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5 Factors to Consider When Planning Home additions

Home additions, when done right, can be pleasing and functional additions. Many opt for home additions to add more value to their home or just get more space for the family. However, just like any other project in the world, it is wise to count the cost before diving into it. Many have started home additions without planning it out completely and they have failed or ended up with horrible result.

Home Extensions Service
Home additions

So to help you out with your next endeavor, here are certain important things that you need to consider before implementing a home extension project:

1. Get the Objective Clear

Before starting with home additions, ensure that you are clear about what you are going to do and why you will be doing it. Often, home additions are not needed and the home can become more spacious with just a little bit of planning of interior décor. If home additions are absolutely necessary, then just think about for whom you are doing it and what design would be most appropriate for them. For example, if the home extension is for kids then add more fun and zing to the design, whereas for the elderly a more cozy and relaxed design that is accident proof is needed.

2. Finalize on The Design

While considering the design, you will also need to think about the availability of space that you want to extend. Is it wise to extend sideways or does an upward extension makes more sense? Along with this, you will also need to consider the budget and see if the home extension design and plan fits well within your budget or not. There are other such important factors that come into picture such as should the home extension design match with the existing design of the home or can more sunlight come into the home extension. Considering these factors will help you get the best design for your home additions plans.

3. Planning Permission & Building Regulations

Check with your local building department to make sure your home extension meets set building regulations. If it meets the material requirements and other regulations, then go ahead and apply for your building permit. Be sure to include the costs of acquiring one in your budget before even planning it.

Home Extensions
Home additions

4. Inconvenience to Neighbors as Well as Yourself

While planning your home extension project, make sure to create a timeline of the different phases in the project. This will help you see if the project overlaps any holidays or family events and if any inconvenience will be caused to you or not. Sometimes, the home extension project may need you to move out for some time. So, think about the moving out arrangements for your family.

Additionally, the home extension may cause inconvenience to your neighbor so think about them as well. If you need any permission from your neighbor’s get them well in advance or inform them of the home additions project so that they are prepared for it.

5. Do I Need an Architect or Builder?

The complexity of your home additions design will help you determine if you need an architect or a builder or not. If the design demands for anyone of both of them then search for the right one that you can rely on for high quality work as well as to do things within your budget. Ask around for recommendations and your family and friends can help you with this.

Consider these factors well in advance in planning stage of your home additions project. Doing so will ensure that you accomplish the project smoothly without any hindrance or problems!

How To Make Your TV Sound Great Checklist

If you’re building a new home, you’ve probably already put a lot of thought into your new living room or media room. However, building a new home is a great opportunity to take advantage of the latest TV technology. You can create a home entertainment system that comes close to duplicating the movie theater experience in your own home.

Today’s HDTV manufacturers have invested a lot of technology into delivering the highest-quality picture possible. However, today’s televisions do not offer the same level of attention when it comes to sound. The speakers built into modern HDTVs are, to put it diplomatically, adequate. You’ll be able to hear everything through the speakers that are built into your new HDTV. Yet hearing something and experiencing it are two different things. Your new home theater setup deserves something more than merely adequate sound.

For this reason, Acoustical Vision compiled a checklist on the different ways you can optimize your TV sound. You can view the checklist below.

Author Bio

Paul Theriault is the founder and owner of Acoustical Vision, a home theater and home automation installation company in Chicago, IL. Paul has been in the electronic and home comfort business for almost a decade and prides himself on using top of the line equipment in his installs.

 

 

How To Make Your TV Sound Great created by Acoustical Vision

How to Increase Your Property’s Value – Infographic

Your property is a long-term investment and one day, you want to release the equity in it.

We can be drawn into thinking that every improvement and renovation we make to our property will add value, increasing the profit we will eventually make on our home.

But, are you making the right changes? Are you doing too much and out-pricing your property from the local market?

Making the Right Renovation Choices

Trends come and go but it is important that you add the right value in the right places when it comes to property renovation, as the infographic explains further.

The one statistic that is on every buyers mind is the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating for the property. If it is near the top of the scale – from A to D – the property should be cheap to heat as it is well-insulated.

Anything lower than a D rating can make for an expensive house to heat. If your EPC rating is low, consider adding value by updating not only the insulation of the property but the type of heating system too.

Underfloor heating costs less to install and run that most traditional heating systems. Coupled with additional insulation measures, your home will be tasty warm and an attractive purchase for potential buyers.

What Else Adds Value?

From a new kitchen to a modern bathroom, there are many changes you can make to your home to add value. Find out more with this fantastic infographic from Balustrade Components.

How Can You Increase Your Households Value

3 DIY Home Improvements That Help The Whole Neighborhood

3 DIY Home Improvements That Help The Whole Neighborhood

When you live in an apartment, where you literally share walls, ceilings, and floors with your neighbors, it’s easier to remember that your personal lifestyle choices have a direct effect on your neighbors. This becomes a little more difficult to remember when you move into a home and your neighbors are a bit farther away. While living in a detached home provides more personal freedom, your home is still a part of the neighborhood and your exterior choices still affect everyone. Here are 3 DIY improvements you can do to be a great neighbor.

Refurbish the Exterior

Accumulated dirt build up can make your home appear dingy, faded and out of date. Remember that an attractive neighborhood is created by attractive homes. Keeping the exterior of your home neat, tidy and sparkling clean will make your home a valued addition to the neighborhood. And who knows, maybe you will even influence other neighbors to do the same, which will add value to your home as well as theirs.

Install a Maintenance-Free Yard

With water prices skyrocketing across the US, many homeowners are opting to install yards that don’t require as much water. If you’re not going to spend the time and money to turn your front yard into an outdoor oasis, you might want to turn it into a pleasant landscape instead. If rock gardens aren’t your thing, you can install synthetic grass. Eco-friendly synthetic grass doesn’t need watering or mowing and stays lush and green for up to 10 years so you don’t have to worry about a brown and yellow lawn in the summer. Again, the look and curb appeal of your home can raise home values in the entire neighborhood.

Outdoor Living Spaces

When you have a backyard suitable for entertaining, you have a tendency to entertain more – and this is great for the entire neighborhood. Whether it’s a backyard BBQ or 4th of July picnic, having a great outdoor entertainment space will help you connect with your neighbors and create a deeper sense of community. Best of all, cleanup after an outdoor party is significantly less than cleaning up after an indoor party and there are no muddy footprints or high heel marks to clean up from your floors. If someone spills an entire cup of red wine during the party – no problem, you can simply wipe up the mess without leaving a stain.

Being a good neighbor involves keeping your own home and living spaces in order so as to add value to the entire neighborhood. You can save yourself and your family a significant amount of hassle with the neighbors by keeping your property neat, tidy and orderly. You can be an ever better neighbor by inviting your neighbors over to entertain in your beautifully maintained outdoor spaces. If you’re ever wondering what other projects can help your home, and neighborhood, value, talk to a realtor like those at Cooke Realty.

4 Ideas For the Perfect Man Cave

4 Ideas For the Perfect Man Cave

The perfect man cave is the place where any man should feel right at home. Stocked with all the creature comforts, a man cave will need to contain the items that will keep its occupant indulged for countless hours. The following are four ideas that will breathe life into any man cave.

The Entertainment Center

It would be hard to relax inside the man cave without a respectable entertainment center. With the advent of UHD 4k televisions, even the most uninspiring man cave can be transformed into a place where a person will feel like they are part of the action ringside or in the stands during Sunday football. Complete with the latest in digital surround sound and the ability to stream music right from a smartphone, many modern devices can help to augment a man cave with an entertainment center that meets all a man’s audio and visual needs.

Food Storage And Preparation Concerns

No man cave is complete without easy, direct access to a stash of tasty snacks and thirst quenching beverages. Drinks must be cold and food items should be fresh. When choosing a refrigerator and other food storage options to meet this demand, it is important to first assess the size of the man cave and its available space. Should there be a mini-fridge within arm’s reach of the recliner, or does the functionality of the man cave require a larger capacity refrigerator. A microwave might be a nice addition when it comes to heating up frozen snacks.

Decorations

Decorating a man cave requires something of a personal touch. Consider getting car parts from places like U Pull & Pay, or various sport’s equipment to decorate the space. This can be expressed through lighting, comfortable furniture, pictures, wall mountings, awards and other basic items for display.

Other Gadgets And Electronic Devices

What is a man cave without a few electronics? First a man must consider how he is going to recharge all his electronic devices. A fully dedicated recharge station complete with universal plugs and USB-based charging lines, fully integrated into an emergency power backup system, can make keeping batteries charged a snap. This means his smartphone, digital camera and personal lap top are covered even in an emergency when the power cuts out.

Conclusion

With a little thought and some careful design plans in mind, it is possible to make any man cave a place to satisfy the needs of its main occupant. Whether that means enjoying a great movie with a cold drink in hand or pounding away on the computer, the important thing is for a man to know that his man cave is both entertaining and functional. How a man makes that possible depends on the type of entertainment and functionality he desires to get out of his favorite room in the house.

How To Make A Hygge Home

The Danish interior design concept Hygge is becoming increasingly popular. It’s not purely a way to decorate your home, it’s a lifestyle that creates a calm and peaceful environment to share with family and friends.

Staying true to Danish interiors in white and pale neutral colours, Hygge includes textural elements that provide a sense of warmth and coziness. The style is a clutter-free way of living, although it’s not completely devoid of accessories in the same way minimalism is.

Roaring fire and wood burning stoves not only give warmth and comfort during the colder months, they add to the overall ambiance of a room. Hygge creates a way of life that is pure and simple. No frills and embellishments to crowd the room or the mind. Cozy reading nooks, candles and use of natural light are evident in Hygge homes, along with treasured memories proudly displayed on walls.

In the infographic below, we take a look at How To Make A Hygge Home, giving you hints and tips on ways to decorate you home in this trendy interior design style that has one foot firmly placed in tradition and times when our homes were serene, tranquil and beautifully calming places to spend time in.

Read on to find out more and make your house a happy place you can call home.

 

 How to Make a Hygge Home by The Rug Seller
How to Make a Hygge Home by The Rug Seller by The Rug Seller

Moving Day Made Easy: Organization Tips for Your Big Day

Moving Day Made Easy: Organization Tips for Your Big Day

Moving day can be both an exciting and stressful time. You’re moving to a new place, but you’re leaving the old one behind. You are getting a new home, but packing up your old home can be stressful. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be quite so stressful and hectic. Here are a few tips to get your moving day, well, moving.

Makes Lists—Lots of Lists

When you first find out about the move, immediately begin to take inventory of your home. What items do I have in this room? What do I want to keep, and what do I want to get rid of? Is there anything of value? What needs to be wrapped in newspaper? By making lists of the items in your home, making sure to keep them organized by room, you can know exactly where things go and how many boxes you might need. It might seem a bit overwhelming at the start, but by taking it a room at a time, you can accomplish your packing list pretty quickly. This can also give you an opportunity to get rid of things you no longer need.

Pack Smart

You don’t want to overstuff your boxes, but you also don’t want to under-pack them either. The best way to pack your boxes is to keep the fragile items separate from non-fragile items. Pack the heavier things on the bottom, and only pack a few heavy things in a box at a time. If you are moving alone, make sure you can carry the box on your own. You might not have any help when moving the boxes from place to place. Use your list to pack the items in their boxes from each room, and label each box accordingly.

Preparing the New House

When you have arrived at your new home, do a quick clean before bringing in boxes or furniture. This will ensure you are moving into a clean home, and it might allow for last minute inspections of floor, ceilings, bathrooms, and kitchen. A Manalapan Plumber recommends you flush toilets and check faucets at this stage as well. If you don’t have time to clean at all, place everything in one corner of each room until you can do a bit of cleaning. This is also a good time to pull out the list and unload the boxes in the rooms they belong in.

Take More Inventory

Now that you have cleaned and put your furniture in its proper rooms, you can take inventory of your items and start unpacking. If you find something missing, contact the moving company or others who helped you move. If you find you have everything, you can unpack with peace, knowing you are now settled into your new home.

Moving doesn’t have to be stressful if you put a bit of time and effort into your packing and preparation. You can even contact your cable company, power company, or other company to get everything set up for your arrival at the new house. You can make your moving day a little less stressful and a bit more enjoyable if you simply take a little time to get organized.

 

How to Weld Your Own Barbecue Together for Spring Entertaining

barbeque

There is nothing quite like the taste of world-class barbeque, and now is the perfect time to start thinking about what type of hardware you want in your backyard this spring. Welding your own barbeque together gives you full control over its size, cooking power, appearance, and features. With a little patience and some hard work, you will be able to start cooking up mouthwatering meals for your family and friends in the customized barbeque of your dreams.

Choosing the Right Materials

One of the most important steps of building a barbeque is choosing the right material. Not only are some materials inefficient at maintaining a consistent temperature, but they might even be dangerous when exposed to flames. As a general rule, barbeques should never be made from aluminum, copper, or brass. Many professional pit masters prefer stainless steel barbeques that have been coated with a high-temperature sealant.

Tools

Anyone who doesn’t regularly work with metal will most likely need to purchase at least a few new tools including a stud welder, calipers, a small machinist’s square, center punches, and a drill press. Some companies, like Northland Fastening Systems, knows that if you are not sure of which tools you would like to invest in, then you might want to see if there is a local metalworking shop that allows does equipment rentals. Once you have spent a few hours learning how to cut sheets of metal and weld them back together, you will know exactly which features you would like to see in your own tools.

How to Weld Your Own Barbecue Together for Spring Entertaining

Dimensions

It might be tempting to build yourself an enormous contraption, but larger barbeques are very difficult to use properly. Most home cooks will only need a grilling area of around 500 square inches. Trying to control the temperature of a barbeque that is much larger than that is very difficult. When you are working on the height, you want to be sure that the grill itself is as tall as your midsection so that you don’t have to bend down or lean across open flames.

Additional Features

After you have chosen a type of metal and decided on the overall size, you can then start adding any features that you would like to see on the barbeque. At the very least, you should plan on having a small preparation table where you can put plates, sauces, and seasonings. Many pit masters also like having a warming chamber that will keep their food warm without overcooking it.

Once you have finally put the last few pieces on your barbeque, you should then heat treat it for at least a few hours before cooking any food. Even if you carefully clean the barbeque, there might still be lingering contaminants in the smoke chamber or firebox. Bringing the barbeque up to a very high temperature should destroy any dangerous toxins or chemicals.

Energy Efficient and Sustainable Buildings – Infographic

As the population of the earth is predicted to have grown by 3 billion by 2050 the time for building energy efficient and sustainable buildings is now. With an estimated 70% of people living in cities, the increase in demand for housing, food and sustainability is an issue that can no longer be ignored.

In this infographic we take a look at some sustainable and energy efficient buildings that are already in existence around the world. These innovative buildings show how new constructions can help meet the needs of all these extra people by providing them with sustainable homes and workplaces.

The buildings highlighted use solar and wind power to generate their own electricity; many also include other innovative aspects such as collecting their own water by rain harvesting and recycling systems, along with recycling energy.

From 2020 the EU has directed that all new buildings need to be as near to zero energy as possible, this means that they will have to make nearly as much energy as they use.

Read on to find out more about Energy Efficient and Sustainable Buildings that have changed the perspective on where we will live and work in the future. These creative buildings are not solely energy efficient, they also promote healthy living and working environments that are advantageous to people, their surroundings and wildlife.
Energy Effective and Sustainable Buildings by Cast Iron Radiators 4u
Energy Effective and Sustainable Buildings by Cast Iron Radiators 4u.

Stylish Alternatives to Traditional Bedside Tables

A bedside table is a very important furniture piece in any bedroom, but unlike most of the other items, it doesn’t have to be bought in the bedroom department of a furniture store. In fact, it can look even better if you ditch the purpose-built designs and inject some creativity into choosing the right nightstand for you. Think about it, what defines a good nightstand? Storage space? Surface area? Height? Stability? All these features can be found in many other items, from coffee tables to wine crates, so don’t wait a second longer to look at our suggestions for stylish alternatives to traditional bedside tables.

Floating Shelf

Floating Shelf

If the storage capacity is not very important for you, and you just need a convenient table with enough surface area to leave a book, glass of water and a vase, then you can save a lot of space by installing a stylish and minimalistic floating shelf. You can also install two shelves one above the other for some extra storing space.

Suitcase/s

On the other hand, you might be up for something more eye-catching. In that case we suggest finding an old suitcase (on your attic or a flea market), installing wooden or hairpin legs on it, and you will get a perfectly romantic and vintage nightstand with hidden storage. You can also ditch the legs and stack more suitcases of different sizes.

Retro Bar Cart

A traditional bar cart repurposed into a nightstand will add an incredible retro vibe to your room and painting it in metallic tones will make it even more elegant. You can even go in the opposite direction and paint the cart with matte black color to support industrial style.

Wooden Crate

Do you have a stack of old wine, milk or fruit crates? Don’t let them go to waste. You can use them to create a no-fuss bedside table. Just take one and place it vertically by your bed. You can paint it with bright colors or leave it as it is. As with the suitcases, you can also stack the crates on top of each other.

Stylish Alternatives to Traditional Bedside Tables

Contemporary Bedside Table

Unlike traditional bedside tables, contemporary bedside tables like this can reinvigorate your bedroom and add a futuristic edge to the design. From the nesting-style table and marble surface area to patterned bases and ombre metallic effect, contemporary nightstands make a huge design statement.

Antique Bedside Table

Take another trip to the flea market or an antique store and find a cast-off, forgotten bedside table that just needs a bit of your love. You can work with what you have and enhance its worn-out look, or you can get a bucket of bright paint (e.g. coral, teal, etc.) and breath new life into it. Either way you will get a bedside table that speaks of your style and uniqueness.

Cinder Blocks

You probably never thought that you’ll be looking for furniture in construction sites, but stay with us for a bit here. It takes nothing more than three cinder blocks to aid your décor efforts. All you need to do is properly clean them, place two of them in vertical position next to each other, and then place the third one horizontally on top of them. You will end up with enough functional storage space, a surface area appropriate for industrial-themed retro lamps and some fresh flowers, and a truly surprising style statement.

So, what do you say? Are you willing to skip furniture stores and find your bedside table on a road less traveled? Good for you! Once you see how your new stylish furniture piece looks like by your bed, you will know that you’ve made the right decision.

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