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Beat the Heat – Tips on Keeping Your Home Cool

Summer is here in full force. Hardly a day goes by without one reading about summer foods that are cooling to the body, summer activities, summer vacations, summer clothes, etc. Almost everyone today has an air-conditioner, or cooler and other such cooling gadgets in their home, these gadgets work full time during the swelteringly hot months while also contributing to one’s energy bills. The following are a few tips that shall definitely help in cooling down one’s house in summer. 

For those that live on the top floor of a building – the sun hitting the roof in the day makes it extremely hot for the inhabitants living on the floor below. A very cost-effective and simple option would be to whitewash your terrace/roof. The stark white deflects sun rays and looks good too. One can also go for other similar reflective coatings – solar reflectance and thermal emmittance being the two key material surface properties that determine a roofs temperature.

If one has space on the terrace or in the balcony – growing plants is a very good idea. Apart from cooling down the area and looking good, gardening is a very soothing and satisfying hobby, albeit hard work. There are very few that don’t love the smell of the Earth after the rains. Imagine sitting on your terrace or in your balcony, sipping a cup of tea on your deck chair/swing, combined with a faint whiff of flowers and wet earth from the just watered plants – BLISS!

However, in order to prevent one’s plants from getting burnt or dying out it is necessary to have a form of shade for them. One can cover an area with green nets (agro-nets) that are very easily available at the market or even at your local nursery where one buy’s the plants from. These agro-nets are not only eco-friendly but also keep out about 70% of the heat. 

The balcony too can be covered with this green netting. Though using bamboo shades is a good idea too. Again, this not an expensive option, and is easy to install as well. Bamboo shades require no maintenance, filter out sunlight and block direct heat.

One can cover windows with roll up bamboo shades or also use light flowing curtains. Going for lovely light pinks, blues, greens and oranges for windows not only makes the room cooler but looks very attractive too. Having a room with light colours on the walls automatically cools down the space.

Ideally, one should get air-conditioners and coolers serviced before the onset of summer. This ensures that they will work effectively. Also, then one does not have to worry about waiting for 2 odd days without any cooling because the product conked out as it was not serviced.

Christmas Home Decorating Ideas

Christmas, a happy and fun season for all, though many homeowners stress about how to decorate their homes and what ideas to use while home decorating. The following are some easy ideas that will help while home decorating. Holiday home decorating trends this year focus on natural pieces such as driftwood and a winter wonderland look. The mantel is usually one of the most difficult areas of home decorating. The traditional tendency of setting up a garland and candle holders at the mantle is not a bad home decorating idea, but those that are looking for something innovative should look at the mantle from a different vantage point. Hanging something from the ceiling above the mantle is a home decorating tip that mixes things up pretty well. A lot of people tend to use small lighted trees during their home decorating endeavours so as to make their home entrance seem more festive. A unique and different home decorating idea would be to fill an urn or large pot with lighted branches. The holiday chandelier is another home decorating idea that can typically be constructed using items one already has at home, this is perfect for those special Christmas ornaments that tend to get lost on the tree.