The Best Ways To Add Finishing Touches to Your Home

You’ve finished redecorating your home, but something is... missing. Sometimes when you finish making an upgrade, you realize that there’s too much or too little space left or that the room lacks an element that ties the overall theme together. Not to worry. Sometimes all it takes is an extra bit of furnishing or decoration to make a room work. Here’s a selection of the best ways to add finishing touches to your home.

Fill the Walls

Uncluttered walls can work, but they can also look blank and barren. Framed artwork is the easiest way to gussy up a wall, whether you choose authentic paintings by a local artist, posters and prints of famous works, or a series of family photographs. Adding shelves creates a new, functional space that can display adorable tchotchkes, elegant vases with fresh flowers, or carefully arranged books (try organizing them by color on several shelves for an extra eye-opening rainbow of color). Don’t underestimate the soft and visually tactile appeal of a large blanket or other textile hung from the wall, either.

Add Multifunctional Furniture

If a room lacks some amenity (or several), find furniture that serves purposes beyond the obvious ones. Every entryway or foyer could use a table that provides a place to put your wallet or purse, keys, and other pocket items you don’t want to carry around the house. A coffee table or chest can supply a surface for drinks, books, and gameplay, but they can also contain storage space for magazines, blankets, and more. Note what’s missing from a room and find a piece that can do it all.

Let There Be Lights

Never let a single source dictate the amount and kind of lighting a room gets. A ceiling fixture can provide a bright overall illumination to the room, but what about those times when you need a softer effect or a more direct source for reading in your favorite chair? Add a dimmer switch to your overhead lighting. Then, add table and floor lamps near couches and chairs to provide more personalized lighting. Incidentally, a floor lamp in each corner usually produces a soft, warm glow that makes a room feel homier and cozier.

Let There Be Life

When you’re considering the best ways to add finishing touches to your home, don’t forget that nothing adds more life to a place than plants. Plants add fresh air, pleasant scents, and, if they flower, extra color. Consider how much sunlight a room receives during the day and talk to a gardening center professional about the best plants for the space. Ideal plants to add include rubber trees, Christmas cacti, African violets, spider plants, and ferns. Most indoor plants are low maintenance, so even if you don’t have a green thumb, you’re unlikely to lose them if you miss a watering day.

Ways To Maximize Kitchen Counter Space

Battles between counter space and ever-invading clutter are constantly progressing in every kitchen. It always seems like counter space comes up short, even if you try stuffing all the space-hogging suspects into the drawers and cabinets below. Sadly, this is normal. Most home kitchens barely enough room to spare, especially when they’re small or galley style. No matter your situation, fret not! We’ll cover some of the best ways to maximize kitchen counter space here.

Add Shelf Risers

One of the best ways to maximize kitchen counter space is to simply create some counter space (who would have thought). You can use shelf risers to do this. When we say shelf risers, we don’t mean huge shelves weighing a million pounds. Think more along the lines of a spice rack that’s for more than just spices. The optimal usage of shelf risers would be storing spices, utensils, and other smaller kitchen implements. This will allow more counter space as well as storage space in the drawers.

Use All Your Surfaces and Drawers

When searching for more counter space, many people discount windowsills as unusable surfaces. However, the windowsill is one of the best places for storing such things as carafes, canisters, cookbooks, and even bottles. It’s worth noting that what you can do with your windowsill depends on how deep it is. Other spaces that people often underutilized are the lower cabinets. Many people don’t realize how much they can fit underneath a sink, even when they have bulky things such as under-sink water filtration systems taking up some of the space.

Utilize the Stovetop as a Potential Work Space

One of the techniques that never crosses most people’s minds is to use the stovetop as a work space. You’re probably asking yourself how you would do that, since a lot of stovetops—particularly on gas stoves—aren’t smooth surfaces. The answer is simple: stove covers. The best part is that you can make your own stove covers at home quite easily. With these, you can treat your stovetop as the perfect cutting board or general meal preparation area.

No matter your kitchen situation, there are always some ways to maximize your kitchen counter space. All it takes is a little creativity and the knowledge of what you need out of your kitchen. Remember, these space-saving tips are only the start. It’s now up to you to make your kitchen storage dreams come true!

Knock Knock: 4 Things You Can Do to Fix Up Door Damage in Your Home

Your front door not only protects your home but also makes the first impression on visitors. A damaged front door looks bad, but worse than that, it could also attract burglars, making it a safety risk for you and your family. Interior doors provide privacy for every member of your household. Damaged doors, handles, or locks can make the home less comfortable for everyone living there. Fortunately, there are things you can do to fix damaged doors.

Get Rid of Wood Rot

In damp climates, doors and window frames on older homes are prone to wood rot. Of course, this is most common on exterior doors, but leaks or high humidity could cause rot on doors inside of the home. If the rot is not extensive, you could repair it with an epoxy wood filler. However, if the wood rot is bad, you will likely need to replace your door frame entirely. Rather than replacing it with a new wood frame, choose a door frame made from a plastic composite material. Composite door frames are highly resistant to water damage.

Unstick Sticking Doors

A door that sticks could be caused by any of several reasons. It could be due to humidity warping the wood. Alternatively, it could be due to the house settling. Sticking doors are also often one of the first signs of structural damage in the home. 

First, try tightening the screws on the hinges. If that doesn't work, try sanding or planing the edge of the door. This can take some time. If sanding the edge frees the door, finish the job up with a light coat of paint or varnish to make the door look uniform again.

However, doors that are sticking are often a symptom of bigger problems. So, if they become a recurring problem throughout your home, you might want to contact a professional to inspect your home.

Fix Hollow Core Doors

Interior doors are often hollow core doors, which can easily be damaged. Fowdy kids can accidentally dent or put holes in hollow doors while playing. Even banging against a doorstop or furniture can put a hole in a hollow door.

The hollow nature of interior doors makes repairing them difficult. You can try filling the hollow space behind the hole with spray foam. Once the foam is dried, use an epoxy filler to fill in the hole. When that is dried and cured, sand it down flush with the surface of the door, and paint or stain it to match the rest of the door.

Call a Professional

While door repair sounds simple, and often is, sometimes getting everything to line up just right is harder than it looks. Depending on your experience with home repair, you may be able to take care of it yourself. However, if the job looks too complicated for you, call a professional, like those at AMPM Door Service. If you don't know exactly what you are doing, chances are, you could make the problem worse. A professional can also help you ensure that there are no deeper problems causing the issue.

Completely replacing the door may be necessary if the damage cannot be easily fixed. The fact is, hanging a new door takes skill and more than one set of hands. Fortunately, professional door service is affordable. More importantly, you'll be able to rest assured that your door is solid and able to protect your home and your privacy.

Suspicious Signs of a Water Leak Somewhere in Your Home

Water damage is one of the worst things that can happen to a home. Left unchecked, it can undermine a home's structural integrity and cause thousands of dollars in damage. Here are four suspicious signs you could have a water leak somewhere in your home that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

You're Starting to Find Mold

If you're finding small patches of mold growing on walls, in cupboards or in other places throughout your home, it's a good sign you could have a water problem. Generally, mold on the walls indicates that you have a roof leak that's allowing water to drip down into the structure of your home. Be sure to bring in a mold remediation specialist to help you eliminate the problem once you have located and fixed the leak.

You're Noticing a Musty Smell

Like mold, mildew can result from building materials getting wet over time. In the case of mildew, the most telltale sign is usually a musty odor. This odor is usually strongest in areas without windows, such as closets or attics. If you're noticing this kind of odor, it could indicate that you have a mildew problem springing from a leak. Be aware, though, that this odor isn't always a sign of water problems. In some cases, mildew can grow without a leak and produce minor odors under normal conditions.

Your Floors Are Sagging for No Apparent Reason

If you notice that your floors have become uneven or are beginning to sag, it could indicate that you have a leak in your basement or crawlspace that is doing damage to the support structure under the floor. This can be caused either by a leaky pipe or by foundation damage. If a pipe is the problem, a plumbing professional can help you stop the source of the damage. For foundation issues, you'll need to bring in a construction contractor to repair the damage.

Your Water Bill Is Unusually High

Speaking of plumbing issues, another possible sign of a leak is an abnormally high water bill. If your bill starts to spike and you aren't using more water than usual, it's a good indicator that there's a leak occurring somewhere. Check all of your pipes and fixtures to find the leak, then bring a competent plumber in to repair it.

If you're seeing one or more of these signs, there's at least a chance you're having water problems in your home. Fixing the issue now can save you time, money and hassle repairing severe water damage later on.