Football Season Has Arrived!

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Football season has arrived, let the games begin! For the next four months my home will be inundated with sights and sounds of football whistles, crashing helmets, and of course football paraphernalia.

As a coach’s wife, I’m convinced that I receive more than my fair share. From jerseys to trophies and plaques there is hardly any room to display it all without someone mistaking our home for a sports hall of fame.

Resisting the temptation to store everything in a cardboard box, I’ve had to find creative ways to show my support. Many of you Houzz readers have found solutions to this decorating dilemma and provided some great ways to support the home team. There’s nothing like teamwork!

If you have the luxury of space, create a comfortable den to stretch out and watch the game. Decorate surrounding walls and shelves with collectibles from your family’s favorite teams.

Is there an older gamer in your midst? Use antique trophies as flower vases. How’s that for a balance of masculine and feminine?

No matter the sport, little helmets add big style. Integrate your child’s sporting equipment into his room’s decor and maybe less of it will end up on the floor. You know the saying, “”If you can’t beat them, join them.””

Have your treasured sports collectibles framed and hung gallery-style. The archived pieces make a proud display and are preserved for many generations to come.

For a less expensive option, frame a jersey yourself using a frame from a mass retailer. This gives you the flexibility to switch from football to basketball immediately after the Super Bowl.

Show support for your budding athlete in a big way. Paint a wall with chalkboard paint (it now comes in colors!) and help them to map out their winning strategy.

Tiny tokens of appreciation are the easiest to blend into your decor. This silver helmet is a lovely accent among a pair of floating shelves. Need a change? Use this statuette as a paperweight or a bookend.

This may be the best example of compromise I’ve ever seen. A formal room instantly becomes a overflow space to watch the big game. Unsuspecting guests receive a pleasant surprise when a full-sized television lowers from the ceiling and retracts when the party is over.

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Football Season Has Arrived!

FACT: Up to 60% of a cat"s sleep is REM sleep, 3x more than humans. Catnaps are kind of serious.

FACT: Up to 60% of a cat"s sleep is REM sleep, 3x more than humans. Catnaps are kind of serious.

We believe in your dreams, now go back to bed!

We believe in your dreams, now go back to bed!

Happy Customer of the week

Happy Customer of the week

CONFIRMED :The weight of a two-year-old pillow can be comprised of up to 10 per cent dust mites and their excrement.

CONFIRMED :The weight of a two-year-old pillow can be comprised of up to 10 per cent dust mites and their excrement.

waiting doesn’t seem so bad now...

waiting doesn’t seem so bad now...

Best Rugs for Hardwood Floors

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There’s no question that hardwood floors are a stylish and practical choice for the home. They lay a solid, versatile foundation for any decor, and they have the added benefit of being easy to clean. But left totally bare, hardwood floors can look a little naked–and feel cold underfoot too. Fortunately it’s easy to warm up your hardwood floors, both aesthetically and literally, with a great rug!One of the best rugs for hardwood floors is a shag rug. The long pile adds textural contrast to the polished surface of hardwoods, and it feels inviting to bare toes. Look for neutral hues that can adapt to any interior style, from boho to modern, and consider a subtle pattern for additional visual interest. By combining a cozy shag rug with cool hardwood floors, you can enjoy the best of all worlds!

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Best Rugs for Hardwood Floors

"Confirmed:The Reason Why Your Eyes Move When You Sleep "

“When you dream, your eyes flutter quickly from side to side, which is exactly why this phase is known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. It’s long been suggested that the eye movements might correlate with people seeing things in their dreams as they “look around.” Yet even fetuses and people who have been blind since birth experience REM, despite the fact that they’ve never experienced sight.

New research building on this shows that during REM sleep, the pattern of signaling in the brain is similar to that when we see, or imagine, a new image. The researchers from Tel Aviv University found that there was a burst in the activity of neurons that occurred just after the person’s eyes flickered. This activity reflected a change of concept or scene (not image processing) during sleep. The scientists demonstrated that this was the same brain activity that occurred when awake patients were shown pictures, especially those related to memory.

“About a 0.3 seconds after the picture appears, these neurons burst – they become vigorously active,” Dr. Yuval Nir, who co-authored the study published in Nature Communications, explained to BBC News. “This also happens when people just close their eyes and imagine these pictures, or these concepts.”

This is important because it could go some way to explain why blind people still undergo REM sleep. The eye movement might not mean that someone is actually scanning a dream’s environment, but more moving onto the next scene or concept. For example, a blind person will perceive a scene through sound and emotions, and these will obviously vary from one to the other. So when scenes change in a dream, their eyes will flicker in the same way that happens with people who can see.

The research was conducted over a period of four years, using data collected from those who suffer from epilepsy. The patients already had electrodes implanted in their brains to try and help manage their seizures, and this allowed Dr. Nir the perfect chance to measure the activity of around 40 individual neurons – mainly within the medial temporal lobe located towards the bottom of the brain – while the volunteers slept.

It’s difficult to know what the patients were actually dreaming about, and how the neuronal activity related to what they were “”seeing,”” as they didn’t wake them up to ask what they were dreaming about. “But we are sure that the brain is alternating between different mental imagery,” Dr. Nir told New Scientist. “Every time you move your eyes, a new image forms in the mind’s eye.””

"Confirmed:The Reason Why Your Eyes Move When You Sleep "

Happy Customer of the week

Happy Customer of the week

Moving Furniture Safely

“Whether you’re moving apartments or you’re simply revamping your living areas, moving heavy furniture can be an extremely daunting task. When you move furniture and you don’t know what you are doing, you risk causing damage to floors, walls, and yourself.

After talking to some of the top moving companies, we’ve compiled these tips for how to move heavy furniture in your home.

Prepare in advance

One of the biggest causes of damage to a home during a move is rushing the job. There’s nothing more dangerous than having to kick stuff out of the way while trying to balance half of the couch or coffee table.

• Plan your route out and make a clear path before you start moving anything. Make sure that all mats, rugs, and general debris are cleared away before you start moving.


• If your route passes through any doorways or hallways, it’s important to measure them beforehand to make sure the furniture you’re carrying will fit through.

Handle furniture like a professional

People say imitation is the biggest form of flattery. We say imitation is the best way to keep yourself safe. If you’ve ever seen the way a mover handles furniture, you wouldn’t think it was hard at all. That’s because they know exactly what to do. Consider using the followings tricks.

• When you move a heavy piece of furniture, keep your body pressed against it. This reduces the strain on your arms and makes it easier to balance. It also helps you maintain a firm grip, so you’re less likely to drop what you’re carrying.


• Lift with your legs. If you lift with your back, you won’t get much leverage, and you may even injure yourself. Lifting with your legs protects your back and gives you better leverage to lift


• Utilize moving equipment. As with any job, having the right equipment makes can make the world of difference. When you are moving heavy items, it is much easier and much safer when know what tools you can use. Using dollies and carts to push heavy furniture around is much easier than carrying it, even over relatively short distances. You can also use moving straps to help you lift and maneuver heavy objects. Slipping the moving strap underneath a heavy object allows you to apply lifting force from the bottom of the object, or exert a tipping force to rotate the object.


• Make sure that there are enough people available to move particularly heavy and awkward items.

Cover walls and flooring

Protecting your home’s flooring and walls is important because they can be difficult and costly to repair. Avoid the headache of having to repair these items later by doing the following.

• Take extra time when you’re carrying large items through doorways.


• Use a protective cover to protect hardwood floors from dents, scratches, and gouges. And if you plan on moving furniture around, make sure you attach felt or cardboard to the feet, as this will prevent scratching.


• The walls of narrow rooms and hallways are especially susceptible to damage, so consider hanging drop cloths on these walls. You can also protect them with thick cardboard and bubble wrap.

Moving Furniture Safely

Fact:A 10 to 20 minute power nap is ideal for a boost in alertness and energy…

Fact:A 10 to 20 minute power nap is ideal for a boost in alertness and energy…

Sound advice!

Sound advice!

Happy Customer of the week

Happy Customer of the week

Spice Up The Dining Room

“The same old, same old might not cut it in your kitchen. If you’re one tempted to try new recipes and stretch your culinary horizons, you might want to spice up your presentation, as well. Whether you have a formal dining room or an eat-in kitchen, seating arrangements aren’t what they used to be. Feast your eyes on some of the hottest trends.

Among the ways you can mix it up to match your taste:

 

#1: Light and dark meet.

When furnishings have rich variations in color (highly distressed wood finishes, for example), they also have the potential to be great mixers since they “talk” to each so easily. Feel free to have a darker finished table with much lighter finished chairs (or vice versa). Together they serve up a whole lot of style.

 

 

#2: Striking contrasts.

Bring even more flavor to the table with a mix of seating colors and styles. Maybe even incorporate upholstered seating at the head of the table for more indulgence. To keep the look from getting too busy, you might limit the seating to two color schemes.

 

#3: Sidelined on the bench.

Why settle exclusively for standard side chairs? Create a beautifully balanced, less formal look by bringing a bench to one side of the table. Upholstered benches make it a lot more comfortable to linger over a meal. Come Sunday family dinners and holiday gatherings, you’ll appreciate that benches make it easy to slide in that extra guest.

 

#4: Changing times.

Styles from different eras can commingle beautifully at the table. As this example shows, classic Windsor chairs are paired with a mid-century-inspired kitchenette table. The fact that the spindle backs and legs are crafted of metal instead of wood makes for a unique and timely twist.”

Spice Up The Dining Room