Your home is your sanctuary, the place where you feel safe and you want it to be as beautiful as your thoughts, but you lack experience in interior design. Don’t worry! There are some tips that can help even seven years old succeed. So how are you going to create the interior design that will mesmerize your friends and relatives? And how are you going to fashion a positive ambiance for your home?

Choose a theme. Let’s say you are a passionate collector of butterflies. Why hide it? Choose this theme to decorate your home. Butterflies go well with flowers and other nature elements: leaves, ferns and trees. Place an original painting of a butterfly on the wall you want to set the focus on. You could also display your butterfly collections in a special arrangement. Your hobbies provide the personal note each room needs so much and many so-called designer rooms lack.

Choose your colors. Use a color scheme to help you choose the best colors for your home. You should use the colors that make you feel good – after all this is your home and you don’t need any fancy designer to tell you pink doesn’t match with green. Use some color accents to “spice up” the room. But remember: a single color should dominate circa 75 % of a room. Don’t over-color your rooms, as you might get a negative mood.

Choose your patterns. As per colors, you could use whatever you fancy, but don’t overdo it! Three is a crowd, but an acceptable crowd. More than three patters will lead to chaos. For your butterfly theme, you could use flower patterns and circles. Vary their scale: some small, some big. Spread them around the room and create a balance of color and patters. Don’t be afraid to try out new things. Let your heart decide. Believe it: your heart knows best!

Keep it simple. You need a place to relax, a place of comfort after a hard day at work. So keep it simple. Too much furniture adds weight to a room: gone is your sense of freedom. An over-furnished room is often gloomy and dull. Keep it simple, keep it functional and you are on the right path.

Light means life. You don’t want to live in a dark room. It has nothing to do with the fear of darkness but light is essential, especially in its natural form, as it kills bacteria and viruses, due to its UV emissions. Artificial lighting should be chosen carefully. There are enough manufacturers offering economical lighting objects. Choose LEDs or other economy lamps. Better opt for a more expensive product that has an extended warranty. Why should you pay for inferior quality? There’s a rule you should never ignore: you get what you pay for.

A man’s home is his castle, as the saying goes. But homes today don’t normally feature ramparts, drawbridges, moats and six-foot thick stone walls to keep out unwanted visitors. Today, a house alarm, and preferably a managed home security system, is needed to ensure your home’s security. Not only does installing a home security system improve the safety of your family and possessions, but it can also decrease your home insurance costs. The Top Ten House Alarm and Home Security Devices list highlights ten devices and features of home security systems that can make your house a safer place.

10. Talking Devices help you to understand the status of your home and monitoring as well as program the system. Some security systems feature talking master control panels, key pads or remotes. The talking feature may not result in great conversation, but it will help you understand your system a little better.

9. Some home alarm systems include extras like Key Fobs and Remotes to control the system at a distance. Somewhat similar to a car’s key fob, home security key fobs include buttons to activate and deactivate the house alarm system.

Some even include a “panic” button that activates the house alarm and alerts the proper authorities in the event of an emergency. Remote controls are similar and often larger. The features of remotes vary greatly and can include a full key pad, a talking feature and a panic button as well.

8. Yard Signs and House or Window Decals advertise your home’s protection. The Greenwich Study of Residential Security found that homes without alarms were 2.7 to 3.5 times more likely to be burglarized, and that the most effective deterrent was the alarm monitoring company’s yard sign (SIA Research Update, Security Industry Association, October 2001). Some choose to post the signs to deter possible break-ins without actually installing a home alarm system. While this effort will lower the odds of an attempted burglary, a yard sign alone cannot fully protect your home.

7. A Back-Up Power Supply is important in maintaining home security even during a power outage, when the risk of break-ins and looting is increased. Your home alarm should be effective even when your power is not. The easiest to maintain back-up power supplies use standard size batteries. Look for a model that uses rechargeable batteries to lower your maintenance costs.

6. Smoke Detectors add another layer of protection to your home, especially when they are integrated into the home alarm system. Not only do smoke detectors indicate a fire and give you time to escape safely, but when included in a home security package, they automatically notify the managing company and the fire department. Some systems even integrate the power supply to the smoke detectors. That means you don’t have to change the batteries ever!

5. Wireless Systems protect your home without adding extra cords to trip over or extensive installation of in-wall cords. In wireless house alarm systems, each sensor or keypad communicates with the master control panel via radio frequencies or existing wiring in your home. A burglar will never be able to disarm the system by snipping the wires. This ensures the system is fully integrated and monitoring all parts of your home without using up your outlets or creating an obstacle course of wires for you.

4. Extra Key Pads are also important. Exterior mounted key pads can provide secure keyless entry to your family. Some systems also offer remote control key pads which are lightweight and portable. A home alarm system that features a security code with a key pad increases the security of your home. A monitored system can also lock down entry after several repeated, failed attempts at entry which indicate a possible break-in attempt.

3. Key pads may not always be enough to keep burglars out. Sensors on Windows and Doors reduce the risk of a burglar entering undetected and are a key part of a home alarm system. Motion Detectors within the home also increase the level of security. The most sophisticated motion detectors include a feature to ignore pets’ movement to avoid constantly setting the alarm off inadvertently.

2. Installation, Monitoring, and Repair Services increase not only the level of safety but the convenience of keeping your home safe. A house alarm alone cannot notify the police or fire department in the event of an emergency. The most complete systems include buttons to notify police departments, fire departments and medical help instantly. Another advantage offered by the best monitoring companies is live customer support and full service installation and repair of the system by employees who have been background checked, licensed and drug tested to ensure your safety. Finally, some companies even offer relocation services to keep you secure even when you move.

1. The classic Master Control Panel is vital to any home alarm system. The central hub of the system, the control panel is usually wall-mounted in an easily accessible place. The panel receives information from all other sensors and key pads, computes it, and transmits relevant information to the monitoring company. If you choose to arm the system from the panel when you leave the house, the master control panel also receives the disarm code when you return home. Some can even be disarmed by telephone!

Of course, this list is not comprehensive, and the needs of every home and homeowner are different. For more tips on choosing the right home alarm system and features to protect your house, I recommend visiting alarmoneinc.com.