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Archive for the ‘Home’ Category

Lean-to Greenhouses Add Function and Value to Your Home

06 Feb

A lean-to greenhouse, as the name implies, leans on another structure such as your house. Most typical models feature three glass-paneled walls and use a preexisting wall for support on one side. If you’re using your house as the preexisting wall for the greenhouse to lean on, you’ll find that the wall gives great insulation which helps trap the heat inside the greenhouse and keep your plants healthy. Lean-to greenhouse kits come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be customized to fit your needs so that they attach perfectly to the length of your wall.

Setting Up Lean-to Greenhouses

Lean-to greenhouses are an inexpensive alternative to more traditional greenhouses. Since they require less materials to assemble, vendors of lean-to greenhouse kits charge less than they would for full-size traditional greenhouses. This can be a great way to decide if greenhouse gardening is right for you! Most require no special tools to set up, and can be fully built in a couple of days. In addition, they can use the electricity and plumbing connections already available in your home, so that you don’t have to spend time and money installing them in your yard.

Lean-to Greenhouse Advantages

Lean-to greenhouses are a great way to add value to your home, as it’s rare for homes to come with greenhouses installed. Potential buyers will be very interested in the fact that you have a greenhouse, should you ever decide to sell your house. Having a lean-to greenhouse installed close to your home is also incredibly convenient; a few models even have the door to the greenhouse leading directly into your home. This helps your greenhouse become a place of relaxation rather than just a place only to go garden; you can set up a comfortable chair and go read a book while surrounded by vegetation! In cooler climates it can be a great boon to have a room that’s designed to heat up and trap solar energy inside. It’s like having a heater that you don’t even have to pay extra for on your power bill.

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Solid Wood Flooring – Back to Basics

05 Feb

Solid wood flooring is nothing new.  In fact the rash of carpet that has filled many homes over the last fifty years has been something of a diversion from the norm.  Until the Second World War carpets were the luxurious choice of the wealthy.  With greater prosperity in the post war years they became accessible choices for any home yet remained a symbol of luxury and wealth.  By the sixties and seventies no home was complete without a range of stunning and migraine inducing highly patterned designs.  Then in the eighties and nineties we all got sick of the headaches and the dust mites and started re-discovering the joys of solid wood flooring.  Still popular today, there are a range of options on the market from solid wood to laminate flooring.  So what exactly is so good about wood?

The advantages of solid wood flooring

Solid wood flooring has come to symbolise elegance, permanence and style.  It’s an ideal floor covering in any room and can provide a backdrop to just about any style of décor from country cottages to the most modern of homes.  Long lasting, durable and suitable in any room wood is a surprisingly cost effective solution.  The main features that solid wood flooring are as follows:

  • Looks.  You just can’t beat solid wood flooring for looking great.  Colour and style are a matter of choice and you can select from a huge range of timbers and stains to get just the right feel for your home.  Solid wood flooring is warm and welcoming and it creates a stunning backdrop in any room.
  • Solid wood flooring has a reputation for being expensive but this can depend on your perspective.  While there are cheaper alternatives they don’t necessarily have the durability of wood.  My previous home featured original solid wood flooring that was a hundred years old – it took a little sanding to bring it up to scratch – but was good for at least another hundred years.
  • Carpets provide a perfect environment for dust mites that can cause allergies – children are particularly vulnerable.  They are also susceptible to stains, wear and cause more work than they’re worth.  None of the above applies to solid wood flooring.  It works in any room but it is particularly suited to high-traffic areas such as hallways, landings and living rooms.
  • When it comes to investing in your home solid wood flooring is a sound choice.  Thanks to the fact it compliments just about any décor solid wood is an attractive feature for potential purchasers if you choose to move.  The simple fact that it is hard wearing, low maintenance and can last several lifetimes makes it an attractive proposition.  It can be complemented with rugs, but it looks equally good on its own.

Solid wood flooring is probably the original flooring material.  It stands the test of time – if anything improving with age.  Easy to care for, adaptable and suitable in any room it creates a warm, stylish and timeless look.  While wood flooring is considered a healthy choice it does allow you to mix and match styles and looks.  Rugs, large or small, can be used to create different styles and can easily be changed to suit new décor and themes.  For quality and longevity you simply can’t beat solid wood flooring.

 

 
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5 Legitimate Reasons to Quit Repairing and Start Upgrading

04 Feb

When a home has been around for a certain number of years, it begins to become faded or rough around the edges. This means that, paint peels, pipes clog or rust, walls crack, roofs leak, sewers fill and all those things that make home owners realize that their house is no longer new. When these times come around, the onus of any home owner is to decide the best way to solve their predicament permanently where possible. The main debate is whether to repair or to upgrade. As people know, you can only repair for a certain period of time. Other times upgrading is more suitable. These are the times when there are;

Changes in the housing industry

When it comes to homes, new and better uses for many household fixtures and fittings are being discovered every so often. This means that, many old fixtures and fittings that were appropriate during a certain period in the houses’ history are no longer tenable. These changes have been seen in all areas including plumping, lighting, sewerage, and many other new developments in the housing market. Some of these new changes are more cost effective and safer to adopt over the long term. This means that, they may be expensive to invest in but prove their worth over the long term.

Family size changes

People are dynamic and families are always changing and growing. As families grow, the need to create more space arises. This means, that the need for additional sleeping beds and rooms becomes a priority. For instance, if the period between kids is big, it is better to upgrade to newer and safer baby cribs instead of dusting off old cribs for repair and reuse. Where the budget allows, it may also be more appropriate to move to a bigger house with a spacious garden to allow the restless youngsters room to play.

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Understanding the Top 3 Interior Design Principles

03 Feb

My house is my sanctuary, and I have an obsessive need to control everything that is added or taken away from it. At first, there was no method to it, and I ended up having a house with no rhyme or reason to it, and it felt cluttered.

It was after I met a friend of my girlfriend who was an interior designer that a method started to appear in my madness. She explained to me that if I needed to have control over everything, I might as well have an idea about what i’m doing.

Here are the three tips she taught me, and should help you immensely:

1) Learning Balance:

Balance is really what brings a room together. If you have ever walked into a room and immediately thought, “something about this feels wrong”, you know what it is like to see a room out of balance.

There are three different types of balance when it comes to interior design; radial, asymmetrical, and symmetrical. Radial balance is most common for antiques, or collectors of certain kinds. This philosophy hinges on the principal that you wish to create a focal point in the room. Sometimes, there can be more than one focal point, and it can be created with principles explained in the next section.

Symmetrical balance is pretty archaic, and is exactly what you would think it is. A symmetrically balanced room essentially creates a mirror image along a central axis in the room. The axis does not necessarily have to be straight, but a rule of thumb when using this form of balance is to run the axis along the longest length of the room between two parallel walls.

Asymmetrical balance is a more modern type of design. Instead of creating a focal point or mirroring the room on both sides, you match the attractiveness of object to the human eye. The point is not to have a focal point to the room, but create a dynamic feel that changes throughout the space. This is arguably the hardest form of balance to achieve.

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3 Devious Ways to Increase the Size of a Room

02 Feb

Do you ever look at your home, or a specific room, and feel a bit down hearted? It’s not that you’re unhappy with your home, it’s just that it could do with an extra… something.

If you’re not sure what that something is, let me help you. It’s space. Here’s a little secret, no matter how big someone else’s home is, they’ll be just as frustrated as you about the size of a room. The great thing is that there are just a handful of ways in which you can give a room an effective illusion of space.

Décor

Perhaps the most obvious way of changing the look of a room is a fresh, new décor. There’s a temptation to go for bold colours when redecorating, as these can certainly add to the vibrancy of a room. However, even very large, airy spaces can feel overwhelmed or even oppressive if strong colours are used on every wall. The same is true of wallpaper, particularly if it’s a busy or large pattern.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you can’t have something a little more colourful or dynamic. You can change a room to give it a sense of depth by adding a feature wall. Choose one wall in the room to decorate differently to the others. Think about where the sun comes into the room and when, as light against the wall makes some difference. You don’t even have to go with a solid wall of colour or standard wallpaper. You can now find companies that produce wall sized murals, featuring subjects such as olde worlde maps or landscapes.

Lighting

As I’ve just mentioned, the effect of lighting on a room can make all the difference. When we think about a change like this, we tend to look at our ceiling fittings, give a huff, and think, “it’s a bit of work to replace. Is it worth it?” Getting a professional to fit a new ceiling light can also create an impression of space. So what kind of lights would make a difference? It’s not always necessary to go with an elaborate fitting. In fact, the rule of less is definitely true here. Aside from the practicalities of taking care of an elaborate fitting, they can seem to absorb more space.

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