Home Improvement and Comfort

Laying Carpet Tiles in my workshop

I have just got myself a brand new outside workshop/shed. Before I started putting furniture inside I decided that I needed to put some kind of carpet down. To get a fitted carpet seemed a little expensive, especially for an outside workshop. Also I couldn’t find a single piece of carpet large enough (had to be about 11ft by 10ft). So I went for carpet tiles. Calculated that I needed 39/40 tiles at 50cm x 50cm, purchased 40 to be on safe side.

Since I had never laid carpet tiles before, I did some research and found a short video somewhere.

First recommendation from the video was to start laying the tiles from the centre, rather than from one of the corners. This made sense when I thought about it – if a corner was slightly off being a perfect right angle, then problems could develop further down the line.

First task then was to find centre of floor. The video recommended using a chalked piece of string – i.e. tie string from corner to corner, flip string to leave chalk mark, do same for other diagonal, check by stretching string between middle of each side. Being slightly lazy I made do without chalked string – just used straight edges, pencil and tape measure to find centre of room. The video also suggested using special double-sided sticky patches for use with tiles. I could not find any of these so I just went for a roll of double-sided sticky tape for use with carpets.

Before I actually started laying the carpet tiles I thoroughly vacuumed the floor. If the floor had been a lot older I would have given it a good clean as well. I cut off my first piece of double-sided tape, using no particular size, but making it about 4 to 5 inches long I suppose. Now I stuck the corners of my first 4 tiles down and I was away.

I will not go into further details of my progress to the conclusion of my tile-laying. I will just give a few tips below for anyone who has the same, or a similar, task to complete.

1. Make sure you get a really good sharp knife for the cutting of tiles.
2. Be aware that 5 metres of sticky tape may not be quite enough if your workshop or shed is as big as mine!
3. Once you get to the stage of needing to cut tiles to fit round the edge, prepare a line of tiles before starting to stick them down.

Laying Carpet Tiles is a simple enough job I suppose, but there is great satisfaction when it is successfully finished.

Cheer Up Your Window This Winter With A Garden To Grace It!

When winter sets in soon and nips at your toes, don’t
let the blues get to your love for gardening
outdoors…simply bring it in indoors!

Yes, we recommend an indoor window garden to boost
your spirits and keep the gloomy winter feel out in
the cold with sensibly chosen winter plants – some
fragrant and colorful, others edible and flavorful for
enhancing your winter menus. Try this wonderful winter
gardening remedy today:

Your windowsill is the perfect place for starting a
seasonal indoor garden that will sustain your wintry
gardener’s soul and warm your heart with perfect
seasonings for tasty, nutritious and wholesome soups,
broths and stews if you plant timely, healthful herb
when ushering out autumn.

Along with the versatile herbs like basil, compact
dill and Greek Oregano, you can also consider thyme
and parsley besides coriander that readily take to
windowsill gardening and are likely to fill your
winters with fragrance, greenery and soothing,
medicinal value when added to soups!

These only require regular watering and a few hours of
sunlight to grow and so are easy to grow even for
those not blessed at birth with a green thumb.

Perhaps, some eye candy – in the form of fresh flowers
that are regarded as winter blooms – can be your daily
delight with just a snip of a seed packet,
pre-prepared potting soil that has been treated for
fertilizer mix and contains the necessary peat moss
etc. for helping indoor plants nasturtiums, pansies
and calendulas.

Sure to bring a smile to your face and color to the
room, flowering indoor plants in your window garden,
when tended with a little bit of sunshine, water and
right soil-mixture, are the best bet for beating
winter blues!

Adding Style To Your Home On A Budget

There are many ways you can decorate your home when
you are on a budget. You don’t have to have a lot of
money to make your home look nice and stylish.

Many of the things you can do is shop second hand, use
family members, finding less than perfect items, and
more.

If you are hoping to redecorate your home but you are
on a tight budget then don’t worry about hiring
someone to come in and help you. This is where your
family and friends can come in and assist.

You can even hold a party to help you with the efforts
of painting, laying tile, or anything else you have in
mind. Friends and family are always willing to come
and help with a decoration project and if you provide
the food and drinks then they usually will never say
no.

When you are on a budget it is hard to find the best
and you have to be flexible. You can shop at second
hand stores and find really nice furniture, paintings,
rugs, and more.

If you are willing to shop used it will surprise you
some of the neat items you can find at these places
that you can use that will make your home look
fabulous. You might also want to think about finding
less than perfect merchandise.

You can go to furniture stores and find defective
furniture that is still brand new for very low prices.
Some of the furniture might have a scratch that is
barely noticeable at an excellent price. Some of the
furniture you cannot even see the defect and it is
brand new.

When you are on a budget you have to think cheap. Use
your friends and family members to help you and find
low cost items that are not so perfect or second hand.