Eco Friendly Furniture Refinishing

Author: Shelly Cruz
Eco friendly furniture refinishing helps to reduce our demands on the environment by preserving furniture created long ago, and prevents cutting down and wasting trees growing today. It also helps us to improve our homes with updated fine quality pieces of furniture that might otherwise be overlooked, and clog our waste dumps and landfills. Fine, old trees were cut down in decades or centuries past, and utilized in the production of furniture that is eventually in need of maintenance, not discarding. Old furniture finishes, especially twentieth century finishes including lacquer, turn dark, translucent, and finally semi-opaque, hiding the beauty of the wood beneath. An old finish is then susceptible to whitish heat and humidity marks, becomes brittle and scratches easily. If a new, natural wood finish strikes you as unappealing, then a vibrant, more contemporary colored lacquer finish may be applied instead. Perhaps a glossy bright yellow, orange, or blue is more what you have in mind for your old, tired looking Danish modern furniture ?

If you prefer a natural wood finish, keep in mind that beauty is skin deep, the damages are just to the finish, and you will start over when the finish is removed. If the old finish is removed using Eco friendly furniture refinishing techniques, then a new finish applied, the furniture can display the original beauty of the wood when it was created, with an antique patina that is irreplaceable. The quality and species of wood available and used then was generally better than what is available today.

Whether colored lacquer or natural wood finish is more attractive to you, there is little comparison between craftsmanship of yesterday with today’s shoddy manufacturing. Old furniture you find that was made more than twenty years ago, will outlast just about anything made today.

Eco friendly furniture refinishing is about more than just preserving old furniture, and not wasting resources to produce new flake board, melamine, laminate, or MDF and their waste products in the production of new furniture. Critical to Eco friendly furniture refinishing involves the use of less toxic strippers and removers to take off the old finish, prior to applying a new finish. Over the past fifteen years or so, removers have been developed to strip off old finishes, that are not lye based, or methylene chloride based. These modern, environmentally improved furniture removers include N Methyl-2 Pyrrolidone, or NMP, and other enzymatic removers that facilitate the removal of finishes without such toxic or ozone damaging chemicals as the older generation of furniture finish removers. Other Eco friendly furniture refinishing removers include the use of ceramic or quartz emitter infrared lamps to remove paint and heavily built up finishes, leaving no toxic remover waste or organic solvent to evaporate into the atmosphere at all.

Living on our planet today, we have a responsibility to tomorrows’ generations. Preserving our heritage and the environment is something all can appreciate. The vintage antique, or designer furniture we admire from the 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s, including Eames, mid century modern, space age, op art or pop art is often available in local thrift shops, or from eBay, from yard sales, or flea markets. Often, you need look no further than in your own homes to find candidates for refinishing. Open your imagination to wider refinishing possibilities for such handsomely designed furniture, and you will be helping yourself, our society, and the environment for a brighter tomorrow.

About the Author:

Olek Lejbzon & Co. takes care of all your furniture refinishing , restoration and re upholstery needs ranging from a single kitchen chair requiring re caning to refinishing, reupholstering, and repairing all of the furniture. For more information please visit: Eco Friendly Furniture Refinishing

Feng Shui Tips For The Bedroom

Feng Shui Tips for the Bedroom, By Kartar Diamond

While each bedroom is truly unique, and can be analised based on more specific criteria, there are some general tips which can help most people, most of the time. The premise of feng shui, is to create balance and positive energy, and to cater to the function of the room when possible. In other words, what may be appropriate for a bedroom is not necessarily appropriate for other rooms.

1. Avoid sleeping under large, heavy exposed beams. They can cause downward pressure and a chaotic flow of energy in the bedroom, eventually undermining health and triggering specific problems associated with body areas that are directly under the beam.

2.Avoid placing a bed in direct alignment with the entrance to the room. This means, DIRECT alignment, as if your entire body could be taken out of the room feet first, without bending the body. This direct alignment can also cause health problems over time.

3. Avoid having large mirrors, like mirrored closet doors, in the bedroom. Although they are extremely popular and common, a large mirror in a bedroom can bounce the energy around a room--to the extent that people can have their sound sleep interrupted.

4.Avoid sleeping with your head very close to a low window. This is simply draining. We lose most of our body heat from the head and feet.

5.Avoid having a TV or computer in a bedroom. Some people have few options for where to place these items, but they emit an electrical field which is not good to sleep close to.

6.Avoid a sloped ceiling. Once again, they can bounce the energy around the room and are not considered as stable as flat ceilings. The bedroom is for sleeping and re-charging yourself, not for adding more to your stress.

7.Close the bathroom door if the toilet is aligned directly with the bed. Feng Shui masters have been tracking the effects of sleeping too close to toilets for many decades now. It is not "ancient" feng shui since modern plumbing did not exist until relatively recently. Yet, documentation has shown that people are healthier if they sleep further away from the bathroom.

8.Unless you know specifically what your bedroom needs in the way of colors, then just stick to safe colors such as the lightest pastels or white. Every bedroom is truly unique and bold colors will emulate the elements. As an example, if you paint your bedroom walls Hunter Green, that resonates some of the Wood element. If you paint the walls blue, that vibrates some of the water element. There is nothing inherently good or bad about any color, but color will effect occupants differently depending on the "chi" in the room. As an example in extremes: lots of red color in the right place could enhance income and enhance fertility, but red color in a bedroom that should NOT have it, could only cause sickness, accidents or arguments.

9. No heavy lighting fixtures overhead or near the headboard of the bed. This is just plain dangerous and it also creates an oppressive feeling to have anything heavy looming near your head (even if you are asleep.)

10. Try to sleep in one of your best personal directions, based on your birth year. For instance, a woman born in 1951 sleeps best with her head to the westerly directions, such as west, northwest or southwest. Whereas a man born in 1951 sleeps better in the 'easterly' directions, which are east, southeast, north and south. To find out what your best sleeping directions are, plus a lot more, you can get Kartar Diamond's informative feng shui book at www.FengShuiForSkeptics.com You can also email Kartar with your birth date for a quick answer.

Why buy made to measure curtains?

If you are unfamiliar with what exactly makes a made to measure curtain (or any other custom-made fabric product for your home) so different from shop bought ready mades, this article might be useful to read before you start the custom design process.

The following are some of the most important advantages:

See it to believe it. We all know the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Unfortunately, with made to measure curtains, that saying doesn't quite apply. Many of the factors that make a made to measure curtain so extra special can't be seen in a picture. Custom curtains, for example, are fully lined, making them fuller and heavier. They weigh about 2 - 2.5 pounds per panel on average, whereas the same size, unlined ready made curtain weighs less than a pound. Of course, there are some ready made curtains that are lined. Unfortunately, most are lined with cotton percale fabric, which is a thin sheeting fabric with a low thread count. While it may help to block out the sun and prevent fading to some extent, it does little to add fullness to a drapery.

Lining makes the difference. Made to measure curtains are lined with a thicker polycotton fabric that blocks the sun in the best way possible (up to SPF 50). The polyester component in the lining gives a drapery more strength and fullness. Lining is especially useful in rooms that experience more moisture and evaporative fumes. That's because cotton captures and releases these fumes much easier, making lined window treatments a must in busy kitchens and bathrooms. As you see, the ideal lining is made of both cotton and polyester.

Tailored to your needs. Made to measure curtains are made especially for your room the way you'd like. Ready made curtains are designed to please the majority of consumers. These include curtains that are made with solid, neutral colors and standard sizes. If you need to dress a very wide nursery window in pink and brown toile fabric, you will have a hard time finding the perfect window treatment that you want. Decorator fabrics come in a wide range of colors, prints, and sizes, giving you endless custom options that most shop bought curtains don't offer.

A wise investment. On average, people who purchased made to measure curtains keep them on their windows for seven years. Ready made curtains are changed every one to two years. The quality of made to measure curtains is better, but going after the look that you really want instead of the look that is available will also keep you happy with your room for many years longer. Many of our clients tell us what a relief it is to finally see a made to measure curtain on their windows. Unique window treatments are not easy to find if you're looking for a specific look to fit your room. Most consumers start designing their rooms with matching furniture, pictures, walls, and little accents, only to see their designs come to a screeching halt when they realize that they can't find a matching curtain.

There are many more reasons why made to measure is better than ready made, but the most important one of them is simply value. made to measure curtains pay for themselves throughout all the years that they gracefully cover your windows.

Furnishing Your Home With Wicker Furniture - Part 2

Proper care and maintenance of wicker furniture will ensure that it stays in good condition for many years.

Brushing wicker furniture

Periodically brushing your wicker furniture using a brush with stiff, non-abrasive bristles such as a paint brush, vegetable brush or a tooth brush is the best way of keeping your wicker furniture looking clean and beautiful. The bristles should be soft enough to be able to get into the areas between the weave and yet stiff enough to have the adequate muscle behind it. Alternatively you could vacuum your wicker furniture using a bristle brush attachment.

Occasional clean-up using furniture cleaner or a mild detergent solution is good for removing stains and will help your wicker furniture maintain its high gloss and good looks. Lemon oil, applied lightly with a soft cloth, will help protect the finish and enhance the shine of wicker furniture.

Washing wicker furniture

Natural wicker furniture can withstand moisture, but only to a limited extent. Too much water over an extended period will leave it looking loose, limp and saggy. Here are a few important tips to remember when washing your wicker furniture:

• When hosing, tilt the wicker furniture so that the tighter weave is on top. This way the excess water can run down to the looser weave, which is below, from where it is easily wiped away.
• It is absolutely important that the weave spacing and pattern should not be disrupted during the cleaning process, especially when the furniture is wet. Wicker furniture will dry and set in any new position that it has been subjected to. If there is excessive pulling of strands, the weave is more likely to have large gaps in it when completely dry. Strands that are too far out of position could pull the entire piece askew.
• Let the wicker furniture dry completely before using it again. Sitting on it or placing any heavy objects on it while it is wet, could leave it looking misshapen when dry.

About the Author:

Get rattan furniture from http://www.rattanland.com/

Furnishing Your Home With Wicker Furniture - Part 1

Stylish and elegant wicker furniture is the perfect choice of furnishing for any home, be it a contemporary city apartment, Victorian country home or a vacation retreat. Made from natural materials including rattan, banana bark, willow and rush, wicker furniture comes in a wide assortment of weaving styles and colors that can complement and enhance any décor. Wicker furniture fits in easily with wooden and upholstered furniture, adding texture and warmth to any setting.

Wicker refers to the pattern and process of the weave as well as to the products that are made from these natural materials. When wet, these materials are varyingly pliable and can be woven employing different patterns. Being natural products, each material has its own unique, individual qualities and when dyed, each produces slight differences in color, which adds to the exotic and versatile beauty of wicker furniture.

Rattan, a solid-core vine found in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, is extremely strong and will not break, warp or splinter. Its innate strength and versatility make rattan a much sought after material for furniture. The natural fibers offer optimum comfort and its old-world rustic charm combined with its attractive casual look makes it appealing in any setting. Once solid rattan is woven, molded and set, its contours are permanently retained.

Natural wicker, while perfect for use indoors, may not stand up too well to adverse weather conditions and needs to be moved indoors when not in use. Weather wicker, which looks and feels like wicker but is constructed out of soft, woven vinyl is a better option for use outdoors. A synthetic material, vinyl is resistant to temperature variations, UV rays and rain and is easily cleaned making it ideal for use as patio and garden furniture. High quality weather wicker furniture resembles the beauty and design of the finest hand-woven, natural wicker furniture. Beautifully cushions in a wide array of exotic shape, sizes and colors add to the beauty and comfort of weather wicker furniture.

About the Author:

Get rattan furniture from http://www.rattanland.com/