How to Design Your Kitchen for Safety

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If you were asked what you’d like to see in your dream kitchen, you’d probably have a bunch of ideas ready to share. Safety, however, may not be the first thing on the list. It is important though so here are some design ideas to help you start thinking about safety right from the beginning:

 

Sturdy and reliable fuel sources

Get regular professional inspections of all connections from the gas line to the electrical wiring. This is to ensure that there are no gas leakages and that the electrical sockets are all up to code.

 

Clear and efficient workflow

Take some time to carefully design your kitchen layout so that the traffic between each element is direct and hazard-free. Neglecting the kitchen workflow design is one of the common kitchen renovation mistakes to avoid.

 

Rounded and slip-resistant finishes

This is all about eliminating slippery surfaces and sharp edges. So besides getting the ideal flooring type for the kitchen, choose rugged or textured surface finishes that make it slip-resistant. You’ll also want to make sure the countertop has rounded edges and corners to minimize harm when bumping into them.

 

Bright and even lighting

You definitely want the kitchen to be well-lit with multiple sources of lighting so that there aren’t dim spots anywhere around your stove and food preparation areas. In an environment where there are plenty of hot and sharp objects, a bright kitchen can easily prevent the risk of careless injuries resulting from poor lighting.

 

Fire and smoke safety

Again, professional inspection is regularly needed for safety devices like fire extinguishers and smoke detectors. It’s essential that you ensure the inspections are up-to-date. If you want an extra level of safety, consult with the inspectors on whether an emergency sprinkler system above your range is right for you.

As for the fire extinguisher, find an obvious and safe location to store it. Keep in mind though that you should never use the fire extinguisher on grease fires – these kinds of fires are best put out by baking soda. It’s a good idea to keep a bucket of baking soda next to your fire extinguisher (so that you don’t grab the wrong thing in case of a grease fire).

 

With the kitchen being one of the busiest rooms of the house, it makes sense that it’s designed for safety as well as functionality.

Spice Up the Kitchen With Island Styles Like These

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You’ll be hard-pressed to find a modern house still with a dining room these days. The kitchen has now been expanded to serve the function of both the source and destination of meals. That makes the kitchen island all the more important to accommodate this trend.

 

Making sure the island fits your kitchen layout and needs is crucial to avoid making kitchen renovation mistakes. To make your kitchen stand out, here are some island styles you may want to consider:

 

L-Shaped or U-Shaped

Whether you go with an L-shaped or U-shaped island depends on your kitchen size. What’s attractive about these islands is that they give you more versatile layout options. That way, you can divide your kitchen island into different food preparation stations if your style of cooking involves many stages.

Another benefit of these islands is that you get to really max out your kitchen storage space. And don’t think that you’re only allowed to put in shelves or cabinets on the stove side either. Take advantage of the other side for display shelves as well as for cookbooks or good dishes.

 

Curved

This is a unique island style if you frequently like to entertain guests as you cook them dinner throughout the evening. The curved countertop gives everyone ample room to sit around the island and chat with you.

A curved island also helps to soften the look of the kitchen that’s often full of straight edges and sharp corners. It heightens the visual appeal by drawing the eyes to follow along its rare graceful curves. In short, this is the kind of island to have if you want it to be the centrepiece in the kitchen.

 

Bar-Style

Speaking of guests sitting around the kitchen island, elevate part of it for guests to hang out on bar stools. They can then sit comfortably at eye-level to you while you’re standing. A bar-style island is popular because it makes a meal more casual than a sit-down affair.

 

Banquette Add-On

On the other hand, if you and your friends like to sit around a table for dinner, consider extending your island out into a banquette. The great thing about this style is that it makes your kitchen look more cohesive as the work area of the island flows naturally into the dining area, all wrapped in the same finish.

 

A well-designed island makes a huge difference at dinner parties and in everyday life.

Don’t Make These 7 Mistakes If You Want to Attract Homebuyers

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There’s so much you can do to attract homebuyers that you can get sidetracked by the small details. Sometimes, it’s just easier to figure what not to do first:

 

Missing out on renovations that increase resale value the most

If you’re going ahead with renovations, make sure you focus on the rooms that will bring you the most return when you sell your house. The kitchen is, by far, the most crucial room to renovate and it’s definitely worth it to make that the priority. The bathroom is next on the priority list and will boost your home value with the right attractive features. The basement is another golden opportunity as long as you renovate it into a practical space.

 

Sweeping issues under the rug

It’s only going to come back and haunt you because those issues will inevitably get uncovered upon inspection. Then it’s back to the negotiating table again or worse, the buyer just walks. The bottom line is if it’s an issue you would want to know about if you were the buyer, then be upfront about it. Either fix the issue before putting the house on the market or disclose it to buyers and lower the price accordingly.

 

Forgetting to boost curb appeal

First impressions are everything so if the front of your house doesn’t look inviting, no one will want to come knocking. Take a moment to cross the street and really scrutinize objectively how your house looks from that vantage point. Could it use a new coat of paint? Do you need to replace the front door or any of the windows? Does the yard need some landscaping work? The curb appeal effect will stay with potential homebuyers as they view the rest of your house.

 

Neglecting a regular decluttering routine

This is to lessen the amount of mad scrambles you have to do every time there’s a house showing because your house is already practically show-ready. It’s easy to maintain a tidy house if you keep up with decluttering regularly. As soon as you let it lapse though, that’s when everything starts snowballing downhill.  It only takes 15 minutes to declutter each room in your house. On your calendar, set each day of the week to tidy up a different room. Then all you have to do is find a 15-minute window in the day to declutter that room.

 

Leaving a house smell to linger

We often forget our houses have a smell until someone drops by and mentions it. It may not be a bad smell, but then again, not everyone has the same tastes. So don’t leave it to chance! Start dealing with the kitchen scents first and use similar techniques in other areas of the house.

 

Forgoing the help of professionals

Whether that’s hiring a general contracting company for renovations or a real estate agent to market your house, it’s the professionals who’ll give you peace of mind that everything is done properly. Selling your house is a major life-changing decision and it makes a big difference to have some of the workload taken off your plate.

 

Getting emotionally attached to your house

You love your house and understandably think very highly of it. But if you are open to selling it though, you have to check your emotions. Emotions will lead to an instinctive clinging to prices or conditions that are beyond what the current market favours. In the end, you’ll only shoot yourself in the foot by leaving your house stuck on real estate listings for too long, which will further alienate homebuyers.

 

Avoid these mistakes and you’ll be ready in time for the next home buying season!

Guide to Bringing Holiday Cheer to Every Room in the House

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You may be part of the annual neighbourhood tradition of keeping the holiday spirits going with front lawn decorations. But what if you also want to do the same on the inside this year?

 

Fear not, we’ve got you covered – with ideas for every room in the house:

 

Basement

The decorations you choose for the basement depends on what kind of room you’ve turned your basement into.

Den or home theatre

LED strip lights running along the baseboards are a great feature for the den. They give the authentic theatre experience of guiding people to their seats. What’s even better is that you can customize the lighting colours you want at the flick of a switch. So come Christmas time, you can change the LED colours to patterns of red, green or white. If you’ve got framed posters of your favourite films on the walls, swap them out with framed posters of your favourite holiday movies. Finally, border the television screen with tinsel garlands. Or you can flank it with two Christmas trees decorated with everything but string lights. You don’t want any lights to distract you from the movie, after all. For a simpler décor, just mount a large festive wreath above the television screen.

Playroom

Whether the playroom is for the kids or the “kidults”, this is where you can throw in all the whimsical holiday decorations you want. Stick on cartoon wall decals of classic holiday characters. Create a giant, wall-sized advent calendar with fabric pockets for different days of the month. Hang colourful homemade stockings on the side of every basement stair step. And don’t forget to put up framed photos of your favourite past holiday party moments.

 

Bathroom

After converting the bathroom into your very own personal spa, you want the holiday decorations to be subtle and not too intrusive. Keeping with the spa theme, you can first get candles in holiday colours or designs and do the same with the towels. Next, hang up a framed painting of a winter landscape or a holiday theme.

If you want a little more, set a poinsettia flower arrangement on a back corner of the bathroom vanity. Not a fan of poinsettia? Fill a large glass jar with Christmas tree baubles instead. You can also arrange evergreen boughs around the edges of the vanity mirror.

 

Bedroom

For the bedroom, choose decorations that bring out as much of its cozy feeling as possible. For example, change the pillowcases, blankets or bedsheets into ones with holiday patterns or colours. Add to the coziness with a couple of thick oversized stockings hanging on the two lower bedposts. Next, border the ceiling with colourful string lights to create a sense of magic in the air just before you go to bed.

The finishing touch can be a mini Christmas tree on a corner of the dresser. Or as a cute gesture, arrange a mistletoe above you and your significant other’s bed.

 

Kitchen

With the kitchen being the centre of holiday feasts, decorations should be all about making the room appeal to the appetite. Bring the Christmas-themed cookie tins out onto the counter and fill them with baked goods throughout the holidays. Then, place a holiday-inspired centrepiece on the kitchen island. It could be something as simple as a fruit bowl with festive carvings or even a tiny Christmas tree with edible ornaments.

Still focusing on the kitchen island area, take inspiration from the shape of the light fixture above to decorate it for the holidays. If they’re pendant lights, you can use tinsel garlands to create Christmas tree outlines. If they’re built in a square or rectangle shape, transform that into Santa’s sleigh. Top off the kitchen decorations by changing the bar stool fabric upholstery to ones with holiday designs. Make sure that you’ve also got tea towels in place that have festive embroidering.

 

Living Room

As the main room that’s the hub of holiday festivities, decorate the living room in a way that you and guests will find warm and inviting. The big Christmas tree in the corner is probably a given, of course. Up next is the window display. It’s nice if you can make it fun to look at from the outside and the inside. Macy’s holiday window displays are famous in New York so it doesn’t hurt to take a page or two from their designs.

You’ll also want to change the throw pillows and quilts on the couch to ones with holiday-themed designs or colours. The best way is to get throw pillows with removable fabric covers. That way, you just have to store fabric covers for whatever occasion and switch them out as needed every year. Hook up a sound system in the room and pipe in a broad range of holiday music – from classic carols to pop songs. Just make sure to keep the volume level down to background level. Last but not least, decorate the fireplace with stockings and ornaments on the mantel. After that, stock up on firewood because nothing complements winter holidays best than getting a lively fire going.

 

From all of us here at Premier Group Contractors, we hope you make merry and enjoy your holidays!

How to Freshen Up the Kitchen Scent – Part 2

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On top of Part 1’s immediate and short-term cleaning in the kitchen, keep the long run in mind as well. Fighting lingering scents is much easier after you’ve scheduled cleaning for the major food stops in the kitchen.

 

Every three months

The range hood filter is your first line of defence to combat kitchen smells. Its efficiency decreases over time though and should be cleaned or changed after three months of use.

The larger the household, the more crucial it is to have a good fridge management system in place. Even so, certain foods can get missed and transform into the new offending smell in the kitchen. Spills happen in the fridge, too, that add to the unpleasantness. You can keep on top of that by cleaning the fridge every three months. Soak the drawers in warm soapy water and wipe down the fridge interior with a baking soda solution. Always keep an open box of baking soda inside the fridge to absorb additional smells.

This is also the time to clean other appliances, both large ones like the oven and countertop-sized like the microwave. For the oven, scrape off all the crusted food bits and sweep them out. Use warm soapy water to soak the oven racks. After scrubbing the stubborn stains in the oven with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar, turn on the oven’s self-cleaning function.

 

Extra fresh boost

Regardless of how religiously you follow this cleaning schedule, you sometimes need to give an extra fresh boost to the kitchen. It may be that you just stepped into the kitchen and still smell yesterday’s cooking extravaganza. Perhaps you have guests coming over or you’re showing the house to potential buyers today. Whatever the reason may be, there are a bunch of DIY tricks you can try. Remember that all these tricks depend on what the ideal kitchen fresh scent means to you.

Airing it out

The first thing you’ll want to do is point a running fan in the direction of an open window. This works very well in pushing the indoor kitchen air – along with all its scents – outside.

Breakfast food to the rescue

If you need a cup of coffee to start your day anyway, brewing a fresh pot is usually enough to get rid of yesterday’s cooking smells. Same thing if you like to have toast in the morning. Freshly brewed coffee and bread toasted dark brown are very effective air scrubbers. What’s great about these two ideas is that they can fit right into your morning routine.

Steam-powered air fresheners

Another way to clean the air is to simmer a few slices of lemon or oranges. The acidity of the citrus fruit will then spread through the air carried by steam. You can also try simmering your favourite herbs or spices if you’re not a fan of the citrus scent.

Good ol’ apple pie

A classic idea to make your kitchen smell welcoming is to heat up an apple pie in the oven. Real estate agents use this trick all the time for open houses because the scent brings up feelings of warm coziness. It’s especially potent if visitors grew up with never-ending baked goods in the house.

Scent swaps

You can also put scent replacements around the kitchen. This could mean vanilla-soaked cotton balls, bowls of water with drops of essential oils, or even mild scented candles.

 

You’ve already gone out of your way to avoid mistakes while renovating your kitchen – don’t let bad smells ruin all your hard work! Stay fresh.

How to Freshen Up the Kitchen Scent – Part 1

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You know that feeling: no matter how delicious last night’s meal was, the kitchen just doesn’t smell as nice in the morning. There are quick fixes you can try in Part 2, but the best way is to first develop good cleaning habits and schedules in the kitchen.

 

While cooking

Rather than waiting till the very end to get rid of the cooking smell, why not minimize it as it happens? Turn on the range hood while you’re cooking. It may mean a noisier cooking session, but there won’t be as much lingering smells to deal with afterward.

Remember to wipe up spills right away, too – it only takes a second. Letting them crust over will not only make cleanup harder later, but it’ll also contribute to bad smells the next day.

 

Immediately after cooking

Leave the range hood running. You can always turn it off on your next trip back to the kitchen. This will take care of as much residual smells as possible.

Also, rinse away the food bits and sauces from your cooking utensils as soon as you’re done with them. Don’t forget about the cutting board! It doesn’t take long for it to absorb strong ingredient smells like garlic and onions. Use a cutting board scraper to clear off chopped ingredients and juices from its surface. Give it a quick rinse and dry it afterward. Proactive rinsing lessens the risk of smells clinging on to your cookware.

 

After meals

If you make a habit of washing dishes after every meal, you’ll eliminate most of the scents that come with the mess. Whether it’s by hand or by loading up the dishwasher, do it regularly every day. The moment they’re dried and put away is when that new kitchen feeling comes back in all its uncluttered glory.

A meal with lots of fried dishes or strong spices calls for a bowl of baking soda or vinegar to be set out for the night. They’ll absorb the cooking scents overnight so that you can step into a fresh-smelling kitchen the next morning.

 

Every few days

Another culprit of funky smells is often the kitchen trash can. Make sure to rinse the inside of the can with hot water every time you throw out the garbage. Give the can a more thorough cleaning with detergent once every few days, too.

 

Weekly

Grease accumulates very quickly on kitchen surfaces so it’s good to wash them every week. Focus on the exterior of the stove, range hoods, kitchen cabinets, and countertops.

Both the garburator and the sink drain needs to be cleaned weekly as well. For the garburator, make sure to scrub the two sides of the top rubber flap. Afterward, drop in a few ice cubes and lemon peels. You can also pre-freeze cubes of lemon peels in vinegar to pack an extra cleaning punch. When you turn on the garburator, all these ingredients will help clean the blades and keep them sharp. For the sink drain, sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda and then pour in vinegar or lemon juice. This will neutralize some of the gunk that builds up inside the drainpipes.

 

Monthly

When the dishwasher does all the heavy-duty cleaning work, it needs its own cleaning as well every month. Follow the instruction manual on how to remove and clean the dishwasher filter. Then run the cleaning cycle on the machine. If the manual doesn’t discourage it, you can also add vinegar to the dispenser during the cleaning cycle. Sprinkle baking soda inside the machine and leave it overnight for good measure. In the morning, run an empty cycle to rinse the baking soda away.

 

In Part 2, we’ll look at longer-term cleaning tasks as well as what you can do if you need to get rid of a smelly kitchen right away.

Can Kitchen Colour Choices Affect Your Appetite?

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“I can’t cook in this kitchen!” That’s a classic reason we often hear from customers on why they want to renovate their kitchen.

 

The best part about kitchen renovations is designing the colour scheme. And that’s more important than we may realize. There have been many studies done on how colour affects people’s perception of food. This particular one published in BioMed Central on how plate colour influences restaurant food is especially enlightening.

 

There definitely are certain colours that suppress appetite and others that stimulate appetite. So how can you bring that to play in the kitchen? And what if you’re also interested in using colour psychology to help in dieting?

 

A healthy balance to strike is to go with appetizing colours on the kitchen surroundings and unappetizing colours on the dinner table. You want the kitchen itself to inspire you to cook delicious and healthy food. The dinner table is where you want to control the risk of overserving yourself.

 

Colours that suppress appetite

Let’s get the unappetizing colours out of the way first. Some of these descriptions may be a little too descriptive, but it helps to understand the psychology behind why these colours are appetite suppressants.

You can use any combination of these colours at the dinner table to discourage yourself from overeating. Choose these colours when you’re buying dishware, eating utensils, napkins, and tablecloths. Having said that, it doesn’t mean you should pick the most disgusting shade possible. You can select these colours as the starting base and let your inner designer put them together stylishly:

Black

Black turns off the appetite because it’s associated with toxins, poison, and burnt food. Coincidentally, it’s also a slimming colour in fashion. That makes it a good reminder to have at the table if you’re on a diet.

Blue

Except for blueberries, you don’t see blue very often in the food world. So, right away, that colour is a turn-off for your brain.

There’s also a positive reason though why blue isn’t appetizing. Blue has always been a calming colour due to its associations with peace and stability. It probably has a lot to do with the blue sky as a constant in everyone’s lives. The colour is so soothing that your entire body – including your appetite – can actually slow down to the point of lethargy.

Brown

When you link brown with food, you usually think of waste and decay. Or overcooked food. All of which doesn’t sound delicious at all.

Grey

Grey brings to mind a dry and bitter taste – kind of like ashes. Mmm-mm.

Pink

With perhaps the exception of medium steak, pink is an unnatural food colour. It’s reminiscent of raw meat. And thousands of years of cooking in our DNA have taught us to avoid that.

Purple

Other than eggplant, this is another uncommon food colour and therefore less trustworthy.

 

Colours that stimulate appetite

Time to regain your appetite! Mix and match these colours for your kitchen walls, cabinets, countertop, and even cookware. These colours will inspire you to cook more gourmet but healthy meals:

Green

Green is a colour of health and abundance in nature. Besides our parents repeating the benefits of eating greens, our healthy view of the colour is probably also a throwback to our primitive days of being mostly herbivores.

Orange

Orange is always welcoming because of the warmth and comfort associated with it. It’s also an autumn colour, when the last harvests of the year are reaped before the cold sets in.

Red

Red is the undoubted colour of passion and energy. Just the mere sight of it is enough to make your heart beat faster, which primes the rest of your body functions like appetite for action.

Turquoise

Turquoise whets your appetite mainly because of the imagery it evokes. It gives you that tropical feeling of crystal-clear waves smoothing over a sun-kissed beach. Then you start thinking about tropical drinks, tropical food, and what Caribbean recipes to try.

White

White is an odd one on this list because it’s attached to the taste of blandness. It leaves you feeling dissatisfied and wanting more of something else. While it doesn’t open up your appetite per se, it’s a good base to pair with other appetizing colours so that you’ll want more of those. Just don’t use white dishes to serve food.

Yellow

You can trust the colour of the sun to make you happy. Yellow is also a colour of optimism. And when you’re in a good mood, your appetite is naturally stimulated.

 

Here’s to happy cooking and healthy eating!

Complete Guide to Eating Well During Kitchen Renovations

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Although you can rely on restaurants and delivery to survive the kitchen renovations, it’s not a healthy option both for your body and your wallet.

 

Home cooking is always the best guarantee of healthy eating and you can do that even without a kitchen. Here’s the complete guide:

 

Pre-Renovation

There are two important tasks you should do just before your kitchen is dismantled. These two tasks will save you a lot of work and money in the long run while the renovations are ongoing.

First, cook big batches of freezer-friendly recipes and divide them into meal-sized portions to put in the freezer. Don’t eat them all at once in the first week of renovations though! You’ll just hate yourself afterward for eating the same thing over and over again. These frozen meals are meant for the long days where you don’t feel like cooking. That way, you can reheat them instead of being tempted by restaurants.

Second, take out all the paper products you’ve stashed away over the years from past BBQs and parties. Use these during the renovation so that you don’t have to wash as many dishes. When they finally run out, that’s when you can decide whether to start washing dishes in the bathroom sink or buying more paper products.

 

Option 1: Move your kitchen

Now let’s dive into what your home cooking options are while your kitchen is out of commission. This first option is the best-case scenario and involves the least improvised cooking. You’re essentially just shifting your kitchen somewhere else so you’ll more or less have the same set-up. It’s perfect if you have space to spare and you’re keeping your old appliances anyway. Even if you’re getting new appliances though, you can still do the same thing to tide you over until the new ones arrive.

Simply move your appliances to another room and set aside part of it as your temporary kitchen. You’ll also need a table to replace the original counter space you used to have as a food preparation surface.

 

Option 2: Combine the power of small appliances

If space is limited, Option 1 is just not possible. At the very least though, plug in the refrigerator so that you can freeze meals, save leftovers, and have fresh fruit & vegetables.

Then it’s small appliances to the rescue! Set up a table or two both as platforms for the appliances as well as food preparation surfaces. The tricky part is taking stock of what small appliances you have at home and whether they’re enough to serve all your cooking needs. In general, you’ll want at least one appliance from each of the following categories:

  • Cooking
    • BBQ grill (if it’s still warm outside)
    • Electric panini press (for grilled sandwiches)
    • Portable induction cooktop, hot plate, or propane camp stove
    • Microwave oven
    • Toaster/convection oven
    • Slow cooker (use crockpot liners for easier cleaning)
    • Rice cooker (can double as vegetable steamer while rice is cooking)

 

  • Re-heating
    • Portable induction cooktop, hot plate, or propane camp stove
    • Microwave oven
    • Toaster/convection oven
    • Slow cooker (use crockpot liners for easier cleaning)
    • Rice cooker (can re-heat leftovers after adding a little water to the bottom of the pot)

 

  • Hot beverages
    • Electric hot water dispenser (very useful for hot water on demand)
    • Electric kettle
    • French press
    • Automatic coffee maker (if you don’t have a kettle and French press)
    • Blender

 

 

Meal plan ideas

Having the right equipment set-up is incomplete without meal plans though. Meal plans help you stick to your goal of eating at home as much as possible. They’re especially handy when you’re low in energy and don’t want to have to think about what you’ll cook tonight. They also help you mix up your meals so you don’t eat the same thing every day.

So how do you start planning your meals? First off, remember that you still have those frozen meals you’d prepared before the renovations began. If you’re short on cooking ideas, you can start by planning to re-heat the frozen meals every other day. Then you just have to think about the menu for the days in between.

For healthy and easy-to-cook family meals, here are 26 different ones you can try. Here are some more healthy recipes based on the appliance you’re cooking with: BBQ grill, panini press, toaster oven, slow cooker, and rice cooker. Don’t forget about no-cook snacks like: salads, sandwiches, fresh fruit, vegetables with dip, overnight oatmeal, frozen fruit smoothie blended with juice or dairy/non-dairy milk, cereal with yogurt, etc.

 

The key to not getting discouraged by the whole ordeal is to avoid eating the same meal more than twice in a row. That would require a wide range of recipes to try, which you already have with the ideas above. This will also help distract you from being too hung up on the temporary loss of your kitchen. Before you know it, you’ll have a brand-new kitchen as well as a whole slew of new recipes you’ve discovered you enjoy.

5 More House Projects to Do in the Summer

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You’ve already dusted your hands off from the previous five summer projects? Right on!

 

Well, for bonus points, here are five more:

 

Pool and patio deck

You probably want to schedule this project to be done as early as possible at the onset of summer. Then you can enjoy it right away for the rest of the sunbathing days in the season. Summer is also when you can be sure the ground is soft enough to install an in-ground pool. And with the ample summer sun, you can build a deck from framing to staining in a matter of days. Just make sure to factor in the permit approval time when you’re building a new deck.

 

Landscape the yard

Ever wanted to have a flower bed or your very own rock garden? Maybe you’ve been thinking about some hedges for privacy or trees for shade. Landscaping does a big number in upping the curb value of your home. While you’re at it, why not try to get away from the typical postage-stamp grass lawn? Choose plants that serve useful functions for a yard that’s greener than just its looks.

 

Renew fence

Your fence is literally the first thing that people see since it’s put up right at the edge of your property. So it’s a good investment to give it a little TLC while it’s nice out. Replace any posts that look rundown and update the fence look with a brand-new paint job. Here’s a cost-saving tip: if you share a fence with your neighbours, ask if they’re willing to chip in half the costs. Chances are, they’ll say yes since they also get the benefits of a sturdy fence.

 

Kitchen renovations

One of the commonly overlooked effects of kitchen renovations is how you’ll prepare your meals. Sure, you can budget in going out to the restaurant for the duration of the remodel. You can even decide to be budget-conscious and plan out a whole slew of microwaved meals. But if you renovate your kitchen during the summer, you’ve got yourself a third option: BBQ-grilled feasts. Now you have a very good excuse to hold BBQ parties in your backyard every hot evening. That’s the stuff legendary summers are made of.

 

Maintenance work

Of course, every season has its share of chores for house upkeep and summer’s no different. First up is that BBQ grill. You know, the one you’ll use to host epic BBQ parties during kitchen renos? Yep, that should be cleaned – especially if you see yourself using it a lot this summer.

It’s also a good time to put some detergent in the outdoor trash can and give it thorough rinsing with the garden hose. That’ll get rid of any lingering bits and smell inside. If you have flower pots on your porch or walkway, make sure to scrub the stains underneath and re-position the pots somewhere else.

You also want to improve air quality and circulation at home by cleaning all the air conditioner parts. Do the same with the window screens. And since you won’t be using your fireplace much during summer anyway, take the opportunity to sweep out the soot build-up in your chimney. You should actually do this every three months or so with the help of a professional.

Last but not least, the dryness of summer makes it a lot easier to clear the leaves-and-twigs debris out of the gutters. Make sure to add that task to your list, too.

 

Now, grab yourself a cool drink and soak up some sun on the new patio deck. You’re well-prepared for whatever the next season throws at you.

Top Bathroom And Kitchen Trends in 2017

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Accessibility

With populations aging and more awareness of the differently abled, accessibility issues have become more important to the general public.  Sloped entry ways, lowered shelving and light switches, touchless faucets and wider doorways all promote accessibility for all.  Automated systems such as remote controlled drapery, motion detected lighting and smartphone operated HVAC systems not only help the differently abled, but they can be more energy efficient as well.   

Quartz Countertops

Quartz works as a countertop because of its durability and resistance to staining and scratching.  With the advent of engineered quartzes which contain an added resin, homeowners no longer have to worry about sealing, polishing or sanding down their countertops.  A simple wipe with a soft cloth and mild soap is all that’s needed.  Whether used in the bathroom or kitchen, quartz countertops come in a huge variety of styles that can be chosen to work with any surroundings.

Large Stone Slabs

Whether used as dining room table tops, kitchen backsplashes or shower surrounds, single slab tiles act as functional, fashionable and waterproof protective surfaces.  Without the need for grout, they’re more easily cleaned and while affording aesthetically pleasing surfaces.  Although they may be more expensive than traditional materials, the eye-popping value makes it worth the cost.

High Contrast Colours

Strong color combinations have traditionally been considered a no-go when it comes to interior design.  Worry about resale value, colour fatigue and matching issues have led designers to be more conservative when it come to colour combinations.  However, with classic bold colours such as blacks or reds, homeowners and designers have found using unique accessories, materials and patterns that complement the high contrast colours can create styles that are more timeless than flash-in-the-pan.  Don’t be steered away from a colour combination that innately appeals to you.

Open Concept Showers

Sticking with accessibility issues, but also providing a dramatic flair, curbless, open-concept showers give the bathroom a larger look by losing the enclosed space.  Making the bathroom floor a single level allows easier shower use for the elderly or differently abled.  Additionally, cleaning becomes simpler as there are fewer edges for dirt to accumulate, while the lack of shower doors cuts down on residual soap scum.

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