You have likely heard of “Feng Shui.” But do you know what it’s about? Feng Shui is basically a body of guidelines for arranging the home environment, based on ancient principles, in which things flow together to create a more tranquil setting. You can use the following basic of this venerable body of art to get started on your own Feng Shui project in your home.

Clean out the Clutter

Actually, you don’t have to be doing Feng Shui to accomplish this first step, even without the others. This is done to “lighten the load” of the possessions in your environment and it’s probably the most essential part of the process. Throw away anything that you do not really need in your home. Then when you have done that, you will automatically feel refreshed and lighter.

Introduce More Light and Fresh Air

Whenever possible, open up the windows and let the fresh air enter in to encourage a good “energy.” Get plants that do their part to purify the air or purchase a good air purifier. And, just as vital, let the sunlight come in, too.

Know the Esoteric Elements of Feng Shui

Elements of Feng Shui such as wood, water and metal each have an optimal place in the home. For example if you want to increase your prosperity, put water and wood in the southeast corner of your room or home.

Identify and Orient According to the Ba Gua

This has to do with evaluating and optimizing the layout of the home with the Feng Shui compass. The word refers to eight diagrams (eight areas) which are used to optimize the location of elements of the room or home for maximum benefit to those who enter into the space. You can read up on it in various online sources, and many people find it to be a fascinating topic. By relating to Ba Gua, you’ll find how areas of your home are tied to specific areas of your life and what you experience.

Find out Your Feng Shui Birth Element and Create a Plan Around It

Your Birth Element requires a specific analysis, which is something you can do with various reference sources. For example, if you have fire as your Birth Element use lots of reds, purples, oranges and yellows to decorate your home. Generous use of wood would also be a complementary element to emphasize as it feeds fire, building upon the relationship between these elements.

Know Your Individual Kua Number

This lets you know which direction is the best way to position yourself in the room where you spend a lot of time for better tranquility. It will guide you in placing desk or favorite chair so you’re facing in your most auspicious direction.

Know How Your Home’s Energy Influences You

Pay special attention to your living room, your bedroom, and the kitchen to make sure the layouts in each of these areas are positive inputs to your comfort and prosperity. These three most important living spaces constitute the Feng Shui triangle.

Whether you think the effects of Feng Shui are genuine or imaginary, countless people over the years have used it as a way to improve their lives. After all, that first big step of getting all the clutter out of your home is important whether you use Feng Shui or not. After you get that done, it doesn’t require much more work to try different techniques to see how what happens.

Article made available courtesy of Automated Homefinder, the best Lafayette Colorado home location experts.

Investing in the bathroom in your home can be the best investment you can make. Time and again it has been proven that the bathroom and kitchen are the two rooms with the most significant impact on home values. That is a very good reason why making improvements to the bathroom is very important, especially if you plan to sell anytime soon. There are a number of companies out there that sell bathroom remodeling jobs that do not require that you do any of the work yourself. These deals might be like a good idea, but they can turn out to be pretty expensive when it is time to pay the bill. As an alternative, there are some very sensible and inexpensive ways to fix your bathroom that are fairly affordable. Here are some handy suggestions that you can use to get your bathroom up to par and save some cash while you’re doing it.

1. Add a Shower Door Instead of the old Curtain. Installing a door on the shower is a great way to add functionality without breaking the bank. You can do the job yourself or install or have someone install a door in the shower without replacing the whole shower. This will avoid a lot of expense and problems.

2. Consider Vinyl Tile. Much of the time, bathroom remodels include chipping up ceramic tile and installing new. Most people think that tile is the only choice there is. Although ceramic tile used to be the only way to go, that is no longer so. New vinyl products have come on the market that are so realistic that it is hard to tell the difference. Flex-floor vinyl gives you a surface with a little cushioning to it as well as durability. It costs less than regular tile, and it can be found in a variety of tile, stone and woodgrain patterns. In many installations you can install it over the existing flooring material. Just fill in the grout lines with patching material, and just lay the thick new material over it. This will save money on tearing up the old tile and on the installing the new. Check into the new vinyl materials out there before you spend money on a new tile floor. For small jobs, any flooring specialty shops will offer remnants that can be perfect for bathrooms.

3. Countertop Remnants. In much the same way as flooring has remnants, many types of counters are made in a way such that there are remnants, or leftover pieces. If you want a particular kind of countertop for your vanity, check with a shop that sells granite to see if they have any remnants. Generally you can pick these up for a small fraction of what it would cost for a full piece of granite. You can still have them install it and get it cut to your counter size, and the price you pay for the stone will be much less.

By using some imagination and careful shopping, you can make a meaningful improvement for a small expenditure. Because of how big a factor the bathroom is to everyday functioning of most families, the modest amount of money you spend on this kind of renovation can pay off big in satisfaction.

To learn all about Broomfield CO homes, go to AutomatedHomefinder.com.

Today is Earth Day!!

For the past 40 years people have come together on April 22nd to celebrate eco-friendly education around the world.

Here are some facts about energy efficient and sustainable living, courtesy of Erica Christoffer, Web Producer for REALTOR® Magazine

Energy Use & ENERGY STAR

Upgrading single-pane windows to ENERGY STAR windows can save a home owner between $126 and $465 in energy costs per year.

An ENERGY STAR washing machine can help save 6,700 gallons of water per year.

Remember to turn off power strips and unplug electronics (TVs, computers, printers, and charging devices) because stand-by power can account for as much as 5 to 10 percent of a home’s energy use.

Building with Brick

Homes with brick veneer use 2 to 7 percent less energy than those with fiber cement siding.

Brick has a 100-year lifespan, or longer.

Clay bricks are recyclable. They can be reused in other structures or broken down to make new brick.

Consumer Waste

Every year, nearly 900 million trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.

In the U.S., about 28 billion bottles and jars are thrown away every year.

Each year, Americans throw away 25 billion Styrofoam cups — 500 years from now, they’ll still be sitting in a landfill.

Full Article: Honor Earth Day By Passing On These Quick Facts

Image Source

Believe it or not, you can build with plastic and no one will ever know! It’s virtually impossible to tell the difference between artificial materials and materials found in nature.

And artificial is so much cheaper!

Here are some of the best state-of-the-art building material look-alikes:

Fiber Cement Siding

Average price: $13,000 to replace existing siding and trim with fiber cement
Savings: 25% less than wood

Unlike vinyl siding, which comes in large sheets, this consists of individual shingles or clapboards nailed in place one at a time to closely resemble wood. Made from recycled wood fibers mixed with cement, this siding won’t rot.

Manufactured Stone

Average price: $1,700 to create an interior floor-to-ceiling wall above a fireplace
Savings: 50% less than real masonry

Get the look of real stone for a chimney, a fireplace or porch posts with these artificial rocks that are molded from concrete and then individually tinted to slightly different colors for an authentic appearance.

Engineered Stone Countertops

Average price: $2,500 to $5,000 for an average kitchen countertop
Savings: Same price as granite, but needs no sealing

Made from chips of quartz pressed together with resins, the best-engineered countertops look like real stone that just happens to have an extremely uniform pattern on its surface (man cannot mimic a highly variegated look yet – maybe in a couple of years).

Cellular PVC Trim

Average price: $120 per window or door, installed
Savings: Costs 20% more than cedar up front but lasts longer and better

Made by injecting air into vinyl chloride (a liquid form of vinyl) and then forming it into solid pieces of trim, the resulting boards get cut, nailed and even shaped into custom profiles by the same tools and techniques used for wood.

Stamped Concrete Patios

Average price: $4,000 for a 16 x 20 patio
Savings: Half the cost of bluestone

Instead of laying individual bluestones, cobbles or bricks, a contractor can simply pour a slab of concrete and then emboss and tint its surface to make it look like any one of those far more expensive materials.

Find out more about Plastic fantastic building materials at Money.Cnn.Com

How to Make Perches for a Hummingbird Feeder

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

The best hummingbird feeders are easy to disassemble and clean, and have perches for the birds to sit on while drinking nectar. The most commonly available hummingbird feeders have a base and a removable nectar reservoir, but no perches. You can get more enjoyment out of your hummingbird feeder by adding perches. The birds will be much more likely to stay for several minutes, and you’ll have better luck seeing and observing them. Heavy coated wire can be used to make an inexpensive but effective perch for the birds to sit on.

Steps

1. Prepare the feeder. Remove the base from the reservoir and place the base on your work surface.
2. Make the anchor wire. Measure around the point where the reservoir attaches to the fee plus 1″ (2.5cm).
3. Secure the anchor wire. Bend the last 1/2″ of each end of this wire into a little hook. Bend the wire into a circle and hook the ends together. Bend the wire a little more if necessary to make it round. Fit it over the feeder base. It should be a loose fit.
4. Make the perch wire. Measure the circumference of a circle about 1″ larger than the circumference of the feeder base. Cut a length of the heavy-guage coated wire equal to this length plus 1″.
5. Secure the perch wire. Bend the last 1/2″ of each end of this wire into a little hook. Bend the wire into a circle and hook the ends together. Bend the wire a little more if necessary to make it round. Lay it around the feeder base.
6. Make the connector wires. Measure the distance between the two round wires. Cut connector wires equal to this length plus 1″. The number of connector wires you’ll need is equal to the number of feeder holes in the base.
7. Use the connector wires to connect the anchor wire and perch wire. Bend the last 1/2″ of each end of each connector wire into a little hook. Hook each onto the anchor wire with the hook facing upward spacing them so that the connectors are between the feeder holes. Put the perch wire into the hooks at the other end of each connector wire. You will likely have to “play” with bending the various wires to get everything to fit together.
8. Clamp it together. Once you’re satisfied with the arrangement, use the pliers to clamp down all the connector wire hooks. The whole thing should look like two wheels connected by spokes. It should be rigid enough that if you pick it up, the various parts don’t rearrange themselves.
9. Fill the feeder. Fill the feeder with hummingbird food, and hang it where you can see it.
10. Enjoy visits from your new friends!

Video (see below)

The hummingbirds will use the perches, and stay at the feeder longer, increasing your chances of seeing them.

Tips

• If your connector wires are too short, you can always bend the perch wire in a little bit where it meets the connectors.
• If you don’t have a tape measure, you can just start bending the wire “freehand” around the feeder base and cutting the wire when you meet up with the end.
• If the heavy wire is not very flexible, (i.e. it doesn’t flop or bend much if you shake it gently) you may not need to bend the ends into hooks. You can just “butt” the ends together bending the wire so that the ends are close together. Hummingbirds are very small and only weigh a few ounces so they aren’t going to bend the wire by sitting on it.
• Use coated wire as some believe that birds do not like to stand on metal.
• Don’t worry if it’s not perfect or beautiful — the birds won’t care. In fact, they’ll likely show their appreciation for your efforts by hanging around more.
• Remember to clean and refill the feeder every few days. Perches won’t entice the birds to come if the food is moldy or the feeder is dirty!

Things You’ll Need

• Hummingbird feeder with wide base and removable reservoir
• Heavy-guage coated wire
• Thinner wire
• Wire cutters
• Pliers
• Tape measure (optional, but helpful)

Related wikiHows

• How to Feed Hummingbirds
• How to Play With a Hummingbird
• How to Attract Birds
• How to Build a Copper Bird Feeder Pole
• How to Make Peanut Butter Pine Cones for Birds

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make Perches for a Hummingbird Feeder. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.