HEALTHY-HOME-DESIGN

Quality-Service-Integrity

Tag: great

Improve Your Home With Some Great Tips

by Louise B. Delia

A collection of tips on how to begin improving your home makes the perfect starting point for a beginner to emerge and hopefully begin improving their own home much easier. Below is just such a collection that will hopefully assist the eager novice into eventually becoming a pro when it comes to home improvement.

Put in an outdoor motion detector for your outside lighting. This way the lights will only be on when they are activated and not all day or all night unnecessarily. Most people don’t need their outside lights other than when they come home or leave after dark.

For someone working on a limited budget, there are ways to give your living space a brand new look. It’s simply a case of working with what you have. Move your existing furniture around, maybe using different pieces in different rooms. Replace any photos with updated ones. Spend a little money on a new shade for an existing lamp. It’s the small touches that make the difference.

Once you’ve checked the flapper valve, if the toilet is still running, check the chain. If the length of the chain linking the arm lever to the flapper valve is too short, water will keep running from the tank, as there would be no seal. To remedy this, simply remove the old chain and attach a longer one from a hardware store.

If you would like to make a simple home improvement to give it an updated look then go to the local store and pick up some paint. New paint could make your home look new and it doesn’t require a whole lot of time or money. It ensures buyers will be interested in moving in.

When it comes to home improvement, consider adding extra insulation to your home to assist with your cooling costs in the summer and heating costs in the winter. This will save you money as well as keep you and your family more comfortable. The two best ways to insulate are to add weather strips to your doors and ensure that your attic is lined.

You don’t have to throw out your old wicker patio furniture. Sure, it may be weathered, but you can make them good as new. Replace your old cushions, or sew a new cover for them. Buy some cheap spray paint in shocking black or elegant white and spray your wicker set in the chosen color. Make sure to wear a protective mask over your mouth for safety. This can make your patio set look good as new and give you a reason to spend the day outdoors.

Give your bathroom a unique touch by deciding on a theme. Most people spend hours in their bathrooms, but apart from the coordinated colors, nothing seems to be unique. Come up with fun themes like pirate, under the sea, at the beach, or shipwrecked. Finding accessories for your idea can be fun and give your bathroom a sense of personality.

Well, hopefully the aforementioned collection of tips were enough to give you a great start on what to do and expect when it comes to improving your own home. This collection was carefully constructed to be an aid in your arsenal so that you can begin to hone your home improvement skills into doing great and safe improvement jobs.…

Continue Reading

Expert Tips For Planning Great Home Improvements

by Louise B. Delia

Home improvement is an activity of knowledge and skill. It is an activity with the goal of improving upon your home so that it looks the way you want it to. Easier than it sounds though, correct? Don’t let that put you off! Read the tips in this article, to see what you need to begin improving today.

To avoid costly mistakes when painting a room, make a small investment in the paint samples that many retailers offer. You can get 8 ounce sample sizes in any available color. For a small cost, you can apply paint to a big enough area to really get a feel for how the paint will look, much more accurately than with paint chips alone.

If you don’t want to have a toilet that won’t stop running, try checking the flapper valve. Flapper valves act as rubber seals for the tank and allow water in and out. Pull the siphon from the tank and examine the valve. If it’s dirty, clean it. If its broken, replace the valve with a new one.

Get your garage organized by purchasing clear bins for various types of items. Label these boxes, and ensure you can stack things on top of them. You’ll protect your items from pests, and you’ll make the garage look a lot neater too.

Focus on exterior lighting for your next home improvement project. Installing an outdoor motion detector is a good choice; the sensor will ensure that the light only comes on when you need it to. Not only does this save you money on energy bills, but the motion detector is also a good security feature. It alerts you if anyone is walking around your property.

Avoid any furniture that contains busy upholstery. Florals, bright colors and geometric shapes can force your decorating hand. Purchase furniture in solid colors like black, brown, blue or green, and use accessories to highlight the furniture. You can use different colored pillows and throws to create a unique effect.

Rearranging your furniture can be fun, but oftentimes you need visual aides to determine where to put everything. A great way to arrange furniture with visual aiding is by taking a piece of graph paper and cutting out square shapes in a scaled format to represent your different pieces of furniture. You can easily toss your graph paper pieces around and decide how everything can fit together. It definitely saves you the trouble of pushing your furniture around first.

Put a ring on your power tool plugs! To keep small children from plugging these potentially dangerous tools into a power outlet, just slip a key ring through the holes on the tips of the plug prongs. For bigger plugs you can even use s small padlock to safeguard the tools against potentially hazardous use.

Home improvement has to incorporate research, skill, and detail. It is an activity that takes advantage of your property with the intent of making it better. Don’t be fooled by the simple goal, because it takes work. If you are willing to put in the effort and if you follow the tips, you can do it!…

Continue Reading

Landscaping: Tips And Tricks For A Great Yard

by Louise B. Delia

Do you love to walk out into your yard and enjoy what you see around you? If this is actually your nightmare, then putting in a little work can change your landscape for the better. Read on for tips, secrets and strategies, which others are already using, in order to effectively renovate their landscape.

If you are not a master landscaper, consider hiring a company to help you. Though do-it-yourself individuals often think that they can save money by not resorting to using a company, the opposite might actually be true. A company can determine the exact chemicals, treatments, and care that your lawn needs, resulting in less work and sometimes, a reduced cost.

Have your soil tested before you begin your garden or landscaping project. Running these tests will make you aware of any quality issues with the soil and changes that need to be made before you put any plants in. Doing this can help to ensure that your plants get a great start and grow to be happy.

When it comes to purchasing landscaping materials, do not always believe that cheaper is better. Yes, these materials will save you money, but most of the time, the quality of these materials is not very good. Ask the employees of the store you go to, which brands are the best.

Contrary to what you may have heard, hiring an expensive landscaper or designer isn’t necessary to achieve a beautiful look with your property. You’ll only be forced to pay an arm and a leg for something you can do. But, you may want to consult with a professional who can offer some useful advice.

To get the most bang for your buck when purchasing plants for landscaping, look for pretty perennials. These varieties come back year after year, making them ideal for a low-maintenance landscape design. Irises, day lilies, tulips, pink dianthus, phlox and wild buckwheat are all great examples of flowering perennials that you can enjoy for multiple seasons.

Use evergreen and other foliage plants to give your yard a sense of continuity. Some plants blossom infrequently and you may find your yard looking empty while you wait for them to perk up again. Foliage plants and evergreens will keep your landscape looking attractive and add interest to your lawn.

Always wear proper safety gear when doing any landscaping projects. This includes wearing good strong gloves to protect your hands. Wear eye protection when using any power saws or tools. And remember to protect your skin from the sun by wearing long-sleeved shirts or a good sun screen lotion and a hat.

The outside of your home is even more important for first impressions than the inside, so keeping it in good condition will ensure that you can sell it if you ever need to, that visitors won’t be scared away and family will actually want to come to visit. The simple ideas that you’ve read here will get you started on the way to a beautiful yard, as long as you get to work today.…

Continue Reading

Great Advice When Shopping For New Furniture

by Louise B. Delia

You aren’t alone when it comes to wanting to add furniture to your home. If you have a home, you have to have furnishings. This is why there are quite a different choices to choose from. You must ensure that the furniture you choose are affordable and right for your home. Here are several tips that will help you find great furniture.

When you arrange your furniture, make sure that you do not place it too close to any heat sources. This can damage the material and shorten the life of these items. You should avoid placing furniture near air conditioning units as well, because the extreme cold can have a damaging effect on the material.

Consider your pet situation when shopping for furniture. A home without free-roaming pets that is going to stay that way is safer for a lot more furniture. If you do have uncaged pets or think you might in the future, be a lot more picky in what pieces of furniture you buy.

Take the time to keep furniture polished and clean regularly. This bit of maintenance helps keeps your furniture looking like new and also helps to get rid of allergens like dust and pet dander. Letting dust and other allergens collect, especially on finished furniture, can damage it over time, so you need to maintain it on a regular basis.

The depth of an upholstered chair is important. Taller persons should look for chairs that offer a deeper seat that affords ample leg room while sitting. If you are tall, but have weak or bad knees, then look for less depth to afford easier standing up from the chair. If you are shorter, test the depth so as not to “flounder” when rising.

Buy used furniture when you can. You may be surprised at some of the great furniture pieces you can get used. Sometimes individuals will buy a furnishing and not like it, or use it. And when they want a new piece, many times they will want to get rid of it for a low price.

If you need furniture and want to save money, consider shopping at warehouse stores. Most of these stores do charge a membership fee; however, the money you will save will pay for the fee over and over again. These stores carry quality furniture at a fraction of the price of a furniture store.

When purchasing a leather sofa, check its base very carefully to see if the leather is dyed evenly everywhere. If you notice some white gauze under the sofa, it is made out of vinyl. A genuine leather sofa should be evenly dyed, even under the sofa and between the cushions.

When looking for some furnishings for your home, you might want to check out your local thrift shop. The selection of pieces in these stores is forever changing, and it’s not uncommon to find quality pieces–some like new. If you have a discerning eye, you can find a great piece at a rock bottom price, allowing you to do more redecorating than you dreamed possible.

Because you now have some excellent ideas to assist you in obtaining great furniture, go furniture shopping today. Make sure you use what you’ve learned so that there are no regrets. Once you have sorted out the furniture issues, your attention can shift to the remainder of your home.…

Continue Reading

Great Pest Control Advice You Need To Hear

by Louise B. Delia

Controlling pests is like getting rid of an unwanted houseguest – it can be very hard! That said, a little bit of knowledge goes a long way. Reading this article in full can be your first step towards ridding yourself of these pesky problems and returning to a normal life.

Do you have a problem with fruit flies? You can get rid of them with a little apple cider vinegar! Pour some vinegar into the bottom of a tall glass. Add a little bit of dish soap. The fruit flies will swim into the glass, but won’t be able to swim out, and will drown.

Use steel wool to fill up any hole that any pest is using as an entrance. Even if the pests manage to chew through it, the steel wool will end up killing them. If you have any half-inch openings or larger in your home, you should stuff them with this steel wool. These rodents can come through small areas.

If you notice that there are mice lurking around the house, set up a mouse trap. Peanut butter is the best thing that you can use to lure the mice in, as this will help to catch them. Try to place many of these around the house to increase your chances of catching it.

If you suffer from an infestation of brown recluse spiders, try using sticky traps in order to catch them. These spiders live deep where poisons can’t reach. These spiders are nocturnal, so they look for food after dark. The best way to catch them is by putting traps behind furniture and along your walls.

Do not leave any food out or unsealed and make sure that you clean up any crumbs or food scraps. Bugs, especially roaches love to get into food scraps that have been left out. Put used food in a tightly sealed container or in a baggie that bugs cannot break into.

Read the label of any pesticide prior to using. This is especially important if you have babies or pets! Different pesticides and treatments cause different issues in human beings. There are some that are extremely harmful to pets. Know what it is you are putting in your home prior to its use.

Make sure that every single night, you do the dishes in a dishwater or at least wash the food off of the dishes in the sink. The last thing that you will want to do is leave food in the sink, which can be a breeding ground for insects to come in your home.

You can kill hornets and wasps by something most people have in their bathrooms- hairspray. Use aerosol hairspray to spray their nests effectively sealing the larvae in the nest. If you are being bothered by adult wasps,simply point and spray directly at the hornet to stop him in his tracks.

When you want to have a pest-free lifestyle, these tips and tricks should get you on your way. It’s important to use them as instructed to ensure the best results. Once you’ve started using your new-found knowledge, you should find the pests disappearing right before your eyes, so to speak.…

Continue Reading