Shopping Maniac

Great products, Bargains and gift ideas


You are here: Home / Archives for Home Improvement

5 Tips To Decorate And Furnish A New Apartment

by






Moving to a new apartment comes with its own challenges especially if you are operating on a small budget. You want to create a home where you can feel comfortable and at the same time watching on how much you spend. It can also be challenging if you want to redecorate the walls. However, there are ways you can furnish your new apartment cheaply. Below are five ways to do so;

Look for sales offers:

Look for cheap furniture at discount stores as well as sales yards and garages. You can also check out auctioneers as their prices are bid. Don’t feel shy to settle for second hand items as you can find quality furnishings or art work from second hand products dealers. Used mattresses for instance only need a cover while some furniture only needs a new coat of varnish or paint to look appealing. Consider different fabrics for the place to look more charming. You can mix silk pillows with velvet drapes.

Multi-purpose furniture:

If your new apartment isn’t spacious enough, opt for furniture that serves several purposes. You can purchase a couch that convertible into a bed. Moreover, to save on space, you can purchase loft beds as they can leave a space beneath them that can accommodate a table or a desk. You can also buy a rolling glass table that can also be used to serve guests and serve the role of a table.

Wall painting and decorating:

Remember apartments are for renting and soon you might be on your way out of the apartment. If you are comfortable with the wall paint on the apartment, you don’t have to repaint the walls. However, should d you decide to paint them, choose shades that will have a compelling design. Contrast the colors on the walls so that the bright areas will draw attention away from the areas with problems. Freshly painted kitchen cabinets in which new colorful knobs have been installed will look appealing. The advice is to avoid expensive decorations using paint. As for the ceiling, paint it with bright color than the rest of the room. Remember to always consult the apartment manager/landlord before embarking on the paint job as some managers/landlords don’t allow paint jobs on their apartments.

As for wall hangings or paintings, place similarly colored picture frames together with shadow boxes on the walls. Decorative mirrors also add visual spark to the walls while making it look less empty. Cheap paintings and frames can be sourced from garage sales as well as flea markets.

Curtains:

It’s advisable, for your privacy sake as well as for decorative purposes, to have curtains on your windows. Café curtains are cheap and cover the most important part of your window, even though they don’t hang all the way down. On top of it all, they allow in most of the natural light from out, further helping you save on lighting expenses. Use different textured curtains to add charm to the room.

Rugs:

Wall to wall carpeting can be expensive. Rugs can be used to make the floor look more appealing. Rugs can be sourced from many places. You can shop for them online or check discount stores. However, ensure that they fit into the rest of the room as they come in various patterns and colors.

Opt for the most cost-effective methods to furnish and decorate your apartment while considering your taste also.

Denis is a contributor for outdoor fireplace pros where you can get some useful resources on outdoor fire tables.






3 Ways to Decorate Walls Without Using Paint

by

Since prehistoric times, humans have always had a deep need for decorating the place where they live. The biggest proof of this fact is cave paintings found all over the world. In the modern, one of the core components of decorating a home is to paint it. However, for a person moving into a new home, nothing can be more annoying than being told that painting the walls is not an option.

Countless landlords place these kinds of restrictions on their tenants. While there are people who simply bow down to these restrictions, take a deep breath and move on, there are others who find a way to decorate their walls without using paint. The following are some of the most effective ways of decorating walls without actually using paint.

Using Temporary Wall Graphics

Temporary wall graphics can be one of the best ways of uniquely decorating a wall. The reason for this is simply that a person can acquire any set of wall graphics and manipulate them in any way they like. For instance, a simple page of wall graphics can be cut into various decorative shapes and used together to give the sense of motion.

Temporary wall graphics can be found in any well stocked stationary store. Moreover, the variety of options that removable wall graphics are available in also means that any individual, regardless of his specific likes and dislikes, can find a set that suits him.
It is also worth mentioning that it is also possible to get customized removable wall graphics. A person can simply contact the right website or local printing service provider and get the perfect wall graphic made. Getting customized wall graphics usually affords an individual more flexibility and freedom in terms of design, shape and size.

Putting Up Wall Art With Removable Wall Hooks

Picture frames and wall art can liven up any home, irrespective of how drab or boring its paint work is. While the best thing to do would be to use one’s own artwork, sometimes, this is not an option. Wall art can be sourced fairly cheaply from local stores as well as through websites.

The diversity that art displays means that there is a type of wall art that will suit the sensibilities of each individual in the world. If wall art is not as appetizing for the individual then he can even use picture frames to put up photographs.

Putting up wall art or picture frames, however, can be a problem because using nails is usually a corollary to restrictions preventing the use of paint. Fortunately, removable wall clips can be used to counter such problems.

Playing With Lighting

As any interior designer would gladly admit, how beautiful the interiors of a home look depends entirely on the kind of lighting being used inside the home Light fixtures and lamps can be used to manipulate the lighting on a wall without the use of paint. Furthermore, if the right kind of lighting is used in conjunction with the above mentioned two methods then the room can truly come to life.

Alicia is a contributor for outdoor fireplace pros  where you can get some useful resources pertaining to outdoor fire tables to help you choose the best decorations.

5 Things You Need to Do Before You Install Synthetic Turf

by

Synthetic turf, also called artificial grass, is seeing a recent increase in popularity because of the many advantages it offers homeowners. It is eco-friendly, low maintenance, and visually appealing. If you are interested in creating your own outdoor space out of artificial grass, then you need to be aware of these five things you need to do before you install synthetic turf:

Research. In addition to weighing out the pros and cons of synthetic grass in order to know for sure that you are making the best decision for you, you should also research all of your options when it comes to grass manufacturers and materials. Different types of synthetic turf require different amounts and types of maintenance, and higher grade synthetic lawns will stand up to more wear and tear than lawns of lower grade turf. These are things you should consider before you begin to prep your outdoor space for installation, as synthetic grass is a large investment.

Excavate. Remove the top three to five inches of soil in preparation for your foundation. Do this regardless of your existing lawn material (dirt, weeds, or grass). Once you have properly excavated the upper layer of your lawn, tamp the ground to make it as level as possible.

Apply a weed killer and/or install a weed barrier. You want to prevent any weeds from growing up and pushing into your synthetic turf. Certain tough weeds can actually damage your synthetic lawn over time, and unwanted growth underneath your lawn can stand in the way of proper drainage. Apply a weed killer to exterminate existing weeds, and lay down a weed barrier if you feel your yard is especially susceptible to weed growth.

Build a foundation. Pour a layer of foundation rock aggregate (decomposed granite, pea gravel, road base, etc.) about three inches thick. This foundation will provide a means for easy drainage, and should be graded away from your home, just as a traditional lawn would be. At this stage, you can cap off any existing sprinkler heads, unless you have outdoor pets, in which case you might want to leave them exposed for sanitary reasons.

Prepare the grass. Synthetic turf comes in rolls, which means that when you unroll it, the blades of grass will be compacted and laying flat. Before you install the turf, you should unroll it completely, and then use a broom to brush the grass blades so that they stand at attention. Do this one roll at a time, as this would be a very daunting and labor intensive task if you waited until after the installation.

As you can see, there are some preparatory measures you must take before installing synthetic turf. Follow these tips to get your lawn ready for a whole new, eco-friendly look.

About the Author: Thaddeus Slaney has a small business property where grass simply won’t grow. He had synthetic turf from installitdirect installed and the place now has a welcoming appeal when visitors approach!

A year of organizing

by

I think this year is the year of house organization in our home. Especially when it comes to organizing the basement it seems.

The other day we had a city worker coming in to do work on our indoor water meter. It’s located in the basement. They had to put some kind of attachment on it so that they can read it digitally or via wifi as they drive by our house. No more knocking on our door to read the meter or asking us to call in the numbers on our meter. Lets just hope that this new automatic system works and they don’t get our neighbors reading as ours and vise versa .

Anyway, since we’ve been renovating again .. yes it’s continuous .. the basement has become a mess again. You see we keep storing things down there as we work elsewhere in the house. So even though I did a complete cleaning out of the basement last December, January and February … it’s a mess again! Yeah, it took almost three months for me to clean it last time and now it’s a mess again.

So .. the other day knowing we had this worker coming in I noticed that there was a sale on rack shelving at a local hardware store. We went and bought three 6 foot tall rack shelves. They are adjustable and we don’t have to build them to full height. So far we’ve put up two of them and the basement is already a lot more organized.

I finally have an area to put surplus food supplies. I never had that before. Whenever we had extra food and drink it just got piled in one area of the basement on the basement floor. Now it’s all organized on shelves! Nice. The other rack of shelves we put up replaces one of our tool areas. Chris is slowly putting all of our tools on the shelves and organizing things like the multitude of nails and screws in trays so that we can find them easily.

Eventually when the basement is really cleared out the racks will be at the very back of the basement and we’ll actually use the basement for more than storage, but if we can at least get it organized for now that would be nice.

10 Cost Saving Ideas to decorate on a budget

by

Wouldn’t it be lovely if we had as much money as necessary to decorate our homes any way we’d like? Unfortunately, for most of us, we have to scrimp and save for the furniture that we really want in order to make our homes feel comfortable and inviting.

While you’re waiting to win the lottery or for a designer friend to find you some cast of bargains there are a few things you can do on your own – inexpensively – to make your home beautiful.

1. Use a few splashes of bold color in your decor. Now I don’t mean go nuts and paint your whole room red and only have red furnishings. No … I’m suggesting that if you’re current decor is basically earth tones, perhaps white or beige carpeting and white or cream walls and beige or light brown colored furniture then a splash of bright bold color would brighten that room right up.   It’s as easy as simple painting one accent wall a bright color, or adding a large colorful painting or print to the room.  You could even buy a colorful throw rug or area rug to the room.  It will make a difference.

2.  You can make or buy textured or colorful throw pillows for the room that you are decorating.  Pillows of different shapes, sizes, colors and textures can add to a rooms look and feel.

3.  If your furniture is a worn and you can’t afford to replace it at this time you might look into purchasing slip covers to give your couch or chair a new look or to cover both pieces to unify their look.  There are some very cool slipcovers out there these days. You can really change the look of your furniture.

4.  If you want to give the room a touch of romance or a softer look adding a few well placed candles is a budget worthy idea.  If you enjoy scented candles you might use one or two in the room.

5.  There’s nothing wrong with going out to yard or garage sales to do a little shopping. You can find some lovely lamps, light fixtures, side tables, coffee tables and other furnishings. Sure sometimes you might have to clean them up, sand or paint them but it’s worth the work.

6. Just cleaning up a room can make a huge difference! You might decide that it doesn’t need a change in decor once you clean and organize the clutter if it was really bad.  Perhaps purchase some wicker baskets or hideaway storage boxes for your nick nacks and mementos.

7.  One thing that I enjoy doing when I’m bored with the look of a room is to simply rearrange the furniture. It’s amazing how moving a bed or a chair from one side or a room to another can make a room feel so different.

8.  If the room you are redecorating has a TV perhaps think about putting the TV in a cabinet so that it’s not the first thing everyone sees when they walk into the room.  TV’s seem to become the highlight of the room that they are in and frankly they aren’t all that pretty, are they. Find ways to minimize their impact on the room they are in if possible.

9. If you’re feeling creative you might try a new painting technique or applying a wall covering to either all of the walls of the room or as I stated above just one accent wall in the room.  There are many different types of painting techniques that you can try. There are even some interesting plastering techniques such as Venetian plaster which makes an interesting feature wall.

10.  If the room is dark or if you have dark curtains or drapery by all means open it up and let the light in. Your room will feel larger when you open things up.  Now if you don’t like bare windows try sheer curtains, they will allow quite a bit of light in and still give you that nice open feeling.

Meta

Pages