Do you have a never-ending list of jobs to do around the home? Summer can be an excellent time to tackle them. The summer months offer better weather, more daylight hours and plenty of sunshine to help make home improvement tasks easier than at other times of the year.

Image: Pxhere

 

If you’ve got a home bucket list you’d like to achieve, then make a plan to tick some things off during before summer’s out. Here are some great ideas for home improvement projects to carry out during the summer.

Transform your backyard

Getting your backyard into shape becomes much more important during the summer. If you want to be able to relax and enjoy your backyard space, now is a great time to do something about it. Talk to a landscaper about the possibilities or take it on yourself as a fun project for evening and weekends. Take a look at some beautiful garden trends to give you inspiration.

Renovate your roof

Is your roof looking a bit tired and in need of a refresh? Summer conditions make it an ideal time to tackle the task. Upgrading your roofing and guttering can change the appearance of your home and make it look modern and refreshed, and it’s the perfect investment if you’re hoping to sell your house in one day. Siding expert the Siding King has some amazing home transformations to show you that can help you discover the possibilities for your own home.

Paint your doors and windows

A refreshed front door and window frames can transform the exterior of your home, and summer is certainly the time to do it. Set aside some time one evening or weekend morning to carry out those much-needed paint jobs – the coats will dry quicker, making it a simpler job that won’t take up too much time.

Clean the floors

You haven’t lived until you’ve tried a power washer on your drive, decking and front porch. Power washers are great for giving your home a much neater, fresher appearance, and you’ll be done in no time if you head out during the summer months. Pressure washers are a worthwhile investment, so take a look at what’s available in the summer sales to grab a bargain that will transform the outside of your home.

Install air conditioning

Summer is a good reminder of how hot your home can get and why some install air conditioning could be useful. When you’re feeling the cold in winter time, air con will be the last thing on your mind, so don’t put it off any longer and get it installed. You’ll be glad you did during those unpredictable summer heatwaves. 

 

Carrying out home improvements during the summer can feel much less of a chore than at other times of the year. If you’re hiring contractors, you’ll have more excuses to be out of the house during the day – meaning you’ll be affected much less by noise and disturbances. What will you do to your home this summer? Start planning your next home improvement project now!

Are you tired of being in the dark when you’re in your home? There’s nothing worse than a dim home, especially when it doesn’t have to be that way at all. Even if it means doing some work and making some big changes in your home, it’ll be worth it if you manage to make your home a lighter and brighter environment for yourself and your family. The point is that you don’t have to settle for a dark and dull home.

 

So which changes do you need to make in your home for you to make those interiors lighter? That’s a question with so many different answers, and we’re going to talk about them today. Some of these tweaks are very minor and can be carried out in any home almost immediately. And others are a little bigger and take more effort and implementation. Read on to find out about all of them.

 

Replace Heavy Curtains

 

First of all, you should try to take the heavy curtains out of your home. These only end up blocking light from entering your home, even when they’re open. That’s because they block light at the sides. It’s a much better idea to replace these heavy curtains with lighter curtains or, ideally, blinds. It’s a simple thing to do but it will immediately help the amount of natural light flowing into your home during the day. So start out by making this change.

 

Use Numerous Light Sources

 

Of course, natural light is the most ideal form of light and this is what you should be looking to make the most of in your home. But it’s far from the only type of natural light that you should be making use of. By using natural sources of light, you can make sure that every area of your home is given the light it needs. Small lamps and spotlights can add something new to the lighting setup in your home, so these options should be considered.

 

Let the Space Flow

 

By opening up the space in your home and helping each room flow into the next, you will make the whole place seem lighter and generally more welcoming, which has to be a good thing. When you have each room flowing into this next, you will also find that you can share the light between the rooms, preventing anyone room from feeling too dark. It’s something that you should start to work on an experiment within your home as soon as possible.

Image Source

 

Don’t Obstruct the Natural Light With Storage

 

One of the big problems that people have in their homes is that they want the natural light and then they design their room layouts in ways that directly get in the way of that light. So you should be particularly careful with any storage furniture you have in your home. It will become more of a hindrance than a help if it’s stopping the natural light from getting around the spaces in your home adequately.

 

Have Light-Blocking Trees Removed

 

If you have trees outside your windows, it’s possible that they’re blocking sunlight that would otherwise enter your home. You can get these trimmed or even removed from outside your windows. Companies like ABC Home & Commercial will be able to help you with that, so don’t be put off by the prospect of getting this kind of work done. It could be one of the best changes you make regarding the natural light entering your home each and every day of the week.

 

Be Careful When Choosing Artwork

 

Choosing art for your home’s walls can be tricky because you don’t want to choose the kind of art that’s going to make the room feel dark. That’s why you should probably reject works of art that have deep and dark colors dominating them and find artworks that are generally lighter and brighter in tone. You’re sure to find something that’ll be suitable for your home. You just need to think practically when buying art, which is admittedly not always easy to do.

 

Choose Light Furniture and Decor

 

The furniture you choose in your home is obviously going to have an impact on how light or dark the place feels, so try to choose light-colored furniture if you possibly can. This will help you to make sure your furniture and decor don’t drag down the overall aesthetic of the rooms and make them darker than they need to be. It’s a simple shift, but you’ll be surprised by how much of an impact it can have on your home’s appearance.

Image Source

 

Keep Your Windows Clean

 

This is another very simple and basic ideas, but it’s one that will certainly have an impact on how much natural light is able to get through the windows. You should ensure both the inside and the outside of the windows are cleaned regularly. This will prevent the sunlight from being blocked. Two layers of dirt really can prevent a significant amount of light getting into your spaces, so don’t let that happen. There are not many simpler jobs to do in the home than this one, so start doing this ASAP

 

Hang Mirrors

 

Hanging mirrors is a good way to make space feel better than it really is. And it can also be great when you want to reflect a limited amount of light around the spade. So if you’re struggling to find sources of light, creating more of them is rarely as doable as having more mirrors hanging on the walls of your home, so go or it.

 

No one wants to spend their time in a home that feels like it’s always darker and duller than it should be. If this is something that’s becoming a problem for you in your home, you need to take action as soon as you can. All of the ideas that we’ve talked about here will help you to make your home lighter and brighter, so put them to work in your home.

Pexels

 

Moving out can be an emotional time, especially if you’ve lived in your current residence for an impressive amount of years. Leaving your home with goodwill can be the best way to cap off the end of living in a property you care about. While the act of moving from one property to another can be very stressful, you should also try and make some time to remember your property and celebrate the time you spent there. There are many methods of doing this, and most are pretty fun, and help you remember the property in a positive light.

 

It will take a little effort, but it’s absolutely worth doing. The best things are.

 

We’d absolutely suggest:

 

Throwing A Leaving Party

 

What better way to remember leaving your property than dancing all night long? Sometimes this can be one of the best ways to say goodbye for good, and it can provide closer. Invite neighbors that you have made friends with, friends who visit you often and even family members. If you have spent years at this property it’s likely you’ve made installations with your own investment, such as building an outside deck or installing stacking windows. Why not celebrate with these, as through your effort they are here to help you entertain? Have fun, because this will likely be the last truly lasting memory of your property. There’s no reason for this to be a massive or reckless affair. Just bring people you love, share wine and good food, and cap off the whole experience with beaming smiles.

 

Donating Unwanted Goods

 

A great way of leaving your home well is to donate all of the unwanted goods you have to a service like Habitat for Humanity, as they will recycle, upcycle, and help those proceeds go towards stellar efforts, such as building homes for low-income families. This can not only help you achieve some social good, but free you of unwanted baggage when paying the removal men, or save you space in your new property. It very much seems that with this option, everyone wins. You can’t argue with results.

 

Leave It How You’d Like To Find It

 

Of course you are under no absolute requirement to deeply clean the property before you leave, unless otherwise stated in your selling contract. However, it’s a nice thing to do, and helps your last memories of the property stay in its best state. Remember too that this is a new home for someone else, or even a family. They have their own memories to form here. Allowing them to feel extremely excited when moving in too is the essence of goodwill, even if you’re not around to see their smiles.

 

Inscribe Your Name

 

Inscribe your names somewhere in the property, but nowhere that will cause damage. It might be in one of the hidden wooden beams of the attic. It might be under plaster or under a floorboard. Writing all the names of your family members, the date and a nice message can perhaps provide someone with a smile years from now, or simply mark the property with your appreciation forever. This doesn’t net you anything tangible or financial, but it’s a nice way to always show your appreciation for a property, and it can serve as a small secret you and your family share.

 

Leaving your home with goodwill is a nice manner of conducting your affairs. With these tips, you’ll have no problem doing so.

Image Source

 

It is only natural that we want to have the best home imaginable. Our home is where we hide from the world; our retreat that is always welcoming. It’s also space where we can be ourselves and invite the people we care about to share; an entertainment venue all of our own making.

 

The desire to create the perfect home is therefore understandable. We all rely on decor and design to achieve this. Get these aspects right, and it’s possible to transform an empty space with a few pieces of furniture in it to an actual home. We use renovations, updates, and decorative touches to achieve this, often constantly updating our homes to reflect the latest interior design trends or adapt the available space to more suit our needs.

 

Unfortunately, there is one potential side effect of all these adaptations, modifications, and home decor perfections: they’re expensive. From renovating an entire floor of your home to just adding a few decorative touches, there’s no denying the fact that a beautiful home can be extremely costly.

 

However, the key word here is “can”. Yes, a beautiful home can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. If you want to achieve the perfect look without spending a fortune, then here are a few tips you’re going to want to keep in mind…

 

1) Focus on improving your DIY skills

 

There are thousands of renovation tasks that can improve your home no end, from installing new flooring to fitting an entirely new set of kitchen cupboards. These kinds of changes can make your home look as good as new— but you tend to need to hire a professional to do them.

 

However, it’s worth running the math the next time you hire a professional to perform work on your home. Let’s say you took the funds you’d pay to a pro, and used that money to attend training courses that could teach you basic-to-medium renovation skills. You’d actually get far better value for money from the latter because your newly-learned skills can be used again and again, whereas paying a tradesman to do a single job means the money only lasts for that job.

 

Of course, there will always be some renovation tasks you should never attempt to DIY; there’s a useful list of these at architecturaldigest.com, so take note. However, for flooring and other medium-skill tasks, attending a course and learning how to DIY safely and effectively is a great financial investment.

 

2) Shop at the right stores

 

As with most things, where you shop for home decor and DIY equipment will govern how much you pay for it. It’s vital that you find stores that are looking to sell items at a reasonable price, rather than charge a huge markup.

 

For DIY supplies, it’s usually more affordable to shop at stores that are targeted towards tradesmen and high-skilled DIYers. These stores tend to forgo the expensive advertising and jargon in favor of just providing the best deals for people in the know about the items they need. In terms of home decor, that means focusing on the likes of Deconovo.com; places where you can buy great soft furnishings without the extortionate markup of some stores. By ensuring that you always shop at stores who focus on value rather than extreme profit margins, your budget for all home renovation and decoration will go much further, which should mean that your home looks nicer as a result.

 

3) Look for inspiration from blogs, and social networks— but never purchase directly

 

If you head to sites like Pinterest or home design and decor blogs, you’re going to be encouraged towards high purchase prices. While there’s the occasional bargain-focused account or blog out there, most focus on high-end items. Often, these items are provided to the person making the post for free, as part of an influencer arrangement. That’s fine of course — provided the relationship is disclosed — but it does tend to mean that the items featured on top blogs aren’t exactly accessible in terms of price. Only high-end brands can afford to partner with the most popular influencers, so the price of the items featured tends to be in the high-end bracket too.

 

It’s nice to see social media and blogs as inspiration for your own home design, but you should never see them as purchasing guides. If you see a look you like on a blog or social network account, then use it as inspiration to create the same thing yourself from more affordable stores. Clicking through to buy the exact items featured in these kinds of posts is almost certainly the most expensive option. Take the inspiration, but don’t be tempted to buy the exact same items— you’ll almost certainly be overpaying if you do.

In conclusion

Image Source

By following the above, you should be able to achieve the home aesthetic of your dreams— but without breaking your budget to make it happen. Enjoy!

(Image Source)

 

Let’s face it, moving home is never a pleasant ordeal. While you will be excited about your new home and the joy it will bring, it will be hard to focus on the bright side of this journey while you’re in the thick of it. There are loads of jobs which need to be done, along with countless documents and pieces of paperwork which have to be completed. Altogether, this makes for a truly daunting task, and a lot of people don’t feel up to it. Thankfully, this post is here to help you out, showing you how to put all of this weight on someone else’s shoulders.

 

Finding Your New Place: You won’t be able to move home until you’ve found the new place you’ll be living in. This process has to be completed before you sell your old place properly, or you could find yourself having to stay in a hotel between homes, and this will be expensive. The hardest part of this sort of job will be keeping your eyes open for new properties as they hit the market. An estate agent can handle this work for you, providing an invaluable resource when you’re trying to handle this complex process.

 

The power of an agent doesn’t stop here, though, as they will also be able to help you with the paperwork you have to complete for the sale to go through. You may also need a lawyer for this, but your estate agent will be able to help you find one who charges fair rates. With all of the hard parts taken care of, you will be able to focus on the fun part of the new home selection process; the viewings. You will have the final say in the purchase, but it is still nice to know what you’re getting into before you get started.

 

Selling The Old One: The old home will also have to move into new hands if you want this process to go smoothly. Like buying a place, this always comes with loads of legal red tape, and it will be hard to find ways to get around it. Your estate agent should also be able to help you with this, finding buyers on your behalf. You should be careful at this stage, though, as a lot of buyers will work hard to make the price of your home go down. It will take a strong negotiator to get the best price, making it important to research the person you choose for the job.

 

Performing Renovations: When you move into a new home, it’s unlikely that the place is actually new. Instead, other people will have been living there, and this means that there could be some room for improvement when it comes to the decor. Making some small renovations will be a lengthy process if you do it on your own. To handle this job, you will have two choices; pay a professional or get some friends to help. Paying for this work will always get better results, but may not fit into your budget.

 

Packing Everything Up: Putting all of your possessions into carefully laid out boxes will be a challenge. To make it as easy as possible, it will be worth coming up with a strategy beforehand, enabling you to put things away in a sensible way. Along with this, you will be able to enlist the help of a moving company for this stage of the job. Businesses like this specialise in helping people to make their move as easy as possible. It can be easy to make your life very hard by accident if you don’t follow self-imposed packing rules.

 

Moving It All: This is where your moving company will come in really handy. Most people won’t be able to lift sofas, TVs, and other large items in the home on their own. Instead, you will need a lot of help for this process, and a company like Big Man Movers could be perfect for you. Giving you the chance to help as much or as little as you’d like, services like this can be a blessing when you’re moving. Some are better than others, though, so it will be worth reading some reviews, especially if you have particularly tricky items like pianos.

 

Unpacking At The Other End: Once you get to the new place, you will be faced with the challenge of dealing with all of your possessions once again. This time, though, you will be unpacking it, and this can be even harder. Making sure that you keep your original packing order in mind, it should be easy to move boxes into the right rooms. From here, you can work to position furniture correctly, filling it with items as you go. As long as you brief them correctly, your moving company should also be able to help with this stage of the move.

 

Keeping It Cheap: When you’re moving home, you will often be working on a tight budget, and it will be hard to make sure that you’re spending as little as possible. A lot of people go over their allotted pool of cash, and this can be hard to deal with. To avoid this, working hard to research the companies you work with can make life a lot cheaper. There is nothing stopping you from getting quotes from every company you can find, ensuring that you only choose those with the best deals.

 

Hopefully, this post will give you everything you need to begin the process of moving home. When you have a busy life, struggle to move, or simply don’t want to deal with this, getting help to handle the hard parts is a great way to make it less daunting. This sort of approach will always cost more, even if you work hard to keep it cheap. In reality, though, the money you spend will always impact the experience you have, and it could be the difference between loving and hating your new home.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/door-green-closed-lock-4291/

 

Your home is probably the biggest investment that you have ever made, and this is why it is vital to do everything in your power to protect it. Home security does not need to be over complicated and expensive either. There are a number of things you can do to improve your home security today. Read on to discover some easy suggestions.

Change your locks – If you have not changed your front door locks for quite some time, now would be a good moment to do so. This does not require a lot of effort, and there are companies like All American Locksmith that can do this for you. It is definitely worth upgrading to a more secure lock, especially if yours are pretty dated.

Make sure outdoor wires are not easy to access – Another step you can take to improve home security is by ensuring that your electrical wires and telephone lines are not easy to access by burglars. Why is this important? Well, if they are easy to access, a criminal will simply cut the wires in order to disable your security systems, rendering them ineffective.

Get your neighbor to pick up your mail when you are not about – Another easy change you can make is getting your neighbor to collect your mail whenever you are not home. This is especially important if you are someone that travels regularly. It is easy to get the mail company to deliver your letters and alike to your neighbor, and this will ensure that burglars do not realize you are out of town. After all, accumulating mail is a clear giveaway.

Use exterior lights intelligently – Nowadays, most lights come with a timer so that you can schedule when they come on and off. This is something that you should use to make it appear like you are at home when you are not. It is also a good idea to get motion sensors installed for the parts of your garden that are not very visible.

Put together a security checklist – Last but not least, it is a good idea to put together a security checklist that you can use whenever you leave the house. This should include checking all of the windows and locks, making sure your security system is turned on, and anything else that applies to your home. A quick check around the house can make all of the difference.

As you can see, it does not require a lot of effort in order to improve the security of your home. If you follow the advice that has been provided, you should be able to add further security to your property without breaking the bank or having to go through a lot of hassle to do so.

Do you want to live in luxury in your home? You should start with your bedroom. The bedroom is actually one of the most important areas of your property. You need to make sure that it’s set up in a way to get the best, most comfortable night of sleep that you can. As well as this, a bedroom can be a great personal space and a fantastic place for relaxing. Here are some of the ways you can upgrade your bedroom to make sure that it’s the ideal place for you.

Image Source

 

Get Rid Of Those Lumps And Bumps

 

Are you tired of waking up in the morning with a sore back? If so, you should think about upgrading your mattress. There are lots of different mattresses to choose from, but we recommend looking into one with memory foam. Memory foam provides the perfect cushion and support for you, molding around the shape of your body. It will provide the ultimate level of comfort and make sure that you don’t wake up with aches and pains. Of course, if you suffer from back pains, you can also search for a mattress that provides more support for your body and is slightly firmer.

 

Add A Little More Space

Image Source

 

Kings and queens never have to worry about fighting for space on the mattress at night. That’s because kings and queens sleep in large beds and you should too! King beds provide plenty of space for both you and your partner so you can roll away when it’s time to snooze. You’ll wake up in the morning feeling refreshed after being able to stretch out through the night.

 

Walk Into Fashion

 

You might also want to think about adding a walk-in wardrobe to your bedroom. You can do this if you have enough space in your room to convert an area of it into what is essentially a separate room. It’s a great way to make sure that the rest of the room stays clean, clear and minimalistic as you can essentially use this area for all your storage. Typically, this type of redesign can cost up to one thousand so make sure that there’s room in your budget.

 

Add A Few Spot Lights

 

If you are more interested in how your room looks, you should think about changing the lighting. You can add spotlights to your room to give it a more modern feel. If you use LEDs, you can also make sure that the room looks bright and beautiful. You can even add a dimmer switch to provide an additional level of control or opt for smart bulbs if you love easy home living.

Pic Source

 

Get Electronic Blinds

Last but not least, you should think about adding new blinds to your windows. With electronic blinds, you’ll have the perfect way to wake up to natural light. You won’t have to worry about sleeping in because these blinds can be set to rise automatically like an alarm. It’s a great feature to think about investing in, and you can bet a lot of royals have this option in their own bedrooms.

Photo Credit

 

If you are constantly feeling like you are in a state of chaos at home, there is plenty that you can do to make like just a little bit easier for yourself. Though we can’t do anything about the demands of your kids or the mess your pet makes, we can give you a few pieces of advice that should help you to save time and not feel as if you are running around like a headless chicken all the time. Here are just a few useful points which are worth following.

 

Don’t Multitask

 

Some people think that they are multitasking masters, but in reality, they could do things so much quicker if they simply focused on one task at a time. So, instead of leaving a hundred jobs going at once, try finishing what you start instead. For example, you are not finished with breakfast until the minute that the dishes are done. You are not finished getting dressed until the dirty clothes are put in the hamper etc.

 

Keep Everything in a Place

 

There shouldn’t be anything that floats around your house without a place to be kept. If something doesn’t have a clear place, the first thing to ask is whether it is worth keeping at all or if it is simply cluttering up your home. If you decide that it is, you need to work out exactly where it should be stored. You should also get into a system which involves grouping similar items together so that they can be found easily.

 

Put Your Phone Away

 

Even if you think that you are only checking Facebook for a minute or two, if you do this 20 times a day, it will quickly add up! To avoid temptation, it may be worth keeping your phone in a different room entirely. You are likely to find yourself with so much time on your hands simply by reducing your temptation to procrastinate.

 

Never Go Anywhere Empty Handed

Photo Credit

 

The best way of cleaning is little and often, rather than letting everything mount up and tackling it all in one go. If you never go anywhere empty handed, you are cleaning up as you go. It may take a bit of time to get into this habit, but once you do, you may wonder how you lived any other way. If you feel like the household chores are getting on top of you, you could always look into home cleaning services. A clean home goes a long way towards creating a clear mind.

 

Make a List

 

For the larger tasks that go beyond the regular household chores, you should make a list and tackle it step by step. You are better off taking on the bigger jobs first so that they are not left looming over your head.

 

Hopefully, this list has given you a few ideas that you can put into practice when it comes to staying more organized in your home.