All Entries in the "HOME IMPROVEMENT" Category
Decorate Your Walls with Color Predictions – 2013
The New Year brings with it a fresh new beginning and fresh colors.
This is reason enough to rethink color options for your home.
Here are 6 fresh color predictions by top paint companies for 2013.
1. Inspired Violet
Dulux has come out with a bright new trend for decorating your walls in 2013. Though it comes under the bold color schemes, violet still has a soothing effect and creates a restful and tranquil atmosphere. Violet is therefore a safe choice when you want to experiment bold in your living room or bedroom. Try pairing it with pastels and nudes or get really bold by using it on an accent wall or on the ceiling.
2. Lemon Sorbet
Lemon sorbet is the recommended color of Benjamin Moore. Since this is a pastel shade, you could practically use it anywhere. The color works wonders when combined with lavender accessories in the room. Lemon sorbet is ideal for romantic bedrooms and bathrooms.
3. Peaches and Plums
10 Baroque Trends to Spruce up Your Home
Baroque interiors are pieces that contain patterns inspired by 17th century art forms.
They also come in antique finishes and give an ornamental look to the interior.
Here are 10 such baroque pieces that can add an aristocratic look to your home.
1. Black Rococo Carved Bed
The ornate carving on this black bed makes it a perfect baroque style to fit in your interiors. Just this one piece is enough to transform your room from normal to opulent. A gold colored throw will complete the look and give extra bling to this sleeping couch.
2. Bonjout Boudoir Mirror
The delicately carved black mirror can be used to decorate the walls of your living room. This can also go into a fancy powder room. Make sure that it is accentuated with right lighting elements. Wherever you place it, this mirror will form the centre of attraction. Available for sale at Littlewoods.
3. Ornate Chandelier
If your hallway is craving attention then just place this baroque inspired chandelier on the ceiling. Anyone entering your home will be dumb struck by its elegance. It is a good touch of antiquity to a modern home accessory. Get yours from The French Bedroom Company
Make Your Home Your Own
January is usually the time of year where we start taking a look at our homes, and what we can do to make them more comfortable and enjoyable to be in.
It’s a combination of factors that makes us do it – Christmas is over, DIY stores across the country are holding sales and the cold weather is setting in – causing many of us go into “nesting mode”.
So what changes can you make to your house to make it a pleasant place to be while the wind howls and the nights draw in too soon?
Decluttering
The first thing to do is to go through everything in the home and decide what you no longer need or have room for. Put unneeded items on Gumtree, or donate them to charity – whatever will get them out of the house faster.
Find some innovative storage solutions for things like shoes and coats, which often create mess in walkways, and make sure you have a general clear out so that you have a blank canvas to work with.
Staying warm
Renovating a Home on the Cheap
With the terrible shape of the housing market, many people are looking to renovate their homes. They can do this so they can enjoy their homes more and not have to sell them. It can also be done to increase their appeal to perspective buyers. With the tightening of belts across the nation, home owners are looking to do these renovations as cheaply as possible.
This can be done without sacrificing quality by following these steps:
Working with a Designer
It may seem odd to save money by hiring an interior decorator or home designer, but this is a great way to save money on home renovations. Designers often have deals going with local suppliers, so they more than earn their fees by getting building materials for the lowest price possible.
They have the experience to know how to do these renovations for very low prices. They also know the best ways to renovate to increase the resale value of a home. Anyone looking to renovate their homes should definitely get help from a designer.
Increase Your Wealth with Home Renovations
One of the best reasons that you should think about doing some home renovations is that you can increase the overall value of your home when you make improvements. You don’t have to have a lot of money to be able to make some improvements because there are both big and small projects that can improve your home.
If you don’t have that much money to spend then you should think about starting with the smallest areas of your home and then expanding from there.
The bathroom is a great place to start with home renovation because it gives you the ability to mess around with a small area of the home. This can basically be your test area before moving onto bigger and better things and you can learn a lot about your home renovating abilities by trying to improve your bathroom.
If you bathroom project turns out to be successful then you can start thinking about making bigger changes to the kitchen or other parts of the house.
Making Your Kitchen a Cozy Breakfast Haven
A kitchen is always an important part of a home. Although some people think that it serves only one purpose, the truth is that we do a lot of different things in it besides cooking. The majority of people have breakfast in the kitchen and so it should be a pleasant place to spend time in.
Shaker style
For this style you can have a small island in the middle of the room that blends into the style of the kitchen. It might be a good idea to have a groove and tongue finish in the entire room. To add some personality to your kitchen you may have a couple of stools in front of the island.
Bright and airy
Usually it’s not only about the kitchen looking nice, but it is also about making it functional. For this make sure that you use some wise storage options in the kitchen. For instance you might have a unit that also serves a wine cooler and an entertainment center due to the TV that was incorporated in the wall.
Exposed brick
Top 10 Fall Colors to Give Life Back to Your Walls
Thinking of fall brings all the colors of warmth to your mind. From browns to yellows, orange to red, this season inspires you to go ahead and give the much needed color makeover for your home. Here are the 10 latest colors trending this season.
1. Bronze
Use of bronze as a color scheme can transform your home into a cozy heaven. Adding drapes and wall paper to match this scheme will add to the elegance. Including bold colored center pieces in orange and red will accentuate the effect and transform the entire feel of the room.
2. Yellow
Continuing the use of warm and bold colors to complement each other, here is another example of how one could add a touch of culture and exotic look to the interiors. Use of yellow on walls and orange accessories has brought out the best in the room.
3. Pastel hues
If bold is not your style then do not be disappointed. Bring in pastel hues of beige into your interiors and add a few splashes of bolder shades in the accessories. Throw in a lot of light and you are ready for brightening your room with the moods of fall. Good use of cedar and maple wood in the furniture goes with the flow.
Make Your Home Hurricane Proof
We all know that hurricanes are getting more and more frequent in the country, and so it is best for people to start preparing for them. There are some things you could do around your home to make sure that you will be safe.
Brace the garage door
While some of the people think that the most vulnerable part of a house is the roof, the truth is that in fact it is the garage door. Usually these doors aren’t reinforced. During a hurricane there is a positive push in the garage and the wind outside creates a negative pull. This is why you should reinforce the door.
Securing the windows and doors
If the windows get broken, they could let rain and wind inside, increasing the pressure on the roof. The best thing you could do is to get storm shutters. It will also be helpful to secure the windows and doors before the storm comes. You shouldn’t really waste time with taping the windows because it doesn’t help.
When it comes to the doors, you should secure them with several bolts so that the wind won’t be able to open it. When securing the windows and doors make sure that you secure all of them. This is because the hurricane can swirl in just any direction.
Updates that Can Save You Big
Purchasing a home is a big financial investment. The cost does not only include the home’s purchase price, but also utilities and homeowner’s insurance.
While the cumulative costs may seem high, there are several home improvements that can decrease insurance and utilities costs.
Here’s a quick rundown on how to save some bucks on the home front:
Install a Programmable Thermostat
Programmable thermostats reduce the costs of monthly energy bills. They allow homeowners to set the thermostat to a lower heating or cooling temperature while they are away.
When the homeowner returns, the temperature is returned to comfortable levels. This thermostat prevents the energy waste involved in heating and cooling a home when no one is there.
This is a minor change that produces visible savings on utility costs.
Add a Home Security System
A home security system can let a family feel protected from intruders that might enter the home. Installing Wirelessalarmsystems also helps homeowners save money on their home insurance premiums.
Most insurance companies will lower the cost of the insurance premiums. Alarm systems are deterrents to crime and protect the home from any potential damage an intruder may cause.
Making Your Living Space Feel Bigger than It Is
At some time or another, we all wish that we could have more interior space in our homes.
We dream of large, wide-open living rooms, kitchens with spacious marble islands, and bedrooms with sizeable walk-in closets.
We imagine greenhouses, libraries, and tall ceilings. We might not like the idea of living in a mansion in reality, but we can certainly fantasize about it from time to time.
It is easier to imagine having more space than to actually make that happen. After all, raising our ceilings and enlarging our living rooms would require tens of thousands of dollars in construction costs, if not an upgrade to a larger home altogether. These solutions are not feasible for the average person.
But there are still ways to make your living spaces feel bigger even if they aren’t any larger in reality. Doing so can help you feel less contained and constrained when spending time at home. It can create perceptions of freshness and openness that appeal to residents and visitors alike. So how can this be done? How can one make their interior space feel bigger? Here are a few tips:
