Turn Your House Into A Lovely Home

We all want to live in a fully furnished beautiful place. An abode where we can have peace of mind, spend quality time with the family, and won't be ashamed to welcome our friends and guests. In short, we want our house to be called a home. So we typically improve its appearance by using modern furniture, wall arts, and adding decorations inside and out.

Some of the most fascinating addition to our home are plants and flowers. They not only add beauty to our surroundings but they can also give us fresh air and help save Mother Nature. Today, a backyard garden is no longer necessary just to add a greenery outside our home. Though our gardening gifts will never go to waste because there are already a lot of ways on how we can grow plants inside and out of our homes.

1. Hanging baskets. They can be fascinating decorations on our porch, patio, or any other outdoor spaces. Put cascading plants on hanging baskets and they will definitely make your home more charming and attractive.

2. Window Box. Accentuate your windows with colorful flowers by placing them in a window box. There are different styles of window boxes that you can use to perfectly match the color or design of your house. You may use metal, PVC, fiberglass, or hay rack. Using any of them will definitely add pizazz to your windows.

3. Planter Box. Bring the charm and aroma of your flowers inside your home by placing them in planter box. Even your herbs can be brought in too. With the wide selection of planter boxes today, it will not be hard for you to choose which fits in your interior or exterior decorations at home.

With the variety of gardening ideas today, it is up to your creativity to use them and make your house turn into a beautiful and lovely home. You can look for designs of home decorations using hanging baskets, window boxes, or planter boxes on the internet and follow their patterns. You can even follow the designs of luxurious hotels even if you do not use expensive materials. Just mix and match the various resources that you can afford and you will achieve the beautiful home that you have in mind.

How Can We Make Our Patio Look Good

A Patio is a paved outdoor space used for dining and recreational activities that adjoins the residence. It is usually made of concrete or stone slabs over a base. This base is often a layer of compacted stone chips, a layer of sharp sand, and a layer of cement mortar. Most homeowners use their patios to receive guests and visitors so they make sure that it looks very presentable to anyone. Nowadays, there are a variety of fixtures and decors that would complement the design of your patios. Whether it will be modern or contemporary, classic or old fashion, there are a myriad of things you can add to your patio to deliver an impressive statement of beauty to the eye.

I have some friends who are fond of making their patios stunning by installing some structures that add more style and to make the place attractive to guests. So for those of you who want to make their place look good but don't have the idea how, here are some  great ideas when it comes to decorating your balcony, patios, receiving areas and other places in the house where people gather around.

Hanging Baskets

Hanging Baskets are suspended containers used for growing decorative flowering plants. They are typically used to place flowers and plants on buildings, apartments and houses where garden space is lacking. We can also use them as replacement to potted plants if we do not have any room at home for an indoor garden. We can hang them on trees, free standing home frames, pillars and walls to add something that would make our home stylish and elegant.

Flowerboxes

Flowerboxes are mini gardens that contain decorative flowers. This is one of the best options to include in your patio. The good thing about flower boxes is they can be transferred from one place to another. If we want to make changes at home, we can just move the box freely without any hassle of setting it up again.

Planters

Planters are container gardens. They are bigger than pots and baskets. They can instantly brighten the porch, deck, balcony and patio. There are different types of planters to choose from. We can select from fiber glass, wood, metal, wrought iron to pvc planters. These wide selections of planters are perfect to match the design of our home.

The above mentioned structures can give the illusion of fullness to our patio. They will be an eye comforting addition that would provide us the luxury of using our patio with our leisure activities. So why not try making use of our patio as an ideal place to hang out with family and friends?

How to Clean Flower Window Boxes

It is best to clean the flowerboxes once or twice a month to avoid fungus and bacteria to infest the plants and flowers in them. It is necessary to remove the fast growing fungus as not to infect the plants that may lead to contaminating others. There are some few basic tips on how to clean our window box. However, the process of cleaning will depend on what type of flower window boxes we have. There are some boxes that made from wood, hard plastics, and aluminum. The cleaning guidelines will be for all types of boxes.

1. First we need to prepare the materials that we need for cleaning. We need the plastic scrubber, sponge, cleaning solution (liquid soap).

2. Brush off any dirt or debris that is on the flower box. Use a stiff brush for clay and a plastic scrubber for plastic. It would be best to use brushes first because some fungi are hard to remove. But be careful not to totally damage the container.

3. Wash the container box with the liquid solution with the sponge. Scrubbing more would remove the dirt completely.

4. Disinfect by rinsing with hot and boiling water.

5. Let the box dry completely. Expose it to sunlight if possible. The ultraviolet rays I the best disinfectant.

6. Scrub salt build up off of the boxes by making a baking soda paste with a little water then scrub wooden flower window boxes with a fine steel wool, and hard plastic boxes with a plastic scrubber.

After washing the flowerbox, we can fill it in with our favorite flowering plants. Cleaning Flower boxes are not always part of our daily routine. They can be done weekly or even monthly. It may take time to clean the flower boxes but the contribution to cleanliness is always the key to our healthy lifestyle.

We are definitely going to enjoy the beauty of a clean container box. It would be a great contribution of beauty not only to our home but to the environment as well. We sure need to develop the green living behavior to preserve the Earth.

FlowerBoxes: Decorating and Personalizing

Flower box has a big contribution when we talk about home improvement. It should also be part of our maintenance at home and it should stay beautiful all year round. We can improvise our boxes as not to look outdated. By doing so, I can give some ideas on how we can decorate and personalize our flower boxes at home.

Gather the things that we need - To improvise our flower box, we need to gather the materials and tools necessary to decorate and personalize our boxes.

1. Paint, paint brushes and paint trays are the most important items we need to redesign our window flower boxes. We can choose the paint of choice that matches the theme of our home.

2. Flowering plants have the most important role when decorating our flowerboxes. We can check out our local florist to ask for some suggestions that go with our flower plant boxes. It would be better to ask for the experts suggestions.

3. We also need a hose and a brush to clean the flower box.

The tools mentioned above are the basic things that we need to start our flowerbox reconstruction. We may add other things like flower stencils to create some cool stuff that we can insert to improvise our container box.

Clean the box. Preparation of our boxes would need clearing and removing of some dirt. Use the hose and brush to wash and remove the dirt and wait for it to dry out. It would be better to have a flower box free from flakes or dusts to have a manageable and easy painting work.

Coat it with paint. Paint the flower boxes white. This light color will make the designs on the boxes and the flowers to really stand out. You may need to apply two coats and make sure that you apply the paint in thin, even layers and let it dry in between coats. You may need to allow as long as an hour to let the paint dry.

Set up your colored paints. Adding different colors would give variety to your flowerbox. We can add red, blue, green and yellow to make it more attractive. Pour a little bit of colored paint into each paint tray. Each tray should have its own color and its own sponge.

Add more designs. Personalizing would mean attach some desirable designs to make the window box substantial. Use the stencils, sponges and paints to make flower designs on your flower window boxes. You will hold the stencils in place and gently sponge the different colors onto the stenciled designs. This will enable you to make and replicate pretty flower designs. Do not sponge on a lot of paint at once. If the stencil is small and you are going to use it multiple times, wipe it clean after each use so that the paint does not get muddy and brown.

Protect the boxes. Allow the boxes to dry. This may take as long as 2 hours. If you wish, you can spray them with a sealant to protect your designs from the weather. This will make your boxes long lasting and durable.

All the above mentioned thoughts are only suggestions that would give us some ideas on how we can create a pleasant and personalized window box. It might be a lot of work but it is priceless after everything is done. Why not check out your window boxes and see some revisions that you can do to make it personalized and appealing.

Window Box Garden: An Art

Garden is an area of land, usually planted with grass, trees, flowerbeds, adjoining the house. It is a portion of a yard that has been planted, tended or landscaped. The garden is a perfect place for family to hang around during the day and even at night. There are also times when garden is used to hold activities like parties, weddings, birthdays, and victory celebrations. It is also a perfect place for kids to hang around or use the garden as their playground.

I have read an article about plants and gardens in the internet. I was so amazed on how beautiful the plants are organized or arranged on the garden. The photos show different methods of gardening. There are raised gardens,window flower boxes, planters, and bed gardens.

We people are capable of having a garden at home. A little time to spend for gardening won’t hurt our daily activity. We can use the whole backyard and have an expanded bed garden or a small indoor garden space in the apartment. You don't need to worry about sunlight as you can always place your container gardens near glass windows or on the windowsills.

Talking about container gardening, we can start from a simple planter or hanging baskets to a designer flower box that gives great compliment to our homes. We can also make simple yet pleasant window boxes to create accent or emphasis to our windows. These window boxes are rectangular in shape that follows the length of our windows. With the provided space inside the box, we can put the exact needed soil for the plant. It would be an advantage instead of doing the conventional way of gardening.

There are Iron, Aluminum, Wood and Vinyl as examples of window boxes. If the selections don’t fit our house design, we can certainly create custom window boxes that go with the theme of our choice.

Gardening is truly a good and relaxing activity. It rejuvenates and at the same time creates a good mood if we are on a rough day. So why not put up a garden at home and make the most out of it for plants will crown all our efforts with beauty and satisfaction.

Best Way to Replace the Traditional Gardening

Gardening is a way of making ourselves busy throughout the day. Starting your day in the garden helps you relax and think of nothing but the beauty that it brings. These days, gardening is catching up with the modern world in terms of technology, style and quality of materials. Whether you are living in the countryside or within the city, gardening is now possible anywhere. One of the most innovative ways to make this happen is by using a flower box which is today's modern form of gardening without the hassle of its traditional counterpart.

Flower box or container gardening makes growing plants more convenient and stylish compared with traditional gardening in the yard or anywhere else that requires a large area. These tools also promote indoor gardening which is perfect for people living in urban areas with less space to accommodate a garden. Growing plants indoors does not only give you the pleasure and joy of having live plants in fancy containers but it also accentuates your home. Modern planters are fully customizable and can be ordered according to your specifications. Any color, style, size or design is possible. Other types of flower boxes include PVC planters, raised bed gardens, customized flower boxes and self watering window box. Window boxes are commonly used by home owners to add more design and style. It can really make the exterior of your home attractive as it can add color to a home no matter what the season. Both flower and window boxes also save you some space outside or inside the house because you do not need a big area to have container gardens.

Instead of growing a garden outdoors why not try to have custom window boxes installed on windowsills? It would be a lot better to have something that will get the attention of people whenever they pass by the apartment or building. It is nice to have custom window boxes if we want to check out the invigorating landscape outside our apartment or condo units.

The container boxes mentioned above make huge difference if we add it to our home structure. For those who are into green living, let us try to discover some difference in our surroundings that make our home an ideal place to live in. We can insert some ideas that would provide us with relief after a rough day. It is a bit expensive but the comfort that it brings is priceless.

How Can Gardening Be A Blissful Pastime?

Gardening is the latest trend when we talk about home based pastime ideas these days. We can’t deny the fact that a lot of people are into "Go Green" activities not just only to help preserve the environment but also to keep them busy and make gardening as an alternative for exercise. But how can we really make gardening an enjoyable pastime? Do you have any idea? If you have nothing in mind yet, let me share some great ideas we can do while gardening.

Mind Set

Creating a great atmosphere to make ourselves comfortable is essential for gardening. It's boring if we are not prepared for the activity. Preparations include mind-set, tools for gardening, containers or flower boxes and plants. It would be easier if the things that we need are already organized and ready to utilize.

Sharing Gardening Ideas

Sharing some gardening tips with neighbors makes gardening more fun and interesting. If you have friends and neighbors who also have gardens, it can be a source of motivation or a good reason to start a friendly competition. By doing this, you will not only have more reason to keep on gardening but you can also interact with your fellow gardeners and learn more. Discussing great gardening ideas like creating flower window boxes or indoor flower box gardens and other gardening tips and secrets are excellent ways to level up your skills.

Gardening together

Community gardening is the best way to interact with our neighbors. It would be easier and certainly no dull moments when working together. We can share ideas and products of our labor to everybody. It is also cost friendly to share our gardening activities with the community. It asks for fewer expenses but gives great outcome. It is not only an individual happiness but a community bliss. However, if community gardening is not possible, we can ask some friends, relatives or a special someone to help us out with a nice mini flower box garden at home. The idea makes gardening looks simple but memorable.

Work Out Partner

Gardening and yard care are unique forms of exercise that allow you to do something relaxing, creative and fun while you work various muscle groups and get a moderate level of cardiovascular exercise as well. What is truly great about gardening is we can use our whole body while working. Gardening involves different kinds of exercises including, stretching, weight lifting and a light cardiovascular workout.

Gardening maybe an old school activity, but it is a great pastime for us. There are some who are fascinated with mini gardens at home like custom window boxes and indoor container gardening. If we try to Google different kinds of gardening, it will definitely provide various selections of modern gardening ideas.

Are you already gardening? If so, I salute you because you are promoting not only a greener environment but also health and wellness. For those who are not active in gardening, we can start for some small box gardens.  This way, we can combine the joys of growing our favorite gift plants with a light exercise regimen.

Campanula: A Plant Gift

A Campanula is a bell-shaped bluish violet flowering plant which means “little bell” in Latin. There are different species and colors for Campanula and all of them goes very well on a designer pot. Growing more of it can be very appealing if placed in a window box and it can absolutely be ideal in a hanging basket. Every individual gazing at this plant will love its heartiness, abundant periwinkle blue buds and starry flowers. Most flower shops are offering this fascinating flowering plant for mostly all occasions.

We can have Campanula as a Birthday and Sympathy plant gift. We can also have it as a gift for Mother’s Day, Congratulations, Get well soon, Thanksgiving, Anniversary and even on Housewarming celebrations. It definitely provides a long period of bloom which is absolutely useful if we want to see a long lasting flowering plant gift every day. Having this eye-catching blooming creation in our house with custom window boxes would be very relaxing knowing that the flower gives a pleasant comfort in our eyes.

Campanula ranges from $30 – 40 in the market. Not bad as a gift plant for various occasions. It would be an impeccable plant gift to buy for someone special to us.  To order plants online can be of great convenience if we have a tight schedule and what we see online will be the same as what the receiver gets when the plant is delivered. The main advantage of ordering plants online instead of having it delivered yourself is the thought that you do not need to do the traditional way of buying..

The uniqueness of every gift plant on a flower box will bring joy to every receiver. But Campanula is not just an ordinary plant gift on our garden. It will be a form of attraction for every guest that we invite for some gatherings at home. The thought of having it inside the household will absolutely give happiness to the master of the house.