2012 is upon us! After 2 weeks of parties, family gatherings and general celebration, it’s time to get back to work. The weeks leading up to and including Christmas and New Years are often our least productive. We don’t have time to work out, stay organized or stick to our “green” principles. When January 1st comes along, most of us make resolutions to get our lives back on track, partially to make up for the weeks of binging and the guilt we feel from allowing our usual habits to take a vacation. So as we make those New Year’s Resolutions, keep these few tips in mind for a successful one.

What You’ll Need

• Measuring tape    
• Zip ties OR Electrical ties
• Heavy duty scissors
• Hammer (to pull out nails) OR staple remover
• Hazel Sticks
• Thatch panels that match existing thatch

What You’ll Do

1. Identify the area of the roof or palapa that needs to be replaced. Look for discoloration or odd breaks and separations in the fronds.

2. Assess whether you need new thatch bundles or if you can fix the thatch you already have installed. Strange breaks and odd patterns can be easily remedied with zip ties or electrical ties and can save a lot of time and trouble.

The 3 day weekend is the loophole of the 5 day work week. However, it can be both a blessing and a curse. If you spent the weekend staying up late, consuming copious amounts of your social lubricant of choice and exercising your right to party like its 1999 perhaps you didn’t look as sparkly as usual on this Tuesday morning. Here are a few tips to ensure you don’t look like you had the weekend of a 21 year old on Monday (or Tuesday) morning.

1. Ice is Your Friend. While late nights, alcohol and sleeping strange hours can cause your face to puff up like a marshmallow, running an ice cube over it can decrease swelling and redness. If ice is impractical, you can use frozen vegetables (peas conform to the angles of your face nicely) or a couple of frozen spoons over your eyelids.

So you just came back from your Hawaiian vacation and you’ve decided you want to install your very own tiki hut or palapa. But what next? You could purchase a prefabricated thatch structure, or you could build your own. But how to install that pesky thatch? Well, ask and you shall receive. Here are some quick and easy guidelines for simple installation.

What You’ll Need:

As summer approaches, it is time to start thinking about how to gear up our backyards and patios for inevitable outdoor entertaining. As hot summer days melt into warm summer nights, your backyard will need to be equipped to handle the transition. Here are a few different lighting techniques that will help make even a small space a lighting masterpiece and ensure the party doesn’t die when the sun goes down.

One of the best times of the year is when we get to start all over. It wouldn’t be January 3rd if we all weren’t concerned with our New Year’s Resolutions and how we are going to accomplish them. Here is a list of some of the most popular including, quite possibly, your key to a successful 2011.

Most people make some effort to get in shape for the new year; gym membership sales shoot up and running shoes are bought, but the effort only lasts a couple of months. To avoid this tapering off, set specific fitness goals to accomplish in weekly or monthly increments. Shoot to bench press your body weight by February or try to stay on the treadmill for 30 min after two weeks. Keep your goals bite sized and the feeling of success will motivate you throughout the year.

Now that Christmas is over and we’re feeling the let down of gifts given, visitors come and gone and turkeys carved, it’s time to start thinking about what to do with that beautifully smelling tree in your living room. While most of us will be sending the tree to a recycling center to be mulched, here are some more fun, do-it-yourself options for disposing of the tree.

Recycle It Yourself. Cut the branches and trunk into smaller portions and put them in a wood chipper (or borrow a neighbors). Use the mulch for increasing the health of your soil in flower beds, around shrubbery or in your garden. Additionally, you can use the wood for kindling in your outdoor fire pit. Average sized trees can provide up to 13 pounds of firewood. Remember, do not burn evergreens inside because they are highly flammable and full of sap.

The holidays are officially in full swing. With Thanksgiving a few days away and Christmas right around the corner, it’s time to start planning when and where to get together with friends, family and all the important people in your life. Inevitably, Thanksgiving specifically and the holiday season in general mean time spent battling the populous in mass transit. So whether you’re driving, flying or taking the train, here are some tips and rules of thumb to make your trip a little easier.

With the green revolution going strong, bamboo has become wildly popular due to it's versatility for design and utility, along with how modest it's price point is.  The integration of bamboo into any  home or commercial decor offers a distinguishing aesthetic due to bamboo's natural and understated properties. 

One of the most frequent questions we receive is, "How do I add bamboo to my current home decor?" While we've extensively covered how bamboo fencing can be used indoors or outdoors to cover an old fence, accent a wall or create a privacy screen, we wanted to show you 5 other ways to incorporate bamboo to any current home decor. 

Thatch roof is one of the oldest forms of roofing known. Thatching is a craft that has taken many years to perfect, and has become extremely versatile in providing durable accents to any decor. The addition of a thatch umbrella kit or Tiki bar is an easy and effective way at setting the tropical tone to your landscape. Tropical thatch can be used to cover roofs, umbrellas, tiki bars, or accent other structures. Bamboo and Tikis brings you high quality coco palm thatch roof panels from Mexico (also known as palapas), cape reed panels from Africa, and thatch panels from Fiji.