In the eternal quest to create beautiful and serene lived-in spaces, one could be forgiven for wanting to spend most of our time and financial resources on smartening up the inside of our homes, but we’re all about the holistic nature of things, and that means making sure that the face of our homes is taken care of but also, our gardens.  Now, if you have a million-Pound budget that’s great, we love celebrating with you but even if you don’t there are still a few relatively easily done things that you can do to create that superstar look.

GARDENS AND OUTDOOR SPACES

The secret to a beautiful garden is consistency…and time.  You won’t get your hanging gardens of Babylon overnight but you will get them if you’re prepared to invest a bit of time and money and the great thing about gardens is that you can spend as much or as little as you’d like.  The only difference it’s going to make is how much of the work you have to do yourself (or rope in a willing friend or family member).  You could also turn it into a family-based activity by designating tasks and spaces to different members of your tribe, they’ll be more invested in it and feel like they have a special place to go to, too. A gorgeous garden can also make your home more appealing to future buyers.

LAWNS

Just like an artist stretches, wets and prepares a canvas before painting, so to should you give that same attention to your lawn.  You’ll want to feed your lawn 4 times a year (not just in the spring), keep the height in mind when mowing, it’s as important as the height, water your lawn properly taking care not to overwater some areas, and under service others and make sure that you use premium grass seed.  This is an area that requires some patience and dedication but the rewards, oh so gorgeous!

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered” – Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Those might sound like encouraging words for when one of your brood is the diamond in the rough type, but you don’t necessarily want wees in your garden.  There is a move in more water-scarce and desert areas to embrace these plants but check with a gardener first if it makes sense for you in your location.

WASH THOSE WALLS

This is a super-easy way to instantly spruce up the exterior of your home and it requires very little effort.  Washing down your outside walls and outside spaces including walkways, paved areas, sheds, and garages will give your home a virtual instant facelift.  It’s also going to tell you in pretty much real-time when it’s time for a new coat of paint.

USE WHAT YOU HAVE, CORRECTLY

So this speaks more to equipment usage than it does to actual decorating or landscaping, but it gets an “honourable mention” anyway and the reason for this is simple: far too many outdoor projects get left behind or not handled correctly because our outdoor equipment isn’t maintained properly.  We’re also mentioning this here because there are even far greater implications – if necessary maintenance work is not conducted in time and in good order, this could have terrible consequences for your home.  So ensure that your equipment is well maintained and you have the necessary parts to fix your outdoor power equipment.

When it comes to the interiors and exteriors of your home, it’s certainly possible to make it flow. The transition of indoors going out is something that many homes around the world do in warmer climates. You don’t even need to live in a year-round warm climate to achieve a seamless transition between indoors and outdoors. This guide will help you feel more connected to nature and create healthy air flow by creating a seamless transition.

Large windows

If you look at pictures of cabanas, you’ll notice there are giant walkways (such as arches) or large windows. Large windows would be the best way for most houses. This is a great way to open up your home to the outside world by bringing in more natural light and fresh air. Removing your walls between the backyard and your house and placing large windows, will result in the indoor space having a large appearance.

Sliding Doors

Both sliding doors and concertina doors perfectly complement large windows. This will also create the illusion of a larger interior while also bringing in more natural light. This also continues the flow on the wall that the large windows create. The “walls” between the inside and outside disappear once the door is open, which then beautifully combines the two elements. The larger the opening, the better the transition. This will also help encourage you to wander outside as well.

Lighting

Light has the power to blend spaced. Natural lighting brings the outdoor lighting in, but the same can also happen for the artificial lighting in the house. Proper lighting can make both interior and exterior lighting feel cozier and create a nice atmosphere. There are plenty of ways to make this sustainable and energy effect such as looking into community solar in MA to help utilize that method. Having steady lighting between both spaces will create a nice blend that can then help illuminate particular parts of the space such as the use of fairy lights.

Decorative accents

Decorative pieces can be both flexible but can also be a great way to help with organizing your home. You’ll want to find decorative accents and even furniture that can be used both indoors and outdoors. This tip is a great way to create a seamless transition while looking stylish too. A great example would be wicker material. Wicker chairs and wicker décor such as baskets are extremely flexible as they can be used both indoors and outdoors while also looking completely fantastic.

You will however want to consider what other materials that you use as it will need to be durable when it’s outside. Another great idea would be to incorporating textiles such as cushions and rugs since these are flexible enough to be used in bother spaced.

Floor levels

This may be an odd tip, but if you’re able to avoid any floor level changes between the interior and exterior transition, then this could be a way to make it seamless. Steps are usually the dividers when it comes to these two spaces. But having the floor levels not change, as in no steps, will help prevent both a visual and mental break between the interior and the exterior of the home. 

With the ever-increasing popularity of chemically-etched metals, there’s more and more opportunity for these products to be used in a wide range of industries. The reason for its wide applicability is thanks to the process of chemical etching itself. By using etchants to treat certain metals we’re able to achieve incredibly fine detail, precise measurements as small as 25 μm. Because of the capability to produce intricate and structurally unchanged results, chemical etching has become a leading force in the precision metal parts manufacturing industry. In this guide, I’ll hope to shed some light on the process.

What is it Used For?

Before we look at the process, let’s investigate what it’s actually being used for? With the ever-increasing need for small precision parts to fit in computers, household appliances, cars etc. there is a massive increase in demand for chemically-etched parts. Products like speaker grilles, filters, fuel cell plates, encoder discs and many more are all made using this process as it’s one of the most reliable methods to get the necessary high-quality results. Chemical-etching is perfectly suited to deliver reliable precision on an industrial scale. 

One of the great benefits is that as part of the very nature of the process, there are no burrs or stresses on the metal to be tidied up after the initial manufacturing; unlike in many other etching processes. The fact that the metal comes out more or less as an end-product also means that production times are greatly reduced as well as the fact that it’s a process that’s very quick anyway because the etchant is applied to sheet metal and acts at the same time. As you can see, there’s certainly a number of fantastic benefits when using chemical etching to produce micro precision parts. 

The Production Process

At its core, chemical etching is a subtractive process that employs temperature-controlled etchants to selectively corrode and dissolve the unwanted material. In order to achieve the desired shapes a stencil in the form of a photo-resist is used as an outline that protects the metal parts we want to keep. Let’s look at the process we employ at Tecan in a little more detail:

1 – Cleaning

Firstly, the sheet metal is cleaned to remove any surface contaminants. An essential step to ensure the rest of the process goes successfully. 

2 – Laminating

This is done in a class 6 clean environment where the photo-resist stencil can be applied to the metal. This lamination will then protect the parts of the metal we want to keep. 

3 – Exposing

The metal is exposed to a UV lamp which hardens the photo-resist into the desired pattern or shape required. In this instance, the white areas are the hardened photo-resist while the black are the exposed metal which will later be treated with etchant. 

4 – Developing

At this stage, the unexposed parts are developed away which then leaves the bare metal underneath, ready to receive the chemical etchant.

5 – Etching 

The etchant is sprayed all over the sheet metal at high pressure which removes the exposed and unwanted metal.

6 – Stripping

Finally, the resist is completely removed to reveal the desired shape: burr and stress-free. This is the reason why it’s a simple and easily repeatable process that meets the rigorous demands of many industries. 

Virtually any metal can undergo the etching process (always check with the company first!) but some of the most common include: 

• austenitic, ferritic and martensitic stainless steels
• mild steel, tool steel, carbon steel, spring steel
• aluminum: including aerospace and aircraft grades
• nickel alloys: mu-metal, inconel and alloy 42
• phosphor bronze, brass, beryllium copper and nickel silver

The Benefits of Using Chemical Etching

As mentioned throughout, one of the key benefits of using chemical etching is the end result which is ready-to-go almost directly from the production line. A result of this is also that the total cost is reduced because of the lower production times. It’s also a quick process from prototype to final design; adjustments can be made quickly and on-the-go as it’s only the computer programme that needs altering. 

By using chemical etching it removes the need for any high energy processes like laser-etching or stamping which can tamper with the ductility and structure of the metal which of course isn’t a desired side-effect. Chemical etching leaves the metal’s properties unaffected by the process which is exactly what you want when you need to rely on the final product, like in the medical or aerospace industries. It’s evident that chemical etching offers a great many benefits of use: precision, reliability, adaptability and repeatability on an industrial scale! All these reasons have served to make chemical etching one of the best solutions for precision metal parts manufacturing.