Category: Home

Have you recently moved into your new property? Or perhaps you’ve been living in your house for a while, and you want to spruce things up and add some life and character to the whole place. There are a few key ways that you can do this. One of the very best ways is by upgrading your outdoor living space. Knowing how to freshen up your yard can make a world of difference to your home. According to the American Society of Landscape Architects, doing a spot of landscaping in your outdoor living space can boost the value of your home by at least 15%. The idea of giving your yard a facelift can seem daunting, but keep reading, and you’ll see how simple a job it is once you learn how to freshen up an outdoor space. If you’re looking for some inspiration for your next home improvement project, then here are our top tips for turning a dull outdoor living space into a vibrant and attractive one. Design The Space Before you can even begin to think about the finished project, you need to have a solid picture in your mind of what you want. The best work around the home is done with a careful plan in place. There is no use in just heading out into the yard with a spade and randomly making changes here and there. You need the overall project to look and feel cohesive. What’s the best way to achieve this? Well, you try to design the space yourself if you feel confident, but most people opt to defer this task to the professionals. Hiring a landscape designer to oversee the design element of the project will help you immensely. First, they will be able to take a look at your outdoor living space and give it a full analysis before deciding on which design elements would work best. If you choose a reputable designer, they will be able to work to any brief you give them and help turn your dream yard into a reality. Beyond just vision, landscape designers will have practical knowledge of how to freshen up a dull outdoor living space. They will also have lots of handy contacts within the wider landscaping industry. These contacts will include architects, landscape contractors, bespoke suppliers, and craftspeople. All of this will ensure that the improvements to your outdoor living space are bespoke, well-thought-out, and exactly what you asked for. Create Some Custom Tiling One great way to spruce up your yard is to consider putting in some outdoor tiling. Take a look around some ceramic tile stores and see if you can find any designs that you like. Most people tend to focus on plants, grass, or wooden structures in their yard. Tiles often get overlooked as a choice, but there are several key reasons that you should try them out. First, outdoor tiling is a very durable and versatile option. Ceramic tiles are designed to withstand a range of adverse weather conditions, and they should be able to hold up throughout all four seasons. It doesn’t matter what climate you’re living in, they can do the job. Second, they are super easy to clean and present a very low maintenance option when it comes to outdoor flooring. Thinking about aesthetics, especially in terms of how to freshen up your yard, can be hard. But ceramic tiles present a versatile option when you’re thinking about how to make your new outdoor living space look perfect. They come in a wide range of styles and colors. This differs from more traditional flooring options like grass, gravel, or wood. You can find some unique tiling patterns out there that can elevate your outdoor living space into something worthy of conversation. Finally, ceramic tiles have a versatile range of applications. You can pick a stunning design and use it for a patio, or perhaps you can opt for some slip-resistant tiles and use them for a pool deck. Keeping your options open is always a good thing when you’re trying to design any space around the house. Refresh Your Gutters Here’s the part of the guide where we divert from the luxurious or glamorous elements of learning how to freshen up your yard. We need to talk about the gutters. Just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not an integral part of your yard. Gutter cleaning is something you’re going to need to get done before you can call your outdoor renovation project complete. A clogged gutter will eventually cause rainwater to spill over the edge of your gutter and start running down your walls. Over time, this will become a creeping problem that will eventually get serious. It can lead to water damage both inside and outside your home, not something that you want to take lightly. According to This Old House, water damage affects up to 14,000 Americans every single day. Don’t let your gutters make you a part of this number. Get Fencing Installed Sometimes, good landscaping design is about correctly doing the little things that most people don’t notice. A fence is never going to steal the show when you’re walking around a stunning outdoor living space, but it plays a vital role in the overall design, security, and function of your space. If you want to know some of the best techniques for how to freshen up your outdoor space, then you need to understand the benefits of a good fence. If you’re still not convinced about why you should reach out to a fence installation service, then maybe reading through some benefits of fence installation will help. First and foremost, fences are about privacy and security. If your outdoor space has no fence, then there is nothing stopping anyone from just waltzing in, and nobody wants that. A fence can also provide a physical barrier that lets you enjoy your space in peace and privacy. It’s your home, and after all, you should be able…

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to follow a pest control technician, you’re in luck! We’ve found a video that provides a complete insight into their typical day. Here’s how it goes. To start the day, the technician would go into the office and pick up the chemicals and supplies they needed plus their paperwork. Now it is time to hit the road. The technician’s vehicle is in their office. Video Source It is advisable to have a map to plan and navigate the route for the day, especially if there are multiple homes to visit. Once the technician has driven to their first appointment, it is time to start providing pest control services. This could be as simple as just spraying around a home and could take no time at all. Again, this depends on the pest control services being rendered. A benefit of being a technician is that, for the most part, you drive from one appointment to the next, meaning you have a break from one job site to the next. However, there are downfalls, such as if one gets to a home and the customer does not open the door or is not there. The technician may have to reschedule the appointment with the customer. But overall, the normal day for pest control technicians is not bad. .

Housing upgrades to benefit seniors differ slightly from those meant for their younger counterparts. This is because of various reasons. For instance, a senior citizen no longer lives with his or her growing children may not need as many rooms as when they were bringing up their children. Another factor is that senior citizens don’t necessarily need additional rooms past the first floor as accessing upstairs rooms might prove too much of an uphill task. We’ve prepared a list of housing upgrades to benefit seniors that takes that into consideration. Look into Downsizing This seems to be quite the opposite of what we are recommending here, housing upgrades to benefit seniors. However, downsizing can also be regarded as an upgrade if it provides more benefits than staying put. Most seniors live in the houses that they brought up their children in throughout their lifetime. The rooms that were used by their children eventually get converted to storage rooms, empty halls, or worse, become inaccessible by seniors, especially if there were not located on the first floor. To avoid such a scenario, and also the financial burdens that come along with a big house (mortgage and rent) consider downsizing into a smaller house. The new house should ideally only have the first floor with no inaccessible floors above. It should also just have enough rooms to accommodate you and the occasional visitor that may pay you a visit. The visitor can be caregiver, your children, grandchildren or your old friends. You don’t need different rooms for each of them, one will sufficiently serve their needs as they will not be regular visitors. To make this upgrade, you’ll need to get as much information as you can on how to buy a second home. The knowledge will save you from making common mistakes that most seniors do when making a home purchase. For instance, you’ll get to know the depreciation rate of the house you intend to buy, the additional perks you can get when you pay instantly compared to when you buy the house in installments and also the adjustments that the home sellers are able to make to the house to accommodate your age or health condition. Find Ways to Increase to Energy Efficiency Another housing upgrades to benefit seniors point that you might overlook is energy efficiency in your home. A majority of people from all age brackets waste a lot of energy because they do not think their energy consumption through, and make deliberate plans to use it efficiently. The most common types of energy in a home are gas and electricity. These need to be conserved to ensure that the bills do not skyrocket to an unimaginable degree. For instance, to preserve electrical energy, you’ll need to adopt small and big measures alike to ensure you are using it efficiently. The first basic steps towards this would be to make use of flasks to store your heated water. This step, though basic will save the energy that you’ll use from repeatedly heating water for basic uses like making a cup of tea or coffee. Another minor measure with a huge impact is making good use of natural lighting, so that you do not have to compensate with electricity, especially during the day. Another tip on the same is to always switch off appliances that are not in use. For instance, ac services when the temperatures are at optimum performance. If you are the type that’s not too keen on applying the measures mentioned above and would prefer an option that has no recurring costs, consider going for an energy option that has lesser recurrent costs, like solar or wind energy. These options are good because once you incur the initial set-up and materials costs, then you will only deal with occasional maintenance costs afterward. To see the options that are available to you, inquire from local solar and wind energy providers near you. Having energy saving options like solar or wind energy will be greatly impactful because then you can even power up your doors and windows smartly without feeling a pinch on your pockets, because they’ll incur zero power bills. To do this, seek out the services of professional window and door installation contractors. They’ll know how to convert the solar generated direct current to alternative current that’ll run the smart solutions, when the need arises in the future. Have Your Basement Appliances Repaired On the same breath of housing upgrades to benefit seniors, energy efficiency category, have all your faulty appliances repaired, especially the ones you have at the basement. It’s going to be very counterproductive to have taken all the necessary measures to use your energy efficiently, even going as far as reverting to alternative and renewable sources of energy like solar, only to have them wasted on appliances that are not working at optimum. So, consider having all appliances not only repaired, but also replaced if need be. For instance, if your water heater has been failing at heating the water efficiently, you shouldn’t even think of appliance repairs on such a crucial item. You should, instead, engage the services of qualified people for replacement water heater solutions. This is because, as a senior, you should prioritize your health at all times, and anything that has the potential to compromise your wellbeing should be fixed or done away with. Showering with cold water has the potential of making you sick and sending you to the hospital without notice. Avoid such a tragedy at all costs. Make Your Outdoors Presentable As a senior, you’ll mostly need the freshest air and environment to thrive. This is why beautifying your outdoors makes it to our list of housing upgrades to benefit seniors. Presentable outdoors will improve your mood and greatly improve your wellbeing. To do this, take measures like planting fresh flowers on your backyard, improve your outdoor lighting or even spruce up your old fence. Yes, that beloved fence that has served you for years…

As the year ends, are you trying to find ways to revamp your home? Knowing how to freshen up your aesthetics and make the right upgrades can go a long way in creating a more comfortable space and adding value. From deep cleaning to installing a new patio, here are some ways you can enhance your home’s appearance. Deep Cleaning There is a saying that cleanliness is close to godliness. After all, maintaining A sanitary home is the first step in making sure you and your family are healthy. You can start by getting rid of any excessive clutter that’s making it hard to move around your home properly. Knowing how to freshen up your closets and get rid of boxes can allow you to show off your floors, furniture, wall treatments, and things that are hidden behind excessive clutter. A local trash removal service can help you get rid of any things you no longer need. If you haven’t worn clothes in years, or if things have become worn out, have a trash removal professional recycle them for you. You can also hold an estate sale to give away good items to people in need. Bring in some extra cash by taking things to your local consignment shop. Once you’ve gotten rid of excessive clutter, you may notice a lot of dust, dirt, or even mold in your home. If so, it may be time to call in a professional cleaning service to help you. Professional cleaners can ensure all of your home surfaces are sanitized and free of bacteria that can make your family ill. Do you have carpets harboring mold, pet dander, dirt, and allergens? Let professional cleaners work their deep cleaning magic to steam clean your carpets and get rid of nasty stains. Hardscaping Knowing how to freshen up your home involves keeping your outside looking beautiful. The right hardscaping professionals can revamp your walkways, patios, and driveways. Whether you have cement, stone, or brick, these professionals can help. A brick restoration service can enhance the chalking in between the bricks and clean any built-up dirt and grime that can make it look new again. You may also want to hire power-washing professionals who can get rid of dirt and grime quickly. In addition to cleaning your existing hardscaping features, you may also want to install some new ones. Have you always dreamt of having a water fountain or a fish pond? What better way to freshen up your outside aesthetics than by adding elements of nature that can keep your home thriving year-round? If you have a cement driveway, now may be the time to repave it if excessive cracks or holes have developed over time. Cement is extremely durable, but can develop cracks that can enable water to seep in underneath and create drainage issues on your property. Do you notice weeds sprouting out through cracks in your cement driveway? That may signal that your landscaping soil is being invaded by nutrient-sucking plants. Revamping your cement driveway can help ensure that your underlining soil structure is protected. Cement contractors can also add color to cement to improve the look. So if you want a colorful driveway that can stand out in your neighborhood, find local contractors for the job. You can have a cement color that matches your home design and theme. Wooden Fence A white picket fence is symbolic of many American suburban homes. If you have such a colored fence, it may be time to revamp the paint job. After all, you can have a fence in any color you desire. If you’ve updated your home design, why not have a fence that reflects that? A fence contractor can repaint your fence and any color you wish so why not have a paint color that showcases your personality or your favorite color? Help your home stand out on the block. In other words, if all the other homes have the same fence color, highlight your residence by having the only red or yellow fence in the neighborhood. Changing the color isn’t the only reason to update your wooden fence. Unfortunately, wood can attract pests such as termites that love to feed on them. So if your fence is showing wear and tear, it may be time to make the necessary repairs so your fence can still protect your home and do its job. After updating the physical structure, fencing contractors can further protect the fence by adding stains and sealants that can repel insects. Rearranged Furniture Rearranging your furniture is how to freshen up your home layout. After all, moving a couch to a different corner of the room can open up space in ways you may not have imagined. You can consult with an interior designer who understands ergonomics or different home decor trends that can help you arrange your furniture in a way that can highlight different elements of your space. Did you know you can call a local mover to help you with what’s called an in-house move? Very easy to move a small piece of furniture on your own, such as a chair or a small table. It may be difficult to move bulkier items such as a bid or large couch. With a professional on deck to help you, you don’t have to worry about injuring yourself or damaging furniture. If you have beautiful antique pieces or fragile items, having a professional mover manage them can ensure that they don’t get damaged. If you have a multi-leveled home then enlisting a professional to help you is a must. Fresh Carpeting Are you one of the many homeowners who have a carpet? Carpets provide great insulation and warmth in any home. After all, there’s nothing like coming home, taking off your shoes, and walking around on your soft carpet. The problem is your pets love your carpet as well. So your carpets may be filled with dirt, pet dander, mold, and allergens that can make you and your…

When you’re trying to sell a grey split level house, you might have a tough time competing against other houses on the market that have a more exciting or exotic curb appeal to them. In some housing markets, the competition is stiff and buyers expect those who are selling homes to wow them with a gorgeous house that is trendy and colorful. If your home is gray and reminds people of rainy, doldrums weather when they see it, they might pass it up for a home that gives a bright, memorable impression. There may be many homes on your block that are gray and have a split-level structure. This means that you’ll be competing with their pricing and also the features that they install in the home for upgrades before putting the houses on the market. If your house is kind of boring, you might worry that your home will not be good enough for buyers to want to purchase it. Before you lose hope, you should follow our tips below to get your house to snatch the attention of potential homebuyers as they’re walking down your street or scrolling through housing listings on an online platform. Trust Your Gut, Not Someone Else’s When you’re trying to improve your grey split level house before putting it on the market, you should follow your feelings and trust your understanding of the job market. In the same way that you wouldn’t blindly follow someone to the point of important document destruction, you shouldn’t blindly follow people’s advice about how you can make your house more attractive to potential buyers. It’s one thing to listen to friendly advice and take it with a grain of salt. It’s another thing to bend over backward to the whims of others. If a lot of people in your life are giving you unsolicited advice about what you should do to make your gray house look less drab, it can be annoying. To make it worse, when that advice is conflicting, it can be hard to decide what advice to follow and what suggestions to politely decline to use. When you become a homeowner, you’re in the captain’s seat for making decisions for your home. From the day that you’re handed the keys to your house to the day that you exchange the keys with the new homeowners of the property, you’re the one who is in charge of how you handle every interaction. While this responsibility can feel like a burden at times, it can also be nice to know that you have all the tools you need to make good decisions. You can ask for advice when you need it, but ultimately it’s your house until you sell it to someone else so you need to make choices that make you feel like you’re doing the best you can to prepare your house for sale and increase the curb appeal of the property. If your choices start to feel like they’re coming from a place of pleasing others, you may begin to resent those around you. What’s more, your home could lose that personal charm that happens when someone is making choices for their home that they feel are good ones. Hire Professional Contractors Before you can make a grey split level house look better, you need to attend to the house’s maintenance needs. From hiring a roofing contractor to getting the HVAC and septic systems inspected, you won’t want to try to do these jobs yourself. Even if you’re a maintenance professional who has had years of experience in multiple aspects of the construction industry, you don’t want to take on more than you can handle. There’s a reason why professional construction services have a whole team of people who are qualified to accomplish the job. Even if you had all of the construction and maintenance knowledge in the world, you’d still need professional contractors to support you with certain jobs. It pays to hire professional contractors because they can ensure that the job is done correctly. They can also give your jobs a sense of legitimacy that isn’t there for potential homeowners if some of them are completed as a do-it-yourself project. Although doing it yourself can save you some money in the short term, it can also lead to long-term problems down the road that could be avoided if you hired professional contractors in the first place. The last thing you want to do when you’re selling a house is increase the timeline for repairs because you tried to repair or renovate something yourself and ended up creating a huge mess or safety concern that needed the professionals to come in to fix it. When you botch a DIY job, you waste time and money when you have to call in the professionals anyway. For this reason, you might as well get the pros to handle it the first time. After all, that’s what they’re there to do! Balance Budget and Beauty If you’re trying to improve the appearance of a grey split level house so it’s more attractive to potential buyers, you should consider what you can afford and what you would like to improve. You should prioritize the things that need to be done to make your home a safer place for the new owners to live such as replacing a roof that needs it by hiring an affordable roofing company for the job. Although you may want to add marble countertops and hardwood floors to the home, your budget may only have enough funds in it to install Formica countertops or luxury vinyl plank flooring options. There’s no shame in cutting corners where you can and making it less pricey to improve the home. In essence, selling a home is a business transaction where you want to profit as much as possible. Part of making smart business decisions is keeping your bottom line healthy. If you invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations before you sell your house,…