As the temperature rises, so does the cost of cooling your home, especially if you use an air conditioner. Obviously, the best way to keep your home cool during the summer is to use an air conditioner to keep the temperature down, but there are other options that don’t raise your energy bill quite significantly. Air conditioners may offer tempting temporary relief from summer heat, but they’re a huge environmental no-no. You may be cooling your home, but the fossil fuels you’re burning in the process are only making your summers hotter. This summer, leave the air conditioner in storage and try these environmentally-friendly alternatives instead. Fundamentally, the idea is to minimize sources of heat and remove built-up heat from inside.

Fans and Ceiling Fans

• If you’re looking for ways to beat the heat, a ceiling fan can be a great investment for your home. This one appliance can make a room feel 6 or 7 degrees cooler, and even the most power-hungry fan costs less than $10 a month to use if you keep it on for 12 hours a day. Good fans make it possible for you to raise your thermostat setting and save on air-conditioning costs. Fans don’t use much energy, but when air is circulating, it feels much cooler. Ceiling fans are best, but a good portable fan can be very effective as well.
• You should remember that even mild air movement of 1 mph can make you feel three or four degrees cooler. Also make sure your ceiling fan is turned for summer - you should feel the air blown downward.

Shades, drapes, or blinds

• Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Close blinds, shades and draperies facing the sun (east-facing windows in the morning and west-facing windows in the afternoon) to keep the sun’s heat out and help fans or air conditioners cool more efficiently. Always remember that the best way to keep your home cool is to keep the heat out.

Internal Heat

• The most common sources of internal heat gain are; appliances, electronic devices, and lighting. Be aware from where the heat is comming. Now if you have air conditioning, use it wisely. Don’t put lamps, televisions or other heat-generating appliances next to your air-conditioning thermostat, because the heat from these appliances will cause the air conditioner to run longer. The heat they produce will make it think your house is warmer than it really is, and your system will run harder than it needs to.
• Unless you absolutely need them, turn off incandescent lights and heat-generating appliances. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents; they produce the same light but use a fifth the energy and heat.
• You should also try to avoid heat-generating activities, such as cooking, on hot days or during the hottest part of the day. If you are cooking, use your range fan to vent the hot air out of your house. By reducing the amount of heat in your home, you will have to use less energy to cool it.

Plants

• Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units, but not block the airflow. A unit operating in the shade uses less electricity. Deciduous trees planted on the south and west sides will keep your house cool in the summer and allow the sunlight to warm the house during the winter. For example just three trees, properly placed around a house, can save between $100 and $250 annually in cooling and heating costs, and daytime air temperatures can be 3 degrees to 6 degrees cooler in tree-shaded neighborhoods.

Roof and Walls

• Paint your roof white - If you’ve got a flat roof, paint it with a specially formulated reflective paint or just paint it white. The reflective effect will help to keep the rooms under the flat roof much cooler.

Other things to remember

• Humidity makes room air feel warmer, so reduce indoor humidity. Minimize mid-day washing and drying clothes, showering, and cooking. And when you must do these things, turn on ventilating fans to help extract warm, moist air.
• Avoid landscaping with lots of unshaded rock, cement, or asphalt on the south or west sides because it increases the temperature around the house and radiates heat to the house after the sun has set.
• If the attic isn’t already insulated or is under-insulated, insulate it NOW. Upgrading from 3 inches to 12 inches can cut cooling costs by 10 percent.

Plants bring natural beauty to our living spaces. By creating texture and balance, a room or patio can be transformed into an environment that comforts and welcomes. But, just like Miss Universe, plants can do more than look pretty. They’ve been proven to reduce stress so well that one glance at a plant lowers your heart rate. They also help clean the air we breathe by absorbing toxins and acting as little oxygen factories. Plants simply make us feel better.

By easing mental fatigue and improving air quality plants manage to find themselves an indispensable part of your home life. Not convinced yet? Studies show that:

1. In addition to calming your heart rate, plants lower blood pressure and reduce muscle tension related to stress

2. Plants help us relax and focus, leading to increased productivity,creativity, idea generation, and problem solving capabilities. In fact, the presence of plants helps so much that it has been shown to relieve the symptoms experienced by children with ADD.

3. Plants help patients recovering from surgery and ease the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

I guess we’re finally learning what our ancestors have known for centuries, plants are more than just ornaments. At some level, we are deeply connected to them. So much so, that simply cohabitating with them brings us health and repose.

Thanks for sharing all these little secrets to our today guest blogger Justin Mast ( Founder of Bloomscape an online shop with beautiful flowers ). I’m sure that Justin is not the only one who can write for Freshome, and if you think you have something you could share with our little community feel free to use our Send Us Tips and get in contact with me.

“In a small space, everything counts.” - That’s the main idea behind this article, and how we can make a small room look bigger, with some clever tricks.

Small rooms can feel confining and uncomfortable. Luckily we can utilize certain design concepts that fool the eye and make our rooms seem much bigger and spacious. Some solutions for small spaces, that can make a room in your home look larger are color techniques, furniture arranging, and lighting considerations can give the look of space. These are a few of the topics that we are gonna to present in this article. By the way … Maybe you want to sell your house and there is one thing you can do to make the house easier to sell. This thing is make the house look bigger. So let’s begin …

Some time ago I’ve wrote an article where I’ve discussed about room colors and their influence on our moods. Today you’ll learn how to use colors rto make your room look bigger. Cream colors and icy blues are just a few of the best color combinations that can open up a tiny room into a bigger living area. It is all about illusion. Light colors make your room look bigger and brighter. Light and brightly colored walls are more reflective making a space feel open and airy, which will help
to maximize the effect created by natural light. While dark colors absorb light, making the room look smaller. For optimum effect, select soft tones of blues and greens, and always remeber that brighter rooms look bigger and more inviting.

You can paint your walls light and use dark colors for the border and trim. Paint your wall trim and moldings a lighter color than your walls. When you paint your moldings light, the wall appears further back, making your living room appear bigger.

Sometimes furniture can take a lot of space. To avoid that here are some useful tips :

• Use multi-function furniture like a chest that can be used as a coffee table, sofa beds, chest of drawers, and beds with drawers for storage etc. Stick to clean lines in the furniture. Use an extendable dining table, folding tables and nest of tables, which can be tucked away when you don’t need them.
• Place the large pieces of furniture against the walls so the open space in the middle isn’t broken up.
• Scale the furniture to fit the size of the room and don’t block walking pathways. With furniture and accessories blocking the view into a room and out to open spaces, a room will look cramped. By moving furniture out and away from walkways, you’ll open up the space and make it feel larger. If you can see the floor, the room will look larger. Having oversized sofas or too much furniture will make the living room look smaller.
• Consider having at least some of the furniture pieces the same color as the walls. Even the bigger items like armoires and chest will begin to blend in to the room and widen out the room. You can add some detail by stenciling in a design or accent onto the furniture.
• Setting your furniture at an angle works because the longest straight line in any given room is it’s diagonal. When you place your furniture at an angle, it leads the eye along the longer distance, rather than the shorter wall. As an added bonus, you often get some additional storage space behind the piece in the corner, too!
• If the furniture in your room is tall, that might be making it seem as though the ceiling is lower than it actually is. Make sure there is plenty of space between your furniture, too.
• Choose a sofa and chairs with open arms and exposed legs. A glass table, will keep keep the appearance of a open and free space. This allows light to filter under the furniture, making the room appear airier.

Lighting is a key element in opening up a space.

Let the light into the room too. Buy letting the natural light flow into the room, you will be surprised at how this will open up the room and make it look larger. If you do not have a lot of natural light, you can add some lighting features to the room to make it look bigger. You will be amazed at how this small addition can make a big difference.

If you have access to natural light, make full use of it. Bring it into your home through windows. Full height glass panes work best. Having a large picture window can make a room seem bigger because a barrier between visitor and outside view has been removed. Instead of seeing a dimension-defining wall, visitors see an expansive view of the outdoors. Make sure window coverings are sheer, or are pulled back, to bring more light in. If the view is bad use hanging plants and potted flowers near windows. Lamps will bring in colour and focus attention.

Keep your room tidy and organized. There’s nothing that makes a small space feel cramped more than having too much stuff. With things neatly arranged and out of sight, the space that is in view will feel orderly and open. A cluttered room equals a smaller room.

Don’t cove your walls with a lot of pictures. One large painting works better than a group of small paintings. If there’s too much going on, all clamoring for attention, it can make the room feel busy and crowded. So, when decorating a small room, create a focal point, one area or feature that will draw the eye. In the dining room, the focal point will probably be the table. In the bedroom, it’ll probably be the bed. Make that focal point the star of the room. Arrange the furniture so that focus is
drawn to that area, and keep the décor in the rest of the room to a minimum ( limit the number of accessories ).

Keep the floor as clear as possible. This is one of the most important ways of maintaining a sense of spaciousness. One more tip - Take out large rugs to create the illusion of more floor space.

Mirrors can make your room look larger. Use a focal point and angle your mirrors towards it, which will give the illusion of depth. The mirrors also reflect both natural and artificial light to make a room brighter during the day and night. They bounce light deep into the room, making it appear larger. This is especially effective with near a window so the outdoors can be reflected. Mirrors on the walls and glass tabletops will make it seem like there’s a more open flow. You can also use mirrored cabinet doors to make spaces feel large and uncluttered.

I these days people spend more and more time on a chair. If you spend hours each day sitting at a desk and using a computer having a comfortable and supportive office chair is crucial. Life of modern man has been dominated by the sitting position, so you’ll have to make sure you’re safe and comfortable when working at a desk all day. This position creates stress for the spine. To avoid developing a back problem, having the support of an ergonomic office chair may help promote good posture and prevent future problems or pain. The investment of a good office chair can save you from back pain. You’ll be able to more enjoy both the hours you spend working at your desk and relaxing after work. Even though the best ergonomic office chair may not eliminate back pain, it is one of the most important steps for reducing it.

The most common health problems among office workers are: headaches and problems with concentration, pain in the neck and shoulders, backache and spine ache , problems with pelvis), pain in thighs, pain in knees and calves.

To find an office chair that fits you need to ask yourself a few questions. For true comfort, start by determining how you will be using the office chair. Office Chairs come with a variety of mechanisms that control the tilt angle, tension tightness and a variety of other office chair controls as well. Depending on how much time you are in your chair, and what you are doing while seated at your desk chair, these features can make a huge difference on whether you are sitting in comfort or not.If you want to know more continure reading …

You can prefer some better than other but take some advice before buying a chair!

What is an ergonomic chair ?

Not everybody knows exactly what ergonomic means, but it’s getting to the point where everybody knows an “ergonomic chair” is better than just some plain old chair.

So, What Is an Ergonomic Chair?

Ergonomics is the study of equipment designed with humans in mind, meant to reduce operator fatigue and discomfort. Specifically, an ergonomic chair should be highly adjustable, including not just a knob for lowering and raising the chair but adjustability in the back tilt and the height of the arm rests. An ergonomic chair should also have a sturdy frame , a great deal of support, especially in the lumbar region, and padding that has some give and supports your body without losing shape. In conclusion an ergonomic chair is a chair that provides comfort to both the seat and back to the user.

An ergonomic office chair should help increase back and neck support to help improve posture and prevent slouching. Employees frequently experience back pain because they sit in their chairs for long periods of time. This increases stress in the spine, neck, arms, shoulders, and legs as well as in various muscles. A chair that isn’t ergonomically friendly can also aggravate existing conditions.

There are many types of ergonomic chairs available for use in the office. No one type is necessarily the best, but there are some things that are very important to look for in a good ergonomic office chair. These things will allow the individual user to make the chair work well for his or her specific needs.

What features should a good ergonomic office chair possess?

Seat Height

Seat height should be easily adjustable. A pneumatic adjustment lever is the easiest way to do this. This allows the user to have his or her feet flat on the floor, with thighs horizontal and arms even with the height of the desk.

Seat width and depth

A chair seat should feel comfortable when you initially sit down, and should remain that way after you’ve been seated for a significant period of time. The seat should have enough width and depth to support any user comfortably. The depth (from front to back of the seat) needs to be enough so that the user can sit with his or her back against the backrest of the ergonomic office chair while leaving approximately 2 to 4 inches between the back of the knees and the seat of the chair. The forward or backward tilt of the seat should be adjustable.

Seat material.

The material on the seat and back of the ergonomic office chair should have enough padding to be comfortable to sit on for extended periods of time. Having a cloth fabric that breathes is preferable to a harder surface. Skip the leather. A breathable cloth fabric will be better than any harder material. Make sure that there is enough padding for it to be comfortable for long periods of time. Cloth upholstery isn’t as easy to clean as vinyl, and cloth covered foam has the potential to harbor dust mites. However, vinyl–type or leather coverings don’t breathe as easily as cloth, which may cause discomfort after prolonged sitting. Fabric is the key to a chair’s durability. Look for permeable material that breathes, like the mesh Pellicle material in Herman Miller’s Aeron chair, which conforms to the body. If you would like to find more about seating materials you can read more here.

Lumbar support.

Lower back support in an ergonomic office chair is very important. The lumbar spine has an inward curve, and sitting for long periods without support for this curve tends to lead to slouching (which flattens the natural curve) and strains the structures in the lower spine. An ergonomic chair should have a lumbar adjustment (both height and depth) so each user can get the proper fit to support the inward curve of the lower back.

Backrest.

The backrest of an ergonomic office chair should be 12 to 19 inches wide. If the backrest is separate from the seat, it should be adjustable in height and angle. It should be able to support the natural curve of the spine, again with special attention paid to proper support of the lumbar region. If the office chair has the seat and backrest together as one piece, the backrest should be adjustable in forward and back angles, with a locking mechanism to secure it from going too far backward once the user has determined the appropriate angle.

Armrests.

Adjustable armrests are best since they allow user’s arms to rest and relax at the right height. Depending on your work style and requirements, you may not need armrests on your office chair, since they may get in your way as you move around. They should allow the user’s arms to rest comfortably and shoulders to be relaxed. The elbows and lower arms should rest lightly, and the forearm should not be on the armrest while typing.

Swivel.

Any conventional style or ergonomic office chair should easily rotate so the user can reach different areas of his or her desk without straining.

Here IKEA has a nice flash video that shows you how to check the things we talk about until now.

Sources : Staples & Spine Health

After spending some time in renting business you’ll realise that you should stop throwing away money on rent month after month, and buy a house or an apartment. If you are going to buy your first apartment ever, then in this article will show you a checklist of things that you should verify before buying. I’ve made this list because in future I’ll want to buy an apartment for me, and I want to be aware of things that I need to know before buying, avoid unpleasant surprises and of course invest carefully in my future.

• Decide on the area you want to buy an apartment. This may involving spending some time in that area or at least doing some research at home.
• Before you buy, research the market to make sure you are getting value for money. Talk to independent valuers and real estate agents, and check recent sales in the area. Don’t rely on advice from the developer or their agent. This is particularly important if you are buying off the plans. You want to know that the value of the finished apartment will reflect at least what you paid.
• Visit as many places as you can looking for properties that fit your criteria, so you’ll have a good idea of what your money buys.

Now let’s say you’ve found an apartment …

• Check that the property you are interested in is close to the facilities you require., for example shops, public transport, parks, hospitals, schools, work, gym, etc. - A valuable tip if you want to earn some time.
• When you choose to live in an apartment consider whether the building is close to clubs, cafes or other live music venues. What is the amount of passing traffic – will it be noisy at peak hour ? Will the noise affect your lifestyle? It is a good idea to arrange an inspection of the building during the evening or during peak hour traffic before you agree to the purchase. - Now I have an apartment near a non stop bar, and from time to time people get drunk at night and make a lot of noise.
• How old is the building? You should consider the age of the building.Are any facilities likely to require repairs or replacement? It is strongly recommended that you obtain an architect or engineers report on the building before deciding to buy.
• What are the security measures for example, can anyone walk into the building? Are there any security cameras?
• Does it have a balcony so you can enjoy the view or afternoon sunshine? Or are you blocked by other buildings or facing the wrong way for the sun?
• What are the maintenance charges? Many people don’t think at this aspect when they buy a new apartment. They will generally cover the municipal tax, property tax, assessment tax, water charges, common electricity charges, elevator charges and charges for hired help, like the garbage cleaner and security. Find out how much is the maintenance charge, what is includent and now included in the charge. For example, car parking charges may be separate.
• If you have a car this must be an important question to ask. Will car parking be provided and do you have to pay extra for it? Check with the seller of the apartment if his/ her parking slot will be made available to you. If your previous owner did not have a vehicle, speak to the secretary of the society and ask for a parking slot.

Now I’m sure that some of my readers might have some valuable tips to share on this topic. Feel free to post a comment with a tip or an advice, and the most useful tips will be published with your name & website in this article.