You’ve just moved into your new home and everything’s looking great, except the mounds of stuff you thought you’d have room for, now beginning to pile up in your closet. Where do you put it all? Here are our 5 easy tips for de-cluttering your home.
Schedule a de-cluttering weekend
Working all day leaves little time or motivation to start tidying the house. So to avoid putting this annoying task off a minute longer, schedule a date in your diary. And if you can, get family and friends involved too. The more hands, the easier the work.
Organize first, buy second
The worst thing you can do is to go out and buy a ton of storage boxes before deciding what’s staying and what you are throwing out. Once everything has been sorted through, buy a few containers, and if that’s not enough, you can buy more. Otherwise, those empty containers will take up the space you wanted to make in the first place.
Give away one item each day
It’s always hard throwing out things you have become accustomed to over the years, but giving away things gradually, whether it be to family, friends, or thrift stores, makes the process that much easier.
Fill one trash bag
If you want a tidy, spacious home, you’re going to have to be ruthless. The easiest method is to grab a large trash bag and see how quickly you can fill it. It’s a great de-cluttering trick and the best place to start.
Three-year rule
Sure, those old roller skates may come in handy for the future, but when is the last time you picked them up and dusted them off? A good rule for de-cluttering your home is: ‘If you haven’t used it in three years, chuck it’. Whether it’s clothing, kitchen gadgetry, gardening tools. If you’re not using it regularly, it isn’t worthy of your space.
Don’t know where to start? How about the bathroom? Check out our great range of storage accessories on our website.
Crucial Do It Yourself (DIY) Home Improvement Tips
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The Home Improvement industry is steadily booming in India. People are now willing to spend on improvising their households. They feel that their home is a reflection of themselves. According to stats, there has been a considerable rise of house renovations and improvements in the year 2016 and expected to rise in 2017. Almost 75% is spent on furniture and fixtures while 25% in home decor.
Home improvement cannot be done haphazardly, it requires proper planning. Everything needs to be organized which would include even the worst case scenarios and their solutions. Some of the basic crucial steps for home improvement tools are:
1. Plan
Planning is a crucial and most important step for home improvement. One needs to have an idea regarding the areas that require improvement. Log all the details in a dairy, including measurements, your preferred layout and what you visualize for your space. Also, understanding your space is essential. Your ideas and layouts should be feasible to the measurements. Researching on ideas is vital.
2. Budgeting
The second important step is budgeting. Every improvement or restoration will require an estimated expense. Planning the budget would help one understand which areas require more resources and your money can be managed more effectively. Always try and keep a buffer of 15-20% for unexpected expenses.
3. Prioritizing
After the crucial step of planning, you should have a list of areas that would require improvements. Certain areas may require immediate attention to prevent damage. Hence, prioritizing comes into the picture. Immediate restorations can decrease the level of severity and cost at that instance. If certain restorations are avoided now, they could increase the overhead cost next time. Prioritizing will help in effectively managing time and budget. For prioritizing, the POSEC method can be used.
POSEC Method stands for Prioritizing by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing and Contributing. It works as:
• Prioritizing responsibilities according to priority and available time.
• Organizing according to priorities
• Streamline tasks that need to be done (even if you don’t like them)
• Economize tasks that are not as important
• Contribute to help the contractors, if hired.
4. Pinterest and YouTube is your friend
Researching your projects will help you dodge certain mistakes. Pinterest and YouTube are the places where one can find many Do-It-Yourself (DIY) guides. Also, try reading certain books and magazines related to home improvement. On Pinterest, you can browse through numerous images to get practical ideas for your household.
5. Find the right contractor
One needs to find a reliable Contractor Directory for handling their household projects. For hiring a contractor, one needs to do research and also perform background checks.
Certain steps for hiring a contractor could be:
• Asking for peer feedbacks
• Research on the contractor
• Ask for references
• Get quotes from various contractors and tally
6. Save Money
Saving money on certain improvement projects would help one to invest in other minor home improvement projects. Spending it wisely is the key. More should be spent on replacing items that are hard to replace by yourself. Splurge on items that are beneficial to you and the household.
A good idea is to go and scout for your own furniture. This would help you get bargains and select your choice. Another option is checking for discounts and order over the internet. One can also save money by doing certain tasks by themselves by watching YouTube videos.
7. Match your home décor with furniture
Choosing the colour for your wall or furniture is up to you. Nowadays, people don’t always prefer matching colour. They like to add a splash of colour even at home. So, the colour choice is basically decided by you. Also, another option would be to mix designs and provide the house with an elegant look.
8. Plan for future upgrades
Through planning, you would know exactly where future improvements can take place. This would help you to analyse and save along the way. These future upgrades should be integrated with minimalistic changes to the current design.
9. Consultation
Home improvements need to be perfect as you invest a lot of money. In certain instances, feel free to consult licensed tradespeople. Any work related to plumbing, electrical or structural changes should be consulted with a professional before undertaking. You can even hire an architect or designer for the initial layout sketch.
10. Follow the instructions
While doing any Do-It-Yourself (DIY) project, keep all the right information handy. Follow all the instructions carefully to get the right outcome in the end. Also, ensure that you have the correct tools present with you. Ensure that you have complied with the appropriate safety measures.
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Author’s Bio
Akshay works as an Interior Designer with Lalco Interiors and he is in love with his job. Thinking up interesting home décor ideas and helping clients implement them is what makes him tick. You can catch up with Akshay and his team and indulge in one of their beautiful home décor pieces for your home at Lalco Interior.
Home improvement is one area most people are guilty of procrastinating around. We make excuses we don’t have the ‘time’ or ‘money’ to spare, but there are some occasions when you simply can’t ignore those annoying nags a minute longer. Here are 4 signs it’s time for a new floor.
Your floor is old and outdated
Naturally, floors wear down with age. We walk across our homes everyday, often in our shoes, but it’s true that some materials show signs of wear and tear more than others. When looking to replace your floor, consider choosing wood or ceramic over vinyl and carpet, for example.
You’re looking to sell your property
Think back to when you first bought your property. Was the floor clean and inviting, or dirty and worn? Not only will installing new flooring improve the appearance and therefore appeal of your home to potential buyers, but it will also increase the value substantially.
Your floor is looking a little uneven
If your floor is made of wood, for example, water damage can cause its surface to warp, and individual pieces look as though they don’t fit the puzzle. Not only does this look unattractive, it is also hazardous, a particular concern if there are children running around the house.
Your floor stands out for the wrong reasons
It’s possible your current flooring remains from the previous owners, or perhaps you installed it when you first moved in. Either way, if you’ve updated your colours or accessories, perhaps it’s time to do the same with your floors. No matter how attractive one particular room is, unattractive flooring will alter its overall appearance.
Looking to install a new floor? Check out our great range of flooring or contact us with any questions.
The most outstanding aspect of contemporary design, when compared with other styles, is the almost immediate sense of modernity it conveys – without the over-simplification of the truly modern design style. Of course, this shouldn’t be surprising, since – by definition – this style is meant to capture advances in the style of interior decor for the 20th century and beyond. Characterized largely by smooth lines, a complementary palette of color and a certain sleekness of form, it provides your apartment or house with a wide range of accessories with which to highlight or convey your sense of taste.
The Contemporary Living Room and Kitchen
The best thing about this interior decor style is the sheer range it affords you in making your apartment an extension of your personality and taste. Unlike the strong motifs of the traditional style, which aren’t easily amenable to your present life, the contemporary style allows countless arrangements of the softer, less edgy elements of a room to stand out without dominating each other.
When you have guests over, your living room is the first introduction and should make the strongest initial impression. Although you want to give a sense of expansiveness when it comes to the furniture and floors, you want to shy away from the plainness of a modern (retro, today) interior and add color and warmth. Tans, browns and mocha colors are a great option if you’re inclined towards earth-tones, and blacks, greys and muted whites – with spot-lighting and rounded corners – if you like things even simpler. Because the contemporary style blends so many elements of the modern style, it can be hard to visually distill the differences between the two; but, if you have trouble, just think “retro.” If you get this feeling while perusing elements you wish to add, then chances are, it’s not contemporary.
The other room of great importance is the kitchen, since it’s often a secondary meeting place for conversations and a primary place for dining. Just as with the living room, lighting plays an exceptionally-important role in conveying the right sense here. In contrast to the pure white, even harsh, lighting of the modern kitchen, the contemporary alternative will have warm bright light that almost looks yellow. It should cast an inviting ambiance; almost as if the kitchen is an extension of the living room. This isn’t hard to effect; just make sure to employ tone-on-tone color schemes for elements that “touch.” For example, if the hardwood floor is mocha-colored, then the pantry directly above it might be milk chocolate or dark beige. Globe-lights with a chrome finish help to accentuate the transitional elements between the living room and kitchen, as well – there are many things you could do to contemporize your kitchen.
The Role of Color in Contemporary Design
Often times, you find a considerable amount of attention being dedicated to color, when it’s color combination that actually matters. For the in-home design, the way that similar shades enhance each other, or different shades complement one another, determines the ambiance of the room. Because the contemporary pad is defined more by solid, bright colors and geometric shapes, a transition from the myriad of muted colors that often defines a traditional style can automatically confer a sense of newness to the room. A few options, if you have black, white or dark grey furniture, are grey blinds by Rollerblinds. The contemporary style softly filters light, and is more effective than pure white blinds for muting the light in the room even further for daytime television watching or other.
How to Properly Budget and plan your Home Improvement Projects
Now that 2014 has started, many Los Angeles homeowners are getting their budgets together and making plans for the New Year. For many people the improved economy means that they can finally tackle some of the big home improvement projects they might have had to put off previously.
One of the biggest home improvements you can make which can reap surprisingly dramatic results is replacing your flooring. Try to imagine that old carpeting in the dining room replaced with beautiful, hardwood floors. The whole room could be completely transformed, and the value of your home will no doubt increase. It also helps that new technology and innovations have increased flooring options by the tenfold in the last few years. Just looking at Flooring Supply Shop’s options can show you just how many new options you have.
Another thing you may noticed while shopping around is the number of environmentally friendly options you have. It’s not news that there is a rapidly increasing focus on bringing sustainable materials into every facet of consumer lives, and flooring is no exception to the trend. Unlike a few years ago, there are a huge number of options today.
One option you have if you’re looking to replace some marble in your home, is to actually not replace it at all! If you haven’t heard about our Restoration Training and Cheetah Pads, just let the results speak for themselves. What could be more environmentally friendly than buffing your way to a completely new floor?
However, if you’re searching for a new look in your home that is also Eco-friendly, one of the biggest trends right now is concrete. Yes, you heard that correctly, concrete. This concrete isn’t the boring sidewalk slabs you’re imagining, since the innovations that have been made with concrete are astounding. It can be molded to fit any area, can be dyed or stained to any color, polished until it gives you a high shine look, and – barring any catastrophic events – would never need to be replaced.
While concrete is great, one of the newest, coolest, and most environmentally friendly options on the market right now is glass tiles. Eco-friendly glass tiles are made of recycled glass products (like beer bottles) which are then converted into beautiful tiles. It’s really incredible how a bunch of old wine bottles can be transformed into some truly unique flooring. On top of being an environmentally friendly flooring option, many people are using it on the walls of their home or as back-splashes in their kitchen thanks to its light reflecting properties. As an added bonus the tiles are easy to maintain and you won’t have to worry about staining as you would with many traditional types of tiles.
It seems counter intuitive to assume that hardwood floors are eco-friendly, right? Chopping down trees can’t be good for the environment. However, thanks to new advancements you can get hardwood floors without so much as knocking a leaf off of a tree due to engineered hardwood floors. In the past engineered hardwood got a bad rap thanks to it’s less than conventional look, but like every other flooring material out there a few years of time and testing has resulted in a more aesthetic appearance. In addition to being environmentally friendly, it’s usually significantly cheaper than traditional hardwood, sometimes as much as $3 a plank cheaper. They’re also much easier to install than their traditional counterparts.
When making plans for major home renovations it’s easy to get lost in the details and forget about the environmental impact your choices may have. However, it is our responsibility to do our best to use sustainable, eco-friendly products as often as we can, and that includes our flooring. Thanks to the incredible advancements in technology, Eco-friendly floor options are cost effective and very aesthetically pleasing, sometimes more so than non-green options. Just take a look around at some of Flooring Supply Shop’s environmentally friendly options and you can see just how far we’ve come in terms of green flooring options.
About the Author: Spencer Blohm is a freelance design, lifestyle, and entertainment blogger for Direct-ticket.net. His interests range from interior design to old Hollywood films and can often be found scavenging in vintage and antique stores for his next big find. He lives and works in Chicago.
