If you never knew how livable your home was before the lockdown you now know. Your home is your joy and pride, and when you remain cooped up in it for a long time, you will notice some things that you would normally ignore. If you now feel that your home is less than pleasant, have a look at the following best ways to make your space more livable.

How to Make Your Home Livable

Home automation

The telecom industry is growing, and it has made it possible for people to work from the comfort of their homes. When working from home, home automation can make your home more livable. Some of the features offered by home automation include:

• Thermostat control
• keyless entry
• Fire and CO2 monitoring

The main goal of home automation is to streamline all the home functions. This is a great way to make your home more livable.

Touch of comfort

Another great way to make your home more livable is by adding comfort. Increasing the comfort levels in your home will make it less frustrating, especially if you have to spend most of your time indoors. Some of the simple ways to add comfort to your home include adding comfortable pillows, soft throws, and tactile bedding, among others.

Take care of your windows and doors

It’s also vital that you remember to take care of the doors and windows, at least once or twice every year. Proper and routine care will help to prevent deterioration through wear and tear. For instance, if your door is letting in a draught, you can buy an affordable rubber draught-excluder and use it to fix the door and retain the heat inside your home. Similarly, if you don’t have double glazing windows, you may want to consider having them installed because they will help to cut on your heating bills.

Change the layout of your furniture

Simple things like the layout of your furniture may have a big impact on your living space than you might think. People rarely change the layout of their homes. After placing the furniture in one position, it will live there forever. However, in case it’s not properly placed, the room will always feel odd. Therefore, you may want to have a look at the layout of your furniture and determine whether it’s working for you. Ideally, the layout you choose should help you to make the best use of your space.

Add air conditioning

Regardless of where you live, installing an air conditioning unit will make a big difference in your home. Rather than fanning yourself during the hot weather, you will only flick a switch and relax as you enjoy the cool air in your home. According to the CDC, an air conditioner has numerous health benefits such as preventing illnesses and killing bacteria.

Bottom Line

During the current pandemic and economic crisis, you may not afford to do some expensive home projects like adding a swimming pool or doing a complete kitchen overhaul. However, you can improve the look of your home and make it more livable through home automation, adding a touch of comfort, and taking care of your windows. You may also want to change the layout of your furniture and adding an air conditioning unit.  

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While we all desire to live in a home where space isn’t an issue, this is not always possible. If you live with other people, a house can feel small, especially in common areas like the living room, kitchen, and even bathroom.

Below are different ways of making the most of your current space without spending too much money.

The Living Room

After the day’s activities, people often congregate in the living room to share their day’s intricate details. During this time, this space can feel relatively small, and thus it affects your ability to relax.

Make the most of your living room space by:

Allowing Natural Light

Natural light improves how you see the house. Highlighting different sections of your living room through products alternative to curtains gives the room more visual appeal.

Mount the TV

Perhaps you’re used to having an entertainment section of the house where the TV, speakers, and host of other things stay. While this is not a bad thing, having such clutter in one place makes the room feel smaller.

Mount your television and speakers on the wall or above the fireplace to prevent the house from looking congested while still maintaining a stylish look.

Accessorize

Adding unique features to your home can help maximize the space more so in the living room. Accessories can include furniture, art, or smaller pieces that fit into the current space seamlessly.

Simple ideas like buying furniture with exposed legs and chairs with no arms allow for better space use but still leave the room less congested. Large types of art are also a creative way of making the most of space.

The Kitchen

Among the most crowded areas in your house, the kitchen always feels like the smallest. Utensils piled on top of one another can often make the room feel like clutter is all over.

Begin de-cluttering your kitchen and making the most of every inch of space by:

Using Open Wall Space

Shelves, pegboards, and racks with hooks make your kitchen very spacious as you can hang or place utensils and other kitchen gadgets in an organized manner.

De-clutter the Counter Tops

The countertop is often the area we use while preparing meals. If this space is full of cups or other kitchen items, it is impossible to work. Remove any unnecessary materials like cups and instead, use magnetic strips to hang them on the wall.

The Bathroom

A bathroom that feels cramped is always uneasy, and you may not want to spend much time there. Boost the appeal and space of your bathroom by:

Freeing Up Floor Space

Often you’ll find your bathroom is small due to subtle things like the size of large occupancy of the floor space. Useful products like the pedestal sink and floating vanity help you make the most of your bathroom space.

Adding a Mirror

If your bathroom lacks a mirror, it may feel small and cramped. The reflection of a mirror makes the room feel and look larger as well.

Although your house might not be that big, you can put the available space into suitable use and make the room feel much more significant.

Allow natural light, mount the TV, and accessorize your living room. Simultaneously, use open wall space and de-clutter the countertops in the kitchen and free up floor space and add a mirror in the bathroom to cost-effectively maximize your living space.

Are you looking to improve the look of your home this year? You’re not alone! Many people are getting bored of their homes, especially since most of us are confined to the same four walls, day in, day out because of the pandemic. In this guide, we’re going to look at 9 simple ways you can look at improving your home – take a look and see what could work for you. 

Change Up Your Accessories

Start by looking at your accessories and seeing if you can change things up from there. Your accessories are the easiest, and oftentimes cheapest, thing to change out, so it’s a good idea to have two ‘themes’ that you can simply swap whenever you get bored. See if you can find a few different throws, rugs, and pillows to suit the new look you want to go for. If you have a place to store your old accessories, it might be a good idea to just put them away for a while and you could save a  fortune on accessories in future. Not seeing them for a bit can definitely bring the novelty back. 

Bring In More Life

Bring more life into your home with sunshine, plants, and flowers. Let that natural light in by keeping your windows super clean – even look into getting a new window if you need one. Flowers and plants are ideal for a home that needs a little more color and beauty, not forgetting the air purifying properties that certain plants can have. 

Create A Gallery Wall

A gallery wall can help you to better show off your style and personalize certain rooms in your home. Here are some pointers you can use for creating your very own gallery wall:

• Pick a room with a large blank wall, no distractions like windows or doors. 
• The wall should be a plain color. It doesn’t have to be white, but you should avoid creating your gallery wall on patterned wallpaper or it could end up looking far too busy. 
• If you want a uniformed look, use pictures of the same size and space them out equally.
• For a more eclectic look, pick pictures of various sizes and have fun placing them. Test it on the floor first to get an idea of how things will look.  
• You can use photos, artwork, prints, and even things like signposts, neon lights, and mirrors to create your gallery wall. 

Get Savvy With Storage 

If you want to improve your home, storage is probably necessary. The right storage solutions can both look great and stop your home from getting cluttered up. They will allow you to utilize the space you have, keep everything tidy, and grab what you need at a moment’s notice. You can find stacking storage options, wall storage, and much more depending on your needs. 

Use Mirrors To Reflect Space and Light 

Mirrors can be a fantastic way to reflect space and light. Put a large mirror in a small space and see how it can double it up. Put it in a dark hallway and watch it brighten it up, as if by magic. They can truly make a huge difference, and you should invest in them carefully to ensure they are high quality. 

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Stop Putting Off Repairs 

Putting off your repairs is a recipe for disaster, as certain repairs can get much, much worse in just a short space of time. Whether it’s a draught, pest infestation, or water damage restoration that you need to take care of, make sure you do it without wasting any time. These things will cost you so much more in the long run, and could be a health hazard to your loved ones. 

Dress Your Windows Properly

The correct window dressings will add personality to a room, as well as allow you to control the amount of light that you let in. If you want total control over the amount of light and privacy you have, then shutter and shade blinds could work very well and can be custom made to suit your specifications. If you want a luxurious looking home with a cosy feel, then long drapes could be best! 

Emphasize Your Books

Take off your ugly dust jackets and display your favorite books on a coffee table or bookshelf. Could you create a cosy reading nook? 

Change Up Your Hardware 

Changing up your hardware is fairly easy, whether you’re looking at changing your taps, light fittings, or door handles. It’s cheap to do and takes virtually no time at all! 

When you want to move home, you’ll obviously want to get as much money for your current property as possible. This way, you’ll have a lot more choice as to where you go next, and the more you can pay as a deposit, the smaller your mortgage will be. Although it’s generally true that the property market is going to dictate what your current home is worth, you can boost that amount by carrying out some tasks around the home before you start to sell. Here are some ideas about exactly what you can do that should make your home worth more. 

Do All The Jobs 

There are sure to be little jobs around the house that you’ve been putting off. No matter what they are, it’s time to get them done before you put your house on the market; you want to make a good first impression and you want people to see your property as soon as it goes on the market; the longer it takes to sell, the more people will be worried there is something wrong with the house – they might not even spot the listing at all if a lot of additional properties have come onto the market. 

Some of the most important things to put right at this stage include a new boiler installation if it is needed, making the kitchen look like a comfortable space to cook in, fixing any electrical issues, and dealing with any mould. 

Make It Bigger 

Of course, if you’re selling your home you’re not going to want to build an extension just before you leave, and if you’re already building an extension it’s unlikely that you will be planning to put your home on the market, so this is not quite what we mean. What we mean is that you should clear out as much of the ‘excess’ items and furniture as you can, making each room less cluttered and seem bigger. You’re not doing anything wrong, and you’re not fooling any potential buyer; you’re just showing them the true size of the room. 

You’ll need to pack everything up when you move anyway, so this is the ideal time to get a head start on things. It will make the actual move much simpler and less stressful, and will also help you to get the best price for your property. 

Kerb Appeal 

When someone pulls up outside your house to take a look at it for the first time, what is it they see? If it is an overgrown front garden with a wonky gate or a cracked driveway and lots of mess, you’re not giving out a very good first impression. No matter how great the house itself might be, that won’t want up for the disappointment the viewer will have, and it won’t make up for the lower-than-hoped-for offer they put in, if they still want the house at all. 

Make sure your home has what is called ‘kerb appeal’. This essentially means that it needs to look amazing from the first moment anyone sees it – from the moment they stand outside at the kerb, in other words. Make sure the path is weeded, the front door is painted, the rubbish is cleared away, and the hedges are trimmed and it will make all the difference. 

The bathroom is an important part of the home and is often the pace we go to relax and reset after a stressful day. Whether it be relaxing in a hot bath, singing in the shower, or having a pamper session; the bathroom is the sanctuary in our home that we can escape to. 

Today we want to take a look at some of the interior design features you can bring into your bathroom to make it cosy, relaxing, and fit to be your home spa this year. 

Egyptian cotton towels 

One part of your bathroom you may not think too much of is your towels – however investing in good quality towels can make a massive difference to your experience in the room as well as the room itself. Egyptian cotton is a soft and thick fabric ideal for bathroom towels, and once you invest in a set of these your bathroom will feel like a spa. Vamp up your every day experience in the bathroom and choose colourful towels that look and feel amazing. 

A towel warmer 

One aspect of using the bathroom that isn’t so glamorous is dealing with a wet towel when you get out of the shower. If you share a towel with your partner; it is pretty much inevitable that one of you will deal with a wet towel every day… but do you have to? Instead of hanging up your towel on a hook or rail, consider installing a towel warmer and hang it here. Not only will it dry a wet towel for the next user, but it will also warm your towel ready for stepping out of the shower or bath on a cold day. 

Some artwork 

It is important for you to consider your bathroom in the same way as the rest of your home – and this includes decor and finishing touches. It is a great idea to hang some artwork in your bathroom – and you can purchase photo tiles and waterproof frames to place your favourite pieces in. There are some amazing artists out there creating brilliant works, and you can display these in your bathroom to add colour and character to an otherwise clinical room. 

A waterfall shower 

If you want to vamp up your bathroom this year and make it feel like a luxury spa – a waterfall shower is a must. Make your showering experience feel 100 times better every day and bring that air of designer luxury to your bathroom. Waterfall showers are amazing and they will keep you warm all over and cover your whole body at once. They are much more efficient than regular showers and are much more luxurious. 

A jacuzzi bath 

When looking for the best quality kitchen and baths to bring an air of luxury to your home – a jacuzzi is a great idea. For that real spa experience in your bathroom every day, a jacuzzi bath is something that must be on your bucket list. 

Vamp up your bathroom this year and bring some of these brilliant features to the space. 

As a homeowner, it’s always important to try and keep your property in the best condition possible. However, as time progresses, even the cleanliest of homes can become filled with rubbish and debris. Trying to get rid of everything can be tough, especially if you are not used to handling the removal of large volumes of refuse. If you want to get rid of some rubbish from your home, then we recommend you try and use some of the following methods.

Each method can make rubbish removal a little easier.

Get to the local tip

The best thing to do for most people is to try and bunch up all of the refuse and rubbish and then take it to a local tip. However, this does require having access to a vehicle that can get you to the tip in the first place. It would also require having a vehicle that can actually handle the extra weight being included when driving.

Take that into account, as you could damage your vehicle by choosing to take the rubbish to the tip in a car that is not suited for this.

Use state provided refuse collection

Another option for some people is to use the local council life-up collection services that exist in some places. However, keep in mind that budgetary cuts and other issues have led to a lot of council services stripping back or entirely stopping rubbish collection outside of your weekly bin collection service.

As such, you might find that you either have to pay for this service or you simply cannot get access to it in your area. That is why we recommend you consider this for emergencies only, as other options are more likely to be suitable.

Invest in recycling

Many items that end up going into our normal rubbish bins could actually be recycled. From old pieces of plastic and carboard to old pieces of debris, you can often find that you have a means of recycling these through your usual council bin collections. Try and spend a bit more time diversifying your rubbish so that it goes into the right bin, and you might find that you have a bit more room at home.

While this is a time-consuming job, it can be a worthwhile task if you want to help get rid of more rubbish.

Hire the experts

Of course, the best thing that you could do is hire an expert in rubbish removal. Having someone come down and do the lift-up for you is much easier and will ensure that all rubbish can be removed with relative ease. Local rubbish collection companies can be a godsend when you are looking to minimise the amount of time that you spend handling rubbish and can also make sure you don’t have to get into the nitty gritty of the rubbish yourself!

So, the next time you need to handle some rubbish, don’t do it yourself. Contact a professional who can ensure that the uplift is safe, sanitary, and secure.

Underfloor heating is generally much more energy efficient when compared with the other options that are available, such as central heating. Nevertheless, it is important to consider the flooring that is installed above the underfloor heating pipe if you are to make the most of your new system. 

Keeping that in mind, in this post we are going to take a look at the various types of material that can be installed on heated floors. Read on to discover some of the different choices that you should consider when getting underfloor heating installed in your home.

Ceramic tile – Tile is one of the easiest flooring options to go for. You have a wide variety of styles and colours to choose from and they can be installed in any type of room. Tiles are a good choice for underfloor heating, as their composition allows for heat to travel through the tile and warm your home.

Stone – A lot of underfloor heating installers will recommend stone flooring. Not only does stone naturally allow heat to travel through it, but it stores heat as well, which ensures you floors keep warm. 

Wood – Wood is another popular choice for those that have underfloor heating. It is advisable to go for engineered-wood flooring as opposed to simple wood planks. You will benefit from an extra layer between your subfloor and the wood floor if you go for the engineered option. This helps to protect your flooring from becoming too dry due to the heat.

Carpet – The underfloor heat with the softness of carpet can be a cosy combination. However, you should try to go for a thinner carpet so the heat can seep through your home. Notify the contractor of your choice of carpet so they can take it into consideration.

Vinyl – When contrasted with the other options that have been mentioned, such as stone and tile, vinyl is not as effective in terms of allowing heat through. Nevertheless, this does not mean you cannot opt for vinyl flooring. Again, if you have your heart set on a vinyl floor you should discuss this with your heating contractor so they can take this into consideration when installing your system. 

No matter what type of flooring you opt for, it is imperative to make sure that you keep up with your cleaning schedule to ensure that your floors are sparkling and look incredible. This is why it makes sense to look for the best floor scrubber, irrespective of whether it is for a commercial or domestic environment. Put together a cleaning schedule to make sure you keep on top of everything.

All in all, hard surfaces, such as ceramic tile and stone, are the best options as they transfer heat effectively and have the least resistance. However, this does not mean you cannot go for another option. Simply make sure you discuss your choice with your contractor first.