Basement
Furnishing Your Home With Moroccan Furniture
For a home or office that is exotic, intriguing, welcoming, and stylish for anyone who visits, Moroccan furniture can achieve these effects. Some of the most popular home decorating items right now are Moroccan furniture, Moroccan lamps and lanterns, and bedding. The biggest reason for this is because of the unique look and feel that the stunning patterns and colors used in Moroccan home decor will bring to your home. If you are willing to shop around some you will find Moroccan home decor items with prices that can fit in any budget.
Choosing Moroccan home decor means making a statement with your home. This style provides elegance without causing a loss of personality. Utilizing Moroccan home decor and Moroccan furniture can really reach out set the mood that you are aiming for with your guests, making them extremely comfortable. Moroccan furniture also has the advantages of being extremely durable and sturdy, which means these pieces will last for many years while staying in excellent shape without any signs of wear and tear.
Patterns And Colors Used In Moroccan Home Decor
Moroccan furniture and Moroccan lamps can include a number of exquisite patterns and gorgeous colors. The colors used in these lamps are comforting yet exotic. The artisans in Morocco use the colors found in their natural surroundings for inspiration. This means you will find colors that include grain, blue, red, orange, yellow, brown, and purple. The patterns and colors used are combined with wool, wood, silk, and leather so that a very dramatic effect is seen. Some common patterns seen with Moroccan furniture and home decor include flowers, designs which swirl, and many geometric shapes. All of these are combined into one piece of Moroccan furniture or one Moroccan lamp.
Essential Moroccan Home Decor Items
Moroccan lamps and Moroccan lanterns are necessary to finish off any Moroccan home decor. Hanging exquisitely from the ceiling and adding beauty and elegance to any room, Moroccan lanterns normally have frames which are wrought iron and that contain stained glass fragments in many patterns and colors. The oldest type of Moroccan lantern, and one of the best known, is a type called the Djamae Moroccan lantern. This lantern looks rustic and includes a shape which is semi-oval. The glass used is colored green, amber, and blue, as well as clear, and these lamps are exquisite. Moroccan lanterns also come in other styles as well, as these can include the Moroccan Chandelier, Anelka,
Dareh, Alwan, Blue Samaka, and Maroc.
If you want to take the Moroccan home decor even farther you can include Moroccan furniture in the form stools, tables, and chairs, as well as mirrors, rugs, doors, ceramics, and ceiling tiles.
Floor tiles can also be used for a beautiful Moroccan decor in any hallway or foyer. Moroccan floor tiles can be found in many different patterns, and make an excellent accent in any area of your home or work space. These tiles can be found in packages which may include anywhere from …
Bamboo Flooring Prices – A Guide On How To Determine The Prices For Solid Bamboo Flooring
Solid bamboo flooring is one of the most environmental choices that is becoming popular these days. Before you decide to make an investment on this new flooring, consider what may affect their prices.
Finished or Unfinished Wood?
When choosing the material for your bamboo floors, you may find the unfinished type of wood cheaper at first glance, because they normally run for only about $1.50 per sq. ft. However, check how much extra labor would you have to hire in order to improve the floor finish. This may cause the price to skyrocket, making unfinished wood not an economical choice. If you do decide to do the finishing and installation yourself, there will still be some additional costs that you have to consider, such as the tools you may need to smoothen the wood, stain and coat it.
You can instead consider buying standard finished bamboo flooring which may range between $1.99 to $4.99 per sq. ft. Prices vary on the length of the warranty, the quality of the finish and whether the boards are snap types or simple plank boards.
Coating
Another thing that can make bamboo flooring prices go higher is the coating. For instance, if the boards use Klumpp coating, the price will be higher, because it has lower formaldehyde, which is considered a toxic substance. This type of coating, however is more expensive to manufacture, thus the price is higher.
Installation Type
If you choose the floorings with snap lock joints, they will for sure cost more than ordinary boards planks. The easier it is to install the floorings, the higher the price will be. You will, however, save some money from labor cost, because snap on floors take a shorter time to install.
Warranties
Warranties differ, ranging from none to lifetime guarantees. You may choose to buy boards with extended guarantees, in order to protect your investment. When making your choice, check if you are still saving money even after paying lifetime guarantees.
Luxury Flooring
If you choose to buy high end designer’s bamboo floors, they will for sure be more expensive. There are boards that are hand finished and demand higher bamboo flooring prices than the mass produced ones. Such specially designed planks may cost more than $12 per sq. ft.
Prices for solid bamboo flooring will vary, but it still boils down to durability, which can only be achieved with proper care and maintenance.…
Purchase a Home Warranty – Things To Watch Out For Before You Buy
A home warranty service contract will allow you to have peace of mind and save you tons of money. It will basically cover the replacement and repair of your homes “moving parts” or home systems and major appliances. There are some things you should do prior to buying a warranty.
Before purchasing, you should estimate the level of coverage your home will need. You don’t want to dish out too much money on coverage if your house is brand new because it’s highly unlikely certain things will break during that time period. However, if your home is more than 10 years old you should spend extra money to get additional coverage.
Research the Home Warranty Company
One of the biggest nuances with some companies is that they are really slow about replying to your claims and they take ages to come by to your home and conduct repairs. Some companies may even deny your claims and not come over to your house at all. If you are dealing with a bad company, it won’t be uncommon at all to have to convince their representative that your replacements and repairs are listed on your contract. This is why it’s so crucial to do some research and find a trusted company that is straightforward and fair. It’s important to find one with good customer service.
Make Sure Your House Needs a Home Warranty
One of the disadvantages to purchasing any type of insurance is that you may not end up using it. You may end up wasting hundreds of dollars every year on a home warranty that is never utilized to repair your home. In the end when you do use it, it may be for a small appliance that doesn’t cover all the costs in premiums you have paid. It’s important to take a look at your home and judge whether you need a warranty plan; if your home is in great shape then you might just be throwing away your money. Remember most homes that are 5 years or younger don’t usually have any major problems; however if your home is older than 10 years old you should probably look into buying a plan.
Compare Prices
Before you invest any of your money, you should compare the prices of the best companies. Find a reputable company that covers all your needs and falls into your price range.…
How to Select the Proper Garbage Disposal and Take Care of It
If you are considering redesigning your kitchen, you no doubt will spend a great deal of time thinking about your cabinets, the appliances, the countertops and the flooring.
How about the lowly garbage disposal? You should not be disdainful of your disposal. The fact is that many of us do not ever think about what is going on under the sink when we flip the switch for the disposal. That is, we do not think about it until it stops working.
It is much more likely that you will have many years of trouble free use of your disposal if you buy the right one for your needs, and then you take care to use it properly. Below are some guidelines to accomplish both of these tasks.
Buying the Right One
When you are working on that new kitchen space, you should remember that you can buy a garbage disposal of many different sizes and lots of varying features. Of course, the disposal that came with your house was probably an inexpensive, builder quality unit. It probably has a motor with a 1/3 horsepower or so. That may work fine for awhile, but this product was not designed to last year a lot of years.
A disposal that is of a deluxe quality will have a motor with one horsepower, and it also will have inner components that are made of stainless steel. It’s very important that your high quality disposal have stainless steel parts, because that means you will never have rusting problems. Some higher quality products will have a function for auto reverse. This is very helpful in getting jammed food and other items out of the disposal. This will increase the motor’s life by years. Overheating the motor is one of the biggest causes for a garbage disposal to fail.
There are a lot of disposals that can be purchased that fall somewhere in between 1/3 horsepower and 1 horsepower. If your house in on a septic tank, you can buy a special unit that will shoot an enzyme into the bottom of the disposal. This will assist in breaking down your septic tank waste.
Taking Care of the Disposal
When you have your new disposal, you should do your best to care for it so it will last you many years. You can do this by making sure you run the water all the time when you are turning on the device. Many people tend to shut the water off too soon after they have turned on the garbage disposal. This is bad because the sludge that the disposal made may still be stuck in the drain line from the unit.
To prevent problems, you should let the water run for at least 10 seconds or so after you shut it off. This will allow the water to flush out the lines. A really great way to do this is to clean your pots and pans in the sink full of water. Then let the water …
Water Butts For Septic Tanks Are Affordable and Easy to Find
Water butts for Septic Tanks are containers used as storage for rain harvesting. It is 200 liters in capacity and made of lightweight material. It can be carried easily anywhere you would want to place it. Most often it is situated at the back of the house near the garden where stored rain from the butts is used for gardening. Instead of using hose getting water from the main water line water butts are useful source of watering the garden. You can install one or more containers connected together by storage connector available at the hardware store. Connecting five 200 liters water butts is much cheaper than building 1000 liters storage tank capacity.
Water storage are useful especially in arid areas for storing rainwater and used for domestic purposes. Rainwater from water containers can be used for washing the clothes, watering the plants, flushing the toilet, cleaning the cars and other household use. Butts must be covered to prevent it from breeding ground for larvae since any clean water is what mosquitoes prefer for their breeding grounds and also to prevent it from being contaminated. Water are usually installed above the ground and the material is usually opaque to prevent sunlight exposure thus decreasing the bloom of algae.
Butts have been around for some time. They are durable and dependable. Installation of butts in other areas is mandatory especially if there is a community wide program for conserving water. Since it is affordable and simple to install any household can easily have it. They position the butts in houses’ downpipes for collection of rainwater. Water butts are provided with taps and they will give you direct access to all the rainwater you harvested. The complete kits for water butts include water butts itself, stand for water butts and rain diverters. These are all easy to fit and once the butts are connected to your downpipes they are ready to use and to collect rainwater right away.
Water storage is really essential for small to medium scale storage for rainwater harvesting. They are compact and will not require a large space. They are also durable since water containers are made of high grade quality materials and can be used for long life. This is a good remedy if you have a small patio and you need to save on water. Recycling water for future use is a great solution when there is shortage of water and butts is the simple obvious answer. Water butts are hard wearing and resilient that is why it is most desirable for storage of rainwater.
Water butts for Septic Tanks are a good way to save money. People nowadays are aware of the importance of saving and you can start it by saving water by means of butts. This is very practical approach and also time and energy efficient since you will only need to place the water butts from the source of your rainwater. This is also a very good solution in preparing especially if …
Home Warranty Plans For Home Sellers
The uncertainty of purchasing a home that isn’t new can be a bit unsettling. Is everything working? Will it all keep working? Even with a thorough home inspection, you don’t know how long the appliances or systems will last. More and more home sellers are turning to home warranty plans to persuade buyers to buy, and this is why:
To Avoid Disputes
Once in a while, after the sale of a home from seller to buyer, something will break soon after. This may or may not be the fault of the seller, but often times, the buyer assumes it is. It then turns into a dispute over who has to pay for it. Purchasing a warranty plan helps avoid this because the plan covers the costs of most repairs and replacements.
To Reassure Buyers
Buyers don’t know if they can trust the seller. They don’t know the history of the home or what’s inside it. Home inspections can help with this, but there’s still the uncertainty of how long everything is going to last and if the buyer will be able to afford the cost of maintenance for the home-which can be expensive. Warranty plans can resolve all of this and give the buyer peace of mind, knowing they’re covered in the event of maintenance problems.
To Protect the Seller
It’s not too common, but sometimes things break during the listing and escrow period. Then what? The seller then has unexpected and unwanted extra costs-on top of the costs of selling a home. It’s an unnecessary stress that can easily be avoided by getting a warranty plan. Do yourself a favor.
To Give Buyers Confidence in Buying a Previously Owned Home
When buying a new home, everything is new, and buyers aren’t so worried about breakdowns and maintenance. This is an extra appeal for new homes. But what about homes that aren’t new? For a seller with a previously owned home, you want to give buyers every added confidence you can give them that your home is the right home for them. Home warranty plans are the way to do that. That way, buyers can trust that even if something does break, it will be okay. Home warranty plans are a great option for sellers and buyers.…
Define Your Style – Home Design Ideas
Leonardo Da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” and when it comes to interior design this can often by the best route to take if you don’t trust your own design instincts. There is a danger however, that your house will blend into every other Magnolia drenched, carbon copy home that we see cloned on every street in Britain today. Why do we practice such safe design? Is it because we suffer from a lack of imagination, or are home owners up and down the land just not brave enough to experiment? Maybe in this difficult economic climate we cannot risk straying from that safe colour palette of cream and white?
I say, why create a ‘blank canvas’ (just in case you move home), for someone else to put his or her stamp on. Look for inspiration everywhere and don’t fear your own style. There are several ways in which you can experiment without breaking the bank and below are a few ideas and tips, which could inspire you to create your own unique groove. Firstly, do a little research. Websites such as housetohome have a fantastic gallery of pictures and suppliers that can inspire you and are less likely to be found in the house next door.
Create a mood board. Collect images, colour swabs and fabric samples in order to focus your ideas and inspire you. This way you will be able to see which colours and styles go together and it will also help you commit to only buying what you need. Steer clear of the plain and create simple elegance by choosing a simple colour palette but also experimenting with different textures of paint and fabrics. B&Q have a paint colour mixing service, which can match any of your favourite items.
Add a splash of colour by adding cushions and throws or curtains. Cushions, and more surprisingly curtains, are easy to make if you have a bit of time on your hands and you can get quality designer fabrics at greatly reduced prices online. Stores such as sell designer fabrics at £10 a meter instead of the recommended retail price of £30 to £100 a meter. If you don’t fancy making curtains yourself, Digby & Willoughby can get these made up for you. Alternatively breathe life into a favourite chair with new upholstery with Fabrics from Digby & Willoughby.
Accessorise with one or two unique pieces such as a beautiful free standing mirror or a piece of artwork. To save some pennies you could visit auction houses such as lotsroad or criterionauctions. I recently found a fantastic seascape oil painting in a charity shop and a beautiful art deco bedroom suite on so keep your eyes peeled. Love the traditional? Experiment with mixing the traditional with the new to avoid being old fashioned. Choose classic wallpapers with a funky twist from companies such as Cole & Sons and Zoffany to create a feature wall. Visit reclamation yards such as wellsreclaimation or sites such as …
How to Determine the Most Efficient Design For Your Home
Design efficiency is often overlooked and not discussed very often by buyers and builders alike. Over years of home design and building I have had to review countless house designs in order to economise the building to achieve a target budget. There are a few simple rules when going through this review which I have outlined below.
Economise wasted space
This is the most simple step for someone with a high level of spatial awareness. A quick overview of a floor plan will highlight areas that are larger than required or excessive. Examples may be significant lengths of passageways, odd sized areas where rooms don’t connect or flow properly or simply oversized rooms. Last year a client came to me and showed me a house plan he had designed through a so called architect that had a master bedroom 8.5m x 3.0m and the client didn’t identify the room as being odd until I pointed it out. If you’re familiar with viewing architectural plans this process is quite simple, however for most home buyers it’s very difficult to visualise space just by looking at a scaled drawing. A simpler way that I recommend to buyers is to take a blank piece of paper and cut out scaled sized furniture that they have in their current home, then position it on the home design plans where they think it will go. This will then help them to assess proportions of room sizes in relation to their furniture.
Remove excess engineering costs
When designing and building two storey homes the main factor in price efficiency is with engineering costs. Large spans of open space on the ground floor could cause the engineer to increase the depth of the suspended slab from 172mm to 257mm, which adds significant costs. Keeping enough structural walls beneath the slab in key positions will remove the need for this cost and can still mean you have a fantastic open space.
Minimising suspended slab extensions is also critical, something that an experienced architect or house designer will do automatically, but often overlooked by novice designers. This poor design feature will make a house have a concrete slab where it is underutilised, and hidden in the roof space which just means it’s a very expensive ceiling.
Reducing the need for structural columns is also a factor. Since the supply and installation of a structural column can cost $400-$500 each you want to reduce the number used in a house design. Clever use of internal walls can easily save $3,000 – again a cost that will never be seen once the home is completed.
This step by step analysis was performed recently on a cheap two storey home design that highlights changes made to the elevation and style of the home saved significant building costs.…
Karndean Flooring – For a Unique Feel
The decision regarding the flooring of any construction, whether residential or commercial, is one of the most critical. The decoration of the home, like the colour of the walls, the colour of the furniture, the materials used, home decor items, and so on all depends only on the kind of flooring that you have installed. In addition, the job plays a vital role in determining the overall look and style of the room. A floor, which has too many scratches, or which reacts too easily to the claws of pets and to high heels is certainly not one of the ideal ones. Yet, wooden floors, which come in this category, are often loved for their beauty and earthiness.
About Karndean
Karndean flooring is one of the most important brands that are available today. Every flooring contractor recommends this brand to people who love natural materials, but cannot use them in all rooms for various reasons. With the help of this company, you can have some of the most beautiful looking floors and some of the most unconventional too. So if you love timber, you can have it anywhere – in your bathroom, or even in your conservatory. These floors are able to provide you with the authenticity of natural materials, and yet are made of a material which is completely different from what they look like. The materials used for this kind of flooring are very resistant to various kinds of conditions and are much easy to maintain.
Amtico floors
Amtico flooring is yet another choice for flooring contractors who have been given the task of decorating commercial buildings. This kind of flooring is very famous for its superb design and its splendid stylishness that makes it a very popular choice for all kinds of commercial complexes. These flooring companies specialise in the use of vinyl as the chief material for raw materials. The overall look is very stylish, and gives the onlookers a distinct feeling of luxury. The main advantage of using this kind of work is that you can save an enormous amount on maintenance costs. These floors are extremely easy to maintain on a daily basis.
Need for safety
When you contact floor contractors for your commercial complex, make sure that you mention the need for safety flooring. This is a form of flooring which includes introducing special materials as laminates on the surface of the floor, so that people do not slip and fall easily. Rubber is usually one of the main choices, although these days, there is a wide variety of materials available. You can go for materials which provide a good amount of friction between the highly polished heel and the floor, and at the same time, is quite easy to clean and maintain. Your floor company must be made to understand the need for a safety floor very clearly, since not providing one can lead to unnecessary lawsuits in the future.…
Flooring Is an Equally Important Aspect of Home Decor
The one aspect that most people tend to overlook while giving a makeover to their homes is flooring. Somehow, we have an assumption that it is not a very crucial part of home renovation and there is no need to waste time and thought over it. However, that is a completely wrong notion. When you think of your home, you have to consider it in totality. Each and every aspect of it is vital and you cannot afford to ignore any part. Why do most people spend so much money and energy in decorating their bathrooms then? When a guest comes in, he would not straightaway walk into your bathroom. But, in case he does, he will definitely deduce conclusions about your taste based on it. Therefore, you can understand you have to give equal importance to every nook and corner of your house.
People have really begun to concentrate on flooring and are looking for bankable options like hardwood flooring. This particular type of flooring comes in both unfinished and prefinished has its own features and advantages. For instance,one of the most prominent qualities that differentiate pre-finished flooring from the rest is this type of flooring, you do not require for unfinished flooring, the most advantageous aspect is that the seal is much more is because the finish is not applied board-by-board but on the whole flooring surface at a time. This easily seals the minute gaps existing between the flooring boards thereby protecting the floor against moisture.
Another reason why hardwood flooring enjoys considerable popularity among consumers is that it offers so much variety in terms of stain and surfaces. It does get exciting when you have a lot to choose from so that you can settle for nothing but the best. For instance, some flooring is evenly planned at the mill so that you get a refined and smooth surface. Again, there are hand scraped ones where the plank is hand worked in order to create a seasoned, contoured is mainly done for the purpose of giving a lived-in impression. The same variety can be found in the sphere of stains as well. This flexibility works strongly in favor of this particular form of flooring.
However,if you want to be a bit different, you can go for other options as well. For starters, there is timber flooring type appears homely and that is one strong reason why it appeals to a wide range of consumers. Add to it the rich colors they promise to offer. On one hand, you have species like Karri and Jarrah which are dark-colored while on the other there is Tasmanian and Blackbutt of the light-colored ,again,the Wandoo species boasts of honey present, recycled timber are also being used for flooring purposes thereby making a positive difference to the you want to do your bit for the environment, you can go for them and install them in your house.…