Prepare for the New Year by Cleaning up your Act

Every household differs; from family to family and person to person. Some people keep spotless, immaculate homes with not a single ornament out of place. Others take a more lax approach and with the odd magazine here and some clothes that don’t fit there; before you know it, the word cluttered is being used a lot.

With the end of the year drawing near, a good clear out of all the things that clutter up a house is the perfect way to prepare for the year ahead. Some people can find detoxing the house as beneficial as going through a detox themselves with the freedom and peace of mind the clear out brings.

How to sort out the clutter

The only way to get rid of all the useless items that have been stacking up in a house is to be absolutely ruthless. Magazines that have been kept for years in case they can provide some nugget of information in the future need to go. There are a million nuggets of information on every subject possible on the internet. Anything over three months needs to go.

For clothes and other goods that have never been seen since the year of purchase – they need to go. As a rule, if something hasn’t been used in six months, then it’s not likely to be used in the next six months, or the next and so on.

Where to take it all

To just throw things out on the street isn’t responsible or helpful to anyone. There should be three distinct piles when de-cluttering the home:

• Charity – What might be no good for you could be ideal for somebody else. It’s important to remember that the charity bag is no the rubbish bag. If you wouldn’t like to wear something that is torn with stains on it then why assume that somebody else would?
• Sell – For those items that are just to be good to be given away. There are plenty of ways to sell cast-offs. Online market sites, car boots and garage sales are all excellent ways to make a little extra money from things that were just lying around the house.
• Throw – For all the items that are past their sell-by date and no good to anyone.

For the “throw” pile, the easiest option by far is to hire a removal team or “man with a van”. If they are insured (which they should be), they can take all manner of items and dispose of them through proper channels while you sit back and enjoy your new, clutter free home.

The whole nine yards

For a complete deep cleanse, some removal teams may offer a cleaning service to complement the removal of the unwanted items. Not only will there be more space in the house or storage area, but the space will be fresh and clean. Cleaning teams will know how to use the best cleaning products according to your needs. Certain firms even offer bespoke services.

To find out what is available, home-owners can look in local newspapers, the Yellow Pages or on the internet. Most companies will offer a free quote after discussing what it is that the client needs and expects.

This guest article has been brought to you by Sunsquare Skylights – Pioneering skylight designs and always aiming for the highest possible specification since 2004.

How to fit a sliding bolt lock

Sliding door bolt locks also known as barrel bolts are a simple way to add a lock to a door, they come in different sizes depending on how big your door is or how strong you want them to be. The all come in different styles such as straight, necked or flat sliding bolts. They are easy to fit. You can also fit padlock bolts that you would typically see on gates and sheds in the same way.

Tools required to fit a sliding bolt

You will need the following tools to fit your bolt:

• A sliding bolt set consisting of a sliding bolt and a staple
• Fixing screws – These normally come with the lock set
• A Pencil
• A carpenters try square
• A Drill
• A Drill bit to dill pilot holes
• A Screwdriver or bit for your Drill
• A chisel
• A Hammer

Once you have gathered all the tools you require you can start to fit your bolt.

Fitting the bolt

The first job is to decide on the height and placement of your bolt, this could be at the top or bottom of your door for security reasons or in the middle of the door at hand height if it to keep people out such as in a toilet or bathroom.

Once you have decided on the height of the bolt, draw a straight line on the door using a square and pencil.

Now align the edge of the body of the bolt on the line on the door and mark the holes for fixing, making sure the bolt body doesn’t stick out past the door and is flush with the door edge.

Next take your drill and drill bit, making sure the drill bit is slightly smaller than the thickness of the screws you are going to use. Drill small pilot holes in the door to aid screwing in the crews, don’t make the holes too deep, just enough to get the screw started.

You can now screw the bolt body onto the door, at this stage take the staple, which is the part the bolt goes into and the part that is screwed to the door frame, offer the staple up on the door frame, does the frame and architrave need chiselling out?
If you do need to remove some architrave and or frame draw around the staple and chisel out the required amount of wood. If you don’t have to remove any architrave or frame try holding the bolt on the frame and sliding the bolt over, does the bolt go in the staple easily? In some cases you may have to pack the staple with cardboard behind it to allow the bolt to slide into the staple easily. This will depend on if your door is warped or how flush the door has been hung.

Once you have done this you can mark the holes on the door frame for the staple, then drill pilot holes and screw on the staple.

Try the bolt for ease of use, your sliding bolt is now fitted.

Top Tip: A really good tip to fit the staple to the frame, once the bolt body is fixed to the door hold the staple on the frame, slide the bolt into the staple, leave the bolt in the staple whilst you drill the holes for the staple and screw it to the door frame, this will keep it in-line with the bolt and the bolt will work freely and easily.

As Christmas draws closer, day by day, excitement, zeal and energy in the air also gets stronger. Colorful decorations, lights and sweet smell of cakes and cookies add to the festive mood and you simply can’t imagine Christmas without these. With innovations and technology, now-a-days, consumers are spoilt for choice when it comes to Christmas decorations. From colorful LED lights to wonderful patterns, candle lights to cute motions, options for decorations are endless. So, whether you are looking for something extravagant or are planning your decorations on a tight budget, you will surely find something to suit your requirement.

The feeling of having the perfect lights adorning your garden or colorful, small lights glittering over your Christmas tree is truly unmatched. But, as Christmas decorations involve electrical lights and other equipments, it needs to be handled with extra care, for safety of you and your loved ones. Here are few points that you must keep in mind while handling the electrical decoration for Christmas –

• While purchasing the decorations, ponder over your need and find accordingly. Keep in mind your need, whether you are going to use the light indoors and outdoors as not all lights are meant for outdoors. If you are using extension cord, make sure that the extension cord is also fit for outdoor use.
• Use plastic clips to hang the lights as it will also protect rubber coating on the wires from wearing off or tearing. Never use nails or staples for hanging the lights.
• Make sure that the electrical decorations are installed away from inflammable objects like cardboard, cloth, paper and others. In case, you do not have much space, at least make sure that such objects do not come in direct contact with the lights.
• Use LED lights as they consume about 90% less power than traditional bulbs and are also available in various colors, shapes and types. So, your energy bill after Christmas won’t burn a hole in your pocket.
• Check on electrical safety parameters on packaging of the light like how many strands can be connected together. Do not connect too many strands together as it may result in blowing of fuse. Also, check the voltage of the equipment on its cover as overloading may result in blow-up of circuit.
• Also, avoid putting all the connections in a single socket instead try distributing them across different sockets.

Beautiful decorations are an inseparable part of Christmas and if you are looking for LED Lights this Christmas, visit the online store of The Electrical Warehouse. Here you can find electrical products like garden lights for Xmas.

Make your Christmas more colorful and festive! Enjoy a safe and beautiful Christmas with your loved ones!

All about Cabin Beds

Cabin beds are multifunctional beds that come with a sleeping zone fused together with a workstation and storage areas that are styled as cabins or drawers. They are great furniture pieces for the bedroom especially when there are children from the age of three and upwards in the household. These furniture pieces are contemporary in style and usually come in the most remarkable art forms.

These sleeping areas are either metallic or wooden. The metallic beds come with fun play tents that combine the aspect of play in the design. Wooden designs come built with a pullout reading desk in mind. The desk comes as an extension of the bed that is an ingenious idea of organizing the bedroom especially when the house is a little short of space.

Another great aspect of these beds is the utility furniture that comes with it. The beds come with storage areas for bedclothes and other things like toys, books and games with other designs incorporating a small ladder. The ladder is usually for the smaller children who cannot reach the bed due to height. These beds come with heights to facilitate the inclusion of cabinets underneath them hence the ladder.

Depending with the age of the child you can choose whether to buy a cabin bed with or without the guards. Guards are side rails or sideboards designed to protect small children from falling down. They ensure the bed height does not become a danger to the child especially the children less than seven years.

The height varies from low, medium and high. Majority of the high beds come guarded while the lower beds do not have guards. Most teenagers prefer high beds. The bunk bed design fits one person. Two people would not be comfortable in a single cabin bed.

Cabin beds can come as ready-made beds, customized to specific bedroom themes, on special orders and as disassembled pieces for the “do-it-yourself” enthusiasts. Depending on your preferences, or your child’s preferences, there is a wide variety of colours to choose and order. For more detailed information you can find out here. These colours are bright and trendy for smaller children and become subtle as the age of the sleeper increases.

Whatever the bedroom theme is the cabin bed guarantees to blend well and without any physical obstruction. Purchase of a mattress as part of the unit is subject to the buyer. Some buyers prefer to buy the mattress apart from the solid unit. Other preferences of a cabin bed are extra guest beds that are part of the whole set. The guest beds are usually pullout beds that give extra bunking space.

Wardrobes are furniture utilities that integrate into these versatile beds. With the increasing need for organized space, newer inventions of bedroom utility do not stop to amaze. A mini bedroom creates right in the middle of the larger bedroom that creates a child-friendly room that is safe and comfortable.

The practical nature of cabin beds is suitable for small apartments and any one in love with the flexibility of this compact unit.