7 Kitchen Design Ideas

The kitchen has evolved a lot over the years. Once found only in the rear of the house, kitchen design today taking outdoor kitchen background. The challenge for kitchen design is in creating a more dance kitchen, which is part of the dining room, family room, or great.

In deciding how to design your kitchen, you should consider things like: your kitchen will have an island? It will be a modern or traditional design? What kind of equipment will you need to design your new kitchen? What kind of lighting design?

1. Kitchen as 'Excellent'
Whether you are redesigning an existing kitchen or planning a new kitchen in the new house there are several design considerations to keep in mind, among others on the island or peninsula as part of kitchen design. This can be used to connect the area closest to the kitchen or family dining room, creating 'good'. The Kitchen Island or peninsula will allow the chef to stay in touch visually and conversation with family members or guests at the next family or dining room.

2. Create a kitchen canopy
To give the kitchen some visible boundaries without blocking the view of making the kitchen canopy. Also the high ceilings in the kitchen can make the perception of spaciousness.

3. The use of kitchen cabinets set the tone color for kitchen design
The kitchen cabinets will help set the tone for the entire room. The choice of wood will affect the overall look of your cabinets. To create a look that is light, use a mild wood such as ash, beech, birch, oak, maple, or brown. For medium range, select cherry. For the dark kitchen, choose wood that has some color to it.

4. The planned use of the kitchen cupboards and drawers in the new design
Planned in the blueprint design kitchen cupboards and drawers just how will be used and how much space and storage you will need before you start to design your new kitchen. The first thing to check is the surface area of the counter. See where you put things in your kitchen that already exists and where the new kitchen design will these things will go in the new space. There will be more than one person cooking at a time. If so, there would be enough room for two cooks in the kitchen to work together?

5. The use of kitchen design kitchen-type
For setting the counter, many kitchen designers agree kitchen designs to be the best in terms of efficiency with a single aisle and counter to both sides, making it easy to turn around to go from the sink to cook a variety.

6. Under Kitchen Cabinet Lighting
Kitchen lighting can be overlooked area of kitchen design. Even if the kitchen has generally good lighting, counter area can be a bit dark. For areas under cabinet lighting can help to shed more light to work in. By using simple fluorescent light spots or small kitchen can be made to look bigger.

7. Look Countertops
Granite, marble, and limestone are all natural materials are popular for use in the table is available in various colors. Ceramic tile kitchen countertops are versatile, practical, and also available in many colors, and many forms, patterns and finishes. Solid surface countertops provide seamless acrylic faces. Solid surfaces also come in colors that are almost unlimited, pattern, and style, and stain and heat resistant. Laminate countertops are more affordable but not built to last. Concrete countertops are known for flexibility, and strength. Wooden table durable and easy to clean and repair, but the wood will not withstand exposure to chemicals and household water. Stainless steel countertops are granite or tile shortage elegance. This countertops absorb stains, but tend to scratch easily.

Read More

8 Tips for Decorating Your Apartment!

Here are some easy tips to decorate your home. Taking a few moments to think about your home will help you enjoy it.

Think about your home, and answer these questions:

1. What do you want to be? If you want your home to be an oasis of calm in a busy world, Are you a calming color or do they shout? If you want a fun place for friends to gather, do you have a lot of seating?

2. What are your main hobbies and activities? What do you need for the activities? For example, if you have a collection that you are working on often, to get to the storage container that can be easily opened or get rid of. If a lot of trouble to get your collection, you either will not spend time on it, or else it may be tempting to go out and risk losing or breaking certain parts.

3. Who will use the space? How many people will live there? What age? It is important for everyone to have their own space. Whether it's a special chair, sofa, table or part of a room, everyone needs 'space'. If you plan to do aerobic videos, you'll need room to move around in front of the TV!

4. How things are you? It's easy to become very messy if things do not have a place. Small wardrobe is a must for many people it is a great place to store all of the works that you do not know what to do!

5. How much do you really need? Too much furniture makes the room look crowded. Bare essentials are sofas and chairs, dining table and chairs, beds and dressers. After that, think hard about what you need or do not need. You will actually use a computer desk that-or would you rather sit on the couch with a laptop?

6. Think about the traffic flow. You want to be able to walk anywhere in the room without bumping into furniture. Try the placement of furniture drawing on paper as a first step.

7. Choose a focal point - Greystone property you home has unique features. What do you want to see when you first walk in the room? If you have nice windows with great lighting, will you emphasize this? Everyone feels lighter in the sun.

8. Think about order and organization. Do you bring work home every day, or e-mail, or exercise equipment? Where you going to put it? A large bowl or box near the front door is the right place to drop mail until you go through it later.

9. Take advantage of free expert advice. Every store and every product line employs professional designers to collect furniture and accessories. If you are not sure of the skills decor, choose a design that you like. Learn how they do it either by looking through the catalog or go to the store. Not all assembled and displayed for you. If you like the look, just do what they do!

Read More

3 Easy Tips for Successful Container Gardening

Here are some tips to make a beautiful hanging basket or container this summer. The first is to use artificial soil composed mostly of peat moss. Good soil such as Afford or pro using a mixture of perlite, peat and other materials to produce that will not compact the soil during the summer. Real garden soil compacts and turns into concrete under normal water pressure. And when it is, the plant roots stop growing because they need open spaces to move to, and absorb nutrients. Ground hard, compacted does not grow a good crop that does not use real soil in your container. I reuse my artificial potting soil from year to year. I throw it out of the pan. Chew with a shovel to chop all year’s roots and adding approximately 10% by volume of compost. Compost increases the room and give the plants a boost in healthy nutrition.

Feed plants weekly. Nitrogen, plant growth engine, is soluble in water and as you water your containers on top of dissolved nitrogen from the lower left. I use fish emulsion liquid feed with seaweed to provide trace nutrients my plants all require and highly recommend it. You can use a liquid plant food (like miracle grow or Shultz) to promote growth. Compost tea is the Cadillac of liquid plant food, and if you make your own compost tea, your plants will respond with a bloom bigger and better as well as improve morale.

And finally, no matter the size of the container, it is very important to soak all the way down at each watering. Continue watering until water emerges from the bottom of the pan. This ensures that the roots can reach all parts of the container and grow well.

Read More

3 Steps To Set The Home Decor Accessories

One of the biggest home decorating dilemma is how to organize your accessories, whether it's a bookcase, shelf, or table. Here is a three-step system that will transform your boring or cluttered spaces into attractive sketches!

Harmony and contrast
When arranging a space with accessories, one must remember that the most important thing to avoid here is boredom! It has much less to do with the objects you choose than how you choose to display it. To save the settings of putting neighbors for their nap, remember to keep the balance of harmony (things that feel like they go together, like colors that are similar or style) and contrast (things goods spices to be different ... smooth to texture, rounded to the straight line, et ...) you want a bit of both in your settings. Maybe you can create harmony by repeating square shape or the color purple, and then add subtle contrast with the candlestick sits on a rough cart.

Scale and form
Make sure that you use the item into the scale of their new home ... You do not want a small paperweight on top of a large kitchen table, and you want to avoid using high setting the ceiling of the flowers on the small table. Most people tend to use things that are too small for their environment yet. If you have small accessories that you want to display, but it is necessary to give them more oomph in the setting, try grouping them on a plate or fabric-covered box. You can also give them high by their perch on top of stacked books or baskets.

Layer and smoothing
After you have selected your object to space following the design principles of the above, it is now time for layers and soften. Start with a piece of a larger, slightly higher than the center ... This will determine the pieces in your settings. Now work out the edges of the layers ... Add a background layer higher, the middle layer of medium-sized high and the smallest objects in front of you. Keeping the eye moving up and down like it purveys arrangement from left to right to interest. Add some fabric or ribbon twist to soften the edge of a shelf or table, to bring color, and to highlight specific objects.

Read More

10 Neat Ideas To Consider When Remodeling Your Bathroom

Of all the home improvement projects, some may benefit from a shower renovation project. Bathroom remodeling is a great way to add real value to your home. On the plus side it, it will increase the enjoyment level of yourself and your family.

There are a number of things to consider before doing a big project. They are:

1. Keep your eye on the ball. It is important to look at the bathroom renovation project as a whole project. Although there are many small obstacles to overcome, it is important to look at the overall project.

2. No remodeling project can succeed without a realistic budget. Take the time to draw up budgets honest, and try our best to solve it.

3. Get a reliable contractor. For most people, the bathroom renovation is not a do it yourself project. It is important to find a contractor who has experience with plumbing and renovation of bathrooms.

4. Get a detailed inspection of your bathroom done before you start. A good idea would be to have a plumber check your bathroom for leaks and other problems before you start.

5. Now is your chance to become more energy efficient. Chances are you will be able to save money in the long run by installing low-flow toilets, water saving showerheads and other energy efficient equipment.

6. remain organized. The right organization essential to a successful bathroom renovation projects. Use a calendar to keep track of important deadlines, and stay organized as you go forward.

7. Draw your bathroom design proposal. If you want a large bathtub, or even jet tub, be sure to pull out and make sure you have enough space. There is also software where you can enter your design, including equipment, furniture, flooring and more. Either way works great.

8. The storage space is at a premium in many modern bathrooms. See if you can remodel to get more closet space and storage.

9. Be sure to shop around for what you need to get the best price. The price of the same equipment can vary slightly between stores.

10. A coat of paint can make a huge difference when remodeling a bathroom, but many people fail to take this important step and cheap.

I also suggest that you go out and have a good look at the house bathroom Show. They have all the latest trends in the market and will save a lot of time and effort in trying to come up with ideas of their own. It will be a big help in the placement of equipment and you can see, as an example of how important closets and storage. The main thing to remember is to have fun and enjoy the project and your new bathroom!

Read More

8 Tips for Refinishing Your Kitchen Cabinets

If you have been shopping for new kitchen cabinets recently, you know that it is often much more economical to refinish your cabinets longer than to buy new ones. Here are 8 tips that will make your kitchen cabinet refinishing a huge success.

1. If your cabinets are painted, remove the paint with a chemical stripper. If your closet stained or air, clean the surface properly or remove some of the stain or varnish with chemical refinisher.

2. Take the door of your closet and remove the handle and hardware. It would be much easier if you lay the door flat to work on them.

3. Check to see how much damage there is to the closet. If there are only minor damage, such as a dark stain around the door handle, just clean up this area. Use synthetic steel wool pad because it will not hurt a finger or stuck on wood fiber.

4. Dip the pad in paint thinner, mineral spirits, or turpentine and rub the stain. Then lightly rub the whole surface, thus completing the cleaning and dulling will remain.
5. After you have cleaned the surface and removed the dark stains, remove oil-based finish, clear as Manway. Finish all clear low-odor and some are available in either a glossy finish or satin. Apply several coats of finish thickness.

6. If you find you have to repeat more than just the stained area, using a chemical refinisher - strong cleaning solvent that dissolves and removes part of the old varnish. Ask the experts at your local hardware store paint suggest refinisher good quality.

7. When you use a chemical refinisher, working in a small area, and rub finished with synthetic steel wool pad. Chemical refinisher will remove the finish and even out the color of the wood and stains. Rinse the pad in more refinisher when clogged with dirty finish.

8. The cabinet surfaces should be smooth and evenly colored after you've scrubbed the entire surface. If you find nothing, just delete the entire cabinet in long strokes, overlapping with refinisher clean and clean steel wool in long strokes, overlapping. Most of the spots will remain, and the wood will be very smooth.

It is very important that you wear protective clothing and make sure that your work area is well ventilated when you are refinishing your cabinets. And do not forget to follow all safety precautions on the product label refinishing.

By following the 8 tips above, you are sure to enjoy the new kitchen cabinets refinished, beautiful for years.

Read More

7 Budget Kitchen Decorating Ideas

Despite what you might read in a trendy kitchen design magazines, update the look of your kitchen really does not require that you spend a lot of time and money. There are some simple and inexpensive ways to give your kitchen a new look.

Some small changes here and there that you can create in your kitchen can still make a great effect on how your kitchen looks. You can get ideas about what you want to incorporate into the kitchen decoration and renovation projects from books, magazines, and Internet sites that deal with design ideas kitchen.

There are 7 relatively inexpensive kitchen decorating ideas to make a beautiful kitchen:

1. Replacing cupboard doors and fronts. Then you can reface the rest of the equipment. This will greatly change the entire look and feel of your kitchen.

2. Painting your cabinet’s white and changing hardware, such as knobs, handles or pulling.

3. Using solid core MFD doors, the medium-density fiberboard or wood. They can be fitted to the base of a solid door. Types of doors can be painted to create the appearance of anything you might want.

4. The use of color to renovate the kitchen is another example of cheap kitchen decor. You can paint your walls and cabinets. When it comes to painting your existing cabinets, you can use a decorative finish. Some examples of creating a finished look depressed to add age, and faux and shiny finish. These are all simple to do and cost-effectively.

5. Many areas of your kitchen can easily update is the faucet and sink. Possible to find a moderately priced sinks that can cost from $ 50 $ 300. They are also available in various colors and styles. Porcelain, stainless steel, and acrylic are materials available to sink. For the tap, you will find that they are available in many styles and finishes, and depending on the type of faucet can range in price from $ 50 $ 750.

6. Another great idea in the kitchen decor at reasonable prices is to add a kitchen island. Large kitchen islands to add more counter space to the kitchen and provide a gathering place. If you do not have enough money or space to add a kitchen island permanently, but would like to have the advantage of one, you might consider as an alternative getting a kitchen cart. Kitchen cart can have wheels to roll around, and has drawers, shelves, and a place to hang the equipment. Because they are on wheels they can clean the street.

7. If your kitchen decorating budget is so small that you can only afford a small area to remodel your kitchen, you might consider adding a kitchen backsplash. New kitchen backsplash can really dress up a drab, boring kitchen. Kitchen backsplashes are available in so many different styles, colors and materials. Materials used for backsplashes can include, wood, porcelain, natural stone, glass, stainless steel, and even wallpaper. Costs vary depending on the material you choose.

So you can see that redecorating your kitchen could be as simple as changing the hardware on your existing cabinets or wall paintings. Only one small change can do a lot to make your kitchen a new look.

Read More

5 Things to Do Before Starting A Kitchen Design Project

In determining what to do in the kitchen employ a well thought out plan design required for any project to be successful kitchen design.

Good kitchen design should be able to work with you to create a good design according to your wishes and needs and that the box with your budget.

1. How much are you willing to spend?
Level with the designer just how much you are willing to spend on your kitchen design project.
Let the designer know just what you would feel comfortable spending. This way you can ensure that the design and the contractor will have a clear direction of where to go with the project and do not go overboard. They will have a good idea of the boundaries when making plans and choose materials.

2. How much time are you willing to devote?
You need to consider your individual needs are and if you will be able to work around the construction needed in your kitchen. By consulting with an experienced kitchen designer, you can get a good idea of how long your kitchen design project will take to provide a timeline that your family can plan around.

3. What style you are planning for your kitchen design project?
You want to give the kitchen designer as much information as possible. You need to do as much research as possible before you meet with a kitchen designer.

First you should consult with design magazines and catalogs to get an idea of what style and design elements that you want to look for your kitchen. Compile more ideas visit kitchen design showroom, check out products and designs on the internet and recorded. What do you like and dislike about the color and style. Make a scrapbook with clips from magazines and catalogs, as well as samples of materials and design elements that you want to see in the kitchen. Use this to show a kitchen designer what your vision for the new kitchen. Also bring a list of questions for your kitchen designer.

4. How do you use your kitchen?
You need to be prepared for questions that a kitchen designer will ask you when you first met him. Among the questions you need to ask yourself before talking to your kitchen design are:
You will do a lot of entertaining with family and friends? Is your family busy during the week with many activities? You should also be designed for what the other family members have the ideas.

5. How to prepare for your kitchen design project?
You will need to prepare for the disruption that will be caused by your kitchen design project. But with proper planning you can make the project run smoothly and quickly as possible.

You need to ensure that project design kitchens and separate living rooms for both security reasons and to stay out of the way of the contractor and his crew. You may need to adjust the temporary kitchen in another room of the house. What time of year you schedule a kitchen design project can facilitate everyone because of the warmer months is possible to eat and cook outside.

Read More

7 Natural Stone Pebble Projects For Every Home

Natural gravel became very popular at home because of their wide range of colors and use. Here are some ideas to use in your own home.

Japanese garden

Japanese Gardens and known for peace and tranquility. Style garden uses specific plants as well as rocks and water to create this effect. This park is often small in scale and incorporated into the overall design of the park instead of the entire park.

Decorative pots

Put some gravel on top of a pot plant can make indoor plants more attractive. Consider what part of potted plants you want to make the focus. You can use decorative ceramic pots as well. Decide whether you want to match or contrast colors in pots and gravel that you choose. Gravel and pot selection should help focus your eyes on the plant you have chosen.

Vase

Gravel also very effectively used under the vase. Especially glass vase looks incredible with some colored stones beneath. Basic gravel also helps hold the arranged flowers in place. Decorative vases make great table decoration for a dinner party.

Road and drive

Road and drive to be very low maintenance when covered with small pebbles topping natural stone. Pebble size you choose will need to consider how to walk or drive to be used. Area traffic is heavy foot traffic or cars need stones are smaller because they are more comfortable and better ground for cars to drive on. Gravel drive and path should maintain the edge to hold the stones in place. Drives and paths need to be replenished with additional rock sometimes. They are very durable and much better looking than the plain old concrete driveway.

Water features

It seems now that everyone wants water park features. They can be very small or very large and bold but always adds an element of tranquility to any garden. When planning a water feature you can incorporate natural stone in a variety of ways. The stones are larger around the edges of features can be added to the character. Gravel can also be used to cover the basic features of the water and to cover or rope pumps used to power it. Before choosing your stone remember to wet the sample because this is how it would look on your water feature.

Pond

The same rules apply with a wet your sample and check the color of the stone. Natural stone is usually dusty when collected and when the dust comes from the actual color stated. The pool looks great with a built-up edge. You can use a variety of features including stone, wood, metal, and many others. You can also mix and match the various sizes of stone to look more natural.

Gravel as mulch

Mulching is something else to do in the garden Gardener. It basically involves adding a layer of material on the ground to help with water retention. This means less watering which saves time and also water supply. Not everyone has an endless supply of water or enthusiasm to keep the grass and gravel are a great alternative, especially in the area of natural dry.

Weeding in the garden bed is greatly reduced. It is easy enough to pull a few weeds that try to grow among the pebbles. As the plants mature and fill the planting spaces there is little room for weeds to find a place to grow.

To stop the grass from coming through the mulch of gravel roads we have found that a heavy layer of newspaper and then a layer of plastic or weed mat on top works very well. Newspaper and plastic helps to retain moisture, another important reason for mulch. On top of this plastic gravel newly planting holes scattered in thick layers. Stones larger flat used as an edge.

Read More

A Guide To Outdoor Lighting

With the evolution of lighting technology, outdoor lighting has seen its share of breakthroughs. Outdoor lighting is as important as indoor lighting. Lighting up the spaces immediately outside or surrounding areas of our lives is very important for visual orientation, while the safety of navigation, and security, and also to balance out the indoor atmosphere. Prepare an environment and provide a preview of life and lifestyle within the four walls. Outdoor lighting is equally important in reflecting the external persona and surrounding structures. It sets a certain mood and provide a visual treat.

Outdoor lighting presents great trial coverage. It is a virgin canvas waiting to be colored by unique lighting approaches, ideas and techniques. Outdoor lighting consists of the area around the structure, track, swimming pool or fountain, the surrounding landscape structures, patios, balconies, decks, porches, etc.

There are various options on the market, including low lighting voltage, flood lights, tree lights, lamp posts, lanterns, string lights for festive occasions, recessed lighting, scoops, pagoda-style louvered faced lights granite finish that easily blend without door surroundings, Solar lights and even cordless and operates on NiCad batteries.

Various techniques can be used in outdoor illumination lighting. Spot lighting, which focuses light on the architecture, positioned to minimize glare and focus completely on the focal point. Silhouetting putting the light source behind the object to bring out the shape of the object rather than the exact color and texture. Key light or shadow requires placing the light source directly in front of the object of interest create the effect of light and shadow. Sideline require the fixture to be placed on trees and aiming down to effect a peaceful moonlit natural. Deck lighting, grazing (light focuses on objects at sharp corners) and wash the surface (light focusing on an object at an angle wider or blunt), step lighting, street lighting, pool and fountain lighting and sign lighting are some of the various techniques used for outdoor lighting.

In outdoor lighting, the basic thing to remember is that the lighting fixtures are exposed to all the elements outside. In the case of a water feature lighting, light sources are sometimes from the inside to create a magical shimmering and rippling effect. Therefore, appropriate lighting fixtures and lamps should be chosen. They of low-voltage lighting kits are also available for those who want to try their creative talents lighting.

Read More

6 Tips Styling For Your Fresh Cut Flowers!

So you will bring your grocery store or florist bought flowers home, now what! I have seen many people just plunk them in a vase of water and that's it. Sometimes that works, but here are some simple tips to make you look like you're a pro that.

1) In a clean vase, take your greens first, snip the tip of the size you want and then began crises crossing the stems into the vase so that you have come in a vase. There are two reasons for this. Since you now have the basis for a flower arrangement, and two; crises cross rod makes it easier for the placement of flowers.

2) If you make small, low-key setting, slide in interest in crises cross so that the stems in a vase. You now have a vase with flowers in the outer ring and nothing but stems display in the middle. (Trunk more you have in a vase, the easier it will have a fixed interest put!) Line of interest will be higher each time you get them in until you have a nice round series.

3) If you make a high setting, then use a high slender vases. Your flowers will hold up better and will look well proportioned. The flowers are great to use is Gladiolas, blue delphinium, lilies, snapdragons etc... Sometimes you can get tall tulips and that looks fantastic too.

4) Design errors often have to place flowers in a vase perfectly even. The reason this does not work is because it looks unnatural. Look at any park and you will see some flowers bloom sticking out, some tucked in; some almost hidden but still contribute to the overall look. Mimic nature and you cannot go wrong! Do not be afraid to include some flowers in a bit.

5) A good rule of thumb is to use odd numbers of flowers. What I mean by that is to use 3 roses together or 5. Even numbers are not effective. If you use 5 roses for example, where 3 together (touching but slightly different in length) at the bottom center of the vase and then two higher.

6) The next best advice I can give you if you are really new in floral design, is to gather bouquets image you like and the tips I've stated above, practicing while looking at the pictures. Shortly thereafter, you will look like a pro!

Read More