Bathroom Remodeling Information and Ideas

When homeowners decide to do home improvement, they think the bathroom. This is the place where one can get away from all the stresses in life. By redesigning your bathroom cabinets, sinks, bath tubs or even the floor, you can turn your bathroom into a newly designed retreat where relaxation and unwinding is the ultimate experience.

The bathroom is the most used room in the house so it should seem that it is the most remodeled room. After a certain periodEA1 of time owning a home, the bathroom becomes the most boring even if nothing has been done since you moved in. Most likely your bathroom is the standard white sink, white tub, and white toilet. Now there are many bathroom renovations ideas to choose from such as a spa bath, fog free mirrors, a warming bathroom floor to name a few. Install a new shower faucet with an anti-scald pressure regulator - remove the scenario where someone flushes the toilet and out comes scalding water from your shower faucet.

Replace crumbling tile in the shower stall with a maintenance free shower surround. Grab bars in the shower, new water-saver toilet and/or a new whirlpool tub. You can go from a small bathroom remodeling design project to a major bathroom renovation. The size of the project will depend on the size of your budget and the amount of inconvenience you want to have. Remodeling a bathroom can be expensive. The average cost of a full renovation of a bathroom when hiring a contractor is about the same as the cost of a small car. By doing part or all of the remodeling work yourself, you can save thousands of dollars. While making a decision about bathroom remodeling, remember that in most recent years homeowners were able to recoup approximately 85% of their costs upon sale of their home. This recovery is when a professional remodels the bathroom.

Some professionals consider small projects consisting of replacing the tub with a new tub or a shower unit. If this is what you are considering for your bathroom, you will need to include the flooring in your plans. Most new tubs or shower units will not cover where the old flooring conformed to the old tub. This work will involve removing fixtures (toilet, etc.) which will cause labor costs to rise. A project like this is okay but most homeowners usually consider a medium to large remodeling project for the bathroom. For these projects you want to plan very carefully so you will be happy with what you end up with after the project is completed. You will want to make sure that you have extra facilities to use while the remodeling is in progress.

Your plans should include the fixture placement, i.e. do you keep the old layout or create a new one? What type of lighting do you want? Do you want task lighting at every functional area or general lighting throughout the bathroom? Do you want a bathroom heating system to keep you warm when you get out of the shower (i.e. floor warming system)? Do you want greenery or how about a HiFi television for your bathroom? Fog free mirrors? No more waiting for steam to clear before you can see yourself! Plan carefully and within your budget! When the project is completed, enjoy the new room you designed for you and your family!

K Hoyng is the web master and operator of http://www.quickcash2u.com which is a good source of information for remodeling and much more information. Visit this site at http://www.quickcash2u.com/BathroomRemodeling.html

Wood Repair

Living Green Your Home

In modern times, many of us have taken a step back and examined the way we've been living. How much gas do we consume? Are we wasting water? Our health has risen in our concern lately, too. The impact of poor food choices and living with too much work and not enough exercise has sapped us of energy and left our bodies tired.

So, some of us have made a change. We've traded in gas guzzling SUVs for fuel efficient hybrids. Maybe you've even started carpooling. You water your yard only every other day to keep from wasting water, especially during the summer heat. You've left fast foods with the calories and cholesterol problems they present behind and gone green and gourmet.

Today you're exercising, eating right and feeling proud about all you're doing to keep yourself and the earth healthier. But do you realize that your home might be more damaging than your car ever was?

Wasted Resources

There are many areas in a home that cause waste. A dripping fauc5A4et or toilet that runs can waste gallons of water a day - more than you probably use watering the lawn. Leaving on the lights wastes electricity. This not only impacts your electric bill, but has an upstream cost as well. However that electricity is being produced, more of the natural resource involved is consumed.

Another area that many simply don't think of as being damaging is home improvements. As home owners, there are constantly small things we do around the house to make the home more appealing and more comfortable. For example, one extremely popular choice today is to change the flooring in various rooms.

There are many flooring options available, but almost all have more impact than you might think. Carpets are often created from synthetic materials which are produced in the same manufacturing units we criticize for pollution. Hardwood flooring is beautiful but causes the destruction of hardwood trees - some of which take over one hundred years to grow to full maturity. The hardwood flooring also uses chemicals and adhesives that are damaging to the atmosphere.

Even tile can cause harm. Stone must be harvested from the earth, sometimes brutally, and the same is true for many tile materials. There is one flooring option, other than bare dirt, that has the environment in mind. Bamboo flooring is similar in appearance to hardwoods, but ecofriendly.

Green Flooring

5B1Bamboo flooring is created in planks, much like hardwood, but bamboo is not the same as a large hardwood tree. Bamboo is actually a weed. Not only that, but it is a fast growing weed. Farmers in Asia have been battling bamboo for years as it threatens to retake valuable farmlands, and have been burning the pieces they cut down.

Of course burning bonfires of anything is unhealthy for the atmosphere, so fortunately there is another use. Bamboo flooring is created using these weeds. The flooring is beautiful and very durable - perhaps more so than traditional hardwoods. You're living green, isn't time your home reflected your sense of pride as well?

Discover a wide variety of green flooring options at http://www.bambooflooring.biz

Skylights

Team Building & Multiple Intelligences

Team building and multiple intelligences, to many people, have as much similarity as a company dinner and an i.q. test. if you are new to multiple intelligence, the following is a brief explanation:

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences surfaced in 1983 when Dr. Howard Gardners renowned book titled, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences was published. Within the next 10 years, educators world wide embraced the theory as a basis to identify talents in the children they work with.

Before that, most people perceived people to be intelligent if they score high in an I.Q. test or other psychometric tests, or are good with logical thinking, mathematical, musical and perhaps, linguistic skills. In his book, which has been described to have caused paradigm shifts, Dr. Gardner identified 7 distinct types of intelligence:

1. Linguistic Intelligence

The talent to learn and use languages, it includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically, using language as a primary means to remember things. Poets, writers and translators are people with high linguistic intelligence.

2. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

The capacity to analyse problems logically, performs mathematical operations, and scientifically investigate issues. Scientists and mathematicians are some examples of people with high logical-mathematical intelligence.

3. Musical Intelligence

Skills in the performing arts, composition, and appreciation of music. It also includes the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. Examples of people with high musical intelligence are: musicians, composers and singers.

4. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

The use of one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. Some examples of people with high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence are carpenters, seamstresses and chefs.

5. Spatial Intelligence

The potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas. Designers and architects are people with high spatial intelligence.

6. Interpersonal Intelligence

The capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. People with well developed interpersonal intelligence tend to work effectively with others. Some examples are educators, religious and political leaders and salespeople.

7. Intra-personal

The capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. People with high intra-personal intelligence have a good idea of what they want to do in life, what they can and cannot do and when to get help. Some examples are high achievers and entrepreneurs.

Brief History of team building

No one can be sure how the term team building was formed or when team building first started. The term team building is probably the combination of the words team and building, which means building a team. team building could have started as early as the 1930s, when Professor Elton Mayos research in The Hawthorne Experiments (1927 to 1932) concluded that the need for recognition, security and sense of belonging has a greater effect on workers' morale and productivity than other working conditions.

Today, team building can mean different things to different organisations. To some it may simply mean building cohesion among participants, while to others it may mean improving communication and sharing of information between departments.

So How Does Multiple Intelligence Help team building?

Multiple intelligence has been widely applied to children, particularly in the early detection of talents and gifts in children. So does the theory of multiple intelligence still hold true among adults? Are we able to apply the theory to adults? We began to ask these questions a few years ago when we were helping clients with their team building exercises.

Over the years, we have successfully conducted team building sessions for many corporations, using multiple intelligence in our games, to bring out strengths of different people in different situations, creating an environment to promote mutual respect, understanding and patience with adult participants.

Organisation may define team building in different ways, yet one very basic reason for team building is to get the participants to acknowledge the importance of teamwork and appreciate that people are different.

Dr. Sandy E. Kulkin, founder of Institute for The Motivational Living, Inc, USA (the worlds largest publisher of DISC personality profiling system) once said, People are different, but they are predictably different. Dr. Sandy is an expert in human behaviour and he develops courses, trains and certifies professional trainers in behavioural analysis for personal and business settings. He is a firm believer that in order for us to be better able to work with one another, we need to understand why people behave in the way they do and how they look at things differently from us.

Thus in our view, if we can help participants realise that people are different and see these differences as strengths in the other person, we will be able to help them learn to celebrate the differences, thereby creating mutual respect.

Understanding multiple intelligence helps broaden our perspectives of the people around us. In the context of team building, it uncovers the types of intelligence fellow team mates possess, which may never surface within the office setting. This brings about better understanding among the participants.

Exposing participants to multiple intelligence during team building also creates an environment in which participants share their knowledge in the type of intelligence that they possess with their fellow colleagues; it helps participants to be patient with one another as they take turns to learn from one another.

It can also be a humbling experience when we realise that there are other types of intelligence which may not be well developed in us. Introducing multiple intelligence during team building can also help participants become conscious that if we work as a team, we will be well-equipped to tackle different issues and problems as people who are more developed in different areas of intelligence tend to look at different aspects of an issue. These people will also be better at solving different challenges that the team face.

Here are some of Dr. Howard Gardner's books on Multiple Intelligence:

The Arts and Human Development (1973)
Art, Mind, and Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity (1982)
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligence (1983)
The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach (1991)
Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice (1993)
Changing the World: A Framework for the Study of Creativity(1994)
Intelligence: Multiple Perspectives (1996)
Intelligence Reframed - Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century (1999)

The article was contributed by Alvin Quah, a certified behavioral analyst(in business consulting perspectives), who is registered with the Institute for The Motivational Living, Inc, USA. He can be contacted through the website: Team Building Singapore

Using Steel For A Stair Handrail

List Building and Organic Choice

What if you were able to develop a much more efficient and targeted email marketing campaign based on your approach to list building?

I think its possible and the end result may be a more satisfied group of customers and site visitors and an improved bottom line.

If your website has multiple product lines you may be able to segment your email marketing campaign to reflect the actual interests of your site visitor. The truth is you may be surprised at how this can help you pinpoint areas of interest by your motivated site visitor while minimizing potential inbox clutter for your customers.

Lets say, for the sake of example, you have a company that sells lotions, shampoos and conditioners. You could work to develop list-building techniques using a broad range appeal, but for a more focused approach to email marketing you can develop a separate list service for each broad category.

In this case you may have one list for shampoos, another for lotions and a third for conditioners. It may be that you have site visitors who have an interest in all three, but there will also be some that are interested in one specific product line. You have the ability to keep them happier by developing a means of alerting them to sales and product information related specifically to a product line of their choosing.

If, hypothetically, the product line is shampoos then you provide an opt in link that allows the site visitor to sign up for information about shampoos only.

This list building procedure allows you to better grow your email-marketing list in an organized, yet laser focused manner.

This may seem like more work than you may want to do, but the truth is this gives you greater control and flexibility in satisfying the informational needs of those on your list.

By targeting your online list building efforts you are letting your customers know you are aware of the value of their time and are willing to do what it takes to ensure they are only contacted when there are sales, coupon code offers or new information about the product line they chose.

You can use phrasing like, Click to be alerted to special sales of this product.

Some visitors may want to be included in every list you have available, but for those who may have limited interest in most products, but large interest in a particular product, a more focused approach could help you retain these individuals as consumers of your product line.

In list building it is appropriate to get specific and stay focused.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with HighPowerSites.com at: http://www.highpowersites.com Start your own ebook business with BooksWealth at: http://www.bookswealth.com

Front Home Stucco Planter

Building Customer Loyalty

The following tips can apply to virtually any profession or industry. If you think that these are self-evident, then I challenge you to take a personal assessment. Print this page and keep the list on your desk for one week. Place a checkmark next to each item when you conduct an activity that fulfills one of these objectives. Can you check all of these items in one week? Are you actively practicing the commitment that you desire from your customers?

If you want loyalty, you have to give it

Makes a list of your most important customers or clients. For your general customers or clients, demonstrate your commitment in general terms and especially when they need you. For the most important customers, demonstrate your commitment and let them know how much you appreciate them. Sometimes loyalty takes sacrifice.

Communicate

Building a lasting relationship requires communication. Communication means listening to your customer or client, as well as conveying your own message. One sided communication is a speech, mutual communication is a conversation. Communicate when things are going well and when there are problems. When things are going as expected, bring it to their attention. When there are problems, provide the scope of the challenge and your solutions, preferably before the customer even knows that the problems exists. This builds credibility, confidence and trust.

Understand Your Customer's Goals

The products or services that you provide are only meaningful in the context of your customer's objectives. What you do is intended achieve financial or strategic objectives, or fulfill a need. Understand and communicate your value from the perspective of the customer. Be aware of changes that may affect the customer requirements and your perceived value so you can adjust accordingly.

Be Consistent

One of the best ways to manage expectations is to be consistent. Be consistent with your quality, your responsiveness and delivery of goods or services. Establish a routine schedule for communication with your most important customers, so you can call "just to talk" and check the pulse of the relationship.

Build Credibility

There are two easy ways to build credibility. First, do what you say you are going to do. If you leave a message to call back or make a commitment for follow-up, then call when you said you would call. Even if you do not have all the answers, call when you commit to call back. The second way to build credibility is to take time to get the best answer. Sometimes you may not know the best response to a situation or request. Ask for time to research and come back with the most accurate answer or information that you can obtain. Taking time for accuracy can be far more beneficial to your customer than a quickly but incorrect reply.

Cracker Jack Surprise

Give your customers something more than expected. Don't tell them in advance, just do something to demonstrate your appreciation. It can be as simple as a greeting card, email or small token to show your appreciation. Loyalty is a relationship, and it should be nurtured as you would care for a friend. Do not take it for granted.

______________________________________________________

Words of Wisdom

"An ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness." - Elbert Hubbard

"Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes... but no plans." - Peter Drucker

"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor." - Vince Lombardi

______________________________________________________

About the Author:

John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital. http://www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com provides resource materials for trainers, sample Case Studies, educational articles and references to local affiliates for consulting and executive coaching.

http://www.InstituteforAdvancedLeadership.com provides self-paced tutorials for personal development and tools for trainers. Presentation materials, reference guides and exercises are available for continuous development.

You may distribute this article freely, print it, sell it, or include it as part of a package as long as it is intact, unchanged and delivered in the original format with acknowledgement to Executive Blueprints Inc.

Solar Energy Use In Home Design

5 Fantastic Ideas For Kids' Birthday Cake

The most vital birthday cake idea for your kid is choosing a party cake concept that will fit with the party theme he or she likes to have. For starters, have a sheet cake that is simply topped and decorated all over with your kids' most beloved figures or toys.

You need not settle for the standard circular, rectangular or square cake. You can hide any small disasters in the cake form you produced by piecing it together to form something totally unique. You can shape it up like your kid's favorite animal, cartoon character or action figure.

Some example of fantastic kids' birthday cake ideas:

1. Construction birthday party cake

Is your child a lover of construction vehicles and motor vehicles then this cake idea will be a big hit. You can top it with several tiny toys shaped like bulldozers and dump trucks shoving mountains of chocolate chips or candies. You can also have the cake itself to look like a frosted dump truck loaded with candies and chocolates.

2. Train birthday party cake

Your kid cannot go over with anything connected with trains? Then it would be terrific idea to present him with a birthday cake topped with a miniature train with candy trimmings and running on tracks made of licorice. You can also make a big enough train made from several frosted and brightly colored loaf cakes. Line up these loaf cakes to form train cars. Adorn with candies and chocolate bars for windows.

3. Luau party cake

Is your kid a lover of all things Hawaiian? Then you can present her with a totally luau kid birthday cake made of a simple sheet or round cake festooned with silk flowers for leis. You can also have several cupcakes decorated with frosted flowers and stringed together with long brightly colored marshmallows or licorice. The product would appear like a "cupcake lei."

4. Doll birthday cake

As a base, bake your cake placed in a glass bowl that's oven safe or a special 3D pan shaped like a sports ball. This will make your cake turn out a perfectly round ball shape. You can top it up with your kids' favorite doll.

5. A fabulous castle cake is also a spectacular idea of a kid's birthday cake fit for a princess.

To learn more birthday cake ideas, visit http://www.birthdaycakeideas101.com

Log Home Designs

Green Home Remodeling

Americans are now spending up to 160 billion each year on remodeling their homes and businesses. A fraction of this money has been focused on what is known as "green construction". Green construction or remodeling is using energy saving, recycled products, and is experiencing nothing less than a renaissance or rebirth. You can help restore a significant portion of the world's ecosystems by using "green construction". Such a practice can also help create a healthier indoor environment for your family.

Green remodeling is simple, but many homeowners interested in green building and remodeling have no idea what it involves and are therefore confused and intimidated. They think it consists not only of excessive expenses, but difficulty in getting the appropriate green products. Some also have misconceptions about the aesthetics of a green house. Some concern themselves about the misconception that they will appear to be living like hippies of the 1970's. But it is merely a process through which you can redefine the way you live, a clean slate on which you can express your visions, dreams, and principles. The process offers a vehicle through which you can manifest and integrate your core values into your sacred space.

The hardest part for a homeowner is deciding just how "green" they want their rooms or homes to be. When it comes to green remodeling, you don't have to do everything green, but anything you do will help. Are you updating an antiquated home? Have you outlived the functionality of your current design? Are you adding more space because of a change in lifestyle? Are you simply tired of your interiors and want something new?

The most important thing to remember is to pick and choose among the many options; design features and green building products that will best serve your interests. If you are purchasing new materials you can choose organic, low-impact, and healthy products such as bamboo flooring, natural fiber carpeting, natural plasters, low VOC paints and stains, as well as non-synthetic, natural furnishings and accessories, such as bedding, linens, and cleaning products.

You can use products made with high levels of salvaged (natural stone, lumber), recycled (fly ash in concrete), or agricultural byproducts (wheatboard and linoleum) content. These types of products reduce resource demand and help keep waste out of landfills. Choose products that are durable and low-maintenance; these are desirable because they need to be refinished and replaced less often, they save you money and save energy.

Try to use products that are locally or regionally produced. Local products support the local economy and may have lower levels of embodied energy, meaning that they require less energy and fewer resources during the production process (including the acquisition of primary material, manufacturing and handling), and especially in transportation.

There is no such thing as a right or wrong set of products. Building green is a thinking process, not a contest to see how many green things you as a homeowner can incorporate into your home. Do what you can within your budget and motivation.

As for the cost of taking on green remodeling, some green building elements may cost more, but many eventually will cost less. You will benefit from their use in energy saving costs for a long time to come, therefore making them a savings to you over the years to come. When it is part of the initial process of setting goals for the project, it becomes matter-of-fact. Many have found that the real cost is in the learning curve, not in the actual implementation of the building process.

The outward and even interior appearances of most green buildings don't look any different than other conventional buildings. The majority of green element differences can be seen only as improved energy efficiency and air quality, which are all built within the structure of the home.

Most recycled products look the same as their conventional counterparts. Most materials have a high recycled content and are non-toxic. Some examples include: recycled red oak and bamboo floors (both consist of water base finish), recycled tile floors, recycled exterior doors, and natural plaster with integrated color. Paint manufacturers are now offering paints low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at typically less than .00 per gallon. For kitchens, you can also find Silestone countertops (which has a high recycled content and is anti-microbial), and you can even find formaldehyde-free cabinets.

Recycling as much material as possible from an existing house demolition and incorporating it into your remodeling project will also save you money. Green products are now becoming increasingly affordable as major manufacturers compete and develop new lines to meet the green-building demand.

You can help restore a significant portion of the world's ecosystems by using "green construction". Just think about changing the world - one room at a time.

About The Author:
Emerson Lockwood write on topics related to remodeling, Home Improvement and Home Financing. You can see more of his home remodeling articles at the Super Home Ideas website: http://www.SuperHomeIdeas.com

Home Help Plans