Here are some tips to get the look of luxury without the price tag:

- Be Resourceful. How do you find quality furniture without paying a high price? If you’re willing to put in some time, buying unfinished or used furniture to refinish can save you a lot of money and leave you with the same look for less.

- Sniff Out Bargains. Hunt for fix-me-up furniture in attics, garage sales and flea markets. Some of the best pieces could be hiding in a friend’s or relative’s attic. Keep in mind that finding the perfect piece may not be love at first sight. Look beyond the surface to see if there is potential for refurbishing.

- Transform Timeless Furniture. Before you take home any piece of furniture, check for structural flaws such as cracks, loose joints, lifted veneer, warped surfaces or uneven legs. If the integrity of the piece is still good, refinishing it can change the appearance from old and worn to beautiful and timeless.

- Give Furniture a Facelift. Before you can banish the old finish, you need to find out what you’re removing. Give it the cotton ball test. Dampen a cotton ball with acetone nail polish remover, then choose an inconspicuous test spot and dab it with the cotton. If it sticks or the finish softens, you have a varnish, lacquer or shellac finish. Formby’s recommends using their Furniture Refinisher, which will gently dissolve this type of finish. If nothing happens when you dab the cotton ball, then the finish is most likely paint or polyurethane. Try Formby’s Paint & Poly Remover to lift and remove the old finish. After a light buffing with Paint & Poly Remover Wash, you’re ready to add a beautiful new finish.

- Rub On the Finishing Touch. Applying a finish is essential for protecting stripped, stained or bare wood from moisture and wear. Formby’s Tung Oil Finish imparts a warm, hand-rubbed luster to wood, enhancing its natural charm. By hand-rubbing Tung Oil into wood, you eliminate the potential for streaks, ensuring a beautiful, smooth finish. Tung Oil penetrates wood, protecting from the inside out.

With that said, here are some Feng Shui tips to consider for your bedroom…

Don’t overdo the bright colors in your bedroom. Bright colors are alive and moving, so the more bright colors that are used, the harder it will be to stay asleep. This also applies to plants and especially water.  Plants and water manifest yang energy, and cause the same issues in the bedroom as bright colors.    The colors associated with plants and water are green, black, and blue.  Bright colors to avoid are reds, strong oranges or bright yellows.  Florescent colors are out of the question!

Pictures of moving water can also cause problems.  If you’ve got a picture of a waterfall, river, or ocean in your bedroom, it’s a wise idea to move it.  Unfortunately, aquariums in the bedroom can also cause sleeping issues and should be moved.  Although you should avoid red in the bedroom, a little touch of red can spice up your sex life!   (Red is fire, so lit candles count as red.)

Dark colors (shades of brown) should be used in the décor of the bedroom, but not on the walls.  Painting the bedroom walls a dark color might help you sleep, but won’t help you feel rejuvenated in the morning.  Darker colored décor should be used to the point of tilting the room’s ambiance yin, without making you feel like you’re party to a funeral.  You don’t have to just use browns, pick darker colors and designs that are relaxing for you.

If you’re room is already very dark (wood paneled, for example) and you can’t make changes to it, you might want to consider changing any “yellow light” producing light bulbs to brighter, whiter bulbs.  Opening the blinds during the day will also dramatically improve the rooms feeling.  If it’s dark at night, balance it with brightness during the day.  (Clearing any room occasionally by opening all the blinds is extremely beneficial.)

In painting the bedroom, using pastel colors is your best bet.  The best colors to use depend on the compass direction of the room’s location.  To determine the compass direction of your home, draw your house’s outline on a piece of paper, and split the home into 9 equal sections (3 down, 3 across).  Use a compass to find which direction is north, and label each box according to that compass direction (North can be in a corner).  Here are the color combinations:

-  NE, Center, or SW: Rooms located here should be painted pastel earthy colors, including light shade of yellow.
-  NW or W: Rooms located here benefit from metal, so use a shade of white.
-  SE or E: The SE and East benefit from the color green, but you may want to only use these colors if the room will be used as a study. Then a shade of green would be perfect.  Otherwise, use pastel earthy colors including shades of yellow.  White is not helpful here, as it destroys the productive properties of the SE and East.  These directions are associated with wealth.
-  S: The South benefits from red. If you want to use red here, use it sparingly as too much will cause restlessness in bed.  Use shades of white for the walls.
-  N: The north benefits from blue and black (water). Since you can’t use water, try white instead, as white (metal) will help with the benefits of water without using water.

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Purchasing and implementing such a system may save your business from the terrors of illegal entry. Investment in such could save you a whole lot of trouble.

Before purchasing a system, you will want to consider the following factors.

Your needs
Study your needs. The type of security measures installed will depend on your specific security needs. For example how large is the area you would like covered? How many cameras will it take to monitor this area? You must make sure the security camera system you will purchase can accommodate enough slots for expansion.

Do you need audio too? Some camera systems have audio recording equipment as well so you can not only see what happens, but hear it as well. This is important in cases when you would like everything documented. However, this may be costly. Many establishments only require video records of their security.

Also, you must ascertain whether you need to have your security cameras record in color or black and white. Color cameras are, of course, more sophisticated and show a clearer picture. However, they tend to be pricey. Color cameras might also not work in low-light situations.

Consider the location of the cameras. Will the location be hard to set up a wiring system in? In that case, you may want to consider wireless security camera systems. However, these cameras must be in a place that is conducive to high quality broadcast. There must be no interference. They can, though, be moved around the area. They are a bit more flexible than their fixed-wire cousins.

Will the camera system be for outdoor purposes? Cameras that monitor outdoor locations need special weatherproof housings and may not be recommended for extreme temperatures and various elements. Also those that may be vandalized must be protected against such.

Also, you must take in consideration the lighting for an area. If your camera cannot record a scene due to bad lighting, you will end up with muddy images that won’t help in your surveillance activities. Choose a security camera that has a good sensitivity to light. Also, try to illuminate such areas with external lighting.

You must consider where the power sources will be located. Make sure they are well protected against the elements and from tampering.

Consider the available methods for recording the images. You may use a variety of backup media. And with the advent of computer storage media, even the use of hard disks, compact discs, and DVDs can prove to be an inexpensive way to store your data.

Installing a Security Camera System
Most home security cameras require little wiring, but installation differs according to model. Here are the basic steps:

1. Survey the area to be monitored. Follow the instructions/manual that comes with your security camera product. Install the camera at a proper distance from the area to be surveyed. Cameras vary in the distances from which they focus, so it would do well to pay notice to such.

2. Secure the camera using proper mounts, etc. Make sure that if the camera you are to install should not be moved, its placing should be secure and tamper proof.

4. Connect the camera to the monitor according to the manufacturer’s directions. Make sure the wiring is as hidden and as secure as possible. This will make it harder for vandals and thieves from damaging your wiring.

5. Fine tune your system. Make sure you optimize the images you receive from the camera. Set a maintenance plan and fail safe plans to employ in case your cameras break down.

6 Organize an archival system according to your needs. Backing up and recording your images are implemented here.

Home intrusions continue to rise.  In the 80′s when crack cocaine hit the streets crime rose an average of 26 percent in most major cities.  Now, a major contributor to home intrusions is the drug Methamphetamine.  Burglary and thefts from auto’s are the most prevalent neighborhood crimes.  Often, breaking into an auto gives the thief a bonus, access to the remote control allowing the house’s garage door to be opened.  Household burglary is rampant because it is one of the easiest crimes to commit, half the time with no forced entry required.  Most home intrusions occur during daylight hours while homeowners are away.  The burglar will in many cases watch your home for a few days to see when you are out.

While home burglary is one of the easiest crimes to commit, it is also one of the easiest to prevent.  Neighborhood Watch is a good starting point, and is a proven crime-reduction program.  Most police departments are very supportive of these programs and will provide information and materials on how to set up a program.  Members watch out for their neighbors and report suspicious activities to the police department.  A term used often in these groups is “hardening the target”.  Hardening the target means steps you can take to cause a thief to bypass your house and move on to an easier target.  Some of these items include using quality deadbolt locks, installing impact resistant glass on certain windows so someone cannot break the glass and reach in and unlock the door, installing solid exterior doors, installing motion sensing outdoor lighting, and others tailored to your particular situation.

Most of the security items mentioned are relatively inexpensive ways to “harden your target”. Also, many high tech devices once considered cost prohibitive are now affordable.  For example, a wireless video surveillance system can be purchase for around $50.00.  Just mount the small camera in the area to be viewed and view the image on a channel on your home TV set.  Elaborate systems, however, can still be costly.

Consider installing a home security system.  This is taking “hardening the target” to the highest level.  Homes without security systems are 3 times more likely to be broken into than homes with security systems.  90 percent of police believe alarms deter burglary attempts.  A full article could be devoted to this one subject, but lets look at the main points.  You will hear the terms hardwired or wireless used when describing home alarm systems.  If you are renting your accommodation, a wireless system is the best choice because you can take the system with you when you move.  If you own your home, either type system can be used.  Most security professionals tend to favor hardwire, but the negative side is the higher cost due to the installation time involved.  Wireless, by the nature of the name, is installed in hours compared to days with hardwired systems.  A negative side is having to worry with batteries.  Ultimately either system detects an intrusion and sounds an alarm.  The alarm can be a local siren or bell, or a silent alarm to a security monitoring company, or both.  The security representative surveying your home can make recommendations for your best protection based on your living patterns.

If you are just living as usual, you are putting your family, and your property at unnecessary risk.  Home intrusions have increased to the point where every homeowner must become more aware of the dangers, and learn about the latest security products available to protect ones home, family, and valuables.  Make sure your home is safe and secure.

A simple check with search engines will reveal hundreds of companies willing to sell you their security related products and all of them promising the “burglar-proof” system.

My first advice is to go to a company that specializes in the very device you are interested in. For example if you need a surveillance camera, Panasonic can show up as a possible choice. However, they are more well-known for producing TV sets than security cameras. A manufacturer such as Clearvu, on the other hand, specializes in surveillance cameras. They will quickly show you a large variety of professional equipment which will suit your needs much better. While Panasonic appears to be a credible security system player in the marketplace, their expertise lags behind these highly specialized manufacturers. Big brands, therefore, do not necessarily mean good brands.

Check for the country of manufacture. Products manufactured in a country with a strong tradition of quality will probably feel proud enough to advertise it. If the manufacturing country does not show up in the ad, the company is probably cutting costs by producing them in a country where wages are low and labor lower-skilled. Unfortunately, this also means that they have compromised on the product’s quality at your expense.

Another factor when it comes to choosing the right home security equipment is to check the product specifications. Be extra careful when doing this. For example, a photoelectric motion sensitive system that is triggered by falling leaves won’t be very effective. These are the sort of details you must always ask and check. There truly are no dumb questions; if you feel uncertain about any specifications, just ask. If the answer from the sales person appears evasive, you might want to consider another brand or shop somewhere else.

Perhaps the single most important and most difficult part of the home security system buying process is to clearly distinguish between the various products offered by competitors that offer pretty much the same features at comparable quality, but at slightly different prices. In these instances, I recommend ignoring brands altogether and strip the products of their sales hype. Try seeing facts, parameters and guarantees. If details are sketchy, don’t be afraid to ask the seller about details. Price should be the secondary factor here. Aim for quality and a sense of reassurance that when a burglar strikes your home, your home security system will be ready to handle and thwart the burglar’s break-in attempt.

What are they?

Motion detectors spot the movement in areas covered by the security sensors. Motion detectors transmit high frequency radio wave signals. They give a warning that someone is entering into your home.

Different kinds of motion detectors & how they work:

Infrared Sensors:

Motion detectors use infrared light to detect heat changes, i.e. when a person moves across this light it detects them with the help of the infrared sensors. If a person moves in the range of the motion sensors, the alarm is activated. Infrared sensors are cheaper than microwave sensors and ultrasonic sensors. Infrared sensors are generally smaller and very reliable.

Vibration Sensors:

It detects a person through vibration. Many car alarms have this feature to alert the owner that something has bumped into their car.

Photoelectric Sensors:

Some motion detection systems use lasers and photoelectric beams. The laser is shot across to the other side of the room or doorway. If the laser is interrupted the unit’s alarm signal is activated.

Ultrasonic sensors :

They use a frequency around 30kHz. The transmitter bounces the waves of walls, furniture, windows and ceilings and when the room has stabilized, the alarm is armed.

Acoustic Sensors:

They can detect the energy produced by any kind of sound, including breaking glass. In the case of breaking glass from window intrusions, the pattern of the sound emitted is detected.

One particularly clever device is the new day planner that comes with a camera hidden in the side. It provides a perfect way to keep an eye on light-fingered employees. It is also a great way to provide video surveillance during meetings and drug busts.

And who would suspect that slender, card type calculator you carry around of being a high quality digital camera? It is capable of storing thirty-two images, which are easily transferred to your computer and is also capable of being used as a camera for your PC.

But there are body worn cameras that can top even that special device. Nearly everybody wears a wristwatch, and there are state-of-the-art digital watch cameras available that even have built-in LCD displays. These great watches are not only great for covert work, but lots of fun, too.

They can take up to 320 quality digital photos, feature a PC camera function and have a great rechargeable lithium ion battery, so you don’t have to worry about having to go out a buy a new battery all of the time. Can you think of an easier way to cart around a digital camera?

1. Not being clear about what you want. When you don’t know what you want, you might not like what you get. If you change your mind and change the job halfway through, the contract – and price – will change. Hint: it won’t get cheaper. Be clear on what you want done.

2. Not getting it in writing. Hearing “I didn’t say I was going to include the gutters,” could be a problem, or you could point to the contract.

3. No dates in the contract. Do you want the job finished this year? Be sure you have it in the contract.

4. Too much money up front. Deposits are a reasonable request when contracts are signed. The home contractor may need money for materials prior to the start date. But never pay in full before the job is finished.

5. Unlicensed contractors. This can be okay, if you know what you are doing (and he does). A license doesn’t mean you get expertise, but it does mean you get leverage. Contractors will right their wrongs to avoid losing that license.

6. Hiring the first in the phone book. Talk to friends who had work done, or to the owner of a hardware store. Get a recommendation based on a similar job to yours.

7. Assuming there will be no problems. Delays due to weather, employees quitting, and more will happen. A few problems is okay, but it’s not okay if the contractor can’t work out the issues to your satisfaction.

8. Expecting neatness. Guess what? It is sometimes more efficient to leave things laying where they’ll next be used. There will be messes, so prepare accordingly. Cover up things if it will be a dusty job, for example. Also be clear in the contract that the jobsite will be cleaned up at the end of the job.

9. No penalties in the contract. It’s one thing for a contract to say “Work to be completed by May 2nd.” That helps, but it’s better to add, “$100 per day to be deducted from the contract price for each day the job is unfinished beyond May 2nd. It’s what I call a motivational clause.

10. Thinking contracts eliminate problems. Contracts help, but unreasonable people on either side of a contract can ignore them, or even use “literal readings” to make things worse. Find a home contractor you can work with, and keep your eyes open.

Go through what you have and throw out what you don’t need
Have an old box of lye around? You’re probably not ever going to use it, and it’s terribly dangerous, so get rid of it. Keep only the products you really use, so that there are fewer things to have to keep locked up.

Keep things locked up
Assemble all your cleaning supplies, and put them in locked cabinets. Don’t assume that putting them in a higher cabinet keeps your child safe. Sometimes babies seem to learn to climb overnight, so simply storing items on a higher shelf might not be enough.

Don’t store poisons in old food containers
Your baby will learn early on to recognize things like a juice container or baby food jar so don’t use empty ones to store hazardous products.

Throw empty containers away outside
Don’t put the empty bleach container in the kitchen trash can – rinse it and take it to the outside trash can immediately.

Check your plants
There are many common houseplants that are poisonous, including philodendron, English ivy, holly, mistletoe, and hyacinths, so it’s best to remove these or keep them well out of reach.

Some things you might not think of as poisonous
Your cosmetics, over the counter medicines, vitamins, and mothballs can all be poisonous, so keep these locked up or out of the way. Get used to reading labels, so that you can keep tabs on new things that come into the house.

If you’ve never had children before, keeping up with products that can be poisonous can be a challenge at first. But, take some time, preferably before the baby is born, to sort through your items and store them properly. Then, be diligent about buying the safest items you can. For instance, non-chlorine bleach is safer than chlorine. And, always look for child-proof caps on products you plan to buy. Learn to substitute. Did you know you can use olive oil to polish furniture and vinegar to clean your hardwood floors? These kinds of substitutions can make your home safer, and give you fewer items to look up. And, finally, don’t forget to post your local poison control phone number right by the phone. It could save your child’s life.

The first impressions can be buttoned up from the outdoors and the lobby as they carry the impressions of your home.  Yes, patio furniture fashions an integral part of your home. It does not matter how you have styled your outdoors, if it has the right furniture, you will find yourself spending free time, and even going out of way to spend time in the garden or by the pool.

Teak is a time-favored weatherproof material for outdoors. As to what all comes under outdoor furniture, count everything right from hammocks, lounge chairs, tables, deck chairs, stools bar tables, garden chairs to accessories like grills for barbeques, hammock stands. All comes under it. Hosting outdoor parties is pretty much in vogue and metal or wicker furniture in a combination of teak looks really great with greens. Teak has natural anti-weathering properties and it’s not unusual to see a great rugged table below a green tree with a set of chairs outdoors.

As to wicker and metal outdoor furniture, wicker may need a bit of seasonal care, and metal furniture, it may looks equally stunning. Low-maintenance makes a high keynote when it comes to patio furniture. It is really up to you as to the look you would like to embrace for your patio; green blue stripes on the cushions look great too and come in synthetic material to weather it off.

A few points you may like to ponder upon while selecting patio furniture,

•  The furniture should blend with overalls of your lobby or patio and not just stand there grabbing attention
•  Natural looking furniture outdoors is used more prominently for its casual appeal
•  Too much of gloss/shine should be avoided, as the furniture will soon look worn off
•  A customary seasonal maintenance routine will help you maintain the furniture for years
•  Good quality furniture tends to make a wise investment for weathering elements outside are much higher than inside a home
•  Children’s patio furniture should have large tables for play and the edges should be round to avoid injuries while playing.

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