Guest Post - Summer Hang: How to Make Your Backyard the Hangout Spot This Season

Summer is almost here, and vaccinations are on the rise. If you are like the rest of America, you're getting ready to set aside social distancing and put the social back into social animals. You scramble to the back door to scope out the old hangout spot, and you are astonished to find it in total disrepair! Winter wasn’t kind to your backyard.

So, how do you turn your backyard into the premier post-COVID hangout spot? This post will go over some tips for making your backyard the envy of your friends and family! 

Clean Your Home’s Exterior

If you want to impress guests, you should take a walk around the exterior of your house. Take note of any mold, vines, or damage to exterior siding or stucco. Usually, you can remove mold and dirt by using a power washer with a strong outdoor detergent. 

However, if your home has damaged stucco, then a power washer can worsen the problem by chipping away at the cracks. You may need to contact a stucco remediation contractor to fix your issue if you see exposed brick or other structural materials.

If you see vines or other types of plant growth on your home’s exterior, check the affected area for damage to your siding or stucco. Usually, you can remove vines by hand without damaging your home’s exterior. 

Landscaping DIY

The demand for landscaping and outdoor services is on the rise, but the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a skilled labor shortage. This means the cost of landscape services is generally higher. There are a few DIY landscaping tricks you can employ to get that professional landscape look on a pandemic budget.

Choose an Outdoor Focal Point

You want to plan your landscaping so that visitors are drawn naturally toward some sort of focal point. This focal point can be a fire pit, a porch, a pool, a garden, or some other centerpiece.

Create a Path and Accents

Using old stones or bricks, which can be purchased in bulk or found cheap, try to create a logical path connecting this focal point to a driveway or door. Using the same stones or bricks, line other features, such as bushes and flowerbeds, with similar accents, so that there is consistency to the characteristics of your backyard. 

Directional Lighting Makes all the Difference

Another way to draw people towards your focal point is to use directional lighting. By lighting up bushes and other features along a path, you can draw attention to the focal point at the path's end. At your focal point, whatever that may be, make sure there is ample lighting so visitors can see well and move about safely at night. 

Solar lights, outdoor LED string lights, weatherproof lanterns, and other creative lighting options can help you direct people safely and aesthetically throughout your outdoor space. By highlighting outdoor features from a consistent angle, you can create a feeling of depth and space, even if space is limited.

For Furnishings: Have a Theme and Stick to It

When thinking about furnishing your backyard space, you should have a guiding aesthetic theme or principle. The principle can be anything, but there should be a consistency in how it's implemented. Your theme could be anything from unpainted wood to modern minimalist furniture.

Your theme can go beyond the type of furniture and cover furnishing concepts like mismatched furniture, kitschy antique furniture, or stark uniformity. The point is to have a unifying theme or aesthetic idea behind why you have what you have.

Make Your Backyard the Envy of the Neighborhood!

Using this article as a guide, you can turn your backyard into the place everyone wants to hang out when the weather is nice this summer. Consider the cleanliness of your home’s exterior. Also, take into account how landscaping and lighting play a role in the perception of your backyard space. Then, decide on some sort of stylistic theme or principle when furnishing and decorating your outdoor space. 

Finally, send out the invites and show off your hard work!
About the Author

Jennifer Bell is a freelance writer, home designer, blogger, dog-enthusiast, and avid beachgoer operating out of Southern New Jersey.

Guest Post - 5 Key Features and Considerations When Selecting a Modern Home Design

Designing a modern family home is an exciting process, but it also comes with its own list of challenges. There are a lot of decisions that need to be made, and many homeowners simply don’t know where to begin when planning home design. To help you out, we’re listing five things to keep in mind when selecting a modern family home design.

Take an intentional approach to floor planning

First and foremost, when planning a modern family home design, it’s important that you take an intentional approach, especially when it comes to floor plan. Organized, well-thought-out, and logical room layouts are hallmarks of modern family home design. This is opposed to traditional family home design whose floor plans aren’t as intentional.

For instance, in a traditional home design, the rooms’ shape may be irregular. While some rooms may be connected logically, others may end up being located in awkward positions (e.g. laundry room close to nursery/kids’ room, powder room not being connected to either a bedroom or a bathroom).

Instead of using the rooms to simply fill in the gaps in your floor plan, be intentional with each and every room. You can do this by factoring in your family’s needs, creating balance between space and style as well as making sure that every inch is used efficiently.

Implement adequate storage solutions for a clutter-free home

Speaking of putting every nook and cranny to good use, another important characteristic of modern family homes is the abundance of storage space. This is a must-have for most modern families, and a prerequisite for a tidy and clutter-free home.

To keep your home well-organized, functional, and easy to maintain on a daily basis, aim to introduce storage solutions that correspond to the room’s style, design, and color scheme. Freestanding, vertical, built-in, or modular? It’s up to you to decide.

As for the decor, it’s important that you accessorize sparingly if you want to maintain that contemporary vibe. Think about it this way: If it doesn’t add value to the room’s design or hold any sentimental value, you’re better off storing it instead of putting it on display.

Take advantage of custom building design opportunities

One of the biggest perks of opting for a modern family home design are the endless customization opportunities. Being able to build a home according to a custom plan allows more room for both creativity and flexibility which is why these homes are such an attractive option for homeowners around the globe and particularly in Australia.

This may not come as a surprise since Aussies are a house-proud nation, and while they’re in love with all things DIY and renovation, when it comes to building their homes, they’ll often turn to a reputable building designer in Sydney to help them with the construction process and ensure their finished project is beautiful and functional. By breaking down the process into actionable steps, builders make the process seamless and simple for their clients. That way, all that’s left for homeowners to do is to figure out the features that matter most to them.

Simplify your design

Customizing your modern family home design is the best way to create a home that’ll fit your individual needs, and aesthetics play a vital role in the design process. Modern family homes appear to be rather simple in design, often embracing minimalist interiors that boast sleek lines, streamlined furnishings, and of course, a neutral color palette.

The key to creating such interiors lies in simplifying the approach to both design and decor. To do that, try to minimize any additions that feel unnecessary, incorporate aesthetically pleasing elements, add homely touches to warm up a neutral palette, and most importantly – aim for cohesiveness. Ideally, the overall look will be pleasing to the eye while allowing for complete comfort and efficiency for everyday living.

Consider including different eco-friendly features

Last but not least, another thing worth mentioning when it comes to building modern houses is that they are focused on minimizing environmental footprint. Energy usage is something that many homeowners are actively working on reducing, and builders and architects are taking notes.

As a result, many modern family home designs are centered around increasing energy-efficiency, and this is usually achieved by implementing a variety of eco-friendly features. These include installing sustainable flooring (e.g. bamboo), using recycled materials in the building process, and maximizing natural light.

Additionally, homeowners should consider going solar as well as making smaller, yet equally effective green investments such as choosing LEDs over traditional bulbs and purchasing efficient, Energy Star certified appliances over conventional ones.

Wrapping up

Choosing a modern family home can be challenging – you need to find a place that meets your requirements, fits into your budget, and is situated in an ideal location.

While this is something that’s easier said than done, if you keep in mind these key considerations, you’ll manage to design a modern family house that ticks all the right boxes and build a home you’ll love coming back to.
About the author: Mike Johnston is an avid blogging enthusiast and experienced freelance writer. He’s a regular contributor to numerous online publications where he writes about real estate, construction, home improvement, and interior design.

6 Reasons to Use Self Storage While Moving into a New House

Americans often move for lifestyle or work-based decisions, and when they are in transition between an old home and a new one, the convenience of storage units to keep their belongings in a safe place serves an important need.

A good number of storage facilities are appearing all over the country because people often have more stuff than they have space in their homes to keep.

Here are 6 common reasons to use self-storage while moving into a new house.

1. You don't have enough space in the new house for everything from the old house.

If you are moving to a new city, you might discover that you had underestimated how much room there is in your new home for all their belongings. Often new construction homes may not be as spacious as older homes because of a shortage of land space.

Putting your belongings in self-storage provides you with a convenient place to put things away safely until you can figure out what they want to keep and what you want to sell.

2. You are renting a home until you can find one to buy.

Sometimes you might decide to rent a home after a job relocation. You plan to rent a home until you have enough time to find a property in the new location that you would like to buy. Putting your extra belongings in storage gives you a place to keep them until you buy a spacious home.

3. You decide to declutter after moving.

You may decide to rent a self-storage unit because you want to declutter your new home. You did not have enough time to declutter before you moved from your previous home.

Renting a storage unit helps you to declutter quickly and efficiently without wondering where to put everything. Since you're working in stages, you first want to declutter and then decide what to keep and what not to keep.

4. You need space to renovate a room.

When renovating your new home, a certain room may have to be completely stripped of everything in it for workers to have enough room to set up the new structure.

During a kitchen renovation, for example, you will have to find a place for all their appliances and kitchenware so that there is enough space for workers to move around as they install new cabinets.

5. You want to do some interior decorating.

When doing interior decoration, you may find it convenient to use storage units as a place to keep your old furniture while they switch out to a new style.

You'll decide what to do with your old furniture after the interior decoration project has been completed.

6. You need a place to store your recreational vehicles.

Storage units are often spacious enough to store vehicles. Sometimes it is necessary to rent space to store recreational vehicles because there is not enough space in the garage or in the driveway.

Using a storage facility is a convenient place to park seasonal vehicles, such as motorcycles or snowmobiles.

Overall, storage facilities provide an invaluable service if you are moving to a new home and don't know what to do with your belongings. Renting a self-storage unit is both inexpensive and extremely convenient if you have an overabundance of things that you don’t have enough room for in your new home.

Best Tips on How to Organize Your Indoor Garden

An indoor garden can be messy. We know. Soil all over the place, water dripping on the floor… oh and even insects!

But here is the truth- there is actually a way to organize your indoor garden. Turn a grubby indoor garden into the centerpiece of your home decoration by following these easy steps:

1. Go with clustering

Most homeowners take their indoor plants as decorative pieces. They just place one plant in each corner of their house.

This is not the right way to do it.

Placing a single plant in each corner of your house can be messy. This is because you have to go all over your home when you’re watering them or fixing their soil. 

On the other hand, you can avoid all these water and soil messes if you cluster your plants into one area. They will also look more beautiful since you can get to play with their textures, colors, sizes, shapes, and other aesthetic elements when placed together.

They won’t just be a plain decorative piece! 

2. Rule of center and edges

Speaking of aesthetic elements, decorative indoor gardening is not just about plant colors and sizes. You should also consider their position.

The rule of center and edges is pretty simple- you place one big indoor plant in the middle and place smaller plants around it of different kinds.

This rule prevents the feel and looks of overcrowding despite clustering your plants. The contrast between big and small plants will actually make it seem that they have more space. 

Furthermore, the shadow of the large plant in the middle will give a shadowy effect on your indoor gardening without blocking the sun altogether. At the same time, the smaller plants on the edges will give a cute and dainty touch to your place!

3. One kind of container

Another thing that greatly contributes to the messy look of your indoor garden is the consistent pots and containers. A single kind of container will be the unifying element of the various plants that you have. 

Just imagine the chaos of having various plants and various containers in one corner! It will feel like you just hoarded various plants from the neighborhood.

You can use ceramic pots, fabric grow bags, or fiberglass containers, depending on your preference and the kind of plants that you grow. You can also use them in various sizes and colors as long as they’re of the same kind.

4. Smart drainage system

Watering your plants is the messiest indoor garden task. But no matter how messy it is, you really have to do it. The best thing to do is to improvise a drainage system in your indoor garden.

The most common way is placing saucers under your pots. But you shouldn’t stop there. You can place rocks (real ones) on these saucers. These rocks will look like a decorative touch, but really they’re placed there to absorb the drained water from your pots!

If you have hanging plants, make sure that there are larger plants under them. These plants will serve as a basin to the drained water of your hanging plants.

It would also be smart to place your indoor garden near your kitchen. This way, all the water and wet corners will not look messy and misplaced since they will fit into your kitchen!

See? It’s all about proper placements of plants!

5. Play of space

It’s highly recommended that you designate a small space in your house for your indoor garden, simply because you wouldn’t want to turn your own house into a jungle or a full-blown greenhouse. This is a common mistake among indoor garden owners. 

When you already allot a space, make sure that you stick with it. It’s not that hard to maximize space, despite how small it is. You can try placing your plants into hanging pots, trellis for walled plants, and even make-shift garden stairs. 

These techniques will not just help you make the most out of your space but will also emphasize your creativity in container gardening!

So, what do you think about our tips on how to organize your indoor garden? Always remember that beauty and organization always come together.