Your carpet and rugs. You walk on it, play on it, drop things on it…you might even sleep on it. But while you’re down there, consider this: a neglected carpet can contain up to four times its own weight in dirt.

More than 90% of the germs, dirt, pollen, or other toxins in your home were tracked in on your shoes. That doesn’t even include flakes of dead skin, on which dust mites can thrive all year round, potentially giving you allergies, asthma, or emphysema. And vacuuming won’t do the trick.

Your rugs and carpets should be deep cleaned at least once every 12-18 months. Every rug or carpet requires unique care, but just remember these basics:

Don’t believe it.

It’s a myth that washing rugs and carpets, especially woolen ones, ruins or shrinks them. In fact, when properly cleaned, colors should be more vivid, no shrinkage should occur, and your carpet should last longer.

Invest in the future.

If your carpet is light-colored, or you have kids and pets, it might be worth your while to invest in a carpet-cleaning system for your home. While not as powerful as those of professional carpet cleaners, they do the trick nicely and keep stains to a minimum.

Obey your carpet.

Carefully read the instructions from the manufacturer as to how to properly clean your carpet or rug. Otherwise, you may nullify your warranty.

Redistribute the weight.

Moving your furniture around once a year gives carpet’s heavy-traffic areas a rest and ensures consistent aging.

Hire a Pro.

A professional carpet cleaner often cleans more quickly and with less hassle. Insist that any professional carpet cleaning company send a rep to your home first, to scout the location and provide a written estimate. The Carpet & Rug Institute says “under normal circumstances, there should be no extra charge for moving furniture, preconditioning, and routine spot and stain removal.”

Your rugs and carpets take care of you. Take proper care of them, and your relationship is sure to last longer.

Home Improvement Ideas

Door knobs can be found made out of all kinds of material; iron, steel, wood, glass, crystal, aluminum, nickel, and so forth.  Below are some of the most beautiful door knobs we could find.  Enjoy!

This crystal door knob is produced by a company in New York.  Not only is it made out of crystal, but it also glows when touched.  They have these in almost any color you can imagine.  If you’d like to look at more of these, visit Crystal Touch NY for more information.

A beautiful wooden knob.

Our ornately carved ebony door knob with swirl design and chrome trim is understated and elegant.  These are distributed by a company in England – visit Graham and Green to see more.

Built-In Bookshelves are some of the biggest space savers when it comes to small rooms – or for any room for that matter. Depending on the depth of the bookshelf and the materials it’s made out of, they can be fabricated and placed in a wall relatively cheaply and easily.

Though, exterior wall mounted shelves are not a good idea, because they reduce the insulation of the outside wall with the outside world.

Below are several photos of what others have done with their bookshelves. Enjoy.

Crown Molding, the loveliest piece to accent any room in your house. It’s also the most dreaded and according to most people the hardest part of the house to wrap their minds around. Looking at it, crown molding would seem to be simple inside and outside corner cuts, similar to base boards or molding for doors and windows – but it isn’t.

As you can see above, there are tons of different types of crown molding. So many in fact, a lot of companies simply number the product, rather than give it a name.

Do you know what the most common mistake about installing crown molding is? Once people figure out how to make their cuts – they tend to install the molding upside down. When you go to purchase your molding from the hardware store – before you wall out the door – ask which end is the top and which is the bottom. You may be a little embarrassed, but you need to know which end goes up.

In a recent poll, people were asked what they were going to do with their tax returns this year. While most people claimed to use the money to pay off debt or place it in savings; a small percentage said they would use the money to do home improvements. Which home improvement came in first place? Getting a new front door.

Below are photos of beautiful front doors that could be on your home.

While most people in the survey specified a METAL FRONT DOOR, we were only able to put together photos of several wooden ones.

Think about this though, if someone was trying to break into your home, having to break through either metal or wood – You’re gonna hear it…unless you’re already in a coma.

Don’t concern yourself if your bar doesn’t look like one of these photos. Most people don’t even have a bar in their home or their backyard. Typically, sprucing up a space with a homemade or custom bar is something that happens long after the kids have grown and moved out. In the mean time, that space is usually being occupied by them.

But if the time has come and your looking to give your home or backyard area that additional flair along with some mingling with friends, family, and neighbors, then take a look at some of these photos. We think you’ll be very impressed with what is out there, what people have created for themselves, or had custom made.

Right now, saving energy and money are at the top of most people’s list.  Even those who haven’t insulated before will find that this task is fairly simple.  With that said, the one thing you might find a little overwhelming if you’ve never done it before and aren’t a regular at your local harware or lumber store – is the ever increasing types of insulation there are out on the market.

Put simply, when you choose to insulate an interior room, these are your likely options:

Traditional fiberglass insulation

Spray foam insulation

Recycled paper insulation (with fire retardant)

Foam Board

and more…

The all have their advantages and disadvantages, some last longer than other, some will last almost the life of the home.

With traditional fiberglass insulation, you have the option of rolled or batts.  Then there is the R Value.  Which means, how resistant to heat flow is the insulation.  While in North America, the typical R Value of insulation installed in a home is R19 – this number should also be dictated by where you live on the continent.  Perhaps, if you live in Maine, you might want a little more insulation, than someone living in Florida.  R Value dictates holding heat in, just as much as holding heat out.

Spray foam insulation, is usually used for hard to reach or uneven surfaces, a place that can’t simply be rolled, or that you’d have to destroy the roll or batt in order to fill it.

Recycled paper insulation is really good and helpful for crawl spaces, attic spaces, but now they have a tacky substance that also helps it adhere and cling to walls, drying almost solid, then covered over by sheet rock or paneling.  One might be concerned that the insulation is also made out of paper, which is flammable.  to easy your mind, ensure, and the answer should be yes – that the paper has  been treated with fire retardant.

Foam board usually applies to the exterior of the house, but people also like to use it for concrete walls as well.  Depending on your region, check to see what the thickness (R Value) is that people are using in your area.  This also applies to the fiberglass rolls and batts.

Keep in mind, if your room has two walls that are interior and two walls that line the exterior of the house, you’ll want a higher R Value insulation along the two outside walls.  A good give away for this is, the interior walls will be built with 2×4’s while the exterior should be built using 2×6’s, to allow for thicker insulation.  You may find that older homes also used 2×4’s for the exterior, but that was due mainly to building practices at the time the home was built.