Home and Garden: Three (3) Ideas for Improving the Harmony and Balance of Your Home or Office

The Enduring Relevance of Feng Shui

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese practice that has shaped living and working environments for more than 6,000 years. You open by highlighting how feng shui aligns with today’s “eco-friendly” mindset, emphasizing its ability to bring balance, harmony, serenity, and relaxation into any space — whether a home, apartment, or office cubicle.

This ancient practice draws on the natural laws of heaven (astronomy) and earth (geography), and its name literally translates as "wind" (feng) and "water" (shui). Despite its long history and the existence of different schools of thought, its principles remain simple to apply in modern life.

A memorable cultural reference — the garden scene from Enter the Dragon — illustrates how feng shui can shape environments subtly yet powerfully. The peaceful setting that prompts the British agent to remark, “This is very pleasant”, exemplifies feng shui design in action.

You can apply the principles and create feng shui experience for your home or office, just like in this popular movie. My favorite feng shui home/office décor is tabletop water fountains, wind chimes, and suncatchers. These items not only beautify a space but also promote calm and positive energy. You note that feng shui gifts are universally well-received because they symbolize harmony rather than negativity.

The environment for your home or office need not and absolutely should not be stressful.  If you're going to spend most of your working hours in a certain place or expect to be able to have that relaxing "there's no place like home" atmosphere when you come home after a hard day at work, there are a few things you can do to feel like you're in a peaceful paradise!  

Need Ideas For Improving Your Quality of Life?  Here are Three.

IDEA #1:  The combination use of bath salts with aromatherapy can change a mood from anxiety and distress to an experience of comfort and serenity. ...

Dead Sea Bath Salts (and

 Other Relaxation Products)

IDEA #2: The principles of Feng Shui worked 6000 years ago and still work today! Feng shui products are designed to create a truly calm, stress-free, relaxing environment and bring serenity, i.e. harmony and balance, into any environment - be it your home or where you work. ...

Feng Shui Products Make Great Gifts For the Home or Office

Feng Shui Desain Interior Warna Cat Rumah yang Cocok dengan Fengshui

This Last Idea is a Real Estate TIP!

IDEA #3:  (Psst ... MY TIP.) The feng shui experts probably won't mention them, but I think pomegranate trees not only contribute to feng shui but can increase the value of your property. Think about it. Even if you don’t want to sell your home, your house will be the envy of the neighborhood!

Sure, pomegranate trees grow freely all over Asia and Africa. But if you don’t live on that part of the planet, but you do have a warm, dry spot in your front or backyard where the soil doesn’t get waterlogged (there’s good drainage) and the plant will get lots of sunlight, you’ve got the perfect environment to grow this fabulous super fruit. Horticulturists have proven that pomegranates grow quite well in Texas, California, and Florida!

Angel Red is a gourmet pomegranate tree that can grow in areas where you need something tough and not too picky about soil type or care, and the Pomegranate Bonsai trees are unusually lovely and unique gifts that will not likely be returned or re-gifted.

English: Pomegranate Blossom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Joie de Vivre's Home and Garden Blog Posts Roundup!

Part of everyone's joie de vivre (joy of living) has to do with simply decorating one's home, apartment, or living spaces.  It doesn't take much money to make yourself happy.  You know you better than anybody else, so it should be easy to tap into your own psyche.  I tapped into mine and ended up writing these blog posts.  Somebody else might appreciate my home and garden blog posts.

Image credit:  Tools to Design a Virtual Room on Amazon

H&G Tips From Joie de Vivre Magazine:

Buying a Home: Ever Fantasize About Having a Celebrity Neighbor?

Dreaming of Your Dream Home?

Is the Sunroom Your Favorite Room in the House?

Does Your Favorite Room Have a Name?

Ideas for Improving the Harmony and Balance of Your Home or Office

Transplant Flowers to Cure Homesickness

(More blog posts about flowers)

Lifestyle: Does Your Favorite Room Have a Name?

Is there are favorite room in your home where you go to relax, retreat, block out the rest of the world, or share a special space with someone?

OK. Before I get started I just want to say that I know what a casbah is.

• It’s a fortress in North Africa (and in some other parts of the world). It is a unique medina or Islamic city and the Kasbah of Algiers is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• “Casbah” is a word that I have heard in movies and in music. I watched an old movie, released in 1948 titled “Casbah” (1948) and it was set in Algiers. There was also a song I liked during my teen years called “Rock the Casbah” . Will Smith sampled it on one of his songs. (Will Smith feat. K-Ci’s ‘Will 2K’ — Discover the Sample Source)
• Casbah is also spelled kasbah, qasba, or qasaba.

When I hear the word “casbah”, I usually associate it with something really cool!

When I’m talking about casbah in this article, I’m going in a completely different but still cool direction from the usual meaning of the word and how it is commonly used.

JUST FOLLOW ALONG WITH ME.

Everybody likes to read articles or watch TV shows about the personal lives of celebrities. I kind of like shows where they show the homes where they live. The late Gregory Peck and his wife said they liked to spend time in a room in their house that they called “The Casbah”. It’s a place where they retreat.

Just then I had “Ah hah!” moment. I thought to myself:

‘It would be so cool to have a room in my house that I could call ‘The Casbah’.’

The best part would be decorating the room.

There would be thick rugs and huge comfy pillows. The décor would look Persian.

Yes. I know a casbah is a fortress and there are famous casbahs that are located in Morocco. Morocco is in northwest Africa and Persia (now Iran) is in southwestern Asia.

But it’s MY CASBAH! So if I want to decorate Persian or Iranian style, I will. LOL.

8 Inspiring Decor Ideas from Iran: This article says to use copper pots, some handwoven baskets, various types of hand-stitched cloth, sweet-smelling flowers, decorative rugs, and a Poshti (a decorative pillow for your back). (FYI. There is an excellent selection of poshtis on Etsy.)

At present, I live in an apartment with my sons. But if I ever get into a home again, I plan to have a home office/casbah. Yeah well! I figure I won’t be able to afford a house where I can have one room for my home office and another for a casbah.

Have you never named a room in your house?

• What is your favorite room in your home and why?
• What Your Favorite Room Says About Your Personality

Thanks for reading.

Original Source

Vintage Books for Your Personal Library or Book Collections

No matter what anybody says I say that libraries will never go out of style.  Yes, there is and always will be digitized literature.  But nothing will ever replace resting comfortably in your bed or on your sofa and curling with a good book!  NOT a tablet!

That being said, I have always loved most things vintage. Have to define “vintage” in case you happen to be about the age of one of my kids. Vintage for them might be circa 1980 or 1990, and they may think vintage for me would be circa 1880 or 1890. Not so.

Vintage, by my definition, is back in my day, the 1950s and 60s, or anything before that but still in the 1900s.

Are we clear? Good!

One of my favorite things is “library trash”. Books that some public libraries toss like trash because they do not have enough room on their shelves and have to make space for the “new”.

In my dictionary: old books = vintage books; and they are still worth reading!

Of course, if it is left up to chance and you are searching for a specific book, the odds are not in your favor and you may be waiting a while – wishing and hoping for that particular reading material to end up on the pile. Not all awesome vintage books are tossed by the head librarian.

Fortunately, there is a bookstore called Vintage Books, that has been around since 1954. It is physically located in New York, New York, but thanks to the wonders of information technology, you can peruse their bookshelf online. There are books listed by the usual genres from Art to History to Mystery to Travel. But you might find the selected works categorized in the Vintage Series worth examining. There are 5 different series: Civil War; Classics; Contemporaries, Departures; and International.

Vintage books are priceless additions to your own personal library and are great gift ideas. What is also great is that these published works are not very expensive, come in paperback or hardcover, as well as audio-book format or in the Kindle edition.

(NOTE: Vintage Books is part of the Random House/Knopf Doubleday network of bookselling sites.  Below are book Selections From the Vintage Series


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The Civil War Dictionary by Mark Boatner
(Vintage Civil War Library)

For almost thirty years The Civil War Dictionary has been the most complete, authoritative, and handy reference book on what has been called the Second American Revolution, 1861-1865.

Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
(Vintage Classics)

A young English widow takes off on the grand tour and along the way marries a penniless Italian. Her in-laws are not amused.

The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez
(Vintage Contemporaries)

A love story is woven into a novel about hopes and dreams, and redefinition of what it means to be American.

Cuba in Mind: An Anthology
(Vintage Departures)

Explorer Christopher Columbus described Cuba as “the most beautiful country that human eyes have ever seen”. 31 writers – poetry, fiction, and nonfiction – agree.

Bombay Stories
(Vintage International)

1930s Bombay provided the author with the inspiration for this collection of short stories.

If you’re gifting vintage books might as well throw in some vintage bookends and a desk! :)

Decorative Heavy Duty Bookends – Metal Large Book Ends – Vintage Tall Books Stand

Sauder Graham Hill Desk, Autumn Maple Finish

Source:  Webnuggetz.com

Home and Garden: Is the Sunroom Your Favorite Room in the House?

I started learning about architectural styles, home design, home restorations, and renovations, etc.  Did you know that many people, no matter what part of the world they live in, often decide that a sunroom would make a delightful addition to their home?  

First, they pick the sunroom style.  Then they pick the décor.  The entire home addition project is exciting and family members quiver with anticipation.  They can’t wait for the day when they will be able to spend countless hours in “the happy room”.  

If you’re thinking about adding a sunroom to your home or decorating the sunroom you already have, here are some ideas.

🏠  Does your house have a sunroom?
🏠  Don’t you think a sunroom is a great place in the house for entertaining family and friends?
🏠  If you had to decide on a home improvement or home addition project, which would you choose?

• Build a deck or patio
• Install an in-ground swimming pool
• Remodel the kitchen
• Add on a sunroom

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Source: Virily