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Top Five Trendy Wrapping Tips

The most festive time of the year is here, and top Houston maid service, Maid in the Shade, is ready to help you usher in the holidays with fun lifestyle tips! Here are five fabulous ways to wrap all of your holiday gifts this year, to create a delightful sense of wonder and wow the recipient!

Top Five Trendy Wrapping Tips:

Color Coordinate

Try color coordinating each family member’s wrapping paper, so that all of their presents are wrapped in the same color or style of paper. Talk about a fun way to recognize their gifts under the tree! As a bonus, this is a great way to organize all of your wrapping paper in the gift-wrap station.

Kraft Paper Craze

For a chic, rustic look to your gifts, wrap them in brown kraft paper. Often, you can find it very inexpensively at any craft supplies store, and it looks fantastic, especially dressed up with burlap twine and a holidays-themed trinket tied on top, like a tree ornament or a sprig of holly.

Gift Boxes

If you, like many people, dread wrapping, and aren’t exactly the most skilled at the intricacies of gift styling, consider going with gift boxes instead. Gift boxes (or bags), are just as festive as traditional wrapping paper, and are incredibly easy to prepare.

Stencils and Stamps

Try using a festive stencil or a stamp on your gifts, for bold flair. This works particularly well with brown craft paper, or any solid colored wrapping paper. You could even try stamping the recipient’s name on each one of their gifts!

Soft Wrapping

Fabrics and soft wrapping like scarves are a wonderful way to reduce waste and try something new. If you are giving a gift of a new scarf or wrap, use it to contain the rest of the gift, and secure with a simple ribbon. Festive and simple, the environment will also love you for this one!

For more lifestyle tips and articles, or to schedule your cleaning and to learn more about Maid in the Shade, visit our website at www.maid-houston.local or call 713-665-6243.

Five Ways to Make Your Home Smell Like Fall

A new season has arrived, bringing cooler temperatures and busy new schedules. Fall ushers in the holiday season, and many of us want our homes to smell appropriately festive. Here are five ways to celebrate the season and make your home smell like fall, from top Houston maid service, Maid in the Shade.

Fresh Fruit Display
Tasteful arrangements of fresh fruit throughout your home is a wonderful, natural way to make your home smell enchanting. Display oranges, apples and pears in a rustic wooden bowl and place it on your dining room table or your living room coffee table to help spread a light, citrusy scent throughout your home. Allergy-safe and pretty to look at, this is a perfect way to enhance the feeling of fall in your home.

Create an Herb Bouquet
Farmers and country-living experts have been extolling the virtues of herb garlands and bouquets for decades. Beautiful and rustic-looking, herb garlands can be designed with any herbs that your local market has on sale. A particularly beautiful combination is a blend of rosemary and eucalyptus branches, set out to dry and then tied together with a pumpkin or burgundy- colored ribbon. The light, fresh aroma will welcome visitors to your home in style.

Bake up Fall Flavor
An hour spent in the kitchen whipping up some pumpkin muffins or banana bread is not only a way to provide a delicious treat for your family, but will also scent your home for hours. All of the best parts of the season are perfectly encapsulated in a fresh-baked dessert.

Make a Simmer Pot
A simmer pot is a classic do it yourself technique that only takes a few minutes, and will scent your home for as long as you keep it on the stove. To build a simmer pot, simply place a saucepan of water on the stove, and place a blend of cloves, cinnamon sticks, and apple slices in it. Set the pot to warm, and wait as the aromatic blend wafts through your home. You can keep it on the stove for as long as you like (remembering to turn off the stove when you will be away), for whenever you want a burst of fall scent.

Light Candles
Of course, candles are a classic favorite. This time of the year, lovely pumpkin or apple scented candles are available at many stores, in a wide variety of styles and finishes. Rustic-themed candles are a beautiful way to celebrate fall, and easy to light whenever you want a relaxing moment.

For more lifestyle tips and articles, or to schedule your cleaning and to learn more about Maid in the Shade, visit our website at www.maid-houston.local or call 713-665-6243.

5 Back to School Tips

School will be back in session in just a few weeks, and while the summer heat is still underway, preparing for the back to school season will ensure that those first few weeks back go smoothly. Here are five back to school tips from top Houston maid service, Maid in the Shade!

Wash Hands Before Snacks
Snack time is a regular ritual in households with small children, and every parent knows that skipping it can result in “hangry” youngsters and emotional distress. However, many afternoon snacks can lead to messy houses, with crumbs and sticky handprints leaving a trail behind the satisfied children.

Regular Laundry
No one loves doing laundry, but allowing it to pile up throughout the week can just lead to more stress on the weekend. Avoid the stress and do laundry throughout the week, in bits and pieces as needed. For instance, start the washer on a Tuesday and dry the clothes on Wednesday after school – then fold and put away on Thursday.

Taking off Shoes
As a basic best-practice, have everyone in the family remove their shoes before entering the home. Removing shoes before walking throughout the house helps to minimize dirt and debris, reducing the amount of mid-week cleaning. It also is an instant relaxer, signifying that the workday is over and it’s time to relax at home.

De-clutter to De-stress
Removing excess clutter around the home can help on a multitude of levels. Organizing and structuring things like clothes, shoes, books, and old school supplies or binders can do wonders for the way your home looks, and opens up all kinds of new, positive space. If the items are things that your family no longer needs, consider donating to a local charity or even having a yard sale.

Creating a Meal Plan
Planning the family meals (or at the very least, dinner) for the duration of the week is a wonderful way to stay on track with nutritional goals, and to minimize stress. Even planning a night to order pizza is the perfect way to keep everyone on track, eliminate countless questions about “what’s for dinner,” and provide even more time to relax and reconnect with family. Write out meals on a blackboard or whiteboard in the kitchen at the beginning of the week, and start over fresh every Sunday!

You can follow this basic idea for the entirety of the school year. Maid in the Shade is a top Houston cleaning service that offers a variety of cleaning packages that can take care of all your household cleaning needs in an efficient, professional manner.

Learn more about Maid in the Shade, and schedule your cleaning service today! Visit our website at www.maid-houston.local or call 713-665-6243.