Win A Makeover
Stores Sponsoring Makeovers
Just for the heck of it, I checked the news today and found several stories relating to room makeovers sponsored by stores. While it may be a known fact that TV reality shows focusing on decorating will do room makeovers at low or no cost, it may not be known that some stores also help people with the same thing.
Here's some clips of the articles in the news ...
Ikea makeover - New Haven, CT 8-26-05
Organized by the Visiting Nurse Association of South Central Connecticut -- The VNA of South Central Connecticut and IKEA are teaming up to do two other rooms. The makeover project came about in celebration of the VNA's centennial.
Target store makeover - Hattiesburg, MS
Two Southern Miss freshmen got a special surprise when they checked into their dorm room today. Their 5th floor room at Pulley Hall received a full makeover, courtesy of the new Target store which will soon be opening in Hattiesburg. Target employees did about $500 dollars worth of work to the room.
And, if you're in Florida, here's a really nice opportunity:
Miami Herald 8-21-05
Readers submit e-mails or letters describing the room they want to change. The Herald arranges for a designer or home stylist to visit and provide free advice. The reader shops for the new items and pays for any changes, which can range from a paint job and rug to new upholstery or furniture. The cost of changes cannot exceed $1,000. Want to participate? Send a description of your room to newhomes@herald.com or The Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132, Attn.: Home & Design/Makeovers. Include your name, address and phone number.
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Maybe it would be worthwhile to write letters to your local stores about your situation. Who knows? They just might take on your project ... Publicity for them is always a good thing!
Room Makeovers
A Den-Home Office Gets A Face Lift Organizing and decorating often merge together into areas that are transformed from dull, dysfunctinal spaces into splendid designs and order. That's what Splendid Space Makeovers did to this most recent room makeover.
You can see all the "before and after" photos of this project, just click here to go to the gallery.
TV shows that focus on organization most often include redecorating. When HandyGirl Organizers recognized the new trend in organizing, it formed a branch of services to include room makeovers. Splendid Space Makeovers is the result.
After clutter is removed, sometimes a room could use a fresh look, like paint. Or, a simple redesign by moving furniture and decor items around. Changing window treatments can also make dramatic changes in a room.
Another thing happens after clutter is gone -- inspiration. People are often motivated to go a little further in making their room more appealing, however don't always know how to make changes. One thing you can do is to find your favorite piece or color and work with that in redecorating your room.
For ideas and inspiration, browse through the project gallery at Splendid Space Makeovers!
In a Computer World
Crash Preparedness
Now, we've all heard about disaster preparedness and having emergency kits, right? And, we've heard about backing up our computer data files regularly, yes? Well, what about all that information we need to get up and running again if our computer hard drive just up and dies without notice?
I'm talking about our email account settings that we need to set up our email accounts again. I'm talking about our serial numbers and unlock key codes for downloaded software we've purchased and registered. I'm talking about the settings for uploading our web site(s) to our web host servers.
These were some of the things I found necessary to have at hand when we have to replace our hard drive or have to reformat one...like I had to do recently.
It's amazing how much we rely on our computers and how much information we store in them. I had all my Internet registrations in an email folder, although fortunately, I also recorded them onto my rolodex cards.
Having a file or log or way to retrieve important information is vital when we operate with computers. Yes, computer backups are great, but do they store our log in and password information, our computer settings and email configurations, or the key codes to unlock software we have to reinstall? No, I can tell you it doesn't.
The one thing I haven't done manually (and I'm sorry for it) is to log my favorite Internet sites. Because, now all my Internet Favorites are gone and have to be reconstructed from scratch. I'm not quite sure this is feasible to do because of the nature of how time-consuming it would be and the double-work this would involve, but it's just a thought.
Whatever the case, just keep hoping it doesn't happen to you -- but be prepared, nevertheless.
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