Show Notes: Elevating Your Home – On the House
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Show Notes: Elevating Your Home

By on March 2, 2019
coffee table books plant

Elevating your home from the inside out starts with having a place for everything. And this can be as simple as putting your clothes in a specific drawer to getting boxes up off the garage floor (see below for more on this now)!

 

Elevate your garage (and your attitude) with these organizing ideas that will make you smile!

Your garage can be a place to stash everything from tools to seasonal decor without feeling — and looking — like a dumping ground.

However, follow these seven simple guiding principles and transform it into an organized, attractive, and even inspiring space.

 

Get Stuff Off the Floor

Hoist those sedentary bins up and away onto a shelving system.

Stackable clear bins (with labels! don’t forget the labels!) at arm-height make it easy to recognize and grab frequently used items, while open space beneath provides assigned parking for the Shop-Vac and kiddos’ wagons.

Color-Coordinate Bins

A punchy color scheme makes those bins feel even tidier and, dare we say, fun. Add some decorative labels and people won’t know if they’re in a garage or a Pinterest-inspired preschool.

Use Rolling Storage

With your newfound open floor space, you can dedicate durable carts to different endeavors — gardening, camping, tailgating. You’ll save transition time (and your back) by rolling all your supplies to the yard or the car.

Put Up Pegboards (Lots of ‘Em)

For all those odds and ends that loiter on the periph of your garage — garden tools, we’re looking at you — pegboard is the underrated hero.

Just put those bad boys on empty wall space. Group like items according to shape and size, leaving plenty of room to add new tools to your masterpiece with just a hook (rather than a massive reorganization).

Designate Zones

Something as simple as a perpendicular workbench creates a zone dedicated to any purpose you can dream up — and keeps each tool and toy sorted by function.

(Bonus points for the additional pegboard storage this bench provides.) And how about those paints and clever wall racks? Reminiscent of a delicious kitchen spice rack, no?

Pull It All Together

Smartly spaced, wall-to-ceiling, and under-counter storage give everything a place, while stylishly coordinated pops of red and blue pull it all together.

Despite so much going on, it all feels organized and open.

 

Elevate your experience in any room with the best space heater of 2019 (according to Consumers Report)

Keeping a house ― or even a room ― warm in the depth of winter has its challenges. Even with insulation and central heat, there are cold nooks and crannies that never seem to warm up.

There are many ways to keep your home warm, like insulating window curtains and door draft stoppers, but space heaters are a quick and efficient way heat up and chilly space without much extra effort. You just find a safe space for it, plug it in and let it do its job.

The Problem

There are way too many space heaters on the market to choose from. Amazon’s best-selling space heater might be cheap, but is it safe and effective? Is Dyson’s pricey Hot + Cool AM09 space heater really worth it? For the answer, we consulted the product review experts at Consumer Reports.

Their answer is somewhere in the middle. As it turns out, the No. 1 recommendation for overall heating is the Comfort Zone CZ499R space heater. 

But what does something like this cost?

The heater, which goes for about $80, received top marks from Consumer Reports in room heating, spot heating, fire safety and ease of use. For those who are safety-conscious, the Comfort Zone also includes a timer and remote control, and it is safe around combustible materials like drapes. It’s sold out on Amazonright now, but you can still snag it at The Warming Store.

That said, no single space heater works for everyone or every home. To keep even the coldest people warm, the Honeywell HCE311V space heater is apparently best at heating a room quickly, while the Heat Storm Mojave space heater received the best ranking for direct heating.

 

Elevate all indoor living spaces with greenery!

Indoor Gardening 101  

When the winter blahs set in and you’re dreaming of fresh greens from your summer garden, consider growing indoors. Not only do plants cleanse your household air and improve the aesthetics of any indoor space, they can provide your family with a wealth of yummy, organic foods.

City dwellers, or those without a good gardening spot in the yard, may find growing indoors especially useful. Plants don’t need to take up much space — a windowsill is fine if that’s all you have. For others, the indoor garden may become starter plants for an outdoor garden come spring.

 

Space

An indoor garden can take up as much or as little space as you are willing to give it. Growing plants of all kinds, even tomato gardening can be done on a windowsill or on a table.

Larger growers, or the more dedicated may want to set up a table or bench specifically for the garden. Find an area with a tile or linoleum floor to catch the inevitable drops of water, or place a tarp under your table.

Shelves provide lots of planting room while taking up little space. If using shelves, make sure that adequate light reaches every plant. This may require a separate grow light for each shelf.

 

Light

Plants need light to photosynthesize and need to photosynthesize to survive. Without adequate light a plant will grow tall and spindly. If there is enough energy to grow leaves, they still may not totally expand. And without enough light, don’t plan on seeing flowers or fruit.

Even plants grown near a window will probably not get enough light during the winter months to thrive.

There are a few things to think about when purchasing a grow light.

  1. Plants have photoreceptors that absorb specific wavelengths of light. Your light needs to have the same wavelengths as the sun, which is why a regular light bulb doesn’t work.
  2. The light should be as close to the plant as possible without burning the leaves.
  3. Most vegetables and other plants do best with 14-16 hours of sunlight or simulated light. There are a few ways you can tell if your plant is getting enough light or not. If it isn’t getting enough light, it usually will have small leaves, thin stems, and the color of the plant will be lighter than usual.
  4. A hormone called “florigen” controls budding and flowering. Long day plants require about 14 to 18 hours of light to produce just the right amount of florigen to flower and reproduce. Short day plants require about 10-13 hours of light. If short day plants are exposed to too much light, florigen can be destroyed, preventing blooming.

To keep learning about gardening 101 including selecting the right light, temperature, humidity, and grow medium, read the whole article here.

 

Elevate your windows and your air quality with amazing curtains!   

The new miracle material

We do go on about indoor air quality, and years ago would complain about all the formaldehyde in the particleboard in cheap IKEA and other brands of furniture. They cleaned up their act by phasing out hazardous chemicals and reducing emissions, and now are proposing to actually clean up our homes with their new GUNRID curtains.

“Besides enabling people to breathe better air at home, we hope that GUNRID will increase people’s awareness of indoor air pollution, inspiring behavioural changes that contribute to a world of clean air,” says Lena Pripp-Kovac, Head of Sustainability at Inter IKEA Group. “GUNRID is the first product to use the technology, but the development will give us opportunities for future applications on other textiles.”

So, how does it work?

IKEA doesn’t quite say what is in the fabric, but describes it as ” both unique and innovative. It consists of a mineral based, photo catalyst coating that is applied to the textile. When activated by light – both indoor and outdoor light – GUNRID breaks down common indoor air pollutants.” They call it “a unique technology, which has been developed by IKEA over the last years together with universities in Europe and Asia as well as IKEA suppliers and innovators. The way it works is similar to photosynthesis found in nature.” According to Product Developer Mauricio Affonso,

Photo catalysts are generally only activated by sunlight, but the coating we have developed together with our partners also reacts to indoor light.

 

Thanks

A very special thank you to all of our callers! We live to answer your questions, so keep them coming!

Mentioned Links:

Thank you to our Technical Support:

  • Danny Bringer – Chief Engineer
  • Carol Carey – Executive Producer
  • Sam Reed – Associate Producer

 

#airquality #garage #elevate #diyorganization #diy #spaceheater #indoorplants #urbanjungle #indoorjungle #curtains #pollutionfree #onthehousewiththecareybros

Thank you for tuning in on how to elevate your home! And check in next week for more cool tips!

“Elevating Your Home” Show Notes for On The House with the Carey Brothers aired March 2, 2019.

Missed our live show? Don’t worry! Because we have a podcast of the show. It’s the same thing we aired on the radio, but ready for you whenever and wherever you are! Check it out here.

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