Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Life

Category: Home Maintenance

  • Five Things to Clean Before the Guests Arrive

    If guests are headed your way, you might be feeling pressure to balance your already demanding schedule and deep holiday cleaning. Don’t panic! The good news is that you only need to focus on a few, highly-visible areas in your home to make a positive impression and create a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere. If you are ready to get started, read on as we reveal our favorite holiday cleaning tips for creating a guest-ready home.

    Declutter and Sweep the Entryway

    Whether your entryway opens directly into your living space or it reveals a long foyer, it is most likely to be the place where your boots, coats, umbrellas, and drop zone now reside. It’s also the first impression your guests will have of the inside of your home. As Martha Stewart Living points out, “it’s hard for your guests to feel welcome if they’re tripping over days’ worth of your castoffs.” It’s no wonder then that one of their favorite holiday cleaning tips is to do a major declutter the day before or the day of your festivities.

    Start by removing your family’s excess stuff. Put extra coats, boots, and other apparel into closets, even if you will need to bring them back out after the event. Similarly, tidy areas that hold mail, extra masks, hand sanitizers, and keys. Wipe down any mirrors and lightly dust table surfaces. If you have the time, do a quick sweep or mop of the entire entryway and threshold once the area has been cleared. After the threshold has been swept, clear away dead leaves or debris from welcome mats or door decorations. Not only will you be amazed at how open and clean everything feels, but your guests will be able to use this space easily for their own needs. 

    Banish Bathroom Germs

    Nothing says “a clean home” like a germ-free bathroom for your guests. One of our most-often shared holiday cleaning tips involves corralling your personal bathroom items before your guests arrive. If you don’t have a vanity or bathroom cabinets, grab a decorative or utility container and stash your daily-use items inside. Pop the top on and move the items into your bedroom or a linen closet after you are finished getting ready. Because they are contained, it will be easy enough to move those items back into your bathroom after your guests have left. 

    Next, disinfect the counters, sink, and toilet. Wipe down the mirror. Clean the soap dish or dispenser, and place freshly laundered (or disposable) hand towels in an easy-to-access spot. Double-check that there are extra rolls of toilet paper available. Pull the shower/bath curtain closed. If you have glass doors on your shower, you may want to do a quick wipe down to remove any soap buildup. If you have extra time, mop or Swiffer the floor. 

    Address Any Living Room Mess

    Do a quick assessment of whichever room is your social space (living room, family room, glass-enclosed sunroom, etc.) and make a list of the most challenging areas. Southern Living suggests that people start to prepare for guests by dusting “for looks and for those with allergies (you don’t want Grandma sniffling and sneezing during the whole visit).” Better Homes & Gardens loves the idea of having a 1-hour holiday cleaning plan, which includes “[vacuuming] high-traffic areas,” decluttering throughout the space, “[tidying] stacks of magazines and books,” and putting out lightly scented candles. 

    Vacuum the sofa to ensure that pet hair and any stray crumbs have been removed. Plump the pillows, add a cozy throw blanket, and generally straighten the couch, so it feels welcoming to holiday company. If you have days available for your holiday cleaning, one of Southern Living’s favorite tips is to clean the entertaining room’s carpet. But if you can’t get the entire thing steam-cleaned, consider spot-cleaning where necessary. The Magazine also suggests hiding the remote to keep the focus on family and friends. However, if your holiday traditions include things like Thanksgiving football or Christmas basketball games (or other family-favorite sporting events), do a quick disinfect of the remote before people arrive. 

    Prep The Kitchen

    Cleaning the kitchen when you are hosting holiday celebrations is tricky. We all like to think that we will be finished cooking before the guests ring the bell, but that’s often difficult for holidays with a significant food element. Better Homes & Gardens suggests that you divide the tasks into two stages. The first stage would take place before food preparation begins, and the second would occur an hour or so before your holiday festivities start. For example, two days before the event, the Magazine recommends “[cleaning] out the refrigerator, [which makes] room for party foods,” “[wiping] down all large and small appliances,” removing fingerprints and old cooking splatters from backsplashes and cabinets, and “[taking] recycling to recycling bins or facilities.” 

    If you are faced with only an hour before the arrival of guests, Better Homes & Gardens offers speedy holiday cleaning tips such as “[wipe down kitchen counters with household cleaner,” and “damp-mop the kitchen floor.” Also, if you are using flatware, glasses, or china that is usually stashed in a cabinet, take a moment or two to rinse off any accumulated dust.

    What do you do if holiday cooking has gotten more involved than you anticipated, and you are really pressed for time? No worries. Martha Stewart Living has the answer: “if you’re in a pinch or last-minute guests are on their way over, stash the dirty dishes inside the dishwasher and run your sponge over the visible water spots.” Take out the kitchen garbage, and you will be ready for the fun to begin. 

    Freshen the Guest Room

    Lastly, if you have guests staying overnight, our holiday cleaning tips include refreshing your guest room. While you don’t have to deep clean the room, you will want to ensure that clean sheets are on the bed (or beds) and the surfaces are dust-free. Replace any light bulbs that may have burned out and grab extra pillows. If possible, make some space in the closet so that guests can hang up their holiday finest. And, as one final tip, Southern Living recommends “[making] sure your guests have water, magazines, and fresh towels within reach.” It’s this extra touch that will make them feel truly welcome in your home for the holidays.

  • Hygienic Countertop Choices for Kitchen Remodels

    Everyone loves a clean kitchen. Believe it or not, however, your kitchen countertops can be the most unclean parts of your house. It’s true: they are used to prepare raw and cooked food, they get splashed from dirty sink water and they have all manner of things dropped and spilled on them. While some of this unseen mess is harmless, common bacteria like listeria, salmonella and E. coli are not.

    You may know that a cutting board has to be cleaned after it is used to cut up raw chicken or other meat, and that dirty dish sponges can be full of unhealthy germs. Anti-bacterial sprays and thorough cleaning with soap and water all help make kitchens more hygienic, but what else can you do? A good choice is to look for kitchen countertops that are made with more hygienic materials. If you are planning a kitchen remodel, you will want to make this a priority.

    Types of Kitchen Countertops

    There are more kitchen countertop choices out there than ever, made from wood, concrete, quartz, granite and marble. Southern Living advises homeowners that it is okay to mix and match material types from an aesthetic perspective, as long as you don’t go overboard. Some are scratch-resistant, while others like laminate are not.

    Materials like granite and quartz will be more expensive, but are top-recommended materials, if your budget permits. You can cut and chop right on the surfaces of these materials, and they are heat-resistant. They are also more hygienic because they are scratch-resistant and less porous, so you will want to keep this in mind when making your selections.

    Less-Hygienic Kitchen Countertops

    Laminate countertops are versatile and inexpensive, and you can find them in countless colors and patterns. They are made from plywood or fiberboard, with a thin laminate covering. This material is more prone to scratching and heat, which makes it more susceptible to bacteria and germs.

    Another less hygienic kitchen countertop material is wood, even though it can look great in country-style kitchens. You can find countertops made of various woods, like maple, walnut and cherry, made in both small and large pieces. Although wood is eco-friendly, it can also absorb bacteria. Wood kitchen countertops (and cutting boards) should always be disinfected after coming into contact with raw meat.

    Kitchen design trends have been pointing towards stone countertops, which are stylish and modern. If you choose stone, it will have to be sealed, because it is porous. Some stone countertops also have finishes that make them non-porous but look more natural than sealants.

    Concrete kitchen countertops have also come into the spotlight, and you can find them popping up on design sites and in homes. They do not look like traditional concrete; instead, they have interesting textures and colors. If the surface has cracks and pits, though, these imperfections can encourage bacteria growth. Like the look of concrete? Be sure that the countertop is finished and sealed to make it more hygienic.

    More-Hygienic Kitchen Countertops

    Quartz kitchen countertops are also popular in modern kitchens. Quartz is made from engineered rock chips and dust that are bound with resin, and the material is non-porous. It is less expensive than granite and stone, but it has the same kind of durability and beauty.

    Granite is one of the hardest materials on the planet, and it also has a high resistance to scratches, heat and bacteria. Homeowners like granite because it has depth, rich colors and attractive patterns.  It does not necessarily require sealing, but many companies recommend doing so.

    Perhaps the most hygienic countertops are those made of stainless steel, and this is why they are found in commercial kitchens. They are manufactured in single sheets and known for their outstanding antibacterial qualities.

    How to Clean Hygienic Kitchen Countertops

    Even when the countertop material is more hygienic, it still needs to be properly cleaned. Granite countertops can be wiped down with warm soapy water or a mild bleach solution. You can remove stains with a baking soda/water paste or diluted bleach or ammonia. Do not use abrasive cleaners or scrubbers, and rinse the surface thoroughly.

    Clean quartz countertops in much the same way, but do not use any bleach. Wipe up stains immediately, and use Windex or another surface cleaner for dried-on messes. Also avoid using anything abrasive, as it can damage the countertops. You can cut and chop on quartz or granite, but there is nothing wrong with using a good cutting board. Just remember to clean it well.

  • DIY Home Improvements and Repair Strategies

    Sometimes as a homeowner, you may realize you’re not going to get your money’s worth on a renovation before you have to sell. Still, if you just can’t live with that mid-20th century pink bathtub or those hideous countertops, a DIY renovation may be in order. Here are some DIY home improvements that won’t break the bank, won’t take forever, and will make you like the house you’re living in (for now) a whole lot more.

    Bathroom Improvements

    Retiling and replacing inset tubs is an expensive and time-consuming process. That said, if your bathroom tile colors make you cringe every time you go into the room, you have to do something about them. 

    Luckily, both tubs and ceramic tiles can be painted. You’ll still have to be prepared to have your bathroom out of commission for at least a weekend, and if you’re painting a shower area, you may have to do touch-ups in a few years, but the cost and skill required to paint is infinitely less than replacing.

    Just make sure to follow all the manufacturer’s directions for surface preparation, priming, drying time, and sealing. Also, be certain you seal your paint can properly so that you have leftover paint for touch-ups.

    Replacing a vanity and a sink can be another expensive project requiring more DIY skills than you might have. Unless your sink is chipped, consider living with it as is and upgrade your taps instead. 

    If you have a mock-oak vanity, painting it a rich, glossy espresso will make the vanity pop and say 2020 rather than 1990. Replacing hardware is almost effortless, and doing so will complete the update. If you enjoy doing weekend home DIY improvements, consider adding a backsplash or framing a flat mirror.

    If you have an integral basin and countertop, some time and patience, you can update the look of your bathroom by about 30 years for very little money. Try using new products to concretize both countertop and sink. Note that you’ll have to allow at least a week for drying time since you’ll need to apply several thin layers of concrete product and sealer.

    To conquer bathroom clutter, consider installing rollouts in your vanity. You can have one for beauty products and another for cleaning supplies.

    Kitchen Improvements

    If you can’t afford the time or money for a complete kitchen renovation right now, there are lots of things you can do to make the heart of your home both more functional and more attractive.

    You can use the same concrete products on your kitchen countertops that you did in your bathroom to get the modern industrial look that’s been in vogue for the last couple of years. If you have linoleum floors that haven’t worn well, paint them in vibrant stripes rather than ripping them up and replacing them.

    Painting your cupboards (especially if they’re particularly dated) and investing in new hardware will make a huge difference. Alternatively, you can replace just the cupboard fronts. 

    Adding kitchen rollouts to your bottom cupboards has two huge benefits: first, it will make items at the back accessible without having to unpack the entire cupboard. Second, it should let you get rarely used appliances off your countertop. Does the toaster you use for 15 minutes every morning really need to live on your countertop all day?

    If you have any wooden valances above the sink, get rid of them and consider reframing the window to update its look. 

    The money you save on cosmetic changes rather than structural renovations can be spent on upgrading your appliances to the most energy-efficient ones you can find. Then you can apply your energy savings to your future renovation fund.

    Bedroom Improvements

    If your home didn’t come with wire shelving systems in the closets, this is one of the cheapest, simplest, and best investments you can make.  These systems are available at home centers and are infinitely customizable. Unless you own a heritage home with tiny closets, the organizational possibilities they provide are endless.

    Take a look around your bedrooms and think about the things that could be stored in your closets rather than on display. That can include both low and tall dressers if you have a double closet and plan your shelving around it. Losing a dresser frees up a lot of floor space and might let you create a seating area in your bedroom. If you discover you don’t actually need a dresser after you’ve completed your bedroom closet renovation, you can always repurpose it as a portable kitchen island.

    Other DIY Home Improvements

    Even though kitchen and bathroom renovations have the biggest resale return on investment, dated living rooms can be depressing. If there’s already a contrasting color, designated feature wall in your living room, consider modernizing it by creating a pallet wall, wallpapering just that wall, or painting to match the room color and then creating a wall-encompassing stencil.

    If you’re lucky enough to own a heritage home with high ceilings, consider investing in a specular central light fixture and paint the ceiling a vibrant color while leaving the room’s walls neutral.

    Whatever DIY home improvements you choose to do, customizing and updating your home will help you love it — until it’s time to leave it.

  • Workarounds for Wood Paneling

    It doesn’t seem to matter how old or new your home is, inherited wood paneling is just sometimes a fact of life. Love it or hate it (and there is some wood paneling no one could love, especially the mid 20th Century rec room look), removing wood paneling or drywalling over it is a major renovation. It may require more time, money, and skill than you have or create mess you’re not prepared to tolerate. Even a gorgeous Douglas Fir vaulted ceiling Victorian home can make you feel dreary if it’s stained a dark color and you don’t have a constant source of natural light.

    Sometimes the best way to cope with wood panel design you wouldn’t have chosen yourself is to just accept the inevitable and embrace it.

    Here are a few things you can do that might help you learn to love the wood panel design you wish you didn’t have in your home.

    Accept the inevitable

    If you’ve decided you can’t or won’t remove the wood paneling in your home, accepting the inevitable and adding more wood might be the solution. By varying the width of wood used in a room but sticking to the same materials and color palette, you may be able to reconcile yourself to living with it.

    Part of the problem with uniform width wooden paneling and flooring is that it inevitably conjures images of a sauna. Which is great if it is a sauna, but not so great if it’s not. If you have narrow wood panels on your walls, using wide floor planking in the same wood and stain creates an elegant variation on a theme and supplies some visual interest.

    You can also frame panels to create separate wall areas and hang a series of prints or small paintings inside each panel. If your entire room is thinly paneled wood, adding a chair rail will break things up a bit.

    Add contrasting moldings

    Invest in some interesting moldings that will draw the eye upward. This is an easy way to draw the eye beyond the feature you don’t want to emphasize. It also creates a more formal feel and some architectural interest. Don’t try to match the existing panel color or even the ceiling. Use this space to inject a shot of startling or soothing color.

    Paint it

    If your main objection to your home’s wood paneling is its color and texture, the solution is paint. The possibilities are endless. You can whitewash the paneling to lighten it up with almost no prep work. You can paint it a dark color so the paneling recedes within the room. You can paint it a bold color, and, especially if the paneling extends to the ceiling, lacquer it afterwards. This kind of treatment may make you forget what’s under there and supply some interesting texture to your walls. Or you can paint it white to conjure thoughts of picket fences and long summer days.

    Cover it up

    There are two ways to do this, one literal and one figurative. The figurative treatment, especially if you have only one wood-paneled wall, is to paint the paneling and then install shelves the entire length of the room and fill them with books. The paneling will still be there, but the colorful books will make you forget it except when you have to dust.

    The literal cover-up for wood paneling that again works best for a single wall (although you can use it on an entire room) is to upholster the wall. You’ll need a tall ladder, a good staple gun, and enough polyester batting to cover the wall as well as far more fabric than you think you’ll need. Pattern matching is as important when upholstering a wall as it is when hanging wallpaper, so make sure you buy extra. You can seam each wall panel together and carefully press each seam open or use trim to cover the fabric panel edges.

    And then there’s wallpaper. For the truly egregious 1950s rec room paneling that probably isn’t really made of wood at all, this may be the quickest and most effective solution. If, however, you’ve got real wood paneling with grooves more than a quarter inch deep, you’ll have to fill the grooves with caulk, prime the paneling with a latex primer design that blocks stain, then begin the wallpaper hanging process. If you’re going to all that trouble anyway, you might want to use paintable wallpaper, available in various textures. You can paint it to match the rest of the room or use it as a feature wall. Even paintable wallpaper will need two coats, but with any luck, no one will be able to guess what lurks beneath. Unless, of course, you tell them.

    For more great design solutions, check out our Home Maintenance channel.

  • How to get your house ready for renters

    Even if you bought your home to live in rather than as an income property, you may end up renting out your house at some point. A contract opportunity on the other side of the country (or the world), a drop in property values that means you want to build up more equity in your home before trying to sell it, or a formal or informal sabbatical might mean you want to rent rather than sell.

    Here’s how you can get your house ready for renters. While it may seem like a lot of work and a moderate amount of money, it’s well worth it. Good tenants are attracted to well maintained, trouble-free properties, and good tenants are hopefully the only kind you’ll ever have to deal with.

    Start with the exterior

    Make sure all your exterior maintenance is up to date. That includes landscaping, raking, gutter cleaning, roof repairs, and checking, cleaning and replacing exterior lights and/or sensors. Test and repair any exterior railings and make sure pathways are safe. Replace any broken interlock.

    Get the screens cleaned and the exterior windows washed.

    If you don’t have keypad locks, you might want to consider changing the locks for the front, back, and side doors and any mailboxes.

    Contact your insurance broker and arrange to switch your policy from homeowners to landlord’s insurance.

    If your tenants are going to be responsible for lawn maintenance and snow removal, make sure they’ve got the tools they need to do the job, whether they supply their own or you provide them. If you have a mortgage on your home, let your bank know when you’ll be renting out your house rather than occupying it for the term of the initial lease anyway.

    Draw up a condensed list of HOA rules your tenants need to be aware of and abide by. Being caught in the middle of a dispute between the HOA and your tenant is an uncomfortable place to be.

    For a bold new look that doesn’t cost a lot or take long, consider painting your front door. Red doors were popular for years and still provide a great “pop” of welcoming color. But increasingly, dramatic black and medium or dark blue doors are trending these days.

    Tackle the interior

    Start at the top of the house and work your way down. This is the time to declutter in earnest, so plan to make more than one trip to the thrift store to drop off old furniture, toys, clothes, and games, or plan a yard sale or two.

    At the very least, you should wash all the walls and ceilings of your home before you put it on the rental market. Deal with potential problem areas that need to be dealt with, whether it’s drywall or plaster repairs, paint touch-ups, or, worst-case scenarios, a leaky pipe or insufficient ventilation.

    Remove all your window fittings and wash curtains or blinds. Vertical or wooden blinds may not be removable, but they can still be vacuumed or sponged. Wash the interiors of your windows.

    If you can afford to have the interior repainted in neutral colors from top to bottom, do it. And of course, floors, rugs, and both the interior and exterior of all cupboards will need to be cleaned, including the ceiling hood fan. Replace the hood fan filter if necessary.

    Check all the appliances that come with the house to make sure they’re in working order and if you can find them, set the manuals aside in a dedicated kitchen drawer. Test and put new batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and make sure you have working fire extinguishers for each floor.

    Get someone in to clean and maintain your furnace and air conditioning system and get someone to take a look at your hot water heater as well. Make sure your electrical panel is properly labeled and display emergency contact information for heating or plumbing emergencies on the interior of the electrical panel. Ensure your tenants know whether and how often they need to change the furnace filters and where they can find them.

    If all this seems overwhelming or you find you’re having frequent renter turnover, you might want to consider hiring a property management firm to deal with tenant complaints, repairs, and maintenance. It will cost you 10 to 15 percent of your total rental income, but it may buy you peace of mind. Interview several property managers and ask for references from tradespeople they use as well as other property owners. Getting your house ready for renters marks a new chapter for both you and your tenants to be. By making sure everything’s in good working order before you try to rent it out, you can hopefully attract the best possible tenants and ones who will treat your home as well or better than you.

  • Tips for renovating a nursery

    Whether you’re expecting your first child or renovating a nursery in a new home for your growing family, selecting a nursery design that works for you and your baby should be a joyous project. To make the process a little smoother, here are a few tips for renovating a nursery you can begin to think about as soon as you know you’re about to welcome a child into the world.

    Start with the Crib

    Incredibly, newborns spend 16 to 17 hours a day sleeping—in snatches of as short as half an hour to as long as four hours. While some babies start sleeping through the night by about three months, “night” can be as little as six hours. And other babies may not sleep through the night until they’re a year old.

    One way or another, you will be sleep deprived and your baby will be spending a lot of time in their crib. While it might seem like a good idea environmentally to buy a used crib or go with a hand-me-down from a family member, you also might want to consider investing in a good quality crib that meets today’s safety standards and can be used for other newborns or converted into a small bed as your baby grows into a toddler. A convertible crib can be used until a child is three or so. And of course, if you’re planning a larger family, your next baby can use the crib as well.

    Choose cribs made from natural wood and try to avoid laminates and plastics, all of which contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and will off-gas for at least a year after purchase.

    Invest in as much natural fiber crib bedding as you can, and go organic if you prefer. Cotton that’s been washed and dried over and over again can feel almost as soft as silk against tender skin. Buy extra crib bedding: the last thing you need while trying to juggle night feedings and diaper changes is discovering you need to do laundry. And the amount of laundry you’ll be doing will already have increased exponentially.

    Changing Tables or Pads

    If you have room for a changing table and want to invest in one, many modern versions come with built-in storage for many of the supplies you’ll need while changing baby. Changing tables are hard to repurpose as other furniture though, so if you’re planning to keep your family small, you might want to invest in a changing top instead of a table and use it on top of a small dresser.

    Dresser storage can be easily compartmentalized with drawer dividers and you can keep all the things you’ll need to make your child comfortable in the top drawer while using the others for baby clothes and bedding.

    Don’t Forget Comfort

    Invest in a chair for your nursery and an ottoman so you can put your feet up if your room’s too small to accommodate a loveseat or a couch. You’re going to want to spend time in the nursery with your baby, and a comfortable place to sit is the perfect place to bond while feeding, snuggling, reading, or singing lullabies.

    There will also be those other days and nights when your child is running a fever or has the sniffles and you want to monitor them more closely than via the baby monitor. Give yourself a break and pick comfortable seating that might even let you catch a 20-minute nap when you need it most. Who knows, if you fall asleep, your baby might settle too.

    Soothe and Stimulate

    Much of your baby’s first year of life is going to be spent in the nursery. When thinking about how to decorate the room, take both of your needs into account.

    Pay particular attention to the lighting in the room. You’re going to want to be able to darken the room for daytime naps but you’re also going to want as much natural light as possible. Consider blackout curtains or blinds for the window coverings, and invest in not only a night light but a table lamp and an overhead light fixture that has some visual interest. Make sure you install a dimmer switch.

    When choosing rugs, curtains, cushions, and nursery room colors, start with the textiles first. It will be much easier to match the textiles with paint color than the opposite.

    Build in a ceiling decor concept when renovating a nursery. Decorate the ceiling with wallpaper, bold or neutral stripes, or easily removed, glow-in-the-dark decals. The ceiling will be the baby’s focal point on first awakening, and while mobiles are great, there’s a lot more to a nursery than just the area above the crib.

    Consider painting a mural on the wall across from the crib, especially a mural that lends itself to storytelling. And think about going green when gathering tips for renovating a nursery. If you’re repainting, look for low-VOC or VOC-free paint and rugs made of wool, cotton, sisal or jute. Low-VOC flooring includes wood, bamboo, cork, and linoleum rather than laminate.

  • Best flooring choices for your kitchen

    Whether you’re planning a full or partial kitchen renovation, the good news is that there are myriad options when choosing the best flooring for your kitchen, and those choices are available at a variety of price points. We’re no longer restricted to tile, linoleum or wood flooring.

    Here’s a rundown of some of today’s best kitchen flooring options and some of the pros and cons of each.

    Best environmentally friendly kitchen flooring options

    If you’re concerned about off-gassing or passionate about leaving the smallest environmental footprint as possible, you may want to stick with options that don’t include vinyl or heavily manufactured floorings.

    Those can include cork, bamboo, new or reclaimed wood, and stone.

    Wooden kitchen floors are a huge trend these days and one that’s likely to continue for the next decade or so. If your kitchen cabinets are painted, glass-fronted or melamine, wood can provide some much needed visual warmth as well as design continuity between your kitchen and the rooms adjacent to it. Both hardwood and softwood floors are expensive. If you can find a source of reclaimed wood or salvage flooring from your own renovations, reclaimed wood might be your best option, especially for smaller kitchens.

    Bamboo, while gorgeous, is not a great idea for kitchen flooring. While it’s an amazingly renewable resource and very durable, it’s also highly reactive to temperature and humidity.

    Cork flooring is a great choice for kitchens and is both environmentally friendly and durable. It does, however, need to be resealed every few years. Check out the cork flooring options available and you’ll discover you’re not confined to natural cork-colored flooring. Dyed cork is available in a whole range of color options, from mint green through dark red to bright purple. And it’s available in tile, sheet, and plank formats. Cork is also both warm and comfortable underfoot. If you spend a lot of time (or long stretches at a time) cooking, it’s a lot easier on your legs than almost any other kind of kitchen flooring. Cork can be dented over time, so choosing a near-industrial grade of cork flooring is important for a high traffic area. Bright sunlight can also cause cork to fade, and light is important in a kitchen. If your kitchen has a southern exposure, this may not be the best flooring choice for you.

    Stone floors are beautiful, luxurious, environmentally friendly and extremely durable. You will be limited in your color choices if you choose stone kitchen flooring, and you’ll also pay a premium for them. Artificial stone floors are available in a wider color range. But the beauty of slate or stone floors is the natural color variations and textures. The other unexpected premium you may pay for stone floors is replacing dishes. If you drop it, you break it. There is also the beyond slippery-when-wet factor. You need to wipe spills up immediately, not to protect your floors but to make sure you get from the fridge to stove without a mishap.

    Last but not least is linoleum. Made primarily from linseed oil derived from flax seeds, it can also include jute, cork powders, wood flours and tree resins. Linoleum could work very well if your kitchen has a retro theme, and is available in many color options. Installing linoleum is a renovation that won’t add anything to your home’s value, however.

    Best comfort options for kitchen flooring

    Cork, softwood, and vinyl flooring are your best kitchen flooring choices if you spend a lot of time in your kitchen cooking and baking.

    Vinyl flooring is cheap, durable, and highly water-resistant. Think of it as linoleum’s “synthetic cousin.” It also comes in almost-infinite options: sheets, planks, and tiles and in almost as many designs as you can imagine. There is some very good vinyl “wood” flooring on the market these days. It’s also warmer and softer than either wood or ceramic tile floors, and a padded underlayer can sometimes be added for even more cushioning. It is, however, one of the least environmentally friendly flooring options.

    Best design options for kitchen flooring

    Wood is “in” for kitchen flooring, whether it’s real or engineered hardwood or vinyl planking, and the first two options can add significant value to your home. Wood flooring can provide nice design integration in a more open-plan home, but be careful not to create wood overload if your kitchen cabinets are wood as well.

    Stone floors are a time-honored, casually elegant option.

    Porcelain and ceramic tiles are extremely durable. The color and design combinations are endless, from mosaics to marble. Porcelain tiles are harder and less porous than ceramic tiles. If your kitchen isn’t absolutely level or your house is settling, these tiles can crack easily and repeatedly in problem areas. They’re not indestructible either: a hammer falling off a counter can crack or chip one of these tiles. There’s no one best flooring choice for all kitchens. Try to eliminate some options based on price, availability, and difficulty of maintenance and installation.

  • Refreshing brick facades inside and outside

    There are lots of reasons to get excited about brick facades, whether they’re on the interior or exterior of your home. Weather resistant, fire retardant and durable, most insurance companies offer discounts to brick home owners.

    But your brick may need a little TLC for a variety of reasons: age, improper mortaring, or no longer in sync with your home’s design or decor if you have an addition or a new garage door. Here are a few suggestions that will help you decide how you can go about refreshing brick faces inside and outside.

    Painted brick house ideas – exterior

    Not all bricks and bricklayers are created equal. Depending on your home’s age, their natural color may not be particularly pleasing to you or even work well with the rest of your home’s exterior. If your house includes more than one building material (siding, stucco or wood for some areas, brick for others), there may be a lot going on in terms of both color and texture.

    Painting exterior brick poses some additional challenges besides the equipment needed to reach the roof. It’s probably best to outsource this work to an expert, who can make any necessary repairs to your bricks and mortar before you begin.

    While bricks can easily last 100 years or more, the mortar that holds them together rarely does. Loose or crumbling mortar can be fixed by repointing, digging out the mortar and replacing it with either more mortar or lime-based putty. It’s a time consuming, messy chore, but it’s essential to ensure water doesn’t get in or threaten the house’s structural integrity. If your brick home is historic, color matching the existing mortar may be an issue. Hiring a mason means you may also be able to find an exact match for crumbling or wind-damaged brick from salvage yards. Another good reason to hire an expert for this part of your exterior reno: mortar can only “set” when it’s between 40 and 90°F. Doing it yourself may cause more problems than it solves.

    If you’ve decided to paint your brick exterior, make sure you don’t live in a high moisture area. Bricks are naturally porous and absorb ground moisture that can’t escape when painted over. If that’s your situation, consider whitewashing the bricks instead. By diluting latex paint with 50 percent water you’ll avoid trapping moisture that can’t escape.

    There are also new brick staining products available that can deal with their unevenly porous nature. Silicate mineral stains bond with brick and penetrate their pores while still letting the brick breathe.

    Painting alternatives: Stucco and the German smear

    While it may be even more work than painting your home, if you really hate the bricks you’ve inherited, you can stucco over them. Before you consider this alternative, though, test the area to see how porous your bricks are. Spray the wall with water. If it’s quickly absorbed, the stucco should bond easily with the brick. If it doesn’t, or if your bricks have already been painted, wash the surface with soap and water and test again. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to apply a specially designed bonding agent to ensure the stucco will stick.

    In terms of both color and texture, stucco is available in a wide variety of colors that are mixed into the finish coat. You can also dramatically change the texture of a stucco exterior by choosing a finish coat that incorporates rocks, pebbles, or glass chips.

    The German smear is another alternative to painting exterior brick. By applying wet mortar unevenly to brickwork, you’ll instantly give your home a centuries-old (although faux) exterior. It mimics the look of stone and creates a rough, rustic texture. The best news about the German smear is that it’s inexpensive and doesn’t take a lot of skill. While traditional northern German cottages treated this way were red brick with white mortar, experiment with different mortar colors to find the one that will work best with your shade of brick.

    Interior brickwork

    You can use all the same techniques on interior brickwork with a lot fewer mortar and water absorption issues than exterior brick. While some homes have gorgeous exposed brick walls, for the most part, interior brickwork is confined to areas around the fireplace. Depending on whether your fireplace is functional or not, you may want to paint it white if you want it to pop and match your room’s trim. If you don’t want to feature a non-functional brick fireplace though, consider painting it the same color as your walls to make it recede. If your fireplace has already been painted and you want to show it off, think about touching it up with the same color but reframe it with a new mantel in a different color and a more modern design.

  • Unique Home Storage Ideas

    “A place for everything and everything in its place.” No one is sure who first coined that proverb, but we’ve been trying to implement it since at least the late 18th century. Here are a few DIY storage ideas that may make life in the 21st century a little easier—or at least a little less cluttered.

    Bedroom DIY Storage Ideas

    For the price of a package of shower rings and a hanger, you could potentially free up an entire drawer if you slip the shower rings over the bottom rung of a hanger and use it to store your scarves. Mount it to the back of your closet door and your scarves will be accessible and won’t get wrinkled.

    A wooden hanger can become an ideal storage device for jewelry, especially necklaces and dangly earrings. Just add eye screws at small, even intervals and hook them through the eye screws.

    Under-bed storage is always a great idea. While you can buy beds that come with drawers underneath, you can also create your own. Use shallow dresser drawers to which you’ve added wheels and you’ll be able to slide them under the bed. The wheels will make them easier to access when the summer turns to fall and you suddenly need to grab a sweater but aren’t yet ready to do the summer/winter clothing transfer. They’ll also make cleaning under the bed a lot easier, too.

    Little wooden spice racks make both perfect displays and storage containers for perfume bottles, nail polish, or other cosmetics.

    Bathroom DIY Storage Ideas

    Unless you have one for every single family member, bathrooms can be storage nightmares. There are only four corners to a bathtub, and those corners fill up fast when everyone in the family likes to use a different kind of shampoo. Hang fruit baskets from your shower rod and store shampoos, conditioners, nail brushes, loofahs, and body sponges in the baskets. They’re also a great place to store small bath toys.

    Pedestal sinks have been in vogue for a while now, and for good reason: their clean, elegant lines make modern sinks the bathroom focal point and they introduce a feeling of space to what’s usually the smallest room in a house. That said, everyone who’s bought a house with one or replaced an old vanity with a pedestal sink has been faced with the dilemma of where to store their bathroom cleaning products. The solution may be to create a shallow, narrow cupboard between the joists in your bathroom walls. Maybe even two, one on either side of the sink.

    A large wine rack mounted on a bathroom wall makes for idea towel storage. You can build your own or buy one. Or you can mount a series of baskets to the wall and store towels, face cloths, and small appliances like hair dryers, curling irons, beard trimmers and electric razors in the baskets.

    Don’t forget to use the space above your toilet and above your towel racks. Install floating shelves and use glass jars to store cotton swabs, facial wipes, makeup remover pads, hair elastics and bobby pins or hair clips.

    Craft Room and Home Office Storage Ideas

    An old muffin tin will fit nicely in even the shallowest desk drawer, and it automatically gives you a dozen small compartments to store paper clips, push pins, elastics, and USB drives. If the drawer is wide enough, add a kitchen cutlery tray and you’ve got storage for pens, markers, scissors, rolls of tape, and charger cords.

    Revolving countertop spice racks with clear glass bottles are perfect for small craft supplies like pins, needles, buttons, beads, and sequins. If your craft room has a closet, take the door off and add more shelving. You can still use the curtain rod and pants or skirt hangers to hang folded fabric or scrapbooking supplies.

    Pick up an old dresser at a flea market, paint it with chalk paint, and store crafting tools and supplies in the drawers. Dividers are always a good idea. You can buy them or make your own out of cardboard covered in wallpaper. Or you could invest in some more dollar store kitchen cutlery trays.

    If your closet has a bifold door, don’t throw it out or store it in the garage. Mount it to the wall and buy some decorative hooks so you can hang scissors and other tools or rolls of ribbon from the hooks. There’s a reason those home workshop pegboards with tools outlined became so popular: they work. Not only can you see where your tools are at any given time, there’s also no doubt where they belong. Once you’ve analyzed the space available to you and the possessions you need to store, you’re well on your way to creating a place for everything. After that, keeping everything in its place will be a lot easier.

  • Pantry Organization Hacks to Streamline Your Kitchen

    While it’s possible someone somewhere once said, “My kitchen’s too big, too well organized, and has too much cupboard space,” it’s highly unlikely. Most of us struggle to work with kitchens that are less than ideal. Having a pantry can help in a variety of ways. If you don’t already have one or if yours needs a serious refresh, here are some pantry organization hacks to streamline your kitchen.

    If you already have a pantry in or just off your kitchen, make sure you’re making the best use of the space you’ve got. Here are some suggestions for a DIY pantry makeover:

    Use Shelves and Racks

    Make the most of skinny shelves, tiered shelving, and under-shelf storage racks. A row of skinny shelves on the back of the pantry door, or even a shoe holder with clear plastic compartments, can hold all kinds of small items, whether it’s spice, soup, or sauce packets or small condiment jars. The inside of a door is almost always wasted space, and it’s perfect for smaller items that will otherwise get lost among the cans and bottles.

    Tiered shelving will let you double or triple the amount of storage you get from your existing shelves, and there are even eco-friendly, expandable bamboo tiered shelves available now.

    Under-shelf slide-on storage racks are available almost anywhere that sells housewares, including dollar stores, and installing a few will give you storage for potatoes, onions, and garlic under your existing shelves. Bonus: that will free up some space in your fridge.

    Installing small tension rods on existing shelves also means you’ll be able to store bulky, awkward items you don’t use often, like platters and cookie sheets that take up a lot less space stored vertically rather than horizontally.

    Create a Snack Station

    Another great tip for streamlining your kitchen is to get rid of packaging and create a snack station at child height. Even if you’ve succeeded in training your family not to leave empty cereal boxes in the cupboards, the amount of storage space a family-sized box of cereal consumes is huge and never decreases until the box is disposed of.

    Set up a little clothesline or use a piece of dowling as a hanging rack in an area of your pantry. Alternatively, you could invest in some larger storage boxes that will fit on your shelves and take dry goods out of their boxes. Make sure you label the cereals or the clips you use to hang them up. This works best for items that are bulky, crushable, and light, like potato chips, cereal, and crackers.

    If you set up a snack station at child height in your pantry, you may succeed in keeping your kids out of the fridge and away from the stove while you’re trying to do dinner prep. The snack station can be as big or as small as you like: you can devote the entire bottom shelf to kid-friendly snacks like dried fruit, mini cookie packs, and granola bars. By creating a dedicated space in the pantry for kids, you’ll keep them from climbing the shelves to get at snacks and possibly prevent a fall, shelf collapse, or tumbling tins.

    Make Use of Corners

    Installing Lazy Susans in corners and investing in metal magazine racks for pantry storage is a great way to make use of corner space. No matter how small, chances are good your pantry will have four accessible corners. Install Lazy Susans in each one and you’ll be amazed how much more accessible your canned and dry goods are. There are stackable Lazy Susans available now, and if you really like to stock up when things are on sale or if you make regular Costco runs, they’ll come in handy.

    Metal mesh magazine racks make great storage containers for canned goods. Their height means you can stack the tins in at least a double row. Plus, if you worry a toddler might get in the pantry and upend them, you can turn them around, so the “spine” of the magazine rack faces out and individual tins are less likely to tumble.

    If you’re starting from scratch to create a DIY pantry, be creative. Pantries are basically just shelving arrangements, so anything you’ve got with shelves or racks can be transformed into a pantry. Old bookcases or nightstands can be stacked in a low-traffic kitchen area (preferably a corner). If you see an armoire bargain, especially a corner armoire, grab it. With a few extra shelves added, you’ve got the makings of a small but efficient pantry. Alternatively, you can create a pantry under your stairwell and install a glass-fronted door. Other potential spots for pantries include laundry and mud rooms and rarely used closets. If you buy in bulk, you can even create a pantry and cold storage room in your basement. While not as handy as having your pantry in or just off the kitchen, restocking your kitchen shelves can become part of your laundry routine as you flip the clothes from the washer to the dryer.