Browsing Tag

Kitchen

Decor, Dining Room Ideas

Dining Table and Chair Height Comparison

When picking furniture for a dining room or kitchen, you must consider more than color and style. One of the most overlooked factors concerning dining set tables and chairs is their height. 

Imagine moving into a different residence, believing your old or newly bought counter height stools will work in the space. You move in, only to realize they’re too short for the bar or counter height in the kitchen. Now, you have a set of barstools you don’t know what to do with, and you need to buy a new dining set to suit your new patio or kitchen. So assess and measure your spaces and start planning.
Which bar or counter height will be the most practical for building a new home? What height should the stool be relative to the bar counter? What is the ideal dining table and chair height to accommodate the height of the people who use them most? Continue reading for some handy guidelines. Let’s start by understanding different table and chair heights.

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Decor

How to Increase Storage Space in Every Room of Your Home

Everyone can benefit from having more storage in their home. It could be as simple as adding a magazine rack in your living room to clear the clutter off your coffee table. It could be as innovative as using vertical space with stackable boxes to manage living room games and toy storage. Whether your home has one closet, a tiny kitchen and dining area, or an awkward bedroom layout, you can maximize your small space. 

Consider incorporating multifunctional furniture, rearranging your room, or adding smaller storage solutions such as a narrow bookcase or slim sideboard. Our creative and stylish storage tips will make your home look and feel how you imagine it.

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Seasonal

How to deep-clean your kitchen

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Bree here, from Home Zone Furniture.

Whether you’re hosting out-of-towners over the holidays or simply planning a festive cocktail party, one thing’s for certain: A clean kitchen is a must! At our house, the kitchen becomes the gathering place where drinks are poured and dinner is made. If you’ve also got people congregating in the kitchen this season, you’ll want to be sure that it’s spick and span.

While there are many powerful cleaning solutions on the market to make your kitchen shine, I suggest using products you already have on hand at home for a truly safe and effective deep clean! Here’s how I get my annual kitchen deep-clean done.

Oven

Instead of using your oven’s self-cleaning setting or cleaning products with strong chemicals to clean your oven, try an easy, non-toxic method with vinegar and baking soda.

Turn off your oven, remove the racks, and make a baking soda paste with 1/4 cup of baking soda and 3 tablespoons of water. Next, coat the oven in the paste and let it sit overnight or for 12 hours. When the time’s up, take a damp cloth and wipe out the paste and the gunk that comes off with it. If there are still clumps of baking soda here and there, spray vinegar in these places, let it fizz, then wipe it out with your damp cloth until it’s gone.

Microwave

The best way to clean your microwave is to steam-clean it. In a microwave-safe bowl, place 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup vinegar. Put the bowl in the microwave and heat it for 5-10 minutes, depending on how dirty your microwave is. Let the bowl sit for a while to cool off, then take it out with mitts. Next, take a sponge and scrub the inside of the steamy microwave — the mess will come right out!

Tiles

The kitchen never feels completely clean without a spotless floor. Go beyond the normal sweep or vacuum by mopping with a deep-cleaning deodorizing mixture. There are, of course, many cleaning solutions on the market to get your kitchen tiles shiny and clean, but this simple homemade recipe is my favorite because it’s gentle, non-toxic and easy on kids and pets.

To make the solution, mix a gallon of water with a cup of white vinegar in a bucket and mop normally. It’ll give you that good, clean feeling using products you already have in your arsenal.

Drain

Nothing puts a kink in a dinner party more than a kitchen sink that simply won’t drain. Protect against this possible mishap by cleaning out your drain beforehand.

To do so, first flush the drain with a pot of boiling water. Next, add 1/2 cup of baking soda and let it sit for a few minutes. Afterwards, pour in a cup of vinegar to create a fizzing reaction and dislodge any lingering food bits in the drain. Once the drain has bubbled, pour in one more pot of boiling water to completely flush out the sludge, and you’re done!

Sink

For a flawless stainless steel or porcelain sink, sprinkle your sink with baking soda, then gently scrub in circular motions with a soft, damp sponge. When you’ve scrubbed the entire sink, rinse the sink with vinegar. The combination of ingredients will create a fizzing reaction that cleans and deodorizes.

Next, rub the sink basin down with an orange or lemon peel to further deodorize and create some shine. As the final step, take a paper towel, add a touch of olive oil and buff the sink basin for an even surface with a beautiful shine.

Bree

Decor, Kitchen Ideas

5 easy ways to organize your kitchen

Hey there, fellow homemakers!

When I think of my home, I picture my kitchen first because that’s my favorite room in the house. It’s where the family hangs out, where we make plans, eat together, cook together and have fun together.

It’s no wonder our kitchens often end up being so cluttered and disorganized. It’s where we spend most of our time! Because of this, I’ve compiled some tips to keep the most important room in my house cleaned up and clutter free. Let’s go!

1. Practice practical prioritization

Say that five times fast. Start with your eyes, a pen and paper. Make a list of what you use most in your kitchen (appliances not included), and make sure that’s the stuff that’s close at hand. If you never use your cookbooks, they can be up high or put away, looking pretty someplace else. If you use your pots and pans daily, consider a handsome pot rack that will free up cabinet space for something else. Let’s get practical!

2. Think vertically

Other than drawers, shelves and cabinets, the walls are great for adding storage to keep your kitchen organized. Hooks, additional shelves, spice racks and more can give your aprons, frequently used glassware and spices a place to call home. Again, this frees up space in drawers and cabinets to hide what was formerly cluttering up your countertops. Win-win!

3. Do a reorg

Organize your dishes by purpose, then by frequency of use. So while you probably already keep your glassware in one cabinet and your plates and bowls in another, you might want to move the less-used fancy china up top and the everyday stuff down within reach. A little reorganization goes a long way.

4. Create zones

Divide your kitchen into zones by function. The area around the stove should be where you keep your pots and pans. The area around your fridge would make a great place to keep a drawer full of plastic baggies, aluminum foil, plastic storage containers and plastic wrap for packing up leftovers and school lunches. The area adjacent to any dining or table spaces should contain utensils and utility drawers for family meal supplies and materials for homework and arts and crafts projects.

5. Do what works for you

In the end, it’s YOUR house. If these tips don’t work in your kitchen or make sense for the way you cook, don’t worry! Make your kitchen work for the way you live, and you’ll be much happier. That’s the point here, folks! Functionality is a function of the person doing the functioning, ya know? And as head homemaker, you’re the one doing most of the functioning. You’re the boss—remember that!

And while you’re doing what makes you happy, make sure there’s something non-functional and just plain pretty in your kitchen just for you, whether it’s a vase of fresh flowers or some beautiful home décor accessories from your friends at Home Zone Furniture.

Good luck with your organizing!

Bree