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The Ant Almanac – A Guide to Common Household Pests

February 27, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

The planet Earth is filled with life. Creatures great and small inhabit its forests, oceans, springs, glades and oases. From great white sharks through to quokkas, there are so many majestic, magnificent, malicious and mighty creatures that are awesome to behold. And then there’s ants. And flies. And spiders. And all those creepy crawlies that just love to call your house their home. We’re going to take a quick look at the most common household pests and how you can avoid them.

Termites

Termites, or “white ants”, are tiny insects that are found on every continent of the planet except Antarctica. It’s probably too cold for them there. They love to eat dead plants, which actually makes them a vital part of our ecosystem. Unfortunately, dead plants include the timber that makes up the frame of your house. Once you have a termite infestation they can destroy your home within months. You may want to consider a termite inspection to ensure your home is safe and secure.

Spiders

Spiders. Ugh. Sadly, these eight-legged scary things love to live in your home. Especially in dark nooks and crannies like your garage or garden shed. The good news it that the humble huntsman and other non-venomous spiders help to keep the population of other pests, like flies and mosquitoes, at manageable levels. The bad news is that deadly species like redbacks, whitetails and funnel webs can also take up residence too. Do yourself a favour and take care when poking around your garden shed or garage.

Ants

Ants, like termites, play a vital role in the world’s ecosystem. But of course, when they invade your home that’s the last thing you think about. Ants tend to be attracted to stray crumbs and bits of food, especially sugar and sweet things. Did you know they can carry many times their own weight? Although that knowledge is no comfort when you find them crawling all over your stash of doughnuts. If your home is prone to ants, try to keep all sweet food sealed in tight containers so they can’t get in.

Bed Bugs

While we’re on the topic of creepy crawlies, bed bugs are another common household pest. Bed bugs actually live on the blood of humans and other animals. They tend to find their way into your home through infested linen, furniture or luggage. So, think twice before buying or accepting second-hand gifts of these items. Their bites can feel like mozzie bites. If you suspect a bed bug infestation, it’s probably best to recruit a professional to come and examine your home.

Rodents

Mice and rats are another common household pest. They tend to live in between your walls or under the floor and love to feed on leftover food scraps, compost and other bits and pieces you may leave laying about. They can be a real hazard as they can chew through insulation and wiring, creating a serious fire hazard. Do yourself a favour and contact an exterminator if you find an infestation.

Cockroaches

Cockroaches are a really common household pest. They tend to thrive in your kitchen and other areas where food is prepared. They can actually spread salmonella and gastro to humans, as well as trigger allergies. It’s important to keep your house clean and tidy and free of food scraps in order to avoid visits from these awful critters.

In Summary

There are many other common household pests, but these tend to be the most common. From wood-devouring termites, ants and scary spiders to disgusting cockroaches, rodents and bed bugs – many creepy crawlies can come knocking. Try to follow some of the advice in this blog and your home will be a clean and serene haven.

Wallet Wisdom – 5 Tips For Saving Money on Your First Home

January 18, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Buying your own home is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll make in your life. It’s complicated and even a little scary, but there are a few simple things you can do to make it easier and save yourself money at the time you’re making your purchase and over the life of your mortgage.

Continue reading for five great money saving tips you can employ when buying your first home.

Plan ahead

Whether you are dreaming of a ranch in the country or a project home in Sydney, one of the best things you can do to prepare for home ownership is to reduce your debt. Not only does it make room for the mortgage payment in your budget, you’ll get a better interest rate that can save thousands over time.

What Can You Afford

Don’t base this off of the highest loan amount that you can get approved for because going for the maximum can leave you in over your head later on. Instead, look at your budget and decide what you are comfortable with for a monthly payment. You can start with a home loan eligibility calculator to help you choose a price range.

Get Expert Help

Getting a professional home inspection will help you to find problem areas before you buy and save you money on repairs. Even if you are a handy person, it’s better not to assess things on your own. If the inspector finds something you can ask the seller to deduct that amount from the price or to fix it before you sign the contract, plus you’ll know exactly what you’re getting into.

The professionals helping you to find your dream home should also be willing to help you, from your realtor or your mortgage broker to your conveyancer. Ask questions and be suspicious of anyone who doesn’t seem willing to explain the process. Remember, they are working for you.

Know What Your Agreeing To

There can be costs that are separate from the mortgage, such as Homeowners Association fees. These can range from $50 to hundreds per month on top of your mortgage and taxes. Read HOA agreements thoroughly and be sure you understand what the additional cost will be. Take into consideration concessions such as stamp duty or removal costs if you plan to renovate part of the property.

There are also helpful options, such as a First Home Owners Grant, that you may qualify for to help with the cost of buying your first house. Look at the whole picture, not just your monthly house payment.

Kinds of Mortgage

All mortgages are not created equal, so do some reading and see which kind of mortgage will be best for you. It’s smart to talk with your realtor or mortgage broker, but in the end, you will be the one making the payments so it’s important to understand what you are signing up for.

Having Money Saves Money

It’s not a requirement, but if you save up a deposit of at least 20% not only will it improve the interest rate you will be offered but you can avoid having to pay for Private Mortgage Insurance. A PMI agreement protects the seller in case you default and it can add up to thousands over the life of your mortgage.

Ready To Make An Offer

Once you fall in love with a particular house chances are someone else will be interested too, so be prepared to act. By knowing how the process works, what you can pay and being ready to make an offer you will be in a position to snap up that perfect house before anyone else can.

How to Turn Your Old Garage into a Brand New Bedroom

January 16, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

When you first bought the house that you and your family are living in right now, you might not have initially paid much attention to the number of bedrooms included in it. You may even have been thinking at the time that your children could share a bedroom, or you yourself wouldn’t mind sleeping in what used to be an office. However, unexpected situations such as guests visiting your house or a relative dropping by and planning to stay overnight can necessitate the need for you to have an additional bedroom. If you’re unable to come up with enough money to have a brand new bedroom added to your house, you might want to consider renovating your old garage instead.

Why Are You Using Your Old Garage as a Junkyard?

Your house might have come along with a garage when you first bought it, as most houses often do. But over time, you may have resorted to just using your old garage as a storage place for all kinds of junk that you have acquired throughout the years.

You might have forgotten somewhere along the way that your garage is supposed to be a place where you park and store your vehicle.
Maybe you don’t even have a vehicle at all, but you bought your house along with its garage anyway.
You’re not letting your old garage realize its fullest potential by merely relegating it to an enclosed junkyard.
A lot of space is getting wasted by dumping items that you feel aren’t that useful anymore inside your old garage and just letting them sit there and collect dust.

How Can You Turn Your Old Garage into a Brand New Bedroom?

Instead of just using your old garage as a storage bin for all things junk, you can turn it into a brand new bedroom by doing the following:

1. Declutter your old garage.

All the old items stored in your old garage have to go for you to be able to turn it into a brand new bedroom.

You can hold a garage sale just outside your house if you think that any of your neighbors or anyone who might pass by the area may find some use for your old belongings.
You can also send your old items to a pawnshop nearest you for them to appraise which ones can be pawned in exchange for some cash.
If you’re generous enough that you’re into helping other people you don’t even know at all, you can donate some of your old things to your charitable institution of choice.

2. Add some insulation to your old garage.

As you would want anyone who decides to spend a night in your garage-turned-bedroom to get comfortable with it right away, you should be sure that your garage is properly insulated.

Since the floor of your old garage is most likely to have a slightly lower elevation compared to that of your house, you would want to raise it a bit by adding a layer of insulation and pouring some concrete on it.
You should also add layers of insulation to the walls and ceilings of your old garage so that whoever wants to hole up in there¾especially during the winter months¾would be able to sleep peacefully.

3. Refurbish your old garage.

Turning your old garage into a brand new bedroom should be less about retaining any garage-like qualities it has and more about totally redesigning it so that it becomes an entirely functional bedroom.

If your old garage doesn’t have any windows, you would want to tear down parts of its walls and install large windows to give it a roomier feel.
The rolling door that you’ve previously had in your old garage could probably use a garage door replacement¾or be updated with sliding glass doors instead.

4. Add some bedroom furniture.

Any bedroom can’t be called as such without any of the furniture associated with it.

It should’ve been evident to you by now that the very first thing you should put in your old garage that you’re turning into a brand new bedroom is a bed¾particularly a double size one, so that two guests can sleep comfortably.
You can also add a dresser, a bedside table, and a handful of shelves in there to further enhance its bedroom quality.

Having a brand new bedroom added to the existing structure of your house costs a lot of money¾not to mention the chaos it would bring to you and your family’s living situation once the construction crew you’ve hired starts working on it. By turning your old garage into a brand new bedroom, you can save money, as most of the renovation work can be done on your own. All you have to do is to carefully plan and invest in features that should make your brand new bedroom a comfortable place to stay.

George Anderson – George is a specialist when it comes to lowes doors and other garage doors. Working in the industry for over 20+ years he takes pride on helping his clients fulfill their needs when it comes to garage construction. In his spare time he loves spending time with his family.

Awesome Mattress Covers That Use Technology

December 27, 2017 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

The third of the well-known laws wrote by the futurist and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke states that: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” There’s a vivid controversy on this assertion, argued mainly by those who say technology isn’t magic and it shouldn’t be presented in such terms, but that’s a debate for another time; I merely believe that sometimes the possibilities brought by modern technology make us feel like living in a kind of magic.

Years ago, if we would have wanted to bring up or down the temperature of the mattress on our bed, we could have tried long and hard to twitch our nose or cast a spell, nothing would have happened. Nowadays, thanks to applied science, that wish is no longer unreachable. All we have to do now is get a smart mattress cover and let it do its magic.

Let me elaborate: technology has evolved so much in the past years, that it has transformed mattresses and mattress covers into items which are aware of our needs and able to learn our sleeping habits. Their goal is to make our rest more comfortable, satisfying and healthy. How could anyone not love such fantastic gadgets? They do pretty much everything except for reading you a bedtime story and tucking you in!

The Eight Sleep Tracker

This highly cheered product fits four standard mattress sizes, regardless of the type. It relies on a sophisticated sensor layer which, once placed over your mattress, turns the bed into a smart bunk. Its highly advanced algorithms make this cover one of the best sleep tracking systems on the market. The device has the dual zone warming feature and can connect to almost any other Wi-Fi enabled gadget in your home.

The information about sleeping, heart pace, breathing rate, tossing and turning, and everything else that happens to you during sleep is available, separately, for two people sharing the same mattress. Eight is capable of setting the temperature independently for each side of the bed. By communicating with other smart devices, the system can control the entire bedroom environment: it dims the lights, plays your favorite nocturnal playlist, lowers the thermostat and locks the door! On top of it all, Eight can start your Wi-Fi controlled coffee maker so that you’ll have your coffee ready by the time you get out of bed. The high-tech cover mattress launched as a crowdfunding project which rapidly raised its necessary money.

Luna Smart Mattress Cover

Second best after Eight, Luna smart mattress cover was also designed to control the lights, the music and the temperature in the bedroom, according to your preferences. After you fall asleep, the smart device slowly turns everything off, allowing you to enjoy an uninterrupted rest. The app to which the mattress cover is connected collects information about your sleeping habits so that you can review them and see what to improve. All that data is well-protected: it’s gathered on the device, then encrypted and sent to Luna center for storage and analysis.

These two I just presented are not the only top-notch products of this kind, but probably the most outstanding ones. Withings Aura Smart Sleep System, for instance, is also a tracking system consisting of a mattress cover, a bedside gadget and an app, which monitors our sleeping patterns, the noise, and the light in the bedroom and records all the data for you. Sleepace RestOn relies on a sensor, which can be placed on any mattress, under the sheets. According to Best Mattress Reviews & Guides, besides doing everything that other gadgets of this kind do, RestOn can make suggestions on what you could do to improve your rest – for instance, it can tell you to cool down the room, cut out late coffee or eat a light dinner.

The Household How-To: 10 Tips For Decorating a Master Bedroom

December 27, 2017 by Painter Mommy 1 Comment

Master bedrooms are arguably one of the most important rooms in any given house. It’s the room you, the owner/renter of the house spend quality time by yourself or with your partner, it’s where you sleep, it’s where you have privacy and it’s where your more personal items are stored. It isn’t a room for anyone or everyone, it’s a private room, and that’s why it’s important.

Making sure your master bedroom is set up the way you want it to be set up is key in ensuring the bedroom feels like your room, and getting it right can be a finicky project. To help you out with this all-important task, we have written down 10 tips for decorating your master bedroom.

Use of Space

While some people like bedrooms to be spacious and relatively uncluttered to promote a clear and free feel, others feel like this wastes crucial space in your home on nothing more than floor space. If you lean more toward the latter kind of person, getting yourself a two-storey bed frame might be a good idea. It elevates your bed to above head height, making room on the floor while still keeping a bed set up.

Lighting

The lighting in your room helps to contribute to the mood, and therefore has a direct impact on how you feel about this personal space of yours. Warmer coloured lights give a more homey feel to a space, while cooler lights in white or blue give a less personal, more sterile feel to your space. Whichever you prefer is what you should go with, after all, it is your bedroom.

Curtains

The curtains in your room should reflect your personal sense of style, as they are the covering for the entryway for the most light in your bedroom. Blinds are just as effective as large, heavy curtains, and often cost less too, so exploring based on taste and preference can be more affordable than you previously thought possible.

Art

The art in your room or lack thereof is entirely up to you, but many people feel that the presence of art makes the room feel more personalised and comfortable. Large sculptures are usually only appropriate in larger rooms, however paintings and small sculptures work well in master bedrooms and promote a healthy artistic outlook on life.

Furniture

The furniture in your room is usually decided by how much space you have, although a couch is often a good addition to a medium to large sized bedroom for working on or to have as a place to sleep if a friend comes around.

Utility Items

Utility items are things like dirty clothes baskets, wardrobes, or bedside tables. Having a bedside table with power point facilities and a lamp is a good idea, as this allows you to charge your phone, plug in an alarm clock, and read by lamplight if you want before bed.

Entertainment

Having a television in your room is a divisive issue, as many people like to fall asleep watching movies or at least like to have the option to watch something if they can’t sleep. There are studies, though, that have proven that a television in your room restricts your sleep cycle significantly, so do your research before plugging in that new 50” screen.

Storage

Storage options in your room could be limited, depending on the space, so making use of all of your available room is important. Try buying plastic tubs and storing them under your bed, packed full of items. This will prevent them from getting dusty while keeping your room clear.

Walk-In Wardrobe

A walk-in wardrobe is an incredible thing, and if you happen to be lucky enough to have one you’ll understand all the space you save in your main bedroom. Try using the space for all of your clothes, and not just the hanging ones. This frees up a lot more room in your main room than might seem possible from such a small adjustment.

Ensuite

One of the best features of a master bedroom is the ensuite. Decorating your ensuite should be fun, because it’s your own personal bathroom. Put a speaker in there for music, and some scented candles for those times when you just need to relax.

With these 10 tips in mind, your master bedroom will basically decorate itself. Have fun with setting up your personal space, and remember to make it represent you!