ArtaBerryHome Improvement Blog

You have bought your new home, you have stripped out the old dated decoration plan of the previous owner, you have had new windows fitted and a new damp proof course, you have painted the walls, fitted cupboards in the kitchen, bought new carpets and put up some vintage wallpaper in the living room… Now what’s next? The furniture of course!

The furniture you add to a room can be the finishing touch to transform it into the designer home of your dreams. There are a few key rooms in the home to think about when looking to buy new furniture, the living room, the dining room and the kitchen. The furniture for the kitchen is important but often practicality is the key concern so I am going to focus on the living and dining rooms.

The Living Room; It is surely a favorite room in the home, the room you go to relax and unwind. So your furniture decisions should reflect this… think about large leather sofas to sink into, luxurious soft furnishings and thick curtains. If like me you like to unwind with a strong coffee and dark chocolate in the evening you might want to think about a solid pine coffee table, these look great in a natural colour or in white. The fireplace is often the key feature of any living room, and I like to try and keep the original fireplace surround when possible, if this has already been removed though you can take the opportunity to be bold and look at some modern examples of fireplace surrounds.

The Dining Room; This is a room of elegance, a place to enjoy fine food, expensive wine and the company of friends when hosting dinner parties. This room is all about the dining table, it will be the focal point of the room and the choice of table and the way you decorate it will be crucial. My personal choice is a glass dining table but you can get some beautiful oak tables from the finest craftsmen. Keep an eye out for dining table and 6 chairs sets which you can buy online and get some great furniture at even better prices! Of course there are other rooms in your home such as bedrooms and maybe even a study room, so remember not to use your entire budget on three rooms!

Among different types of print designs and fabrics, choosing the best curtains is not always easy if you want to make something unique & elegant in the interior of your house.  it is  relatively a heavy investment if your house is big,  Ask yourself a questions about the usefulness of the curtains in the room.  always check the direction of sun then choose the type of cloth that best serve the purpose.  are they just decorative precisely, do they protect you from the outside, light? Once your needs are identified, take your measurements and go store to choose rods and curtains.

Choose the rod depending on the width and type of tissue for your curtains.  for instance! there are many types of rods such as, the Flat rods to fix the walls, this is  ideal for light curtains or draperies, one the other hand the round rods made up of Wood, plastic or metal is mostly useful for rooms where the curtains are heavier.

Now coming toward the curtain designs,  some  curtains were hemmed in their own end or a single node in which we move the rod inside. these finishes are not always very practical if you need to open and close the curtains regularly, also ideal if you want a decorative effect.  in grommet finish, the curtains are torn at their end to get a round bead. The opening of the curtains is simplified and they are quite decorative & appealing. There are actually many techniques of finishes, including those using a braid.

Measure the width of your window (including frames): add 30-50 cm for the length of the rod. To find the width of curtains, allow a width equivalent to two to three times that of the rod, depending on the effect desired pleated (depending on the fabric used as so. To measure the height finally, remember that the rod is raised 10-15 cm above the window. Know then that, generally, it leaves a space of an inch between the curtains and the floor. But the effect of a curtain falling on the ground can be so beautiful (it increases the feeling of headroom). Allow then 10-15 cm tall curtains and more. Finally, keep in mind that some fabrics can shrink when washed. When in doubt, always leave more tissue than necessary in the hem for a touch up possible.

Now the question is what  fabric best suits your requirements?  And what is the best cloth for liner? Select the fabric not only meet the need to hide the light of sun but also suits the desired decorative effect you aimed to make at your house. for better results doubt, ask for a sample in curtains shop and put it on the furniture in your room for a better analysis. If you want to put a liner in your curtains, opt for shades or close the curtains chosen for a beige uniform, mat.

Besides many hidden benefits, one of the well known usefulness of insulating your home is energy saving & protection from extreme weather effects. In winter, it helps in reducing the flow of sun heat directly to your house. While in winters it didn’t allow cool air to directly affect the building. So as a result you get a warmer house in winter and a relatively cooler house in summers. I believe if the insulation of your house is done in the best way then it is sure that you will save up to 35% of your energy costs. All you need to do, is to make sure that the installer understands the process of insulation at an expert level. It is the best way to protect environment as well. The insulation of home can helps in cutting the usage of fossil fuel which destroys the process of greenhouse effect.

One the other hand if you want to cut cost of home insulation due to limited budget, I suggest that didn’t go for insulating the whole of your house. another good option is wooden blinds, by which you can reduce the extreme effects of heat & cold from outside. Moreover i suggest you to choose those portions of the house for insulation which is used quite frequently. For instance! You can ignore the laundry & store. similarly the guest room which is not regularly accommodated. You can also leave it in your insulation plan..you can buy memory foam mattress from the saved money. By doing this you can save up to 40% of your total insulation cost, you can easily save few bucks from your budget that you can later utilize for buying home accessories..

Majority of the real estate agents got the opinion that remodeling the kitchen and bathroom increase the value of the house. I agreed with them up to some extent. So if you are aiming to sell your house in near future. You needed to give special attention to specific areas for cleaning & renovation, this will ultimately increases the value of your house & you can bravely quote a good price to home buyers.

One area that is considered most important & use frequently by the occupants in the house is surely the kitchen. Your ideas of renovations should start from here. Starting from little things in given budget, try to improve the quality and overall appearance of the kitchen. If you have good budget for renovation, I suggest that you should go for installing new tiles over the walls & floor. Buy new appliances & replace every old & rusty looking material from the kitchen. This seems quite costly but believes me this will give you a good return.

You can consider making a playroom for kids or adults with a corner allocated for bar from the store (if any) in your house. You can get the services of professional contractor to complete the remodeling job you aimed to do. They better assist in the planning and process of your home renovation as they have greater experience to build a better home. Try to fix & clean every part of your house, including hvac cleaning. the more you work the more is will be the profit while you are out to sell your home, so focus on many small things that add value overall.

Purchase some new deco accessories & replace the old sofa with the new one at your drawings room; it will help in making an elegant appearance of your home. When it comes to your house decoration I suggest, you should keep it simple and classic, as each person has their own taste. However! At last I would like to advise that don’t spend more money if the area where you live didn’t have much potential for home buyers.

With the arrival of heating & cooling equipments, the air conditioners, cooling plants, heaters & state of the art home automation solutions. where in one hand we are able to control the temperature of the house according to our requirements to make your living more comfortable, but one the other hand we have to face some extra burden when it came to energy costs. in modern living it is certainly impossible to ignore the importance of cooling & heating system in the house. so here i am to share some tips that makes you able to save a little bit of your heating & cooling bills.

The first thing is learn about the heating & cooling equipments, all you need to do is to make sure all the family members are education enough to use the cooling & heating machines. for saving your bills i always suggest to use the heaters & air conditioners in extreme weather conditions only. keep the thermostat at medium level & check the owners manual for precautionary maintenance. things like cleaning the cooling system every year are very important if you want to save your electricity bill.

Just make an awareness among all the occupants of the house that wasting energy is very bad practice. always remember to switch off all the cooling & heating systems associated with your house while you & your family is planning to stay outside your house for some outdoor tour. Why waste energy heating and cooling if it’s not occupied. during daytime open all the windows & try to utilize maximum daylight, this is also good to save electricity bill. During winters the use of underfloor heating is very beneficial when it came to comfort while on the other hand it also cuts your electric heater expanses. similarly to curb the electricity bill in summers, the use of cooling tiles on roof top is advisable at single story buildings. in short make a check on everything that is run by electricity or gas, & you can easily save your money.

Home decoration didn’t always requires you to spend extra bucks on new furniture, decoration tools & other conventional accessories. there are some ways to make your house a new looks without spending huge money. this posts describes it well, these tips are easy to implement & gives you rapid results.

1.Paint Light - Paint Right: paint one of the wall the you believes is the center of attraction when you enters the room. use light shade color in contrast with the entire paint of the room. there are many cool paint designers who paint the wall with unique texture instead of just applying regular coat of the paint. select the paint theme & texture according to the use of the room.

2. Remove Extra Furniture: A room with excessive furniture looks like an inventory store. that’s why i always prefer to keep less furniture. this is good in two ways, first it allows more space in the room for exercise & other activities. second it is easy to clean the room provided with less furniture. yes it gives the room a fresh & spacious look.

3. Rearrange The Furniture: Changing the placement of your furniture is always good after a couple of months. it gives you a fresh feeling. so try to arrange it in such a way that it looks elegant. making intriguing angles from the furniture is preferred as it looks good in any living space . make sure that there is no hurdles due to your arrangement for coming in or leaving out. Seriously you will love the new layout of your room.

4. Add Indoor plant: Green always looks elegant in rooms. so bring in your favorite indoor plant, there are many beautiful wooden & aluminum plant cabinets in the market, buy one according to your taste & place your plant in it. i prefer silk plants as it looks more fresh as compare to the others.

5: Lamps & Wall Paintings: Hang your favorite wall painting in the middle of the wall, remove sticking pads notes & other pictures from your walls, i always advise not to use glue for sticking your picture to the walls, maybe you feel good with it but i am not sure the others will like it. place your picture in table frame & place it in the bookshelves or decorating cabinet. add the lamps, add new bulbs in it & place it wherever you feel convenient.

The steps mentioned above can easily be done in 3 hours & required very limited budget. so if you are expecting some special guests in the morning then you still have a lot of of time for your home makeover.