Tips for Designing a Stellar Living Room

Your living room is a shared space where the family gathers to relax and enjoy each other’s company. So, it’s essential to decorate it in a way that reflects your unique style and sense of comfort. Learn some of the best tricks and tips for designing a stellar living room so that you can be proud of your favorite space.

Use Bookcases To Organize Books and Knick-Knacks

When you first embark on designing your dream living room, it’s essential to consider all the different items you plan to use in the space. For instance, maybe you’re an avid book lover, but you have no practical way to store and arrange all of them. Just the same, you might have a collection of vintage knick-knacks from all over the world, but you’re not sure how they’ll fit into your design.

Well, a simple solution for both problems is the use of bookcases. Not only do bookcases provide a practical, space-saving way to house your items, it also allows you to create aesthetic arrangements and exciting displays on each shelf. Using bookcases in this manner can help to create a more dynamic feel to your living room while keeping it organized.

Enhance Mood Lighting With Floor and Table Lamps

Something else that you might not have considered incorporating in your living room design is mood lighting. Mood lighting adds warmth and functionality to a space. The easiest way to enhance mood lighting is to use floor and table lamps. Lamplight is often much warmer and more inviting, so overall, it creates a much comfier, livable space than fluorescent or even bright ceiling fan lights.

Decorate Your Mantle

Another one of the best tips for designing a stellar living room is to make use of your fireplace mantel. Instead of leaving this spot a blank canvas, use it to create a central display in your living area. You can arrange candles atop it in unique ways, you can put family heirlooms on display, or you can adorn it with framed pictures. Whichever route you take, using your mantel as a fixture for decorative arrangements will tie the room together and add a lively ambience to the space.

Select an Oversized Ottoman

Many people choose to furnish their living rooms with a coffee table, but lately, the trend seems to be swinging in favor of oversized ottomans as the significant centerpiece. These large ottomans can provide all the same functions as a coffee table, but in a homier, more cozy fashion.

You can place a decorative platter on the ottoman to hold certain items, while still being able to use it as a plushy footrest. Ottomans add a unique, much softer charm to your space than a coffee table and creates a welcoming atmosphere to your living room.

The way you design your home is important, and doing a few simple things to make your living room more dynamic can transform the entire space for the better. Hopefully, this guide has given you a better vision of how you’ll design your dream living room for yourself.

How to Minimize Property Clutter Before Selling Your House

One of the most common issues that realtors and their clients face is the valuation of a property for resale when the grounds and home are full of old clutter, construction garbage, and other remnants of prior residents. Many prospective buyers will simply walk away if this issue isn’t dealt with before listing, but doing this on a budget can be a problem.

Auctioning

In some cases, depending on the type of clutter in the home or garage, paying a consignment store or auction hall to take the lot off your hands is a good way to empty out a large space quickly. This is particularly useful when the clutter involves large pieces of furniture or antiques. Not only does it empty the space, but you may also earn some residual income based on how much the items sell at auction.

Car Buyers

Another option is to contact an unwanted car buyer. Many metal recyclers actively seek out non-drivable cars to recycle or sell for parts. This tip will again add money to your black column, as the market price for steel will be paid by the pound hauled off your land. If there were any fluid spills (gasoline, oil, or other fluids), the next step will be digging out the affected dirt and carting it off to prevent ground contamination, as well as backfilling the hole with clean dirt.

Landscaping

Then, before you list and after you’ve hauled out the sheds and the cars, it might be a good investment to have a professional landscaper come and detail your property. Having a licensed crew getting rid of dead trees and shrubs, as well as shoring up the sightline with freshened mulch and removing old debris and leaves is worth every penny to have your property’s first impression be a memorable one.

Home Staging

Last, partner with your realtor to have your home’s interior staged for showing. Once you have emptied out your personal belongings, the house becomes a blank canvas. A savvy stager can add dozens of offers onto your listing by using professionally designed leased furniture and details that will help your prospective buyers envision life in the space. Staged homes sell nearly three times as quickly, and ensure you receive quality offers near to or over the asking price. When you are ready to clean up in the real estate marketplace, be sure to rely on professionals that can help your prepare your property.

What to Do When Your Home Sustains Water Damage

We all would like to think that nothing bad could happen to our homes. However, situations do arise that are out of our control. You could be enduring a winter storm and the next thing you know a gush of water is flowing into your home because of a busted pipe. A hurricane could make its way into your area and flood your home. The question is what do you do once your home has sustained damage from the water that came? Several things do come to mind.

Get Everyone to Safety

When you encounter water damage, the first thing to do is to get everyone out of the affected area. If it happens to be the entire home, then evacuate the children and pets immediately. Second, turn off the water from the mainline. This will stop the damage from getting worse if it’s a burst pipe. Next, make sure to turn off the electricity for the entire home. If you have to walk through the water for any reason, you don’t want to get electrocuted.

Take Pictures and Document the Damage

For insurance purposes, it’s a good idea to take pictures, and write down the areas of the home that were affected by the water. If you can measure how much water is actually in your home, then do so. This will help when you are looking for your homeowner's insurance to cover some of the cost. Also, when the inspector comes to see the damage you will the proof you need. They will have done their own documentation, but you will have yours to compare against theirs.

Call a Reliable Company to Fix the Damage

You will need to call a company that offers water damage services to come in and fix the mess in your home. Some companies, like Water Emergency Services Inc, know that professionals would know how to extract the water to keep you from having mold issues. If mold is already present, then they would need to know how to extract it. Make sure you call at least three of these companies and compare the pricing along with the quality of service.

It is a tedious task dealing with water damage inside of your home, but these tips should make things just a bit easier to cope with. No one is ever really prepared for disasters to strike like this. The good part about it is that things can return to normal once the home has been repaired.

Injury-Preventing Stretches For Your Next Construction Project

When working on a new home renovation project, it can be tempting to jump into the construction phase as soon as planning wraps up. However, it’s important to take a moment to focus on your health and safety before diving into physically demanding work. 

Construction projects of any size come with the risk of injury. In fact, manual laborers frequently experience musculoskeletal injuries on and off the job, and heavy lifting and overexertion are common culprits. Fortunately, stretching is one of the simplest, most effective ways to prevent these types of injuries. 

4 Benefits of Stretching

Stretching before, during and after a construction or renovation project can benefit your mind and body in multiple ways. No matter what type of project you’re taking part in, stretching can deliver the following benefits: 

1. Improves flexibility: Regularly stretching can improve muscle flexibility over time, reducing the risk of muscle strains and tears while lifting heavy objects. 

2. Increases range of motion: Stretching can help improve and maintain range of motion in your joints, making them less prone to permanent injury.  

3. Builds muscle tone: Some stretches, like shoulder circles and side bends, can help build muscle tone and reduce muscle strain. 

4. Can improve overall mood and boost focus: Taking a break to stretch during long construction or renovation projects can improve your mood and help you focus when you get back to work. 

How to Stretch Successfully 

Stretching is a great way to prevent injuries and keep your body healthy. However, improper stretching can reduce the benefits and even cause pain if you aren’t careful. To ensure that you are getting the most out of your stretching routine, try out the following tips: 

• Breathe steadily while you stretch. 

• Stretch slowly and avoid overextension. 

• Get into a regular stretching routine. 

• Stop or modify your routine if it causes pain. 

Whether you are planning your first home renovation project or have worked in construction for years, taking the time to stretch during your next project can prevent injuries and keep you feeling your best. If you are looking for a new stretching routine, see the infographic below for eight injury-preventing stretches for manual laborers.