How to Choose a Colour Scheme For Your New Home

How to Choose a Colour Scheme For Your New Home

Colour is a big part of design, whether you’re getting a new landscape design or doing an internal renovation, it can seem a bit overwhelming to choose a colour palette for the whole house. Having the same neutral colours for every room is what you find in rentals. When it comes to your own home, you want something a little more distinctive and up-market than that.  Here are some tips on how to choose colours that go well together without being bland and boring.

  • Walk through the home with a pen and paper and jot down which other parts of the home can be seen from each room. This will ensure the colours chosen for each room will go well together with the colours that can be seen from there. Using a rough sketch of the floor plan is an easy way to keep track of it. It is not only the adjoining rooms that may be seen but places like the hall through to the kitchen.
  • Choose a colour for the room that is the biggest and most central to the whole house. Feeling stressed? Choose a soft, neutral hue for this room and that will make it easier to choose colours for the other rooms. But if you love colour and want to have at least one room painted in bold colours, start from that room. Then looking out from that room, choose somewhat softer colours for the rooms or spaces you can see from there. That’s not to say you can’t use bold colours next to each other, but there is an element of risk in doing so. You don’t want the colours to clash.
    (more…)

How to Design the Perfect Bathroom Vanity

How to Design the Perfect Bathroom Vanity

Ask any cabinet maker from colraycabinets.com.au, and they will tell you that the bathroom is the most important room in the house, next to the kitchen. Shouldn’t it be one you’re proud of and one that you’re not ashamed for guests to visit? Designing the perfect bathroom vanity can undoubtedly assist, and here’s how to do it.

Take a Critical Look At Your Bathroom

If you have been thinking about renovating your bathroom, then chances are you don’t like what you see. But what is it about your bathroom that you don’t like? Is it the lack of storage? The dated or damaged vanity? Or maybe it’s the inferior quality cabinetry that doesn’t seem to withstand daily use?

Once you can identify what you don’t like about your bathroom, you can start thinking about what you want your new bathroom to have.

Come Up with Ideas

Realising why you don’t like your current bathroom is half the battle. The other half is coming up with solutions to those problems. For example, suppose a lack of cabinetry is to blame. In that case, it makes sense to include more cabinetry and a new vanity in your bathroom renovation.

(more…)

Are Eco Friendly Pools Really Safe for Humans?

Are Eco Friendly Pools Really Safe for Humans?

If you have a pool that uses chlorine or salt as a sanitiser you may be wondering if there is a more eco friendly alternative as you plug in your robotic pool cleaner and skim leaves from the top of the pool. There are several alternatives but are they really safe for humans to use? There are at least four alternatives for swimming pools, but you may not like all of them.

For instance, take what is touted as an all natural pool. This is made with clay and gravel and uses water plants to keep the water clean, so you won’t need an automatic pool cleaner. If you are designing your own garden, it is certainly good for the environment as the pure water offers insects and frogs a place to live. Frogs may be attractive and relatively harmless if their name is Kermit.

Otherwise they will croak all night and keep you awake. And they may well come and visit your house. Then there is the problem of snakes, who love to eat frogs and will chase them wherever they go; into the pool or towards your house. Don’t think snakes can’t swim because they are very good at it.

(more…)

A Guide To Making An All-New Green Kitchen

A Guide To Making An All-New Green Kitchen

With changing times, changes our responsibilities as well. Cooking is no more just about manufacture and consumption of food; rather, cooking is one of the most necessary components for survival and should be performed accordingly. What is a home without a kitchen? The answer is incomplete. Therefore, in order to make your home a place you feel most comfortable in, it is important to take care in designing of your kitchen.

With increasing workload, the cacophony of an industrial work life seems to get onto our nerves at certain times; and during these times what we crave for the most is a little bit of nature, a little bit of green, a little bit of pure organic life, that would give you the comfort of a mother, unadulterated.

As responsible and conscious human beings, it is not just enough to survive; it is important to ensure a healthy survival of the generations to come. To be precise, sustainability is essential, and it requires us to live in a more environment-friendly manner so that we do not affect the plants/animals/atmosphere around us adversely.

Why should I have a Green kitchen?

An environment-friendly kitchen is a kitchen that cooks eco-friendly manner so that balance is retained between our lifestyle and the outer environment we are living in. In respect to that, an eco-friendly kitchen deserves proper cleaning in a manner that would not disturb the ecological balance of our nature.

(more…)

Get Yourself a Pebble-Bottom Finish Pool

Get Yourself a Pebble-Bottom Finish Pool

Have you come across a movie scene or photos of landscaping work that had a tropical pool at the back-drop that caught your attention and you wished you could install one? Yes, it happens! The pastoral look perfectly harmonized with the natural surroundings can be quite captivating. But then the thought of the entire affair being an expensive one or the slim chances of your backyard space might lead in delaying your plans. Think again! Rather than making presumptions, you can read the details and figure out the cost.

Pebble Pool Finishes

Pebble finishes are exposed aggregate finishes that give the pools a perfect pastoral or blue lagoon design. There is a huge assortment of textures and color combinations to choose from. Many people are unaware that skilled professionals or pool builders apply pebble finishes by hand, unlike other finishes where machines are used. After the pebble bottom application is completed on the pool, a water and muriatic acid concoction is used to powder wash the finish. The powder wash does the magic by removing all the unwanted concrete from the top layer to expose the beautiful colored pebbles, leaving the pool ravishing.

(more…)

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Timber for Your Project

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Timber for Your Project

Hey there, DIY enthusiasts and woodworking newbies! Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee, and let’s chat about one of my favorite topics – timber.

Whether you’re looking to build a deck that’ll be the envy of the neighborhood or craft a coffee table that’ll become a family heirloom, choosing the right timber is crucial. So, let’s dive in and demystify the world of wood!

(more…)

The Effect of Weather on Outdoor Furniture

The Effect of Weather on Outdoor Furniture

It may seem obvious that outdoor furniture should stand up to the weather. After all, you don’t want the hard job of carrying it out and back in every time it is to be used. And unless it can stay outside all the time, you will end up not wanting to use it at all because the job is so onerous. If the furniture is to be located on a grassy area it is even more important that it is weatherproof.

When something heavy is left on grass it will sink in and reach the soil underneath, which is often quite damp. This will rot the legs of most timber furniture, because even if it is painted, that constant wear on the base of the legs will soon penetrate the paint and the moisture will seep up into the inside of the wood. The end result will be the paint is compromised and the timber will rot from the ground up.

At least, this is what happens with softwoods, especially anything left untreated. However, certain hardwood decking will stay strong and in their natural state for many years even though they are outside in the weather. Think of all those heavy beams used for piers or boat masts. They get wet all the time, but they last for many years. Boat wood furniture is therefore ideal for any external design or renovation that needs furniture.

(more…)

Networking for Success – Building Industry Connections in Perth’s Renovation Sector

Whether you’re a seasoned contractor, a fresh-faced apprentice, or a savvy homeowner looking to dive into the world of renovations, one thing’s for certain: in this business, who you know can be just as important as what you know.

Let’s face it, the renovation scene in Perth is booming, but it’s also tight-knit.

(more…)

Maintenance Guidelines for Colorbond Roofs

Maintenance Guidelines for Colorbond Roofs

All homes need maintenance of some kind to keep their value throughout the years. If you don’t maintain your property you will find that when you want to sell it, the price you had hoped for may not be there. Meanwhile, your home is going to pieces around your ears and a big storm could well bring it crashing down.

The roof is one of the most important parts of the home, but unfortunately it is also one of the most neglected, mainly because getting up on it is beyond many people. They either don’t have the agility any more, or they don’t have the time, or the right equipment. This need not be a problem; there are many professionals out there who can do the job.

The cost of having your roof inspected for damage is much smaller than the cost of replacing the ceilings or the frame that has rotted due to leaks that were not found in time. It is also cheaper than having to replace a roof that suddenly blew off in a storm because the screws holding it on were rusted and no one knew.

Maintenance for Colorbond roofing is not difficult. You simply have to keep sticks and debris such as leaf litter off it and check the screws to make sure they are not rusted. If there is a build up of mould or moss on it, this should be cleaned off after wetting, with a soft bristle brush such as  a household broom – not a straw broom, though.

(more…)

Electrical Safety Tips for Home Renovators

Electrical Safety Tips for Home Renovators

Home renovators often become their own renovating expert due to necessity. There are many jobs that a handyman can do around the home and when they get to work, it can certainly save money on the cost of renovations. However, any professional experienced electrical contractor will tell you that doing work you are not qualified for is not only dangerous, it can end up costing you more.  Here are some electrical safety tips for you if you are planning to renovate your home.

  • Do not bend any electrical lead or wiring, it could get damaged and become unsafe.
  • Don’t leave electrical leads lying around the floor where you or others can trip over them.
  • Don’t leave extension leads or power boards out in the hot sun or rain.
  • Don’t use them unless they are rated for home renovations.
  • Never piggy back double adaptors on any kind of power board or power point.
  • Become familiar with your fuse box in case the power goes out. Some use a trip wire to prevent burning if too many appliances are on at one time. Knowing how to flick the trip switch back on can save the cost of an electrician’s visit.
  • Be aware that most electrical work should be done by trained electricians.
  • Know what is okay for you to do.

(more…)