Design Post Update

Even though spring is in full swing, there is still time to indulge in some of the great trends that have been popping up throughout the season. Many people have gotten excited about the fun and festive looks and have been incorporating those looks that they plan to keep through the summer.

Creating a fun spring home look does not have to be overwhelming or overly feminine. There are a lot of great ideas that can help people use the trends they love while still having a simple and livable look. Here are some modern and fun interior design trends for spring.

Hidden technology

There is a lot of new technology that most people are incorporating into their homes for ease and convenience every day. However, not all of this technology is the most visually pleasing. Instead, find a creative way to cover things like the TV with service from DirectSelectTV.com by using a curtain or hideaway cabinet.

Floral walls

Floral patterns are a big hit for this season. Even though many women love the trend, it may not be accepted by the whole family. Try limiting it to one wall, or try a leaf pattern instead for a more gender-neutral look. Another ideal is using a more abstract watercolor floral pattern to decorate a wall or two in the home.

Oversized art pieces

Art is a great addition to any home. This season, people want their art to really make a statement. Blow up a favorite piece or picture to make it take up a good amount of the wall. This can create an eye-catching focal point for the whole home that everyone will stop to look at.

Monochromatic and clear of clutter

Spring is the season of fresh and new things, and everyone wants their home to look this way as well. No better time than now to clean out the clutter and start fresh for summer. Monochromatic palettes can help create a cleaner look in any room and show off the clutter-free spaces in the house.

New neutrals

The new neutrals of fall and winter that everyone loved were shades of gray, but now, everyone is using green as a neutral for their spring color palettes. This is a fun way to incorporate the new life outside with a fresh and crisp spring design.

Mixed patterns

There does not need to be only one patter to a room anymore. Spring is a great time to try mixing some patterns together for a visually interesting look. Many people this season are using block patterns in primary colors or soft marble patterns in similar shades.

Creative and thoughtful spaces A creative space is an area of the home that many people want, but few people have. Finally creating this space is a project a lot of home owners are tackling this year. Plan out a space that has an eclectic feeling with a common theme throughout the room, like a room filled with recycled items all in a similar color.

Every day, gallons of water falls from the sky, yet we pay for our running water. It doesn't seem right that we waste this natural gift when we could be doing something about it. The cost of water in a house is astronomical. Each year, you waste money and water, which means that you are helping to destroy the planet. You might not realize it, but your home design can do an awful lot to help. If you are considering revamping your house, you might want to make sure that you do the following things.

Revamp your water system

It is always a smart idea to revamp your water system. Over time, these systems get old and start to leak. If you have never paid any attention to the pipes in your home, now might just be the right time to do so. You can call an expert out to help you. Don't attempt to do this step yourself. Plumbing is not as easy as it sounds, and you might run into issues along the way.

Install high-tech faucets

When it comes to bathroom decor, you want to make sure that you get the most high-tech gadgets on the market. When choosing your faucets, you should look for pieces that will not waste too much water. You can now get low-pressure faucets that avoid wasting loads of water each time you use them. Of course, you want to find a sleek and sophisticated design to suit the interior of your home. Much of the time, modern fixtures are green. Designers are becoming more and more aware of the environment, and many try to incorporate this into their pieces.

Consider getting a water tank

If you want to avoid paying massive water rates each year, there is another option for you. Companies, such as The Water Tank Factory offer a range of tanks from which you can choose. Once you install a tank, you can start to harvest rainwater for your home. When you start to investigate this area, you will find that water tanks are quite affordable. You can use the water in your home, which means that you no longer have to pay a water company for that service. Over time, this little thing could save you thousands. It is also a great way to start turning your home into an eco-friendly house.

Avoid waste where possible

Water wastage is a massive problem, and one that we have to combat somehow. If you find that you are wasting water on a regular basis, you need to take action. Right now, you may have no idea how much water you use each day or month. If you don't know what your usage is, you can get a tracker to see how much water you use each day. Failing that, you might also want to install a leak detection system in your home. The system monitors how much water you use at once. If you leave a tap running for more than twenty minutes, for example, it will shut your water off.

Find out more about green living

Making the most of your rainwater is an excellent way to help the environment, but why stop there? There are loads of ways you can start being greener in your home. You might want to install a water-wheel on the side of your home. The wheel will convert running water into energy that you can use. That means that you will save on your electricity bills. Most people think that water-wheels are old-fashioned, but they don't have to be. If you choose an excellent design, you will find that it can look ultra-modern. Now that you know how to revamp your home, you had better get started.

We all like to fancy ourselves as interior decorators. Give us a free weekend and we could transform the house into a luxury home! Then the weekend comes and don’t know where to begin. Interior design is an art shrouded in mystery and secrecy. It seems like they have a gift to turn any space into a homely, comfortable room. Well, we’re here today to tell you that it’s not so secretive. In fact, we’ll reveal the best kept secrets of interior designers.

You can steal their tricks and turn your house into a luxury palace. Nothing on this list is difficult or expensive. They are all simple ideas that you could implement right now. They’ll add style, comfort and luxury to your home without any fuss.

Lighting

A brilliant interior design firm knows how to capitalise on lighting. It is the essence of a good home. The first trick is to maximise natural light. Make the most of large windows and avoid thick, chunky curtains in those rooms. Use strategically placed mirrors to bounce the light around the room and open up space. Finally, use layered lighting tricks to create a cosy space in the evenings. Start with an dimmed overhead light, followed by an array of lamps and candles.

Ceilings

Ceilings are the most ignored aspect of any interior design project. It’s a huge area of open space that is neglected. One of the best tricks in the book is ceiling coving. It’s a simple touch that adds elegance and style to your home. You could also finish your overhead lights with a plaster ceiling rose for that extra touch. Some designers we spoke to, love using wallpaper on the ceiling too. It’s unexpected, imaginative and decadent. Try it for yourself.

Use possessions to add personality

We recently emerged from a long trend of minimalism. Interior designers were obsessed with slick, modern designs and simplicity. We’re slowly moving away from that, and adding more personality. Your possessions are priceless here. Don’t leave a room empty and soulless; use your junk to add personality and character! Take a trip down memory lane and find photos, objects and heirlooms that would look great in your living room.

Pull furniture away from the wall

It’s so simple! Yet, every interior designer does this. It’s an easy way to achieve a look of luxury. It opens up the flow in the room and even adds space. You’ll be surprised at how well this trick works.

Don’t take things too seriously

One of the biggest errors we make when copying designers is taking things literally. Don’t follow the latest trend or obsess over tiny details. Interior design is about fun! It’s about putting your own stamp on your home, and enjoying the space you live in. You don’t have to do things by the book. Break rules and create new ones! Try different ideas and follow your gut instinct. The best interior designers follow their heart and their imagination; so should you.

That’s all there is to it! Now that we’ve revealed all the secrets, where will you start?

Long days, plenty of bright light, sandy beaches coming alive; there are just so many of fabulous things that you get with summer every single year. This is what makes summer so loveable for me as well as millions others around the world. But as far as lightening and brightening up of homes for summer is concerned, it can challenge you somewhat if you don’t have expert advice lined up. What makes the situation worse is that long winter spell ends up spoiling the most of home decor, with piles of clothes lying around here and there, bed linens, and blankets and quilts adding up to the rubble and everything messed up. So much so that spring cleanup operation is barely able to do the face saving, which unless followed by a proper summer home revamp, doesn’t restore the order. You don’t really need to worry if you are wondering how you would be able to do all this, because I am here with these 5-Way Home Improvements to Welcome Summer.

1. Refresh

To me, summer is the way to illuminate life with all the light and brightness, helping to shake off the gloom of winter. Though structural changes like adding windows in your rooms is not really that feasible for almost all of us, but there is no holding you back from brightening up your home. You can resort to anything from freshening up the walls with a lighter coat of paint and replacing heavy window treatments with light ones.

2. Go uncluttered

Another great way of welcoming summer is to go uncluttered. Clutter is not only an aesthetic problem; it also makes life difficult for you with much of space consumed uselessly. Fact of the matter is that it’s not like throwing away anything and everything that is affiliated with winter. The good way to deal with it is to be innovative with your storage solutions. For example, leather beds with storage by HomeArena can help you significantly in this regard, creating an instant focal point in your bedroom as well as bestowing with convenient and practical storage, whether you choose for storage drawers or Ottoman storage.

3. Mirrors, mirrors and even more mirrors!

A great idea, especially for homes not having the luxury of much space to get creative with; hanging mirrors here and there at appropriate spots helps create the illusion of extra space, in addition to reflecting light and views from outside.

4. Accessorising

Accessorising your home according to seasons plays a significant role in making your home extra special. You have to be especially careful if you don’t have much space in your home. Instead of an oversized painting covering your whole wall, smaller paintings along with a flower vase instead of corner plant-pot can make all the difference in the world to make your living room more spacious, green and welcoming.

5. Lighting 

Natural or artificial, lighting adds life and illumination to a room. So, even if any of your rooms lack in open windows, lighting accessories like lamps, chandeliers or ceiling spotlights can set the ambiance of the whole room alive.

Image Credit: thegirlsny (Flickr)

Do you live in an apartment? And are you renting it? If the answer to both questions is yes, one thing you might have thought about is decorating your home. The only trouble is; renters are restricted with what they can and cannot do to such properties.

Your landlord doesn’t want you to make any significant cosmetic changes to your apartment. If you do, it’s likely you won’t get your deposit back because they’ll have to restore the property to its former look once you move out.

The good news is that you can personalize your apartment without falling afoul of your tenancy agreement. Today’s blog post will give you a few handy tips on how you can achieve such a goal!

Furniture

It's no secret the things you can do to the apartment itself will get restricted. But, you usually have carte blanche when it comes to furnishing your home. It is your chance to add some stylish furniture to enhance the look of your abode.

It’s worth noting that apartments are usually smaller living spaces than houses. Try to avoid filling your home up with too much “stuff” otherwise it’ll end up looking crowded! There are plenty of sites where you can furniture ideas if you’re after a particular look.

Rugs

The great thing about rugs is that they offer a plethora of benefits. For example, they are portable, and that means you don’t have to “fix” them onto the floor.

Also, they protect the underlying carpet. It's good news if your landlord charges a lot of money for repairs to any damaged carpet!

Image Credit: mattwalker69 (Flickr)

If your carpet is a plain white color, for instance, putting a rug down can break up its monotony and jazz up your flooring.

Privacy film

Take a look at new apartment blocks like Ultris Wynnfield Lakes. One thing you will find is that some windows block an outsider’s view through individual windows like the one in the bathroom.

In a nutshell, privacy film is an adhesive layer that gives tenants the freedom to enjoy their home away from prying eyes. When you move out, you can just peel it away without any damage to the window.

Removable wallpaper

If you’re not a fan of plain white walls, all is not lost! Did you know that it’s possible to buy removable wallpaper? Yes, I know that one can remove conventional wallpaper. The only trouble with that approach is that removing it can damage the underlying paint on the walls.

These days it’s possible to buy adhesive wallpaper that you can peel away at a later stage without taking chunks of paint with it!

Uplights

Is the lighting in your apartment insufficient? If so, the good news is that you can add extra lights to your home without drilling or adding new wiring! I am, of course, talking about buying some uplights.

In essence, they are lights that you plug into a wall socket. They are fitted to stylish stands and are designed to be portable. You can buy as few or as many as you wish.

By following the above tips, you’ll jazz up your apartment in no time at all!

Although many students may return home for some of the holidays, some students enjoy celebrating the holidays at school or may simply wish to decorate for the seasons. If you live in a dorm or small apartment, you can decorate in lots of creative ways to celebrate any holiday you like with singular style.

Miniature Tree

While holiday trees are invariably associated with Christmas, you can actually use your small tree to celebrate holidays throughout the school year. Create a Halloween tree decorated with miniature ghosts and a black and orange paper chain. Naturally you can decorate your small tabletop tree for Christmas as well as Valentine's Day and Easter.

Windows

When you don't have much interior space in your college dorm or apartment, consider decorating your windows for the holiday. You can hang oversize ornaments in the window during the winter holidays or even purchase some window markers to create elaborate holiday window scenes. You can also hang garlands in the window or exchange your regular draperies with a seasonal print.

Bedding

Sometimes your functional items can double as holiday decorations. Outfit your bed with blankets, sheets, and throw pillows that reflect the season. If you choose a plain red bedspread, you can simply add a seasonal pillow case and throw pillows to reflect winter holidays and Valentine's Day. Since your bed is a major item in your dorm room, it can make a big decorative statement.

Lights

You can decorate your small apartment or college dorm with strands of holiday lights. These lights are festive but can also enhance the ambience of your space. Small white lights or green and red lights will improve the holiday look of your room, and they won't cost a lot to purchase either. Additionally, they're easy to roll up and store.

Winter Greenery

When you have a small area to decorate for the holidays, consider adding some mistletoe or other greenery to the walls. You can hang an evergreen wreath on the door or wedge a few branches of greenery in a bookcase. The great thing about plain greenery is that you can leave it up for a good portion of the winter.

Fragrantly Festive

Add some holiday potpourri or fragrances to your room to enhance the holiday aura. You can pick up some terrific seasonal fragrances at Bed Bath & Beyond, as well as holiday-scented candles. You can even find deodorizing room sprays that smell like pine, mulberry, or other seasonal scents.

Visit the College Shop

Many university stores and college shops stock special smaller holiday decorations that are perfect for use in dorm rooms or apartments. Stop by one day after class to see what merchandise is available for you to use. You might also purchase craft supplies there so you can make your own holiday decorations.

Keep these tips in mind and you can create a fabulous holiday decorative scheme for your setting. Additionally, these ideas are affordable, so you can create your holiday décor without spending too much.

Helen Cooper has sent all four of her children off to college, so she knows how small those dorm rooms are. An avid blogger, she enjoys writing about her experiences to post online. Look for her posts on a variety of websites and blogs.

Unless you have the cash burning a hole in your pocket to buy a house there and then, there are a lot of costs involved in buying a new property. Let's get started straight away.

1/ Deposit

Probably the biggest cost of moving into a new home will be your a deposit. Depending on your financial situation, this could be as little as 5%. However, the more you have, the better mortgage deal you will get.

2/ Stamp duty

Stamp duty of 2% is payable on any property over £125,000, with incremental increases up to 12.5% on assets worth more than £1.25 million. For more expensive properties, it could be worth coming to an agreement with the selling party to avoid stamp duty costs.

3/ Surveyance fees

A property survey can cost you around £2-300. You will need to get one to ensure there are no structural defects or serious work that needs doing. However, it is often worth the investment as it will give you peace of mind.

4/ Home inspection

A home inspection will cost you anything from £350 to £500. However, they could shave off a considerable chunk of the asking price. A home inspector will take a more thorough look at the building and point out any areas that need repairing.

5/ Legal fees

Legal fees can rack up quickly, so it's best to choose a solicitor with a transparent package with no surprise costs. The last thing you want is to be more out of pocket before you even move in. Also, think about choosing a firm that will take care of your surveys and arrangements for you. It might cost a little more, but it will reduce the stress that can be involved.

6/ Mortgage Arrangement

Some lenders will charge you money to set up your mortgage account, which can run into anything up to £2K. If paying upfront is a problem you and add it to your mortgage, although this will attract interest over the mortgage period.

7/ Set-up fees

If you are going on a tracker or fixed mortgage, you may have to pay a set-up fee to lock in the price. This is usually a small amount, although not insignificant. You can expect to pay anything up to and around £250.

8/ Moving

Removal companies charge anything from £500 upwards, depending on the amount you are moving from your old house to your new one. You could do this yourself, of course, but there are plenty of benefits of getting it done in one hit.

9/ Building insurance

Your building insurance will need to be updated. Some mortgage lenders charge you if you use a different insurance plan to the one that they offer you. Although the fee is negligible (no more than £30 or so), it still needs to be considered when you are working out your budget.

10/ New furniture

Unless you move into a clone of your old home, you will need to put aside money for new furniture. The chances of everything fitting into the new place like a glove are slim, so hold some savings back. Need some inspiration? You can find some great ideas in our article on interior design.

Have a great move!

Most people never think too much about their back doors or their patio doors, but often these doors are used more often than other doors in the home and are of course very important.

Your patio door often leads out to family fun and in some cases, backyard parties. These doors often get more traffic and are also abused in a way. Consider all the times, you have heard the door slam, the dog scratching at the interior of the door to go outside and then the exterior to come indoors, and of course the kids coming in and out all day long on nice days. Then comes the summer when family and friends enjoy cook outs or using your swimming pool. How many times a day is your patio door opened and closed?

How long has it been since you took a good look at your back patio door? Is it worn, are there panes that are cracked, is the glass broken, or do you notice all the blemishes from the dog and of course the weather? If so, it may be time to consider a new patio door.

Another thing to consider with your patio door is that often this is the door that burglars use to enter your home. Since this is the door that is often neglected, robbers know they can easily enter your home often with just a small push. If you have any broken glass it will be even easier to enter your home.

When you decide to purchase a new patio door it is best to speak with an expert as they will able to help you choose a door that will be able to withstand the abuse as well as the weather. You can ask questions which will help you make an educated decision. If you have a pet that scratches the door, you should ask if they have any suggestions so that the wood on the door would not be damaged or what other choices you have besides wood. Of course, you will also want to ensure that the door you choose will be able to withstand all the traffic as well as keep out a burglar. The problem often comes in when choosing patio doors in Toronto is that you want a nice looking door that will enhance the look of your patio as well as compliment the rest of your home but provide as much protection as possible. The good news is that you have all kinds of options on the market today instead of what you found a few years. Today, with the advancements in technology and all the new materials and designs in patio doors you are sure to find the perfect one to fit your requirements and will withstand your dog, your traffic, and the elements.