House Garden 2023, March

Cleaning and tidying up your room can seem like an insurmountable task, but chances are it's easier and quicker than you think. Put on some music, make a list of tasks, give yourself rewards and make it a game to stay motivated. Start with big tasks and then clean your room thoroughly by dusting, wiping and vacuuming all surfaces.

While closing blinds sounds easy, it can be quite tricky if you're not experienced with the specific type of blind you want to close. Some blinds have cords, some have only a bar, and some have no bar or cord at all. Once you know what type of blinds you want to close and the proper technique, it shouldn't be too difficult.

You've probably heard it from your mom a thousand times, but making your bed every morning is a must. It makes the whole room look tidier and more organized, and it makes it a lot more inviting to curl up under the covers when it comes to going to bed.

Do you have a glass object with an ugly scratch in it? Scratches no larger than the thickness of a fingernail can be removed with home remedies such as toothpaste and nail polish. Clean the glass, apply the cleaner of your choice with a microfibre cloth and then rinse the cleaner off the glass.

Don't like dusting? If you put in the effort it will be worth your time. House dust mites are microscopic insects that are almost invisible to the naked eye. Millions of these mites live in every home. They feed on human skin cells found in mattresses, pillows, rugs, upholstered furniture, blankets, clothing, teddy bears, fabric, and upholstered objects.

When you open your kitchen cupboards and see a swarm of ants crawling around your spilled sugar, it can be tempting to reach for strong chemicals to get rid of them as quickly as possible. But pesticides are dangerous to people, pets and other harmless critters that you have around your home.

The brown recluse spider is a venomous spider whose bite can make children and adults sick. The fiddler spider, unusually for spiders, has six eyes (most spiders have eight) and a violin-shaped spot on its back. If you live in an area or go on vacation where violin spiders are common, it's good to learn how to spot them.

You have to clean and maintain leather furniture in a special way. There are several commercial and homemade products that you can use to clean your leather sofa. By regularly maintaining your leather sofa and using the right products, you can keep it clean and in good condition for years to come.

Chemical weed killers are toxic and harmful to the environment, as well as posing a risk to bees, other beneficial insects, wildlife and even your pets and children if they play in the areas you are treating. An alternative is to make your own natural weed killer using common household remedies.

Even after mopping, a tile floor with dirty grout may still look untidy. Make your floor look like new by cleaning the joints between the tiles as well. Depending on the type of tiles and the color of your grout, there are different cleaning methods to get your floor looking clean again.

You may be shocked to see that a colored item of clothing has rubbed off on another item of clothing. Fortunately, you can simply remove the discolored spots on your clothes. Be careful not to put the discolored clothing in the dryer, as this will permanently set the discolored areas into the fabric.

An ironing applique can be an excellent way to express your personal style and is a nice addition to many different garments. However, you may get tired of the application after a while. Unfortunately, most ironing applications are permanent.

Your clothes are wet and you want to dry them quickly. The goal is to get the water out of your clothes as quickly as possible and in any way, for example with heat, by spinning, by letting them air dry or by applying pressure. Try putting a clean, dry towel in the dryer to dry your clothes faster.

Dishwasher salt is a specially formulated product that is used to soften hard water. Hard water can make your dishes look dirty and can leave streaks and grime on them. In the Netherlands and large parts of Europe, the water is quite hard, which is why most dishwashers have a built-in water softener that needs to be filled with salt from time to time.

People with dentures should disinfect and soak them overnight to remove tartar and stains. If there are no stains or tartar on your dentures, dentists recommend soaking the dentures in water only every night. But if you start to see stains and tartar build up, a water and vinegar solution can be just as effective as a store-bought denture cleaner to soak the tartar before removal.

Limescale is caused by minerals in the water, such as lime and magnesium. When a surface gets wet, the water evaporates and the minerals are left behind. Garden sprinklers, car washes and showers can all create limescale on glass. Chemically, these limescale residues are alkaline, so you should be able to remove them with an acid.

Many people like carpet because it is so soft, but it does get dirty quickly. Because carpet is very absorbent, it can retain bad odors from food scraps, spilled drinks and cigarettes for a long time. If your carpet stinks, you don't have to buy a new carpet right away.

Aluminum is a very versatile material from which many objects are made, from pans to bicycle wheels. Unfortunately, aluminum eventually begins to oxidize, which means that a chalky, gray deposit forms on the material. When you see this oxidation developing, there are different ways to remove the deposit.

Cars and older homes that did not use modern circuit breakers are usually equipped with fuses to prevent damage during electrical surges. Sometimes these fuses need to be tested to make sure they are still in good working order. Testing fuses can be done using a multimeter, which is both quick and easy to learn.

Whether it concerns furniture, cars, shoes or jackets, you need to tackle mold stains in leather immediately. Be careful when cleaning the leather and be sure to test any cleaners you plan to use-whether household or other cleaners-on a small spot before applying them to the stain itself.

Chromium, also called chromium, is a very brittle and hard metal that is often used as a protective layer on other metals. Bumpers, rims and other car parts, bathroom and kitchen faucets, and bicycle parts are often covered with a layer of chrome.

Maintaining the perfect water balance in your pool can be frustrating at times, but too much chlorine is usually easy to fix. An indoor pool can be more difficult to treat, but there are still a lot of possibilities. If you want to lower your daily chlorine levels without risking your pool water getting dirty, look into a UV device that sanitizes the water.

There's nothing worse than stiff, itchy sheets disrupting your night's sleep. This often happens with new sheets, where the stiffness is caused by chemical residues left behind after the production process. Fortunately, there are several easy ways to soften your sheets, so you can get a wonderfully comfortable night's sleep!

You've just bought a new home and would like to invite some people over so they can see your new home and induct it with you. If this is your first home of your own, you may have never hosted a housewarming party before, and chances are you're not quite sure where to start.

Orchids have long been a symbol of love and beauty. Grown by enthusiasts for their sheer elegance, they are often used as a corsage on a suit, or as an arm corsage for a special event. On many occasions, from weddings to conferences, strands of orchids adorn the tables as decoration.

Prized for its aromatic fragrance, sandalwood is often used for incense and perfume. Tropical Indian sandalwood and sandalwood from the arid regions of Australia are two varieties that are widely cultivated. Once established, sandalwood is a sensuous and potentially profitable tree to grow.

Have you bought a T-shirt for a special occasion, but is it too big? Do not panic! Cotton shrinks, so you can easily reduce it by a few sizes. Read on for information about why cotton shrinks and to learn a few techniques to shrink cotton quickly and safely.

A greenhouse is a building in which a microclimate is created that is ideal for growing plants. You can use it to germinate plants or you can leave plants in it for their entire life. Building a greenhouse is quite a big job, but it is still doable with a limited budget.

Painting a steel door not only makes it more beautiful, but you also prevent the door from rusting or damaging the surface. Removing the hinges and locks from the door, cleaning the door properly and repairing holes are all parts of the process if you want to paint a steel door.

If you've bought a kit to work with fiberglass reinforced plastic (also called fiberglass), you'll need to know how to work with this material-otherwise it's likely to be a mess. The first step is to make a mold, and then you can prepare the fiberglass fabric and get to work with the hardener.

Firewood can provide warmth all winter and a blazing fire provides coziness. Properly storing your firewood will help protect the wood and stock up for the colder months. If you keep your firewood outside, choose a place close to your house where the wood is not on the floor.

Summer days often bring fruit flies. Unguarded fruit left on the kitchen table can be overrun by these pesky flies. You can then throw away fruit. And that's a shame! Below you can read how you can successfully control and catch fruit flies.

This article is intended to explain the steps required to vacuum a swimming pool. There are several filter systems for swimming pools, such as cartridge filters and diatomaceous earth filters. These instructions assume you are using a sand filter or a diatomaceous earth filter, although some cartridge filters may be similar.

A laminate floor is durable, easy to maintain and versatile. One of the best things about laminate is that laminate is made to appear clean and shiny, and with proper care, the floor will continue to look that way. However, accumulated dirt and residue from the wrong cleaners can dull the laminate.

Combination locks are used in a variety of places, in lockers and safes at school and at home. It can be very frustrating to lose the combination and not have access to your things. If you don't want to break the lock, there are other ways to try.

Wooden fences can become covered with algae and mold over time. This is usually the case in damp and shady areas. You can clean your wooden fence in several ways to remove algae and mold and make your fence look better. Steps Method 1 of 2:

Lacquer is a general term for paints with a hard, durable finish. It is an excellent choice for painting objects that will be used outdoors, as well as surfaces that will be used intensively and that need to be able to take a beating, such as garden furniture, window frames, baseboards and stairs.

You use plastic bags every day to put the groceries or other things you bought in when you go home. Plastic bags are not biodegradable, meaning they take hundreds of years to dissolve. Recycling plastic bags ensures that they can be reused, in any way, and that they do not pollute the environment.

Buying a quality duvet is a great investment – since you spend a lot of time sleeping, you need bedding that will keep you comfortable every night. There is a lot to consider, for example whether you want a natural or synthetic filling and which TOG value (Thermal Overall Grade) or insulation value suits you best.

An air mattress is a practical, easy to store and handy item to have in the house when someone comes to stay. The disadvantage is that an air mattress can leak. Even a tiny leak will have the one sleeping on the air mattress on the floor by morning.