How To Ensure That Your Next Big Project Runs Like Clockwork

Nothing is as rewarding, and overwhelming, as starting that next big home improvement project. Many things must be taken into account at its inception, and neglecting to consider something important is a mistake that many novices make. However, with careful planning, you can avoid that error and enjoy your project as it progresses smoothly. You just need to learn what to do.

The first thing you should do, particularly if you are dipping your toes into the home improvement waters for the first time, is choose your project wisely. You can start by making a list of all the improvements you’d eventually like to make to your home, and then narrowing it down to the one that your are mostly likely going to be able to accomplish without a hitch. You’ll gain experience with each project that you finish, and before long, the more complicated tasks on your list won’t seem quite as intimidating.

Next, think about how many more years you will be spending in your home. Are you moving anytime soon, or are you going to be in your house though your golden years? You may not want to spend a lot of time and money on a dwelling you are going to vacate in the near future. On the other hand, you might want to do just that if you want to increase the home’s value so that you get more money when you sell it. The perspective is yours to decide, but decided it must be.

If you’ve decided to go ahead and make improvements to your home, you need to read up on the subject. You can find information and get ideas from books, magazines and websites that exist for just this purpose. You can also check out books from the library.

Once your ready to being your project, make a list of all associated costs. Don’t leave anything out. You’ll need to factor in labor (if any) and materials down to the smallest incidental. You don’t want to get blindsided by an expense you hadn’t considered. That’s why you need to do your homework.

Don’t forget to shut off electricity, gas and water, as appropriate. This is not only a matter of safety, but neglecting to do so can also lead to costly damage. Avoid having to shell out more money post-project for repairs to damage you caused.

Protect your flooring and all surfaces from any debris that will be caused by demolition and from things like paints and varnishes. If you can’t move all furniture out of a room before painting, take special care to cover that too. It is preferable to use tarps, but old sheets may work in a pinch.

Take your time and enjoy the project. If you rush through your project, not only will you not enjoy yourself, but you will likely make mistakes that will cost you further time. If you can slow down and be meticulous in your efforts, it will definitely pay off.

Now that you’ve reached the end of this article, you should better understand what it takes to finish a successful project. Apply what you’ve learned here as you set out to improve your home. Don’t forget to have fun, and good luck!

How To Convert Your Outdoor Space Into A Living Space

If you have a back yard, you can improve it into a comfortable extension of your home’s living space. The back yard is not just meant for barbecues and sunbathing. It can turn into an outdoor room that you can decorate, just like how you would decorate an indoor room. Read this article for some great ideas on how you can turn your outdoor space into a wonderful extension of your home.

First, you should decide on what type of activities you will be doing in that space. If you have a covered porch, you can add a few luxury items, like a chaise lounger, a fan to cool off the summer heat, or a cotton quilt for those cool autumn evenings, and turn that porch into a peaceful retreat where you can curl up with a book or take a nap.

There are many ways in which you can design your outdoor room. The simplest way is to make it into a garden room. If you have beds of perennial flowers or an area where you have shade from trees, add some comfortable seating there. Put pavers to the foot of the space. Hang string lights around on the tree limbs. Add a little side table where you can put your cup of tea and a good book.

You can even have music set up outdoors. Who is to say that you cannot have your television out on the porch during good weather? You can set up speakers outdoors if they are protected from weather. If you want a more natural look, there are speakers specially made for outdoors enclosed in something that resembles a big rock. Just be considerate of your neighbors and keep the sound low.

Your covered porch can also be used as an area for your hobby. This is the perfect place for you to build models or paint your masterpieces where you would not be too concerned about fumes from paint or spillage. Have a storage unit for your craft supplies. Put in a sturdy work table where you can do your projects.

When you shop for furniture for your outdoor space, make sure that they are made from materials that are tolerant of all weathers. Plastic and rust-proof metal furniture are common, but you can also use indoor furniture in a covered porch area. For indoor wooden chairs, add an extra coat of paint or varnish to protect the wood. Use cushions made with fabrics that are mildew-resistant to make your furniture extra comfortable.

If you want a little more privacy in your outdoor space, you can create walls by putting up lattice screens. Plant climbing plants and vines to give it a natural feel.

Your outdoor space does not have to look boring. You can turn it into a really attractive living space by following the ideas described in this article. Be creative and try different ideas. You can turn your outdoor space into the cozy retreat that you will use again and again.

Home Improvements You Can Do For Minimal Cost But Maximum Impact

If unfinished work or parts of your home needing addressing are things that you are just exhausted of coming home to every day, then it is time to jazz things up on the home front. However, you may have been avoiding such tasks because you are tired and a little tight on money in a down economy. For some ideas you can do with big impact but not much cost, keep reading.

Look around your front and back yards and consider any changes you could make easily and quickly. If there is spare wood, fallen branches or trees that you can collect, even free firewood offered by others, could you make a rustic fence or barrier around a garden? Collect chunks of busted up concrete to make a walkway. Just one fresh touch to a yard changes the overall energy, and it can be as simple as a bird feeder to draw in chirping, colorful flapping life that eats bugs.

Go into your basement. Is there a pile of boxes in the middle? You can make the room feel a lot bigger by getting even the cheapest plastic shelving to put along the walls to spread the boxes out and free the center of the room. Better yet, are there fun things in those boxes you can put out to turn the area into an entertaining space? You might have holiday lights or old college or bachelor pad knick-knacks not really appropriate for the upstairs decor that make for a fun room for game night.

On a similar note, take a look at any rooms that are not currently in use or just not fully finished. Is there furniture from crowded rooms that could go into these spaces to give them a function? If you have been in your home a while, you might not have originally had a room set up for office and computer functions. Why not do that now?

Redecorate your kitchen for an up to date look. With one trip to a hardware store, you can find new paint, wallpaper, a new faucet or even new cabinets and drawers all for very reasonable amounts. Just touching up any of these individual elements can bring the room to new life.

Inspect your doors and windows for drafting and aging seals. This is a great idea any time of year. It might seem natural in the winter when you want to cut down on heating, but even in the summer, you can keep heat out and save on your air conditioning.

Think about plants. Your local nursery will have at least a few plants that easily grow indoors with or without direct sunlight. Even a cactus can help clean the air in a room, and having any life inside your home gives a room some energy.

When you do home improvements following these cost effective methods, you can make your dollars stretch really far into a better and brighter home. Consider all of them for new life where you live.

Your home is probably the most expensive thing that you’ll ever buy, and you know that it’s important to keep up with necessary repairs. What you may not realize is that improvements are also necessary. Home improvements can not only increase your home’s value, but they can also significantly increase your quality of life by making it easier and more pleasurable. The article below has some great ideas to make your home an enjoyable place to be.

1. Increase the comfort in your home. Make rooms that you spend a lot of time in more comfortable by adding an over-sized, cushy armchair or a daybed. Replace tired carpeting with plush carpet that feels soft on bare feet, or add some throw pillows to an existing sofa. However you decide to make a room more comfortable doesn’t matter much as long as it’s adding to your enjoyment of the space.

2. Make a room bigger. Cramped quarters cause unnecessary stress and angst. If you don’t have the option of adding on by knocking down a wall or two, try making the room bigger by removing clutter and furniture that serves no purpose. If a room automatically overwhelms you upon entering it, you’ve got too much stuff there.

3. Add a hot tub or swimming pool. Soaking in a hot tub is a great way to unwind after a grueling day, and a swimming pool will refresh you on hot days and provide you with a way to get some aquatic exercise. If you can’t decide on one or the other, you can opt to put in a swimming pool with a small jacuzzi at one end.

4. Change the mood of your home by changing the lighting. Improve the ambiance of your dining room by adding an elegant chandelier, or add accent lighting to the living room. Even just opening up the curtains in your kitchen on a bright, sunny day can give the room a whole new feel by making use of natural light. Exploring lighting options is a fun way to spend the day, and you should be able to find lighting that suits your style without spending a lot of money.

5. Start a garden. A garden is a wonderful way to beautify your landscape and create serenity, whether you plant fresh vegetables, glorious flowers or both. There is nothing quite as relaxing as puttering around the garden on a spring day or sipping tea in the mornings as you look out your window to the greenery that you created.

6. Paint. You’ll be surprised at the improvement to your home that a few coats of paint can make. You can hire a painter for the exterior of your home, but that really isn’t necessary if just want to liven up a room or two. Invite your friends over for a painting party, and treat them to pizza for helping out.

However you decide to do it, there’s no denying that improving your home also improves your life. From the complex, value-adding projects to simple, inexpensive additions to home decor, you’ll appreciate having taken the time to make your home a place you want to be.

If you have a busy life, you may think you don’t have the time for home improvement projects. While massive projects might be out of the picture, there are lots of little things you can do even if you’re pressed for time. Here are a few home improvement projects you can take on in a single weekend.

1. Start by de-cluttering. No matter how pressed for time you are, you should have the time to minimize the clutter in your life. Cleaning up clutter may not seem like a home improvement project, but it can completely change the look and feel of your house. Suddenly, you’ll find you have extra space, and that things look cleaner and more open than ever before. It’s a great way to improve your home without starting a big project.

2. Take the time to improve your insulation. New insulation may not make your home look dazzling, but it can save you a lot of money – money that can pay for real renovations later down the line. Since you don’t have a lot of time, you should start by adding more insulation to your attic. Heat rises, and it’s the quickest way to cut down your energy bills.

3. Spend a day repainting! Painting is cheap, doesn’t take much time, and can drastically change the look of your house. Add a coat of a good primer, take care of other things while it dries, and then add your new coat of paint. Even though you don’t have a lot of time, you should be sure you choose your color carefully. Try putting some sample paint on your wall one weekend, and then actually repainting the next one. That way, you can be sure you have a color you can live with.

4. Work on your front door! Whether you repaint it, or simply add a new doorknob, freshening up your door will help your home to make a better first impression. It’s a small area of your house, but it’ll make a big impact. It’s the perfect time efficient home improvement project. When you finish with your door, add a nice new welcome mat below it.

5. Upgrading your flooring sounds like a major project, but it actually doesn’t have to be that much work. Instead of putting in new tile on your kitchen or bathroom floors, you can use linoleum that’s designed to look like tile. All you have to do is roll it out and glue it on. You’ll have great looking new floors in no time. As an added bonus, linoleum is very easy to keep clean, especially if you choose a darker color.

Home renovation can be a lot of work, but it can also be pretty simple. These are projects you can take on no matter how hectic your life is. When you’re busy, it’s more important than ever that your home feel like an oasis. With these projects, you’ll be able to get a home that will really let you relax.

Home Improvement Projects That Increase the Value and Appeal of Your Home

If you are considering putting your home up for sale, you may be wondering what kinds of improvements you can make that will make a big impression on potential buyers while potentially boosting the value of your property. Here are some ways to enhance your home’s appeal.

1. Update your kitchen. The kitchen is the heart of any home, so buyers pay lots of attention to the condition of the kitchen while shopping for a home. Worn flooring, nicked countertops, ancient appliances and cabinets that have seen better days all affect the appeal of your kitchen. If a full renovation isn’t in your budget, consider replacing the flooring, cabinet hardware, and sink fixtures, and refinishing or painting the cabinets. This may not enhance your home’s value to the extent of a full remodeling, but it will certainly make a better impression on potential buyers.

2. Give bathrooms a face lift. Potential buyers focus lots of attention on these small but important rooms, too. Like the kitchen, a full renovation is best. If you cannot fully renovate, consider replacing the flooring and the caulk around the tub, toilet, shower and other fixtures. Repair and paint the walls, as well. If the grout in the tub or shower has seen better days, you may need to regrout these areas, as well.

3. Paint, fix or replace your home’s siding. Because your siding covers so much of your home, it’s one of the first things upon which potential buyers will judge your home. If the siding has extensive cracks or has become brittle and fragile with time, you should probably replace it altogether. On the other hand, siding with discolorations or other blemishes can probably be salvaged with minor repairs and a fresh coat of paint.

4. Improve the landscaping around your home. If you have mulch or rock beds, especially colored varieties, refresh the beds with a new layer when the color fades or the current layer looks thin or sparse. Trim and prune plants to their ideal heights, and consider adding some lively annuals to beds or containers for a splash of color. Plants and landscaping generally add little value to your property, but they are important, because they frame your home and add curb appeal.

5. Create an appealing outdoor living area. Decks, patios, outdoor kitchens, and built-in fire pits are great ways to enhance your backyard. Perfect for entertaining or simply enjoying mild evenings outdoors, these living spaces can add value to your home. Showcase the space’s potential to prospective buyers by replacing cushions, umbrellas and throw pillows that have become faded or worn. Stain and coat your deck, and have cracks in your patio sealed.

6. Don’t underestimate the power of paint. While painting the walls does little for the value of your home, it can be a powerful tool for drawing the eye through your space, enhancing natural light, and making spaces look appealing. The old wisdom about using only neutral colors doesn’t really apply anymore. While it is true that you should stay away from extremely bold paint colors, you should choose shades that complement your home’s design and enhance the furnishings that will remain in the space during showings.

Giving your home a face-lift before you sell it is a great idea. While not all of these ideas add value to your home, they do help potential buyers to form a positive impression of your space, which is absolutely crucial when you want to sell.

As the prices of utilities increase and society shifts its focus toward saving the environment, updating your home to reflect the principles of “going green” is a smart choice. Here are some ways that you can make your home more efficient and friendlier to the environment.

1. Make the switch to compact fluorescent bulbs. Available at any hardware, discount or home improvement store, these lights feature a twisted or helical tube design that allows them to fit within standard fixtures. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, CFLs sip electricity, reducing your home’s power consumption. They also have far longer lifespans than incandescent bulbs; many will last for years rather than months.

2. Use motion detectors to activate lights outdoors. Floodlights and security lights can use a significant amount of energy unnecessarily, and they can shine into your or your neighbors windows at night. By installing motion detectors, however, your lights will kick on only if something–or someone–is nearby. This not only reduces your power consumption, but it alerts you to the presence of animals or intruders more readily.

3. Use foam gaskets behind electrical outlets and light switches on exterior walls. A surprising amount of cold air can sneak in around these holes, making your furnace or other heating system work harder. Foam gaskets are an inexpensive way to fix these drafts; as an added bonus, they reduce the likelihood of insects and other pests sneaking in, too.

4. Use weather-stripping and caulk around doors and windows. The small gaps around your home’s doors and windows are another major source of drafts and air leakage. Weather stripping is available in a wide range of widths, shapes and materials, allowing you to select the type that best fits the spaces you need to seal. Caulk is a great solution for sealing around the exterior of your windows, but make sure that you choose a variety that is intended for outdoor use.

5. When you replace your roof, stay away from very dark colors. A pitch-black roof absorbs a shocking amount of heat, keeping your home warmer during the summer. Lighter-colored roofs absorb much less heat, keeping your home at a more comfortable temperature.

6. Place food waste in a composter for use around veggies or flowers. Most home improvement stores carry composting barrels or bins, which you can fill with lawn clippings, leaves and kitchen waste such as eggshells, coffee grounds and vegetable peels. Once the compost is turned and decomposed, you are left with a rich, dark, soil-like substance that contains loads of nutrients, making it the perfect fertilizer for plants in your landscaping or gardens.

7. Fix dripping faucets or running toilets. Even if you don’t live in an area with strict rules regarding water consumption, there is no reason to use more than you need. A leaking faucet or a toilet that runs constantly can use hundreds of extra gallons each month. Repair or replace these faulty fixtures to save water.

By implementing these green ideas into your home improvement plans, you can do your part to help the environment and conserve energy. Not only will the environment benefit from your efforts, but so will your wallet.

Your house is probably the biggest and most expensive thing that you own. Because of this, you should take care of it in the best way possible. A house can get dated and old over time. When that happens, you should upgrade and make improvements on it to make it look more beautiful and to enhance its value. Not all projects have to be complex. For some ideas on how to give your home a fresh, new look, read this article.

An easy way to breathe life into an old house is to give it a new coat of paint. Old paint that is worn and faded can make a house look tired. New paint can give any room a whole new look. When you choose paint, think about the mood that you want the room to exude. If you are painting a bedroom, you would want the environment to be warm, comfortable and relaxing. Choose soft colors for that effect. If you are painting the living room, and you want your room to look bright, choose a color that is close to white. This reflects sunlight the best. Pick accent colors for any trims and molding that you have along the walls.

Any home can benefit from more storage. Look in your closets; you can probably get more use out of your closet space if you install some closet organizers. You can find kits at your local home improvement center, and you can customize these kits with storage modules.

Kitchen upgrades give the best return for your home improvement dollars. This is the most widely used room in the house. Look at your kitchen cabinets. Is the paint chipping or is the wood looking old? If your cabinets are natural wood, you can sand them down and apply a new stain and polish to give them new life. Finish off with new cabinet knobs or handles, and you will have a whole new look.

Bathrooms are also good places to make improvements. If you have tile in the bathroom and it is getting increasingly hard to clean the old grout, you may want to upgrade the tile around the tub area with a one-piece marble surround. The one piece surround is easier to clean, and you will not have to scrub grout anymore.

If you have a basement that is mainly used for storage, you can make better use of it by converting it, or part of it, into living space. This space would be perfect for a hobby area, entertainment center or game room. An improvement like this is a project on a bigger scale, involving structural changes and electrical installations. So you may want to consider hiring a professional contractor to do this.

There are countless ways to improve the living space in your home. Look at your budget, and determine what you can afford. You can start with smaller projects, then onto bigger ones when you have money saved up. Anything that you can do to beautify your home will add value to your investment.

With our current depressed economy, many people decide to work at improving the home they are living in rather than sell and buy an upgrade. You may not have any experience at all in doing home improvements, but nearly anyone can handle a simple project. There is a lot of information available to guide you, so start small and you may be surprised at your own abilities. The following tips will help you find a good place to begin.

Just owning a home requires that a homeowner has some basic maintenance ability, and often updates do not require much more knowledge than you probably already have. If there is a project you really want and need to do, research what is required before you decide to do it.

Sometimes a good place to start with home improvement is painting a room or replacing the flooring. Painting is not complicated, but you do need to know the correct procedures before you begin painting. If the flooring you want to replace is carpet, you may be able to do it yourself if you have the right information and equipment. You can refinish an older hardwood floor by renting a sander and closely following the directions for removing the old varnish and replacing it.

Once you decide on the project you want to do, make a list of the materials and equipment you need to finish the job. You do not want to find a item you need is not on hand when you are in the middle of doing your project. It is important to know the full cost of your project ahead of time, and allow a little extra for unexpected expenses.

Haste makes waste, so do not try to squeeze the work into a weekend when you really need a week. If you rush while you are working, you may have to start the project all over again. Painting is one job you want to do with patience so your finished work looks professional.

It is important for you to understand the limits of your capabilities. If you know for sure you do not have the knowledge to complete a job, either find the information you need or hire someone to do the work for you. You should plan carefully before you begin any project so you know you can hire someone if you run into problems.

Doing some home improvement to your property can be an enjoyable and interesting experience, but it can also be more work than you had anticipated. Most people have friends or family members who have been involved in some type of home improvement project before. You can gain valuable help from them, either through information about how to do the work yourself, or they may be willing to physically help you with the job.

Successfully finishing your own home improvement project can be a very rewarding experience, so plan carefully and proceed with caution. If you choose an easy project to begin with, you can build your level of expertise and add value to your home. Use the information in this article to help develop your home improvement skills.

Do you want to make your home a nicer place, more comfortable and add on to the resale value? If you do, home improvement projects are perfect. Many people have no desire or time to take on these projects so instead they hire a contractor to do the work for them. If you have jobs that need to be done in your home, but do not want to take them on yourself, hiring someone to do them for you is the perfect answer. The following article contains tips you can use when you are looking to hire someone to improve upon your house.

Ask a real estate agent to do a walk through in your home so they can look for possible improvements. Real estate agents know what to look for and will be able to make suggestions as to improvements you can make that will add value to your home. Make a list of these improvements, as well as any that you personally want to make.

Once you have your list, pick one or two of the projects to begin with. What is the most important thing either to you, or for the resale value if you plan on selling soon? When you choose this project do some research to see what all is involved. This can give you a good idea of a time frame and a budget.

After you learn a little bit more about the project, set a budget. How much do you want to spend on this project? Are there any corners you are willing to cut or substitutions that you are fine with? It is best to know all of this before you even contact a contractor. The more you know about the project, the better conversations you can have with any possible contractor.

When do you want this project to be finished? Is it realistic? Setting a time frame is important, but you have to set one that can actually happen. In your research, if you found the project can take a couple weeks, do not expect a contractor be able to get it done in a week, and two weeks will probably be cutting it short as he may have jobs in front of yours.

Once you have as much information as possible, begin to call contractors for quotes. Most likely they will need to come to your house so they can see exactly what the area is like and what needs to be done. As previously stated, the more you know about the project the better. This will help you be on a more level playing field with the contractor and be able to share what you already know. It is best to get quotes from a few contractors. And it might not always be best to go with the cheapest one. Before making a final decision, check online, with friends, with realtors or anyone else you can think of, for the reputation of the contractor and his company.

Home improvement projects are a great way to make improvements to your home. Use the tips shared here and you can begin to use a contractor to make your home a more comfortable place.