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Keeping Up With The Jones’s? Here’s How To Outdo The Jones’s!

Reviews · July 30, 2018

Neighbourhood rivalries are often very silly, and will always be mocked. Why compete when you can come together as a community? However, if everyone admitted it to themselves, they would say that they secretly practice it, in small ways. The most obvious example is Christmas. Many streets seem to wish to outdo one another in order to appear the most curated home, the most beautiful with the most gorgeous decorations. Some houses decide to go overboard, and these aren’t hard to spot.

However, is there some utility in the idea of ‘keeping up with the Joneses?’ Could it actually help you? Of course, when it’s tongue in cheek. Real life decoration battles are silly and odd to invest your time into. However, there’s no shame in wanting to live in the most beautiful house of your street. To do that, and to enable these silly but ultimately rewarding feeling, consider these tips to help your home stand out above all:

Curb Appeal

The curb appeal of your property really matters. This is the first impression that anyone walking past will see, but more importantly it’s the first impression you will see when first coming upon the house. This is why it is so essential for you to make this look the way you most desire. A great way to do this is to consider the lead up garden to your front door.

Is it well maintained? Are the bushes well trimmed and parallel with one another, or chaotic and artsy? Is your garden path well maintained or cracked and in need of repair? How does this area look at night? Dark, or with beautiful luminescent lamps slowly lighting the way? Making your home look inviting with the use of light, colour and texture can help you not only have the most beautiful and curated garden space of your street, but it will actually increase your property value to a degree you might not have imagined.

Garden Features

Back garden features can be everything to a beautiful green space. It might be that implementing plenty of new garden features could be quite pricey, such as replacing garden furniture, rectifying a shed, opting for higher quality fencing among many other considerations to make. For this reason it might be worth sustaining an operational budget, or gaining items on credit for now while in the effort to improve credit scores.

This might mean making your garden more lively by purchasing items for your children, or many other artsy features that help you get out into the green space and working with your creative ambition. A back garden is best when it’s alive and lived in during the day.

Window Arches

Windows arches say plenty about your home and how it should be viewed. Are they well maintained or is the paint chipped? Is the pain all one theme or multiple? Does the design fit with your front, back or side doors? Consider repainting, replacing or repairing window arches, as they are often the first telltale sign of a property that is less than well maintained.

With these simple tips, outdoing the Joneses will become a matter of hobby, so that you needn’t worry about the entire affair again. You’ll be too busy enjoying your beautiful home for that.

Get Your Home Ready for the Summer Season

Reviews · May 12, 2018

As you’re making plans for the upcoming summer season, be sure you schedule some time to get your home in order. Summer home maintenance might not be as enjoyable as planning a vacation, but tips for a summer-ready home can save you time and money, time and money you’d likely rather spend on more enjoyable endeavors. Ready to learn?

Take Care of Your HVAC System

One of the first things to do is give your HVAC system a checkup and tuneup, if necessary. This means cleaning or replacing your filters, depending on what kind they are, cleaning debris from the vents and exhausts as well as testing your unit to make sure it’s in working order. The summer season is also a good time to call a professional out to your home to visually inspect and maintain your HVAC system to ensure it’s fully operational and that there aren’t any minor problems to tend to.

Clean Off Your Walkway

Have a professional pressure wash your walkways and driveway to get rid of grit and grime that’s accumulated, which improves its appearance and allows surfaces to last longer. As you’re washing, keep a close eye out for cracked or broken pavers and bricks. You can flip them over if you like, replace them or use masonry filler to address bothersome cracks. Just make sure the filler is the same color as your pavers or bricks.

Tend to Your Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detectors

Check all the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home, making sure they all have fresh batteries and that they actually work. You’ll want to place carbon monoxide detectors close to bedrooms, mainly because the odorless gas is most potent while we’re sleeping. Besides bedrooms, other recommended areas of the home that need carbon monoxide detectors include the living room, kitchen and near the furnace. As for smoke detectors, position them close to the kitchen, near bedrooms and on every level of your home. To save money and keep your home from looking like a carbon monoxide and smoke detector museum, know that there are combination detectors you can buy.

Check Your Windows

You’re likely to crank up the air conditioning in the summer, and cooled air can escape through any gaps that exist in your windows. Use caulk to take care of any gaps in your window frames, making sure you inspect the weatherstripping to see that it’s in good condition. Opening and closing your windows a few times is also a good idea to ensure they’re fully operational. Make arrangements to replace faulty windows with ones that are more energy efficient. Not only are new windows a good way to keep your heating and cooling costs low, they can also boost the overall value of your home should you decide to put it on the market in the future.

Finally, washing your windows this summer is also a good idea. When you do wash your windows, it’s best to use a squeegee and tend to them on a cloudy day to lower the potential for unsightly leftover streaks.

Prepare Your Home Against Bug Invasions

Bugs also make vacation plans during the summer, and they might see your home as the perfect getaway destination. Hang up the “no vacancy” sign by checking all doors and windows for leaks, much like you would to prevent drafts and a loss of heated or cooled air. Spraying pesticides outside your home and along baseboards and windows as well as doors is also recommended. You may want to reach out to a pest control service for professional help, which is a good idea if you’ve had problems with bugs in the past.

Make home maintenance a priority this summer season. Your property is sure to look and function better for your efforts.

How to Create the Illusion of Privacy When You Live in an Apartment Building

Reviews · November 10, 2017

Urban living requires that we live in close proximity to our neighbors. Apartments are innovative solutions to urban overpopulation, allowing everyone to have a comfortable home to live and work in, but the closeness of neighbors means that you can often hear movement, talking, and life through your walls. You don’t have to suffer under the din, instead, you can use these methods to soundproof your apartment and give you the illusion of privacy.

Buy Rugs

Rugs can easily and cheaply soundproof your home. Not only that, but they can also help muffle your own movements, so you don’t have to be quite as paranoid about annoying your neighbors every time you move your chair too loudly. The thicker the rugs you choose, the better. They can also make your apartment much warmer, so you can save on your utilities bill as well.

Wall Hangings

Depending on what you’re doing in your apartment, you can benefit either from hanging tapestries, or even installing a few soundproof panels. It depends entirely on your budget. While this won’t sound proof your home, it will help absorb the sound, so at the very least the noise doesn’t bounce around your room. Bookshelves also apply to this, and you can increase the amount of noise blocking by adding a piece of foam behind your shelves.

Increase the Soft Surfaces

Sound is absorbed by soft surfaces such as textiles and fabrics, so reduce the amount of echo by increasing the number of soft surfaces you have in your flat. This can be done by getting tablecloths, couches, or cushioned chairs. What you can do depends on the size of your space, but aim for comfort and you’ll also cut down the noise.

Windows

A lot of noise comes in through your windows, so buying thick curtains can help you cut out the noise (especially at night). As a bonus, this is another great method to keeping your home insulated and warm, so you can stay comfortable in the middle of winter without having the heating constantly on.

Hide the Noise

When you need absolute silence, however, you need to invest in some earplugs. They are the only way to truly cut out most the noise in your apartment. If you want to listen to music without outside interference, however, choose one of the best noise cancelling headphones under 100. Similarly, if you don’t want something around or in your ears to drown out the noise, you can instead try a white noise machine. Getting all three will ensure that you have the quiet you need, whatever you’re doing.

You won’t be able to escape all noise in your apartment – that’s just the way that apartment living is. You will, however, be able to reduce echo and even be able to drown out noises so that you can live with the illusion of absolute privacy. If all else fails, you’ll have to contact your landlord to discuss with your loud neighbors what they can do to keep their own noise levels down.

How to Make a Room Seem Bigger

Reviews · September 15, 2017

Modern homes are great in some ways. They are generally better insulated, but, on the other hand, the rooms are often smaller. If you want to learn how to make your rooms seem bigger, please read on. Below are several simple and relatively easy ways to achieve the look you are after.

Create the right type of focal point

When you enter a room, without realising it your eye is naturally drawn to a focal point. You can use this natural reaction to your advantage. Try to create your focal point so that it draws the eye along the room or to its furthest point. This has the effect of making the space seem as big as possible.

It could be as simple as hanging a large canvas print on the appropriate wall then up-lighting it, so it catches the eye. You can easily buy the kind of high-quality picture you need for this task from the Hello Canvas website. The fact that you can potentially choose any image means that this is an approach that can be used in virtually any home.

Use mirrors

Another simple approach is to hang more mirrors in your room. Potentially, you could turn a mirror into your focal point. If you can hang it so that it reflects the room beyond it will also make the room seem far bigger. Even if you are not able to hang it in this way, do not instantly dismiss the idea of using mirrors in your home. They are a great way of capturing the natural light and reflecting it back into the room.

Let more light in

Generally speaking, the brighter a space is the bigger it will seem. As well as using mirrors be sure to open your curtains as widely as possible. Also, consider installing internal doors with glass panels, so that light can flow more easily through your house.

Draw the eye outside

If you have a garden try to set things up so that you can see it while you are in your house. This has the effect of drawing the eye outside, which automatically makes the room you are entering, or sitting in, seem larger. Ideally, you should install French or patio doors, but if you cannot do this just make sure that you make the most of the windows you have.

Change your window coverings

Try to choose window coverings that do not drape over the actual glass too much. The more of the view you show the better. Plus, of course, by taking this approach you will be naturally letting more light into your home.

Improve the lighting

The way you light a room also has a big impact. If the space is dark and dingy it will naturally feel small and pokey. You can learn more about how to use lighting in your home to improve the look and feel of it as well as create the illusion of space, you can do so here.