Today’s guest post hits close to home for me as we’re in the process of refinishing our basement after flood damage from Hurricane Irene. Little tip here: spring for the battery back up for your sump pump!
If you are looking to add square footage to your home, the easiest and most affordable way to do it is to finish your basement. There are some tips that can help you do it yourself to save the money you would otherwise spend to hire a contractor.
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Thanks to Alex for these great tips on how to improve your home’s curb appeal. While a new garage door can make a huge impact on the curb appeal of a home, many of these are gentle reminders to do what you KNOW you should be doing. A little elbow grease and diligence will go a long way!
If you want to sell your home you can greatly improve your chances of doing so by improving your home’s curb appeal. The better your home looks from the outside, the more enthusiastic any potential buyers will be when they come and take a look at it.
Check out these five ways to increase your home’s curb appeal and boost your chances of an early sale.
1. Replace your garage door
If you have a garage and the door is looking a bit the worse for wear, take the opportunity to get a new one installed. People will want to know they can park their car safely inside the garage, and a new door will look clean and fresh too. If the door works fine but the paint is peeling, give it a new coat.
2. Give your front door a new coat of paint
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Thanks to Christa for this very helpful guest post about something we may not always think about. Deck rails not only make a big difference in the aesthetics of an outdoor space, but goodness – they are doing a very important safety job as well! Form and function are key here!
If you are someone who entertains a lot, then you probably have a deck for added space. It is important that your deck be complete with deck railings as this adds safety for all your guests. I am sure you would want your deck to add to the overall architectural style of your home as well. If you are not sure of how to achieve this, you might need help. This is why I am outlining 9 tips below of how to choose deck railings that are not only safe, but complement your home architectural design.
Before going out and purchasing the materials for your deck railing, it is important to check with your local Town Planning Department on what type of material is legal, as some materials are not legal in some municipalities. They should also be able to give you guidelines on measurements like heights. The average height of a deck railing is normally 36 inches and the space between the rail posts should be no less than 6 inches apart. This takes into consideration access for adults and children.
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Thanks to Helen Davies from across the pond in UK for today’s guest post. She is a bathroom designer and writer with ten years experience. She currently works at Better Bathrooms and has written for interiors magazines such as Real Homes, Homebuilding & Renovations and Period Living. She just started her own personal blog and can be found on Twitter.
If you have an en-suite bathroom that needs some work, or you’re thinking of creating an en-suite from a small bedroom or a part of the master bedroom, your first thoughts are likely to be of the potential difficulty of furnishing the space. An en-suite is a small space that’s sometimes oddly shaped, and you may feel that it will be difficult to find fixtures to fit the room.
But you don’t need to have a large en-suite or think about extending the space you do have, if you opt for fitted bathroom furniture. There are some excellent small cloakroom designs and slimline units out there which will make the most of your space – without you needing to make more space.
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If you had $500 to improve your home, what would you spend it on? Projects that improve the appearance or the efficiency of your home? It’s that old form versus function thing! Anyway, thanks To Ryan for this guest post highlighting 10 ways to improve your home for under $500.
It’s unfortunate that so many people jump headfirst into home renovation without really stopping and thinking about how to do it efficiently and effectively. Anybody can just throw money at home renovation projects without planning and hope for the best, but before you know it you’ll have spent thousands of dollars with very few noticeable changes.
Artists are experts at producing beautiful results that appear to be effortless. Likewise, there are home renovation projects that can produce striking, expensive-looking results for surprisingly little time and money.
Here are ten simple ideas to improve your home on a budget of $500 or less and look like you spent ten times more.
If you want to stretch your home renovation dollar, start in the bathroom. Buying new furniture or full scale kitchen remodeling can get very expensive, very quickly, but when it comes to bathroom remodeling, a few dollars can go a long way. Whether you’re considering steam shower units, replacing old out of date sinks with vanity sinks or just replacing the toilet seat, every dollar spent on the bathroom looks like twenty.
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Color Trends for 2012: Balance to Preservation 
Painting Stairs: DIY FAQs and Tips 
Ideas for that awkward space above your kitchen cabinets 
Sliding Barn Doors: Beyond the Farm 
Painting Wood Floors 
Color Trends for 2011 
Picking the Right Front Door Color: Before and After Case Studies 
A Color Story: By Decade 
Designing Trendy Tween Rooms for Girls 
Gender Neutral Kids Rooms 
My New-ish Kitchen 
Decorating Blues! 
Decorating with empty picture frames 
My Laundry Closet Needs a Makeover 
Bold and Beautiful Kitchen Appliances 
Easy Shrimp Appetizers – 2 ways 
Purple Bedroom to Ooh La La on a Budget 
2012 Color of the Year! 
Hot Color Trends for Cold Weather 
Laundry Space from Drab to Fab 
YHOB
is simply about keeping your home distinctively your own, but better. We talk about practical decorating, home improvement and entertaining. Grab
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~Susan Jensen Smith
