Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The 3 Main Uses of Patio Umbrella Lights

Patio umbrellas serve well at daytime by providing us a lovely shade and protecting us from the harmful sun’s UV rays. They stand proud and beautiful which complements the outdoors. They are a great addition to our patio or decks, and they are very helpful in some outdoor cafe or bistros. And when the sun comes down and the darkness fills the entire surrounding they are of no important use and be closed to rest. But their functionality is not limited at daytime anymore. Through the use of patio umbrella lights, they can still stand and show their elegance at night. Outdoor umbrellas tend to become more attractive with proper lighting in the midst of darkness. That is why more and more people love outdoor night under their patio umbrellas. The following are the three main uses of patio umbrella lights.

Brightening Up The Surroundings – This is the main use of lights. Adequate lighting illuminates the area enables us to see everything we put on the table, our patio furniture, and the faces of everyone. With enough brightness we can enjoy the dinner outside the house, reading books, playing games, and a quality time with family and friends.

Adding Colors And Ornaments – This is an exciting use of patio umbrella lights. Colored lights added to the umbrella create a delightful decoration and exciting view at night. String lights are more applicable for this. The attractive colors of your umbrella and patio furniture are less appreciated at night in outdoors. But the colorful and bright lights make an enchanting display and even enhance the beauty of all patio furniture.

Creating a Special Ambiance – Setting up an entirely different mood for an outdoor night can be made possible through the use of proper lighting. Different lights and intensity affects the ambiance ad aesthetics of every decoration. For example, a soft glow and warm light creates romantic outdoor dinner or get together. A diffused light makes a relaxing feeling. Setting up a desired mood can be perfected with the right adjustment and mixing of lights.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Christmas Color Themes and Combinations

Christmas decorations are meant to be colorful but targeting a specific color theme is also wonderful and trendy. There are a lot of color schemes to choose from. You can choose from realistic to plain colored to metallic theme. You can customize any looks to complement a room decoration and show your creative home designing. Since decorating for Christmas is centered on trees, most themes will be based on them.

The most common and overused theme but still gorgeous of all time is the realistic evergreen. The simple pine tree and green garland or wreath pine leaves are perfect for any ornaments. However, do not add excessive Christmas ornaments if you want to maintain the traditional theme of evergreen. Metallic ornaments such as gold or silver are great ornament add-ons to greenery because they add a glow to the greens. This combination creates a warm home and complements with a fireplace which is perfect for winter during Christmas. By the way, be careful and not to place your Christmas tree or decoration near a real burning fireplace to avoid catching fire. An electric fireplace is a safe one to use indoors. There are modern electric indoor or outdoor fireplaces that look and feel like a real one available in nearest appliance stores or online now at PatioShoppers.com.

The wintry theme is also a greenery type but it has a snowy look. Christmas trees have snow features on leaves. This type of decoration is usually placed in non-wintry places to have the look of winter.

Today, there is an increasing popularity of non-traditional colored Christmas tree or decoration. Trendy plain colored schemes include the metallic color such as gold and silver and other colors such as red, blue, pink, white, and more. To some these plain colors have significant meaning. But whatever meaning these colors express, they make a joyful decoration with the help of creative minds. These modern Christmas trees mostly are used in minimalist interiors and they really work best. You can add some ornaments to them but be careful with the color combination to maintain the minimal design. Usually, no more than two different colors of ornament should be added. For an example, if your Christmas tree is purely white then you can add red or blue colored ornament or a combination of two.

These are just simple suggestions. The best way to find out what’s best is by doing it. Probably you’ll discover and learn as you go along.

Monday, November 15, 2010

What To Do With Patio Umbrellas During Christmas?

Outdoor Patio Umbrellas are great and helpful in creating a lovely outdoor place. But when Christmas time comes, there are just two things you can do. You may store and keep them safe or keep them outdoors but it will depend on every situation.

For wintry places, outdoor patio umbrellas should be stored. However, there are some circumstances that you cannot store your patio umbrellas inside the house or garage. Particularly if an umbrella is fixed in a place and cannot be moved, it should stay outdoors for longer time. Well, you can still keep them safe by providing a patio umbrella cover. Just ensure that the cover is weatherproof. The umbrella should be properly closed and the cover is securely fitted and sealed to avoid the moisture from penetrating. But before you’ll do that, we need to do some proper preparation. This is to ensure that your umbrella is safe when stored indoors, at a garage or just covered outside. The possible effects to an umbrella stored without proper preparation can reduce its lifespan and may also damage it instantly.

Proper preparation before storing is easy. Just make sure to completely clean the whole patio umbrella and it should be completely dry before putting on the cover and storing. This is to prevent molds and mildew from appearing. Adding grease to the crank and joints helps preserve its strength especially when it’s made of metal. Putting grease on metal also prevents rust from appearing. Then you can put the cover on and tie and seal it completely. Additionally, when an umbrella cannot be stored indoors and must stay outdoors. It is best to double the tie and add some support ties on the sides to hold it upright firmly.

For non-wintry places, outdoor umbrellas are of good use. They can be useful to set up a perfect outdoor Christmas venue, a venue for a small party or get-together outside the house. You can decorate them to have a theme for Christmas. Put patio umbrella lights to have a bright surrounding. Patio umbrella lights especially the string types are also great decoration for a Christmas theme. Some of these string types are colored just like the Christmas lights. Adding colored lights and Christmas lights makes a sparkling and lively outdoor Christmas nights. Then add all the Christmas decorations you have and decorate the entire patio including the patio furniture. But do not over-decorate your patio and maintain the balance of elegance and festive of Christmas decoration.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Home Decorating for Christmas

Christmas is not just a holiday to have a vacation and to take some time for ourselves. It is a time to remember that Christ have come and dwelt on earth to save us. It is also a time of giving, giving not just gifts but also time for our family and friends. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year where we can spend longer hours with them at home. To bring the spirit of Christmas at home, we always decorate it with various decorations and displays. We tend to makeover it from the inside and out even before the actual season comes. It’s a tradition that is worth to keep.

Christmas decorations come in several types used during Christmas time or even beyond. Majority of these decorations have been created long ago and was handed from generation to generations. Designs and styles have evolved up until now but they still posses the beauty of the traditional ones. The usual color of a Christmas decoration is green but there are also others that represent a different kind of mood. If you want a snowy look, you can use blue colored decorations with some kind of white for a snowy appearance. Metallic colors like gold and silver are also common especially for decoration accents.

The top decoration in this long celebration is a Christmas tree. This type of decoration completes any home and is accented with lights and ornaments. Traditionally it is placed and used at home but are now showcased outdoors especially in town centers and parks. And some are tall that can be seen from far away. Other decorations that can add the spirit of Christmas are the Christmas icons. We have several icons for this Christmas celebration. Number one is the baby Jesus whom is the center of this celebration. Typically this is placed in a nativity scene with Mary and Joseph. Then there’s the star of Bethlehem traditionally hanged on the ceiling, wall, and over the top of every Christmas tree. There is also Santa Claus, an icon of gift giving that gives joy to the children.

This Christmas season is a perfect time to share with family and friends. Decorate your home to have the spirit of Christmas. Decorating a home is not a hard task. Although it may take time but the result will be so rewarding. Basically, you’ll only need a Christmas tree and some ornaments, garlands and wreaths for your walls and doors. You can buy all these from a nearby department store or easily order them over the internet like in PatioShoppers.com. And don’t forget to add an indoor fireplace or a patio heater to give your family and visitors comfort and warmth during this cold season.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Perfect Home Heating Solution

A home certainly needs heating solution during cold seasons especially in wintry places. As humans we need heat to warm our body in order to have comfort and maintain a healthy life. To have a warm home, we need a fireplace just right in a corner of a room. Traditionally, a fireplace is built-in a room corner with a chimney so that smoke will go outside the house. And we need to haul wood for fuel so that we can get the warmth we need. In these days, there are modern electric fireplaces which produce heat efficiently with convenience. More of these modern fireplaces even produce sound and flame effects to mimic a real wood burning fireplace. There are also gas fuelled fireplaces and patio heaters that are still safe to use for both health and the environment.

But what really makes a perfect home heating solution? Well, every person has his own personal preference. Although there are just great tools or appliances that we can say a perfect one, but it is still a personal choice if a person will really be satisfied with a particular option. To be truly satisfied with the solution or option that we choose, one must consider some factors.

The first thing most people are considering is the FUNCTIONALITY. The question often asked is, is it applicable or is it practical? Every heating solution has its own unique characteristics and function that is only applicable to a particular setup. The second thing to consider is the BEAUTY. This factor is always paired with functionality and is always been taken into account by most of us consumers. There are a lot of options that could complement most of indoor settings, from classical theme to contemporary or modern decoration. The most important factor that must not be taken for granted is SAFETY. We know that all heating solutions have complied with quality and safety standards. However, safety will still depend on how we take care of them.

Traditional fireplace is great; it can give an ambiance and beauty of natural wood fire. However, traditional fireplace is less applicable in today’s lifestyle. Modern and hi-tech indoor and outdoor fireplaces may not be perfect for some, but they are the most applicable and practical these days. Having a perfect home heating solution depends own personal choice, that is why modern fireplaces come with different style and functionality. You can even order customized fireplace.

If you are to buy a new fireplace, don’t be overwhelmed with lots of choices. Think first on what you really want of a perfect home heating solution and write it down in a list. You can conveniently search on the internet before buying. You can also order online like in PatioShoppers.com, they have a friendly customer service to help you choose a perfect heating solution for you.