Tag Archives: deck

8 Spring Renovations to Uplift Your Mood

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Original image can be found at: https://pixabay.com/photos/bouquet-flowers-garden-3874595/

Spring is a time for new beginnings, and there’s no better way to feel like you’ve got a fresh start than a home renovation. Applying cosmetic and structural changes to your home can completely reinvent how you feel about and use a space. Whether you’re interested in getting more natural light or brightening the room with a splash of color, there are plenty of creative options in your price range to explore.

DIY projects aren’t always the most feasible approach to renovations, but they can be the most cost-effective. If any of these spring renovations sound like something you want to take on yourself, remember to follow our guide on steps to take before getting started on your first renovation. Be safe, and make sure you have an educational resource detailing how to operate and troubleshoot your tools for the task.

1.     Try A New Look with Interior and Exterior Painting

Most people incorporate pops of color into a living space through thoughtful furnishing, but if you’re looking to really switch up your decor, repainting the interior of your home is the next step. Consider an accent wall in your favorite color to add depth to a neutral room or unify the furniture with the rest of the decor. Repainting your home’s faded exterior or giving it a completely new look with a different color is also a great way to renovate your home this spring while also improving curbside appeal.

2.     Reinvent Your Backyard With a Deck

Just because it isn’t barbeque season doesn’t mean you can’t get started on summer backyard improvements like building a deck. Decks allow you to extend your living space and utilize your backyard. Adding light fixtures and outdoor furniture can further transform your deck into a great place for friends and family to gather during summer evenings.

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3.     Improve the View With a Landscape Makeover

Creative landscaping around your home is about more than keeping your front and backyard looking sharp; it turns your yard into something you can enjoy. If winter has left your lawn looking worse for wear, spring is your chance to redesign your backyard. Planting a vegetable garden, growing unique flower beds, or creating a path with stepping stones are some of the simple landscaping renovations you can do for spring. Fountains and greenhouses require a little extra work, but having a focal point like a beautiful water feature can add a touch of style and class to any yard.

4.     Prepare for Pool Party Season

It may not be warm enough to swim, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting ready for pool party season. Installing a pool in spring gives you time to get everything ready for guests looking to cool off on the hot days to come. Homeowners who are willing to invest in a pool can not only increase the value of their home but also turn their backyards into a stylish paradise everyone can enjoy.

5.     Update Your Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of the home for many. It is arguably one of the most important spaces in your house, which means having a functional kitchen that meets your needs is essential. If your kitchen is too small, consider exploring new storage solutions or renovating it with an open floor plan. Custom lighting can personalize the space according to your needs and tastes, turning your kitchen from plain and practical to warm and welcoming.

Original image can be found at: https://pixabay.com/photos/solar-panel-array-roof-building-1794514/

6.     Save By Going Green

Many of our suggestions so far have come with sliding scales when it comes to costs, but what about a renovation that saves you money and helps the planet? It’s becoming more and more common to spot houses with solar panels on the roof as people learn about green energy. Other effective eco-friendly changes you can make for your home include water-efficient plumbing or energy-saving insulation and lighting. Even just switching the bulbs in your house to LEDs can reduce your electricity bill, keeping your house and future bright.

7.     Add Sunshine to Your Day With Skylights

Speaking of energy efficiency, opening up your home to more natural light can make you less reliant on interior fixtures. Skylights act like an additional window and can make any room feel cozier by filling it with sunshine. If you have a green thumb, your indoor plants will also love an additional light source as they grow.  Skylights are also great for those of us who enjoy rainy spring days. Nothing beats curling up on the couch with a book and being able to glance up to watch rain clouds as they pass overhead.

Original image can be found at: https://pixabay.com/photos/tools-workshop-equipment-690038/

8.     Take Back Your Garage

Garages are one of the first places we think of when odds and ends pile up and need somewhere else to go. Waking up one day and realizing your garage is a maze of boxes can happen to anyone without notice. Following popular spring cleaning tips and going through what we’ve managed to accumulate over the years may be intimidating at first, but it can also be just as rewarding.

Once you’ve decluttered and freed up space in your garage, the possibilities are endless. It can become an additional space for your family to enjoy, an in-home gym, or the much-needed workspace you’ve been looking for. Turn your garage into a workshop haven for heirloom tools or a playground as an auto hobbyist.

Whether it’s a DIY affair or sitting back while the professionals get to work, these spring renovations can rejuvenate your house. Feel happier and more at ease when you turn any space into a home through renovations of any size, cost, and complexity.

Outside Creative Lighting Solution

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You will need some chunks of logs that are wide enough and cut straight enough to stand on their own. On one side use an auger to drill a hole wide enough so that the base of a solar light can fit into it. Use e6000 and glue the base of the solar light into the hole. Now stand the log in your garden or on your deck. So much better looking then just pushing these guys into the ground plus you get light up a bit higher which will be more useful.

Top 6 Outdoor Home Improvements for 2020

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A swimming pool might have been a top trend back in the 1990s but nowadays, different outdoor home improvements grab the attention of homeowners. In fact, these trends shift so often, that in 2020 we can expect a whole new set of improvements to dominate our backyards. From a spruced up back door to a basketball court, the coming year will definitely be spent outdoors as much as possible.

Replacing the back door

When thinking of doors, most people immediately think of the front door and a new paint job it probably requires. However, the back door takes the same amount of beating by the elements that it too could do with a bit of sprucing up.

In some cases, installing a gasket at the bottom of the door is enough to prevent draft inside but in other cases, the back door needs to be replaced entirely. If you go with the latter solution, then choose a metal door over a wooden one because it will last longer and it will seal better.

Going green

Apart from the usual outdoor home improvements that come to your mind, plants are probably high up your remodeling list. However, the last place you would plant them is near or even on the fence. Quite the contrary, creating a garden wall should be a top priority in 2020 for several reasons.

Firstly, you’ll enjoy a greater level of privacy since vines and other climbers fill all the gaps in a picket fence, thus hiding your backyard. If you have trouble with a neighbor who’s a nosy parker, then a green wall is a subtle way to tell them to bugger off.

Furthermore, a green wall will act as a barrier that will stop dust particles from entering your home. This can come in handy if you live next to a busy road or a street. In addition, the sound of traffic will be muffled by the foliage so you can enjoy a relative comfort in the privacy of your backyard.

Adding a deck

Needless to say, building a whole patio will set you back a few thousand dollars but building a deck is not that expensive. A deck will provide you with the firm ground for housing the seating and even the dining area. You can bring in the furniture when the weather becomes too cold to spend time outside and the deck can be covered to prevent water damage from thawing snow.

Shooting some backyard hoops

With a lot of NBA teams competing this year for the title of the league’s champion, 2020 will see a rise in the number of backyard basketball courts. They needn’t be particularly large as a single rim is enough. If your plot of land is big enough, level it to create a basketball court.

After pouring the concrete surface, all you need to do is draw the lines and add some LED sports lights, as made by Legacy Lighting so you can play after dark. Just think of it, your kids might grow up to become a new Larry Bird or Michael Jordan playing on that court!

A stream running through your yard

As the weather improves next year, you will be spending more and more time outside. This means that a lazy July afternoon will probably catch you sleeping in a hammock behind your house. In order to enjoy outdoor leisure time to the fullest, add a fountain to the backyard. There are ready-made outdoor fountains widely available but this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be crafty.

The water from the fountain will have to drain somewhere so why not create an artificial stream that will run the length of your backyard. You can beautify its “banks” with rock and boulder, dotted with colorful plants. In fact, the stream can be created out of necessity because the tap and the drain are set wide apart in many yards.

A hammock for the adults and a swing for the kids

We’ve mentioned already that you can throw in a hammock inside the backyard. Like the fountains, they too can be purchased pre-made and simply hung between two adjacent trees. However, expect the children to start climbing into the hammock because they cannot resist the temptation to swing in it.

Since hammocks are not built for this purpose, at least the one made from rope, it is wise to provide your kids with an alternative form of entertainment. A tree swing is easy to make and it requires a single solid branch for installation. Once you test the swing for safety, don’t fall to the temptation to swing in it yourself because you’re made it for the children.

These were just the top 6 outdoor home improvements that will be in vogue in 2020. Some of them, like the swing, have been popular for ages, while others like a green wall are just now entering gardening practices. However, the boldest idea presented here is a well-lit basketball court that is bound to draw the attention of your neighbors in a positive way.

I Always Tell Guests To Call First

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I always tell guests to call ahead of time and let me know before they want to come over. a simple phone call can erase coming over when people would rather be alone or have things to do. This mat is perfect for me.

Ways to Make Your Front Yard More Social

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When thinking about exterior renovations, most people think about introducing changes to their backyard and spicing it up a bit. While this makes a lot of sense in the long run – after all, the backyard is where most of us hang out with our friends and spend quality time with our families – it’s still not the only exterior space that needs your attention. The front yard could use some love and care as well, and that’s something people rarely do in this day and age. So, instead of focusing on your backyard only, you could find ways to make the space in front of your home more special and inviting as well, and here are some of the best ways to do that.

Do Some Regular Maintenance

Before you can use your front yard and invite people to visit you, make sure your front yard is in the best shape possible. Luckily, these things are easy to handle, and it’s all about mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges, cleaning the trash, and decluttering the entire area from time to time.

What’s great about these things is that you don’t have to do them every single day, but you will need to dedicate your time and patience to them at least once a week. So, figure out what needs to be done, create a mowing schedule for the entire year, find time in your daily agenda, and start handling these things one by one.

Extend Your Patio

Most of us already have a patio in front of our houses, but the problem is that we don’t make the most of it at all. Instead of actually spending time here, we just use the patio as a welcoming area for all our visitors and guests, but that’s just not enough if you want to turn your front yard into your primary outdoor area for socialization.

What you can do, though, is extend your patio into the yard, and basically turn it into a continual space that will connect your home to your front lawn. It goes without saying that you need to maintain it first and make it ready for hanging out there, but you should also think about a pathway. If you choose to do that, use the same material as for your patio – whether it’s concrete, stone, bricks, or tile, using the same material is always better and easier than looking for another solution.

Build a Deck

This is probably the best and most effective way to introduce a massive change into your home and your front yard as well – building a deck is ultimately what’s going to turn the space in front of your home into a space where you can socialize with your friends and family. This deck doesn’t have to be too big, of course, but it needs to be stable, durable, and actually useful.

Even though building a deck on your own sounds like the most creative way to spend your weekend, it still isn’t the best idea in the world, especially if you have no skills, tools, ideas, and previous experience. That’s why hiring a professional who can build you a great deck is the way to go – not only is your deck going to be visually appealing, but it will also blend into your exterior style rather seamlessly. So, take this idea into consideration, and you’ll be able to throw parties on your deck sooner than you’ve thought.

Be Creative with the Lights

Spending time in the open usually means hanging out with your friends all day long, but that doesn’t mean your get-togethers need to stop. On the contrary, nobody can stop you from staying there until morning, if that’s something you love, but you will need to take care of your exterior lighting first.

Whether you have a deck, a patio, or a porch, there are a few easy solutions you can look into – for instance, you can add as many candles as you can, light them, and you’ll create an amazing atmosphere in a matter of minutes. This will create a great vibe for you and your friends, and that’s something you can’t put a price on. You can also invest in a great walkway, and thus take the look of your outdoor space to a whole new level. From solar lamps and string lights to lanterns and accent lights, there are lots of ideas you can choose from, so don’t be afraid to turn the ones you like the most into reality.

 

Spicing up your front yard isn’t as difficult and challenging as most people think, and it’s all about giving it the love and attention it deserves – in the end, if you do everything right, you can spend hours and hours there whenever you want, socializing with all the people you love.