Hotel-style Home Décor

If you have ever been fortunate enough to stay in a fine hotel or upscale resort then you know that hotel style home decor is different than what you have at home – the luxury pillows and bedding enhance the experience and you leave feeling relaxed, refreshed and invigorated. With some savvy shopping it is actually possible to experience many of the best hotel amenities at home in your bedroom and bathroom for less than even the cost of one night in a luxury hotel.

Start with bedding – look for fine quality Egyptian cotton sheets with a high thread count and invest in the very best set you can afford. When you think about it you spend almost a third of your life in bed and the sheets are in direct contact with your skin; this is not the place to cut corners. If you spend money on nothing else than top-quality sheets you will still have invested wisely and will enjoy a more restful and comfortable night’s sleep.

Black and Grey Bedspread on Bed and Pillow

[Photo courtesy of Pixabay/pexels.com]

A mattress pad can help to improve the sleep surface, especially if your mattress has some age to it. There are mattress pads designed to address a variety of issues so if you seek a less firm or more firm sleeping surface you can achieve it. Look for memory foam mattress pads along with mattress pads and toppers designed to reduce motion transfer and relieve pressure points. Much like sheets, mattress pads are available in a variety of sizes ranging from twin and twin extra-long to queen, king and California king.

Pile on the pillows – hotels use lots of pillows to make the bed the focal point of the room plus they are comfortable to lean against while relaxing, reading or watching televise while in bed.

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Planning On Renting A Spare Property? Here’s What You Should Take Care Of

In the world of property rentals, there is a spectrum. Bad landlords and great landlords are to be found in any country, in any location, in both affluent and deprived areas alike. No matter what house or room you are letting out, as a landlord, you have a whole host of responsibilities for your tenant.

The monthly fee you charge them isn’t just a fee for the right to live there, it’s also a bonded contract that ties you to deal with their issues and maintenance woes. It is also a symbol of trust on the part of the renter that you will keep the property safe and up to housing code for them to live there.

As a new landlord or letter, it can be difficult to figure out just what responsibilities you have to your client, and how to be considered a ‘good landlord.’ No one intends to enter into a business relationship without aiming to hold up their end of the bargain, so most ‘bad landlords’ are a result of incompetence, ignorance, and lack of care.

[Photo courtesy of noona11/flickr.com]

This article will allow you to figure out if you’re on the right track, and if not, how to correct it.

Fees

To begin with, a new renter will want to identify how much the property will cost them, and what fees they will need to pay upfront in order to secure the property. This is where plenty of landlords and letting agents lose their way. ‘Signing fees, holding fees, administrative fees’ are all terms you might have heard if you’ve rented property yourself. These are, for the most part, meaningless, and renters know it too. There’s just no reason to charge a renter $50 to have the luxury of signing your contract, especially when they have a deposit and likely one or two months worth of rental investment to give you.

Try and limit these unnecessary fees as an independent landlord. If you’re going through a letting agent, discourage them from doing the same. It only serves to dissuade interest in your property and starts the whole business relationship on weird terms.

Health Code

It is your responsibility as a landlord to ensure your property is up to health code before your tenants enter. There should be no leaks, the boiler should be up to date and serviced, and the place should be well insulated. It should also be free of pests and other hygiene issues.

This is not to say it’s your responsibility to clean up and pay for any damage sustained by your tenant while they are in the property. If they take matters into their own hands to repair a fault and end up compromising the safety of the property, you are well within your rights to charge them for that or penalize their safety deposit sum. Lay all of this out in the contract so the tenants know what terms they should live under.

Safety

Your property should be secure and allow your tenant to live safely at all times. You should secure the property with combi-locks and strong window supports. If the property has seen better days, taking the time to review all the methods of security issues that could occur will be beneficial. It will also prevent unnecessary damage to your property.

Energy

You have a responsibility to provide your property with electric/gas and water. It is not your responsibility to include internet usage in the energy bill packages. You can come to an agreement with your tenant when the contract is being drawn up as to how they will pay for it. If they would like to change the service that they’re being supplied with, you must stipulate that they ask you, in writing, permission to change it.

Maintenance

Any repair faults of a sizeable quality should be dealt with from your own property. General wear and tear is bound to happen. Tenant induced damages are not your responsibility. Small fixes, such as light bulb replacement, should be taken care of by the tenant.

Be sure to hire the services of a professional repair or construction firm to help fix big issues at a moment’s notice. Always be quick to solve the genuine worries of a tenant, because holding out on these fixes might cause the tenant to withhold their rental payment, and that can be difficult for everyone involved.

Amenities

If the apartment is furnished, you must provide basic amenities. Providing good amenities like washing machines can help you raise the monthly rental cost justifiably, and can pay for themselves in a matter of months. Consider what would be best for your domestic requirements, such as weighing the home benefits of a gasoline vs electric pressure washer. It’s good to provide refrigerators, and you may need more than one depending on the number of people you bring into the property. If you’re letting out 8 rooms, 1 refrigerator is most likely not going to meet the requirements of those living there.

Despite living as a landlord, remember the times when you first moved out into your own rented apartments, and consider ‘would I be happy with the amenities that I have provided if I was living here.’ If you would be, you’re good to go.

Fair Use

If you decide to ‘bills inclusive’ in the monthly cost of the rent for your tenant, they should adhere to a ‘fair use’ policy. This basically prevents them from leaving the heating on all the time and racking up extortionate bills that through a contractual loophole, you’ll be responsible for. Stipulate clearly in your contract that a certain monetary amount if fine, but past that, the tenant should contribute more towards the payment.

Being a great landlord is as simple as identifying how you’d want to be treated if the roles were reversed. The renting relationship should be one of the best business relationships around if everyone upholds their side of the contract. A bad landlord is constituted as someone who doesn’t fairly adhere to their side. Remember, your tenants are living, breathing people, and have their lives to live. You’re not in the business to make best friends, but if your tenant respects you, be sure to pay it in kind. You’re sure to have a fruitful and lucrative relationship if you do this.

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Beat The Heat And Win Back Your Home

It’s definitely getting hotter and it’s becoming harder to spend your time indoors. However, we can’t ignore the nightmare that is the muggy, musty house forever. What we can do, however, is beat it. Here’s how you prepare your home for the worst that summer has to bring and make it into that cool retreat from the heat that we all need. Just a few habits and additions can make the home a much more pleasant place to survive the heat.

Fan, Keys, Mirror, House, Indoors

[Photo courtesy of StockSnap/pixabay.com]

We spring clean for a reason

If there’s anything that’s worse than a home that’s too hot, it’s a home that’s hot, humid, and dusty. Dust isn’t just unpleasant and an allergen. It also makes it a lot harder to control the airflow of the home. It builds in vents and air conditioning units, make them less effective and efficient, driving up the costs. Go for a thorough spring clean of the home and try to stay on top of dust as much as possible. It’s a lot easier to both control dust and to circulate air by decluttering the home, as well. If there’s any furniture you can spare for the moment, move it into storage so you have more spacious, airy rooms that are easy to clean and cool.

Keep the outdoors to the outdoors

Your first thought when summer rolls around might be to let the sunlight in and throw the windows open. However, if you’re cooling the interior, that’s only going to invite hot air in. Solar heating also plays a massive role in increasing the temperature of the room. Use fans as a more energy efficient method of circulation in the room you’re using and close that window, using sun blockers to keep the heat out without completely darkening the room. Don’t neglect the heat that builds in the attic that can get upwards of 150 degrees in the evening. Seal it up by using isotherm insulation and making sure that you don’t have any leaks by way of cracked or missing roof tiles. In the evening, if it’s cooler outside, then you crack open the window and use a window fan to cool the house down.

Remember, energy equals heat

If there’s any reason to get more energy efficient, it’s to make the home a lot more comfortable. Every appliance you keep on when you’re not using it is just adding more unnecessary heat. This effect is in full force in the kitchen most of all. Extractors are well and good, but there are other ways to use less energy when cooking and thus create less heat. For one, you can cook outside. But you can also use a microwave or toaster oven instead of a full-sized oven or use the refrigerator to defrost frozen goods instead of the microwave.

Remember, working to make the home easier to cool isn’t just going to make summer a lot more bearable. It’s going to help you drive down the costs of controlling the environment of your home. Save your money alongside your sanity by following the tips above.

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Practical Bathroom Ideas

The bathroom is one of the most heavily used rooms in any home and it needs to hold up to use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Because most bathrooms present a moist and humid environment, safety can be an issue and care should be taken to make the room easy to use. Keep clothing and wet towels off the floor by having enough towel bars, robe hooks and rack along with clothes and laundry hampers.

Store bath toys in a plastic laundry basket which can be kept in the bath tub when not in use or invest in suction-cup wall mount bath toy hammocks which can help to corral bath toy clutter which may pose a slip and fall hazard. Bath mats and rugs should always feature anti-skid backing to help prevent the possibility of slippage.

Bathroom, Wood Furniture, Shower, Modern Bathtub

[Photo courtesy of La-Belle-Galerie/pixabay.com]

The installation of a handheld shower head can vastly improve bathroom functionality – most can be installed by the average homeowner and do not require the services of a plumber. It is easy to shampoo hair, bathe children, wash pets and water plants with a handheld shower head and they are helpful when you need to clean the tub or shower enclosure.

Another practical update for any bathroom is a heated towel rack – there are freestanding and wall mounted models along with counter top towel warmers. Not only will you enjoy wrapping yourself in a warm towel after bathing, you will find that a towel warmer is useful for drying swimwear and fine washables, warming blankets and bathing clothes and drying towels quickly, which may also help to prevent mold and mildew.

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Are You Making The Most Of Your Yard?

Now that the summer is pretty much here, we all want to be able to enjoy more time outside. With warmer weather and lighter nights, it always just seems a shame to stay indoors. But, sometimes, you can feel as if your yard just isn’t cutting it. Whether you live out in the country and have a lot of space to play with, or you’ve got just a small backyard, it’s time to start making the most out of the garden you’ve got. And if you’re not exactly sure where to start, here are a few ideas to think over.

backyard, bench, daylight

[Photo courtesy of Pixabay/pexels.com]

Create A Dining Space

The first thing you should think about doing will not only be a benefit to you but the whole family. Everyone loves to be able to enjoy their breakfast, lunch, or dinner outdoors when the weather is nice. But to do that, you need a suitable dining space. So make sure you look for the right outdoor dining set and even a grill. Backyard barbecue spaces can be super fun to create, and in the summer, you will always get a lot of use out of them.

Enjoy Gorgeous Flowers

When you have a garden, it can be a shame not to see it flourish. You don’t have to be the most green fingered person to make it happen either. Whether you pick out some pretty flowers at the garden center and plant a few in pots by your door, or fill your entire garden with beautiful blooms, having flowers in your yard can give it a new lease of life. As well as creating a relaxing atmosphere and attracting nature, you can also clip them to bring indoors and put in vases.

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[Photo courtesy of skitterphoto/pexels.com]

Keep Animals

If you have a lot of space, particularly if you live in the countryside, you might want to think about keeping animals. A coat can be great to keep your grass short, and then there’s always the option to keep chickens and enjoy fresh eggs in the morning. Even if it seems like a lot of work, you can do your research online so that things like chicken incubators are explained to you to make it easier. It will also take your love of growing vegetables to the next level.

Build A Sanctuary

Then, as a little treat for yourself, you might want to think about creating a little sanctuary. Whether that’s a garden house where you can escape for an hour or two of peace, a lovely seating area in the sun, or even a hot tub to soak your evenings away in, your yard can often give you a lot of potential to work with.

Make It Fun

With the adults covered, you might want to think about adding in something for your kids too. There are lots of outdoor play areas that you could consider building or putting in yourself. You just need to work of what space you have first. Then, your kids can also be kept entertained when everyone is enjoying some time outside.

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4 Forgotten Areas Of Your Home That Are Crying Out To Be Cleaned

We all strive to keep our homes as clean as possible. Normally, this means giving it a good little clean as often as we can. However, our ‘good little clean’ might not be making our homes as clean as we think. Most of the time, we just clean the parts of our house that are most visible to other people and us. You know what I’m talking about, the surfaces that are visibly dusty and the floors that are clearly dirty. Rarely will we go that extra mile and clean parts of our home that aren’t as easily visible.

As a result, we end up with a much dirtier home than we think. Now, you may be thinking, why does this matter? If we can’t see the dirt that obviously, surely we can just keep on ignoring it, right? Well, the problem is, sooner or later all the lack of cleaning will add up. You can only ignore something for so long before it starts forcing itself upon you and making you take notice.

All those areas of your home that you neglect will become dirtier and messier to the point where they become a huge problem. Then, you have to deal with the stress of cleaning up the problem, which will be a lot harder that it would if you just dealt with it in the first place.

Today, we’re going to look at some of these forgotten areas in your home that are crying out to be cleaned. Read some of the advice, and you’ll know how to deal with the problems before they get out of control.

Black Shower Head Switched on

[Photo courtesy of Pixabay/pexels.com]

Shower/Bathroom

The first area of your home is the shower/bathroom. I’ve grouped two things together here because not everyone has a shower, but they still neglect the same sort of area in their home. You see, people with a shower will not clean it as properly as needed. In fact, most people rarely clean their shower and the area around their shower at all. I’m mainly talking about the walls near your shower or anywhere that gets splashed by water. If you don’t have a shower, then I’m just talking about areas in your bathroom that get splashed, and you neglect to clean.

Why do we neglect to clean wet areas? Mainly because they’re wet, so they don’t look dirty at all. There’s no visible dirt, what’s the worst that can happen? Unfortunately, this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your home. Fail to clean wet areas, and it will lead to mould forming. Then, you no longer have clean walls, but horrible black mould appears that can be harmful to your health as well as looking ugly. To make matters worse, the mould is really hard to clean completely. It’s an almost impossible task for a regular person like you or I, you’d need to get a professional in.

Mould is particularly problematic for people with tiled walls in their bathroom. This is because it gets in the grout between each tile, making it even harder to clean. If you keep forgetting about this area of your home, then you’re just asking for problems. So, what you need to do is prevent mould from occurring. It’s so so so so incredibly easy to do this, honestly. Getting rid of mould is so difficult, but preventing it couldn’t be simpler. All you have to do is dry any areas of your bathroom/shower that have been sprayed with water. Get a cloth and clean the wetness so no water is left and the surface is dry. You can even get some bathroom sprays that help kill germs which may be useful too. When the surfaces are dry, this means there are no conditions for mould spores to grow. I won’t get too scientific here, but mould grows when there are damp conditions, hence excessive growth in shower/bathroom areas. Anyway, science lesson over, add this to your cleaning checklist and prevent the spread of mould in your home.

Rain Gutter, Gutter, Roof, Cobweb, Network, Drip

[Photo courtesy of felixulllli/pixabay.com]

Gutters

Our gutters are often one of the most forgotten areas of our home. The simple fact is, we don’t pay them much attention at all. They sit up on our roof, and we rarely glance up there to take a look at the situation. Not only that, but they can be difficult to look at and check too. You need to get on a ladder, and it’s all pretty stressful.

So, we choose to ignore them and never clean them. Why is this a problem? Well, gutters can get clogged up full of so much debris and junk it’s not even funny. Birds can try and make nests in your gutters and bring up leaves and sticks which stay there and cause blockages. Plus, moss and weeds can grow in the gutters too, which again can cause blockages. Then, when these blockages get worse and worse, they end up causing major problems for your home drainage system. As a result, you may need to get a plumber in to sort things out, which can cost a lot of money.

All of this can be avoided if you just paid your gutters more attention. You don’t need to head out on your ladder every day, or even every week! This is something that can be done once a month or once every two months. Plus, if you’re not keen on cleaning the gutters as you’re scared of heights or just worried you’ll do things wrong and hurt yourself, there are services you can pay for. There’s no excuse, you need to stop neglecting your gutters before they become a massive problem. Also, if you keep them nice and clean, it will make the outside of your house look a lot better too. It’s a massive win-win situation for you.

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[Photo courtesy of M.Minderhoud/wikipedia.org]

Skirting Boards

If you didn’t know, a skirting board is that little piece of wood at the bottom of your walls that runs all the way along it. A lot of people don’t even know this has a name, or what the purpose of it is. For many, it’s purely a decorative thing, but it’s also mainly used to protect the wall. Unfortunately, it’s an area of our home we forget about a lot when cleaning. This is because we don’t tend to really think about it at all. Like I said, most people don’t even know this area has a name!

The issue is, this is also an area of your home that’s prone to a lot of dirt and muck. If you fail to clean your skirting board, it can almost become unrecognizable. It will be absolutely filthy, which makes the rooms in your home look less clean than they are. Due to their location right at the base of a wall, skirting boards are magnets for dust, grime, and general debris. When left uncleaned, this dirt can properly set it and become so hard to clean. A cleaning job that should take a few minutes will take a few hours if you’re not careful.

So, you need to get on your hands and knees and start cleaning your skirting boards more often. My tip is to do this whenever you’re hoovering. You can even use a hoover attachment to clean up some dust from the skirting boards too. This way, you keep them clean and don’t let them get out of hand. The dirtier they get, the harder they are to clean, and the more they deteriorate too.

Door Knob, Metal, Close, Input, Door Handle, Old, Door

[Photo courtesy of slightly_different/pixabay.com]

Door Handles

The fourth, and final, area of your home crying out for a clean is the door handles. Think about how many dirty hands will touch your door handles every single day. Now, think about how many times you actually clean them. Scary, right?

I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure there are more germs on our hands than anywhere else on our body. So, if everyone is manhandling the door handles and they never get cleaned, it means our houses are just infested with germs. For the sake of personal hygiene, you should clean your door handles as much as possible. It really doesn’t take a lot of effort at all. You just need some antibacterial spray and a cloth to wipe them with. That’s all you need to do, and you’ll have a much cleaner and more hygienic home.

In fact, while we’re at it, you may as well throw light switches into the mix too. Again, they’re always touched and turned grubby by fingerprints, yet they’re rarely cleaned. The same rules apply here, get some spray and wipe them clean.

On that not, we’re at the end of this post. You can now see some of the forgotten areas of your home that are crying out to be cleaned. It’s not enough to simple clean everywhere that people can see. You’ll just create the illusion of a clean house when the reality is that your home is still quite filthy. Clean these forgotten areas too, and you’ll finally have a properly clean home.

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It’s Barbecue Season: Build Your Own Backyard Barbecue

To me, summer means one thing, barbecue season! If you feel the same way, you might be thinking about setting your garden up to be the perfect place for delicious grilled meals, juicy meats, and good company. Well, there are a few changes to your garden that will go down a treat here.

Outdoor Kitchen

[Photo Courtesy Of Texas Custom Patios/flickr.com]

If you want to be truly adventurous, you could think about creating an outdoor kitchen in your backyard. This idea has proved to be very popular in places like California. Everything from the grill to the oven is outdoors, providing you the perfect, cool place to cook up some food. To get started, you’ll need to lay the foundations of your outdoor kitchen. This is particularly important if your yard is completely grass. You will need a solid surface for all the accessories and perhaps even a dining area.

Next, you should think about adding some furniture around the garden. These days, people won’t settle for the typical plastic garden furniture. Instead, they want something a little more bold and stylish. Believe it or not, you can get furniture for your garden that is just as comfortable and gorgeous as the sofas in your living room. Have a look online at some of the possibilities on offer here.

Build The Barby

[Photo Courtesy Of John Liu/flickr.com]

Alternatively, you can just settle for building a beautiful stone barbecue, perhaps in the center of your garden. Modern designs are often built like great towers to ensure that the fumes don’t hang around in the air and instead drift over the house. You can find some great guides on how to build your own stone barbecue and how big it is will depend on how adventurous you feel. You might want it to be the centerpiece of your garden. Or, you might love the idea of being able to grill a pizza in it. For that, you’re going to need one massive surface.

One thing you will certainly need if you build your own stone barbecue is a source of heat and energy. You can get a propane tank to suit this purpose. If you’re wondering where to buy propane from, again, you can find sellers online, offering tanks at reasonable prices. Just make sure that your source is safe and reliable.

A Little Lighting

Pool, Night Swim, Swimming, Water, Swimming Pool

[Photo Courtesy Of Jovas/pixabay.com]

Of course, it’s not just about making sure that you can make the food. You also need to set the right mood. That’s particularly important if you want to invite guest round to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You can set up some stunning lights around the edge of your garden, and this will make it look absolutely tremendous as the sun begins to set.

If you have a pool, you can even add lights under water that will make it look absolutely tremendous. If you are creative enough, you can make your garden a truly stunning place to dine.

I hope you have fun with these ideas and make the most of the barbecue season in your backyard.

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Quartz Bathroom Counter Tops – Add style, Add glamour!

Your home is a place where you come in after a tiring day and wish to relax. This is one place which has to be stylish, clean and well decorated. When it comes to designing a home, most people give importance to designing their bedroom or living room but they forget to think of their bathroom. But it should be noted that your washroom or bathroom is also one of the important places that needs to be designed in the best way. It is a place, where you take a shower at the start of the day or when you come home after a tiring day. Unless this place is clean, hygienic, well designed and full of light, you will never be able to enjoy your shower.

One of the easiest ways to add style and glamour to your bathroom is to install quartz bathroom counter-tops. This will provide your bathroom with an altogether new look. Of late, quartz bathroom counter-tops have grown quite popular in the market. So, you do not have to search much! You can simply install them in your washroom. Also, you should note that these counter-tops are now easily available online. Thus, it makes things easier for most of the homeowners. You can simply sit at home, take a look at the options online and place order!

architecture, bathroom, contemporary

You must be wondering as to why one will choose quartz counter-tops for their bathroom. Well, reasons abound for the same. Considering the durability factor, these bathroom counter-tops are too good. When comparing it to other materials like granite, you will have to agree that quartz will stand out. The quartz bathroom counter-tops are extremely hard and non-porous as well as immensely resistant to the ravages of mold and mildew. This makes all the difference. Moreover, you should also note here that these counter-tops are exceptionally resistant to various types of cracks, chips, stains when compared to other materials.

The best part of bathroom counter-tops is that they are available in various sizes and designs which can fit into any kind of bathroom – big or small. Using these counter-tops will help you to play with your imagination and design your bathroom in whichever way you feel like. Thus, it will be unique and envy for others! Quartz offers extreme versatility and this makes all the difference.

With the quartz bathroom counter-tops, you will be able to maintain the cool feeling of your bathroom. Moreover, if the counter-tops have tiers, then you will be able to arrange all your bathroom utilities easily giving your bathroom a clean and tidy look. You can keep some indoor plants in your bathroom in order to make sure that it has a fresh feeling. Apart from this, make sure that your bathroom has the right amount of ventilation so that fresh air and sunlight can get into your bathroom and keep it bacteria free.

As you install bathroom counter tops, you will not have to worry much about cleaning it as they are non-porous! So, what are you waiting for? Install quartz counter-tops and make your bathroom look grand.

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Out of Storage Space? Don’t Panic!

Storage is one of the most valuable things in our homes. This is because we all have lots of things to display or simply keep safe. Be it old books, memorabilia, souvenirs or electronics. As a result, our homes can quickly run out of storage space and before you know, we’ll be piling up boxes in the living room and other empty spaces in our home, creating a lot of useless clutter that can be difficult to get rid of.

Whether you think you’re outgrowing your one bedroom apartment or your kids are hoarding too many toys and video games, here are a couple of tips to stop the panic and get you some more valuable storage space.

Brown Wooden Book Shelf

[Photo courtesy of Unsplash/pexels.com]

Clear the garage

Our garages are probably one of the most underutilised rooms that we own. In fact, you might not even use it for your car because it’s usually more convenient just to keep your car in the driveway. As a result, the garage is an often forgotten part of the house that we just dump stuff in. Although it might be full now, giving it a quick cleanup and organising it can give you plenty of extra storage space for practically anything you could think of. With so much extra space that should usually be for your car, you won’t run out of storage space anytime soon after a garage cleanup.

Use your garden

If you have a decently sized garden, it means you have a lot of extra land to use as storage space. Consider some backyard sheds to store your items in, but unless it’s a high-quality shed you probably don’t want to store anything valuable in it because it could be stolen, lost or covered in cobwebs before you know it. Sheds are typically used for archival purposes or garden equipment such as spades, shovels and lawnmowers. It can be a great way to add some extra storage space, but don’t rely on it as a safe haven for all your family belongings!

apartment, architecture, contemporary

[Photo courtesy of Pixabay/pexels.com]

Your loft has a lot of extra storage space so don’t be afraid to use it. It might be dark and small, but some simple improvements such as adding a light could make it a lot more useable. If your loft is large enough for you to stand in, then it might be worth adding some boards to make it easier to store items or even renovating it as an extra room. This can be fairly expensive, but it’s worth the effort for the amount of extra space you get!

Declutter

Lastly, think about decluttering your home. You don’t want to leave useless junk around if it can be recycled or even sold on an auction website. Old pieces of furniture that you don’t use anymore could be worth a lot and there are times when old electronics could fetch a decent price from collectors. If you want to make a lot more space in your home, then the fastest way is going to be decluttering it and throwing out anything you really don’t need.

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Make An Entrance Every Time You Get Home

The entrance to our homes should, in many ways, be a priority. After all, it’s the first thing you see when you get back from a long day. And, it’s the first impression visitors, or passers-by get of your house. Yet, many of us let our entrances do what they will. At the end of the day, it’s an aspect a lot of us forget about. We already have enough work to be doing inside the house! But, you may find that all your other efforts go to waste if you don’t get this simple thing right. That’s why we’re going to look at the ways you can ensure the leadup to your home is red carpet worthy.

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The Walkway

If you’re now thinking about incorporating a red carpet into your walkway, you can forget it. It would get grubby in no time! But, that doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of your walkway. Some of you may already have a paving stone walkway. Others may have nothing more than a worn trail in their grass. But, now is the time to incorporate the walkway of your dreams. It may be that you love your paving stones but would like to do more with them. Plain slabs aren’t very inspiring. So, take a look at the patterned options you could replace them with. Or, perhaps you want to stay away from paving stones and opt for gravel instead. This would look amazing, though it’s worth bearing in mind that you’d need to top it up occasionally! The right option for you depends on the work you’re willing to put it. Take your time deciding down what route you would like to return home each day.

Going for a Gate?

Think, too, about whether you would like to incorporate a gate and fence around your front lawn and entrance area. This can be a fantastic way to gain a little more privacy, and it often looks amazing, too. You could opt for a metal gate or a wooden option. Bear in mind that both need special measures to ensure they stay in good condition. A metal gate will need rust prevention to ensure it stays in the best condition and looks as good as possible. A wooden option, however, will need varnish to protect it from all weathers. If you’re planning to paint it, you’ll also need to invest in a specialist paint.

Bursting with Color

We all want to make a colorful entrance, don’t we? Make sure you get one every day by incorporating flowers into your entrance. You may want to border your walkway with flowerbeds. This would look amazing, though bear in mind that it could easily get out of control if you don’t take care. An easier option may be to incorporate plant pots along the way. These will be easy to keep neat, while still injecting that splash of color you’re after. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s an option you’re willing to keep neat!

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