Fred Strydom Sotheby's International Realty

16/06/2015

Some awesome kids help you celebrate .
http://ow.ly/On96p

A compilation of incredible talented and fearless kids, demonstrating their skills at everything from skateboarding and weightlifting to surfing...

15/06/2015

A recent study shows that the paint colour on your bedroom walls plays a role in your quality of sleep. The study, carried out by Travelodge, looked into 2,000 homes, to investigate the influence of colour on quality of sleep. They discovered that you can enhance your sleep by choosing specific colours.

Best Colours for Sleep
• Blue contributes to longer rest and is linked to calm and soothing feelings. Soft blues and greens promote the feeling of calm and tranquility. It may even contribute to waking up feeling happy, positive and upbeat.
• Shades of yellow were the second best colour for a longer sleep. Yellow is associated with peace and happiness and creates a joyful ambiance in your bedroom, letting you enjoy a relaxing sleep.
• Warm shades of orange were found to relax muscles and create a reassuring ambiance
• Silver mimics moonlight and tends to cue the brain that it’s night.
• A pink colour scheme creates the feeling of optimism in your bedroom and adds to feelings of positivity and relaxation.
• White and creams are soothing colours for your bedroom and are the most popular wall colours as they can be matched with any accessories.

Worst Colours for Sleep
• Red is not recommended for bedrooms as it tends to quicken the pulse, which is the opposite affect needed before sleep.
• Purple is not suitable as is can activate your mind and imagination, energising your body and consequently reducing your sleep length. Purple bedrooms can also increase nightmares and vivid dreams, making you feel exhausted and fatigued.
• Brown isn’t appropriate for the bedroom as it creates a gloomy feeling.
• Grey didn’t perform well as it can create a dreary and isolated feeling, resulting in restless sleep.
With quality sleep a priority, it seems logical to paint your bedroom in a colour scheme that promotes relaxation, calms your mind and promotes a healthy life.

http//www.spice4life.co.za

10/06/2015

Property Advice: Buying a home after getting divorced
http://ow.ly/NZ69p

Getting divorced is tough, and buying a new home afterwards may be just as hard, especially if you still co-own a property with your former spouse.

08/06/2015

June in the garden. How to make sure you enjoy a wonderful winter garden.

While it’s cold and grey, make sure your garden bursts with colour! Here are tips on what to plant in your garden this month…

The days may be shorter but, unlike winters in the northern hemisphere, South African winters still afford us plenty of opportunities to relish time in the garden. This month, add plants to the garden to brighten up your outdoors spaces and plant winter vegetables in your veggie patch.

Beautiful blooms. Paint your winter garden with colour by planting alyssums, calendulas, dianthus, lobelias, nemesias, sweet peas and pansies and violas. In shaded garden beds liliums, azaleas and camellias will all thrive in dappled light.

Veg out. June is the time to sow all members of the cabbage family - broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and ornamental kale. Other winter vegetables you could plant include radish, leek, onion and spinach.

Feed. The following plants require a little extra nourishment in winter…
• Feed lemon trees with 3:1:5 or 8:1:5.
• Feed bulbs with bulb food and winter and spring-flowering seedlings (3:1:5) once every two weeks.
• If sweet peas look brown and papery, feed them with 3:1:5.

Happy gardening!
http//www.all4women.co.za

05/06/2015

The one who gets up is so much stronger than the one who never fell

01/06/2015

Establish some privacy in your garden.

Townhouse living does offer some benefits, but privacy is definitely not one of them. Most townhouse gardens have hardly any privacy, and many are overlooked by units on higher levels. So how do you establish some privacy in your own garden?

While it depends on the Body Corporate rules that govern what you can and cannot do in your townhouse - and it pays to check by the way - you can add privacy without using brick and mortar.

Timber allows you to be creative in so many ways and, if you’re not allowed to attach a timber structure to the building, you can incorporate timber into the garden design to give you more privacy.

Mobile planters allow you move them around to create a private corner, and you don't need to spend a fortune on planter boxes if you make your own using shutterply. Shutterply is the commercial version of pine plywood, and has a much more rustic finish that can be stained and sealed. Or, go for marine plywood - much more expensive but has a beautiful finish.

Ornamental bamboo grows high without spreading and creates a wonderful dappled boundary that is perfect for planter boxes and for adding privacy to a small garden.

Source: http//www.home-dzine.co.za

27/05/2015

Property News: Holiday home buying seems on backburner
http://ow.ly/NrQSc

Expectation remains that major city markets will continue to outperform holiday markets for the foreseeable future, according to a new index.

25/05/2015

Things to remember when styling your coffee table.

The main focus in any living room will be your two most pre-dominant pieces - the sofas and the coffee table. Sofas can be easily decorated with scatter cushions and throws in accent colours and designs. When it comes to your coffee table, it is just as important to apply as much decor time and detail to this piece as you do to the rest of your home.

Always remember the below guide of elements when styling your coffee table:
1. Natural elements: Flowers / orchids add colour and give a feel of the outside
2. Candles: Create ambient lighting and, if scented, even better for the space
2. Books: Add interest and give your guest more insight as to who you are
4. Decor and artifacts: Always a great addition to conversation
5. Tray: The main grounding element of coffee table styling, like a carpet is to a room.

Like decorating any area of your home, take your time to find collectables that truly represent you as a person. Your coffee table design is your personal showcase!

Source: http//spice4life.co.za

18/05/2015

3 Essential tips for decorating a living room

Here are three practical tips to help you to plan or revamp the real heart of a home!

The living room is where many a movie night is enjoyed, games are played, workouts performed, guests entertained and, thanks to technology, it can even be an occasional home office. This room works hard – and even harder over the winter months when we prefer to cuddle up indoors rather than venture outside.

If your living room is looking more ‘lived in' than you’d like, or you simply want to start decorating it from scratch, here are three essential tips to bear in mind…

1. The drawing board
Before you buy a piece of furniture for your living room, draw up a floor plan that takes into account the size of the space and the various ways in which you want to use the room.
If your kids play in the living room and you would like to be able to follow workout DVDs in the space, you may prefer to keep the floor space open. In this case, instead of one heavy coffee table in the middle of the room, opt for smaller side tables that flank the sofas and chairs.

2. Pick a pattern
Rugs can help make living rooms feel cosy - particularly when the floor is tiled or wooden. When looking for a rug, bear in mind that a patterned rug doesn't show dirt as much as a plain rug would. This is especially good to consider if you have kids or pets.

3. Do double duty
In a small living room, save space by looking for double duty furniture - pieces that serve more than one purpose.
For example, stools could be used as side tables and provide extra seating when you have guests. Storage ottomans are another favourite, because they offer a hiding place for extra blankets, DVDs and board games. You could use an ottoman to put your feet up on, as extra seating or pop a pretty tray on top and voila - you have a coffee table!

Source: http//www.all4women.co.za

15/05/2015

The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away

13/05/2015

Property news: The top estates in SA for the super rich.
http://ow.ly/MmXSC

Estates in the Western Cape dominate a new survey of top residential estates in South Africa

11/05/2015

Monthly fuel cost calculator: Stay in control of your budget no matter what the fuel price.

There’s a tool that ensures motorists know exactly how a fuel price hike or drop will affect their wallet.

The ebb and flow of the fuel price in South Africa means uncertainty regarding how much more, or less, cash one will have in their pockets at the end of the month.

Drive South Africa recently launched a monthly fuel cost calculator that helps motorists stay on top of fuel expenses - helping them budget better. The fully responsive, web-based app works out precisely how much you are going to spend on fuel during the month, and how much more (or less) money you will spend (or save) compared to the previous month.

Budget-conscious households can now utilise the tool to reallocate funds between their expense accounts on a monthly basis, depending on whether fuel costs are higher or lower.

The total monthly fuel spend is based on the current fuel price as updated by South Africa’s Department of Energy on the first Wednesday of every month. The tool is designed to give all motorists an accurate monthly fuel cost calculation, by offering four ways to calculate monthly fuel spend:
- How many kilometres they've driven.
- How much money they've spent.
- How many times they've filled up their tank this month.
- How many litres they've used.

Check it out at http://www.drivesouthafrica.co.za/fuel-cost-calculator/

Source: http//www.women24.com