Brighten up the shower with new water colors

Brighten up the shower with new water colors

As the days grow shorter, some of us will begin feeling the effects of seasonal affective disorder, the malaise that accompanies lack of daylight.

One way to counter SAD is to take a Caribbean cruise; the next best thing may be soaping up under a shower of water colored to fit your mood.

Now, no one wants to dye herself pink in order to perk up her mood, but with Hansa’s lighted Colour Shower System, the water only looks colored while you shower.

The system, which includes overhead and side showerheads, offers lighting in several colors, including white, and you can select from various programs or set individual colors.

Cost is $1,478 at EXPO Design Center. For more information, visit www.expo.com.

Authors offer advice on how to re-purpose

If you love picking up quirky finds at antique stores and “junque” stores, you’ll likely get a kick out of the recently released “Junk Beautiful: Room by Room Makeovers With Junk Market Style” by Sue Whitney and Ki Nassauer (Taunton, $22).

The pair scours markets for odd finds, which they re-purpose into home decor.

A lamp shade out of pearls and safety pins? No problem.

Drawer pulls as napkin rings? They actually look kind of nice.

The pair, contributing editors at Country Home magazine, offer how-to advice for multiple projects and offer fascinating ways to re-use castoffs.

You can check out some of their work at www.junkmarketstyle.com.

Repair your lawn after squirrels move in

Squirrels like to use the area under lawns as their personal cupboards.

They collect acorns and other food in the fall and dig up lawns to bury their stash. Come winter, they dig again to feast at the buffet.

If squirrels are digging up your lawn, you probably have an abundant food source nearby, like oak trees or open bird feeders.

Repellents such as Get Away Squirrel and Raccoon Repellent, which contains capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot peppers, have been shown to keep squirrels from digging in landscaped areas.

To repair the damage, fill each hole with sterile topsoil and tamp down with your foot to level the area with the rest of the lawn. Water the area lightly and sprinkle with grass seed. Then scrape the area gently with a fork. Water each spot daily, taking care to avoid washing away the seed. And don’t mow until the new grass is 3 inches high.

Bedroom color choice

According to interior designer Ammie Kim, neutral paint colors in medium values are your best choice for creating a bedroom that lulls you to sleep.

If you usually lean toward bold colors, use your living areas to showcase the brightest hues and choose toned-down versions of your favorites for accents in the bedroom.

Combined dispatches