How to Plan a Landscape Design

Putting plan to paper (or computer) is crucial in designing your landscape. Some of the questions to ask are: What do you want to get out of your backyard? Do you want a extension to your living space, such as, a outdoor kitchen or just a place to relax? If you’re working on a simple project, graph and tracing paper might be all you need. A professional landscape designer starts with a property survey and topographical map, and then typically creates a series of conceptual sketches, preliminary elevations and final renderings as your vision evolves and crystallizes.

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How to Repair Lawn Edges

We all take pride in our homes. While we spend thousands of dollars of remodeling our kitchen and bathrooms, choosing the exact colors of paint and floor design we sometimes let the exterior go. Our lawns are an extension of our home, our family…us so let’s spruce it up starting with the edging. If the edging is not repaired, damaged edges will continue to deteriorate, and like any bare patch, they also provide an open invitation for weeds to establish. Reseeding a damaged edge is rarely effective, so try tackling the problem using this simple technique.

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How To Build a Backyard Fire Pit

Spring is in the air and that means your backyard will soon get more action! Spending time with the family and friends outdoors is one of the best ways to pass your weekend and evening. Don’t let another year pass without creating that fire pit you have always wanted.

Choose a location. Select a location that’s away from any combustibles such as bushes, sheds, low-hanging branches, etc. If you want it to be an extension of your back deck or your outdoor kitchen consider replacing the wood from the deck with tile that looks like wood. With this concept you can extend your deck add a foot path and then the same flooring around the pit.

Lay out the fire pit. Starting at the center, paint a five-foot diameter circle using a string as a compass. Tie one end of the string around the can of spray paint, then the other around a stake at the center of the pit. You’ll also need to paint a three-foot diameter circle for the actual pit, and a 12-foot diameter circle for the seating area.

Dig the footer and pour concrete. With the location laid out, dig out the footer for the inner and outer walls of the fire pit, digging between the three-foot and five-foot circles, about five to six inches deep. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, mix the fast-set concrete in a wheelbarrow and fill the ring with concrete. Make sure the top is level and smooth. Wait for the concrete to set up.

Separate your stones while you wait. While the concrete is setting, you can use that time to separate your stones into face stones, and a few for cap stones. The cap stones will be used to make the top of the fire pit wall, so keep the flat, smooth stones for the caps. The rest of the stones will make the wall.

Start laying stone. Start laying the stone in a ring, following the outer edge of the footing. Once the first complete ring is done, lay a ring of fire brick (on their edge, so they stand three-inches high) around the inner ring of the pit.

Continue the stone. Continue laying rings of stone on top of others. Continue laying courses of fire brick, as well. Keep everything level by choosing stones that fit. If they don’t fit, cut them. Try to avoid laying diagonal and vertical stones, they look bad and cause instability in the wall.

Fill the wall. Once the stone and fire brick are at the height you need, fill the void between the fire brick and stone walls using scrap stone and mortar. You’ll want the wall to be totally solid before you cap it.

Place the cap stones. Lay the cap stones on the top of the wall, laying them out in dry-stack to make certain that everything fits. Cut individual stones to fit, if necessary. Once you’ve got a good fit, mortar the stones into place.

Seating Area. For the seating area, dig out the grass in the area inside the 12-foot circle you painted, and lay down landscape cloth. Fill the area with gravel. Enjoy.

 

How to Refurnish a Kitchen Table

Knowing how to refinish a kitchen table is great for taking an old piece of furniture and making it look new. You don’t have to have any special equipment and you can do it in a weekend.

Choose the color of stain based on the style of the table and the wood tones in the rest of your house. The table doesn’t have to be an exact match—most homes have a variety of wood colors, so don’t stress if your stain’s color is a little off.

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How to Install French Drains

 You have spent so much time, energy and money into improving your home, from the kitchen and bathroom remodels to landscaping. Good drainage is important to ensure that a home stays dry and free of mold. If groundwater collects in the basement, it is not only an inconvenient eyesore for the homeowner, it can also lead to wood rot and mold.

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How to Stain Concrete: Adding Color to Cement Surfaces

 When deciding on flooring the homeowner now has several choices, you can use a more traditional flooring such as hardwood or tile or you can use concrete for a unique flooring. The advice below may seem straightforward, but it is following the directions and being diligent that provide the best results.

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How to Buy a House with Bitcoin

You’ve seen it on the news, the interwebs and some of your friends may have even invested in it. But what is bitcoin exactly? Long answer short, it’s a cryptocurrency which does away with a central bank and uses encryption techniques to regulate funds. No third party is involved, so buyers and sellers can make transactions directly. Soon you will be able to use bitcoin to remodel you kitchen, bathrooms and homes.

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How to Store Cleaning Supplies

Let’s face it: Cleaning isn’t most people’s idea of fun. And cleaning your kitchen and bathrooms can be equally painful. But there’s also no reason to make it harder than it has to be. Take some of the pain out of household chores with these tips for keeping cleaning supplies sorted and at the ready.

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How to Clean a Rug in the Snow

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The snow is falling, a fire crackling in the fireplace, and that beautiful rug covering your tiled or hardwood flooring is now dirty. The perfect time to work on that rug and clean in the snow! If the fibers of your favorite rug aren’t vacuum-friendly, or the material is just too delicate to clean conventionally, take it outdoors this winter. This is a tutorial you’ll want to consider for your wool rugs, vintage rugs, and high pile rugs that require a little extra care when cleaning. You know the kind; the rug that hoards dust and crumbs into each crevice, or the one that sheds almost all of its fibers every time you torture it with a vacuum cleaner.

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