March 2008
Monthly Archive
Create Your Home Office Without Spending Lots of Money
Copyright © 2008 Pat Brill
More and more people are working from home. Businesses are offering telecommunicating as a benefit to joining the company. In addition, individuals are leaving the corporate world to start their own businesses. Whether you are telecommuting or have your business or simply need a place for organize the home, a home office has become a necessary space in many homes.
Where in your house can a home office fit? Take the time to look at every room and see where you can create space to set up an office. You can create an office in the kitchen, convert a closet, double a guest room as an office, or set up a location in your basement. You just need enough space to include all the elements that help you be efficient and productive.
You don’t have to spend lots of money to set up a home office. If you have a separate room for your office…great. Most of us can’t afford to allocate lots of space for an office or have a professional organizer devise an office system for us. What you do have is your own creativity to carve out the right space for your office. Here are some ideas to stimulate your thinking.
Whatever space you choose, make sure it’s a space that can be dedicated to your office, and isn’t used by others in the household. You need to set up your office so that you can effectively do your work.
Go through every room and see where you could potentially find space. Be creative here…you can make changes to the décor of a room. Look at every item in every corner and see if you can remove it and place a desk there. We all are creatures of habit and get use to items being in their place, so be open to change.
Now you have selected a space and it’s time to see how you can inexpensively spruce it up and make it conducive to working from home. If the space is in a separate area, a fresh coat of paint can liven up the space. May be you can paint one wall to highlight your space and leave the rest of the room a different color.
Do you have pictures that are hiding in the closet…this may be a good place to create your gallery. Or go to the local home store and purchase inexpensive shelves and brackets and use that wall space to store books, office supplies, or your specific business tools. Though you can still add a picture in between the books to add some design to your area.
Next, look around your house to see what furnishings you can repurpose for your office. Do you have a comfortable chair in your dining room that could work fine as an office chair? If you don’t have furniture that works, you can check out unfinished furniture stores, thrift shops or an office supply business to find reasonable pieces of furniture to create your office.
If you need to purchase a desk, you can always get a piece of wood to place on top of two file cabinets. Again, this is a do it yourself job as you get to paint or stain the wood, paint the cabinets to blend with the wood….but you can tailor the size of the desk to your actual office space. If you do decide to paint, know who you are, because some of us are more relaxed with soothing colors. Others like bold colors to stimulate their thinking.
Have you been storing your office “stuff” in different places? Now is the time to reuse the book shelves, filing cabinet, and boxes and organize them in your “space.”
It’s important to have on hand the right office supplies, so go to your favorite office supply or discount store and stock up on a few needed items and get your space organized.
It doesn’t take lots of time or money to create your office space. What it does take is the desire to plan, organize and carve out the time to create your space. Make it a challenge to find the best space in your home for the least amount of money.
Pat Brill is the co-author of “Busy Moms: The Heart and Soul of a Home”, (http://www.busymombook.com ) an ebook filled with time-saving and stress-reducing tips and ideas to help build a stronger home, a stronger family and a stronger you. Pat can be reached at pat@busymombook.com.
Timeworks Clocks - 5 Ideas for Decorating
admin 30 Mar 2008 | : bedroom, family room, kitchen, living room, nursery, office
Timeworks Clocks have almost become a must have in today’s home. Just 10 years ago we had no idea what an antique reproduction clock was let alone the Timeworks name. Now decorators use these beautiful wall clocks in any room for needed color, flare and nostalgia. Here are 5 specific ideas where these timepieces can be used.
Family Room / Living Room - Tall ceilings are all the rage in today’s modern homes. The result is that you have very large walls to decorate. One of the most popular ideas for decorating those mammoth walls is the use of a large wall clock. Timeworks is a master of creating large wall clocks. These clocks command your attention when you enter the room. Most of the more popular designs are a full 27-31 inches in diameter. They provide a great start when decorating large spaces. The D. Robertson clock for example is a good candidate for a large family room or living room. This clock has a subtle tan coloration that can work well with many colors. The Dupont clock is another very popular style that has a very rich dark red or burgundy color scheme.
Kitchen Wall Clock - Picture this. Granite counter tops, travertine floors and custom cabinetry designed in a slightly old world flare. This setting screams for a reproduction antique clock. Take a look at the small metal framed designs like the Hotel Pasquier or the Hotel Grand. Also don’t miss any of the petite collection. All of these choices look just like they were taken from a old European museum. Kitchen clocks can be different sizes from 6-12 inches usually. The stores that I have worked for in the past sell many of these smaller clocks around the holidays. They make such great gifts for your mom, sister or wife. They are packaged so well for gift giving. The box alone is nice enough to bring a smile.
Childrens Bedrooms and Nurseries - The Storytime Collection from Timeworks offers 20-30 styles that have young children in mind. Baseball, football time pieces for the young sports fans and Carousel Horse, Fire truck, Rocket Boy, or Little Princess to capture the imagination of the rest. These are great functional decorations to fall to sleep with. They also provide great opportunities to help your children learn to tell time. These can be great gifts for the toddler or baby. The mother will enjoy them as much as the child.
For the Office - Like many other rooms in our house offices are meticulously decorated. How many times have you seen a large beautiful picture or a nautical clock behind the office desk? I see pictures in magazines all the time of this traditional setting. The large nautical timepieces the Timeworks Ships Clocks are well suited for this. Another style that goes well in an office is the station or railway collection like the Station Victor Hugo or the Station Richmond. These large pieces add a strong masculine feeling to the room.
Decorating the Bistro - Some of us are lucky enough to own a restaurant or small deli. Old world charm is the name of the game in many of these Italian style delis or bistros. Hanging meats and cheeses adorning the town’s favorite deli is as old fashion as you can get. A clock with old world charm fits so nicely in that atmosphere. You can find a chalkboard incorporated with a small clock. What better way to show the daily special. Examples of this can be found in the merchant signs category. Other choices can be much the same as discussed before. Many restaurants display large wall clocks in their entry or above their billboard menu.
You will soon come to the conclusion that these clocks, not unlike paintings can fit really well in almost any setting. Color really is key. The color you choose will bring out the similar colors in the room. Shopping online can often help in your selection because you can see the colors of all of the choices on one or two pages.
You can find the clocks that I described in my article by going here Timeworks Clocks . Many choices so have fun.
Building Your Dream Game Room
admin 29 Mar 2008 | : game room
When deciding to remodel or add an addition to your home, many people would like to include a game room. Whether it is in the basement or first floor of your home, a game room adds a place to unwind and have a good time. It can be used for guys or girls nights, family time, holiday gatherings or just any night of the week.
Once you have decided to create a game room in your home, you must decide what types of games you would like to include in it. There are a variety of gaming tables you can buy including poker, blackjack and roulette. You can find any of these items and their accessories online or in a store in your own area. If you order these items online, some sites will even let you customize the tables or accessories with your name or phrases.
Another item you can add to your game room is a pool table. Pool tables come in three sizes, starting at 7 feet and going to 9 feet. You should pick a table that best fits the size and needs of your game room. Once you decided on your pool table, you can then purchase your table accessories such as billiard balls, ball rack and pool cues. A pool table is fun for people of all ages.
Another gaming room item that is fun for people of all ages is a dart board. You can either get your standard cork dart board or an electronic one. You can get standard dart boards complete with wood cabinet and chalk board score board. This keeps up the appearance of your game room when the game is not in play. You can purchase dart boards online or at your local store. For the casino lover, you can add some slot machines. There are a variety of slot machines available for purchase online or at your local store. You can choose from a variety of themes and types of slot machine you would like to purchase.
Once you have chosen all the games you would like to include in your game room, you should decide if you would like to include a bar. If you choose to include a bar, you can either have a custom one built and installed or you can purchase one from your local home store. You can include game themed glasses, dishes and bottles to make your bar game room friendly. Now that you have all your games and maybe a bar, you can now decorate the room. You can choose from gamed themed pictures and signs. If you have a bar you can decorate with signs of your favorite beer or liquor. You can buy your signs and pictures online or in the store. If you buy your signs online, most sites will let you customize them with your name, picture or phrase that you like.
Now that you have everything that needs to go in your game room, all you need to do is set up, decorate and enjoy!
Purchase your poker supplies and billards equipment at Cards and Cues. Article written and Distributed by Steve Cancel at Secure Link - Michigan Web Marketing.
