Category: Home and Living

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The 5 Best Areas To Focus on With Your New Bathroom

The 5 Best Areas To Focus on With Your New Bathroom

 

Getting your bathroom remodeled doesn’t just add niceties and comfort for yourself. It also increases the value of your home and makes it more attractive to potential buyers. The thing with remodels is, you want to get it right the first time. Making the wrong choices can leave you with a room with less space than you started off with in the first place. There’s also plenty of water flowing through the room, so a remodeling mistake can cause leakage and start water damage in other areas of the home. You’ll want to start off by deciding what you want to focus on, then determining a budget and a schedule for your project. The following list will help you to determine what to focus on so that your project is a success. These ideas will help you to choose remodels that improve your bathroom’s quality as well as the value of your home.

Leave budgetary room for unexpected expenses

When you are remodeling your bathroom, you will likely have your contractor look over the room first, and you might be surprised at what they find. Contractors might find that the floor has water damage, or that there is a serious leak somewhere else in your system. If you don’t find something immediately, that room that you left in your budget goes back into your pocket. It can also be valuable to keep around for repairs down the line—even remodels don’t hold up forever!

Hiding the toilet

Hiding the toilet with a well-placed wall can make the entire bathroom feel more discreet and attractive. Even using some type of furniture can create the same effect. Basically, you want to create a barrier—but it doesn’t have to be something as expensive as a new wall. A narrow cabinet where you can place your supply of toilet paper and other supplies would suffice.

Water Efficiency

This is something that most home builders didn’t worry about 25 years ago. But today, saving water means saving money, and that is attractive to both home owners and potential buyers. Choosing the right toilets, faucets, and showerheads can be the difference between saving hundreds of dollars a year.

The 5 Best Areas To Focus on With Your New Bathroom

Spend on your shower or bath

Spending on the shower is almost a prerequisite to increasing the value of your bathroom these days. Today, people are much more attracted to new showers than bath tubs, and that means installing larger showers with room and storage space for soap and other amenities. Showers that wow have multiple showerhead options, and some even have a place for sitting down. But one cannot discount the coziness of a bath tub. One could simply lay there soaked in aromatherapy oil and forget the worries of life for a bit. There are walk-in baths equipped with lift seats that make it easier for people with challenged mobility to enjoy a full bath with less help. Such baths are also designed for effortless and safe entry and exit, with wide-opening, easy-access doors.

Lighting is key

Lighting is a major part of remodeling your bathroom. You can improve your lighting by adding multiple layers. There’s your ceiling lighting, mounted lighting above the sink, and even shower and toilet lighting. Most contractors are now installing LED lights which are brighter and save you energy and money.

 

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Cool and Convenient Pantry for Efficient Food Storage

Cool and Convenient Pantry for Efficient Food Storage

 

Storage areas are essential elements in keeping the house clean and organized. Household items that are rarely used are usually placed in the attic, garage or basement; personal items go to the closets; and food supplies stay in the kitchen cupboards and refrigerator. But since the kitchen is one of the busiest rooms in the house, you may want to think about upping the cupboards with an efficient pantry.

Convenient Pantry 

This is a small room designed for storing food and kitchen provisions, usually with a clean and organized look that makes it convenient to find items or make an inventory of supplies.

A pantry usually features shelves and racks that are built along its walls, from top to bottom. There are also storage aids like baskets, caddies, or jars to keep the supplies well organized.

Easy Organizing

The heavy items are usually placed at the bottom levels of the shelves, the commonly used items at eye level, and the rarely used at the topmost levels. You don’t have to open several cupboards to find ingredients for your meal.  Everything you need is within sight and confined in one area. This makes it quicker and easier to get the things you need for preparing meals. Even kids or household members who do not know their way around the kitchen can easily find their bearings in the pantry.

Cool and Convenient Pantry for Efficient Food Storage

Time and Money Saving

Having designated places for every food provision can also help in monitoring supplies and make grocery shopping more efficient. You can make a grocery list by simply looking at the empty spots in the shelves.

Health and Safety

Separating the storage for food items from other kitchen supplies also help protect the family’s health. It ensures that food is stored in a clean and dry area, away from possible contaminants or spills from the kitchen.

Cool and Convenient Pantry

Aside from the convenience of ample space and organized storage, a pantry can also improve your interiors because it leaves a neat and clutter-free look for the kitchen. Homemakers who want to enjoy these benefits can start considering having a pantry in the house. Those who can’t afford space for a pantry with door may find a small nook in their kitchen where floor to ceiling shelves can be installed and used as an open pantry.

 

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Elder Care – A Clear Understanding of What it Entails

Elder Care – A Clear Understanding of What it Entails

 

Children of elderly people face a moral dilemma when their parents enter their twilight years. Should the parents live with one of their children or will they be better off living in a geriatric care facility? Some think those who put their parents in facilities are heartless and ungrateful. After all, aren’t the twilight years the best time for kids to pay their parents back? On the other hand, some will rather let their parents live with them.

No Guilt

There’s nothing wrong with both options. Having aged parents live with their children is always a good idea, but on the flipside, it can be overwhelming especially if the parents have medical needs that need constant supervision. The needs of the elderly are better met in a facility, but then, the fees required by geriatric facilities are no joke.

Fortunately, those two are not the only options as far as elder care is concerned. Overall, elder care is the process of giving intensive care and health services to aid elderly individuals. The essence of giving care and health service to the elderly may be evaluated for a short period to find out whether they need help addressing minor health issues or they fall under the long-term care category because of their deteriorating health.

Elder care encompasses a wide scope that involves not just assisting the elderly with their day-to-day physical activities but also to encouraging them to promote longevity of life, supporting social interaction and independency.

Elder Care – A Clear Understanding of What it Entails

Simply put, elder care means providing the various needs and giving special health attention that are unique among elderly individuals. Nevertheless, these services are provided through the different branches of elder care, which include the following:

Adult Day Care

There are many misconceptions about adult day care. Family members who have elderly loved ones especially must understand that this is a structural health service supervising and giving the required care for elderly during the day. This branch of elder care delivers comfort and relief to family especially for those individuals who have work or need a rest day from giving the required needs of elderly. The benefit of adult care may showcase the elderly to maintain day to day activities, promote social interaction, undergo therapy, and at the end of the day, they can still go home to their family.

Nursing Homes

Nursing homes for the elderly offer complete care that include housekeeping, food preparation, health services, recreation, and social activities inside nursing homes for elderly people. Nursing homes hire certified and properly trained physicians, nurses, and medical assistants.

Assisted Living

This is another branch of elder care that offers a great opportunity for elderly to live independently with the advantage of being assisted with their daily activities and needs. Majority of elder care facilities are giving services such as housekeeping and transportation. Elderly individuals under assisted living interact through social activities and planned outings done by the elder care facilities. Here, the elderly are not entirely dependent on others for their personal grooming, bathing, and most other daily activities. If the elderly have walk-in baths installed in their homes, then they can still give themselves a bath with the assigned professional merely assisting them with their other needs. There are some facilities that provide basic health care services, which will be covered by assigned personnel to conduct home visits from time to time.

In-House Care

In-house care takes place in the elderly individual’s respective home. This branch offers the assistance of caregivers or certified medical professionals that are responsible to aid and assist the elderly in terms of medication, therapy, and monitoring. They are also reliable to conduct light housekeeping and companionship to assist with elderly daily activities such as bathing, toileting, and personal grooming. In short, the in-house medical professional is assigned to live inside with the elderly patient temporarily.

Elder Care Consideration

Elder care is not only based on giving the required care the elderly needs but also making sure to safeguard the elderly against neglect and abuse. Although this case may be rare, two out 10 elder individuals are currently experiencing abuse and neglect from other caregiver or worse, their own family. Growing old is inevitable, but it is possible to make the twilight years of the elderly more meaningful by not taking their freedom away from them. This may be done by exploring the benefits of elder care.

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Space-Saving Ways to Grow an Herb Garden

Space-Saving Ways to Grow an Herb Garden

People have come to appreciate the benefits of having a garden in their own home. Aside from creating a pleasant and relaxing ambiance, it can also be a source of kitchen flavors or nutrition for some homemakers. This is through placing an herb or vegetable garden in your backyard. Those who don’t have backyards may start their own indoor gardens using different sizes of pots for their plants. People who live in space challenged homes can explore the following options to make room for their herb gardens.

1. Counter Top Herb Garden

herbs window
By our window tops

The kitchen is one of the ideal places to have an herb garden, given that these fresh produce are mostly used in flavoring or garnishing dishes. Those who have available space in their kitchen counter or tabletops can utilize them for growing herbs.
You can make use of old pails and old food containers as pots for your herbs to help the environment too.

2. Window Sill Herb Garden

Homemakers who want a less cramped kitchen can utilize the available space in the window sill for their favorite herbs. A small ledge or rack can be installed just outside the window sill where they can place the herb pots.

They also have the option to use one large pot for all their herbs or put each herb in its own small pot.

If you are into recycling, use empty glass jars as well.

Vertical Garden
Vertical Garden

3. Vertical Herb Garden

Recycling or up-cycling practices can also be used for space-saving techniques in an indoor garden. You can use an old ladder, shoe racks, or hanging shoe or wardrobe organizer to have your own vertical herb garden. Secure these items up against a wall and layer your pots of herb in it with the use of “S” hooks. This is one of the latest trends in indoor gardening that provides an efficient use of space. It enables you to grow a dozen herbs in your kitchen by making use of approx 3 sq. ft. of floor space.

4. Balcony Gardening

Space-Saving Ways to Grow an Herb Garden
Seedlings in our balcony, will put them separately in pots later.

Living in a residential building? If you have a small balcony or terrace, you can make good space of this space with both flowering plants and edible ones. Put a coffee table and a little chair as well, so you can enjoy both the space and smell around your little floral area.

If you have no space for your vertical garden inside your home, it will also work in the balcony, just be careful with watering them so your neighbor downstairs wouldn’t be annoyed.

It may need a little planning to push through, but it will be worth reaping your rewards later.

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Good-looking Tiles for a Good-looking house

By Riventhouse - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11370154

 

When you are looking at remodeling rooms in your home, you may be considering using tile for the floors, the backsplash, or even for the walls. While tile can be a difficult installation, it can be a beautiful decoration piece in each room. However, choosing good-looking tile can be challenging simply because there are so many generic or industrial tiles out there. You need to have the opportunity to shop for tiles that look nice, actually have some color to them, and look great in each room.

At ABL Tile Centre, you will find there are thousands of choices of tiles in every color and shape you could imagine. When you are choosing tiles for your rooms, you can choose from a variety of shapes, colors, and even textures to make the rooms look unique.



Choosing textured tiles is a wise choice for anyone who wants to have a little bit of texture on the wall or the floor. Tiles that are textured are excellent for bathroom or kitchen floors that can have water on them and become slippery. You can make the room safer simply by choosing a textured tile.

On the walls, a textured tile will last longer than wallpaper and give the same effect. Moreover, textured tiles are easier to install than wallpaper and will go up much faster than any wallpaper you choose.

When you choose the color for your tiles, remember that the color choices are just as vast as they are with paint. You don’t have to limit yourself to the few industrial colors you are used to. You can get something that complements what is in the house and suits your personal style.

You can liven up a room with some new tiles on the floor or walls, and you can even make the backsplash in your kitchen a brand new tile that brightens up the wall behind the stove or your cutting board.

You can choose all the right colors and textures of tiles to complete any remodeling job and add value to your home. Tiling is an art that should not be overlooked.



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Choosing Tiles for Your Kitchen Backsplash

 

Just like an aspiring Picasso with a blank canvas in front of him, you feel excited at the idea of decorating your own kitchen backsplash.  Although very keen on letting your personality and sense of style shine through, you find this task to be somewhat daunting.  With so many options to sift through (tiles, glass, steel), it’s understandable how confused you might be at the onset.  Here are a few guidelines on how to decorate your kitchen backsplash.
Consider the countertop.  The style and color of your countertop will most likely dictate the kind of tiles you choose for your backsplash.  Select tiles in a color which closely matches that of your countertop.  In order to have a sense of harmony, make sure that the color compliments nearby fixtures such as cabinets.

 

Stress your style.  Decide whether you want to go traditional or contemporary.  More old-fashioned elements such as marble and granite will come into play if you choose to go traditional, while sleeker lines will be more evident if you opt for a more modern look.

 

 
Go for a test drive.  Before you go ahead and buy those tiles, ask for some samples which you can tape to the walls.  This way, you can get a feel of what they look like.  See how they appear as light hits them and changes throughout the day.  Pick one main color and some accent colors to spread out.

 

Think about budget.  It’s so easy to get lost in all the tile options, but always remember to set a budget and stick to it.  If you’re strapped for cash, go for classic white ceramic instead of those chic tiles.  It’s better invest more in quality than in aesthetics, so you can probably spend a bit more on nice grout, to make sure that your tiles stick to the wall.

 

Cooking will be much more fun and fulfilling when done amid a beautiful backdrop.  Take the time to carefully choose the tiles for your kitchen backsplash, and you’re sure to impress your family and guests with not only your cooking prowess, but your artistic flair as well.