Tiles Are Perfect For Basements

Whenever people think about redecorating a house they simply forget about the basement. Even if it's been a year now since you've moved into the new house it's time to do something about this room. This can have so many purposes that it would be a shame to waste this very practical space only because you're out of ideas.

You could turn it into a getaway area, a workshop, a place where to play poker with your friends. You could practically do anything with it as long as you decorate it properly. Start by choosing the flooring. Cement is definitely out of the question. Choose natural stone tiles like marble ones. They are extremely functional and look great.

One of the biggest advantages of marble tiles versus other types of floors is their easy cleaning. If they're properly set-up you'll be amazed how easy it is to make the place sparkling clean in no time. It doesn't matter if you want to use your basement as a workplace or as a recreational area. It has to be easy to maintain.

If it's going to be a workplace you need a floor that's easy to clean because you may get dirt on it or spill several liquids. If it's a recreational space it's not enough to be able to wipe the wine that may get on the floor, it also has to look stylish even if it's a basement. This way nothing can stop you to party each weekend with your friends.

If you're planning to use the basement as a storage area you need floors that are resistant and that can handle heavy weights. Marble has been used in many industries especially for its resistance and durability. So no need to worry that a marble tiles flooring might not handle your heavy cabinets or even the grass cutting machine.

There's one important thing to know about installing marble tiles. All online DIY articles have this as a primary rule: clean and dry the surface perfectly before starting anything else. Don't worry if the floor isn't properly leveled, you can fix that with the level of mortar you use to stick the tiles. Now that you know that, all you have to do is choose which marble tiles would look best in your basement. Remember even if it is a basement it has to look nice in case you decide to change its purpose and turn it into a room for parties or where you and your friends can just hang out and play games.

Create a wardrobe perfect game with 10 new games

During these cold winter months is nothing better than sitting like a family and play. It gives you the opportunity to get together, talk, laugh and have fun.

Play in the dining room at the kitchen table or on the family floor creates a very different family dynamic than other activities. Talks may start to happen - you can learn things about your child's academic or social, do not know. It works much better to ask: "What happens whenschool today, "if you want the blank stare you crazy or something.

When playing games, children learn to play as a team - and do not get to win. This is something that at present do not teach our children well. We have created environments in school and sports so that our children have always happened. But in the real world, that does not always happen.

According to Alvin Rosenfeld, MD, a child psychiatrist and coauthor of The Over-Scheduled Childand four other books, other benefits from the games include: * number and shape recognition, grouping and counting * * Writing and reading recognition perception and color recognition * Visual eye-hand coordination and agility * Improved Increased capacity for verbal communication focus, and increase attention span

The majority of traditional board games are not suitable for children under 5 years are not prepared to deal with all the cognitive rules. However,There are some new, fun games on the market designed specifically for 4-5 years of age who are great. The best games are not "characterfied. High School Musical Dora the Explorer and have no resistance. In five to ten years ago, when you go to pull the game for a long holiday weekend - anyone even remember, High School Musical .

Most electronic games lose some of their educational value. Monopoly without money and the banker is not simply thethe same thing. If what you want is time with family so I do not want to buy computer games that you play on that. The idea of family time, is that you can play together and laugh and have fun, stay.

Displaying all 10 games added to the market over the past eight years. All meet the criteria, do not have batteries that do not use a computer to play, the designer is developing with them a child's development in mind, and have stamina.We want to continue playing for many years.

The games are organized into age-appropriate, and the description is from the factory.

1. Zimbbos - Use your creativity and build a sense of balance for most Elephantastic Pyramid. Alternatively, to find out how many elephants nuts is added to the pyramid. The last player who is the elephant of the pyramid wins the game. This is a classic game stack where their children canspatial relationships and test the motor ability. Suitable for 3 to 8 years

2. Horton Hears a Who - Save - on a wild adventure to save the Whos Go! Put on the Horton hat and race around the house to the clover, where to find the tiny Whos live. Get your trunk? Then again quickly before time runs out! The player with the most saves Whos is the winner! It is suitable for 4-8 years

3. Cariboo - In Cariboo enjoy the thrill of open doors and secretSearch for hidden treasures! The activities should be in this game combines laugh out loud fun with four early-learning fundamentals - letters, numbers, shapes and colors. It grows with the child. Kids practice A, B, C and 1, 2, 3, 4 with the beginner cards, then the complete alphabet and numbers from 1 to 10 with the Advanced tab. Each game of Cariboo takes 15 minutes to play to 10. Suitable for 4 and above

4. Finders Keepers - Be the first to findhidden objects. Select 3 cards of the cardholder. One, two, three, go! All players at once quickly to identify and colorful squares on the corresponding images on the board. Who's success will require the image map. Play the role of speed you want - won the most cards wins the old game just got Suitable for 4-7 years

5. ThinkFun Zingo - Players try to fill their Zingo! Cards with cards from Zingo Zinger. The first playerfill their card wins! game rules can be set in favor of players more or less competitive, and to vary the length of time it takes each game. Zingo teaches shape recognition and pattern and the observation and short-term memory. Suitable for 4-8

6. Bloch - Blokus encourages creative thinking. The objective of this game is for players on board to meet all their pieces. If they can not be a piece of it next to another player's pieces, butplace must touch at least one corner of their pieces already on the board. The player who discards all of their tiles first is the winner. Four players make this abstract game especially fast and exciting, but players can just as fun for two or three. A game Blokus typically lasts 30 minutes. Suitable for 5 to

7. Gobblet and Gobblet Gobblet Jr. - a four-in-a-row, Tic-Tac-Toe game where you move pieces on the boardIt increases the odds of winning - or losing. Simply move the piece to an empty space, or eat smaller piece of an opponent to gain an advantage. In Gobblet Jr. has always been at work on 3 in a row. Gobblet is for 7 or above, while Gobblet Jr. is a 5 or higher

8. Qwirkle - This game combines well-thought strategy with challenges to think fast. Qwirkle is played by creating rows and columns of matching colors and shapes. Since the simple play requires no reading,whole gang can connect shapes and colors that the multiple-tile strategic moves that have earned the maximum points. Suitable for 6 to

9. Apples to apples, apples to apples and apples with apples Jr. 7 + - The name of the game is a pun on the phrase "apples and oranges", and the game is to compare different things. Overall game is as follows: Players are treated to red cards, which are printed on a name, and the court draws a green cardwhere a word is printed, and submit them in the eyes of all players. Each player then chooses a red card in their possession, they think that best describes the green card. The judge then decides which adjective they like more. Apples with apples is for 12 and over; apples with apples Jr. is for children aged 9 and above, and apples with apples 7 for children is 7 and above.

10. Stupiduel - Stupiduel is a simple but entertaining stories of playing cards modifier. Use your hand up andto construct diabolical weapon (eg "1000 electrified Hamster"), with which to attack a player. Then you have a story to tell about how you use this amazing weapon, but feared to destroy the opponent. The other player takes a defensive position in the same way (perhaps a "radioactive dwarf"), and to describe how it prevents or deflects the attack. The rest of the group will then decide the winner of the battle. Suitable for 12 and above.

How to create a new dice game

Create a new game can be quite simple if you start playing with the idea of an existing one and expand it. And often you can do to create a game with the slot machines common.

This is a dice game called Shut the Box 12, which uses a pair of dice, and the field with a series of twelve boxes flip the numbers from 1 a. Each card can be standing or lying down.

When a group of people playing the game eachSolitaire-game start of any player game, the tiles are raised lying. A, so that what they are.

During the game, pulling the two in the box and try to determine the tiles up, the total number of laminates. If the first roll is a 7, you can set the 7 or 6:01 or 4:02 or 5 and 3 or 4 and 2 and 1 It goes on and roll down the tiles until you can not standTiles, the number of laminated parts. Then add the numbers on the tiles are left, and record this as your guests.

The tiles are then collected, and the next player begins. If all players have played, the player with the lowest score wins.

Now create a new game numbers are based on the idea of fitting to throw the dice. Replacing a deck of cards for the tile and the box. A suit of cards you receive 12 issues plus a king.Without the king, he could play Shut the Box.

It was decided to change the game play of a series of Solitaire is a game where players play in turn, beginning with a player moving clockwise and starting on a circle. Give each player a chance to score even more (remember the 4 and 2 and 1), each player tries to match the number of two dice, the number on a card. To increase the chance of scoring, die, add a third.

With four colorsa card game, the game takes place in four rounds. At the beginning of each round, the cards are in one color on the table.

Who is the train, tossing three dice and find a map to match the number two of the dice. If you're a 3, 4, 6 and roll, you could follow a 7 (3 +4), 9 (3 +6) or 10 (4 +6). If you can mount a card, take it. Otherwise, the next player rolls.

Because of aces and kings, add the following anomalous result. If you roll a three, you canAce. Pulling Three 6, can the king. If you roll a two and two gone, you can use the Ace. It disappeared when pulling two 6 and queen, the king can.

The next round in circles until all the cards are gone, or until you have a map, two laps around the full circle included. Then remove the remains of cards, and put a new suit of cards. The player was, the train would, in addition to the players to start the new cycle. AEnd of count four rounds, players show their cards and the player with more cards.

You can change the rules to make changes in this game. The Aces and Kings can score three points. Or re-launch of two dice during your turn. Or, four dice. Or the cards remaining at the end of each turn to remain on the table. Or the player with the fewest cards after four rounds.

Copyright (c) 2009 - Paul Hömke. All rights reserved.

Japanese Mahjong - A Personal Encounter

From quite early on in my life I had always wanted to learn to play mahjong. The teeming variety and exotic charm of the tiles fascinated me. I knew that mahjong represented one important strand of Japanese popular culture, so when I accepted a job at an English language school in Hiroshima in 1990 I took the opportunity to find out more about the game.

I asked some of my students about the game and two of them, Noda-san and Yoshimoto-san, offered to teach me how to play. "But there are only three of us." I replied. "Isn't mahjong a four-player game?"

"We'll teach you Japanese three-player mahjong." said Noda-san, "It's a very good game." He was right. I became addicted to "three-player mahjong" in my first year living in Japan.

Like everything else imported into Japan over the centuries, mahjong has been adapted and improved upon to suit Japanese culture. In fact two popular versions of mahjong are played in Japan. By far the most common version of Japanese mahjong is the Japanese elaboration of the original Chinese four-player game. The Japanese four-player game is commonly called "reach mahjong" ("riichi maajyan" in Japanese). Then there is the far less common and more drastically transformed three-player game, which is common in Hiroshima. That is the game which my two students taught me to play.

A standard mahjong set consists of 144 tiles divided into 36 types, each type occurring four times (4 x 36 = 144). The greater part belongs to one of the three suits, Coins, Bamboos, and Characters. The suits run from one to nine. The remaining tiles divide into three Dragons, four Winds and eight decorative bonus tiles called Flowers and Seasons.

Apart from the Flowers and Seasons, which are often discarded, the four-player game uses all of these tiles. However, the Japanese three-player variation cuts out all the tiles of the characters suit numbering from two to eight. This produces a faster, riskier game that is ideally suited for gambling - if only gambling were not illegal in Japan!

Mahjong was introduced to Japan from China in the early years of the twentieth century and quickly became a popular urban pastime. But with Japan on a war footing from 1931-1945, mahjong was actively discouraged by the authorities.

The fortunes of Japanese mahjong revived after the Second World War to such an extent that there were about 60,000 mahjong parlours (jansoh) in operation throughout the nation by 1983. Since then the game has been in something of a decline as fewer youngsters play it nowadays. By the early nineties the number of jansoh had fallen to something like 25,000. Nevertheless, that is still a lot of parlours! If you recognize the kanji (Chinese characters) for "mahjong" or "jansoh" you will not fail to notice the seemingly ubiquitous presence of signs advertising mahjong parlours wherever you go in urban Japan.

Poke your head inside the door of a typical Japanese mahjong parlour and a vista of a brightly lit, smoke filled room crowded with men sat around square mahjong tables in their suits or rumpled shirt sleeves will most likely present itself to you. The mahjong parlour is not the exclusive preserve of men however, and every so often one or two of the more indomitable female players can be seen holding court at a table. The scene will be completed by the "mama-san", the dominatrix who presides over the mahjong parlour dispensing drinks, snacks, and words of advice about the complexities of the game.

In Hiroshima, where the three-player game is a popular regional variation, you can play either the three-player or the four-player game. Moreover, not only are the fees quite low, the beer is cheap too! If you are lucky, mama-san will provide a range of tasty snacks or even some of her home cooking at no extra cost.

It is worth visiting a Japanese mahjong parlour just to see the mahjong tables. They are sophisticated marvels of modern technology. Each table contains two sets of tiles. While one set is in play on the table surface, the other set lurks in the guts of the machine. When a game is finished one of the players presses a button and the central section of the table opens up to reveal a cavity. The players push the tiles into the cavity. Another button is pressed and the central section closes. At the same moment four long narrow flaps slide open on the table and four completed walls of tiles emerge.

Meanwhile the tiles that were pushed into the table are automatically churned and shuffled and jostled into position ready for the next game. In this way players are saved the bother of having to shuffle the tiles and build walls after each game. As soon as one game is over the next game can commence without delay; an important consideration when you are paying for the time you spend at the table.

Of course, mahjong can also be played at home with friends or family. Mahjong sets can be purchased from many outlets and range in price from ¥2,000 to ¥35,000 and up. The game would typically be played sitting around the kotatsu - a low table with a built-in heating element for winter evenings. Until a few years ago kotatsu manufacturers catered to the mahjong-playing market by finishing the underside of most of the table-tops in green baize. If you wanted to play mahjong at home you could convert your kotatsu into a mahjong table simply by turning over the table-top.

Nowadays, with fewer people playing mahjong at home, fewer kotatsu come with green baize undersides. Instead, rubber mats made especially for mahjong can be purchased quite easily. A rubber mat serves to keep the noise down when the tiles are shuffled.

The influence of mahjong on modern Japanese culture is testified to by the fact that in 1991 the world's first museum dedicated to the game opened on the north-east coast of the Boso peninsula, to the south of Tokyo.

But with fewer young people taking up the game, does mahjong have a future? The Director General of the museum, Kyoichiro Noguchi certainly thinks so. Indeed, his vision for the game is full of lofty ambition. He expressed the hope that "Mahjong will contribute to the cultural exchange and peace of the world" [sic]. I don't know about that, but I am sure that the game will continue to be a popular aspect of contemporary Japan culture even if it never again reaches the zenith of popularity that it enjoyed in the early postwar years.

Flooring Ideas For the Perfect Kitchen Design

It is shrewd to use your time when deciding kitchen flooring, of course it can be exciting moving off to the DIY shops after you have studied some interior planning publications but don't procure purely on looks only. Make sure that you look about initially and obtain a few favourites in mind before you journey over to the floor covering stockroom to pay money for the merchandise.

We do the majority of our action in the kitchen while we are upright so it is clever to shop for flooring that is unproblematic on the legs. It may sound ridiculous, but while you are in the warehouse try taking off your shoes and test out the flooring in your socks or undressed feet. Do the soles of your legs find the flooring you are trying to be pleasant and snug or too unyielding to march on?

Put your shoes back on and move out for a pace and investigate how the floor sounds on the sound level. The majority of new kitchens are seen to be right next to the living room. If other individuals are playing video games or looking at the TV, they may well be bothered.

Make certain that you also pick floor covering that should last the test of time, with kitchen rooms being one of the more eventful rooms in the house it is clever to get something hard wearing. With the kids and the animals it doesn't take long to erode the floor down, not to point out all the food and spills. Strength is crucial in today's kitchens for big families and simplicity of preservation could be taken into significance too.

For a properly insulated selection you ought to take a view to acquiring a wood floor, not only does this kind of floor keep the temperature in but it is also quite quiet to move on too. The sort of wood you make use of for your floor covering does possess an effect on the safeguarding and durability of the floor so be aware. One of the doubts with wood is that it possibly will be spoiled, but wood floors can constantly be sanded and refinished.

For homeowners who desire extremely durable flooring and one that needs little looking after, laminate is a wonderful option. Even if you already have your floor covered, you can easily put laminate floor types on top making it effortless to install too. Although laminate has its advantages, it lacks the warmth and quality classically connected with untreated timber and several may perhaps find it loud.

Ceramic clay tile allows for a wonderful deal of customization in terms of colours and displays. However grout is able to be a bit of a pest when attempting to polish these tiles although not including grout, they are painless to maintain. Also ceramic tiling can be a little solid on the legs so if you suffer from some leg or feet issues you might want to steer clear of this option. Using ceramic tiling can furthermore be a little chilly especially in the winter months so make sure you have on a few thick socks while running on it.

If money is an issue then catch a browse at a number of the reasonable vinyl and peel & stick tiles accessible out there. With an innumerable quantity of customisation possibilities, vinyl is also pretty effortless to settle down in your kitchen floor as well. One of the negatives to vinyl floors is that the sides are able to curl and peel.

For the power aware linoleum may well be the right floor cover for you. Made from linseed oil, cork powder, timber flour, tree resins, pounded sandstone and pigments; this kitchen flooring is environmentally friendly. Linoleum is not the lone ecologically aware option out there, there are numerous with their particular positives and negatives. The key is to work with your individual kitchen floor cover ideas and in the lengthy run your floor will indicate your taste and suit with your standard of living.

Wall Decals - The Perfect "Stick-on" Design

They've suddenly become the rage and for good reason. It used to be that wall decals or wall stickers, were sold primarily as an alternative to permanently alerting a child's room for the sake of kid decor. There were wall sticker options for all sorts of children's room themes. But, the market has since expanded and wall decals have grown up. Companies are springing up with collectives of visual artists, creating walls decals or wall tattoos that are as artistic as they are functional.

How can a wall decal be functional, you ask? Well, most of them have been engineered so that they are removable and reusable. So whether you have a phobia to commit to any one home design approach, or perhaps you want to stage your home for sale, but don't want to invest vast sums into wall art- well, here is where wall decals can offer some practical value.

These decals are easier than paint in that they only take minutes to put on, they do not damage the wall and are, as mentioned, removable. They are usually sold as multi pack packages, that contain various decals- all part of the same theme. In this regard, you have some creative input as to how you'd like to arrange your decals. Prices generally range from $12- $165, so these creative additions can be done on any budget.

There are so many options out there that range from sophisticated art designs, to video game inspired graphics. Many companies are coming up with irreverent wall furniture. So, you can't afford that incredible head board and all you have is an uninspired futon? You can now paste an elaborate gothic inspired headboard tattoo onto your wall. Who needs reality, when fantasy can dance about your walls?!

Of course, now more than ever, there are even more kid friendly options for wall decals. The fact that your children change their design whims on a monthly basis may not be so much of a problem any longer. Instead of sucking it up, and painting your child's room that unbearably garish pink, you can sit down with her, and order some decals that suit her tastes. And, if next year, she's all about black- well, then she can save up her allowance and buy some black decals. (and thank-goodness you can avoid painting the room black...)

Really, the wall decal generation can satisfy a lot of whimsical design ideas that could otherwise turn out disastrous- or at the very least expensive, time consuming, and permanent. Here is your chance to play, and with very little risk. All that your really putting on the line, is the cost of the decal. And even then, if you don't like them in one room, simply try them somewhere else.

Although decals can easily be applied on painted surfaces they shouldn't be used on wallpaper, tile or paneling. Before applying, surfaces should be clean, dry and smooth. Just set-up, plan your design and stick to your heart's content.