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The name William Haines may not be a household name to you. This is understandable as he was enjoying the peak of his career during the post-second world war era, along with a long line of other actors. He specialized mainly in silent movies, starring in such films as Spring Fever and Show People. He was praised for his work in the silent genre and was quickly on the cast list of a lot of Hollywood producers. Though he was praised for his work as an actor, there was a lot that you may not know about William Haines. One of his other main passions in life, aside from acting, was actually interior design. Here is how a silent movie star turned to interior decoration.

William Haines

Though he would not have openly admitted it at the time, due to the culture, William Haines was a gay man. During the years that he worked within the film industry, he made a lot of friends within the underground Hollywood gay scene. If you are someone who knows a bit about this scene, you will be aware that there was a lot of elegance in the parties that were held and an entire culture of fashion and beautifully designed homes was being promoted. It was like the glamour of classic old Hollywood, but better.

William became obsessed with the beauty of some of the homes of the socialites that he would visit and decided that he was going to invest some of the money that he made from his acting, into creating a beautiful home for himself.

The Start

He started off by buying a brand new home. Previously he had lived in a modest bachelor pad, that he had bought when he had received his first movie payment.  The apartment itself was still quite impressive, Haines knew that he wanted a fresh project where he could really make a home reflect his tastes.

He went to work quite quickly on his home, postponing a lot of work arrangements that he had previously agreed to. The first thing that Haines wanted to focus on was making sure that his home had beautiful flooring. He had been to many parties and always focused on how the sound of elegant heels would echo on hardwood, so he had to have it. No expense was spared and he bought some beautiful hardwood flooring. But ever the perfectionist, he wasn’t happy just to leave the flooring as it was.  He researched how to make your hardwood floors shiny and then applied all of the methods that he had learned.

He splashed a lot of cash on his project. Importing some of the finest materials from all around the world. Slowly his love for interior decoration was making a dent in his bank account, so he had to take a small break from his passion project and get back to work.

Non-Stop

When he returned back to work on his project, he decided that he wanted to bring in some of his friends to help. After all, these were the people who had attended thousands of glamorous parties and knew what would impress some potential guests. Haines also had a good idea of the vision that he had in mind, which was plenty of marble and drapery.

His project took around a year to complete and when he was finished he held a huge housewarming party, inviting all of the stars he had worked with. After coming to his house, many of them were left impressed and asked if he could design their homes, which sparked a new career for William.

Tailgating is great fun! And what’s even better is when you can bring some of your best meals along to share. All you’ll need for these recipes is a disposable barbeque, pre-chopped ingredients, and a chill bag for all your perishable foods. Don’t forget your fire-safety by bringing something to extinguish your barbeque in a hurry with, and a first aid kit complete with burn treatments. Now, without further ado, here are four quick and tasty meals you can make while tailgating.

Hot Dogs

Hot dogs are a tailgating staple; they’re simple, tasty, and great finger food to share. All you’ll need are hot dog rolls, hot dogs, onions, and ketchup! As long as you know how to cook hot dogs on a barbeque, you’ll be a hit at the tailgate.

Skewers

Veggie, skewers, meat skewers, halloumi skewers, all kinds of skewers! These are some of the easiest tailgating foods to make. You can even bring all the ingredients to make an assortment of skewers; pepper skewers, ham, pickled onion, and cheder cheese skewers, grape and feta cheese and so many more.

Burgers

Burgers are another tailgating go-to. Burgers make catering for all kinds of diet that much easier; from veggie burgers like bean and chickpea burgers to meat burgers like beef and even chicken fillet burgers! The main things you’ll need to keep churning out these delicious meals are a spread of condiments like ketchup, mayo, ranch, and mustard. Don’t forget those onions too!

Halloumi

Halloumi is brilliant for tailgating. It can be used for, and in, everything; from burgers to skewers, salads, and dipping sticks, even on its own, if you bring halloumi to your tailgate. But the recipe I’m suggesting for you is a halloumi and pomegranate salad.

Happy Tailgating!

Sleep is one of the greatest mysteries of our kind. We know we need it. We understand what it does to our bodies. And yet there is still so much about sleep that we do not understand.

If a human was forcefully kept awake with a drug cocktail that gave their body everything they needed from sleep. They would start going loopy. For some reason our unconscious mind needs sleep. For what reason we are unsure. All we know is without adequate sleep, the human mind begins to wander and fail

.And sleep isn’t just vital for our minds either. For anyone who is dieting, exercising, or works a stressful job, sleep is vital. We know sleep is important for weight loss and recuperating our muscles after the gym.

Insomnia is one of the most common medical conditions on the planet. One in four women suffer from it, and as many as one in seven grown adults deal with insomnia every day. The market is filled with hundreds of products that claim to solve all your sleep problems, but most are little more than placebos. And you could always get drugs, but that is a dangerous slope.

But we know of an alternate solution that has been rising in popularity in recent years. The world of ASMR videos and Binaural Beats.

ASMR

ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it. Put in simple terms it means a sensation that starts at your head and gently rolls down your spine. For some people, this is extremely relaxing, like someone gently massaging you. For others, it is creepy and unnerving.

But how does it work? Our brain is finely tuned to respond to an audio input. And it has learned, through evolution, to react to certain sounds for either safety reasons or for pleasure. That is how ASMR works. The videos, often played at a low volume and recorded close to the mic, use various sounds to stimulate the brain and create the meridian response.

Everyone’s brain is wired differently. Which is why there are so many types of ASMR. Goo squishing. Rattling noises. Scraping rough materials. Whispering. People who enjoy ASMR tend to find what works for them and explore it. The ASMR community has blown up in recent years.

Binaural Beats

While ASMR is quite a basic, yet powerful response. Binaural beats are much more scientific and intricate. You most likely won’t have heard of them, and for good reason. There is a lot of speculation about their credibility.

But what are they? Binaural Beats are an audio track that plays sounds at various frequencies. The idea is that these frequencies can stimulate the brain in a specific way, depending on what the track wants to achieve. In theory, you can make a person do anything if you find the right frequency.

This includes simulating the effects of various drugs, such as weed or MDMA. But they can also be used to enhance meditations and simulate pleasant experiences of calm throughout the body. Some people claim that binaural beats work for them, others say they feel nothing.

This can be explained by a number of factors. The first being that everyone’s brain is different. This is always going to be the defining trait in the effectiveness of any brain-based gimmick. The second is the quality of the track itself. You can type binaural beats into YouTube and find hundreds of videos that make use of terrible quality audio.

Sleepy Time

So can either of these methods be used to help improve individuals sleeping habits? Already we have seen studies conducted into the effectiveness of ASMR in relation to sleep. And they found that for some people it did actually work. The relaxing feeling it creates allows the listener to regulate their breathing and empty their mind, thus leading to sleep.

The jury is out on Binaural beats. While some people will claim they can put them to sleep. There has been no conclusive evidence to suggest these claims are accurate. But all we can suggest is that you try either method for yourself. You never know what might work for you.

Most people will agree that this year has been more than a little stressful when it comes to canceled plans. Many of us have had to cancel holidays and trips, but there are also many of us mourning the loss of our yearly trips to music festivals. A chance to get it away with your friends, either just to see your favorite bands live or to have a non-stop party for a weekend with the best tunes playing in the background. If this is you, you’ll be glad to hear that many festivals are able to go forward next year so you can get back to listening to great music and discovering new artists for you to listen to, here are four of the most exciting festivals due to take place in 2021.

Glastonbury

One of the most popular music festivals in the world, Glastonbury features a multitude of acts across a number of days ensuring there’s something for everyone, no matter what your taste of music is. The best thing about attending these outdoor festivals is the chance to have a mini camping trip with your friends. If you’re looking for some outdoor gear to help make your time in a tent a little easier, why not check out https://myoutdoorgearguide.com to be sure you’re able to focus on the music and not your tent constantly falling on top of you and your friends during the night.

Download

A popular music festival for rock and metal music fans across the globe. Download festival has sported a multitude of artists from around the world in a multitude of rock and metal genres. From big-name artists like Kiss and Slipknot all the way down to newcomers aiming to break into the rock music scene.

Reading/Leeds

Another big name festival in the music sphere is Reading and Leeds festival. These two festivals run in succession of each other and offer up two locations for you to choose the easiest for you to get to. The perfect opportunity to get away with some pals for a weekend of non-stop music and partying.

Isle of Wight

A music festival that has been running for a long long time, many people have been marking out the Isle of Wight festival in their calendar for years and it turns out 2021 will be no different. With an all-out line up from artists from both the rock and pop genre, this year’s Isle of Wight festival sounds like it’s gonna be one to remember.

When people think fashion their first thoughts fall to Paris or London. Often heralded as the center of the fashion world. And while it is true a lot of the world’s most famous fashion designers study there or are based there, the real cultural center of fashion is Hollywood!

Hollywood is the hub for the world’s most fashionable and well-known celebrities. And it would be naive to say that these celebs don’t control what is hot and what’s not. But trends change so quickly these days, and with the swarm of information that is pumped out on social media, it can be difficult to know what is in at the moment.

So we are breaking down some of the hottest brands that are being worn in Hollywood right now, so you can stay trendy as the year comes to a close.

Gucci

The Brand that can’t be beaten. Gucci has been in style for what seems like forever and is showing no signs of slowing down. Constantly backed by some of Hollywood’s hottest celebs like Justin Bieber, Gaga, and Cardi-B, Gucci has become a household name the world over.

Its notoriety has even led to it being included in the lyrics of many mainstream songs. And being part of the theoretical “Gucci Gang” is a stamp of pride amongst so many. So if you want a safe bet brand to go with, Gucci all the way.

Evangelize

A relative unknown that has thrown its hat and shirt into the ring and comes out laughing. Evangelize is a simple online clothing store based around Christian themed apparel. This might not seem like the normal Hollywood attire, but the evangelize clothing christian t-shirts have been showing up in a lot of magazines lately as celebs, and particularly sports stars, reconnect with their religious roots.

Supreme

A controversial, yet ever-popular brand, Supreme just can’t seem to stay away from the spotlight. Just as it is seemingly fading back into obscurity, it released another product or wraps itself up in another controversy, stoking up the fires of its fans.

And when it does reappear, it does it in style. Supreme offers a sleek, simple look that pair well with anything. And, like with Gucci, wearers of the Supreme brand sit comfortably knowing they are part of an exclusive club consisting of only the most fashionable people around.

Prada

The brand the devil wears. Prada has once again flung itself back into the Hollywood public eye. Often worn by only the most illustrious celebs, Prada constantly smacks of elegance and refinement.

Prada is also known for carrying a huge price tag with it. One that would make even a Gucci wearer blush. So you know anyone wearing Prada has some serious cash at their disposal, which instantly seems to give it a big boost in the eyes of the fashion world.

So, if you need a hot outfit for the coming winter months, try looking into these brands and you too can feel like a Hollywood celeb!

Social media influencer and mum of two Louise Pentland has been in the headlines recently following her high profile reveal of her new one million dollar kitchen. The renovations have been in the running for a few months, with Louise stating she wanted to take her time and really get everything right for her dream kitchen, being a busy working mum a high-quality kitchen is a must to ensure everyone is fed. Louise revealed her new kitchen to the world on her Instagram stories, showing her stylish new cupboards, shiny fridge, gorgeous marble worktops, and her new oven. Valued at just short of one million dollars, the results are spectacular combining modern home decor style with homely touches and a splash of Louise’s signature shade of pink.

Louise describes her kitchen as the heart of the home, and I’m sure many of you will agree that this is the case, the kitchen is a family area, where people come to socialize as well as eat delicious meals. Louise has clearly spent a lot of time designing her dream kitchen, and for the staggering price point, everything should be perfect.

What Does it Look Like?

In pictures posted online by Louise’s main Instagram account, we can see pristine black and white marble worktops lined with all of the cooking equipment a working mum needs. Baby pink Smeg kitchen appliances add a classic Louise aesthetic, and the gold accents on the drawers and kitchen cabinets really do a show where some of that money has been spent. The flooring has seen a complete overhaul, which can be seen in the before and after pictures that Louise posted online before there was a slightly grubby looking laminate flooring which in all honesty had seen better days, but now in its place stands gorgeous, clean white tiles that really tie in the luxury details she has chosen, if there was one word to describe the million-dollar kitchen then I would have to say pristine. The attention to detail really shows Louise’s interior design skills as she is said to have had a significant amount of input.

Social Media Response

For a social media influencer to show so much skill in another area is a rare occurrence, particularly for an industry as complex as interior design, Louise has really outdone herself in terms of achieving a really high-end style within her kitchen. Her reveal was posted days ago and she has gained much recognition and praise from her followers, as well as comments from high-end designers who were shocked to see such attention to detail and obvious research around the current interior design trends.

How to Freshen up your own Kitchen

If you are looking to bring some of Louise’s style to your own kitchen then there are things you can do to achieve the look without having to spend as much money, giving your cupboards a fresh coat of paint or replacing the handles can provide a much-needed breath of fresh air into the kitchen. The kitchen is somewhere that should be happy so taking steps to make a positive, fresh environment is definitely the right way to go. If you are in the market for new kitchen appliances, or you want something specific to add a splash of color then foodplusice is a great website that allows you to search reviews and get the very best kitchen appliances for you. Treating yourself to new appliances is a great way to get the new kitchen feeling, and like Louise, cook up a storm for you and your family to enjoy.