soon though since it\’s design concept of how a kitchen could be and interact with us ten years from now..

Altera:

Only ready-made food and beverages are consumed in sheet-metal packaging so people will be conscious about what and how much they eat. Food and beverages packs will be kept inside the cooling unit of the system. It only allows storage of 3 days’ worth of food. A Smart oven warms up the food in groups to minimize how often it’s used. It arranges the ideal time and temperature for the packs by reading their barcodes.

iulian bumbu

The main caracteristics of this design are simplicity and functionality.The main chape is the result of the pure functions that it has to respond to.This space allows multiple operators in the cooking activity and also allows sitting while preparing food,fact that makes it accesible for a large category of people.There are no corners or sharp surfaces at the exterior,so accidents specialy for the kids are almost impossible.

Fiona McAndrew & Conor Fallon

A capacitive touch screen kitchen sounds like a dream, and it\’s the dream och McAndre & Conor Fallon. Complete with an integrated blender and steamer. Through wireless bluetooth technology the interface can send a shopping list to a mobile phone. The interface can also be updated this way.

Sheer Spherical Kitchen

The Sheer Spherical Kitchen represents a new vision in kitchen design … This kitchen is completely self-contained and low maintenance. Some of you may already have a chance to admire it for its unusual design… This time, we\’d like to re-introduce this Sheer Spherical Kitchen design concept from a functional point of view

KicheConcept

The Luxemburg design company KicheConcept has come up with a rather cool kitchen, albeit regular compared to some of the kitchens above and unlike the others this is actually a kitchen you can buy now, and not 10 years from now.

Cool Kitchen Designs is a post from: DIY Guides

New writer, Julie

Tom — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:10:35 +0000

Hi everyone, new writer here, my name is Julie Black and I thought I would give diy-guides.com a bit more female touch . So whatever that might imply I will focus on writing about news, helpful tools, interesting things I see and read about. My next post will be coming along shortly.

Take care,

Julie

New writer, Julie is a post from: DIY Guides