Tag Archives: art

Decorating Your Yard With a Simple Waterfall

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Whether it’s a dramatic waterfall or a quiet pond, water works its magic when it comes to oxygenating your pond. Flowing water also provides a natural ambient noise that masks other sounds from the neighborhood such traffic noise.

However keep in mind that not all koi breeds thrive in a pond with a waterfall. This is because fast flowing fountains lower the temperature of a pond. If you do build a fountain for a pond that contains koi make sure the water is low pressure and not much more than a trickle.

An external pond filter or waterfall tank can be positioned against the shallow edge of the pool to create a waterfall. This can be placed to spill directly into the pond in which case the pond liner is held against the pond filter until you are able to stack stones upwards from the shallow edge of the pond shelf to create a waterfall.

If you want to build a stream is desired then create a trench several inches deep that leads to pond. Line this with pond underlayment and cut to fit pond liner making sure that you allow extra material to overlap several inches into the pond. Streams should be dug wider than the finished size to make room for river stone that can be placed into the stream to make it look natural. Stones and rocks can be secured to the liner using mortar. This will hold back the water allowing it to spill over the stone creating the waterfall.

If you are using a submersible pump, place the where it should be in the liner. Now add some rocks or broken brick around and under the pump, making it level with the top of the liner. It should be in alignment whit your water level. Be sure that your pump is secure. This is ideal for creating a spray in the center of your pond.

You can leave the liner bare or you can fill it with dirt, rocks, sand or river rocks. Fill your pond with water, and allow it to stand for a couple of days before stocking it to allow any chlorine in the water to dissipate. Just make sure that everything is settled before you attempt to operate a pump. You can also add these elements later if you are curious to see if your pump works right away

To test the pump fill the liner with water and hook your pump up to a grounded electric outlet. You will be able to adjust the water flow to make a nice gently flowing fountain, a fine spray or a burble. liner.

Also be sure to keep your liner full of water. The water will evaporate, and if the water level gets too low, a submersible pump starts “burning air” and breaks. Try to keep your submersible pump under water at all time when it is operating. Also be sure to take the pump inside when the water starts to freeze

How to Decorate Historical Homes With Vintage Lighting

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If you have bought a historical home then the best way to showcase it is with vintage light fixtures. These fixtures indirectly highlight the nooks, crannies and architectural details of your heritage style house the same way candlelight would. Remember it is only eighty years ago that most homes started to adopt electricity. Before that lamps burned wax or gas.

The lighting fixtures that might be most appropriate for a historical home are probably going to be a pendant style and the shades area going to be made of glass, metal or porcelain as this is what kept the candle flames in check. Consider getting a large fancy painted globe for the larger rooms like the living room and fit them with incandescent bulbs to mimic the warm yellow soft light of gas or candlelight. In fact, a custom painted globe was a common gift for the newlyweds at the turn of the century.

If your house’s heyday was during the time of gas lighting then you might want to choose fixtures that mimic the look of a gas lamp. These would be fixtures that extend quite a ways from the wall if they are sconces and quite far down from the ceiling if it is a chandelier. These fixtures looked like storm lamps and the shades were always sitting up right light cups. It wasn’t until the advent of the electric light bulb that the shade could be designed to point downwards. One way to date a lighting fixture in fact is to look at which way the shades are positions and if they are cups, they suit older houses, and if they point downwards, then they suit a newer home.

The invention of electricity brought a boon to home design between 1890 and 1920. This was called the Arts and Crafts movement and all kinds of glass and metal shades were invented to house the new light bulb. So if your house was built during that time then Tiffany or glass lampshades might look best.

After World War I Art Deco designs took over and the glass light bulb casing became etched and sculpted into zig zag, crescent and sunburst shapes. If your house was built in the 1920s to 1940s Art Deco light fixtures might look fantastic in it.

If you do find an antique light fixture dated before 1920 there is one very important thing to remember. You cannot use light bulbs that are stronger than 15 watts in it or you could cause a fire. If the light fixture is an antique from 1920s onward then stay safe and only use a 40-watt bulb. Lamps that could safely take a 100-watt bulb did not appear until the early sixties and even then you should check the antique fixture carefully to see if instructions about what wattage the lamp should be fitted with are written on it somewhere. Of course one way to avoid all of this fuss would be to simply buy a retro recreation of the style that you want so that you can use whatever type of light bulb that you like.