Color Help: Color Imagery for Happy Homes

by Jeanette Joy Fisher

Color researchers have estimated that up to 70% of our subconscious reactions to people and environments are based solely on our reactions to color. With that in mind, it’s important that you give special attention to the effects you want to create when choosing the color schemes for the interior spaces in your home.

Color is a visual experience that influences our psychological reality. The way the mind perceives the colors our eyes see is called color imagery, and that mental image profoundly affects our emotions and physical comfort. Colors call out to our feelings and create the emotional atmosphere within a room.

So always begin your color deliberations by asking yourself what feelings you want to evoke in a particular room. Give thought to the purpose of the room. For instance, bathrooms should be retreats for cleansing rituals. In that light, what colors come to mind? Refreshing, blues, greens, creamy white, or your childhood bathroom color? Envision a Florida spring, tropical lagoon, or mountain waterfall. Expand on your joyful memories by adding colors that work for you.

In contrast to bathrooms, a dining room’s purpose is to gather the family together to share meals. Psychologists have proven that food actually tastes better when served in rooms decorated in “food” colors, such as reds, greens, browns, yellows, and pinks.

In our 1878 Victorian dining room, we painted the walls hot pink and then created a transparent overcoat glaze, using an amber tint and polyurethane. The result is a soft peach color. (The amber tint was the paint color from a neighboring room.) After finishing the dining room, we wallpapered the ceiling and painted it dark green with a rouge red border.

Each room in your home serves a different purpose and will require some thought as to which color you will need to add to the walls in order to elicit a particular emotional and physiological response from the people who will be using that room for a specific activity. If 70% of our subconscious reactions to people and situations have to do with color response, that means creating meaningful backdrops for every room in the house isn't something that should be approached lightly.

(c) Copyright 2005, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and a red main bedroom, see JoytotheHome.com

Soy Candles? What Will They Think of Next?

by M J Plaster

Quick: What comes to mind when you think of soy candles? Before my formal introduction to soy candles, I thought organic (read expensive) and BEIGE! And not just the color beige, but beige as an overall description for soy candles—blah like baby food, ground chick peas, and a pale winter pallor. I had no idea why it would even occur to anyone to purchase a soy candle.

I couldn't have been more wrong in my assessment! After gaining a working knowledge of candles, soy candles reside front and center in my growing candle collection. When you learn the facts, you will probably replace your paraffin candles with the soy version, at least on an attrition basis. If you're still at the beige stage, read on while we shed a little light on the subject.

Paraffin vs. Soy

First, clear your mind of all preconceived notions that you've conjured up about soy candles. Replace those thoughts with just two thoughts for now: clean and fresh. Traditional candles made of paraffin are actually petroleum-based products.

Oil is not only a finite resource, primarily imported from the Middle East, it recently made a new all-time high. You see it reflected at the gas pump, and you'll see it reflected in candle prices, if you haven't already. You pay no premium to reap the benefits of soy candles, because soy candles are priced competitively with their paraffin counterparts, and soy candles last up to 50% longer than paraffin candles.

Petroleum products do not burn cleanly. If you wouldn't voluntarily walk into a burning petroleum field, then why would you burn paraffin in your home? If you burn candles regularly, try this experiment. Move a picture on your wall. If you see an outline on the wall at the edge of the picture, soot from burning candles is the culprit. That same burning petroleum deposits itself in your lungs, and it's a known carcinogen. Soy candles are non-toxic, burn cleanly without smoking, burn cooler than paraffin candles, and use all-natural cotton wicks.

If you've ever spent hours cleaning spilled wax on your floor or carpet, you know what an exercise in futility it can be. Sometimes there is simply no removing it. Spilled melted soy wax cleans up with soap and water, and it does come out, unlike some paraffin spills. Biodegradable soy has its practical advantages as well as its health advantages.

Made in the USA! Soy is a renewable resource, made right here in the United States, and you don't see much of that these days. You're helping the economy by using soy-based products, and charity begins at home.

Scented Soy Candle

With all these good-for-you attributes, you may wonder if you'll have to settle for the aroma of melting soybeans. Not only are scented soy candles available, but they are typically scented with a natural essence rather than a synthetic fragrance. With "flavors" such as Crème Brûlée, Gingerbread, Jeweled Citrus and Banana Nut Bread, you can easily tease your appetite with soy candles. In fact, soy candles burn more evenly than paraffin candles, and the fragrance lasts through the entire candle, rather than burning off in the top half of the candle.

Aromatherapy Soy Candles

It would seem a contradiction of terms to use a pure essential oil in a candle of paraffin, but it's a common practice. The highest-quality aromatherapy candles use pure essential oils, soy wax, and cotton wicks. If you're going to pay a premium for aromatherapy candles, and there are numerous benefits in doing so, make sure that the candle is comprised of 100% unadulterated, natural products. Otherwise, why bother?

As an educated consumer, you have the power to further the advancement of superior products through your purchases. Every industry requires research and development to make advancements, and the natural candle industry will evolve at a rate that makes economic sense. Through your support of natural candle products, you can effect a healthy change while enjoying the benefits and the pleasures of burning soy candles.

M J Plaster is a successful author who provides information on shopping online for soy candles and candles in general. M J Plaster has been a commercial freelance writer for almost two decades, most recently specializing in home and garden, the low-carb lifestyle, investing, and anything that defines la dolce vita.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Create a Joyful Home with Living Accessories: Houseplants

Houseplants can be soothing because of their visual impact. Besides being naturally appealing, interior plants can make you feel cooler on hot days, especially when they move softly in the breeze from a ceiling fan.

Houseplants are natural air filters, and can remove up to 70 percent of indoor air pollutants. Plants such as English Ivy, scheffleras, spider plants, and philodendrons absorb large also quantities of formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and benzene. The most effective plants at removing air pollution are spider plants, pot mums, snake plants, and aloe vera. They're so effective, in fact, that environmental scientists recommend one plant per 100 square feet in your home and office.

Plant lights, in canister fixtures placed on the floor, can highlight a houseplant while casting dramatic shadows on walls and ceilings. Uplights, placed under palm trees cast magnificent line-type shadows, while plants with holes in their leaves, such as Swiss Cheese Philodendron, will cast lace-like shadows.

You can use houseplants to make a uniquely individual statement. For instance, one of my friends has only spiked-leafed plants in her home -- spider plants, snake plants, corn plants, cast iron, and bromeliads. My cousin could only seem to get pothos to grow in her home, so she filled her entire house with them.

Delicate houseplants soften your space, while spiky plants add interesting texture. Collections of African violets, ferns, or trees of all sizes can look fantastic, too. Topiaries, shaped like globes or animals, can add a feeling of luxury and amusement, while Bonsai plants will add a sense of richness to your home.

Keeping Plants Healthy

Because some houses don't have adequate daylight for houseplants, the best method for keeping your houseplants healthy is to have two plants for each desired space. Keep one plant in a sheltered outside area and one in its decorative site, and switch the plants at least once a week. Special plant light bulbs can also help.

Low light plants include the cast iron plant, philodendrons, pothos, Chinese evergreen, English Ivy, and Satin. Flowering plants, like begonias, impatiens, and fuchsias, require more light. Plants requiring considerable amounts of water generally have hair-like roots, such as ferns and coleus, while plants requiring less water have thicker roots, like spider plants and cactuses.

You can remember to fertilize your plants by doing it on the first of every month, except in cold winter. Adding fish emulsion in the middle of the month during spring will help feed hungry plants like ferns. My staghorn fern has thrived for 15 years on banana skins and an occasional misting of orchid food.

Flowering plants, like white flag or peace lilies, need water-soluble fertilizer with a 20-20 concentration. Applying Plant Shine, a spray available in garden centers, once a month will clean and beautify leaves.

They may take some effort to help them continue to thrive, but the benefits you'll derive from keeping houseplants in your home will be well worth any inconvenience, and you'll be healthier and happier as a result.

Joy to you and your healthy, happy home!

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.