Embarrassing Home Improvement Faux Pas You Better Not Make

Our homes are a place of luxury and comfort, and it’s understandable that we want nothing but the best when it comes to redecorating or making improvements to our homes. A common mistake that many people make is trying to cut corners when they are improving their homes, which can lead to the end result not coming out quite as planned, or even leaving their homes in disrepair. So that you can avoid making these mistakes, we’ve compiled a list of the most embarrassing home improvement faux pas that you’d better not make.

home improvement

Walls

You’ve probably seen on home improvement shows on the TV or internet, and it’s likely that you’ve come across some ‘hacks’ when it comes to your walls. Many people choose to simply paint over old wallpaper, which sometimes can work if the wallpaper is still in tact everywhere and not peeling. However, if you’ve got ripped or missing pieces the paint will only show those parts up more, leaving the room that you’ve just painted looking shabby – and not in a good way. Take the time to strip your walls of wallpaper and replaster if needed so that when you come to paint you know that the end result will be top notch.

Flooring

Everyone knows someone who’s able to fit a carpet, or get the job done for a cheaper price. However, more often than not the end results aren’t as good as you’d imagined in your head. When it comes to putting a new floor down make sure that you’re using flooring installers, especially if you’ve bought hardwood flooring or tiles to make sure that the job is done correctly. Spending that little bit of extra money will be worth it in the long run!

Electricals

As you probably already know, messing around with electrics is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing or looking at. Like the point made above, many people are in contact with people who say that they are able to fit and fix electrical outlets. Remember to make sure that if someone is doing your electrics that you should take a look at their certificates to prove that they are qualified to be doing the job. Take the advice for your own safety. Again, better to spend a little extra money to know the job is done right, especially when it comes to electricals.

Artwork

Having pieces of artwork or pictures of loved ones around your home is lovely because it draws the eye to it as soon as you walk into a room. However, many people make the mistake of hanging pictures wrong and therefore damaging their walls. Make sure that when you’re fixing anything to your walls that you’re using rawl plugs so that the weight of what you’re hanging doesn’t crack or deteriorate the wall even further

To sum up, make sure that any improvements that you’re doing around your home are done properly and without cutting any corners to ensure that the end result will be everything you hoped for and more!

Don’t Be Dim: How To Get Your Lighting Just Right

Lighting

Although it is somewhat of an interior design cliche, good lighting really can make or break a room. If you get it wrong, you will bring down the mood, make everyone feel tired, and possibly even hand out a few headaches. Of course, if you get it right, then you won’t have to suffer from any of these things, and, as a little bonus, the look of your entire interior will improve too. Because of this, it’s essential to get you lighting spot on. If you aren’t sure how to do that, then keep reading for some helpful tips.

Lighting

Mix It Up

The last thing that you want to do is solely rely on one light source, such as your main overhead light. This won’t distribute light evenly through the room, so you’ll have some incredibly bright areas and some really dark areas which are inconvenient and just don’t look very good. Instead, you should layer your light by using some table and floor lamps as well as your main light and spread these out in the room. This will avoid there being any dark and dingy looking areas in your room.

Watch The Height

You need to ensure that your light fittings aren’t too low or too high in certain rooms of your home. Your kitchen is a great example; If your fittings are too low above your table, then everything will be too bright, too warm, and you could hit your head as you stand up, but if they’re too high, then there won’t be enough light. When choosing a height, you should take the size of the fitting into consideration. For example, if you have a few clear glass pendants, these can generally be placed lower. Larger fittings, on the other hand, need to be higher.

Don’t Be Bright

Trust me, when it comes to lighting a room, dimmer switches are essential. No one wants to be bombarded with bright lights every time they step into a room, especially a bedroom, but dimmer switches eliminate this completely. They can help set a more calm and intriguing atmosphere, rather than make you feel like you’re auditioning for a talent show. Soft white bulbs are also great, as they aren’t as harsh as brighter lighting, and won’t wash you down unflatteringly

Lighting

Cupboards And Closets

It is incredibly important to make sure that you can see your entire room, but, even while people are on a mission to ensure this, there is always one place that gets forgotten about; Your cupboards and closets. Most people simply make do and hope that they put on the right shirt before heading to work in the morning, but you don’t need to make do, so why would you? Rather than do this, you could add a strip light to the top of your closet to ensure that you match before heading to work each morning.

Lighting is incredibly important in a home for many reasons, so it’s necessary to get it just right. With the tips above, hopefully, you can do just that.

Clock Ticking? 4 Ways To Stay Forever Young

Medical advances mean that we are all living longer, which is fantastic! As we age, are there any ways to maintain a youthful healthy image, body and mind? It is true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and being beautiful and happy on the inside allows a particular radiance and beauty that cannot be bought, from even the most expensive skin cream on the market.

Thankfully we can take action now, to give nature a helping hand in retaining a youthful image as the years roll by.

Tips to stay young

Eat healthily

As you age it is essential to eat a healthy diet and try to maintain a healthy weight. Avoiding fast weight loss, or fast weight gain is important for the elasticity in your skin. Major and fast weight loss can cause wrinkles and saggy skin, that only Cosmetic Clinic & Aesthetic Treatments can combat. If you lose weight slowly over a length of time your body will have time to adjust. Ensure you include lots of foods that contain omega 3 oils in your diet, examples of foods to include are oily fish and seeds. These are healthy oils that will support brain function and encourage skin, that is moisturised and supple.

Stay hydrated with water and pure fruit juices. Hydrated skin will look younger and brighter. Drinking enough fluids will also give you lots of energy as your body can function to its optimal ability.

Look after your skin

The single most important thing you can do for your skin is to protect it from the sun. UV rays are a major cause of wrinkles and can age the skin dramatically. Always use a sunscreen and pay particular attention to areas of the skin that receives the most exposure to the sun ie face, neck and arms.

Exfoliate your skin regularly as it helps with skin regeneration and leaves brighter, clearer skin. Moisturise daily. It is the process of moisturising that helps and you could consider using a natural moisturiser such as almond oil. There are of course many anti-ageing products on the market to consider too.

Exercise

As we age it is really important to focus on muscle core strength. Keeping your body strong will help support joints. Exercise gives you more energy and is also an excellent mood booster. Try to get out doors everyday and keep moving.

Hair

Like your skin, the texture of your hair changes as you age. Sometimes hair can become thinner, or it may become coarser, one thing is for sure, unless you are one of a lucky few you are likely to find an increasing amount of grey’s appearing. The obvious option is to colour your hair with dye, or you could totally embrace the grey – some people really suit it!  

Choose a flattering hairstyle, you shouldn’t always opt for a shorter style just because you’re older – choose a style that really suits you!  

Although we can;t turn back time, the above tips will help to slow down how aging has an effect on our bodies and appearance. The main focus should be to try and live a happy life, happiness shows on the outside and is truly beautiful!

Putting Some Effort Into The Outside Of Your Home

We can see why you’d only ever put the most effort into the inside of your house. It is the main area that you spend time in. The main area that you socialise with friends and family. And it is the main area that people in general think about first when it comes to making things like nice and new. But why don’t we give the outside of the house enough credit. It is the first place people see, and actually does leave a lasting impression on people. As much as there is plenty to be done with the inside of the house, there is for the outside too. The front and the back are where we’re going to draw your attention to. With our tips below, you should have a snazzy looking house both inside, and now out!

Maintain the outside of your home

The Front

The front of the house is probably one of the most important, even if people don’t like to think of it that way. It is the first thing people are going to see, and the nicer it looks the nicer they’re going to think the inside looks. First, let’s start with the driveway. Your car is going to be coming on and off, day in day out. So it’s easy enough for it to experience some wear and tear, and generally not look as good as it could do. One thing we can recommend is a complete new resurface of the drive. You won’t truly appreciate what this can do to the outside of your house until you give it a go. Resin driveway suppliers can help you achieve the most perfect look. A resin driveway finish looks so smart and sophisticated, we highly recommend this finish if you’re going for a resurface. Finally, just to add to the cute aesthetics side of things, hanging baskets are something you need to add. They’re cheap, easy to put up, and only require a water every now and then if you’re not getting enough rain. One either side of the front of your house is going to look so lovely.

The Back

The back is one of the most important areas for socialising when it comes to the nicer weather. If you’re always sat indoors, you’re doing gatherings the wrong way. Just a little spruce up of the garden is going to make it perfect for all your hangouts. First you need to look at a place for you and your friends and families to hang out. It might be that you get an outdoor furniture set, if you do we recommend padded furniture for extra comfort. To ensure you and your guests are kept warm, a patio heater is something you should grab yourself. Now, if you want to make things extra snazzy, then a hot tub is the thing for you. You don’t necessarily need to spend a lot either. You can now get inflatable ones for such a low cost. But if you want to go all out, then there are some excellent wooden ones that feature a large seating area inside, as well as funky lighting inside.