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Wednesday, 12 November 2008 05:00 |
Remember the Cosby Show? One of the running jokes in the Huxtable household was the fights over the use of the bathroom. (I may be dating myself here, but anywayÂ…) Well, itÂ’s pretty close to real life, which was why the show was so funny. After all, the bathroom is probably the smallest room in the house, unless you count closets, but everyone uses it daily for many things. It needs to make efficient use of space and be easy to keep clean as well as look nice. Is it any wonder so many people are doing bathroom remodeling projects or thinking about one? HereÂ’s a few tips to help you with this tricky undertaking.
1) Install a Stall. Bathrooms have multiple fixtures jam-packed into a small space. Not only that, but the surfaces are often watery. Bathtubs and toilets are two slip-prone areas where falls are common. To lessen injury risk and save space, consider replacing bathtubs with a shower stall.
2) Choose your sink with care. Distressed metals like copper and dark porcelain sinks are appealing in the showroom, but can make water stains and soap scum stand out like a bikini on a ski slope. YouÂ’ll need to spend more time cleaning and wiping. Think about an elegantly appointed light colored one.
3) If you have your heart set on colored fixtures, order ahead. Before you begin demolition you should have chosen if the remodel will feature white, off-white or colored fixtures. Colored ones will have to be ordered, as they are not commonly stocked at local stores. White is the easiest to clean and most readily available. You can also get replacements at short notice.
4) You do have a friend whoÂ’ll let you use their bathroom while yours is not available, right?
5) The bathroom additions most likely to add value to your homes resale price are skylights, couples walk-in showers, glass block windows and his and her sinks. Low-end homes will reap the highest return on their owners investment in a bathroom remodeling project.
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Carlo Morelli writes for www.OnlineTips.org, where you can find tips on installing fiberglass insulation, how to replace an entry door and many other home and garden projects.
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Wednesday, 27 August 2008 03:00 |
Planning home improvements necessarily involves addressing numerous practical matters. That doesnÂ’t mean you should ignore the fun stuff!
The Fun Stuff
The first thing to plan for in home improvements is the practical stuff. The second thing you need to talk to family members about is the fun stuff.
Most people have colors they like and colors they donÂ’t like. They have things that interest them and things that donÂ’t. Get your family to talk to you about those things. Each personÂ’s bedroom, or bedroom area, should reflect his or her taste and interests.
A boy who likes green, football, and backpacking can easily have a sage green (it “reads” as more neutral than many shades of green if re-sale of your home is a concern) room with cream woodwork, cream interior shutters, and cream ceiling. Framed football posters and wilderness scenes might be pleasant. Bedding with a rustic motif (rows of stylized pine trees?) from L.L. Bean or Plow and Hearth would work right in. Add a touch or two of a bright color like red or yellow.
Does he need a desk in his room? A chest of drawers? A bookcase? Would he enjoy having a bulletin board? Even if theyÂ’re small, most rooms need at least three lamps so that illumination is general and even. The shades are usually best in warm, neutral colors. (Light coming through green shades tends to make people look sick.) Lamp shades should be level and the seams should be toward the wall so theyÂ’re not visible. When the bottom edge of most lamp shades in a room are the same height from the floor, the room tends to look serene and cohesive.
Hanging pictures usually look best if the bottom edges of the frames are the same height from the floor and level with each other, too. There are exceptions to this and every generalization of course. A grouping of pictures can have the bottom tier follow the “rule” while all of the other pictures are higher. A picture over a fireplace often looks good higher than the other pictures in the room.
Pictures usually look best when they have a relationship to furniture or an architectural feature. Pictures centered over a chest, bed, bookcase, or fireplace are good examples. Pictures donÂ’t tend to look good if theyÂ’re scattered willy-nilly around a room, or if theyÂ’re up near the ceiling (unless theyÂ’re part of a grouping), or if the height at which theyÂ’re hung varies wildly with no rhyme nor reason.
A girl who loves pink, the ballet, and swimming can have woodwork the same cream as her brotherÂ’s while her walls are a soft pink (a pink with a hint of yellow in it tends to go well with cream), and her art work reflects her interests. If she loves to read, make sure she has a good reading lamp near her bed, or near a comfortable chair, or both.
A cream colored dust ruffle with widely spaced pink stripes and a quilted plaid coverlet in pink, green, yellow, and blue on a cream background might look nice. Add cream fabric window shades with large pink polka dots and IÂ’ll bet sheÂ’ll smile.
The bigger point is to simply have fun with some of your home improvements. There is no need to look exclusively at practical matters.
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Raynor James is with www.fsboamerica.org - FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our "sell my home" page at www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to sell your own home yourself with a free 1 month listing.
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Saturday, 23 August 2008 07:00 |
Every home improvement situation is different. Still, there are some general points that apply to most projects.
Some General Points
When all the woodwork in a house is the same color (cream, white, and off-white work easily), spaces tend to visually “flow smoothly” even if the walls of rooms are different colors. Make sure you don’t break this rule.
The colors of all rooms, which can be seen at the same time, should look good together. LetÂ’s take a typical center hall floor plan for a modern two-story house. The living room and dining room are to the right and left of the entrance. The foyer goes straight back to the family room, breakfast area, and kitchen across the back of the house. There is probably a deck opening off that area. Some part of all those areas can be seen from each room, and the foyer walls continue upstairs to a hall from which each bedroom is visible.
To continue our example with cream woodwork, the foyer and halls might be painted a pearl gray, light tan, soft gold, or deeper cream. The woodwork is probably a gloss or semi-gloss and the walls and ceiling a flat paint. Since ceilings reflect light down on people, they"re usually best in cream or off-white. I once saw a dining room with an indirectly lit octagonal tray ceiling painted to look like creamy clouds in a peachy sunset sky that made every dinner guest look like he or she had a perfect complexion. It was wonderful.
The living room opening off our foyer might be a solid color (maybe sage green or deeper tan) or it might look very handsome with a vertically striped wall paper (cream and gray, cream and green, or cream and tan are good possibilities). The dining room is apt to have a chair rail. A darker color could look good below the chair rail (again sage green, gray, gold or tan would work) with a lighter tint of the same color above. If a solid color were chosen for the living room, the dining room could handle a deep red below the chair rail and a cream paper with a narrow red stripe above it. Lots of crystal and mirrors would look terrific in a room like that.
IÂ’m sure you get the idea. TodayÂ’s open floor plans make it important that rooms work together.
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Raynor James is with the FSBO site - www.fsboamerica.org - FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our "sell my home" page - www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm - to sell your house yourself with a free 1 month listing.
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