Home décor has changed a lot in the last twenty years – with the advent of modern microfibers and other advances in fabric technology modern sheets and bedding are often quite different than the sort of bedding you might have grown up with. There has also been a renewed interest in organic materials and sustainable materials such as bamboo; organic cotton bedding used to be a specialty item but now there are many organic options in sheets, bedding, towels and even rugs.

[Photo courtesy of ERguille/pixabay.com]

Modern microfibers have made it possible to enjoy plenty of warmth without all of the weight often associated with heavy blankets; there are also many plush microfiber sheet sets which are ideally suited for cold winter nights or any drafty or damp environment. For those who prefer more natural materials a breathable down comforter will keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. There are also many modern down-alternative comforters which provide much of the same features and benefits as natural down.

Modern technology has made its way into the bathroom – microfiber towels dry in an instant and are great for use in a gym or locker room. Folks who prefer more natural materials can choose from organic cotton and bamboo towels along with 100% cotton terry towels which are known for their high absorbency. Even the shower curtain and rods have seen some great design advances – consider the hookless shower curtain and the curved shower curtain rod as two examples of improvement which make life easier and bathing more enjoyable.

If you love your home, but it’s starting to feel a bit cramped, what do you do? Moving seems like the obvious option, but there are lots of reasons why that might not be possible. Maybe time or money restrictions prevent you from doing so, or perhaps you’re near good schools, your work or loved ones and don’t want to be too far away. Maybe you just don’t want to move as you adore your home? Either way, there are other solutions to the problem that don’t involve upping sticks and moving to pastures new. Making the most of all of the available room is one way to go about it, and chances are you have a ton of unused space that you can work with. Here are a few options.

Bedroom Cupboard

Having a large cupboard in the bedroom is always handy. To keep it simple you could keep it as a storage cupboard. Add plenty of shelves and drawers to make the most of every inch, that way your wardrobe isn’t bursting at the seams, and it’s easier to stay organized. If you have a lot of books, you could turn it into your own little mini library! Another option is you could turn it into a walk-in wardrobe if it’s large enough add hanging rails at the sides and a large mirror so you can get dressed. Finally, you could consider an ensuite bathroom. Speak to a plumber such as http://www.plumberstives.com.au to find out if having the correct pipes installed would be within your budget. If you’re bored of fighting for the bathroom every morning, this is ideal. Your own space to get ready in and shower in peace without kids banging on the door- bliss!

[Photo courtesy of ParentRap/pixabay.com]

Attic Space

Attics in most homes are absolutely huge, and when you’re struggling for space in the rest of the home, it’s a shame to waste this. A full loft conversion with a proper staircase to turn it into a functioning bedroom is pricey, but worth the cost if you need the space and have the budget. Otherwise, having a basic loft conversion could give you a whole lot of extra storage space. You wouldn’t need to worry about having windows installed up there or a proper set of stairs, a folding loft ladder would do the trick. Have a company come and secure the floor, and an electrician fit a light, and you can turn it into the storage space of dreams. Instead of miscellaneous boxes everywhere, buy some drawers and shelving units and set everything up neatly. No more rummaging around in the dark or walking on beams every time you need something from the attic. All of your decorations for celebrations in the year can be put away neatly ready for use. You could have decor in the home for autumn/ winter and another lot for spring/ summer, and keep the off season stuff in the attic. You could even store your out of season clothes and footwear up there giving you far more space in your wardrobe and bedroom in general.

Cupboard Under The Stairs

The cupboard under the stairs is a great little storage area but often gets wasted. If yours is full of junk, clear everything out and repurpose it. It’s a handy place to keep things like your vacuum cleaner, mop, iron, ironing board and cleaning essentials. Install a couple of shelves to maximize the room. Alternatively, you could turn it into a cupboard for coats and shoes. It gives you somewhere to take them off when you come home without them cluttering up the hall. Again on shelves, you could have baskets of hats, scarves, and gloves. Have a light fitted in there making it easy to access. Depending on the size you’re working with, you could even have a downstairs bathroom installed. Most families will be looking for two bathrooms in the home when buying, so if you come to sell later down the line, you’ll add value to the property too.

[Photo courtesy of ErikaWittlieb/pixabay.com]

Kitchen Corner

If you have a corner of your kitchen that’s empty space, why not consider creating a pantry? You could have some stud walls put up, or even find a suitable shelving unit and attach doors. A pantry is so handy in the home, it allows you to neatly store all of your dry ingredients and makes it easy to stockpile. Digging through kitchen cabinets can be a pain, with everything neatly laid out it makes it far easier to find what you need. You’ll probably find yourself cooking more, and will save yourself some money too. Having some handy store cupboard recipes on hand using dry ingredients and flavored with herbs and spices is handy between grocery shops or during leaner times.

Unused Garden Space

If you have a large garden, you’re incredibly lucky, although most of us only use them for a few months of the year. To make the most of it, having a conservatory or garden room built means you utilize the space all year round. Since they’re fully insulated, they’re just like any other room in the house and are handy if you’re running out of space. You could create a dining room in the conservatory, freeing up space in the dining room or living room. These could then be used for something else. You could turn a garden room into a home office or a guest suite. Either way, stealing a bit of space from the garden to use as an additional room is a good move in many cases.

Basement

Another potentially huge space that’s being wasted in your home is the cellar or basement area. They often end up as dank and dingy storage areas full of spiders and miscellaneous boxes. But a basement could be transformed into another living area, a teenager’s hangout, a games room or even a wine cellar. As with a loft conversion, you could go all out to transform it into a proper, usable room. Or just do a simple conversion but turn it into a storage space you will actually use. Get a proper light fitting installed down there, kill off the pests and spiders and put up some storage shelves, cupboards, and units.

Well, we’ve waited for what feels like forever but the summer in very nearly here! After being huddled away from the cold, feeling cozy and warm, it’s time to start getting out into the world and enjoying the sunshine. But one thing that’s important to consider is whether or not your home is actually ready for the summertime. You might think that the only important things are getting your summer body and your summer wardrobe, but you’re going to need different things from your home depending on the season, and it’s much better to sort them out before the summer is fully underway and the heat is too intense.

Let there be light

During the winter months, there’s nothing like a warm, cozy home. Sitting on the couch reading a book by lamplight on a cold night is one of life’s most simple and wonderful pleasures. However, something that might have felt warm and cozy in December is likely to feel dark, stuffy and miserable in the summer. It’s time to make the most of the longer days and start letting in more and more natural light. Throw open your curtains! Arrange your rooms to spread the light as much as possible!

Bring in some air

It’s amazing how fast a home can go from being pleasantly warm to stifling and unbearably hot. The moment you start to feel that way it’s time to open all of your windows wide. In fact, you should open up all of your windows at least a couple of times a week. It will help improve the airflow inside the house and prevent a dank, sweaty atmosphere from setting in.

Get ready for outdoor fun

One part of your home that probably ends up neglected far more than any other during the winter months is your yard. It’s far too cold and wet to go outside, so it ends up going unused and becoming overgrown. Once the sun comes out the first thing to do is to bust out the lawnmower. Then, once the yard is usable again, you can find ways to make it fun, whether it’s by setting up a place for having picnics, or this amazing lounge pool with seats! There’s no better way to spend the summertime than enjoying it in your yard with family and friends.

Change colours

Why not make a big change in your home to match the changing of the seasons? Maybe the colors of the rooms could do with a little revamping? What might have seemed nice and cozy before might make the place seem a little drab and dark now that the sun is shining? Why not go for some bright, vibrant colors to match the weather? Yellows and light blues are fantastic for bringing a sense of life and vibrancy to any home, especially when the sunshine hits them. The right color can make a room feel bigger and brighter all at once.

Luckily, very few of these things will take that much effort, and you’ll be basking in the summer sun and relaxing with a drink before you know it.

So the time has come to own your own home.  You have had enough of renting and the thought of being able to call a place your own fills you with excitement.  If you are about to embark on the path towards homeownership here are some things you are definitely going to need to know to make sure your first home is a good one.

1. Know your budget – let’s start with the basics.  How much can you afford to spend on your home?  We all dream of the big beach front property but for most of us this just isn’t a reality.  Be honest with yourself about how much you can afford to borrow based on your earnings and savings and stick to the budget.  Remember your budget needs to include the price of the house, any renovations if you are going for a project buy and of course all the legal fees. Do the math before you even start the search and it will avoid a lot of heartache when the perfect house is outside of your means.
2. Be needy – really consider what you need from a property. This isn’t just the size but also how your lifestyle will work within the properties you are looking at.  Do you need a spare room for when the family comes to stay? Do you spend more time in the kitchen or living room? Do you need a bath or will just a shower work.  Is a garden a must or can you live with a balcony? All of these and more are valid questions to ask yourself so that you can steer your realtor towards those homes that are going to best suit your needs.
3. Clean up your act – there are lots of poor credit home loans on the market so don’t let a poor credit history stand in your way of home-ownership.  However if you can clean up your credit score you have more options when it comes to the type of mortgage deal that suits you.  You can dramatically improve your score by paying your bills on time and dealing with bad debt history.  For more information and advice check out Equifax.
4. Bargain hunt – if you want a bigger house on a budget why not consider a project buy as a way of getting more for your money. Project buys are houses that need a little or a lot of work to them but because of that are sold off at much less than they are worth.  If you have time, patience and some good DIY skills you could save a fortune and add value to your home just by fixing it up.
5. Plan ahead – unless you have a really good income or family money a mortgage is normally taken over a very long period of time, which means you need to consider your future earnings as well as your cash flow today.  Plan ahead as best you can for a financially sound future.

Home ownership dreams – image from sheknows.com

There are so many things to think about when you’re buying a house. The size, location, budget and a million other things will all come into play. We all have a wishlist of the kinds of things we want in a home, here are some of the things you could add to yours when you’re going to viewings.

[Photo courtesy of /pexels.com]

A Good State of Repair

While properties which show signs of disrepair will hugely lower the price, don’t be too tempted by this unless you’re planning on doing a full renovation. Keep an eye on signs of pests, structural damage or other issues that will be very expensive to put right. Even if things look ok, it’s worth having a survey or home inspection done. Companies like Solex Group professional home inspection offer this, it can give you peace of mind and make sure you know you’ve made the right decision about a property. The last thing you want is to be stung with pricey repairs a few months down the line where you overlooked something.

The Area

You’re not just moving into a home, but an area or community. Make sure you do plenty of research on this before buying a home to make sure it matches up with what you want. You could look into things like crime rates and unemployment levels. You could see what parks and amenities are nearby, whether there are good transport links and what the schools are like. It’s easy to be bamboozled with a gorgeous property especially if you’ve found what you think is ‘the one’. But you can never change the area you’ve moved into, so make sure this is as good as the house.

The Garden

While you can landscape and change the garden itself, the size is something you’re stuck with. In fact, if you want to extend the home later down the line this will take space from the garden and make it even smaller. Therefore you need to make sure the size is something you’re going to be happy with. If you have kids and pets, is there enough space for them to run around and play? If you have a big family and like to host garden parties, will there be enough room for everyone?

Eco-Friendly Features

We all know how important it is to reduce our carbon footprint, and making changes at home is one of the biggest ways we can go about this. Therefore properties which have eco-friendly features are certainly worth considering over those that don’t. Solar panels, cavity wall and loft insulation and energy efficient windows and doors for example will reduce the amounts of fossil fuels we use. And as a bonus, your energy bills will be cheaper too. It’s something to ask when you view properties, that way if you’re tied between two and aren’t sure what to pick the eco-friendly home has an advantage.

What kinds of things are on your checklist when you’re looking for your next home?

Most homeowners spend around $7,000 to $10,000 on each big renovation project. Over half of them will have to increase their budget to take account of issues related to poor planning. In short, we are a nation of renovators, and we love to improve the house. As a result, it is easy to define which are the first rooms to be renovated inside a home. Homeowners focus their attention on the first rooms that show signs of use, being the bathroom and the kitchen. Kitchen renovation projects are often expensive because they require to buy new appliances. There is no way around the expense, unfortunately. However, when it comes to the bathroom, while most projects remain expensive, the costs could be easily cut down with some savvy DIY craft and a lot of smart recycling thinking. Here’s how:   

Learning To Renovate

When you are looking at renovating your bathroom, it’s important to set a budget for your time and your expenses before you start. To keep your renovation low cost, you will need to invest time and efforts in it. So, make sure that you start with the right DIY gear! If you bought an old house, it’s likely that your original bathroom floor has been covered with layers of plywood and linoleum. If you want to refloor the room, you will need to go through layers of old flooring. It’s a hard manual work, but this will increase the value of your home dramatically. Besides painting the walls, with a bathroom suitable paint that is designed to resist stains and moisture, the other main area of improvement is the tiled wall around the shower or the tub. It will give your bathroom a fresh and clean look. Finally, instead of changing your bathtub or shower, you can refresh them with a refinishing kit, to find the original shine.

[Installing tiles on a wall/Photo courtesy of HowToSpecialist.com]

Don’t Waste Anything

When you start diving into long renovation projects, you will rapidly find that you have a lot of items that can’t be reused in their original form. For example, if you start working on the plumbing system, you may find yourself with plenty of unusable scrap copper. Don’t just throw it away; if you can’t repurpose it, others can, and they will give you a fair copper per pound price. Additionally, other larger items, such as a bathroom cabinet can be repurposed into an elegant kitchen cupboard or a craft chest of drawers. Similarly, if you have an old chest of drawers, you can also repurpose it into a bathroom vanity, following the previous step-by-step tutorial.

Be Your Own Plumber

Finally, if you have ever hired a plumber, you are probably aware of the cost of a professional repair/renovation work. In most cases, with the right tools, you can tackle most bathroom projects by yourself, at a lower cost, and without much efforts. Additionally, plumbing essentials such as installing a sink or adding new water lines are a lot easier than you might think. As a rule of the thumb, you can do most of your plumbing work within an afternoon and at no cost at all if you have the appropriate tool.

A new arrival is on the way and there is so much to do – decorating the nursery, choosing baby blankets and bedding along with a baby changing table, glider rocker and more. No matter how much you do before the bundle of joy arrives there’s inevitably something you will overlook, especially if this is your first child.

New parents may not realize how much the home décor will need to change throughout the entire house. The glass top coffee table that was once so stylish now represents a potential safety hazard while the sleek bathroom knobs and hardware that was so easy to use now poses a safety problem.

[Photo courtesy of ErikaWittlieb/pixabay.com]

Each room of your home will need to be childproofed and the bathroom is a good place to start. Any cabinets including the medicine chest should be secured with a childproof lock. The wastebasket should have a lid; a foot operated model is a good idea as kids will have a difficult time opening it. The toilet seat should be secured with a lid lock and all electrical outlets should be secured with protectors.

The bathtub should be made as child-friendly as possible – look for a bathtub faucet guard to protect baby’s head and be sure to invest in a bathtub temperature gauge to reduce the chance of scalding baby. A shampoo rinse cup will help to stop the tears when shampooing children’s hair.

If you do not already have a handheld showerhead you will find this to be one of the most useful modifications you can make in a bathroom. With a handheld shower head it’s easy to bathe children, shampoo hair and direct the water spray exactly where you want it; it also makes cleaning the tub and shower much easier.

With the warmer months rapidly approaching it’s no wonder most of us our turning our attentions to our beloved gardens. However the cooler months tend to mean our gardens have been somewhat neglected so it’s difficult to know where to start trimming and preening the wilderness that has taken over.

[Photo courtesy of geograph.org.uk]

So today we are discussing the simple ways we can organise and preen our gardens so they are ready for us to enjoy over the spring and summer period.

Clear Out the Debris

Sometimes the winter damage can look worse than it actually is, due to all the debris that has accumulated over the colder months. So beginning with clearing out all the debris will give you a better idea of what actually needs doing.

Re-energise the Earth

The winter months tends to leave the soil in your garden packed and undernourished, so revitalising the soil is really important. Just adding compost,and fertilizer where necessary, will have the earth healthy and ready for the sunnier seasons.

Nurturing Existing Plants

For those plants that have survived the winter, you’ll need to prune in order to prepare them for the spring and summer. ‘Deadheading’ flowers and extracting dead leaves will leave your plants ready to flourish and blossom.

[Photo courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net]

Look Up

Look at the trees in your garden and evaluate their health and positioning. It’s important to keep trees trim particularly if they are situated close to your home. Hiring a local tree service company is a good idea if you’re unsure about how to care for the trees in your garden.

New Flowers and Shrubs

Look around your garden and consider the colours and types of plants you’d like to add to get your garden looking tip-top. Some fantastic spring plants are snapdragons, pansies, lilacs and tulips. So take a trip down to your local garden centre and start planning how to breathe new life into your garden.

Maintenance

Once you’ve done all the cleaning, re-nourishing, potting and planting it’s easy to think the work is done. But maintenance is key in order to keep your garden in premium condition throughout the warmer months. Dust off those little hand pruners and do a weekly inspection of the dead flowers and leaves that need removing.

Inspect your flowers and plants for insects. Looking for holes or stickiness to leaves could mean an infestation so take a sample down to your local garden centre for advice on appropriate action.

Keep your garden hydrated by watering regularly. Drip irrigation pipes and soaker hoses are generally more effective at evenly distributing water around your plants that standard sprinklers, so consider investing in one of these if you don’t already have one.

Finally, have fun with it. Gardens are the wildest area of our homes and we should be free with the way we nurture and care for them. Finding new and creative ways of adding colour and diversity to your garden is such a rewarding way to spend time over the warmer months. Then of course, there’s nothing better than sitting back on a spring evening and admiring our handy work.

If there’s one thing that the super rich love doing, it’s pimping their mega-mansions. It’s almost a rite of passage for them – something they feel they have to do in order to feel a part of their exclusive club. The good news is that a lot of what they end up doing can be replicated in our own homes, sometimes at a tiny fraction of the cost. Here are some of the ways that the rich and famous have pimped out their homes.

Install A Waterfall

Water features are an essential part of pimping up any home. But now a home in Tiburon, California has taken the concept a step further by including a 10-foot waterfall on the inside of the house. The home itself looks more like a temple and has been dubbed “The Nirvana House” which is in keeping with the state’s new age vibes. The future owner of the house will be able to turn the waterfall up or down, from peaceful stream to raging torrent, depending on his or her mood.

[Photo courtesy of Alistair McMillan/wikipedia.org]

The house itself is listed for sale at more than $11 million on a San Francisco brokerage site. That’s pretty steep for most folks, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t include your own waterfall feature in your front garden.

Bullet-Proof Windows

When you’ve got an expensive home, there’s a lot of stuff you need to protect, including the occupants. Bulletproof windows not only stop bullets, but they also prevent the windows being smashed in and thieves entering your home. Bullet-proof glass comes in different grades. The weakest grades will stop a bullet, but repeated assault with a blunt instrument can still smash them. Companies, however, have developed glass hybrids which reflect impact energy and transfer it back into the person hitting the window, preventing breakage.

[Photo courtesy of GregoryButler/pixabay.com]

Heavy-duty glass is, understandably, expensive. However, it’s not necessarily out of the range of many well-to-do homeowners looking for an extra little bit of protection. A house near Central Park in New York recently sold for more than $25 million, complete with a triple layer of bullet-proof glass.

Indoor-Outdoor Pools

[Photo courtesy of Dylan Tweney/flickr.com]

Those who live in temperate climes have a dilemma on their hands when it comes to swimming pools. Should they be built indoors or outdoors? Well, why not both. The owners of a mansion in Snowmass, Colorado have decided to build a swimming pool with half of it inside their home and the other half outside, surrounded by a patio area overlooking the mountains. The exterior painting is designed to complement the outdoor part of the pool, while the indoor section is plain masonry. Will your new pool be as uncompromising?

Home Theatre

Home theaters are all the rage among the rich and famous, especially among actors who can enjoy spending hours watching themselves on the big screen. It’s not unusual for the super-rich to spend upwards of $2.5 million on a home theater, just to watch a DVD that cost $8. The most famous example of a home theater inside a mega-mansion is the theater in the Ziegfeld mansion.

When it comes to our home, there are loads of things that can go wrong. In fact, we end up having to spend a small fortune on repairs every year. But one place which often can be forgotten about is the roof. After all, we are unlikely to look up there when we are going about our daily life. But there could be problems developing which could soon end in costly repairs. Therefore, here are some things you can do to avoid a roof-ache!

[Photo courtesy of /pexels.com]

Keep an eye on your attic

For a lot of us, we tend to use our attic to store items that we can’t find homes for. In fact, it can end up being a haven of old toys, luggage, and Christmas haven. And it means we rarely go up into the attic. But to ensure you notice problems with your roof, you need to be ensuring you are checking in the attic. After all, there can be signs in the room which mean there is a problem with your roof. For one thing, if there is a lot of light coming into your attic, it could be a sign that you are missing shingles. And they will need to be replaced quickly before you end up with a leak in your home. Also, if you notice water spots on your attic walls, it’s a sign that there is a problem with your roof flashing. Therefore, keep an eye on this to ensure you notice a problem quickly.

[Photo courtesy of Katherine Bowman/flickr.com]

Watch out for shingles in your yard

You also need to be careful to watch out for shingles in your yard. After all, if there are loose shingles found in your back garden, it’s likely they have come off your roof. And if you do have missing shingles, your roof is unlikely to be protected from the natural elements. So if a storm hits, you could soon find a leak in your property. Therefore, as soon as you notice shingles, it’s a good idea to contact a roofing company. That way, they can go up onto the roof and see how many is missing. They can also help you to make the decision whether you need to replace the roof. In fact, a lot of roofing companies like Anderson Contractors will give you a free quote so you can decide whether it’s something you can afford to do. And remember most roofs only last on average 15 years. So it might be time to replace it if it’s older than that!

[Photo courtesy of Jan-Mallander/pixabay.com]

Get an annual roof inspection

While you might forget to look at your roof, you can still keep on top of it if you get someone to come out to check it annually. After all, the roofer will check everything to make sure it’s all in top nick. And then will make any fixes that are needed to keep it in good condition. That way, you can stop any problems in their track before they get worse and cause you a small fortune. You can also schedule them to come every year so that even if you forget, you will get a reminder telling you to book it!

Remember to ensure you are covered by home insurance. That way, you can get the funds you need if something does go wrong with the roof!