Archive for October, 2011

Paintings and other beautiful works of wall art should be set apart from other home decor accents. Why would anyone spend their hard-earned money on a painting they love if they’re not going to display it in the proper manner? There are certain ways to light different types of wall art so their best features are highlighted.

• Never hang artwork in the path of direct sunlight. The sun’s ultraviolet rays can damage it.
• Fluorescent lighting can also damage artwork because it too gives off ultraviolet rays.
• Track lighting fixtures are often used to highlight wall art because they’re flexible. You can adjust the lights to face whichever direction suits the artwork best.
• Another type of wall art lighting is picture lights. Our House of Troy lighting collection has picture lights that attach directly to the wall art or to the wall above it.
• You should hang wall art at eye level. If the room where the wall art is displayed is a kitchen or dining room, hang it at the eye level of someone sitting.

Try to choose accent lights that blend in, instead of standing out and taking attention away from the wall art. These accent lighting tips will draw attention to the artwork displayed in your home. You can browse all of our accent lighting options online at ValleyLighting-CT.com.

Instead of turning on the porch lights for trick-or-treaters, this Halloween light up the inside and outside of your home with creatively decorated pumpkins. Here are a few ideas for pumpkin decorating.

• Tap into your maternal side with these cute pumpkins. Carve a happy face into a large pumpkin, and similar smaller faces into several small pumpkins. Wrap a blanket around the tiny carved pumpkins, and set them in a basket.
• This sick pumpkin, with pumpkin seeds and gook coming out of it’s mouth, will show kids what happens after eating to much candy. Get the look by carving an oval shaped mouth and strewing the pumpkin’s insides out of it.
• If you’re not a fan of the mess that comes with carving a pumpkin you can paint a face or design, or create one using Mr. Potato-like facial pieces. You can find facial features for pumpkin decorating in your local retail or Halloween store.
• Greet trick-or-treaters with a Halloween message, but put a unique twist on the message by using a group of pumpkins to spell it out. Buy one pumpkin for each letter of your message, plus one or two extra just in case you make a mistake. You can carve the letters in a bubble letter design, or use the easier method of carving tiny holes and stacking and shaping them into a letter.
• Turn off the pathway lights! The walk to your front door will be extra spooky when it’s lit up by the smiling ghostly faces of dozens of pumpkins.
• Make your pumpkin come alive with straw hair, an old floppy hat and a plaid scarf. You can even stick a piece of straw in his mouth!
• Mystify visitors with a pumpkin carved with stars and moons.
• Most people avoid the deformed weirdly shaped pumpkins, but they’re great for creating scary jack-o-lanterns. Next time you see an odd shaped pumpkin imagine it with spooky eyes, big pointy teeth and an erie grin!

Don’t rush into carving your pumpkin! First, draw the design you have in mind on the pumpkin using a marker. This will ensure that your pumpkin turns out just the way you wanted it to. What are some of your favorite ways to carve a pumpkin?

The cool fall weather makes it a great time for doing things outdoors. It’s not too hot and not too cold, which makes it perfect weather for completing some of the outdoor projects you’ve been putting off. Here are some outdoor fall projects that you may need to work on at your home.

• It’s no fun to watch the leaves change colors through dirty windows! Grab a ladder, window wash and paper toweling, and start cleaning the outside of the house’s windows. You can work your way indoors and clean the insides of the windows the same day or save the project for a colder fall day.
• Check your outdoor landscape lights and pathway lights, and make sure they’re working properly. Replace any burnt out bulbs in the ceiling lights now so you don’t have to do it when the snow is falling.
• Before the snow arrives, rake all the leaves in your yard.
• Organize and store your gardening tools, hoses, sprinklers and other yard accessories in your shed or garage so they’re safe throughout winter and making them easy to find in the summer.
• Clean all of your yard accessories before you organize them in storage for the winter.
• Maintain your landscaping over the winter by planting a tree, dividing perennials and planting flower bulbs.
• Clean dirt, leaves, and other debris out of your home’s gutters.
• Reduce drafts in your home and install your storm windows.
• Go around your home and check the weather stripping on all of your doors and windows.

Other outdoor fall projects include cleaning your dryer vent, repairing any damages to your sidewalks and driveway, and repairing any other damages to your home. What are some of the ways you and your family prepare your home for colder weather?

October is here and it’s time to begin decorating your home for the most spooky holiday of the year, Halloween! Valley Lighting & Home Decor has some spooktacular ideas that will have trick-or-treaters running from your house in fright.

• Install a dimmer switch on the chandelier and other lights in your foyer, and decorate the chandelier and lights with fake spider webs and plastic spiders. On Halloween night, turn the lights down low to give trick-or-treaters an extra special scary delight.
• Place spooky bats or blackbirds on a bookshelf, and highlight the Halloween scene using under cabinet lights.
• Make your living room look like it hasn’t been lived in for years. Cover your living room furniture with white sheets, stretch fake spider webs across random surfaces and scatter a few autumn colored silk leaves across the floor.
• Place several brooms next to the front door, and hang an old, worn wooden board above each broom. Each board should have the name of someone living in your house.
• If you really want to cause a fright for the neighborhood children, dress up in a witch’s costume, and sit in a rock chair on the porch. Make sure you?re very still, and whenever someone walks by jump up behind them!
• Instead of dressing up like a witch, disguise yourself as a zombie, and lay in a coffin on the porch until someone walks by.
• Flickering candlelight is always spooky, especially when coming from black Cover your outdoor pathway lights with lanterns lining the way up your sidewalk. If you want a spookier type of pathway light, use candles instead of lanterns.
• Make the outside of your house look dilapidated and rundown by stringing fake spider webs throughout the front of your house. If you want to be dramatic with your outdoor decorations, you can even string webs from the cars in your driveway!

Every one at Valley Lighting & Home Decor would like to wish you and your family a terrifying, bloodcurdling, happy Halloween!