Home Decorating Don’ts: Expert Decorating Tips

Home Decorating Don’ts: Expert Decorating Tips

While there are plenty of books and magazines that illustrate decorating styles that you can use in your home, there are also a few “decorating don’ts” that you should keep in mind when decorating and accessorizing your home. While you should feel free to express yourself creatively when decorating your home, by keeping these few guidelines in mind, you will avoid some of the pitfalls that can be detrimental to the overall effect of your decorating efforts.

Don’t Choose Your paint Color First

There are an almost limitless number of paint colors available, and many paint stores will even custom-match a paint shade from any swatch of fabric or item that you can bring in. It’s much more difficult to find a sofa that looks good with the paint color you have bought than to find a paint that looks good with the sofa fabric. Unless you are using a neutral wall color, choosing your paint color first will limit your options.

Don’t Neglect Your Room’s Natural Focal Point

If you have a room that has a natural focal point in it, such as a fireplace or large picture window, enhance it instead of ignoring it. If you neglect to enhance the room’s focal point, you will be missing out on the opportunity for a lot of design pizzazz.

Not Everything Has to Match

“Cookie cutter” rooms where everything coordinates perfectly tend to be a little dull. Instead, work towards a color scheme for the room that includes a couple of coordinating accent colors, combined with a couple of neutral shades. Using this color scheme as a base, you can combine furniture of various styles and accessories that complement each other but do not match, as well as adding other styles to create an interesting eclectic look.

Don’t Place all Your Furniture Against The Walls

Don’t place all the furniture in a room directly against the walls unless you are really limited by the room’s size or shape. Instead, create interesting groupings of furniture within the room, which will give a warm and more inviting look.

Don’t Create Difficult Walkways

Always design the layout of a room to create a good flow through the room, without creating awkward corners and obstacles. A clear walkway will make the room feel better designed.

Don’t Display Too Many Knickknacks

While personal accessories and mementos can add a nice touch to a room, using too many small decorating items and knickknacks will simply make a room look and feel cluttered. Instead, display a few at a time, and create interesting collections of items as opposed to scattering items all over the room.

Don’t Add Furniture and Accessories That Don’t Serve a Purpose

Everything you use in decorating your room should be there for a reason, whether it’s because it is useful or because you especially like it or find it attractive. Using fewer items in a room as opposed to more is often a more effective decorating approach.

Don’t Use Colors or Items That “Clash”

While eclectic decorating can be a fun and stylish way to accessorize a room, some colors and styles of items just do not look good together. Avoid using items together that are just plainly mismatched in an unattractive fashion.

Don’t Buy Furniture and Accessories Based Solely on Price

Don’t always buy the cheapest of everything. In many cases, you would be better off to put off the purchase until you save up enough money to get a better quality item, especially if it is something that will be used a lot, such as a sofa.

Don’t Let Others Dictate Your Decorating Style

Unless you live alone, you will undoubtedly need to coordinate your decorating preferences with at least one other person. However, never let somebody else totally sway you when making decorating decisions.

Better Plants For Your Backyard: Home Decor Plants

Better Plants For Your Backyard: Home Decor Plants

When planning plants for your backyard, it can be helpful to choose hardy varieties that grow easily, especially if you are a beginner gardener. Plants that are easy to grow can add a lot of beauty to your yard because they will thrive and grow lush without a lot of extra effort on your part. Native plants and perennials are often good choices, as are easy – to – grow annuals.

Hostas

There are so many varieties of hostas that the only difficult part about growing them can be choosing which ones you want to plant. These easy to grow plants love shady areas and will provide a lot of color and texture to your landscape through their beautiful leaves and floral stems. Hostas also tend to spread over time, so you can divide them and plant even more hostas in other areas of your yard.

Day Lilies

Day lilies such as the beautiful “Stella de Oro” are very easy to grow, providing blooms during a longer period of time than many other standard varieties of daylilies. However, even when not in bloom, the greenery of these perennial favorites adds a decorative touch to garden planting beds.

Black-Eyed Susan

Blooming in late summer and early autumn, this beautiful perennial flower is very easy to grow. These flowers are very disease and pest resistant, and can grow in almost any kind of soil.

Lamb’s Ear

The soft furry silvery-green leaves of Lamb’s Ear will provide a nice backdrop for other flowering plants in your flower beds. These perennials plants are primarily grown for their unique foliage, and once you plant them, they will easily grow back each year.

Mint

Mint varieties are so easy to grow that they can almost be considered to be weeds. In fact, mint is so invasive that it should be planted in metal containers so that its roots do not spread where you don’t want mint plants to grow. It can grow in almost any kind of soil, and the foliage is not only attractive but also extremely fragrant.

Sedum

Also known as “Stonecrop”, this beautiful and easy-to-grow perennial has succulent ornamental leaves in addition to attractive blooms in late summer and early autumn. These plants especially thrive in drier soils with good drainage, as wet soil can occasionally cause the stems to rot.

Yarrow

Yarrow is extremely hardy, growing even in dry and poor soil. There are many different varieties of yarrow in various heights and colors. Yarrow grows so easily that it can often tend to crowd out other plants over time, so you might want to keep it confined to a specific area.

Marigolds

Marigolds come in many different sizes, colors and flower styles. They are an annual, which means they must be replanted every year, although in many instances they can reseed themselves. Colors vary from light cream to burnt orange, and will bloom all season until frost. Marigolds will provide a lot of color for very little effort.

Ground Covers

If you have an area of your yard that is difficult to mow, such as a steep bank, try planting an easy-to-grow ground cover such as ivy, ajuga, creeping sedums or pachysandra. Most ground cover plants thrive easily, especially if you choose one that is well-suited to the level of sunlight or shade that the area receives. Periwinkle is a good choice for shade, while plants such as creeping phlox do well in full sun.

Chinese Wedding Ceremony

Chinese Wedding Ceremony


Check out this exciting same-day edit of Yik Hun and Geo Gin's wedding Ceremony. Just love how funny the gate crash games on the day. ..

Make Up for Dark Circles Under Eyes: Best Tricks to Get Rid

Make Up for Dark Circles Under Eyes: Best Tricks to Get Rid

A lot of women have given up on getting rid of their bags and have settled for hiding dark under eye circles with cosmetics. This condition really makes you look horrible. You need all the help you can get and even the cover – up just to hide if not to get rid of eye bags.

Eye bags or puffiness of eyes is triggered by several factors. One major factor that you can never escape of having this dermatological condition is the hereditary aspect. There are people who are genetically prone to have dark circles, which mean no amount of treatment can help it go away forever.

There are a variety of makeup tricks that can help:

Choose a Concealer

* Visit a makeup counter at which you can try different types of concealers before settling on a purchase. Trying out different shades can keep you from making the circles too ghostly or more prominent.
* Use a yellow tinted concealer to hide dark purple circles, an orange concealer to hide blueish circles and blue, mauve or tan concealers to hide brownish circles. There are even green and light blue products to conceal red under the eye circles.
* Choose a lightweight, cream concealer product. The product needs to glide on smoothly and not require a lot of rubbing to apply. Dark circles can be a reaction to circulation problems, which can be exacerbated by rubbing the skin under the eye.
* Step away from the makeup counter and check how the concealer looks under more natural lights. Makeup counters are lit in a way to make everyone look as good as possible. Your goal is to make sure that your dark circles aren’t noticeable in normally lit circumstances.

Apply Concealer to Dark Circles

1. Apply the foundation you normally wear to even out your complexion. Blend it as you usually would, without paying any special attention to under the eye. Once your foundation is in place, you should be able to clearly see the dark circles that you need to conceal.
2. Use your specially purchased concealer on the dark circles, applying it in a thin, even coat. This can be accomplished either by using a makeup brush or by patting it on with your finger.
3. Pay close attention to the area where your eye meets the bridge of your nose. This area tends to have the darkest circles and may need more concealer. Other areas to look at closely are directly under your eye and the outside edge where your eye meets your cheekbone.
4. Powder the concealed areas with a translucent powder, using just enough so that the concealer no longer looks sticky or shiny.
5. Apply your normal concealer over the special concealer as you use it on the rest of your face.

Other Make Up Tips For Hiding Dark Under Eye Circles

When you’re applying concealer for hiding dark under – eye circles, use a light touch. Too much concealer will draw attention to the skin under your eyes.

If using mascara, don’t apply it to the lower lashes. Flakes of mascara frequently fall from the lower lashes and make dark under eye circles look darker.

Yellow base concealer is generally the best choice for hiding dark under – eye circles. Remember to counter balance the most prominent undertone in your dark circles.

How to Apply Blush Properly: Blush Makeup Tips

How to Apply Blush Properly: Blush Makeup Tips

Now pay attention and read carefully as we give you some of the amazing blusher tricks. The tricks will give you the power and the magic of the fairy godmother’s magic wand to turn any ugly duckling into a princess, a plane Jane into a beauty goddess. It all depends on the tricks to blush up the right way. For in your face your eyes and lips no matter how well done will fail to create the magic if you don’t highlight your cheeks properly.

Blush Makeup is one way to give color to your cheeks using powders, creams or liquids. By using blush makeup on your face would not only give color to your cheeks, but you can also make your cheek bone structure is looked perfectly.

Blush is probably the most overlooked makeup product there is. Blush gives your face a rosy, healthy glow. You can also use blush to contour facial features to enhance your cheekbones, elongate a round face, minimize a long face and highlight your best features. Most women skip this vital makeup step because they do not know exactly how to apply blush in the correct fashion. Use these blush application tips to help.

Tips for Choosing Blush Makeup Colors:

When buying blush makeup it is necessary to ensure that there is proper lighting in the shop and try out a few likely shades with help from the cosmetic counter salesperson. Pick a blush color that is closest to a natural heightened tone of the skin after exercising. This will help to find the color that will resemble your natural complexion and not make the blush look contrived or your face too made up.

* Most blush makeup is one of two types: gold harmony, which comprises tones of coral, orange and reddish brown tones and the blue-tinged harmony, which has rose beige colors.
* Those with a fair complexion would do well to choose a blush with a grayish yellow (beige), sun kissed golden-brown (tawny) and pink tones since these will highlight the lightness of the skin.
* Women with olive/yellow-toned skin will benefit from a blush tinged with warm brown, almond and copper shades, as these will blend in naturally and smoothly.
* Darker skinned women can opt for plum, auburn and deep bronze shades in blush to achieve a glamorous yet warm look.
* Women who have a rich tan on their skin can show it to perfection with a complementary blush in shades tinged with orange, apricot, peach and coral hues.

Applying Blush Makeup Tricks:

* Soften bright blush with loose face powder.
* Always apply blush with a larger round brush. Don’t use the small stick-like thing they give you in the compact.
* Your blush should match the rest of your makeup but specially the lip color.
* Never use blush on the underside of cheekbones.
* Select a color of blush that resembles the natural color of your cheeks after you exercise.
* Use blush on your temples and around jawline to contour your face. Be sure to blend well.
* Apply blush last, after all other makeup.

Natural Acne Treatment at Home: Homemade Beauty Recipes

Natural Acne Treatment at Home: Homemade Beauty Recipes

The action of hormones on the sebaceous glands on the skin can result in clogged pores. And the clogged pores are the chief reason behind acne. Acne is an extremely common skin disorder and it can affect you at any stage of your life. Acne outbreaks can hamper your social life to a great extent and therefore it is extremely important for you to know about acne treatment. There are several treatments available for acne and it is entirely up to you to decide whether you want to use the commercial anti – acne products or opt for medical treatment.

There are several ways of treating acne at home; the ones that are mentioned below are easily prepared and always available. Why not open the fridge and see what you can find in the vegetable compartment, chances are big, that you will find the ingredients needed for an effective natural remedy for acne.

* Aloe Vera that is taken internally is effective in treating acne. Its juice can also be applied on skin areas that have acne.
* Rose water mixed with sandalwood paste can also be applied on the face for 30 minutes before rinsing it off.
* The paste from blended cucumber can be applied on the face and be left for about 30 minutes before rinsing. This serves as good refreshment for the skin, as well as an effective acne prevention cream.
* Fresh garlic can be rubbed on the affected areas. Though this remedy can be pretty smelly, it has a very effective antiseptic property that will dry out acne.
* Cumin seeds are also an effective treatment for acne. Paste produced from these seeds may be applied on the skin for about one hour before rinsing it off.
* Paste made from water and powdered Neem leaves can also be applied on the affected skin as an acne treatment.
* Lavender oil can also be directly applied to skin areas with acne.
* Paste made from the mixture of vinegar and ground seeds of black cumin can also be applied to the skin to treat acne.
* Paste from the mixture of little water and ground orange peel can be applied on affected skin areas.
* Cooked oatmeal can also be applied on the skin for about 15 minutes. Then wash off.
* The mixture of avocado paste and water can be a good facial wash.
* A warm bath with rosemary and blanch of nettle can also help in the reduction of acne.
* Egg white can also be an effective acne remedy when applied on the acne for at least 15 to 20 minutes.
* Ground bay leaves that are blanched in water and are cooled afterwards can also be applied on the skin with acne.
* You can blend the following fruit and vegetable: Peeled apple, half serving of cucumber, 1 tablespoon of yogurt and honey. The end-product can be applied on the skin for about 20 minutes before rinsing off with lukewarm water. This will reduce acne scars.
* Rose water and lime juice make for very effective natural treatment. Mix equal proportion of rose water and lime juice. Apply it on the face every night after cleaning your face. Keep the mixture for half an hour and then wash it off. Dry your face with a towel.
* Mint juice and turmeric powder mix is a widely used treatment. Make a paste of mint juice and turmeric powder. Apply it on your face but make sure you do not keep it for more than 30 minutes. Wash off the paste with lukewarm water.
* You can use a paste of cinnamon powder and honey for acne. Apply the paste on your face before going to bed at night. Wash off the paste the first thing next morning. This paste is extremely effectively in getting rid of the acne.

A Few Suggestions

You need to understand that natural acne treatment does not only mean applying pastes that aid in removing the acne and the zits. You need to follow certain steps:

1. Try to keep your skin oil free.
2. Remove the blackheads regularly.
3. Avoid fatty and fast foods. Stay away from chocolates as much as you can.
4. Opt for a balanced diet with lots of fruits, vegetables and natural juices.
5. Include Vitamin C and Vitamin E in your diet. They improve the health of the skin.
6. Mineral zinc is beneficial in treating acne.

Keep in mind these few tips and the treatment will become extremely easy.

How To Get Baby Soft Skin Without Side Effects: 10 Effective Tips

How To Get Baby Soft Skin Without Side Effects: 10 Effective Tips

Every woman wants smooth, glowing skin that looks flawless without makeup and shimmers year-round. It is very important to take care of one’s skin and with the current weather conditions your skin care just goes for a toss. It is an integral part like you take care of your teeth. Everyday care and moisturizing helps your skin in a very long run. It can make a good amount of difference once you start taking care of your skin. When I say skin it doesn’t mean your face is the only thing that has to be taken care and you should take care of your whole body.

1. Get Your Rest

Don’t skimp on sleep! Your skin needs eight hours of sleep each night to look radiant and healthy. Skip the z’s and you’ll end up with swollen, puffy eyes, dark eyelids, under-eye circles, and skin that’s dull and drab. If you’re exhausted, your face shows it!

2. Eat Well

Eat a healthy, balanced diet every day. What goes in your body shows on your skin. That means that anything greasy, fried, fattening, sugar-filled, or chemically processed can make your complexion look oily, pasty, yellow, sallow, and sick. Give your body the nutrition it needs and your skin will reveal radiant results. Lean meat and fish, whole-grain complex carbohydrates, and lots of fresh fruits (especially berries) and vegetables (especially green leafy ones) are key to sustaining a healthy diet for radiant skin. You are what you eat: Eat these healthy foods for healthy skin.

* Salmon
* Blueberries
* Lemon
* Green Tea
* Carrots
* Kiwi
* Cucumber
* Turkey

3. Drink More (and Less)

Drink a lot of water but not a lot of alcohol. Water keeps skin hydrated, moist, and radiant, so make sure you drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses every day. Carry water with you and sip as you go. Try to reduce or eliminate your alcohol intake. Alcohol makes skin dim, causes under – eye circles, sucks skin’s moisture out, and prematurely ages you.

4. Sweat it Out

If you’re thinking of skipping the gym today, don’t. Exercise gets the blood flowing and the oxygen circulating; it also relaxes your mind, which comes through in healthy, radiant skin.

5. Get Out of The House

Turn off the TV and head outside. Fresh air does your skin good, provided you’re protected from wind and harmful UV rays.

6. Be Sun Smart all Year Long

Be wary of the sun. Always wear sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or more. Never use tanning beds. Don’t strive for a temporary, healthy – looking tan – it will leave you with dry, leathery, wrinkled skin that you have to live with forever.

7. Open Your Eyes

Don’t squint. Wear your shades all year long to protect your eyes. If you’re squinting indoors, get your eyesight checked and make sure you wear your glasses or contacts when necessary. Squinting leads to lines and wrinkles and detracts from smooth skin.

8. Calm Down

De – stress. Stress shows on your face. If you hadn’t already guessed, it causes acne breakouts. And grimaces in time lead to worry lines. Learn to meditate, practice yoga, breathe deeply, or find a stress – management technique that works best for you.

9. Keep it Clean

Keep your skin clean and exfoliate weekly to remove grime, cut back on bacteria, scrape off dead cells, and leave it looking radiant. Use as few cosmetic products as possible, and make sure they are always unscented, hypoallergenic, and dermatologist approved. Too much makeup gives you a flat, fake look rather than the glow you’re looking for.

10. Take Fish Oils

Fish oils may be great for your heart but did you know they can help to reverse the signs of aging too? Premium oils contain powerful antioxidants like astaxanthin and lycopene which help to increase the thickness, decrease scaling and reduce the roughness of the skin by up to 60%.

How To Stop Fighting Over Money: Saving A Relationship

How To Stop Fighting Over Money: Saving A Relationship

One of the biggest hurdles that most marriages have to overcome is money. Fighting about money is one of the leading causes of disharmony and discontent in marriage. It is also one of the things that contribute to divorce. And in today’s world, where many couples marry after years of making all their financial decisions solo, it can be especially difficult to work out money issues.

But there are some things that you can do to help strengthen your marriage as well as reduce the amount of time you spend as a couple fighting over money. We all know that money consistently tops the charts when it comes to things couples fight about. When wallets are tighter as they most certainly are now things only get worse.

We’re stressed, we’re worried about our jobs, our investments, our bank accounts, and we take it out on each other. Here are six simple tips to stop fighting about money with your partner. Disagreements about money in a relationship creates friction, disharmony, break ups, divorce and sometimes violence.

Hire a Financial Planner:

A financial planner will assist you with setting and reaching financial goals. You’ll get to see your full financial picture and learn how to work past roadblocks that are preventing you from building wealth and achieving financial harmony.

Pay Your Bills Together:

Traditionally one spouse handles all the money and investing; it’s very rare for couples to physically sit down with all their bills and statements and write the checks together, says CFP and radio host Louis Scatigna, author of The Financial Physician. But, he stresses, “you and your honey should manage the money. These joint sessions ideally held once a month, he says prevent the less savvy partner from becoming financially oblivious.

Work on Communication:

Learning how to communicate with one another will ease tension during discussions about money. A great resource for learning how to do this is First Comes Love, Then Comes Money: A Couple’s Guide to Financial Communication.

Set Common Goals:

Each partner has individual goals regarding money, thus the fighting ensues. Discuss the family finances openly. Put the results on paper so that each partner can understand and remember the objectives being worked toward. After the family goals are obtained, individual goals can be achieved.

Sometimes individual goals will enhance the family objectives, such as higher education, relocation for better employment opportunities, etc. These goals are important and should be discussed and agreed upon by all parties involved.

Be Transparent About Accounts:

Some partners in relationships and marriages choose to establish and maintain individual accounts while the majority of families choose to pool financial resources. A study by Marilyn Coleman and Lawrence H. Ganong at the University of Missouri Columbia found that in remarried families, those who pool resources are closer and adult-child relationships are healthier.

Whether a new family or a re married family chooses to pool finances or have individual accounts, all parties must have access to the information. Secrecy breeds distrust while transparency leads to integrity.

Admit When You’re Stalled:

If your arguments start to spin out of control or, worse, never go anywhere, you might need to pull in a third person. Underlying relationship issues respect, trust, security, power, control often get triggered by (and lumped in with) conflicts over money, says Archuleta, who helped establish the newly minted Financial Therapy Association. “There are people around the country like me who specialize in couples who are experiencing financial issues.

Just bear in mind that you cannot change another person your partner has to decide to do something different and, in turn, you have to do something different, too, she says.

Assuming, that is, that you’re ready and willing to move forward. Because, she notes, if you’re a financial planner, you can make the greatest plan in the world, but that doesn’t mean that your clients will agree to follow it.

Things to do to Save Your Marriage: Stop Your Divorce

Things to do to Save Your Marriage: Stop Your Divorce

In the present day, it is somewhat obvious that marriage problems are on the increase. At times even the best of marriages can go through a traumatic phase, with more and more couples splitting up owing to a difficult relationship.

However as divorce adversely affects the emotional, personal and social life of both the partners, it’s best to do something positive to get to the bottom of marriage problems before they become too overwhelming. Doing nothing and hoping that things will work out simply won’t cut it.

If you or your spouse fall into negative patterns in the way you relate to one another, you are not just in a rut, you are hurting one another and your marriage. You can’t compromise or negotiate these behaviors away. You can’t rationalize the behaviors as this is “just the way I am.” In order to save your marriage, these harmful behaviors must stop.

When you exchanged vows, you promised your spouse that you would stay with them “until death do you part.” So what happened to get you to the point that you are considering divorce? If you can remember what made you fall in love in the first place, you can learn how to save your marriage by following these simple tips.

First of all Try to Keep Calm:

In the sad event it should ever happen to your marriage, even though it’s difficult not to, try not to get too downhearted. Simply sit down and begin to think seriously about how you can save the marriage.

Whenever conditions in your marriage seem to be getting worse it’s time to calmly tell yourself you need to take steps to save the marriage, starting right now, not tomorrow, before your marriage goes downhill any further.

See a Marriage Counselor:
If the situation feels too out of your control. A marriage counselor will provide neutral feedback on your relationship and won’t judge you. A good listener will help you figure out what to do more often than constant advice from people.

If you and your partner can commit to seeing a marriage counselor together, you have a better chance of staying together as the message you give is clear- although times are rough, you both value the relationship enough to work through it.

Bossy Partner:

If an overbearing partner is a major cause of conflict in your marriage that can be a difficult problem to cure without professional help. These types of people have deep-seated emotional issues that are difficult to overcome and counseling of some sort is often the only way for them to change their behavior.

Communication is Crucial:

Good interaction is an essential feature in an healthy marriage, if you don’t talk to each other then you will gradually drift apart emotionally. You must be able to disclose all your problems and feelings with your partner and in return you must also listen to your partner’s point of view and understand it.

Once you have recognized the causes of your marriage problems, you can then look for real solutions.

Learn to Forgive:

People are far from perfect. Life is short, and holding grudges about the past is pointless. If your partner has wronged you let him or her know, but never make your partner feel bad about it afterward. This will bring up negative emotions that serve no purpose. If you have wronged your partner, apologies and mean it.

Show Your Appreciation for Your Partner:

Every one likes to know they are appreciated. It’s the little things that count. Saying ‘thank you’, complimenting your partner. Think of the qualities your partner has that you genuinely value and when your partner shows one of these (hopefully many…) qualities, make him or her feel good about it.

Other Options:

If, despite all your hard work to save the marriage yourself, the problems are ongoing, you can consider other options. You may talk with your family or friends and seek their advice and support. If you feel self conscious discussing your marriage concerns with people that are close to you, you can go for marriage counseling to improve your communication skills.

Marriage counselling can provide an outlet where couples can openly discuss their feelings and help to clear up any misconceptions that have built up in the marriage.

Don’t Try to Change You Partner:

You can’t. You both can compromise and alter your behavior out of consideration for your partner, but you can’t change who your partner is.

Will You Succeed?

It can be difficult to keep any troubled relationship alive; it needs a lot of effort and a lot of fortitude and tolerance. Realize that saving a troubled marriage is not going to be easy but if you are single minded then why not make an effort before it gets too late? At least you can say you made an effort to save the marriage. Just remember this; the scars from a divorce can take a long time to fade.