Home Improvement

We expect a lot from closets. We want them to not only hold the items we use, but they also must hold the things we rarely need and even some things we just don’t want to see. And we want our closets to do both of these jobs at the same time. Is it any wonder that many of us have closets that don’t look perfectly neat and tidy?

Our poor closets are caught in a catch-22: we need for them to be neat and efficient because of everything we put in them, but because of everything we put in them, they cannot remain neat and efficient.

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April 19th, 2008 | Tags: advice, closet, decor, decorating, design, home, ideas, interior, organizing, storage, style, tips | Category: Home Improvement | Leave a comment

Concrete’s use in kitchens and bathrooms may still be considered relatively “modern” design-wise by some homeowners. But while concrete can be used to create a modern or minimal look, it’s also perfectly adaptable to a more traditional setting — where it was so extensively used in the first place.

Concrete can act as a substitute for more traditional materials. Rather than just using concrete to explicitly re-create something from the past, you can also combine it with other elements to suggest a timeless quality. In my work, I always strive to strike a balance between innovation and emotion, between spare contemporary and warm traditional. Adding mosaic tile along the front edge of a concrete surface, inlaying bits of tile along a backsplash, or even embedding a fossil in a countertop all connect us to the past.

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April 19th, 2008 | Tags: bathroom, concrete, countertops, design, kitchen, remodeling | Category: Home Improvement | Leave a comment

Is your bathroom looking a bit drab but you can’t afford to pay for a total overhaul? Or maybe you’re going for a total overhaul in your bathroom. In either case one of the key aspects of redecorating your bathroom are the faucets you’re going to use. These items are used daily in your bathroom so it’s best that they’re not old and ugly - it’s the last thing you’d want a guest to see. Or to have to use for that matter.

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April 17th, 2008 | Tags: bath, bathroom, decor, design, diy, faucet, sink, tap, tub | Category: Home Improvement | Leave a comment

Several years ago, the only type of outdoor post lights were public streetlights. Now, however, homeowners are using outdoor post lighting for different areas of their homes.

Outdoor post lights, a type of pole lighting, are excellent for bright illumination because they provide a type of downlighting, meaning that the light comes from above and is cast downward. Just as streetlights cast light on the road, home outdoor pole lighting is used to cast light on driveways, home entrances, and landscaping.

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April 16th, 2008 | Tags: deck, design, fixtures, garden, home, landscape, light, lighting, lights, outdoor, patio, porch, security, yard | Category: Home Improvement | Leave a comment

Part of the American Dream is to build your own home. To do that, you need to first understand the basics of house plans.

The internet has helped so many different businesses expand their customer base by reaching out to a wider audience. The home design industry has been one that has benefited from the increased exposure and the potential home builder is able to benefit even more. With very little effort, it is possible today to view thousands and thousands of home plans right from the comfort of your computer room. What are home plans and how can they be used?

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April 5th, 2008 | Tags: architect, blueprint, build, code, design, home, house, improvement, lot, plans | Category: Home Improvement | Leave a comment

When starting to think about either a new or remodeling project,here are some bathroom tile ideas to get you going.

1 - Visual treatment.

If you wish to create an interesting quality visual feel to your project, the use of color is important. A solid color for the floor is usually a good start. You can add borders of a different color to the floor, or you can create a border by alternating different colors. This kind of visual treatment can create a more interesting floor.

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March 17th, 2008 | Tags: bathroom, ceramic, design, ideas, installation, installing, lay, laying, pattern., planning, tile | Category: Home Improvement | Leave a comment

In part two of our two part series, we look at some specific decorating tips and ideas for apartment bedrooms…

Style Pointers

WALLS AND CEILING

Fresh white walls and ceiling reflect the light and create a spacious atmosphere as well as a neutral backdrop for colorful furnishings and accessories.

ACCESSORIES

Framed posters reinforce the blue and white color theme and break up the wall space. A few well-chosen accessories - vases of flowers, bedside candlelamps, and simple knickknacks - add a personal stamp.

SOFT FURNISHINGS

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March 16th, 2008 | Tags: advice, apartment, bedroom, decor, decorating, design, home, ideas, style, tips | Category: Home Improvement | Leave a comment

So have you finally have given up on hand watering and want a in-ground system? Designing a sprinkler system may be easier than you think.

In this short tutorial you will learn how to create a simple garden plan and then estimate how much conduit and sprinkler heads you will need for your project.

Plotting your garden area


First, find a some graph paper. If you don’t have any you can Google “printable graph paper” and print the example images. Depending on the size of your yard, establish the scale by referring to each square as 2 or more feet. (see our printable graph paper to skip this step)

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March 7th, 2008 | Tags: design, heads, lawn, layout, sprinkler | Category: Home Improvement | Leave a comment

One form of decorative concrete is to use bands of decorative concrete around areas of flat and non decorative concrete. How big these bands of concrete are will depend on the size of the concrete area as a whole, and what you want the area to look like. Basically when it comes to bands it can be one of any style of decorative concrete: stamped, exposed aggregate, colored concrete, salt finish, etc.

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February 18th, 2008 | Tags: concrete, decoration, design | Category: Home Improvement | Leave a comment