Thursday, March 1, 2012

Home Improvement For A Better Life - Robbie Morrison

The kitchen is one of the most frequented areas in a home and therefore needs that special touch with respect to design and layout. Two of the top questions homeowners frequently ask are ? what are the ideal small kitchen designs and should I buy an ex display kitchen to save on my renovation budget. In this article we have included answers to these 2 common questions as well as a host of tips for renovating your home.

Nail Down The Most Useful Home Improvement Tips

Most homeowner?s find themselves in need of repairs or home improvement at one time or another. Here are some handy tips to pass on! Hopefully, this will save you both time and money by doing it right the first time. Read on for some great advice.

If you have small holes in your wall, you can repair them by using spackling paste. Simply apply the paste to fill the holes and wait for it to dry. The paste may expand and crack, so you can apply a little more paste if needed. When dry, sand away any excess until the dried spackle is flush with the wall. Then paint the wall any color you desire.

Clean out your home every few months by taking a look around and collecting items that you no longer need. It is a great feeling to update your home decor as well as giving unwanted items to charity. Take those things you no longer need and donate them to a local charity or orphanage. This will de- clutter your home and give you space for new items.

If your roof needs to be repaired, try using a white tile to redo your roof. Dark colors can cause extreme heat in an attic. If you go with a lighter color, the attic will not have excessive heat and it will remain a lot cooler. Your attic will not feel suffocating when you need to retrieve something from it.

Adequate lighting in a bathroom has everything to do with making the most out of your space. It is important that the right lighting scheme be used. If you use the right amount of light, it can make your bathroom the relaxing space that it needs to be. Evaluate your bathroom lighting today, and see if there are any improvements you can make.

Before you begin your next home improvement project, make sure to secure any permits that you might need. Anything dealing with electricity, plumbing or structural work will require a permit. If you aren?t sure how to get the proper paperwork, it may be helpful to hire a general contractor to assist you.

To make money flipping real estate you should start with improving the outside. This is the part that will make a first impression on potential buyers and can be done rather cheaply. Take a picture of the outside and study it when you are not at the home. It will help you focus on what should be fixed or improved.

Seek out advice before starting on do it yourself projects. There may be important steps you will overlook if you don?t know what you are doing. Although many household jobs can be done yourself, it is always a good idea to ask an expert how to do the job properly.

One home improvement project that will reap considerable dividends for the homeowner is fitting the house for modern electronics. Adding more power connections, phone jacks, and even ethernet ports will make an older home more compatible with the panoply of electronic gadgets the modern homeowner uses. This modernization will have a small but significant impact on potential buyers? opinions of a house.

Make sure that your contractor is filing for and receiving the permits needed to make home improvements. This requires that you double check his paperwork and go to your city to find out if he?s filed for the permits. A good contractor will provide you a record of his actions without you even having to ask for it.

A great way to add value and security to your home is to add aluminum shutters and roller shutters to your home. This home improvement task is especially useful in areas that are prone to hurricanes and strong winds, but for increased security of a vacation home they are excellent barriers to keep out thieves while you are away.

Before spending a lot of money on so-called ?quality? supplies for any home improvement, make sure to shop around for better deals. Putting down new flooring can be costly and comparing prices can help you get the best prices. There are discount supply stores out there as well as bargain hunting places that can help.

To cut down your home?s energy costs, replace your current thermostat with one that can be programmed. Many families save close to $200 yearly through programmable thermostat use. A programmable thermostat can be set to change when your family is sleeping or out of the house, keeping you from paying for heating and cooling you don?t need. They?re also inexpensive, and can be picked up for less than $40.

Check out a new contractor through the Better Business Bureau and your Home Owners Association to find out if he?s registered and what his rating is. If he isn?t registered with either, sever ties immediately. If he is registered, see if anyone has lodged a complaint against him and how it was resolved.

When committing to a home improvement project, be sure to do a lot of research in regards to property values. There are actually many things that you can do to your home that are cheap and can greatly increase your property value. With that being true, the opposite is as well, so do your research so that you can prevent spending money and ultimately, end up lowering your property value.

Know your building codes. If you plan on doing work yourself, you should always be aware of how that work should be done, and what needs to accompany it. You do not want to finish a job only to have a building inspector tell you that you violated a code in the process.

Kitchen

Kitchen

If you want to remodel your kitchen, but the cost and time involved are too big of a commitment, consider refacing your kitchen cabinets. Refacing requires only the cabinet doors, drawer fronts and frame surfaces to be replaced. This usually only costs one-half to one-third of what a full cabinet replacement would cost. In addition, the work can be completed in a fraction of the time.

Always allow for extra time when you are doing a home improvement project that involves plumbing. No one likes to be without their kitchen or their bathroom for an extended period of time. You would like to hope that you can get the work done in a day or two and be back up and running quickly. However, rerouting pipes and installing sinks and other fixtures takes time, and unexpected things almost always come up. Plan on projects that involve plumbing to take longer than you expect them to take.

If your kitchen cabinets are looking a little bland. you can add new cabinet knobs to create a new living environment that sparkles. Kitchen knobs are relatively expensive. Knobs come in a variety of colors, giving you the ability to personalize your kitchen in a very cute way. Create a happy home today with new kitchen knobs.

If you are putting in new counter tops, or just doing surface fixes in your kitchen, add a decorative back splash. This area behind your counters and between the cabinets is often just painted the same color as the walls. Adding tile, or other decorative touches will really make a dramatic statement in your kitchen.

If you will be working on plumbing in your bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room, make sure that you know how to turn the water off before you start working. If you start a plumbing project with the water still on, you may end up with a flood in your room that could put you behind your schedule.

If you are looking for home improvement ideas that can add value to your house, then lighten everything up by adding space if you can. If your rooms are small, then this gives a cramped/dark feeling to them. Look to see if you can knock down a wall to combine two rooms (possibly between a kitchen and dining room). This will give a light and airy feeling to the space.

Updating an outdated kitchen could be as easy as replacing the cabinetry. This can be done on your own, but remember to make sure to check for all of the screws that are holding your existing cabinets in place. Cut the caulk that is sealing it to the wall prior to removing them, and you will have a nice smooth surface to install the new ones.

Give your kitchen cabinets a brand new look with paint. This is a very inexpensive way of updating your kitchen cabinets. Remove the doors and thoroughly clean all surfaces with denatured alcohol to get rid of dirt and grease. Apply a coat of primer: this should take about an hour to dry. Use a latex or oil paint, and choose a gloss finish, as this stands up well to scrubbing. If the paint you are using is roughly the same shade as the original, you may be able to get away with one coat of paint over the primer. Your cabinets will look brand new again!

If you have a kitchen and family room that run together, consider adding a breakfast bar. A breakfast bar will allow each room to have individuality and you will not have to compromise the space. An over-sized breakfast bar that includes chairs can be purchased for less than 1,000 dollars.

Keep bowls of fresh fruit on your dining room table and kitchen counters. Use a decorative bowel and fill it with bananas, pre-washed apples, oranges, even grapes. Not only will the bowls of fruit add beauty to your home they will be right there when you need that quick snack.

Home improvement really is a creative endeavor, but that does not mean it is only for professional or serious home improvers. This creative endeavor can be enjoyed by anyone of any improvement skill level. These tips were constructed to help those of all levels find their way into home improvement.

Source: http://www.robbiemorrison.com/2012/03/01/home-improvement-for-a-better-life/

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