Install An Interior Or Exterior Door

Those looking to change a room should consider putting up a new door. Not only will it help with any insulation problems, it will change the décor.

First, choose the type of door that will be put up. There are three basic groups to choose from. There are entry doors, interior doors and combination storm/screen doors. By following five steps entry doors can be replaced with ease. Once you have this skill under your belt you will be able to put up interior doors with no problem.

When putting up any door the general premise is the same. The only real difference is whether or not it is an exterior or interior door. You begin by taking off the old door. Tuck a wedge under the outside corner and release the hinges. Once the door is off there are two options available. The first one is to hang the door from loose-pin hinges. Part of the hinge is hooked into the door and the other half is hooked into the doorframe. If you are working in an old house, the hinge might not be so cooperative due to years of paint build up. When this happens you should unscrew the hinges and take off the doorframe to get the door off.

Next you will take the hinge leaves off of the door. You can hang new ones or use the old ones. Buff the old ones with a sander and use a clear protective coating to cover it. New hinges should be the exact same size as the previous ones.

Shape the hinges they way that you would like and put the new hinge leave on the frame of the door. The screws must be long enough to go trough the stud-wall framing and the frame of the door.

After that you will need to trim the door. Take notes from Interior Doors the previous door if needed. If the new door is in line with the old one than trimming may not be necessary. However, if the old door is not a good example, measure the door opening and leave a 1/8 bottom clearance and 1/16 at the side and top. If there is carpet to take into account you need to have a bottom clearance that is 3/4 more than that. A fine tooth saw will be needed for the trimming.

Get the door ready for the hinges. New mortises need to be made. There will be routed or craved out depressions in which the hinges blades will be placed. This will keep the surface level. The old door can be a pattern to follow for this or you can use the new door. Put in the doorway and wedge it 1/8 away from the bottom. Put the hinge locations on the door.

After that put the door on the latch edge and take a pencil or knife and trace the line to the door edge from every hinge. The new hinge on
of the door should be outlined with the hinge leaf template.

Use a wood chisel to leave marks on the hinge mortises. Level the cutes with the thickness of the leaf hinge. Three hinges is the usual standard for six foot tall doors.

Next you need apply some wood sealant to the door and put wood screws in the hinge leaves. Next hang the door.

Contemporary Design - From Front Door to Back

Are you thinking of redecorating your home, or are you moving into a new home and wish to decorate it in such as way that it will be a joy to return to after each work day is done?

There's a lot to think about, if so. Do you want to decorate each room in a different style, or do you want to have a single theme unifying everything?

Let's examine every possible place you can decorate.

To begin with, how about your front door. There's many a decorating style that says that your front door should not be a simple and unadorned piece of wood, but should rather look as if some care were taken with it - a basket with flowers hanging from the doorknocker perhaps and pots of flowers or small trees framing the entryway.

That seems a bit much, to those who enjoy the simpleness and minimalism of contemporary design. If you're a flower lover a pot of roses by the door make a cheery welcome, but there's no need to overdo it!

Enter the room and you come to the entry hall, which typically has a mirror for guests to check their hair before continuing into the living room, and a long table. Now, some styles will have you clutter up this hallway with everything under the sun%

Feng Shui And Your Home Interior Design

Feng Shui, when relating to home design, is a topic that is gaining more momentum and is becoming more well known in Western society.

Centuries, or in fact thousands of years ago, Feng Shui was known only to the wealthiest and most powerful of Chinese families, including emperors and empresses of China. The royal families used the concept of Feng Shui to influence the harmony and prosperity of their palaces and homes.

In the modern day, as a result of this knowledge becoming known among the rest of Asia, and now in the West including Europe and the US, these principles are now being embraced, regardless of their cultural background.

See, the principles of Feng Shui are based on the concept of 'chi' or energy. And since we are all energy, it is believed that the energy from environmental forces have an effect on our lives. So how does this affect our choice of homes, and our homes designs?

Well, there are several points to keep in mind when it comes to choosing your home or home design:

Tip 1

Firstly, Feng Shui is used to analyse land forms surrounding the home to determine whether the energy or 'chi' surrounding the home is favourable or not.

This includes locations of hills and mountains, water and certain man-made objects around the house. While this is not the actual house design itself, it is considered to have an important impact from a Feng Shui perspective. If you're looking for a new home or land to build a new home, then this will be especially relevant.

Tip 2

Secondly, there is the environment immediately surrounding the home, and visible from the home to consider.

These include what is visible while standing looking out from your front door, and the area immediately surrounding the house. If you're looking to build or looking for a new home, then you can either learn more about this topic or hire a Feng Shui practitioner to assess the property for you.

Tip 3

Thirdly, comes the interior of the home.

There are many considerations for your home interior, including the location of stairs in the home, the location of the bedroom and kitchen, the shapes of the rooms and height of the ceilings and the location of water in the home, including the bathrooms and ponds.

You can learn more from a book, online courses or from a practitioner to find out the details about how to assess a potential new home, and to screen it from a Feng Shui perspective.

In conclusion, these are the 3 areas to be aware of when assessing any home from a Feng Shui point of view. You can learn it yourself, or you can use a practitioner to help you assess a home if you're new. Feng Shui is just one of the tools that you can apply when assessing a potential new home.

Year Round Decorating Ideas For The Front Door

The front door of your home is the first thing that visitors will see. You can make a good impression on your guests and visitors by adding some special decorative touches to this area. These decor accents do not have to be elaborate or expensive. Many times just one or two specially selected pieces will go a long way. By decorating the front doorway area you can lend a nice touch to your home, and make your guests feel especially welcomed. Here are some ideas for making the most of your decorating area with ideas to give special pizzaz to your front door.

Hang door garland. This can be in any theme and will cover a large amount of space on the front door. Make sure you choose something that will be relatively weather resistant, and will not fade easily. A garland of fall colored leaves would make a wonderful autumn design. For Christmas, holly or poinsettias could be used to make a similar garland.

Display a large wreath or other floral display with the use of an over-the-door wreath hanger. Try making your own wreath out of natural materials like pine cones. This can be easily accomplished by using a glue gun and adding some decorative floral picks. I usually make my own Christmas wreath by using a pre-made wreath shape, and adding Christmas floral picks or handmade bows. I purchase these inexpensively from the Dollar Store.

Add a door knob hanger. This could be as elaborate as a handmade, one-of-a-kind piece, or as simple as a colored ribbon with bells attached. For seasonal themes, a strand of dried corn or even small fall leaves would make a nice hanger. Snowman and poinsettias would be fun ideas for Christmas or Winter.

Seasonal door decorations are a fun way to decorate the front door. For autumn you could use a fall themed wreath with apples, fall leaves, even tiny pumpkins. Thanksgiving ideas include the cornucopia or dried corn. For the past couple of years, I have used a heavy wrapping paper to “wrap” my front door to look like a present. I usually use a bright red foil paper, then add a handmade wreath.

How to Buy a Home with Good Feng Shui

Buying a home is usually a stressful experience. So much rides on a new home because this is where you relax, have fun, sleep, eat; in short, it’s the place central to your life. Not only that, but homes usually cost a whole lot of money and represent our single largest investment. Most homebuyers can usually find the objective requirements of house hunting, such as location, size, and price. But, there are also intangible factors when searching for a new home, but most people don’t know what to look for.

Helping you find the flaws
This is where feng shui comes in. Using feng shui, you’ll be able to spot the problems –or the potential -- in a house that exist outside of the objective requirements of number of bedrooms, amount of storage, etc. These are features that you might not notice, and a realtor will seldom, if ever, point out to you. But, with this checklist, you can at least feel more confident about your decision to go with a particular property.

Look at the space with “feng shui eyes”
When you are looking at a house – or any space for that matter – and considering whether to buy it, it helps to look at it with “feng shui eyes.” You will want to do this once you have considered all the other objective aspects of the house, such as square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, living areas, location, price, etc.

The next step is to run down a checklist of the subjective feng shui considerations that will help you make a feng shui assessment. Even if you aren’t house hunting, this list can give you some important information that might be very revealing about the house you are already in!

The list below provides some of the more serious feng shui problems.

Exterior
?Street: Is house at the end of a cul-de-sac, dead end or T-junction?
?Topography. Is the lot sloped away at the back? Avoid yards that slope down toward the rear. Select home with a rise at the rear. Is house below street grade? This will make for a constant “uphill” struggle while you live here.
?Landscape. Is there a tree or pole directly in front of the front door? Dead trees or shrubs? Dead lawn?
?Garage. Is it ahead of the house or front door?
?Neighbors. Is this house smaller than houses on either side? Do neighbors’ houses have sharp angles pointing at this house or appear to overpower or dominate the house?
?Views & proximity. Can you see or is it close to church, temple or other house of worship? Can you see or is it close to funeral home, cemetery, hospital, police station, sewage treatment, abandoned building or run-down house?
?Water. Is water, lake, river, ocean at the back of house or too close to front?
?Lot. Regular or irregular-shaped? House sits too close to the front of lot? Does backyard fall away from the rear of the house?
?Paths. Driveway ends at house instead of garage? Walkways end straight at door?

Interior
?House style. Split, bi-level, or center hall colonial?
?Front. Front door lines up with back door? Does front door face stairway?
?Structure. Overhead or exposed beams? Ceilings too high or are they low and slanted? Skylights over sleeping areas or kitchen? Foundation cracks or problems? Serious plumbing or electrical problems?
?Entrance. Do you see toilet/bathroom door from the entrance? See the kitchen/stove from the front door? See the dining room from the front door? See the bedroom from front door?
?Toilets. Located in NW, SW, center, or corners of the house? Bedroom, dining area or kitchen located under or over toilet?
?Staircases. Spiral staircase? Staircase stops at front door? Split or scissor-style staircase?
?Hallways. Too long? Divide the house into two sections? Too dark?
?Bedrooms. Over garage? Over bathroom or laundry? Have empty space below, i.e., patio area? Is master bedroom too close to the front door?
?Fireplace. In the NW portion of the house? Is it in the Southeast (wealth) sector?
?Major locations. Problems with or missing sections in Northwest (man), Southwest (woman), North (career), or Southeast (wealth)? Bathroom, laundry, kitchen in center of house?
?Odor. Smells musty, smoky, putrid?

Enlist a professional
Still not perfectly confident? Well, a home is a major purchase and we must always consider that important point. Most people take a used car to their mechanic before buying it — and its purchase isn’t as important as a house. So, if you’re still confused or just want to proceed with the sale in confidence, why not talk to a feng shui specialist about looking about the prospective house?

A professional feng shui consultant should be able to tell you what you can expect from this location, such as good financial or business opportunities. Or, maybe you’ll find out that buying this house means your health will suffer, you’ll discover an afflicted portion of the house, such as a toilet in the SW sector that can hurt your marriage. Give serious consideration to hiring a professional.

Fortunately, most problems have a feng shui fix
It’s important to know that every house has “feng shui flaws” and that no house is perfect. However, you should be aware of what you are buying so that you are knowledgeable about what kinds of problems might be associated with the house. The good news? Most feng shui flaws can be corrected.