France is known for its innovation in style and fashion in every century. French antiques mark as being highly decorative, elaborate and ostentatious. Great emphasis was placed on decoration and display.
Historically, true French Provincial antiques blended with the farmhouse styles found within different regions of France. This blending became known as French Country Style. Certainly, French Country Style is not a particular period style. Many persons familiar with French antiques have difficulty relating it historically. However, within the design of Country French antiques there are elements of the following periods: a) the Medieval Period; b) the Restoration Period, and the c) Neoclassical Period.

These elements are so well blended that you probably will not recognize each element of style individually. The style becomes original in leaving you with French Country Style. The style represents the farming life of the peasants of France. It later became popular with the middle income earners. In summing up French Country Style furniture, you may say it is a blending of furniture designs from various eras. However, the lines are much more simplistic, the woods more durable and the overall color is lighter.

Country French antique furniture consisted both the sophisticated furniture made in Paris for the royalty, aristocrats and the rich upper bourgeoisie on one hand, and French provincial furniture made in towns that retained the local cultural identity. The rural France had artisans who made furniture that spoke of rural culture and this remained unbroken until the advent of railroads in the mid nineteenth century. All French antique furniture is renowned for its refinement and rich materials and fetches premium prices in auctions.

There was a revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth century manufacturing industries. An augmented production of furniture increased the popularity of furniture warehouses around the world. The pieces of furniture to gain popularity during these times were tables, commodes, armoires and Chandeliers. French antique furniture can be broadly divided into Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Classical revival, rustic and modern periods.

Country French antiques had a highly developed art of wood carving with a conspicuous and ornamental decorations that represent unique Renaissance period. This can be contrasted to the Italian antique furniture that contained more delicate and intricate lace.

Country French antiques may be considered a good option. They are an assemblage of many antique styles, have interesting history, and are ideal for family life. Tables for the kitchen, hutches, and armoires are classic French Country Style items. Due to its history and broad family appeal, French Country antique is a popular choice amongst persons seeking home-style antique furniture.

We all know hot water is very much a necessity. Most of us have water heaters at home and do not give it a second thought, we just assume we will have hot water on a daily basis until you are standing in the shower and the water goes cold because someone in the other part of the house decides to turn on the water, trying to get the dishes done after dinner and no hot water or we get ready for that therapeutic evening bubble bath so we can unwind or that morning shower to get us going and there is no hot water. If this sounds familiar it may be time to consider that tankless hot water tank.

Let’s discuss the advantages of replacing your old hot water tank with a Tankless water heater. Have you found yourself scratching your head when the electric bill comes, most of us have. Depending on your household size and use, your conventional hot water tank can even drive your electric bills through the roof.

Did you know that most conventional heaters make up for almost 20% of your household energy consumption. Think about this for a moment 20% is a lot of consumption when you begin thinking about the different household items that make up your electric bill: clothes dryers, stoves, heat, washing machines, lights, hair dryers and the list goes on. So when you think about it on this level 20% for the use of hot water is quit a bit of your electric bill. This is why if you are a conservative or a home owner that simply wants to save money and enjoy effective water heating consider switching to different system. It may be time for to try using a tankless water heater.

With electric bills soaring and people becoming more eco- friendly there are many people now considering having a tankless water system. Do you believe a tankless hot water system is right for your home? There is no reason why it should not be. The reasons for having a tankless verses not having a tankless system certainly outweighs the disadvantages.

Lets review some of the reasons why installing a tankless heater could be very beneficial:

Tankless hot water heaters are energy efficient. You can cut your heating cost to up to 30%. Now think about this for a moment. If your hot water is costing you up to 20% on a conventional hot water tank and you’re saving up to 30% on a tankless hot water system and the tankless is also eco -friendly well, this sounds pretty beneficial.

Water Heaters” work differently from the conventional water heaters. With a Tankless water system the water is heated only when it is needed. When you turn on the faucet that is when the Tankless heating system kicks in and at the same time the water is heated (using a heating element). That is why a Tankless hot water system is also called “Instantaneous or Demand.

With tankless water heaters there is constant flow of hot water, so this allows everyone in your home to have hot water at the same time, no more being deprived of hot water in your home. It does not matter whether two or more faucets are running at the same time. But keep in mind speak to your professional plumber so they can advise you on what you may need as far as a whole house type of heater or what your options are by installing two or more of this type system to meet instantaneous hot water demand.

You should know tankless water heaters are safer because the system does not store water that can be a breeding ground for bacteria such as Legionella. Keeping the water temperature at an appropriate temperature is important to keep these type of bacteria from thriving.

Preventive maintenance is still periodic same as a conventional heater but the cost is lesser. The next great advantage of a Tankless water system if you do what the manufacturer requires, it can last up to 20 years and still maintain its efficiency.

You have been repeatedly told that finishing the basement of your home is a cost effective way of obtaining additional floor space. Since the basement is at a different level from your main living area you can finish it to gain a quiet and peaceful place to use as your home office, sport’s room, home theater, or living area. Alternatively, you can finish your basement to be used as a children’s play room or music room and ensure peace and order in the rest of your home. While the possibilities are endless, you naturally want to know how much the basement finishing project will cost.

Factors Affecting the Basement Finishing Cost

Like any construction project the cost of finishing the basement of your home depends on various factors. Some of them are:

• Size of the basement
• Number of rooms needed
• Need for egress windows
• Appliances that will be used in the finished basement
• Electrical work needed
• Custom carpeting
• Number of support pillars that are present
• Amount of trim and molding desired
• Number of windows

Some of these factors can be decided only after the design of the basement is finalized. Many homeowners choose to finish only a part of the basement and retain the rest as storage space. This will require a door to access the storage space with ease. You do not want your guests seeing a pile of stuff, your stuff, when they are watching TV or playing some pool in your basement. It does not matter how nice you fix up the basement if half of it is filled by items collecting dust.

Other Factors Affecting the Cost

Apart from the costs mentioned above, many people decide to add a bathroom to their basement to minimize the number of trips upstairs. A dehumidifier too might be essential to keep the finished basement dry and usable. These additions naturally will add to the cost of your basement finishing project. However, the extra costs will add to the comfort level of the basement room and increase the value of your home.

Remodeling Costs

Homeowners planning to remodel the basement of their home will have to spend less than those wanting a complete basement finishing job done. When undertaking a remodeling project, the contractor will be able to utilize some of the existing tiles and other basement finishing products. For instance the floor and roof tiles might be retained. Also, if the existing windows have energy efficient panes, there is no need to replace them. This means that you have to only pay for the extra light fixtures and the cost of labor for their installation. By investing only a small sum, you will be able to convert the unused playroom into a home theater or home office.

Safety of Finished Basements

When it comes to a basement finishing project your imagination is the only limiting factor. The superior specialized basement finishing products available can convert even the most unpromising of basements – one that is dark and damp and has many support pillars and uneven walls into a warm, cheerful, and inviting room that can be safely used by all members of your family.

Windows and doors are like jewelry from your home. The make a huge impact not just on the look of your home but also on the soundproofing, insulation and the light impact on your furnishings.

Windows

The way they are constructed, makes double hung windows very popular. Cleaning double hung windows are easier than windows based on a spiral or string system because they won’t allow the sash to drop out when you are cleaning them. Double hung windows tilt in a way that uses a flush fitting tilt release which is more attractive than screwed in tilt release systems that are more commonly used. You may find that choosing a quality window is difficult because of the overwhelming number of options. A solid warranty offered by a quality manufacturer as well as your budget should be important factors in the window decision you make. Windows are a large investment and if you pick wisely you can save money over the long run by improving your energy efficiency. In order to save money in the future you may be wise to spend a little more on your windows now.

Doors
Quality doors add to the curb appeal of a home and also enhance your home’s security. Block the noise outside from entering your home with a well built door which will provide a sound barrier. Energy efficiency is the most important door feature to have. Well built doors provide tight, long-lasting barriers by using effective weather seals to improve energy efficiency. The function of door (patio, garage, front or interior door) will certainly be a factor in your decision. When you install a door ensure it is up to code and meets the safety features in your area. There are a number of design options you can choose from when it comes to doors, such as whether you would like to use coloured, textured or wrought iron glass. There are many types of materials that hand formed bevels come in like black chrome, lead, brass, copper, zinc and antique black. Breaking a door by force in order to enter your home is more difficult when you have well built security plates in your door.

Installation
When installing doors and windows in your house don’t forget to factor in window coverings into the price. New technology has improved the quality of shutters and blinds now available. The decision of using a shutter or blind will come down to personal preference because there are so many benefits to both. Blinds are sometimes preferred because of the flexibility they offer for installation and the variety of colours and types you can choose from. Common types of blinds include roman, roller, sheers, pleated shades or cellular shades. The fact that shutters offer home owners privacy, durability and versatility are key benefits. Shutters are designed to allow you to control the amount of privacy and light in your home. The features of light and privacy control offered by shutters makes them a popular choice. Shutters don’t shrink, fade, peel or crack, which makes them a great investment for home owners. Shutters can be cleaned easily, making them a popular choice. The ability to easily remove shutters that have a hinge-release panel makes cleaning them very accessible. Whether you want to install shutters inside the window frame or not is up to you. If you find a reliable manufacturer they will usually offer a solid warranty, perhaps even up to 25 years. The quality, type or size of window coverings you choose will impact the price.

Your home is your castle and if you are planning to renovate you should  focus on making the most dramatic changes that best serve you and your family. Besides paint, new flooring is the most dramatic thing your can change. The right flooring can change a room’s effect on your mood, sense of well being and even how rooms interact with each other.

Bedroom flooring

There are plenty options when it comes to flooring in your bedroom. Being the most private and personalized part of your home, your bedroom is the place which grabs a big part of your budget whenever you are remodeling your home. You can use carpet, tile, hardwood, bamboo, cork or laminate. Play with different materials in different rooms. You can opt for striped light and dark shades in your boy’s room so that if your son is going to create mess, which is unavoidable, the flooring can withstand the burden. Also the flooring can bear heavy traffic of the folks coming in the bedroom. For more powerful scratch and water resistant flooring you can choose laminate.

Living room flooring

It is the most used part that withholds most of the traffic coming in and out of the house. It is highly recommended that the flooring should be strong enough that it can endure all such amendments done with your furniture or to the increasing and decreasing ratio of visitors. For this purpose you can opt for hardwood flooring. Being classy and sophisticated in look it is the perfect choice for your living room whenever you are remodeling your home.

Kitchen flooring

Design the floor of your kitchen in such a way that it not only looks pretty but also gives a practical impression. You can choose from vinyl, tile, natural stone, wood, cork or laminate. A floor covering that is water resistant and durable such as tile is a best choice to protect against potential water damage. Make sure when you choose your floor to order a little extra of the product in the event that you drop something like a pot on your floor. If the flooring material is damaged, you will be sure to have enough to repair the floor because often floor manufacturers have high turnover of their products to insure a continual buying cycle. Most flooring contractors add 5-10% additional square footage of the flooring product to their purchase order to insure they have enough for the project and to provide the client with a little extra flooring for future use.

If you’ve ever had to listen to children, pets or household members making a lot of noise when all you wanted was peace and quiet, you already know the importance of soundproofing floors. If you have an older home, you probably deal with this regularly. In years past, people weren’t as concerned with soundproofing as they are now. Lucky for today’s homeowners, there are now many different options and methods for soundproofing floors.

Changing the Flooring Itself

It’s no secret that carpet is much quieter than tile or hardwood. However, since hardwood floors are the most infamous floors for causing annoying echoes and heavy footsteps, here we’ll focus on hardwood floors.

Installing a new hardwood floor is the best time to think about soundproofing floors. Ask your retailer or contractor about the sound ratings of different species of wood and different manufactured wood flooring materials. Soundproofing floors is much easier if you take it into consideration from the very beginning.

Blocking the Noise

Soundproofing floors is not a complicated idea. You just need something between the hard flooring and the rest of the house to absorb noise. There are many different options for materials to place between the floor and the sub-floor to accomplish this.

Cork is very good at absorbing noise, and it’s being looked at with new interest lately as a more environmentally friendly form of soundproofing your office and home floors. You’ll only need a very thin layer, since cork is a very dense substance. This thin layer will be laid first, and then you will install the sub-floor and finally the hardwood.

If you’ve ever looked up in a school, office building or hospital, you’re already familiar with acoustic tiles. These panels were designed to dull echoes, and this is why they’re popular in large, open spaces. However, they also make an excellent for soundproofing floors! Simply install them as you would cork, making allowances for the differences in thickness.

You may have noticed, in real life or on television, the odd-looking panels which line the walls of professional recording studios. Generally known as sound-deadening panels, these panels do just that…deaden almost all noise. For this reason, they are very adaptable for soundproof flooring. They are generally thicker then acoustic tiles, but if you plan accordingly, you can create an almost entirely soundproofed floor with minimal effort.

When New Floors Aren’t an Option

If you rent and can’t redo your floors, or if it’s just not an option for you financially, there are still steps you can take for soundproofing your floors. If you value quiet over the look of hardwood, consider putting down carpet. Many families have a “no shoes” policy in their homes. Area rugs offer the same sound-deadening benefits of carpet with the added bonus of being moveable.

There are many different options for soundproofing floors, with something for every taste and budget. Do your research, and decide which options is right for you. Once the work is done, you’ll get to enjoy a beautiful floor without the constant annoyance of excess noise.

After assembling a work crew to build an eco-friendly home from the ground up, Amy Holmwood observed that not all of the contractors were green to the core. A company hired to install insulation made of recycled newspaper used a diesel generator to power the equipment instead of a cleaner, greener power source like solar. “They’d gone into business to provide this green service but they hadn’t thought things through,” says Holmwood, of Bethesda, Md. By contrast, her lawn care service uses electrical equipment charged by a solar panel on the company truck. But what powers the truck? Is it a hybrid? If not, is it fair to call the company’s green cred into question? Or is it good enough to be greener than most?

When it comes to employing eco-friendly service providers, trust but verify. Find out exactly how green a company really is and how to determine which service is ‘green enough’

“Green is the new gray – we can’t talk in absolutes about what is a perfectly green solution and what is not,” says Dave Feldman, executive director of Bethesda Green, which promotes green business models and sustainable living. However, short of doing complex carbon footprint calculations, consumers can identify greener-than-most service providers by asking the right questions.

HOUSECLEANERS

Toxic or chemical cleaners are the principal concern, so “ask for a comprehensive list of the products they use and a list of ingredients for each,” says Laura Klein, editor-in-chief of EcoSalon.com and OrganicAuthority.com. Especially when hiring a small, independently owned service, clients can usually specify which cleaning products to use, including natural agents like vinegar and baking soda, but that doesn’t ensure the company uses them across the board. Maid to Clean in Bethesda, Md., only uses “neutral” products like vinegar and water, baking soda, and the brand-name cleaners Bon Ami and Simple Green. The company does not use alcohol-based cleaners, ammonia, bleach or scented products.

HEPA vacuums catch dust particles and allergens instead of releasing them back into the air. Some brand-name products are green in name only. In its Guide to Healthy Cleaning, the Environmental Working Group looks beyond marketing claims and rates more than 2,000 products in a searchable database at www.ewg.org. (Of the 29 Simple Green products anaanalyzed, 19 received D’s and F’s, while six earned A’s and B’s.) The online guide includes a label decoder to translate technical terms and ad hype.

CAR WASHES

With car washes, use of chemicals is a secondary concern, behind water consumption. A company truly committed to “green washing” – in the positive sense – will reclaim and reuse water; collect roof rainwater and invest in an ample water reclaim system for recycling carwash wastewater, says John O’Connell, manager, Go Green Car Wash, Olympia, Wash.

According to O’Connell, the majority of carwashes are equipped with a 3,000-gallon reclaim system or smaller, which can’t keep up with water demands on busy days. For high-traffic carwashes, a reclaim system of at least 12,000 gallons is needed to give solids time to settle before the water recirculates, he says.
Generally speaking, older carwashes “have inferior equipment,” O’Connell says, so to satisfy cleanliness expectations “they have to use stronger chemicals.”
Moreover, “If you visit a wash that has older equipment and isn’t computer-controlled, each vehicle gets chemicals for a 30-foot vehicle whereas at a modern wash each vehicle is scanned at entry” and chemical and water use adjusts accordingly, he adds.
Touchless carwashes “are not eco-friendly due to the fact that you have no brush or agitation, so these washes use chemicals that are four times stronger than a tunnel type of wash” and cannot reclaim used water, O’Connell says.

Beware of carwashes that try to sell squirt-on extras like rain shields and wax conditioners. “If you really want to be green, just purchase Rain X at an auto store and apply it to your windows – no need to apply it to the whole vehicle,” O’Connell says. And “all newer vehicles have a factory clear coat and do not benefit from water-based wax or conditioner add-ons.”

LANDSCAPING SERVICES

Eco-friendly lawn services can be tough to identify because so many conventional companies incorporate the word “green” in their name and marketing as a reference to grass, not environmental practices. And when choosing a service, a host of environmental concerns are at stake, from chemical applications (fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides) to small-engine emissions. In just one hour of use, a gas lawnmower emits the same volume of pollutants as 40 cars, says A.I.R. Lawn Care owner Zack Kline, citing EPA data. His Bethesda-based company uses STIHL and Mean Green electric lawn care equipment and a solar-powered charging unit to reduce noise and air pollution.

Along with emissions, conventional lawn care creates waste including 300 pounds of clippings annually for a 1,000-square-foot lawn. Concerned homeowners should look for a landscaping service that uses native plantings and integrated pest management; recycles clippings into compost or mulch; and takes measures to reduce water use and prevent runoff. Many services apply chemicals only as a last resort, and some use organic fertilizers and pest- and weed-control methods exclusively.

Analyzing and optimizing soil composition in yards, beds and garden plots from the get-go helps reduce maintenance requirements altogether, Kline says.

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