Home Design

Global and regional digital leader LG Electronics has built on its leadership in the design and technology sectors to launch its next-generation 'Design Art' series that boast advanced features and stylish appearance.

LG's showcase highlights are divided into two categories: the 'Design Art' theme and industry-leading technologies. These products allow consumers to create a sophisticated living room while also featuring the latest technologies.

'We at LG have been leading technology innovation for over a decade,' explained Mr. K.W. Kim, President of LG Electronics - Middle East and Africa. 'Now we are working to attract a more stylish audience around the globe, with our intelligent, emotionally appealing products. LG is now developing 'coveted' products, rather than just 'needed' products.'

LG's new offerings in the Design Art series includes its stylish and sophisticated Tallboy DVD home theatre system (HT762TZ), which takes the home cinema experience to an entirely new level by packing a dynamic 700W RMS sound output. Capable of playing DivX, DVD+RW/R, WMA, MP3 and JPEG files, the system can easily integrate into the home de'cor, while delivering big sound in a small package.

The Tallboy home theater system boasts elegant glass-shaped speakers and stands as well as an excellent graphic user interface. Featuring HDMI 1080p Up-Conversion and SIMPLINK (HDMI-CEC), the system guarantees the best picture-sound quality and compatibility with connected digital equipment.

The Tallboy range offers users to choose their home cinema packages according to their requirements with the option of upgrading the systems in future. In the 5.1-channel system, users can choose between four Tall Boy speakers, or two Tallboy and two satellite speakers. In the 2.1-channel 400W RMS system, users are offered two Tallboy speakers.

All systems come with a matching centre speaker and a unique subwoofer that gives an excellent bass output and allows user to experience the playback of films with the smoothest, most stable reproduction possible.

How do you know when Christmas is coming? Bahamians start painting their houses.

Every year just in time for the Christmas holiday's Bahamians everywhere are known to do household repairs. They paint, they clean and make room for the new year and its stuff.

But if this to do list of fixing the walls, replacing the roof and cleaning the floors, sounds a lot like your yearly routine, maybe you need a little head start. And if you haven't started already, October is the best month to prepare. But here's a suggestion, before you can deck the halls maybe you should start with the walls.

And instead of hiring the most expensive painter in town, today Maurice Major, 62, a retired local painter with more than 15 years of experience, says that holding back on a little cash is not always a bad thing.

"I know that most painters are going to disagree with me, but as a painter I believe that its my job to do the job right, at the right price for both you and for me. But I must admit that even I have seen some of the laziest homeowners in the world," he said. "I remember two or three Christmas' ago, that I was called to a home by a settled lady, about 50 years old, with three grown sons living at home, to paint her bedroom. Now I'm not one to turn down a job, but those boy's should have been able to paint that entire house for their mom. But they claimed they didn't know how," he said. "But painting isn't rocket science. You just need a few tips to do it right," said Major.

According to the specialist if you're going to paint the outside of your home, the first thing you need to do is wash down the walls of your house. And if you don't have a pressure washer you can rent one from almost any rental yard, or professional painter.

He then said you should use a scraper to remove all loose paint, and chipped areas on the walls. You don't have to scrape the entire wall — just areas where the surface is not flat. If not, you'll have problems as you paint your house because the paint may not be as smooth if the surface isn't flat.

And before you start to paint or even buy the paint, Archer says that you need to figure out your home's square footage so you can determine the amount of paint you will need to buy. Once you do that, you can purchase five-gallon pails, rather than the gallons to save money. Plus, it's always a good idea to talk to the employees at the paint store about your project so they can assist you in getting the right supplies," advises Archer.

Pearl Bracelets | Boxing | Binoculars And a big no-no, he said is painting out of the cans, because when you leave them the paint dries out, and makes application difficult. Another reason is that your brush or roller picks up dirt and foreign objects, which will end up in your paint and may even change the color as you go along.

Also he said, do all of your cutting or trimming in before you paint the walls. And make sure you have plenty of paint on your brush, because the biggest mistake people make is trying to stretch the paint too far. Archer also advises you to start on the edges of your walls and work your way toward the middle.

Whether you are using a pan or a five-gallon bucket with a screen to paint with, make sure you roll it out a little to make sure the paint on the brush isn't dripping, this will lessen the mess you will make.

Also you don't need to go all the way from the top to the bottom as you paint. Do what you can reach — again don't try to stretch the paint out — but make sure you have enough paint on your roller to give it a good coat. And if you are applying more than one coat, make sure the first coat is completely dry before applying a new coat of paint.

Corners are probably the most difficult part of your house to learn to paint. And if you aren't careful, this is where you will see paint drips later. Archer says you should get as close to the corners as you can, but don't scrape the roller against the corner. That will cause drips. Also if you are unsure, have a paintbrush handy to smooth out drips.

He encourages you to try using tray liners for your paint trays which he says will save a lot of time during cleanup.

"I know that this may sound like a lot of work but you can save a lot of cash by doing it your self," said Archer. "But for those who still want to be a bit lazy, make sure you shop around for the best price because good painters are out there. I don't really do it that much anymore, but I know there are quite a few," he said.

After more than 40 years I'm still no closer to understanding. In fact, I even understand less than I thought I knew back then.

Our house has a perfectly good kitchen, except for a broken burner on the stove, and the bedrooms look great.

But they are all being torn apart because they are "out of style." At least now I know why I occasionally have trouble sleeping; the walls have wallpaper and "wallpaper is out of style."

I'm surprised I haven't caught the flu or something from the archaic de'cor.

As for the kitchen, now the current range rage is gas. We have got to have gas burners "in case the electricity goes off." Of course the new gas stoves have electric igniters instead of pilot lights, so I am not sure exactly how well that will work, but judging from the number of times our stove is actually used in a given month, we probably won't have much of a problem.

It just must not be in a man's ability to understand why a perfectly good looking and extremely comfortable room must be changed because it is "out of style."

I have worn button-down collars so long they have gone in and out of style twice. I remember a period of time when you could hardly find such a shirt, but that did not deter us button down loyalists.

Heck, I still use a shaving brush. It may be out of style, but it works better than the alternatives.

My kids ridicule me because of an old-fashion "fountain-pen" on my desk. (For those of you who might not know, many years ago folks had to fill pens with ink from a bottle to make them write. Also, once upon a time, television only came in black and white and some of them did not have screens at all - they were called radios.)

Back to the original subject: understanding females.

Don't even try. For instance, thick carpeting feels so good when you get out of bed in the morning, but, guess what - hardwood floors are in style now. So men, if you get out of bed this winter and your feet hit the cold, hard floor; be comforted in knowing that you are "in style."

Maybe global warming will make the floor more cozy.