I remember the day my Grandma fell down the stairs, as if it were yesterday. It must have made a big impression on me, because that was a lot of yesterdays ago. Now it’s the possibility of my mother falling on stairs that concerns me. Of course, I’d rather she moved to a place without stairs, but she’s just not ready to leave the old house yet. So I did a little research into the best ways that I can help her prevent falls at home.

It turns out, falls are a leading cause of injury for people over sixty-five. Read more »

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Adding area rugs to your home is a great way to enhance and protect your floors, absorb sound and give your feet a little warmth on a cold morning. Plus, they can serve as a beautiful focal point to a room. But what size rug is best for a particular room?

Continue Reading How to Pick an Area Rug

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Now that the holiday has passed, it’s time to decide when to take Christmas lights down, how to best take down your Christmas tree and how to pack up all the other holiday decorations so they’re protected and easy to use again next year. Here are a few tips to make the process easy.

If you put out a big light display, you might be asking yourself, “How long can I get away with leaving this up?” People have differing opinions on when to take down Christmas lights—some say New Year’s Day, others say by the end of January—but one thing everyone can agree on is what a tangled mess those lights can be. That’s why we recommend the Lights Storage Bag. Simply wrap your lights around the reels and tuck them into the storage case to keep them tangle- and dust-free, and easy to unfurl next year.

The other big job you face after Christmas is taking down your tree. Make it go faster with a Cushioned Ornament Holder. This quilted case with foam-padded dividers keeps each ornament stowed safely until next year—no time spent wrapping each ornament individually. Then, store your faux tree it easily with this clever wheeled storage bag: it protects your tree all year and makes it incredibly easy to move to and from storage.

Wrapping up the rest of your holiday items—wreaths, tabletop trees, leftover gift wrap and more—is a breeze with durable zippered bags sized and shaped just right for your decorations. Protect everything from dust and moisture, and make it easy to find and ready to use next year.

Wondering where, exactly, you’re going to store all these items for an entire year? Here’s a secret: if you think you’re short on storage space, just look up. You have lots of unused space in your garage and laundry room between your head and the ceiling; all you need is an Overhead Storage Organizer to let you take advantage of it. Even transform ceiling space in your basement or mud room with a ceiling storage kit you can adjust to fit your space.

These smart ideas make it easier to clean up from the holiday this year, and they’re a great way to leave yourself a little present for next year: the gift of easy-to-use Christmas decorations!

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Do you have an unofficial competition on your block for the best holiday lights? Maybe it’s your turn to host Christmas dinner (or the office party) and you want your home to look its best. Whatever the reason you decorate, you don’t have to spend hours arranging holiday lighting in the cold or running multiple extension cords, thanks to clever technology and modern LED decorations—some are so efficient that they’re even powered by batteries.

One of the quickest, easiest ways to light the entire outside of your home is with our Firefly Landscape Laser Light  Just stake it, plug it in, and it looks like you’ve strung 1,000 lights. Shine it on a giant tree, and when the wind blows, the lights even appear to twinkle. We guarantee you won’t miss climbing up and down the ladder on a cold day to string holiday lighting.
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As Thanksgiving nears, one of our teammate’s favorite seasonal items on Solutions.com is now in the spotlight.   Tom the Animated Turkey s a beloved character, and not for his oven-roasted flavor!  You could consider him a vegetarian’s favorite turkey, but we prefer to think of Tom as a cheerful surprise for holiday visitors.  We hear the animated turkey brings lots of smiles. Our customers who have purchased this turkey say it best.

Buy Now >

Here are some of our customer’s comments:

Watch Tom In Action

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No need to bring the party indoors after the sun goes down! Glow all out at your next outdoor party with these fun ideas:

1. Line your stone paths with these handblown glass lanterns >. The soft-glowing LED hidden inside goes on automatically at dark. They also make a colorful and subtle centerpiece for the table.

2. Adorn your dining table with these charming, energy-efficient wax birds>. They provide a clean and safe candle alternative, and a great addition to your dining table after dark.

3. Add a little glow to your pool. These floating lights > can be set for color changing or yellow candle-like flickering. Anchor them in place or let them float free. Great for entertaining…or enjoying as you dine poolside.

4. With every summer party, there is a chance of unexpected guests. This quiet bug zapper > has purple lights that come on automatically at dusk to draw the insects in.

Looking for some more fun ways to light up your summer party? Click here>

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My husband Ben and I are busy people. We both work full-time, and when Friday evening rolls around, we enjoy spending our free time with friends and family. That’s why it’s no surprise that during the weekend, there’s no time to clean our house before we’re back at the office.

Recently, Ben came up with a great idea to make our home a priority: Clean one room in the house, once a month.

The idea is to pick one room in the house (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, etc.) and clean it from top to bottom for one day of the month. This includes moving furniture and dusting, wiping, vacuuming, and anything else you can think of to deep clean the room. It’s also a chance to decide whether or not you want to redecorate or reorganize the space.

By making each room a priority, it reminds us to appreciate our beautiful home.

We decided our “clean day” in January would be Sunday, since most fun events on the weekends are usually Friday and Saturday nights. Once we decided on a day, we stuck to it—even if we received a tempting last-minute brunch invitation.

Last month we focused on the bedroom and started cleaning the bedroom closet, and worked our way to the master bathroom. We went through our closet and pulled out piles of clothes we didn’t wear anymore. We made one pile for donation, and another to give away to friends and family who we thought might like them.  We washed our sheets, dusted end tables, cleaned the windows, and vacuumed the carpets.

That night, it felt good to know our bedroom was now a clutter-free, peaceful retreat. And guess what—we even had time to go to dinner with friends!

Freebie: We’ve made a free to print room list for you to try the One Room, Once a Month technique for yourself. Click the image below to download. Make sure to come back to our blog and keep us posted on your monthly cleaning.

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Have too many CDs and movies to keep track of? Here are some creative ideas to help you organize your collection.

1. Start by pulling all of your CDs, DVDs or videos games out of their current state of mess so they can be sifted through.

2. You will need to decide how you would like to organize your collections. Basic organization starts with separating out all types of media (DVDs, CDs, video games) if you have not already done that.  From this point you have options as to how you would like to arrange your separated collections.

• Alphabetical: Create a list of all the titles in an Excel spreadsheet on your computer. Then sort the entire list with the Sort feature in Excel, which will automatically create an alphabetical list for you.
• Favorites: Another organization technique is to arrange movies or CDs by your personal likes & dislikes. Place your favorite movies on the top shelf and work down (or to the right) from your starting point.
• Genre: Organizing by genre is another logical option for arranging media. Separating comedy movies from action movies will take less time than sorting alphabetically—and will speed up the time it take to find what you’re looking for.

3. Once you’ve organized your collection, it’s time to stack, setup and put it away. A simple wall shelf at eye level will do, but we suggests you take a look at our large collection of media storage. You’ll find many easy and affordable upgrades for your home. Solutions carries many different options for storing your media, which will safely and neatly store your DVDs, CDs and video games in attractive wood furnishings.

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