Easy Ways to Spice Up a Dull Apartment

DIY / Home Improvement

Whenever anyone has a stressful day at work, one of the easiest ways to let the stress melt away would be to come home to a place that feels warm and inviting. However, for most people living in an apartment, it can often feel like coming home to a confined space. With all of the corners, it can feel like things are boxing you in, which will only end up aggravating the stress and anxiety.

Fortunately, you do not have to resign yourself to the stress of coming home to a dull apartment. It might feel like a hopeless case – especially with a busy schedule – but there are ways to make a difference without too much effort, such as making use of vintage furniture. Here are just a few ways you can spice up your apartment!

If your home is looking a little dark during the day, invest in mirrors

It is typical for apartments to feel dark – even during the day – due to the lack of natural light sources. While there might be windows, there is likely nothing that is helping to bounce natural light around. You can invest in a mirror or two to help alleviate the problem without too much effort. Depending on where you place the mirrors, it could end up brightening your apartment significantly.

Painting your dining chairs can be surprisingly effective

It might seem a bit odd to paint your dining chairs in vivid colors, especially if the rest of your apartment is painted a dull or boring shade. However, you would be surprised at how much of a difference a few colorful chairs can make. It can breathe some new life into your home, and make things feel less depressing when you come home from a hard day at work. If you are not satisfied with just the chairs, why stop there? Pace yourself and dedicate a bit of time during the weekend to painting either the ceiling or the walls!

Why not add a bit of mother nature to your apartment?

Another easy way to spice up a dull apartment would be to introduce nature to your home by purchasing houseplants. There are plenty of different plants available, allowing you to diversify and breathe life into your apartment. You do not have to invest in too many plants to make a difference; sometimes, even just a single plant by the window can make enough of a difference.

Utilizing fruits as home decor

Last but certainly not least, you can add a bit of flair to your dining area by utilizing fruits as decor. If you are worried about the fruits eventually rotting, you can purchase fake fruits instead! Anything that adds vivid colors to a depressingly designed apartment can be a big help.

Even if you might have a busy schedule, the tips above will ensure that you can get the job done without having to put in much effort. Why not give it a try?

Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/book-read-tee-literature-2020460/

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Why Having Cafe Styled Awnings at Home is a Good Idea

DIY / Home Improvement

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The great thing about visiting cafés is that each has their own individual style and design which makes it unique. For café owners, this means choosing décor that sets the appropriate ambience and flair. And when it comes to homeowners setting the mood, a clever choice in a café style awning is critical.

Enhancement

Awnings are decorative and functional devices that are utilised as canopies over exterior doors and windows. Obtainable in a wide selection of designs, the awnings are usually pretty easy to install and require nothing more than routine maintenance. Just like the café awnings, they also help to enhance the appearance of your home. Awnings also come in very handy with managing the temperature in the home, as well as providing protection from unpleasant weather.

Humble

Metal awnings are commonly shaped in a design that are more or less triangular. The devices are mounted over doors and windows to create shade or protection from excessive sunlight, rain, snow, and other harsh weather conditions. These humble window covers make it possible to still appreciate natural light, but also help to minimize the entry of sunlight into the home, which makes it easier to cool the interior.

Aluminium

Many households choose to use aluminium awnings over outside doors as well as windows. The café styled awnings will add style to your home and provide visual interest to what was a plain façade. They also serve the practical function of providing partial protection from the elements for anyone standing outside. This can certainly can be appreciated at times such as when attempting to balance packages and insert a door key while a rainstorm is happening!

Coating

It is common for top quality aluminium awnings to be coated with some kind of protective agent, such as baked enamel. The inclusion of this extra layer of protection helps to block corrosion and extend the life of the awning. The protective coating also makes the job of maintaining the awnings so much easier, because they can simply be rinsed off using a garden hose.

Retractable

Also, along with the traditional triangular fixed awnings and café style, there are other designs that allow for retracting the body of the awning. One style uses a roll up design, which makes it possible to use a hand crank to lengthen or shorten the body of the awning to just how the homeowner wants it. Another option is a retractable awning, which can be extended to provide more overhead coverage further away from the window, or retracted to allow additional sunlight into the home mostly during cooler or colder days. Should you happen to be in lovely W. Australia and looking for beautiful and unique awnings at an affordable price, check out Westral. With 43 years in the business, they put the B in the Best!

Individual

Different designs for aluminium awnings can often be found at home improvement stores, hardware stores, and lawn and garden shops, but for a more unique and individual choice, one should visit a specialist (especially for the café design). So, if you want your home to not only look cool, but stay cool inside, you know what to do!

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Different Ways to Get a Wooden Floor

DIY / Home Improvement

If you like wooden floors, you are certainly not alone. In the UK, hardwood floors were so popular that at one stage that the Office of National Statistics included it in the national “basket” of goods, which is used to measure inflation. This was the case until 2014, when demand for real wood floors started to fall.

However, that does not mean that the Brits fell out of love with wooden floors, quite the opposite. What happened is that consumers realised that there were cheaper and easier ways for them to achieve the wooden floor look they desired.

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Wood effect laminate flooring

In 1977, Perstorp launched a new form of flooring, called laminate flooring, in Sweden. It sold well there, but did not become available in Europe until 1984.

This innovative new product is made by overlaying a high quality digitised photo of a real wood floor onto wooden boards. A tough transparent finish is then sprayed over the top, which protects the photographic print.

The tougher the final layer is the longer the floor will last. Provided high quality images are used, this type of flooring is very realistic, as you can see by visiting the Discount Flooring Depot website.

Laminate flooring is graded. There are five different types from AC1 to AC5. The higher the rating the better the quality is. If you want to lay a new floor in a guest room where there is very little footfall AC1 grade laminate flooring is fine. However, if you are replacing the floor in a high traffic area, you will need to pay a little extra and lay AC4 or AC5 grade flooring.

Engineered woods

Engineered wood is made in a similar way to laminate flooring.

It is also made up of three layers. This type of flooring consists of a composite board that is overlaid with a veneer, which is protected by a transparent protective layer. The veneer is made from thin slices of real wood.

Usually 2mm is the thinnest and 9mm is the thickest. From an aesthetic point of view, it does not really matter how thick the veneer is, but it does affect how durable your floor is. Generally speaking, the thicker the veneer is the more hardwearing the floor will be. However, that is not the whole story. You also need to look at how thick, and durable, the transparent finish is. It is best to use the grading system to ensure that you choose engineered wood that is designed for the level of footfall your new floor is likely to be subjected to.

Which option is right for you?

Of course, if you want to you can still buy a traditional wooden floor. However, doing so can work out expensive. Especially if you need a professional to lay it for you, which is why consumers are increasingly choosing to use laminate flooring or engineered wood instead.

Which option is right for you is dependent on your budget, how long you want the floor to be down for, and how much work you are prepared to do to maintain your floors. Typically, real wood floors are the most expensive option. In addition, as you can see from this page, they require much more maintenance.

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