DIY: Easter Centerpieces

By Mikes Furniture

Hop your way into Easter with this simple & charming floral arrangement. The beautiful pastel colors will give your table setting the fresh look it needs this spring. Then, with the same eggs, you can make another thrifty craft that will look just as dainty. Follow these easy steps & you’ll have them done in no time!

Easter Floral Arrangement

What you need:

·         A wire basket

·         Speckled Easter eggs

·         Baby’s breath

·         Vase

1)      Use some speckled Easter eggs, preferably in muted colors. If you do not manage to find any that are already prefabricated, purchase some wooden or foam eggs. Then paint them in muted colors of your choice. As a final touch, use a toothbrush to speckle brown spots.  Make sure to make extra eggs for the following craft!

2)      Start by adding a few eggs in the wire basket. Don’t be afraid to mix the colors for best results! Also, include yellow, as you cannot have a happy event without the color that best represents the emotion! Next, add a glass vase in the center of the wire basket. Then arrange the eggs around the vase according to your liking. Once the wire basket is filled and the vase is surrounded, add water to the vase.

3)      Finally, add some flowers to your arrangement. Most people would consider baby’s breath a “filler” for floral arrangements, however its simplicity will not take away from the beauty of the colorful eggs in the basket. On the plus side, they are also extremely inexpensive, so your arrangement will turn out to be a bargain!

This arrangement has a rustic feel to it and would be showcased beautifully on a rustic dining table. It’s simple yet charming look will complement the natural and organic elements of the wood.

Nestled Easter Eggs

What you need:

·         A cake pedestal

·         Straw

·         Speckled Easter eggs in muted colors

1)      Begin by taking some straw and shaping into a circle. If the straw is being fussy, try to wet it a little to help shape it and stick it together. If it still does not stick together at the ends, a little dab of glue from a glue gun will do just fine.

2)      Place the straw that is now shaped into a nest onto the cake pedestal. Then, take some of the leftover eggs from the previous craft and nestle them into their cozy little nest. This centerpiece would look lovely with a Shabby Chic or Vintage Casual style, as it screams effortless elegance.

There you have it! A table with dainty and egg-citing décor. It’s quite egg-traordinary! 

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Get Crafty: DIY Decor with Squash This Fall

By Mike's Furniture

Who said decorating your home for fall had to be expensive? Check out some thrifty DIY ideas with the use of squash to add a touch of autumn in your home. Time to roll up those sleeves!

Antique your butternut squash:

There is something about decorating a home with antiquities, as it adds instant history and soul. If you have a fondness for antiquities, then this is the project for you!

For a dark & rich aged-look, use dark wax. You can purchase some Minwax Stain at your local hardware store. Apply the stain to your squash and try not to spread it evenly, in order to achieve a distressed look. Make sure it dries in a well ventilated area, free of humidity or cold. Once it is dry, feel free to add some finishing touches like hemp string that you can tie to the stem. If the mood strikes, you can go a little wild and add some artificial leaves along with your string. Voilà : the perfect antiqued squash for your home. Fall, come on in.

Pumpkin vases for your table escape:

Here`s another idea to jazz up your home for fall; pumpkin vases! Make a beautiful, yet simple table escape that is not only quick, but easy on the budget. First, hollow-out your pumpkin. Do not carve a large piece off the top, but just enough to slide a tall glass inside the opening. Then, spray paint the pumpkin white to soften the look of its deep orange coloration. You can also choose another muted color such as a pale blue or mint.  The idea is to tone down the color of the vase and draw the attention to the bouquet.

Once the spray paint has dried thoroughly, slide the tall glass through the opening of atop the pumpkin. Add some water to the glass and put together a beautiful fresh arrangement with flowers of your choice. If you prefer a low maintenance vase, then synthetic flowers are your thing. Don`t be afraid to use multiple colors, as it will add more character. There you have it, your very own pumpkin vase!

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Getting Ready For Halloween

By Mike's Furniture

October has come fast and Halloween will be here before you know it. Get ready for a frightfully good time by prepping the house early so you can celebrate in style.

 

Decorate inside and out

Make your house “spooktacular!” Surprise trick-or-treaters on your doorstep with thrilling decorations, homemade or store bought. Here’s a perfect opportunity to get the kids involved. For example, transform your front yard into a haunted graveyard. Headstones can be set up with bones laid out and zombies placed so they look like they’re creeping up out of the ground. Put green, orange and purple lights on the bushes. Position spiders on the house and set spotlights on them. Stretch sprawling webs across the shrubs, doorway and shutters for a haunted effect. Scarecrows are fun to set up too!

Trick out the inside

Here's an example on how to set up a spooky Halloween party at the kitchen counter or dining table.

Make plans

You can also involve the kids with a craft project like making a bunch of cheesecloth that can be hung around the house. Wrap the banisters with Halloween style garland. Add lights if you dare. Clear off the mantle, tabletops, bookcase or the top of the entertainment center and decorate with Halloween accents like ceramic pumpkins, lighted haunted houses and animated spooks.

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Time To Eat Smarter

By Mike's Furniture

School’s in session and that means the daily ritual of filling the lunchbox is in full swing. Now might be the perfect time to reevaluate not only what you’re packing but what you’re packing it in.

Did You Know?

Over 20 million sandwich baggies are sent to our landfills every year, and each one takes between 500 to 1,000 years to break down

Americans throw away more than 60 million plastic water bottles per day

It’s as easy as 1-2-3 to find eco-friendly lunchbox alternatives that are safe for our kids and our planet.

Step 1 – Use BPA free, non-toxic containers and reusable baggies to fill their lunchbox with goodies they’re sure to love

Make this the year you stop throwing away all those plastic baggies. Invest just once in reusable products and save yourself money and guilt for years to come. Try getting a set for every member of the family and have fun packing your lunches together. Make sure you’re getting dishwasher safe products to make clean up easy and effective.

Bento Boxes

Metal lunchbox inserts

Fabric sandwich and snack baggies

Silicone food pouches

 Step 2 – Mix it up! Start with deconstructing the sandwich

Sandwiches are OK in a pinch, but why not try putting something a little different in their lunch box this year? Pare the sandwich down to its essential elements and roll, wrap or chop them up in style! Mix and match foods to create fun shapes and combos that’ll have them emptying their lunchboxes in record time.

Homemade wraps

Sushi rolls

Lettuce wraps

Crackers and cheese

Apple slices and peanut butter

Veggies and dips

Noodle salad

Laughing Cow cheese

Fun fruit shapes using cookie cutters

Frozen bananas sliced and sandwiched with peanut or almond butter

Yogurt parfaits

Mini muffins/quiches

French toast points/mini pancakes with fresh berries

Step 3 – Drink Fix. Smart solutions to the water bottle crisis

Be the first cool parent to make the switch to eco-friendly reusable water bottles. It’s the easiest and most practical way to show kids how much you care about the planet and their future. With so many varieties to choose from, let everyone in your family pick out the one that reflects their unique personality.

Stainless steel water bottle

Collapsible water bottle

Fruit infuser water bottles

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Bring A Fall Touch To Your Home With Great Aromatherapy Ideas!

by Mike's Furniture

Ahh, Fall! Who doesn’t love the sound of crisp leaves underfoot and the taste of pumpkin spice everything (especially lattes!)? One of our favorite ways to celebrate the season is by filling our homes with scrumptious scents. There’s just something about a cozy house filled with family, friends and delicious smells that lets us know our favorite season is finally here.

The Nose Knows

Looking for ways to cozy up your home for fall? Try these easy aromatherapy ideas:

Bake goodies. Fill your home with the scent of freshly baked pumpkin pie for an instant autumnal aroma. It doesn’t have to be made from scratch—even frozen pies smell fantastic while they bake. Premade sugar cookie dough also produces a heavenly scent. Nothing says “home” like the smell of vanilla!

Light a candle. Don’t want to go to the trouble of baking? Pick up a pumpkin spice- or sugar cookie-scented candle. Other scents that conjure fall include cranberry, sugar and spice, cinnamon and pear. Try burning different scented candles to create your own signature smell.

Create a stovetop simmer. Combine one sliced orange, a couple of cinnamon sticks and a few dried cloves in a saucepan. Add enough water to cover all ingredients and simmer on the stove. Check on your concoction periodically and add more water as needed. Your whole home will smell heavenly!

 What are your favorite scents for fall? If you have any easy aromatherapy tips, share them in the comments below! We’d love to hear your ideas.

Content provided by: +Tailbase & +Ashley Furniture HomeStore 

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PUMPKIN BREAD RECIPE

by Mike's Furniture

The long, hot summer days are coming to an end. As wonderful as it’s been to gorge on juicy fruits and sweet, luscious berries, it’s time to savor the flavors of fall. Fresh fall harvests are in full swing and pumpkin is one of the most popular autumnal ingredients. Turn the seasonal bounty into a slice of heaven with this quick pumpkin bread recipe.

One-Pan Pumpkin Bread

(Recipe from BettyCrocker.com)

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Bake Time: 45-55 minutes

Ingredients:

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup canned pumpkin

3 eggs

2-1/3 cups Bisquick™ Original baking mix

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans (or raisins, if you prefer)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F.

Generously grease bottom only of 9×5 loaf pan.

Stir all ingredients except nuts in pan with fork until moistened; beat vigorously for 1 minute. Stir in nuts.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes.

Run knife or metal spatula around sides of loaf to loosen; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely before slicing.

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SET UP A HOMEWORK STATION

by Mike's Furniture

With school in and the kids hitting the books, you’ll be asking, “Do you have homework?” If they do, you’ll need a game plan for after school studying. Here are some tips on how to get started on a homework station that fulfills your kids’ needs.

Pick the right spot

Choose a location in the home for work and study. It needs to be a quiet escape. Ideally, it could be their room, but a den, basement office, attic office or even a secluded kitchen nook all can serve the purpose handily. Ask your kids what their ideas of a perfect homework station are and incorporate as many of them as possible. This will help get their buy-in so they’ll use it more often. Include favorite colors and posters, as well as educational items like maps, globes, books, art supplies, computers, printers, chalkboards/dry erase boards and calendars.

Get it together for comfort

Clean up the clutter. Remove toys and items they’ve outgrown. Paint the study area their favorite color. Up comfort levels by putting down an area rug. Get cushiony chairs with ergonomic features. An afghan rack with throws is another great idea, so they can keep warm during long winter nights. Lighting is very important, too. Use floor lamps, pendant lights and desk lamps to illuminate the area. These help prevent eyestrain and headaches.

Furnish it

Set the scene with a desk. The bigger the better―kids need lots of room to work. Add bookshelves, file cabinets and storage bins for keeping all supplies organized and within reach. Decorate the walls. Include a wall clock, decorative canvas prints and a corkboard for pinning A+ work, photos and more. You can accent the work surface with a desk clock, photo frame and a favorite souvenir.

What’s next?

Once the homework station is ready, turn your focus to the next project―an area where you can keep organized. Get a desk and a comfortable chair. Wrap around desks are ideal because they give you more room to work. Don't forget to get a file cabinet. It's the perfect spot for keeping important papers and supplies you'll need to access throughout the school year.

Content provided by: +Tailbase  &  +Ashley Furniture HomeStore 

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Back To School Organizing Tips & Ideas

by Mike's Furniture

Back-to-school is for many of us synonym of supplies, lunch, home works, mess and lunch again! When this time of the year is coming, we start to stress, to be tense and we are trying to be organized (which is not that easy sometimes!). Here are some organizing tips to help everyone being more relaxed at the back-to-school:

Make a space for children’s backpacks

In the lobby or anywhere else, take time to make an exclusive space to put the backpacks when child come back from school. It could be a storage bench, a wall shelf with hooks, a big basket or a large storage box.

Create a study area

To facilitate the productivity and reduce the homework time a study area is a must. Ideally, it should be a quiet place without any source of distraction like TV, video games, tablets, cell phone or any toy. The room could be filled with bookcases, a bench and/or chair, a work desk and maybe comfortable furniture where to read and study like a small sofa or a recliner.

Prepare in advance

To save time and avoid stress in the morning, preparing in advance is a good thing! The day before or even during the week-end, we can prepare lunches, sport clothes and organize backpacks for the upcoming week.

Choose outfits the night before

If we are still lacking time in the morning, choosing the outfits the night before could make the difference!

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HOMEMADE CLEANING PRODUCTS

by Mike's Furniture

Your sink cabinets are jammed with virtually every foam, spray and spritz cleaner on the market. And yet, you’re not satisfied with the results.

Time to get back to basics.

Wonderfully multipurpose, natural cleaning agents (e.g., baking soda) cost pennies on the dollar compared to brand-name products—and they work just as well (if not better).

There are endless possibilities for a green clean. Here are our five favorites:

Dispose of Odors.

Garbage disposal smelling like, well, garbage? Pour a half cup of baking soda, followed by a cup of white vinegar down the drain. Boil a kettle of water and pour boiling water down as well. Then add two cups of ice and one cup of rock salt to the drain. Run through the disposal. Lastly, cut a lime or lemon in half, and run both halves one by one through the disposal.

Unclog Drains Naturally.

While they might get the job done, products like Drano are terrible for the environment and dangerous in contact with your skin. A natural alternative: Pour ½ cup baking soda and ½ cup white vinegar down the drain. Let sit for at least 25 minutes. Pour in 2 quarts boiled water. The fizz you hear is the baking soda and vinegar working magic. If the water is still sitting in the sink, plunge it down to reveal your clean-as-a-whistle drain.

Nip Those Fleas.

Got pets? Then you know too well the dog days of summer can mean one thing: pesky fleas. Sprinkle 20 Mule Team Borax powder on your rugs/carpets and other areas where fleas may fest, such as a cat climber. Use a stiff brush to work the Borax into the rug/carpet. Let the Borax sit at least six hours (overnight is even better). Vacuum thoroughly. (A ½ cup of Borax powder will give your laundry detergent a power boost, too.)

Make That Stainless Steel Sink Sparkle.

Pour undiluted white vinegar—a gentle but powerful disinfectant—into a spray bottle. Rinse sink with water. Sprinkle baking soda over wet surface. Scrub with a soft-to-medium brush. Spray vinegar over remaining residue. That fizzing sound is cleaning in action. Rinse sink thoroughly. For even more shine, buff with a bit of olive oil, using a soft, dry cotton cloth.

Polish to Perfection.

Spare your finished wood furnishings that furniture spray buildup with this smart solution: Using a funnel, pour 2 tbsp. olive oil, ¼ cup distilled white vinegar and ¼ tsp. lemon oil (or fresh lemon juice) into a spray bottle. Shake well then spritz onto microfiber cloth and rub in evenly in the direction of the grain. Remove excess polish with a clean, dry cloth and behold the beauty of your like-new furniture.

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