Luxury for Less

Actually what I’m suggesting is updating your style without breaking the bank.  We are all spending more time at home these days and let’s face it-some of our rooms are not all that we want them to be.  So how can you achieve a high end look on a do-it-yourself budget?  By using what I call authenticity of design or simply using some more natural materials.

Just by incorporating some natural fibers into your interior you can bring a different level of luxury into your own world.  Create some drama with draperies by hanging silk panels at the windows.  While you may not be able to use fragile silks on the furniture due to a pile-up of kids and pets, unlined silk panels floating in an open window might just be the way to get luxury into the living room.  I’m not talking about formal swags and jabots here-just loose fabulous curtains that celebrate the actual beauty of the fabric.

The family room may call for authenticity of a different kind.  Linen is luxurious because it is a natural fiber and has been used for centuries in the finest homes and castles.  By using this fiber in its primitive state or in a softer form you can channel the romance and history into your everyday tactile experience.

Reusing is a green way to go too.  Reupholster furniture or have slipcovers made in an authentic fiber like linen or cotton.

A fresh coat of paint in an updated color can do wonders for morale.  If selecting a color is too daunting, find a picture of a room with a color you love in a magazine like Elle Décor, and look up the exact color the designer used–or call in a professional for a quick consultation.

This concept can also follow for the floors.  One of the least expensive rugs can be an authentic or luxury look.  Even if you are waiting for just the right oriental or Tibetan rugs to pop into your life, use a sea grass or sisal rug in the meantime.  This is one of the most European looks that is very now and can help your room along in its quest for authentic style.  It helps take down the formal room a notch and gives a casual feel to other rooms.

Update your look.  Bring Luxury into your life.  Lighten up for spring and summer by adding different pillows.  Flowers should be an everyday luxury at this time of year.  Put a small bouquet you picked yourself, on a table next to a reading chair.  It’s a simple pleasure that gives your room boost.  Cut flowering branches and put on a buffet or static corner of a room.  The sculptural quality of the branches can look spectacular and make your room come alive -how luxurious is that?

Nancy Sublette, ASID
Email    nancyatplunkett@gmail.com
Plunkett Home Furnishing
885 Sunset Ridge Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
Ph 847 714 1000

Call for an appointment and hours

If you’re like most small business owners, you’re not capitalizing on the wealth that the Internet has placed right at your doorstep.  The success of eBay clearly demonstrates that you can sell anything on-line.  Last year, total Gross Merchandise Volume for eBay (the value of all successfully closed listings) was over $60 billion.  Today, more than $2,000 worth of merchandise is sold on eBay every second. 

With so many people willing to send their money away for something sight unseen, why aren’t you getting spectacular results through your website?  Perhaps you don’t know the secrets, which really are not secrets at all:

1. Get Found:   You’ve all heard of Search Engine Optimization, but have you incorporated the principles into your website?  If your answers are yes to the questions below, then you may already be receiving substantial traffic to your website. 
   • Does your page content contain appropriate keywords?  Keywords are the words and phrases that your market uses to search for your products or services.  How do you know?
   • Do your page titles contain the most important keywords for each phrase, and are they unique for each page?
   • Are other websites linking to you?  How many inbound links do you have?  In some industries, a handful of links may be adequate.  In other industries, you may need hundreds of links.
2. Build Trust:  For many visitors, landing on your website is like meeting a stranger on the street.  Why should they trust you?  Here are some tips to earning their trust:
   • Does your website convey professionalism?  You only have a few seconds to make that first impression, so make it a good one.  Make sure your site exhibits the key elements of an effective website.  At a minimum, use a clean layout that’s easy to navigate, and include high quality photos and images.  Check out the fascinating Web Pages That Suck for some lovely examples of what not to do. 
   • Make it easy for your visitors to contact you.  Include a feedback form.  Display your phone number on every page, and include a mailing address to improve your results on local searches.
   • Provide plenty of useful information that clearly demonstrates your expertise.  A simple listing of your services will convince no one. Show examples of your past work. Include tips, FAQ’s, or a resource section.  Testimonials are extremely powerful.  If appropriate, include a list of clients who have used your products or services. Add any articles or postings that you’ve written, or list them with a link to the source. 
   • Clearly display your professional memberships, certifications, and awards.  Join the Better Business Bureau and display their logo. If you sell products online, be sure to prominently display the appropriate seals and certificates.
3. Demonstrate Value:  It’s your website, but it’s not about you — it’s about your audience.  Ask yourself the following questions, and carefully craft the answers.  Remember, this is the heart and soul of your website. If you can’t answer these questions quickly and easily, your website certainly isn’t getting the message across.
   • What do your website visitors need?  What is causing their pain? 
   • How can you solve their problems? 
   • Why should they choose you over your competitors?
   • What makes you or your company special?

You now have the 3 key secrets to a successful website:  Get Found, Build Trust, Demonstrate Value.  How important is an effective website to your business?  Two current figures may help you answer that question:

• Last month, Americans conducted 14.3 billion core searches on the internet.
• 4 of every 5 individuals and businesses online use the Web to research products and services.

The Web is indisputably a well-traveled marketplace, and the market you serve is undoubtedly online.  Do you want to remain a stranger to your potential customers?  If you’re struggling with any of the secrets, give me a call or search the web for some resources that can help you.  It’s time to turn your website into a powerful marketing tool for your business.

Tammy Hartweg
Spritz Web Solutions
847.510.5987

Stop aching, Back!

If your back hurts when you sit for a long time during or right after prolonged bending or stooping as in gardening, vacuuming, cleaning etc., you are not alone. Low back pain is the second cited reason for visits to family physicians, right after the common cold.

Why does it hurt? What really hurts?

Most aching backs are “mechanical” in origin, meaning that applied force causes the pain. The popular example is a bent finger analogy. If you bend your finger backward until you feel a strain, this would be a “mechanical” pain. If you keep overstretching until you feel pain, your pain warning system is telling you that to continue movement in that particular direction will cause damage eventually.  The pain warns you to stop overstretching to avoid damage, and when you do so, that pain ceases immediately. If you fail to heed the warning it might result in prolonged aching, even at rest or over a period of time, if you continue the same every day. Pain in the low back area produced by overstretching isn’t unique and arises particularly when we develop poor postural habits.

Importance of proper posture

Many of us spend much of the day with the low back in flexed rounded position loosing the lordosis completely (look around you, see how you sit right now). Loss of the ability to restore curvature in your back is often associated with chronic low back problems.  Once slouched posture has become a habit and is maintained most of the time, it may also cause damage to surrounding tissue with loss of elasticity, premature aging or injury.  Once low back problems have developed, you must pay attention to your posture and maintain the lordosis when sitting as well as interrupt prolonged sitting.  In 1979, it has been documented by Robin McKenzie, that you are most likely to sustain back problems in the first 4-5 hours of the day. USA researcher Stover Snook, reported in 1998 and followed up in 2002, with findings that “Patients with chronic low back pain were found to experience significant improvements in pain and disability by reducing bending forward activities early in the morning”.

Do the right thing for your aching back – stop slouching!

For more information or to find practitioner certified in McKenzie Method – Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy visit www.mckenziemdt.org.

Ela Wierzchon-Mroz, PT, Dip MDT
Spinae Vitae Physical Therapy
Certified McKenzie Clinic
www.spinaevitae.com
847.674.6265

Reference: McKenzie RA: Treat Your Own Back. Spinal Publications, Waikanae, New Zealand, 8^th Edition 2006

Every time I meet someone new and they learn my profession, a Big Sur excuse wave begins and I’ve just crashed into another Excuse Surfer. An Excuse Surfer seizes increasing momentum while positioned on a steady, well-waxed, self-defense justification board over the swell of reasons why they don’t exercise or are out of shape. Here’s the rub, I didn’t ask, and I don’t care. Yes, you read it correctly. Fact is, neither do you.  But I will bet you know an Excuse Surfer personally (or are one yourself).

What the Excuse Surfer has done is classic mullering. While seeking some sort of validation hug, they’ve massively wiped out (mullering). I don’t care why you don’t exercise; I don’t care why you are out of shape. You do – about the excuses anyway. It’s your attempt to let yourself off the hook; 9 times out of 10 the Excuse Surfer’s finger is pointed in every other direction except inward. Think about it: the kids, the spouse, the house, the career, the economy, the hormones, the traffic, and on and on…..this defensive undertow is quite powerful. The Excuse Surfer has succumb – willingly.

As a fitness expert and healthy life-style coach, I’m your red herring.   I care about you, NOT your excuses. I care about what you’re doing to create and maintain a healthy, fit and strong well-being NOT how your avoiding it (though that’s typically the first thing I see).   You matter. You have the ability. You have the power. You can do it. Pros like me lead you on a navigational path, guiding you to release you of your Excuse Surfer self and demystify what a healthy well-being is – - for you, right now, today.   The one you’re looking at in the mirror is what I care about and where your success is.  

Cowabunga! Time to take the plunge, stop the excuses and be in action.  Come on in the water’s fine and free of men in grey suits (sharks).

Be Fit – Be Well
Live Fit – Live Well

Shannon M. O’Regan
SMO Ventures
Connecting Body, Mind & World
847.525.0979
www.smoventures.com
www.smoventures.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/smoventures