5 Design Ideas to Finish a Bonus Room

We all know how hard it can be to picture a finished room when you’re looking at a space with bare walls and an unknown purpose. Some extra square footage in your house is a definite plus, so why not make the most of it? If you’re looking for inspiration and bonus room ideas in your home, look no further. 

There are tons of fun, creative things you can do to make your bonus room match your personality and your family’s needs. Whether you need some extra space for laundry or want to give your clothes a new home, the possibilities are endless.

Tips For Finishing a Bonus Room

Before you jump in with a hammer and new decorations, make sure you have your bases covered. Ensure that your room meets zoning standards by running your plans by your local building and permit office. A quick sign-off on your remodeling plans will give you the freedom to break ground, walls, or whatever you decide to do.

If you are thinking of giving your bonus room a new purpose, you may need to install plumbing, gas, and HVAC. On the other hand, if these additions make your room more “habitable”, your property taxes may increase as a result. Keep these things in mind and consider what room options work best for you! 

Ideas to Inspire Your Bonus Space

1. Hobby Room

Who wouldn’t love a new place to practice hobbies? Whether it's for displaying your beloved coin collection or a video game hangout, there are tons of great options for a room where you can explore new interests. Install a seating area, a TV, and whatever your hobby requires. Guests will love to engage with your hobbies in this space too!

2. Green Room

An-in house green room is a wonderful, serene place to sit and enjoy your plants. Picking out seasonal plants or your favorite flowers will allow this room to flourish along with your plants. If you want to go all out, you can install windows in this area to add in natural sunlight for the plants. Adding bright-colored succulents to this space will add some character!

3. Laundry room

We all know how quickly laundry can pile up at home. Having some extra wiggle room and space to wash, sort, and fold your clothes will be a game-changer. Install a foldout table or ironing board for your laundry needs. You can also add small shelves to a wall in your room to organize your detergent, bleach, and other products. Before you know it, your laundry room will feel like a fun responsibility instead of a chore. 

4. Lounge

As you can guess, a lounge offers a cozy, relaxing spot where you can unwind. Different from a living room, your lounge can be a personal cozy nook that you will love. Take a break from your at-home office work or watch your favorite movies. Your kids and guests will love this part of your house when they get to take a break from everyday tasks. 

At first glance, a blank room may look intimidating and useless. However, you can remodel your home using these helpful tips that give your extra space a new purpose. Before you know it, your room will be adding value to your home in ways you never imagined. For more information on how to design a bonus room, check out this infographic from The Zebra. 

Guest Post - 5 Lighting Techniques To Efficiently Brighten Up Small Spaces

Lighting within a space can make a night-and-day difference in its overall atmosphere. When working with smaller and more confined spaces, it’s especially important to be strategic in your choice of lighting to optimally brighten the area. Certain lighting techniques can illuminate smaller spaces more effectively than others. 

Lighting choices can be customized to fit any aesthetic, all while keeping the size of the space in mind. The following techniques will help you optimize your lighting and create ambience within a smaller space. 

1. Dazzle Your Space with Chandeliers 

Chandeliers might seem too large for small spaces but they can be designed to maximize their illuminating effect. Choose something with an open design so none of the light is blocked like a modern rustic chandelier. Or if you have a more extravagant style, adding something with lots of glass or crystal pieces can help refract the light and brighten your space. Chandeliers can bring a note of elegance and sophistication to any size space.

Available in various styles, they can be designed with either stand-alone bulbs, or bulbs that are contained within clear glass, acrylic, or other unobtrusive material such as thin brass wiring. Lighting can even be further enhanced, creating sparkle, as crystal chandeliers with surrounding crystal prisms. 

2. Make a Statement with Stunning Pendant Lights.

When working with a smaller space, it’s especially important to keep size and proportion in mind. Perfect for both their dimension and design, pendant lights are a great option for lighting up a smaller area without overcrowding the space. 

In order to get the most out of your pendant light fixture, opt for something without a shade so none of the light gets blocked. If a shade is a must, choose a wide design to disperse the light as much as possible. Other designs might feature an open lantern style to allow plenty of light through the glass or even crystal elements that enhance and reflect light throughout your space.

Both space-savvy and stylish, pendant lights are simple and minimalistic in their design—taking up very little room while offering optimal illumination. 

3. Illuminate From All Around with Wall Sconces

Sconces are versatile wall mounted fixtures that are especially perfect for smaller spaces. Tasteful, functional, and refined, wall sconces can be discreetly positioned and don’t take up any of your high-value floor space. 

Whether you choose a more minimalist and sleek design or a luxurious fixture like the one below, these small lights can make a big impact on a space. Sconces reflect light off the walls they’re installed on and sometimes even the ceiling. Depending on your budget and tastes, you can opt for sconces with one bulb or multiple bulbs for even more light.

Wall sconces can even function as task-oriented lighting in certain rooms of your home. For instance, installing the right sconces adjacent to your bathroom vanity mirror can elevate the space and offer extra lighting while you’re getting ready. Likewise, sconces can add a tasteful touch of lighting to illuminate some of your favorite artwork on the wall. 

4. Brighten Dark Corners with Standing Lamps

A great way to illuminate all corners of a smaller room is to situate light sources wherever they’re needed most. By placing standing lamps in darker corners, you eliminate shadow traps in the room and open up the space so it appears much bigger when it’s all lit up. 

If the natural lighting in your space shifts throughout the day, consider getting an adjustable lamp that you can position differently depending on where you need the light. Classic standing lamp designs use lamp shades, but it’s important to consider getting a shade with a wide opening on the top and the bottom, like the ones below. This allows the light to brighten the space in both directions. 

Additionally, standing lamps are generally easy to move around and adapt to the design of your space any time you feel like changing up your setup. 

5. Add Light and Heat with a Fireplace

Adding a fireplace is yet another way to add light–and warmth–to a smaller space. Depending on the fireplace and the way it's incorporated into the space, they can take up very little room. Installing a modern fireplace can be a perfect way to add a focal point to the room, and even add more surface area to display artwork or other accent pieces on the mantel. 

When working with smaller spaces that may otherwise feel cramped, opt for an electric fireplace that will take up little floor and wall space. These fireplaces won’t be obtrusive but will still illuminate the room and create a cozy feeling. What’s more, many modern fireplaces can be installed to have different control settings, allowing you to set whatever ambience you want, whenever you want.

Conclusion

We know your options are limited when working with a space that’s small and compact. Lighting can work wonders to not only brighten up a room, but create an illusion of more openness and space within otherwise confining walls. 

Any of the above mentioned lighting techniques are sure to help you transform your small space into a warm and inviting one with the powerful effect of proper lighting. Use any technique, or a combination of them, to liven up your space with some strategic illumination. 

Author Bio: 

Carolyn Mitchell is a freelance writer and content strategist with a passion for home décor. She can often be found re-painting and updating the furnishings in her home, and she is also a dedicated cat mom to two adorable kitties.

Why You Should Let a Professional Handle Your Windows

Windows are huge spaces, and you need to take care of them with window coverings for privacy, functionality, and style. When it's time to dress your windows, you might think about doing it yourself, but letting the professionals take care of it for you is usually the better option. These are some of the best reasons to let an expert handle your window dressings.

They Can Make Your Coverings More Functional

The types of materials that you use for your window coverings will depend on the window and what you want to achieve. For instance, if you're covering a bedroom window that has a large streetlight outside sending light through the window, you might want blackout curtains. You don't need this for a small kitchen window, but this type of window could have other needs. A professional will be able to assess the window and what it needs to provide the most value.

A Professional Will Ensure Proper Window Cover Sizing

If you're looking at getting a window blind installation, getting a professional can help greatly because they will measure your blinds so that they fit your windows perfectly. Most of the blinds that you can find at the store will sort of fit your windows, but if you want custom blinds that fit perfectly then you need to hire a professional. You'll love how a pro can ensure that the fit is just right, and you'll have an array of materials to choose from when you talk to the experts for your window blinds.

The Pros Make Everything Easier

It's time-consuming to choose the window coverings in a store or online and install them around your windows yourself. When you hire someone to do it, you'll save yourself the time that you can use on other home projects or just enjoy more time at home with friends and family.

Limitless Styling and Customization

When you go with the pros, you get a vast selection of styling and customization so that you can get exactly what you want in terms of colors, patterns, textures, and so much more.

If you need new window coverings but are running short on time or don't like the selection or quality that you're finding other places, hiring a professional can change everything. Talk to experts about the functionality and styling that you want, and they can worry about the technical aspects of dressing your windows.

Spring Cleaning Your Garden – the Essentials

If you love your outdoor space, chances are you'll be out in your garden on the first warm day of spring. Surely, there will be some work for you to get your garden up to a standard, but besides removing fallen branches and debris, don’t rush with the clean-up. Wait until the soil is drier so you can work on it easily but again, don't wait too long to start. It will be much easier for you to prune plants before the old growth gets entangled in the new growth.

Here are the essentials of spring garden cleaning and getting it ready for summer days of outdoor joy and relaxation.

Remove mulch and prune your perennials

The first task is removing any dead plants and foliage left behind over winter, and composting them. You’ll clear up the space for new growth and any self-seeding plants will already have done their job.

If you had left your perennials unpruned last fall, they'll be an unattractive sight by now. Many perennial plants prefer to be left untouched throughout the winter, as it gives them extra protection. If you did take this course, once you see new growth at the plants base, you can begin removing winter mulch and pruning.

Certain shrubby plants with hard, woody stems such as Artemisia, buddleia, and lavender need to be pruned each spring as they only bloom on new branches. Spring pruning will minimize winter damage and encourage the growth of those new flowering branches. However, you should wait until the danger of a hard frost is over.

On the other hand, some perennial plants never quite go dormant, but they still need some tidying up. Spring is the ideal time to cut back the rugged foliage and boost new growth.

Pick the right time to prune the trees

Most spring-blooming trees set their flower buds in the summer or fall of the previous year. If you prune them in the spring, before they start blooming, you’d also prune off this year's flowers. If you’re unsure about what to do, it’s best you rely on  professional help from tree services in Sydney who are experts in maintaining the health and beauty of trees.

Trees need regular pruning and light trimming to manage their shape and growth, as well as to encourage strong bud formation and branch development. However, pruning needs to be performed at specific seasons so the trees get the best chance of surviving the summer and the winter weather.

Give your roses some TLC

Caring for your roses in spring will greatly depend on your climate. In warm climates, roses never really go dormant, so they will benefit substantially from good pruning and the removal of most of the piled-up leaves. This will give the rose a kind of a shock to start feeling as if it was dormant and now it’s time to wake up and start growing. In places where they do go dormant, you should begin their TLC right when the leaf buds begin to appear.

Tidy up the evergreens

Most evergreens require very little to no spring care except some tidying up. You should fertilize them because they are in the process of active growth at this time. However, if the soil is healthy and rich, you can skip a season and feed your evergreens every other year. Use a well-balanced fertilizer marked particularly for evergreens.

Begin weeding and composting

Early spring is the perfect time to tackle weeds with some pro-active gardening and cultivating. Soft and damp soil makes it easier to extract young weed seedlings but don’t throw them in your compost as they’ll come back and mess up your work!

Apart from weeds, most of what you clean up can be put into your compost pile. It's recommended you start a new pile in spring and use your old pile in the garden. If there’s any plant material exhibiting signs of disease, make sure you dispose of them.

Divide and transplant

If you’re planning to move your plants, spring is the best time to divide some of your plants and transplant them. They have an amazing capacity to recover if you manage to catch them early when the weather is still mild, and they're just waiting to sprout out!

Bring in the fresh mulch

Finally, it’s time to bring in the mulch – it can do wonders for your garden! It conserves water, feeds the soil, cools plant roots, and most importantly, smothers weeds. Every garden deserves a rich layer of mulch, but wait until the soil dries and warms up a bit before you replenish your mulch. When putting it in, make sure you keep it away from the stems and crowns of plants because, if you’re hoping for some self-seeding annuals, this will give them a chance to germinate before the bed is covered with mulch.

A proper spring garden clean-up doesn’t have to be a tedious task. By taking your time and doing the right steps, you will reap all the benefits of a gorgeous, healthy and thriving garden with beneficial pollinators and pest-munching insects.