home improvement
Blavity Inc. Launches ‘Home & Texture,’ First-Ever Curated Home, Interior Design and Commerce Hub for Black and Multicultural Millennials
Home & Texture Roll Outs Editorial Storytelling, Shoppable Content, and Creator Partnerships to Best Reflect the Individuality, Lifestyle and Cultural Heritage of Consumers
LOS ANGELES (Newswire.com) – Blavity Inc. – the corporation that builds solutions for Black and multicultural audiences and enterprises who want to reach them and reaches more than 250 million monthly consumers across its media portfolio, including 21Ninety, Travel Noire, Shadow and Act, and Blavity.com – announces the launch of its newest lifestyle brand and commerce vertical Home & Texture. 
Home & Texture marks the first-ever curated home, interior design, and commerce hub dedicated to Black and multicultural consumers. While the home decor market is forecasted to hit $202 billion by the end of 2024, and this consumer segment makes up 60% of the growth in the home improvement category in the U.S., it is historically underserved with relevant home, DIY, and buying content and resources. Additionally, as more multicultural millennials are aging and buying homes, Home & Texture fills a current void in the publishing space by providing storytelling and shoppable content that reflects their individuality, lifestyle, and cultural heritage.
Merin Pasternak, the Senior Vice President of Commerce & Consumer Media, and Melody Bostic Brown, the Associate Vice President of Consumer Media at Blavity, will lead the home brand. The team will drive the content strategy for Blavity’s commerce-first lifestyle brands 21Ninety and Travel Noire, and will lead Home & Texture’s curated editorial storytelling and commerce to inspire and engage audiences in a way that consistently drives action. With millennials transitioning into home ownership and growing their families, Blavity Inc. will leverage its trust with consumers to drive inclusive change in media.
“Blavity was founded to fuel inclusivity across all business and lifestyle categories, specifically for Black and multicultural millennials. Home & Texture is a category disruptor – providing much-needed information and shoppable content that is curated to speak authentically to this underserved consumer segment, which is among the fastest growing in this category,” said Morgan DeBaun, CEO and Founder of Blavity Inc. “We’re excited to expand our growing media portfolio with this launch and guide readers as they put down their roots, raise families and turn houses into homes.”
Home & Texture launches with content franchises and key tentpoles featuring creators, entrepreneurs, and community-driven content, including:
- House Tours: House tours profile entrepreneurs, creators, and single parents, including Carmeon Hamilton, David Quarles IV, and Laquita Tate. The franchise looks at home designs and decor inspiration from the Black and multicultural community.
- My Homebuying Experience: This UGC and influencer-driven content discusses the joys and unexpected scenarios around becoming first-time homeowners, as well as design hacks and product reviews.
- Bad to Bougie: This franchise covers transforming old, unattractive pieces into fabulous accent pieces. It shows how to maximize your budget and reimagine furniture and decor sustainably.
- D-I-WHY: This tentpole explores the “why” vs. the “why not” approach to home renovations and refreshes. It provides insights and how-tos around specific home projects that are worth taking a hands-on approach and defines those that are best left to the professionals.
- Everything Must-Go…Into Your Home: This tentpole leverages an organic beginning-of-the-year refresh buzz with the best deals on home furnishings and appliances through “everything must go” clearance sales. In addition, we’ll highlight product reviews and listicles about home furnishings and appliances and offer UGC-driven contests.
- First Time Around: This tentpole touches a vital segment of the Home & Texture audience and buyers — first-time homeowners. For BIPOC millennials, creating a beautiful home is exciting, yet it also presents a lot of unknowns and discoveries. We offer them guidance.
For more, visit HomeandTexture.com.
ABOUT BLAVITY INC.
Blavity Inc. is a corporation that builds solutions for Black and multicultural audiences and enterprises who want to reach them. Founded in 2014, Blavity Inc. is home to the largest network of platforms and lifestyle brands serving millennials & Gen Z through original content, video, and unique experiences. The company has grown into a market leader for Black-owned media, reaching over 250 million millennials and Gen Z per month through its growing brand portfolio, including Blavity, 21Ninety, Home & Texture, Travel Noire, AfroTech, Shadow & Act, and Blavity TV.
Source: Blavity Inc.
Family
6 Hacks to Prep Your Mudroom for Back-to-School Season
When school is back in session, it means a lot of coming and going to and from your home – often in a rush. Start with these mudroom organization and habit hacks to make your family’s daily routines a little easier.
(Feature Impact) When school is back in session, it means a lot of coming and going to and from your home – often in a rush. Smooth out those morning scrambles and save yourself some afternoon cleanups by turning your mudroom into a space that feels more organized and less chaotic.
Start with these mudroom organization and habit hacks to make your family’s daily routines a little easier.
Do a Beginning-of-Year Declutter
If the coat hooks are still sporting rain jackets the kids outgrew several seasons ago, that’s your sign to plan a purge. Out with the old, in with the new: collect last year’s coats, too-small shoes, the backpack with the broken zipper, worn-out accessories and that pile of junk mail then figure out what to keep, toss and donate.
Create a “Get-Out-The-Door” Spot for Essentials
“Have you seen my…” is a sentence you can only stand to hear (and say) so many times in one morning. Set up shelves or baskets for important items like keys, permission slips, library books, water bottles, lunchboxes, sports gear and anything else that needs to leave the house with the family. Repetition will build the habit, and even if things still get lost from time to time, this system gives everyone a first place to look.
Choose a Shoe System
Whether you’re a shoe rack kind of family or you’ve got DIY dreams of building an aesthetic wooden bench with shoe storage underneath, lock it in. Shoes are easy for kids to kick off when they get home, and if they aren’t sure where to put them, they’ll remain wherever they land or pile up by the door. Also consider putting down washable mats so grime doesn’t accumulate on your rack or floor.
Give Each Child a Designated Drop Zone
It’s easier for kids to stay organized when they have their own dedicated spaces to hang up jackets, set down backpacks, put shoes and store everyday essentials. Provide each child with their own coat hooks, cubbies, bins or lockers. Build them at kid-friendly heights and make it fun by letting everyone decorate their own zone.
Have Options Ready for Bad Weather
With a little advanced planning, you can prevent your mudroom from living up to its name. Set up a rainy-day corner with an umbrella stand, boot tray, towel basket and hooks or racks to hang damp outerwear. Keep a laundry hamper in the mudroom, too, so wet clothes and dirty uniforms don’t migrate through the house.
Label Storage Areas Clearly
Nearly everyone’s been there: you start a new organization system feeling efficient and optimistic, then over time, memories lapse and it descends back into anarchy. Labels may not stop this from happening every time, but at least they might make kids stop and consider whether their books should go in the basket labeled “Books” or on top of the shoe rack. That’s one step closer to restoring order.
For more back-to-school tips and tricks, visit eLivingToday.com.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
SOURCE:
📰 Enjoying STM Daily News? Join the conversation!
💬 Leave a comment, share your thoughts, and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest stories, updates, and “News You Can Use This Moment!” delivered to your inbox.
Stay connected with STM Daily News!
home improvement
Forever to For Sale: The Resilient Flooring Benefits for Short- and Long-Term Homeowners
Whether you just closed on your forever home or decided to stay put with a low-interest loan and renovate, choosing the right flooring often pays off. Flooring is a foundation homeowners count on every day in their homes and often a key factor for potential buyers.
(Feature Impact) Whether you just closed on your forever home or decided to stay put with a low-interest loan and renovate, choosing the right flooring often pays off. Flooring is a foundation homeowners count on every day in their homes and often a key factor for potential buyers. No matter where you are in your home journey, your flooring needs to deliver.
Great design, durability, ease of maintenance, convenience, indoor air quality, performance and value – these are universal considerations when choosing flooring, but not every type of flooring offers these benefits with such a wide breadth of options. Resilient flooring has a host of solutions that offer a balance of performance with personalization, making it a great option for homeowners at every stage of their building or renovation journeys.
Resilient Meets You Where You Are
If you’re staying put, one of the most impactful things you can do to improve your home is refresh your floors. In addition to a new and inspiring aesthetic, resilient flooring offers numerous options that deliver more.
Ease of maintenance is one of the most valued attributes in flooring. Resilient flooring has a host of options that are known for how easy they are to clean and how well they stand up to furry friends’ claws and accidental spills.
On the other hand, if you’re moving on and up, it’s important to remember dated and poorly maintained flooring are red flags for potential buyers or renters, making them consider repair costs or whether the rest of the home has been maintained. Updating flooring prior to selling often supports the value of your home compared to similar homes with worn or outdated floors. They inspire in the listing photos, create a positive first impression and make your home feel move-in ready.
No matter where you are in your home journey, when you’re balancing your budget for upgrades, it’s important to consider where you’ll get a good reward for your investment. Resilient flooring offers thousands of options to refresh any space in your home at a host of price points.
When designing or redesigning a space, it’s important to also look beyond durability and performance and consider the invisible benefits like indoor air quality. Resilient flooring offers two major third-party certifications in indoor air quality. The FloorScore certification means your floors have been tested and confirmed to promote good indoor air quality. For rigid core flooring, Assure Certified also has strict standards for indoor air quality and content and performance requirements. Both give you and your family peace of mind, knowing your floors are creating a better home environment where you live, play and work.
Sound Footing for Any Stage in the Home Journey
Ultimately, resilient flooring has numerous options that deliver beauty and performance for your family now and years down the road. Whether you’re staying put or moving to your next home, resilient flooring meets you where you are in life and helps you enjoy the next step. Its combination of thousands of designs, durability, ease of maintenance, third-party certifications and more make it a great option for sellers and dwellers.
To learn more about the benefits of resilient flooring, visit BeautifullyResponsible.com.
SOURCE:
🏡 Planning your next home project? Explore expert tips, DIY ideas, product reviews, and the latest home improvement news in Consumer Corner. Share your experiences in the comments and subscribe to the STM Daily News newsletter for practical advice and fresh inspiration delivered straight to your inbox.
home gardening
Fall Tree Planting: Expert Guidance for Optimal Growth
Fall Tree Planting: Fall is the perfect season to celebrate trees as they transform the world into vibrant shades of red, orange, green and gold. You can do more than just admire existing trees – because in many areas, fall is also an ideal time to plant new ones.
Fall Tree Planting: Expert Guidance for Optimal Growth
(Feature Impact) Fall is the perfect season to celebrate trees as they transform the world into vibrant shades of red, orange, green and gold. You can do more than just admire existing trees – because in many areas, fall is also an ideal time to plant new ones.
While spring is often seen as peak planting season, experts say cooler weather and autumn rains provide ideal conditions for seedlings to retain moisture and establish their root systems gradually before winter dormancy, improving their future ability to adjust to summer heat and drier conditions.
According to the Arbor Day Foundation, planting trees offers many benefits for the planet, wildlife and humans alike. From an environmental perspective, they help filter air and water, remove pollutants from the soil, slow storm surge and nurture biodiversity. Plus, access to nature can reduce stress and increase opportunities for outdoor recreation, improving overall health and well-being in your community.
This autumn, use these expert tips from Eric North, program manager of urban forestry and ISA-certified arborist at the Arbor Day Foundation, to plan your fall tree planting and add a few new hues to your local landscapes.
Choose the Right Tree
Setting your trees up for success starts with choosing the right species. Before ordering seedlings, take time to identify species that are well-suited to your local climate, soil conditions and planting site. Also consider the tree’s mature height and how far the canopy will spread – it won’t stay small forever, so make sure you can give it space to grow.
Think About Timing
Although you can technically plant trees until the soil is too frozen to dig a hole, it’s best to schedule your fall tree planting at least six weeks before the ground freezes so the seedlings have time to adapt before winter. If you’re unable to plant your trees immediately after getting them, you can store them in a cool, dry place, making sure the roots stay damp, for up to five days before putting them in the ground.
Don’t Dig Too Deep
A tree planted too deep may develop root and trunk problems that can affect its long-term health. Instead of digging deep, go wide to encourage roots to spread outward. Dig a hole roughly 3-4 times wider than the root system but no deeper than the root itself. When you put the tree in the hole, the root flare (where the trunk meets the roots) should sit level with the soil or slightly above it.
Mulch with Care
Adding 2-3 inches of mulch in a layer around the base of the tree can help insulate the soil and roots, retain moisture and suppress weeds. However, be careful to keep the mulch a few inches away from the trunk itself so you don’t create a “mulch volcano” that traps moisture against the bark.
Water Frequently
Cozy autumn rainstorms might share some of the workload here, but when the forecast looks clear, it’s up to you to water your newly planted seedlings. Keeping the soil consistently moist allows a young tree’s roots to stay hydrated and continue growing. Precise care instructions will depend on the type of tree and your location but expect to thoroughly water your trees about once a week until the ground freezes.
Protect Against Wildlife
Small trees are vulnerable to damage from local wildlife like deer and rabbits, who may chew on bark or snap fragile branches. Installing a protective fence or breathable tree guard can help safeguard trees until they’re older and more capable of withstanding scavenging from hungry critters.
Join the Cause with Trees
Research from the Arbor Day Foundation’s Canopy Report shows most Americans want to live in neighborhoods with more trees, but only a minority report having planted a tree in the past year. However, if you’re feeling inspired to plant trees in your yard this fall, the organization is ready to help.
New members who join during the nonprofit organization’s fall membership drive will receive 10 free trees suitable for their region, along with clear instructions on how to plant and care for them. Whether you’re a first-time planter or a seasoned friend of the forest, you’ll receive ongoing support to ensure success in your efforts to grow a greener world.
“People understand how important trees are for their communities, their health and the environment,” said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Many just need a simple way to get started. Our fall membership drive puts trees directly into people’s hands and gives them the confidence to plant trees successfully.”
The foundation has engaged tree planters in more than 90% of all American neighborhoods, thanks in large part to the organization’s membership drives each planting season. This fall, more than 2 million new trees are expected to be distributed.
To sign up and choose your 10 free trees, visit Arborday.org/GetTrees, where you can also find additional advice on tree planting, care and more.
SOURCE:
🏡 Planning your next home project? Explore expert tips, DIY ideas, product reviews, and the latest home improvement news in Consumer Corner. Share your experiences in the comments and subscribe to the STM Daily News newsletter for practical advice and fresh inspiration delivered straight to your inbox.
