Christmas is over for yet another year and it’s time to clear out the clutter. The problem being, with clutter brings more clutter. The chances are your day was filled with gifts by the dozen in boxes, bubble wrap and bins stuffed with wrapping paper scattered across the floor. In other words, a celebration of family life, materializing around your home.

So, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in as we clear out and make room for all the gifts received. Here are our top tips for the biggest post-Christmas clear out starting with the dumping ground for all clutter…

Garages tend to be the first place we go to when looking to dump our Christmas clutter. Because they are big open spaces, they are the perfect place for all that paper lovingly wrapped now strewn to one side, the gift of rollerblades your daughter no longer wants, the table decorations you need to give back to your mother, and anything else that doesn’t have a set place. With the New Year around the corner, it’s the perfect time to dive head first into the clutter and separate the loved items from the ones you should let go.

1) Make a plan of attack

Depending on how generous you were feeling this year, mission clutter clearout may take a little longer than expected. You will no doubt have a mountain of toy boxes and wrapping paper still piled up in your garage. And, let’s be honest, the festive period hardly inspires a mass tidy up when you’re in the middle of stuffing your face and drinking sparkling cider.

It helps to envision what you would like to achieve? Do you need to make room for the car or is this a case of generating a sparkling new workspace for the New Year? Keeping in mind what the end result will be is a motivational boost during the longer hours.

2) Clean and inspect

Dust gets everywhere! Ridding your grimy garage from all the dust that collects in the corners and cracks is a big job. It’s one thing cleaning out after Christmas, but it’s a whole different task when it comes to cleaning out your entire garage. Everything needs to be inspected, checked and removed according to your future plans. You should be ready to get your hands dirty as you go in deep with quality polish, rubs and scrubs.

3) Make a storage plan

Look closely behind the clutter to picture a whole new living space with enough room to store all your essentials. As you explore this undiscovered room, hiding away amongst the trash, is a much larger space than you could ever imagine. Be sure to make a list of where everything will go as you start to pack away. This may result in a DIY job for the man of the house; perhaps you need shelves handy for when you’re looking to store the kid’s new Christmas bikes, or a mini fridge to store all that leftover beer.

4) Keep it clean

Once you’ve put in all the leg work to ensure your garage looks squeaky clean, it’s tempting to let things get messy again in the new year. The whole 10+ hours you put into sorting, scrubbing and… screaming will all be wasted if you give up now. If you’re looking to keep your standards this high all year round, be sure to invest in some new polished accessories for your garage.

To ensure that everyone who visits your house ends up providing you with huge compliments for your Christmas decorations, you actually have to come up with some out of the box Christmas decorations ideas, which can force people to say ‘WOW!’. And that sort of excitement can only be generated through, ‘Do It Yourself’ or D.I.Y light decorations.

Lights which are specifically designed for the decorative purpose have the unbelievable potential to enhance or adorn the appearance of your house. Yes, that’s right, at a time when you feel like giving importance to every corner of your house, strings of lights prove to be really helpful for you. You always have some or other sort of options to put these twinkling little lights wherever you can, for example, you can deck your garden, porches, patios, interiors and backyard with them, which eventually allow you to give special attention to every nook and cranny of the building.

Make the use of following D.I.Y light decorations ideas this Christmas:

Drape your mailbox with strings of lights

Let’s start preparing your house for Christmas right from your mailbox, that mostly stays right in front of your house, from where the street begins. All you have to do is pick the small size lights and drape it thoroughly. If you want to remain simple yet aesthetically stunning, don’t drape it too densely instead of that, try to highlight its shape by putting the light strings only on its edges.

Deck your main gate with a garland

Use Christmas greenery and lights to decorate your main gate, which allow your guests to enter the front yard. Stick a bunch of green twigs at the center of the gate and hang a garland that is made up of both greenery and lights in such a way that it highlights the gate effectively.

Create your own decorative lights with Mason jars

You can decorate your walkways amazingly with the assistance of Mason jars and candles. And in this case, you don’t even have to do any hard work, apart from putting the candles inside the jar and placing the jars beautifully on the walkways. By lining up the jars along the walkways, you will be doing nothing but creating a bold decorative statement.

Give some life to the bare trees in the garden

Bare trees are symbolic of the winter season, and in this way they become an important part of Christmas, which is one of the greatest Christian festival that’s is celebrated during this season. So, it’s a great idea to give these trees a vibrant look by decking their branches with decorative lights.

Decorate with homemade wreaths and vintage lanterns

Your front door remains a highly crucial part of your house, so it must be decked by you with all the enthusiasm. Show your guests that you want to welcome them with an open arm and then deck your front door like never before. Put a lot of attractive things in front of it which can talk loudly about the festive season, for example, you can put the gift boxes, vintage lanterns, Christmas candles, and Christmas ornaments all around your front door. In addition, to that deck it with a nicely developed Christmas wreath.

Deck your windows with plastic cup lights

Well, it is quite simple to develop plastic cup lights, for which you need medium size plastic cups that you can easily find in the market and strings of lights. For creating a plastic cup light garland, all you have to do is make a small hole at the bottom of the cup and then insert the bulbs within the cup through that. In other words, hang the plastic cups upside down from the LED light string and let them hold the bulbs inside them.

Decorate dining table and stairs with greenery, centerpieces and candles

When it comes to your interiors, you must make it sure that you use a lot of greenery (pine twigs or other fall greenery), Christmas candles with candle stands, vintage lanterns, garland and holiday ornaments, and innovative homemade centerpieces. All these holiday decorative items can be used creatively in order to deck dining tables, stairs, sideboards, and center tables etc.

So, if don’t have any creative ideas in your mind, you can easily go ahead with the ideas mentioned in this post. Marry Christmas!

Winter can really suck the life out of you, or at least out of your garden!

During these cold months I like to explore some unconventional approaches to gardening like indoor plants, mason jar herbs and preparing a straw bale garden!

Why Start a Hay Bale Garden?

Hay bale gardens are great alternatives when you don’t have good soil. They are cheaper and easier than taking the time to amend crappy dirt or build a raised bed.

Straw bale gardening is also a great way to use old straw bales that you might have used for decor during the fall (waste not, want not!). It’s also a great activity for kids to learn a bit more about how vegetables grow.

If you’re interested in creating your own hay bale garden, then now’s the time to start since it takes a few months to get the hay ready and straw bales are easier to come by at the end of fall. Fix.com put together a pretty fantastic straw bale gardening infographic so you can learn how to build your own straw bale garden!

Source: Fix.com

With the real estate market being what it is, more and more people have decided not to sell their home. Instead, they have chosen to stay put. With housing prices increasing, now is the time invest in your home to capitalize on its value. Before commencing any major building work on your property however, it is vital that you attain any required planning permissions. It’s important to think about what future potential buyers would like to see in your house. Do you know who you would target? A professional couple? A family? A retired person? These days, buyers will consider the energy efficiency of your home. By being prepared to budget for modern levels of insulation, you will be increasing the value of your house. Fitting double or treble glazed windows will allow you to maximise the value of your property.

Did you know, many home improvement projects don’t add value to your home, especially in a down market? In fact, some improvements can even reduce the asking price when you do decide to sell. Keeping all of this in mind, you shouldn’t spend too much money on the wrong improvements. Increasing the number of bedrooms at the expense of other rooms, such as living rooms may be a mistake. As far as possible, buyers should be given the freedom to decide the use of the rooms. There are some projects that can add significant value to your home.

Not only this, but they also improve your quality of life. By working on these projects now, you can enjoy the benefits and updates even if you aren’t selling. So which home improvement projects should you invest in, and which projects should you avoid? Bass Windows have created the below infographic with some helpful tips for home improvement projects that increase the value of your home, and home improvement projects to avoid altogether.

DIY home décor projects can breathe new life into your living space and provide an exciting and rewarding experience. Regardless of your skill level or years of experience, you can always find an inspiring idea that you can work on. The projects provided below can be done during the weekend to give your home a fresh look. Here are four interesting DIY home décor ideas you will love to try out.

Give Your Hallway an Instant Makeover

You can paint a runner to transform an entrance-way or any other high traffic area. This is a low cost alternative to carpeting. Use blue tape to map out the area where you want to paint the runner. Create a strip that has an 8-inch border on all four sides. You may also use the seams of the floorboards as your guide if they run lengthwise. If the floor has a polyurethane or vinyl finish, sand it and wipe it off with damp microfibre cloth. Then apply at least two coatings of acrylic-latex paint within the borders you made earlier with the tape. Allow the paint to dry for about 36 hours. Then seal it up with two coats of acrylic polyurethane.

Create a Professional Style Gallery Wall

You can create an eye-catching professional style gallery on a wall to create a visually appealing space. This project will fit perfectly into different types of home designs. To get the best out of this concept, you should endeavour to blend various gallery components into a cohesive whole. For instance, you should select frames that are basically the same colour or use the same type of mats. For instance, you may also choose two kinds of frames: silver frames with white mats and black frames with white mats. Purchase the frames first and them print the photos or images to fix inside them. You may also choose to map the final arrangements on your wall with paper and tape and confirm that the arrangement looks good, before you hang the frames.

Max Out An Alcove

When you have an alcove next to a window or a closet that you do not use, you create something new by adding a window seat, nook or desk area that increases the functionality of the area. If you have an empty closet, you can take out the doors and remove the hanging rod then apply some neutral paint and install shelving. Let the upper section be used for storage and then turn the lower part into a desk area. Similarly, you can create an illusion of a large space by placing a small table against a large mirror installed on the wall.

Give Your Sofa A New Look

Use a pre-made slip-cover to give your sofa a fresh look when you not ready to change its upholstery. To achieve a tight fit, you can apply some of these tips: Make use of a spatula or wooden spoon to work the slip-cover fabric into crevices of the couch. If you discover that the sofa’s arms are too narrow for the covers you bought, increase their size with comforter batting or foam quilting. To stop the slip-cover from sliding off on a leather sofa, pad the seat cushions with non slip carpet.

These DIY home décor ideas are affordable and easy to do. They can be done within a few days on a relatively low budget. As you try to use these ideas, be creative and feel free to add other things that can improve the final outcome of each project.

The Internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, learn and how we live every facet of our lives. There is a Jupiter-sized bucket of free information for anyone who has wifi and the willingness to Google it.

There’s a marvelous digital world out there but sometimes it can be a little difficult to explore. Kinda like wading through a thick brush of bamboo where the only way you can see past five feet ahead is to go five feet ahead.

As a purveyor of digital knowledge (my fancy way of saying my day job as a content marketer) I want to help you find those tips, best practices and home improvements how-to’s that will make life simple and better for you.

DIY Home & Health will hopefully become your go-to source for DIY crafts, home improvement projects, health tips, fitness routines, home decor ideas, or simply just to get a kick from some of the life lessons we share. (Read more about us!)

But as you may have noticed…we don’t have much on this blog for you to learn from yet. So in the mean time, here are some of my favorite DIY home blogs.

 

1) Young House Love

Sherry and John write about their lives in regards to fixing up 3 of their homes on Young House Love. They have over 3,000 projects you can look to for inspiration or to do to your own home. They also have Pinterest-worthy galleries and home tours on their blog where you can get lost browsing their DIY home improvement ideas for weeks!

2) Remodelaholic

Have you ever wondered what you could do to spruce up your space? Maybe it’s a tiny studio or perhaps you have too much space! Don’t break a sweat, Cassity has totally found your solution and has posted about it on Remodelaholic.

3) Bright Green Door

I love colorful front doors, but that’s not why Bright Green Door made my line up of top home blogs. Jess has a knack for making what would-be complex renovations cheap and simple.

4) The Ugly Duckling House

If you’re looking to laugh while learning to DIY, Sarah’s home improvement blog is the place to go. You’ll find everything from home decor to cleaning to recipes on The Ugly Duckling House.

5) DIY Network

Ok, so maybe this is more site than blog (fine line there these days!) but I would still count the DIY Network as a top home blog to visit for easy-to-follow projects and to get inspiration. There videos are also super helpful when trying to understand a more complex DIY renovation.

6) Today’s Homeowner

Type just about any DIY home project question into Google and Danny Lipford’s site is bound to pop up in the first few results! Danny has an amazing amount of beautiful and handy DIY projects and tips on Today’s Homeowner. I have about 10 of his projects tucked in my ‘someday DIY list’.

7) Thrifty Decor Chick

I love a good bargain. And if you’re interested in DIY, I imagine that you do too! Good thing Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick has been recording her budget-friendly DIY home projects for several years.

8) DIY on the Cheap

Another great affordable-yet-adorable DIY home blog is DIY on the Cheap by Erin Spain. I lover her sophisticated style and I always seem to get inspiration when sifting through her project gallery.

9) Live Love DIY

Doesn’t that just say it all 🙂 While I haven’t gone as far as naming my furniture pieces, I do find Virginia’s classy style on her home blog absolutely gorgeous. Truly, it’s a gift.

10) The Inspired Room

On the far out stretches of the Internet, you’ll find some amazing places like Melissa’s blog The Inspired Room. Learn how to decorate from an amazing designer and home blogger. She never seems out of ideas…I think the ‘room’ must truly be the source of her inspiration.

Well, what are you still waiting over here for? Go exploring! I’ll see you back in a few days with hopefully a few DIY projects of my own that can inspire your creativity and transform your house to a home.

I use to be all about Black Friday. I would spend the majority of Thursday afternoon sifting through the store pamphlets, surfing online, and calling friends to see if they heard of any juicy details on any brands with awesome Black Friday deals.

But then I worked in retail. And I discovered that most stores have awesome deals like this all year round (if not better deals than Black Friday).

When I worked at TJ Maxx, I thought for sure they would have some good deals but they actually didn’t have any true Black Friday discounts (even though the store was crazy on Black Friday with people thinking they did!). Instead, a few weeks after Christmas is when everything got marked down—that’s the time to go shopping!

However, if you’re still curious what kind of Black Friday sales are going down this year, I did some of the homework for you below. Including tips about what to avoid buying on Black Friday.

Electronics Black Friday Sales

Tip: One of the iconic items to buy on Black Friday and Cyber Monday are electronics. However, it’s a good idea to whip your phone out and do some research on the model number before giving into the crazy deal. In order to produce and sell a lot of electronics some brands will actually skip some details to make it cheaper on Black Friday.

Black Friday Deals for Clothing and Furniture

Tip: Get into the habit of asking the cashier what the return policy is for the items you buy on Black Friday.

Tip: Be social media savvy and follow the stores you’re planning on going to on Black Friday. You never know when they announce a special deal online to reward their followers.

 

Where to Shop on Black Friday

–Target’s circular (Top Black Friday deals for Nikon CoolPix, Westinghouse HDTV, Xbox)
–Best Buy’s deals
–Walmart’s Black Friday deals (Top deals are for Fitbit Flex, Roku, Apple iPad Mini deals)-BJ’s circular
–Kohl’s sneak peak Black Friday (Top Black Friday deals for Canon Rebel T5 and Sony Playstation)
–Sear’s Black Friday deals
–Macy’s Black Friday preview
–Sam’s Black Friday ads
–Kmart Black Friday deals
–JCPenny Black Friday ads
-Lastly, here are some awesome Amazon Black Friday:

• $99.99 Kindle Paperwhite (regular price starts at $119)
• $30 off Kindle and Kindle for Kids Bundle
• $34.99 Fire 7-inch tablet (regularly $50)
• $84.99 Fire Kids Edition (regularly $100)
• $25 off Amazon Fire TV (regularly $100)
• $15 off Amazon Fire TV Stick (regularly $40) and Amazon Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote

And if you still need more ads to fuel your Black Friday craziness, check this out. Some stores are starting their Black Friday deals early! For example, Eddie Bauer has 40% off on basically the entire store already.

I still go shopping on Black Friday, but it’s more for the experience of people watching than to actually go buy things. Of course, there are still some awesome deals out (so by all means buy!) but just don’t feel pressured like I did to get all your Christmas shopping done on Black Friday. Gift giving shouldn’t be about getting the best deals but instead enjoying the experience of finding something you know that special someone will truly love.