Displaying posts from December, 2021

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I love the energy of this home. Mediterranean exotic edginess that I could definitively get behind. Designed by Janice Barta of Barta Interiors.

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“As we live and as we are, Simplicity – with a capital “S” – is difficult to comprehend nowadays. We are no longer truly simple. We no longer live in simple terms or places. Life is a more complex struggle now. It is now valiant to be simple: a courageous thing to even want to be simple. It is a spiritual thing to comprehend what simplicity means.” 
– Frank Lloyd Wright

This very minimal and almost spiritual home is about as simple as it gets, with arches that provide touches of drama and elegance. Designed by Mandy Graham.

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Keeping water well filtered and safe for drinking is the priority of many homeowners this coming winter. That’s understandable. Winter can dramatically affect the quality of our home water, and now’s the best time to start planning how you can keep your water at a pristine quality. 

You might be wondering how winter affects the quality of your water. The answer is quickly found in a simple story of snowmelt and sodium chloride. 

During winter, our roofs, roads, and playgrounds get covered by inches of snow, and we turn to de-icing these places for our comfort. There are several ways to de-ice, but the most common is de-icing with sodium chloride (salt). 

Using salt to de-ice is fast and convenient, but the chloride is soluble in water. So, many people using sodium chloride to melt the snow off their roads etc. means that there will be a high level of extra chloride present in the environment.  

Now, the water we get in our homes comes from either surface water or groundwater. A groundwater supply comes from rain and snow that seeps into the soil, while a surface water supply feeds from rain and snow that flows into streams, lakes, and rivers. 

After the de-icing, the chloride-filled snow melts and enters both types of freshwater supplies. The result is that despite treatment by the water authorities, our drinking water comes out of our taps with more chloride than usual. 

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Apart from chloride, snow also contains a high amount of nitrogen which gets into our water when it melts, too. 

The bottom line is, there will be changes in your water quality during winter. But, preparing yourself for these inevitable changes should not be a difficult task. It can be pretty straightforward, actually; all you need is a water filter. 

Water filters help you keep your water free from different kinds of contaminants, like heavy metals and excess minerals. There are several types of water filters, and we’ll be discussing a few of them in this article. 

Types Of Water Filters 

Water filters function differently, and when picking a water filter system, you should consider your budget and the type of contaminants you’re trying to get rid of. There are water filters that are localized in their use and others that cater to the needs of the whole house. 

Whole House System

Whole house water filters process all the water coming from your city’s water supply before it’s distributed around your home. Using whole house water filter systems guarantees that you’ll have clean and better-tasting water at every outlet.  

SpringWell CF 

The Springwell CF is an excellent whole house filter. Not only does it remove chlorine and chloramine, sediments, pesticides, and heavy metals, it also gets rid of microorganisms, making your drinking water safer and better to drink. 

This system is perfect if you’re looking to get good quality water all over your house. It’s easy to install, and it gets the job done. Besides, it’s ideal for those snow melt related contaminants mentioned above.

The Best Water Filter Pitchers

Water filter pitchers operate differently from whole house water filters. They come in handy during the winter when low temperatures can easily affect the filtration systems in your home. 

With water filter pitchers, you don’t need to do any installation. Although you won’t get filtered water at every tap of your house like you’d get with larger systems, they are an excellent filtration tool to have. 

Here are two water filters pitchers you can use in your home: 

Clearly Filtered Water Filter Pitcher

The Clearly Filtered is up there when it comes to water filtering pitchers. It efficiently traps the contaminants present in your drinking water. Microorganisms and minerals like chlorine, lead, and fluoride are filtered off by this unit, leaving you with water of very high quality. 

The Clearly Filtered water filter pitcher uses a process called affinity filtration to remove over 270 impurities. 

It has a 100-gallon filter capacity that lasts for about four months, after which you’ll have to replace the filter. It is an 80 oz jug, portable, easy to grip, carry around, and pour from. It fits nicely into a refrigerator and as a plus, it has a beautiful design. 

The inventors of this water filter pitcher have such solid belief in it that it even comes with a lifetime warranty. If your Clearly Filtered water pitcher ever breaks, you’ll get a new one, free of charge. 

Aquagear Water Filter Pitcher 

The Aquagear water filter pitcher was created because the makers wanted to solve the problem of ineffective water filtration. So far, it looks like they’re achieving their goal. 

The Aquagear removes over 89 contaminants. Some of the pollutants include chlorine (99.9%), chloramine (99.9%), fluoride (90.06%), chromium (99.4%), lead (99.9%), mercury (97.8%), copper (99.7%), arsenic (99.8%) and over 50 VOCs including trihalomethanes (99.0%). 

Overall, this filter does a good job removing a lot of water pollutants, but it won’t remove healthy minerals like calcium and magnesium. 

It’s also important to note that this filter is not designed to deal with harmful microorganisms. It is intended for water that is considered microbiologically safe. 

The pitcher only comes in one size and can filter up to 8 cups in one refill. 

It can filter an impressive 150 gallons (6 months of use) before a new cartridge is needed. This is way ahead of many other pitchers out there. Although it has some great features, it is slightly more expensive than regular pitchers and has a relatively slow flow rate. It can be a challenge to use this filter if you have a large household. 

Other water filter pitchers include the pH restore, which helps balance the water’s pH, and Brita’s Everyday, which is popular and one of the top contenders out there.  

Winter Is Coming

If your home doesn’t have the filters it needs to keep your water safe, you should really consider getting one. Winter is coming.

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It’s light. It’s bright. It’s got that neutral colour palette. Natural materials, yes. A little less an eclectic mix of vintage and new, more the on trend rounded, organic shapes and bouclé, bouclé, bouclé. Equally sophisticated and stylish but completely different from the previous Madrid apartment. A fabuous Parisian apartment by Emmanuelle Simon. Which is your favourite?

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With its restrained, neutral colour palette, eclectic mix of furniture, cool art and layer upon layer of texture this apartment by Madrid-based Estudio María Santos is sophisticated but not stuffy, stylish and welcoming. Think light flowing in through tall windows and a preference for natural materials like wood, stone metal and linen.

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