The Home Shop Blog

Dog grooming is the basis for preventive health care for your dog and puppy. It gives you a chance to see small changes in and on your dog’s body that could lead to health concerns such as a lump or problems in his ears or with his teeth.

Dog grooming can be a time of further bonding with your dog. This is some serious one on one time when he gets loads of your attention.

So what do you do and when do you start grooming your dog and puppy? As with most things with your puppy, you need to introduce him to dog grooming slowly and help him be comfortable with it. Start with short sessions of about five minutes and work up to the whole routine as he adjusts.

Begin with brushing and combing. There are several different grooming tools used for brushing and which you use depends upon the breed of your dog and the type of coat he has. Ask the breeder you got your puppy from for the proper techniques.

Brushing should be done before you bathe your dog or puppy. Bathing your puppy should begin when he is about 14 weeks old or sooner if he is a very dirty dog. Most dogs should need bathing only once a month unless he gets dirty. Wherever you decide to bathe your dog, bathtub, sink or some type of tub, place a rubber mat within to give him something secure to stand on so he won’t slip around.

Soak down his body but not his face. Keep water out of his ears. You may wish to block his ear canals with cotton balls to prevent the water from getting into his ears. Lather up your wet dog with a dog shampoo. Rinse well. Any leftover shampoo in his coat is likely to cause dryness or skin irritation. Wipe his face off with a damp cloth. Squeeze off the excess water and then towel dry your dog. Complete the drying process with either a hair dryer set on warm, not hot, or by leaving him in a warm room until dry.

Be aware that a dog will shake just as soon as you release him. This is why some people want to run their dog outside quickly after a bath on a leash to prevent him from rolling and getting dirty again. If this is not an option, such as in winter, you may wish to consider a professional groomer.

A professional groomer may be a consideration for some of the more difficult haircuts and dog grooming considerations such as the stripping required by some wire-haired breeds. This depends upon your ability to do the required tasks and your desire to do them as well.

copyright 2005. Sandra Dinkins-Wilson



By: Sandra Dinkins-wilson

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You are redoing your bathroom and there are a countless details. After getting lost in the practicalities, you stop for break. Something catches your attention. You take a careful look at the new mirror you’ve just installed. You notice that you’re looking straight at…your chin. You wonder if they delivered the wrong size. Then you remember that you were sitting in a chair at the showroom when you decided that this was your dream come true. Why didn’t you think to check if you could use it as well standing up?

Choosing the Floor Model’s Sizing.

Many, maybe most people choose style and design without considering height. Height is often a more important element of the vanity for daily use. The common 30 inch size bathroom counter is just not optimum for people over 63 inches tall. However, vanity size is not at all standard. Some floor models are even lower than the usual 30 inches which might be ignored in the quest for the perfect design. Such a decision means you may end up having to bend down to wash your hands. This is only poor planning and completely avoidable.

Just remember that the height of the sinks, mirrors and cabinets should be customized to their users, according to their actual size. Not that they have to be custom made. Customized only means chosen to fit the bathroom at a user friendly height. If it takes going to 6 stores to browse, do it. Drive the salespeople crazy with your questions. If what you want is not there, ask to see more.

If you can’t find a vanity according to your proportions, don’t give up. Even kitchen cabinets might provide workable alternatives if bathroom cabinet selection is limited. And don’t be afraid to improvise.

For instance, if you are a tall family and the style you love only comes in 33-inch size, create simple inexpensive solutions, such as installing 2 or 3 inch glass bricks under the cabinets to add height. One designer suggests wiring in fluorescent lighting behind the glass bricks for an extra special finish.

The same lesson can be applied to shower doors, spigots, towel racks, tubs, etc… Decide if you need taller, shorter, wider, or longer. Remember also that two heights are better than one if you have the space to accommodate users of different proportions.

Buying For Looks Not Function.

You’re a guest at a friend’s house in the Pocono’s for the weekend. You’re in the bathroom and you need a towel. You check to see if a fresh towel is in the cabinet and… Oh no! The cabinet handle comes off in your hand! The cabinet door didn’t open because it’s not there. It’s an imitation cabinet just for show, hiding the plumbing.

While standing there holding the handle in your hand along with some of the veneer board it was screwed into, you look at the stylish row of drawer handles. Maybe one opens all or maybe none open at all. You’re afraid to guess. Isn’t there some kind of truth-in-labeling rule that applies even in the bathroom? This type of cabinet is an economy choice and is often used in industrial settings such as hotels and office buildings. Its dubious charm has become passe;. However, the style is still frequently seen in trade journals and must have a market somewhere.

If you are going to the expense and bother to replace your bathroom sinks and cabinets, choose a vanity that has storage space, not just a plumbing camouflage. If you really don’t want cabinets, put in a pedestal sink or a wall hung sink. The general rule is don’t try to fake it. It could be embarrassing.

Settling For Less.

Maybe you want a stone counter over your vanity instead of the traditional laminate finish but you don’t have the extra money for stone? Install it yourself using the best local home improvement store to take you through the steps. They love to help, so use their expertise. This way you will get the counter you want at a price you can afford. There is always a creative solution to most bathroom design problems. Don’t settle for less.

Forgetting to Customize to Floor Plan.

There are only a few standard bathroom shapes. Each type accommodates different styles. Corridor shaped bathrooms look best with all the fixtures on one wall. The L-shaped bathroom is designed for a discreet place for the toilet with the roomiest area reserved for the bath and vanity. The U-shaped bathroom is the most spacious and can fit extra large or customized fixtures in a choice of locations.

There are also other sizes such as small rooms converted to extra large bathrooms. Such a space takes as much extra planning and design as the space needs. Don’t just throw in the same fixtures you might use for the standard spaces. Large round or double kidney shaped counters look nice in large bathrooms but are definitely not appropriate for the corridor or L shaped plans.

Losing Out on Details.

Most of us want to make the most of our bathroom space, and hate to feel like a bull in a china closet. Detailing can make the difference. Suppose you have a tiny corner bathroom that you added to your Victorian gingerbread house by eliminating the closet under the eaves. You still want a vanity but the roof slant really limits you space. Create a sweet bathroom which maximizes the confines of the space by installing a giant mirror along the long tall wall at an appropriate angle, i.e. not facing the toilet, over a small colorful sink. Add elaborate rococo corners to the mirror for definition. Corners are much less expensive then frames.

Add a narrow cabinet under the sink, or wire wall units or carve a cabinet into the wall itself to save space. Toothbrush holders and soap holders can also be carved out of the wall. The facing of the cabinet should be in a paintable surface for remodeling ease. Paint the walls white for a feeling of space but if you need color, paint just the ceiling. The large size mirror together with the small sink fools the eye and actually creates the illusion of space. Remodeling such a bathroom is inexpensive as well. Just change the mirror corners, the cabinet facing, the ceiling or border paint, and, if you have extra money, the color of the sink. Buy a white toilet because it goes with everything. Tenacious attention to detail makes the difference in solving complicated design problems.

Using the Wrong Lighting.

Lighting your bathroom is one aspect of design that really needs a thoughtful and creative touch. You’ve decided on a lavender bathroom off the master bedroom. It’s finished and everything looks fabulous. The extra large lavender tub, the lavender toilet, the lavender sink are even nicer than you imagined. The hand painted border around the ceiling is really elegant as well. You’ve ordered fluorescents for the ceiling and hand-blown sconces in the same lavender shade around the vanity. You are very pleased. You switch on the sconces and look in the mirror. Oh no… Your skin has taken on a brownish purple hue; you look again. You’re sure you’re not sick. Horrors! It’s the lights! Be very careful with your lighting.

In general it is best not to use colored lighting in the bathroom. Think to enhance and soften. There are so many options available to give personality to your bathroom and the choices in style and material are endless. Choose carefully with an eye on ease of maintenance and upkeep. Remember that the cheapest fixtures are often the most difficult to maintain.

Under Budgeting.

A vanity is an expensive bathroom fixture. Expect to pay 600 dollars for a good quality counter top, sink, and faucet. Add to this the cost of your cabinets underneath, which depending on size, materials and customization, could easily cost more plus installation. Don’t put your whole budget into other fixtures of the bathroom without saving some for the vanity. It is the focal point of the bathroom and a cheap one will reflect the same. Even if you can’t afford anything else, a new vanity will spruce up an entire bathroom. Make sure to match it to any preexisting fixtures you decide to keep.

Awkward Door Swing.

Because bathrooms require special attention to detail, don’t neglect the amount of space you need to open and close your vanity cabinet doors. Make sure they can even open at all. Provide at least 30 inches in front of the sink for an average person to get down on the floor and into the cabinets. Keep the toilet at least 14 inches away from the cabinet sides to accommodate door swing. More if you have extra wide doors. If the vanity is installed along a wall near the bathroom door, make sure the door swings away from the sink. A little planning with a tape measure and some thought avoids this nuisance and saves your cabinet doors from unnecessary wear and tear.

Faulty Installation.

You’ve picked the perfect vanity with beautiful cabinets for the main bathroom in your 8 bedroom Victorian built in 1863. It’s ordered and delivered and the contractor is scratching his head. It’s not designed for the “wet wall” which is the location of the original plumbing. Extending piping around the inside of walls is not a minor consideration and the cost could outweigh the convenience.

Better to coordinate the sink and vanity fixtures with the rough plumbing. Especially in an older home, where plumbing is always an expensive and tricky business and could even be a recipe for disaster. Try to finesse your exquisite taste around the plumbing that’s already there.

Of Course It Fits!

Remember to be exact in measurement and to coordinate everything on paper. You don’t want to redesign things in the middle of installation. For instance, be careful to pick the right size sink to match your cabinet, especially if the cabinets are already built-in. Our consultant master carpenter advises that many unexpected costs in installation can be avoided by taking the drafting stage seriously.

Finally, don’t wait to find out if your vanity cabinet can actually be put in its place. Measure the path, especially the bathroom door. Your installer may not be prepared or even able to disassemble and rebuild the vanity quickly to get it in place.



By: Kinhom

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The Magna-Hoop Pro makes it easy to embroider bath towels. Embroider complete sets quickly and with accuracy.

By: dzgns

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As Colleen C. Barrett put it so eloquently: “Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude. I like fun.” But how much fun can your employees have in the work place, if they don’t have the right work environment?

Why Buy Commercial Furniture?

Most corporate consulting firms will tell you that the furniture you use in your office or business is extremely important. It is the image both the employees and your customers w have of your business. If your business is a “hodge podge” of furnishings, how much respect will your customers and your employees have for your business? After all what do you feel when you go into your local grungy mechanic, or ugly office environment? Think about it! It’s pretty depressing isn’t it? A Company employing well paid, highly skilled, or just about any type of employee needs to provide a good work environment for the staff of such company. It helps create better productivity, pride in employment, etc, etc. Clients who visit your company need to see a successful, well organized business, and they just won’t see that, if you don’t have the right type of furnishings. A good work atmosphere can be developed by implementing and adding attractive and comfortable office furnishings. Providing a wonderful work atmosphere promotes enthusiasm, creativity, and joy in work, among the employees. A pleasant work environment creates productivity!

What Type of Furniture?

Commercial furniture involves the distribution of the right type of office product for the industry that you are in. Some of the types of commercial furniture are executive desks, reception desks, conference tables, leather office chairs, leather sofas, cabinets and chairs. Most of these are manufactured according to industry or corporate needs. Commercial furniture may be built using leather, or wood and steel, and the quality, and materials used will depend on your budget, and the style and model that you like. Since commercial furniture is mostly used for offices, or in the business area, they are purchased to be durable, wearable and keep customer and staff comfort in mind. Because of the quality required of such furniture, each piece undergoes a certain Quality control process. Commercial furniture offers a great look to the executive area, office lobby, and conference room, or board room. Today’s commercial furniture is stylish and durable, with added touches of modern design, which makes the workplace appear more homey and comfortable.

Where Can I find Corporate Furniture?

Some furniture or design companies work only in the design and furnishing of businesses and offices, so they specialize in commercial furniture. These companies offer a complete fitting service including survey, design, layout, designing of furniture and decoration of the office area. These companies undertake large and major projects of architectural nature, and personally represent the company they are furnishing. They act in the companies best interest, and find just the right commercial furniture for the customer. Efficiency and personal service become an important factor in commercial design business.

Manufacturers of commercial furniture employ qualified craftsmen with experience, technical know how, and production ability. Commercial furniture uses only quality materials, and is made to withstand the test of time and continual use.

Commercial furniture is used throughout a commercial building or business, and where it is placed depends on the structure and size of the office. The main entrance called the reception area when furnished with sophisticated and comfortable furniture provides a warm and relaxed look for customers and visitors. The work area is usually furnished with high quality executive desks, comfortable chairs that provide great motivation for employees to work in. some commercial furniture is utilitarian while other such as in executive offices, provides luxury and richness to that office area.

Buying commercial Furniture on a Budget

Purchase of commercial furniture should be based on the corporate structure and budget of the corporate owner. Exploration of various furniture resources also helps in making the right commercial furniture decisions. In some cases when you’re working with a relatively small budget, you might want to turn to the internet for your office furniture purchases. If you are doing your own layout and design then you might want to get inspiration from books or magazines, and even different web sites. You may want to create a scrap book of furniture, that way you will find the right style for your needs. You will also want to take advantage of free services offered by various different manufacturers, these offer trial looks for the corporate area. Many online furniture shopping stores offer advantages like interior-design consultation, room decorating guidelines and furniture brochures. This helps you find the perfect model for the work area of the office. Furnishing the corporate area with a realistic and rich style provides one of life’s greatest enduring moments and also causes employees to feel pride in the place they work.

Commercial furniture like sofas, sleepers, chairs, ottomans, dining products, task seating, recliners, leather furniture, occasional tables compliment many different types of work areas. These products are specially designed to meet the needs of the employees, executives, customers, visitors and are visually pleasing in the work space. Manufacturers use bar-code technology to maximize the investment in space and furnishings for the corporate area. Sales staff of this type of product will help you find the right commercial furniture, and give you an idea on how to deploy, dispose and move the furniture for a more pleasant room atmosphere. When you buy commercial furniture, most of the pieces come with a certain guarantee and with instructions on care. The manufacturers also provide variety of hints for maintaining the quality and durability of the furniture. Many manufacturers offer important services like cleaning, protection, restoration and refurbishment even after the purchase of the furniture. This is done as a customer service, and to help maintain and keep customers happy with their furnishings..

There are many factors to keep in mind when selecting office furniture, and this includes, quality, design, cost, and durability. The right selection of office furniture can be made with the help of furniture buying guides that you acquire from your designer or store. A Furniture buying guide helps you make the right decision when shopping for corporate furniture. Searching online also helps in the selection of durable commercial furniture.. Browsing an online store or manufacturer gives you great ideas, and expands your creativity, thereby letting you select the right kind of commercial furniture.

You should also visit the manufacturer’s showroom, because it also helps in getting wide range of ideas on how to use different office products. What you choose and how much you spend depends on your needs and your budget.

In The End Choose Furniture That Suits Your Business

Finally, the selection of the commercial furniture and corporate area furniture should be made on the basis of size, shape, finish, color, quality, budget and style. Commercial furniture is the visual presentation of your business and as such should help promote and be visually pleasing to both customers and employees. Purchasing the best commercial furniture you can afford is a crucial factor in the success of your business. Commercial furniture offers a great look to the executive area, office lobby, conference room, board room and makes up your overall business image.



By: Tony Nibbinsworth

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Home Interior Decoration – The process of decorating a home in order to make it look good becomes easier to use and gels well with the architecture. Home interior decoration provides a certain “feel” to the home; it includes applying wallpaper, painting the walls, choosing of furniture and fittings such as light fixtures, and adding decorations such as paintings.

Home interior decoration is professionally done by interior designers/ decorators and also by a few architects. There is a distinctive difference between home interior decoration and interior design.

Home interior decoration is focused on finishing, such as wallpaper, window covering, furnishings and paint. Interior design is more integrated with the architecture, and in addition to home interior decoration involves cabinet making, room layout etc and host of other design parameters that go into making a home.

Although the concept of home interior decoration evolved in Paris and London in the late 18th century, modern home interior decoration began with Jeanselme in Paris, Lenygon and Morant in London and Ogden Codman from New York. This concept of home interior decoration has gone through many trends and discussions. The current trends of this industry is to discover innovative ways to decorate on a budget mostly shoe string.

The whole objective of home interior decoration is to functionally improve the home and make it reflect your tastes and personality at the same time rendering it unique. A big challenge, nevertheless, undertaken by artistic scientists.

Homeowners spent approximately $175 billion in the year 2003 to improve their homes. About 65% of this can be attributed to home interior decoration. The new trends indicate most spending on expanding kitchens and livening up bathrooms with new fittings. Current trends also indicate that emphasis is being given to creating specialty rooms and areas for individual members of the family. Growing in popularity are massage suites, spa areas, media space, craft rooms, wine cellars and home library areas. Even though luxury is a synonym for space, most small home owners are eagerly using home interior decoration to create definition areas for each individual.

Colors are also undergoing a new preference towards earthly, natural and warm brown tones from the vibrant and loud colors of the past. Blue and gray hues are preferred today over dull reds and dark blues of the past.

Innovative home interior decoration ideas, which cost less but at the same time giving the impression of an ornate design scheme are in vogue for new career professionals and newly married couples.

The new trend of Life-styling has given home interior decoration industry a boost. This has given rise to eclectic decorating styles which include High Tech and Shabby Chic replacing the good old Victorian or Early American.

Focus has changed to harmony and function compared to uniqueness and good looking. Rightly so, since uniqueness can never be 100% and neatness has always been good looking, which can be brought about by good functionality.

Home interior decoration has changed more drastically over the past 15 years or so than in its long history. Keeping track of new trends is almost as essential as for a computer professional keeping track of new software or hardware.



By: Hans Hasselfors

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Us playing a cover of TNT by AC/DC with the ORIGINAL Bath Towelz (ryan, nick, josh, and dave) The quality’s not that good but we were bored Teehee

By: thebathtowelz

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First of all, there are Dora doll house furniture sets available for different rooms in the house. If you have Dora’s talking doll house, then you’ll need 7 furniture sets to complete your collection. There’s the living room, bedroom, bathroom, media room, Mami and Papi’s bedroom and the tree house.

If you want to know which ones you need to buy first, check out your Dora doll house. Unfold the doll house and check out the rooms. When you purchase a Dora doll house, it comes partially furnished and you’ll find items like kitchen appliances, a phone, a bathroom mirror, illustrated shelves and a boom box.

The casa itself is already a joy to have for any child, thanks to the built-in sounds: press a family picture frame and you’ll hear Dora talk (‘Here is my family.’ ‘Aqui esta mi familia.’), push the door bell and she greets you with a combination of English and Spanish phrases (‘Who’s ringing the doorbell?’ ‘Hola! Welcome to my home! Bienvenida a mi casa.’) Open the refrigerator and Dora will say, ‘I’m hungry. Tengo hambre.’ or ‘Let’s get something to eat from the refrigerator.’

However, you don’t have to stop there. A Dora doll house is not complete without a living room furniture set. This pack can be purchase separately and includes a coffee table with a table top that can be rotated, a lamp, 2 throw pillows and a couch that can be turned into a bed. The set is made from sturdy plastic to ensure many hours of play.

Another Dora doll house furniture must-have: Dora’s bedroom furniture set. The set includes Dora’s twin bed that can be converted into two bunk beds. There is also a nightstand, foot chest, area rug and Dora’s brown teddy bear. All items are made from durable plastic except for the rug, which is made from pliable polyurethane foam.

And what’s a Dora doll house without the bathroom furniture set? The pack includes a toilet, pedestal sink, bath mat, an area rug and a clothes hamper. The shower, like most Dora doll house furniture can be transformed, too. Simply manipulate the object and convert it into a bath tub. The bathroom furniture set is made with plastic, except for the rug and mat, which are made from polyurethane foam.



By: Tim Lee

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