Month: February 2007

Home Appliance Part Easily Found For Easy Fix

Being handy can be helpful if your home appliances breakdown out of the warranty period and you can find a source to get the right home appliance part to fix it. Many companies offer after-market sales of parts and many consumers are not afraid to open them up and attempt their own repairs.

Depending on the appliance and your level of expertise and willingness to disassemble a home appliance to determine which part needs replaced, doing the work yourself can often save you money on the labor cost on repairs. When deciding, remember there may be one home appliance part that will allow easy installation and another that will be extremely difficult.

For example, in standard coffee makers, there is a thermostat with an element that works similar to a fuse. If your coffee maker overheats, this fuse will burn out rendering your coffeemaker useless. The home appliance part to fix this is fairly inexpensive and if you have any ability with hand tools can be replaced in a matter of minutes. However, if your coffeemaker was bought on sale for $10 or less, it may be a better idea just to replace it with a new one.

There Can Be Danger In Parts Replacement

One thing to keep in mind if you decide to replace a home appliance part on your own is if it is an electric part, improper installation can make the appliance unsafe for operation. Additionally, if you choose to disassemble an appliance and replace a home appliance part while the unit is still under warranty, you probably just voided the remainder of the warranty.

Manufacturers are sticklers on their products being repair by people not authorized by the factory to perform the repairs and will sell you a home appliance part mainly for those times when the warranty has expired. They understand that unauthorized repairs by untrained people can make an appliance danger to operate. If the repair is not affected properly it could even lead to it being a shock hazard.

However, if you are going to repair your appliances on your own, it is wise to only use factory authorized parts to insure they work properly and are designed to physically fit into the appliance you are repairing. Often times, a home appliance part made by another company may fit into your appliance but due to variations in voltages or other factors, may not allow your device to work properly.

Decorating Using Cowboy Home Decor

Whether you call it western, rustic, or cowboy home decor, this is a look that is as comfortable and rural looking as a log cabin in the old Wild West. There is so much that goes into decorating using the cowboy home decor to make it look like a different era, but most of it is simple and easy to find.

An abundance of natural materials should be used as it was in the West. Metal, rock, wood, and leather are the main ingredients, mixed with cowboy home decor as a secondary role. Furniture in this style is usually made in a larger scale and without any fancy or fussy detail. There is plenty of log furniture, twig and branch furniture, and mission style furnishings.

As with any theme, especially cowboy home decor, color is of the utmost importance to achieve the total look. The wood tends to be honey colored and the metals should be black. Accent colors are usually a terra cotta, brick red, navy, or forest green, mixed with a neutral background of creams, grays, and tans such as found in a western style fabric or wall hanging.

Fabrics should be tough like the cowboy times. Leather makes for excellent cowboy home decor, as does anything rough, textured, and tactile. Suede, wool tweed, birch bark, denim, fur, and even saddle blankets can be used to add the cowboy theme to a room.

Cowboy Home Decor Motifs

There is no question that a motif is necessary when completing the cowboy home decor. They can include any type of animals such as deer, cattle, bear, moose, or fish. Antlers are extremely popular as well as a wall hanging or a chandelier, but look for a more creative use for them to be unique. You could make any of these items into a candelabrum, candle holder, or even a place to hang up coats according to your personal preference.

Other motifs include outdoor scenes such as fishing, riding, hunting, lakes, rivers, pine cones, oak trees, wildflowers, and grasses. The cowboy home decor is all about bringing the outside in, so do it as much as you can without being overwhelmed. Luckily this is one of the decors when more is better.

When you add accessories to your cowboy home decor, it brings even more of a comfortable feeling to your home, cabin, or barn. Horseshoe sconces, twig framed mirrors, old jeans, dried flowers, and quilts are just a few items you can add. Colorful bandanas can be used as napkin holders or valances; you just have use your creativity.

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