Guest Post - Open-Plan Kitchen & Dining: How to Make It Stylish & Functional

No matter how big your home is, everyone needs a decent cooking and dining area. This is the space where you plan your meals, plan your day and spend time with your family. It’s also a spot where you can recuperate after a long day at the office and think about your plans for the future. Finally, this is where you welcome your guests and show them what an amazing cook you are, which is why it’s important to be able to communicate with the people who are enjoying your food. This is the main reason why open-plans are becoming so popular when it comes to decorating your kitchen and dining room, and here’s how you can make this space both functional and stylish.

Move a wall or two

Combining two small areas into a larger one is never easy, and it’s particularly difficult when you’re doing that with your kitchen and dining room. These spaces are usually packed with lots of different stuff, and you have to really think outside the box when doing this.

The idea most people opt for is probably the simplest one as well – remove a wall or two, and just blend these two spaces into one unified area. This is something you can probably do on your own in a couple of days, but be sure to consult a structural engineer and an architect first, just in case something goes wrong. These people can advise you and tell you what you can and can’t do, and how to avoid the most common mistakes.

Insist on continuity

Once you tear down a wall between your kitchen and your dining room, you should try to achieve continuity in this new area and make sure every inch of space gets the same treatment. First, start with the flooring – if your kitchen and your dining room featured two different kinds of flooring, you need to find a unifying solution. The same goes for floor coverings, and this rug selection guide should help you in your efforts.

After that, make sure the color of your walls is the same in every corner of the new open-plan kitchen and dining area, and the easiest way to achieve this is giving every wall a new coat of paint. That way, you’ll also make this entire area seem fresh, clean and more inviting.

New appliances

This is another way to introduce a new dose of elegance into your cooking and eating space, even though it’s not the most frugal idea in the world. Purchasing new appliances isn’t something all homeowners love, but it’s still necessary to do this from time to time.

What you can do to cut costs is be smart with your purchases: get only the most quality appliances that will look good and not use a ton of electricity, so they’ll pay off in a couple of years. Also, think about your family and guests, and get the appliances that will provide all of them enough food. Start with a French door refrigerator that gives you plenty of room for all your ingredients, as well as a powerful range that will allow you to cook several meals simultaneously.

As for taking care of dirty dishes, a contemporary dishwasher will not only make this unpopular house chore a breeze, but also boost the aesthetic appeal of the place. This comprehensive dishwasher buying guide will help you make a truly informed decision.

Enough personal space

No matter how big your family is and how often you entertain guests, you have to give each person in your new kitchen/dining area enough personal space. The best way to ensure this is by incorporating a big dining table with at least four chairs, and a gorgeous rug bellow it. But, there's an even better solution.

Folding tables are perfect for all dining area, regardless of their size and layout. They don’t use too much space when folded, but can become huge in a matter of seconds. This idea will add a dose of luxury to your home as well, so take it into consideration as soon as possible.

More natural light

Probably the best thing about open-plan homes is not having to worry about the amount of natural light in them. If your kitchen has a big window, your dining area will be well-lit as well, and vice versa.

Another way to maximize the light is by exploring new lighting options. Kitchens are easy to illuminate – ambient, task, accent and decorative lighting are just some of the ways to go – and you’ll bring in a ton of light to your dining area at the same time.

Mashing two areas together and making it work seems like the hardest thing in the world, but it's quite doable of you put your mind to it. Think about these ideas, define your budget and start creating the best open-plan kitchen and dining area in the world!

Lillian Connors can’t resist the urge to embark on a myriad of green living/home improvement projects and spread the word about them. She cherishes the notion that sustainable housing and gardening will not only make us far less dependent on others regarding the dwellings we inhabit, but also contribute to our planet being a better place to live on. You can check her out on Twitter.

Guest Post - Senior’s Guide to Decluttering

Whether your loved one is planning to downsize or simply declutter, tossing personal belongings can be challenging. There are all kinds of benefits to downsizing in your golden years — lower energy bills, a smaller space to clean and maintain, and the potential of moving closer to family. However, many seniors struggle to let go of the memories that have accumulated over the years. You can help your senior loved one transition smoothly by planning in advance, staying organized, and honoring their feelings throughout the process.

Step 1: Establish a Plan

Planning is the key to a trouble-free decluttering experience. If you’re moving to a new location, use a calendar to set dates for all moving-related activities. Have dates set for packing, garage or estate sales, charity and trash pickups, and moving itself. Setting reasonable limits on the timeline will also help lower the stress of the overall process.

Sharing the calendar which each person involved with the reorganization process will also help establish expectations. The stress of heavy lifting and consolidating items can create tension between loved ones – the more open communication the better.

Step 2: Sort Through the Smaller Items

Sifting through smaller items, even those as light as paper, will take a huge weight off your shoulders. Try to schedule one specific day to sort through any old files or lose papers on your countertops. Make sure to keep important documents in a separate pile to avoid accidentally tossing one. Be particularly careful to save the following items:

Birth certificates

Deeds

Diplomas and degrees

Financial documents

Medical records

Military records

Passports

Powers of attorney

Wills

Step 3: Find Homes for Larger Items

Your loved one may want to save more items than necessary, but they may not have the square footage to accommodate everything collected over the years. Larger items such as furniture and artwork can be more difficult to part with but will ultimately create a less cluttered space.

Once your loved one chooses a few larger items to let go of, there are a few different options for disposal. Depending on the value and significance or the item, the following options may be suitable for getting rid your items:

Storage - This may be the easiest option for your loved one, psychologically speaking, because they won’t have to part with their things entirely. The downside is storage fees can become expensive in the long run.

Donate - Your local Salvation Army or charity organization will be happy to accept gently used clothes and home goods, and many even offer curbside pickup.

Pass it down - Most seniors have a ton of treasures - jewelry, china, antiques, art, cooking supplies, heirlooms - they intend to pass on to their adult children eventually. If your loved one is willing to part with these items sooner, let them know that they will be treasured as part of the family legacy.

Sell - A garage or estate sale is a great way to part with unwanted items and make some extra cash. If you’re not sure how much some items are worth, talk to an antique dealer.

Step 4: Label and Consolidate Remaining Items

Now that the home is freshly decluttered, organizing the remaining items will maintain the tidiness over time. As your senior loved one’s memory weakens, having labels on smaller items will help when searching for particular belongings. Here are a few suggested items to label and store in one location:

Medicine and pill bottles

Pantry items

Incoming mail

Toiletries

Medical equipment

Household supplies

If the decluttering was in preparation of a move, other maintenance tasks may also attract additional buyers. Adding a fresh coat of paint, cleaning services, and professional staging to your newly organized home will also help it stand out against competition.

Remember that, ultimately, it is your loved one’s decision whether or not to part with items. If you’re too close to the situation and your help becomes overbearing, consider hiring an impartial third party who’s used to helping people let go. Professional organizers and movers in the Connecticut area can also remove the stress while handling your items with care.

Author Bio: Angie Bersin is part of the Redfin content marketing team and enjoys writing about home decor and real estate trends. As a long-term Seattleite, Angie enjoys traveling the globe to find content inspiration. Her dream home would be an urban loft filled with natural light, high ceilings, and an open floor plan.

Guest Post - 5 Practical Tips for a Well Organized and Clutter-Free Garage

There is something irresistible about pushing that key fob button and watching the garage door slowly roll up as you pull your car inside – if it can fit among all that clutter! How about a garage where everything is in place, items easy to locate, every corner well-lit, and the whole space appealing to look and walk into? Back to the reality check, the garage is an area that is consistently an issue in every home. A combination of a parking spot and general storage, with items accumulating haphazardly often pushing the car out on the driveway. Don’t wait until you retire to take care of it. Using these practical tips, you can easily declutter your garage, and at the same time, increase its storage capability.

Add some shelving

If you’re keen on DIY projects, get some L-shaped brackets and a piece of lumber, which is all you need for one shelving unit. If you want to get creative, you can create several levels of shelves stacked on top of each other. On the other hand, if carpentry isn’t the sharpest skill in your trade-box, there are plenty of pre-built shelving ideas in home improvement stores. Steel storage racks are easy to assemble, relatively affordable, and capable of holding a ton of weight. If you don’t like their gray powder coat finish, you can paint them any color you like. They also work hand-in-hand with the next solution – plastic bins.

Go for plastic bins

When it comes to de-cluttering virtually any space, plastic storage bins are manna from heaven, as every local home improvement store is bound to have a wide selection of them. True, cardboards boxes cost less money, but they aren’t nearly as sturdy or practical. Fill them, label them and stack them on their shelves, or even one upon another, as they are built to be stacked. Their airtight rubber seal keeps the moisture out, which makes them perfect for storing your family heirlooms, Christmas decorations, and other fragile items. Even if you don’t label them, clear bins let you check the contents at glance, so you can make self-contained, ready-to-go kits like camping cooking gear, plumbing tools, etc.

Get more light in

A series of strip lights fit perfectly over your workbenches, even inside tool cupboards, with fridge-like door activation. A single canopy light on the inside above the garage door works well if you like to park in reverse. Keep in mind that garages are tricky places to rewire, since often a great deal of utility pipes runs through the walls. The recent home improvement boom and have prompted even countries like Australia, which have traditionally had very stringent electrical safety regulations, to update their standards. That’s why most homeowners over there are more likely to leave their DIY enthusiasm aside, and hire a good Sydney electrician, whether they need a new lighting scheme or extra outlets installed.

Exploit vertical space

Your garage walls and ceiling provide valuable square footage as well, making them perfect for hard-to-store items like rakes, bikes, and other gardening equipment. Add some wall hooks and racks and de-clutter the floor and corners. If your garage has a high ceiling, you can even consider installing a ceiling storage lift – perfect for bulky items like bikes, kayaks, surfboards, spare tires, roof boxes, etc. The key is to make everything as accessible as possible – in other words, you don’t have to move three items to reach the fourth.

Fill the cabinets

Sleek and sturdy metal storage cabinets are a fail safe way to declutter and organize almost any garage. While giving tons of vertical and horizontal storage, cabinets protect your items from damage in ways that other containers can’t. Their construction makes them resistant to moisture and rodents, and makes them easy to keep clean. Since they go up on the walls, you have a plenty of room below for floor storage, or pegboards. Invented in the 1800s, these perforated plywood sheets are synonymous with tools that see a lot of use around the house such as screwdrivers, pliers, hammers, hand saws, and everything else that isn’t worth storing away.

However, before you move forward with any purchases or DIY projects, consider your current options and habits to see what works for you. What makes sense to one family, may not work for another. On the other hand, getting your garage in line might even inspire you to get more decluttering done around the house, or get on with those projects that have been lingering around.

About the author: Mike Johnston is a home improvement blogger and DIY enthusiast from Sydney. He is a regular writer at Smooth Decorator and contributor on several interior design, lifestyle, real estate and eco-friendly blogs. Mike’s goal is to create and share meaningful content that helps and inspires people.

Guest Post - Seven Essential Tips for Managing a Long-Distance Move with Kids

Moving can be one of the most stressful activities you can undertake in your lifetime. This is particularly true if it is the first time you are moving, if you have a lot of items, if you are moving a long distance, or if you are moving with a family. Combine any of these things, and that just exacerbates the stress you can feel undertaking this task.

Moving with kids is probably the most stressful of these items, primarily because it requires extra physical and emotional energy to go smoothly. Although several things go into planning a move, here are seven essential tips for managing a long-distance move with children.

Make a Plan Ahead of Your Move

Once you’ve made the decision to move, there are a lot of additional choices you must make. This is especially true if you are moving to another state or country. The most important thing you can do is sit down with your partner and make a plan for your move. How long do you have until you need to be out of your house? Will you be driving or flying or a combination of both to get to your new destination? Will you be hiring movers or handling the packing and moving yourselves? How will you divvy up responsibilities between the two of you?

Being able to refer back to a pre-set plan throughout your moving process will significantly lessen the stress between the two of you. It will also allow you to talk to your kids about all the necessary steps of the move since you will know what is going on yourselves, thereby making them feel less anxious about what could be the first stressful event of their short lives.

A few critical things to remember as you are making your plan. Be sure to change your address at least a few weeks ahead of the move and forward your mail through USPS. This goes for any bills, newspaper or magazine accounts, and personal correspondence. Consider sending an updated address notification to your friends and family members who send written correspondence to you. You could even ask your friends and family to write letters or cards to your kids and send them to the new address so when you all arrive, there is mail waiting for you. This can help your children feel like the new house is their home and not just a strange place.

Additionally, if you decide to pack your things yourself, color coding or numbering boxes by room will make the unpacking process much easier. This applies if you are using movers who may arrive at your destination before you do. The last thing you want to do when you are trying to get oriented and organized in a new place is worry about which boxes go where. This can also help you avoid marking boxes as valuable, which could make them prime targets for thieves.

Communicate with All Members of Your Family

Be sure to tell everyone in your family about the move as soon as you know it is happening and to keep them in the loop about the plan. Obviously, younger children will require less information than older ones, but they may have additional anxiety if they do not understand what is going on. Telling them all the exciting things about moving, including fun activities in your new neighborhood, new friends, and building up the fun and adventure of traveling, will help decrease their apprehension and increase their enthusiasm about their new home.

Understand Different Impacts on Different Ages

It is important to realize that moving long distances will likely have different effects on your children from various ages. Although younger children may have more anxiety, initially, because they do not understand the concept of moving, they have not had the time to build up and maintain serious friendships and memories in the way older children may have. As a teenager, fitting in feels like the most important thing in the world and having to start over again in a new place can seem very daunting.

Be sure to maintain open lines of communication with your teenager throughout the moving process since they may go through the emotional spectrum. Children who move regularly may also have a different reaction than those who are doing it for the first time and are unaccustomed to the idea. Try to be patient and understanding as you all go through this hectic time.

Have a Road Trip Plan

If you and your family are driving to your new home and have a little time before you must get there, make a fun road trip out of it by stopping at some destinations along the way. Depending on your family’s interests, you can see National Parks, go to theme parks, visit family, camp, or even do sporting activities along the way.

While you are in the car, be sure to have things for the kids to do to avoid anxiety and arguments, like car trip games, videos, and music.

Ask for Help

You and your partner may be the type of people who prefer to do things yourselves. However, a long-distance move can be intimidating even under the best circumstances, so you shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to others and ask for help. The type of aid you need can be anything from going through your things to give away, to assistance packing boxes, to even asking someone to help unpack in your new location. If you are utilizing your friends or family, be sure to clarify with them ahead of time what tasks you’ll need them to do.

Additionally, if you do decide moving everything yourself is too much, many people use professional movers for long distance moves. If you and your family choose to go this route, do some research ahead of time before you commit to a company. Search the internet for reviews, ask your friends or family in the area, and don’t be afraid to give the company a call to discuss their rates and logistics.

Get Your Kids’ Rooms in Order First

When you arrive at your new destination, make it a priority to unpack your kid’s items first. Although this may not be the most convenient thing to do, and may end up taking a bit more time, in the long run, it will absolutely help your children feel less anxious in their new home if they have their own things around. It will also help for them to have a place to go and play while you and your partner are busy unpacking the rest of the house.

Providing this sense of routine from the beginning will also lend itself to continuing this routine in the new location.

Explore Your New Neighborhood

After a long-distance move, everything is new. Take advantage of the opportunity to bring your family together and get to know your new neighborhood by exploring some of the sights and participating in activities. If you moved to a new country, this could be even more significant, as you may have an entirely new culture to explore. Show your kids the positives about your new destination and, soon, they’ll be just as excited as you are to be there.

Long distance moves can be tough, especially with kids. They could be anxious about the move and what it will mean for their lives, so ensuring you keep open lines of communication and try to encourage the positive aspects of moving will go a long way toward making things go smoothly throughout the moving process.

Author Bio: Ross Burgess is a freelance writer and graphic designer residing in California with his wife and daughter. Originally from Atlanta, GA, Ross attended design school at SCAD. By day he is climbing the corporate ladder, but by night he sheds his suit to get creative and write, which is his favorite hobby. When he's not working or blogging you can catch him at the beach with his family and chocolate lab Scooter.