Monday, June 16, 2008

The Classic Role of Kitchen Hutches

One piece of furniture that has never gone out of style in traditional and even many contemporary homes is the kitchen hutch. A hutch can serve several functions, including acting as a home storage cabinet, an extra tabletop, and a display for all your fine China or keepsakes. Kitchen hutches aren't just for large homes or country estate homes either, because they are available in a variety of styles and sizes that will clear up much more room than they take up in almost any kitchen. Whether you like larger antique hutches or space-saving corner buffet hutches, there is a hutch out there for your home or apartment to maximize your living space and organize your home.

You may think that a kitchen hutch will take up too much floor space in your kitchen, but if you think about how much you can organize and tidy up all your floors, tables and counters with the convenient cabinet storage, it will probably be a much more efficient use of space than your current configuration. Instead of keeping your fine China in a storage box, there are kitchen hutches with a display made just for this purpose to show off your wares. Or, you can use the display hutch for your precious knickknacks or keepsakes that don't have a special place yet. The buffet cabinet underneath is the really useful part of a kitchen hutch, because most of us could use much more storage space in our homes than we have. Should you be entertaining, you can use the extra tabletop to place those desserts or extra entrée dishes for your guests. With all the uses regular hutches or corner buffet hutches have in the busy kitchen, they have maintained a classic status as an essential piece of kitchen furniture.

You may think that kitchen hutches are only for large homes or country estates, but au contraire! You can find hutches in all price ranges, and you will find that they are very necessary in smaller spaces. A kitchen hutch is even more necessary in the smaller home, so that everything has a place to be put away and you won't be tripping over extra dishes and glasses on your countertops, or on a side table, or have them taking up room in your limited closet space. Traditional hutches and corner buffet hutches provide excellent organization and storage space to keep smaller spaces tidy and comfortable. You can find them in smaller or larger sizes, depending on your available floor space, and they come in all styles as well to match your unique home décor. Whether you like the look of antique buffet hutches, traditional kitchen hutches, or contemporary style hutches, there are so many styles out there for you to choose from that it shouldn't be hard to find one that will match your existing furniture.

Guide to Caring for Teak Garden Furniture

Teak garden furniture can really enhance the features of your garden and provide a relaxing and comfortable location to pass the time. But because the wood from which this furniture is made comes from Southeast Asia if you want it to last you need to look after it properly.

Teak is a hardwood and this is what makes the furniture so it is very durable. Plus this type of furniture will last quite a considerable amount of time because it is a very dense timber and contains high levels of resinous oil within it. It is this oil which actually not only makes the wood resistant to drying out but also from absorbing too much moisture.

Today you can either purchase teak garden furniture in its raw state or when it has been oiled. Furniture, which is still in its raw state when it arrives, will have a golden color to it. However, as time passes and if the wood is left, untreated it will fade to a silver grey color instead.

Certainly if you are after the silver grey look then once the wood has reached this stage there is very little that you will need to do to make sure that it retains this color. However, if you would prefer your wood to retain the golden color of when it arrived you need to start applying teak oil to its surface.

In order for your teak garden furniture to retain its golden color, then one should be applying teak oil to its surface twice a year. The first that you will need to do is actually clean the wood.

To do this you take some warm water (with a mild detergent mixed into it) and then use a soft damp cloth to wipe off and remove any dust or grit. After you have done this, you now need to leave the wood to dry naturally before you actually apply the oil.

When it comes to you applying the oil to your garden furniture, you should only use a clean lint free cloth to do so. But if you prefer you could use a spray gun instead, but using a cloth will help to spread the oil more evenly over the surface of the wood. Then you need to leave the oil until when you touch it, it feels tacky.

Once it is at this stage you should then dry with another clean lint free cloth and this will remove any excess oil on the surface of the wood. The final thing that one needs to do when oiling teak garden furniture is to buff or polish the surface with another clean rug an hour later.

As you can see there are a number of ways to care for and maintain your new garden furniture to make sure it can be used for years to come. The same care can often be effective on other types of garden benches and help maintain the quality of them.

Give Your Bedroom A Makeover With Modern Furniture

There might come a time that our bedroom might look dreary and worn out. The design may have been too common for your taste, or you might have gotten used to it over the years.

Our bedroom must be comfortable in both style and design. The rest and relaxation you will be getting from it depends on its overall theme and the furniture you plan to put in it. If you think that you need to give your bedroom a makeover, then it might be a fine time to introduce to it the concept of modern furniture.

The Modern Bed

Modern furniture designs vary both in theme and style; assorted designs of beds, nightstands, cabinets, mirrors, dressing tables, and so on. Choosing one will depend on what kind of theme you want to use on your bedroom, so it's best to choose well.

The main furniture in a bedroom is, of course, the bed. You need to pick one that will provide the most comfortable experience, as well as the style that will add to your overall Zen. The latest trend is the platform bed, traditional ones or the more modern design.

For a start, you need to take into consideration the space of your bedroom. If you are living in a single-family home, an apartment, or a condo, then you better look for the space-saving variety. The latest designs are those that provide maximum bedroom space, such as the wall variety or the ceiling variety.

The wall variety can be pushed into the wall when you don't need them, or pulled down when you do. The modern ceiling-type uses an elevator-like function that is attached directly on your ceiling. Both can be transformed to free valuable bedroom space, as well as the comfort when you use them.

Futuristic Design

Other variety of modern beds combines both entertainment and comfort. Futuristic designs of platform beds include their own version of entertainment systems like televisions and movie theaters. Some of them incorporate a flat screen TV instead of a headboard with a canopy to provide proper lighting. Others have their own TV attachment at the foot of the bed where it can be slid up and down, and a rotating panel to adjust the view.

A movie theater combo platform bed incorporates a headboard stand that can be used to place your DVD systems or game console. The flat screen television is hidden on the foot of the bed, which will slide up with a push of a button.

You don't have to rush when you purchase a platform bed to give your room a makeover. Try to get as much ideas as possible from magazines, bedroom furniture catalogs, home improvement magazines, or even from the Internet. The main point here is to fit the design of the bed with the overall feel of the room for maximum rest and relaxation.