If you’re looking for a centerpiece that you can use well past the holidays then we suggest this DIY project. These earthy tones can be used all year long depending on the color themes in your house. You can even take the basic concept and switch out the color themes to give the center piece a more festive feel when wanted.

In this example wooden spools were used so that we could cut them down to different height ranges in the center piece. But you can also use one of our favorite pieces of supplies… plumbing hardware! Both have the perfect opening when using them vertically to slide in candles, an essential element to any center piece.

If you’re using wood, you can use a glue gun to fasten them to your base. In this example the spools were glued to the lid of a large round box. You can find similar items at your local craft store, or mix it up by going with a unique shape. Maybe you even have something lying around your house that you could recycle?

After it’s glued together slide in the candles. For this one we chose tea lights. But you can play around with colors, scents, sizes and even battery operated ones.

Next, start choosing what you would like to fill the center piece with. This example uses a mixture of spools, ornaments and decorative balls (dig into those christmas storage bins and i’m sure you’ll find something. If not take off to your local craft store or Ikea)

Throw in some big pine cones to be reminded of the holiday season, weave in a string of battery operarted lights and it’s as simple as that!

Enjoy this easy project and if you have any tough plumbing projects, save time call the punctual plumber Benjamin Franklin Plumbing 602-485-1111.

A special thanks to ‘Something from Nothing’

Water, whether you drink from your faucet, your fridge or a pre-packaged bottle is not what it used to be. We as consumers can tell by key factors like taste, smell and even appearance.

We have talked about what’s in your water. We have talked about how cities are trying to decontaminate it and what those decontaminates are like chlorine. We have talked about how they are affecting your plumbing and even a few ways to prevent that water from entering your home like with a whole house filter system.

What we haven’t talked about is exactly what contaminates are in your water, let alone what household items are flowing with that water around in your pipes.

A recent article by Readers Digest released what is truly in our tap water. “60,000 chemicals are used across the country—and can get into our drinking water—though the EPA enforces limits on fewer than 100.” Out of what was found, some could be expected like animal waste and pesticides especially around smaller, rural towns. Others, like medical waste, arsenic and rocket fuel were a bit more of a shock. The largest shock was how much was slipping through the checks and straight into our homes.

We’ll tell you here, exactly whats in our water and floating around with it in the sewers…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPFjP9H63zw[/youtube]

Have any questions about whats in your water? Call us at Benjamin Franklin, The Punctual Plumber today at 602-485-1111. Mention this Blog post, and we’ll even come out and check the quality of your water for FREE!