Karen

One of the best parts of renovating an older home is to lovingly recreate that home’s original ambience. Whether it’s a palatial Federal Era townhouse or a humble Aladdin catalog home, or even a Mid-Century Modern, restoring a home is one of the most satisfying experiences many people ever have. So with the holidays coming up, you may be wondering what to get your favorite renovators – or for yourself as you feather your own nest.

Lighting and hardware are a crucial part of any home, and can make or break the integrity of the presentation. You wouldn’t hang a Mondrian inspired pendant in an Art Nouveau living room, and historic preservation would stage a riot on your doorstep if your porch lighting was a Victorian sconce on a Streamline Modern. So what can you do to make the season bright? Help warm that home with some of the little details that often get overlooked in favor of the big picture. Hardware, lighting, and little details can make all the difference between a sorta-kinda look and a hands down wow.

Do Your Research!

 Period homes often fall into particular architectural styles, and after long neglect can need significant restoration and renovation. Often there are major expenses involved in bringing a home’s electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems up to snuff for insurance purposes, as well as correcting problems with roofing, porches, flooring, and even the foundations. Once the home is brought up to code, the detail work begins.

Do online research starting with the address of the home, you’d be surprised how many localities have photos of homes at different periods. This can give you an overall image of how the exterior used to look, and how it might have been altered in the intervening decades. This Old House reminds homeowners that over time other owners may have given the house a facelift to update the style, or knocked off a handsome porch when it was too costly to replace.

Catalogs and ladies’ magazines of the period are often a great help in showing how a home looked in the period in which it was built. You can even find a nearly complete collection of catalogs for Aladdin homes online courtesy of Central Michigan University. In other places you can find The Ladies’ Home Journal, Godey’s, and even Sears catalogs. Your Google skills are going to get a workout, but you’ll end up having a lot of fun. These vintage sources can give you an idea of popular color schemes, kitchen and bath fixtures, even table cloths and napkins. Remember, the Sears-Roebuck catalog was the Amazon of the day, and millions of people bought everything for their house (including the house!) from that catalog.

Here are some of the most popular home styles, and their approximate years.

• Saltbox: A New England style, principally in use from the 1600s to 1700s.
• Georgian: Popular throughout the colonies from 1700 to around 1780.
• Federal: Post-Revolutionary War from about to 1820 – first ‘American’ style based on English Adamesque.
• Greek Revival: 1825 to 1860, very popular as the new democracy took hold.
• Gothic Revival: 1840 to 1860, an import from England, very popular with a highly decorated and formal style.
• Italianate: 1840 to 1885, English in origin by way of the Grand Tour, based on the look of rural Italian homes.
• Second Empire: 1855 to 1885, based upon styles from the reign of France’s Napoleon III.
• Queen Anne: Asymmetrical and ornate style popular from 1880 to 1910 and often what people mean when they say Victorian.
• Cape Cod: Small one story homes popular from 1920 well into the post-war fifties.

There are also the aforementioned Mid-Century Modern, Art Deco, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Bungalow, Prairie, Mediterranean, and other movements that were more or less popular, or that came into and fell out of fashion, much like the huge but featureless McMansions of the 1990s and 2000s are giving way to the smaller house movement. Research carefully, especially with respect to historic homes, before you undertake any renovations that could affect the historic status of the home.

Say Yes to the Gift

 Renovators and fixit uppers can be very reticent about asking for gifts. They don’t want to come right out and ask for the doorknobs that are perfect for that five-panel, or the tea set that will make the sideboard pop. If you use a Gift Guide from Lumens, you might be able to do some guesswork as to what your renovators might like, or what might fit with their renovations. Convince them, if you can, to sign up and make wish lists, gift registries, and project planners that they can share. It not only keeps them organized, but lets you get better clues as to their needs and wants.

Sponsored by CBS FILMS, who provided the prize for this giveaway.

Love The Coopers follows The Cooper clan as four generations of extended family come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. As the evening unfolds, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday.

This hilarious comedy stars Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Ed Helms, Diane Keaton, Jake Lacy, Anthony Mackie, Amanda Seyfried, June Squibb, Marisa Tomei, and Olivia Wilde. See more about the movie at the official website!

One reader will win a $50 Visa Gift card courtesy of CBS Films. To enter the giveaway, use the Giveaway Tools form below. Good Luck!

If you were a pumpkin, how would you describe yourself? At Home, the home décor store, has jazzed up a classic fall trend this year by offering nearly 150 different pumpkin-inspired items that will look great from Halloween through Thanksgiving and beyond. To find the perfect pumpkin for your style, At Home launched a Halloween personality quiz at www.athome.com with décor ideas and tips for a memorable season.

At Home has everything pumpkin in glass, ceramic, and plastic to show off your pumpkin style, whether that is glitzy with glitter, scary ghoulish, or a simple harvest theme.

“At Home allows customers to express their personal style by choosing from an expansive selection of more than 50,000 items at everyday low prices,” said Alissa Ahlman, Chief Merchandising Officer. “That includes more than 800 selections from our Halloween and fall lines to inspire their home décor.”

Lattes and jack-o-lanterns aren’t the only ways to incorporate pumpkin this season. At Home offers these 5 tips for decorating for the season:

1. Forgo the plastic drinking cups for pumpkin jars with lids and straws
2. Serve cider out of a keg made by placing a beverage dispenser inside a hallow pumpkin
3. Engage all the senses with a pumpkin-scented candle
4. Put a twist on tradition this year with stylish mosaic or chevron pumpkin, for social media-worthy harvest décor
5. Add the ultimate lawn ornament with a haunted pumpkin inflatable

A newly launched website and blog include images and descriptions of more than 20,000 products available for purchase at more than 90 stores across 26 states. The thousands of products include a broad range of categories including holiday décor, patio furniture, garden, home furnishings, wall décor and decorative accents, rugs and housewares.

Click here to find more information on At Home or to find locations in your area.

To win a $50 At Home Gift Card, use the Giveaway Tools entry form below to enter!

It is normal to feel anxiety in certain situations which can be regarded as hard or threatening. The feeling disappears when we get used to these occurrences or if the condition changes. But, if you constantly have this feeling, or if you have it without any particular reason, this can be a sign of mental disturbance.

We can differentiate three main types of anxiety: general anxiety disorder, panic attack and phobias. The patient perceives this issue as fear. It is caused by problems which cannot be solved at the given moment.  Although anxiety, fear and concern are very unpleasant, they can also be helpful. They can help us cope with mental problems that we may have and they also keep body prepared to react to a threatening situation. This feeling becomes a problem when it becomes too severe or if it persists without any obvious need for it. It can be very troublesome for a patient, preventing him or her from performing their daily duties and imposing general disturbance.

There are numerous symptoms which can be common for this medical issue. Mental symptoms include constant feeling of concern, fatigue, lack of concentration, tremors, nervousness, insomnia, depression. Physical issues include sweating, paleness, fast heartbeat, dryness of mouth, muscle tension, quickly breathing, numbness in lips and fingers, vertigo, nausea, problems with stool, increased urination, stomach pain etc. Unfortunately, when the patient realizes that these symptoms are not normal and that they may signify mental disturbance, they may be driven intro depression, loss of appetite, apathy, hopelessness and helplessness. Have in mind that these issues are present most of the time so it is really easy to diagnose this issue.

Extreme anxiety attacks usually occur suddenly, in situations which are otherwise really stressful for the individual. Emotion starts overwhelming a person and they reach their peak within 10 minutes or less. This sensation can also be followed by fear of death, feeling of madness or control loss as well as suffocation. During such episode, patient will feel chest pain forcing him to seek medical assistance. Most of them think that they are suffering a heart attack. Even though symptoms are very similar, pain during panic attack last much shorter. You can  in order to eliminate anxiety.

Besides general anxiety, many patients will have phobias. They appear due to a situation which other people would perceive as harmless. Any contact with phenomenon or a problematic situation can lead to a feeling of panic and fear.

This problem can nowadays be solved through counseling and use of medication. As previously mentioned, specialists from You! Drugstore would like to recommend Cipralex as a great cure for anxiety. Besides generalized anxiety disorder, this medicine can also be used to treat depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The drug regulates secretion of serotonin, thus returning the organism to its previous state. Keep in mind that Cipralex does not provide instant relief. It usually takes from 2 to 4 weeks for it to start working. In most cases, it will reach maximum potential after several weeks. Recommended dose is 10 mg daily but it can be changed if your doctor deems necessary.