Have a great weekend!

Decorating tips for spring

Does your apartment lack a personal touch? Perhaps what you need are the kinds of decorative accents that can make your place truly feel like home. We’ve got some ideas on how to transform your bland or blank interior into something that reflects your very own style.
Say it with a pillow
When you think “decorative accent pillow” you might imagine a brocaded horror with tassels and lace. Not a turn-on perhaps. But how about something a little more up-to-date, like a Bob Dylan version, or one of these trendy throw pillows? (You can even design your own.) With an endless variety of patterns, designs and fabrics to choose from, the decorative accent pillow has come of age, and can be an integral piece of your apartment style plan.
Candles
Candles are one decorative item that add light, style, ambience and even fragrance to your apartment. You can find them in inventive shapes, sizes, and smells. Candle holders come in an endless variety of designs and materials. Reasonably priced, candles are a great accessory to add to your apartment style arsenal.
Got tchotchkes?
You don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for cool home decor accents. IKEA, Pier 1 Imports, and Cost Plus World Market are all retailers offering interesting table-top items in a world of styles. Online, try cool vases from Hipster Home, or all kinds of boxes, books and ephemera from CB2. Check out Urban Outfitters for wacky novelties, toys from yesterday and today, and decor knick-knacks. Target features many stylish decor items to choose from, as well.
Climb the walls
Even with minimal accessories, you can dramatically impact your apartment’s style with what you put on the wall. Frame old family photos in rustic frames, or look for favorite movie posters to put up. You might frame colorful pages from a picture book for a novel display. You can hang original art, paint-by-numbers pictures or antique license plates. Whatever your fancy, create an interesting wall display with it!
If your apartment is missing decorative accents — lucky you! Now you get to begin the hunt to collect cool-looking items that will give your apartment the style and personality it craves.

Apartments and pets, how to make it work.

Wendy Boswell — When moving into a new place, a pet can be a dealbreaker if you don't prepare your case ahead of time (and check out the pet policies!). Rental advice site LiveSimply has written up a short and sweet how-to on persuading landlords to accept pets:


1: Provide your landlord with written statements from former landlords that commend your pet's behaviour and verify that your rental unit was well-maintained while you and your pet occupied the premises.
2. Invite your landlord to meet your pet and view the pet's behaviour.
3. Offer the landlord a 'pet deposit.'
4. Inform your landlord in writing that you will pay for damages caused by your pet during your lease.
5. Don't bring the fact up until the last minute. If the landlord has invested sufficient time into you, they are more likely to be persuaded. Although this could backfire and really annoy them.

Keeping your apartment cool

As the temperature rises, so does the cost of cooling your home, especially if you use an air conditioner. Obviously, the best way to keep your home cool during the summer is to use an air conditioner to keep the temperature down, but there are other options that don’t raise your energy bill quite significantly. Air conditioners may offer tempting temporary relief from summer heat, but they’re a huge environmental no-no. You may be cooling your home, but the fossil fuels you’re burning in the process are only making your summers hotter. This summer, leave the air conditioner in storage and try these environmentally-friendly alternatives instead. Fundamentally, the idea is to minimize sources of heat and remove built-up heat from inside.

Fans and Ceiling Fans

If you’re looking for ways to beat the heat, a ceiling fan can be a great investment for your home. This one appliance can make a room feel 6 or 7 degrees cooler, and even the most power-hungry fan costs less than $10 a month to use if you keep it on for 12 hours a day. Good fans make it possible for you to raise your thermostat setting and save on air-conditioning costs. Fans don’t use much energy, but when air is circulating, it feels much cooler. Ceiling fans are best, but a good portable fan can be very effective as well.
You should remember that even mild air movement of 1 mph can make you feel three or four degrees cooler. Also make sure your ceiling fan is turned for summer – you should feel the air blown downward.