Month: November 2019

Is your home in serious need of a makeover? If it’s too dull and dark it can not only be unattractive, but uncomfortable to sit in. With spring just around the corner, why not try brightening things up. Don’t worry though, if your budget is tight, as there are several easy to do things to bring a bit of light into your home and brighten it up.

Check out these 5 great tips for starters.

Make Use of Metallic Finishes

When you have reflective surfaces in your home, you can create the illusion that the room is brighter and more expansive than it is. Metallic finishes on surfaces work in a similar way to mirrors, it’s just that they are much sleeker and smaller and therefore, you need more of them to get the desired effect. Are you in the process of refurbishing or renovating your living room, bathroom or kitchen? Think about adding elements with metallic finishes. Even if you are not doing anything major, the addition of metallic finishing to your dining table or a mirrored vanity unit or even just a glass coffee table that has metallic legs can make all the difference.

Mirrors

Following on nicely from the above, we want to talk about mirrors. Mirrors are one of the best things you can add to all the rooms in your home. Rather than just being something, you can look in to check your hair or makeup, they help (as noted above) to create the illusion of a lighter and roomier space. They can be either placed on various pieces of furniture or mounted on a wall. The most important thing is to make sure they are firmly secured and unlikely to slip or fall.

Decorative Pieces With Cool-Tone Colors

You can give each room in your home a very calm and cool feel by using furnishings and accessories to decorate them with whites, creams, pastel greens, and light blues. You’ll find a good selection on Kalusto. Do you have those trendy terracotta plant pots? Get rid of them and replace them with glazed varieties with lighter colors. Updating your home’s accessories is one of the easiest and quickest ways to bring a bit more brightness into the property.

White and Cream Paints

Although it may not sound like the most thrilling prospect, if you are looking to brighten your surroundings, it may be worth refreshing the walls of your home with lighter colored paints, even going as far as to choosing creams and whites. This will provide a blank canvas that will reflect light and heat into your home, making it feel brighter and warmer. 

Reassess Your Windows

The best way to brighten your home is to look at how much natural light is getting in as possible. Assess your windows. Are they allowing the maximum amount of light? Or are they shaded, worn out or tired-looking? If they are, it may be time to change them. If you don’t want to do anything as drastic, think about the curtains and blinds you have now. Could they be the problem?

There you have it, if you are looking to brighten your home, it doesn’t always need a lot of work. With the above tips, you will have a brighter and cheerier home that is ready for spring and summer.

If you are looking for a great way to add value and maximise the space available while creating more in the process; then you should consider extending your property in some way. When this is done properly, it can be an exceptionally good investment.

Loft extensions have become increasingly popular in the last couple of decades as it is the best way to get a bigger living space without selling your home and moving to a new one. But you may be wondering if another type of extension is best for your home. In the following article, we will look at three great ways.

Three of the most common extension types that we will look at and offer some advice about include:

• Single Storey Extension
• Two Storey Extension
• Garage Extension
• Single Storey Extension

One of the most common and popular types of extensions is the single storey house extension. This can be done either using a pre-existing garage or outbuilding or using the side or rear of your property. Usually, people opt for single storey extensions from the rear of their building. The style of roofing you would choose for this kind of renovation would depend on what your existing house has. Pitched tiled or flat roofs are what most people seem to favour. As it offers a better look, feel, and lasts long, the pitched tiled roof is recommended. However, you need to think about access to higher points of your home for maintenance and repairs on the gutters, roof, and even upper floor windows. You also need to be careful that the design does not interfere or impede emergency escape plans and routes you may have in place.

Two Storey Extension

Although this is also a common choice for extending homes, whether it is possible depends on factors such as the design and type of property you have, as well as obtaining planning permission. The main challenge with designing an extension that is two or even more storeys high is to design the upper storeys considering how they will impact the light for any adjoining buildings and homes. That is, an extension should not cause any sunlight loss to gardens or principal rooms and living spaces in your neighbour’s homes.

A well-designed extension is one that matches the rest of the home and does not stand out too much from neighbour’s homes.

Garage Extension

You can use an existing garage to build an extension over and around it. This requires a lot of careful consideration. For instance, if the garage is situated back from the house, it is less likely that you will be able to form an extension with a roof that matches the slope and eaves line to give a terracing effect. However, more commonly. The garage will be level with the front of the house, and in this situation, you should set the first floor back by at least 1m, with a pitched roof incorporated over the setback.

Progress is sometimes hard to notice, and people are left in their old ways of thinking, even though their environments have changed. A while ago, a car was something most people could only ever dream of. At the same time, nowadays it’s become a commodity some refuse as a matter of principle – that’s how ubiquitous it’s become. A similar parallel can be traced to the use of cleaning companies. The days of maids and servants are (mostly) gone, what’s left is a steadily growing industry of cleaning experts offering their services for pay. Where there’s growth – there’s competition, leading to better prices and services around, just look at the cleaning companies of Glasgow. 

So do away with the initial thought that you need to have a title or own land to have a professional thoroughly clean your place every once in a while. It’s become so affordable virtually anyone could easily afford it and benefit greatly from it. Expert cleaners know the ins and outs of the cleaning business better than anyone, so the place you’re going to come back to is going to be the best state your house could be in. That’s important not only for your mental well-being, as multiple studies have shown, but also your physical health! 

Also, hiring a cleaning service in Glasgow is likely liable to see you save money in the long run! It seems counterintuitive, but remember, progress is always around the corner, so it makes sense to be surprised by how much things can change. Let’s go with an example: you earn £100 for a day’s work. Cleaning your house well would take about a day. That means the cleaning you’ve done has effectively cost you £100, as well as make you more tired on one of your few off-days. 

Now, say you hired a team of professional cleaners in Glasgow. Given that it’s a team of experienced, trained, insured and overall competent people, they’ll be done with the job much quicker than you would. Besides, you can fully relax, or spend that time on anything else you want, and to boot, they’ve only charged you £50. Now you’re coming back to a fully-cleaned, perfectly healthy home, well-rested and glad. People are naturally loss-averse. However, suppose you see the math behind it. In that case, you can come to understand the real investment you’re making into leading a more intelligent and happy life.

If you’re the type of person that dreads cleaning day, stresses out over the build-up of dust nonetheless or don’t have the time to organize a regular cleaning schedule – this is for you.

So if you’re interested in avoiding the stress of regular cleaning, or don’t like the process as a whole, there’s nothing wrong in hiring a cleaning service to help things along – in fact, it’s recommended. Especially if you’re not a messy person, the cleaning service will be well worth it, as your costs are going to be minimal. Cleanliness is also more likely to be kept longer, as you don’t want to disturb the work that went into it. 

A clean home is vital for your family, but also give you peace of mind if you want to invite people over, or if you’d like to do something else during your days off. No longer is it a dreaded choice you have to make. Now that you know how beneficial it is, you can simply choose to simplify your life and hire a professional cleaning service. Long-term, you’ll see a noticeable improvement in your quality of life. So keep an ear our for referrals, make sure the cleaners are insured and have out the details so you’ll be happy and plan out your future lifestyle of order and tranquillity.