Tag: Home

3 Structural Defects That You Need To Fix Before Winter

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Home/Living, and Home/Property Discussions. While homes are some of our biggest investments, they need constant care. Furthermore if maintenance is neglected, our homes can ultimately cost us more money. If you live in a region with a winter season, you want to consider making critical repairs before the change of seasons. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Structural Defects That You Need To Fix Before Winter.

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This winter may be bleaker than others with the threat of coronavirus still looming for everyone. Christmas may be a Zoom meeting and you might be spending more time indoors than you would like, but there are ways that you can make your winter a little less worrisome. You need to think about how you can make your home structurally sound and fit for the harsher climate. Preventative measures are crucial because otherwise, you may find yourself with a hefty bill to fix issues in the depths of the cold season. Follow this guide and discover three structural defects that you need to check before winter.

The Roof

With rain, hail, and snow on the cards in the next few months, it is crucial that your home is watertight. Look up and check your roof tiles. Are they cracked or have any slipped? A bowing roof is a sign of water building up in your roof space. This can result in rot and damp entering your joists meaning that your home becomes structurally unsound. Check the flashing around your chimney. If there are any holes, leaks will develop resulting in a moist and unhygienic upstairs interior in your pad. This can be fixed with a simple membrane application or a replacement of the flashing. Get this sorted and renovate now and you will save yourself money on an entire roof replacement.

Subsidence Or Movement

Any movement in your home can be worrying. If your doors are starting to stick, there is a definite slope in your flooring, and you struggle with cracks in your home, you may be suffering from subsidence or heave. Heave is when tree roots begin to encroach on your foundations as seen at https://www.fridaysmove.com/. This can be rectified by chopping down your larger trees and repointing your brickwork. This is cheap to fix. For more serious subsidence, underpinning may need to occur. While costly, this is needed to ensure that the movement doesn’t spread and to keep your home mortgageable. Without it, you will be living in a money pit with no chance of being able to sell up and move onto pastures new.

Pipework

The pipework in your home can become less efficient during the winter months. Get a specialist out and inspect your pipes. Gas engineers will service your boiler and a plumber can check your heating system. If you do suffer from any burst pipes or leaks, you may need the services of https://www.hlrestoration.com/ to remove the moisture, damp, and mold from your dwelling.

Your gas pipes connected to your boiler can freeze in the colder months, resulting in them bursting or shattering eventually. To prevent this, put your heating on for twenty minutes every twelve hours before the colder climate sets in. Doing this costs nothing, but keeps your pipes warm and free flowing.

If you are eager to make your winter a little less bleak, you will need to spend money to save money in the long run. Follow this guide and you can make your home structurally sound this season.

5 Steps on How to Buy Your Dream Home

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Home/Living/Property Discussions. While it sounds simple on paper, buying a home whether it’s finding or building a dwelling that suits your needs and preferences, or the financing transaction, it can all be very complicated and draining. If you a few basic things, the process can go much more smoothly. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Steps on How to Buy Your Dream Home.

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Buying a home is an exciting experience and an involving one, especially if you are a first-time owner. There are basic steps you need to take for a great home buying experience, and a few are highlighted in this guide.

Image via Shutterstock by TijanaM

Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage

While you may be psyched about owning a new home, don’t begin hunting for a home before getting pre-approved for a mortgage. You can still use mortgagecalculator.org to check how much you will pay back based on your lender’s time and interest rate. When you get pre-approved for a loan, it becomes easier for you to narrow down your search to a home that best fits your budget. Your pre-approval letter will indicate the maximum loan you can get.

With this information, you will instantly know your maximum price point.

List Your Essentials

Once you get pre-approved, the next step is to list the essentials you need to have in your new home. Put this in a list and make sure that you follow through. It’s also important not to have too many essentials so that you find it challenging to get a house in your area. By sticking to your list, you still avoid “list creep.” These are instances where you see particular objects in a home, and suddenly you want it included in your home.

Are You Moving In or Relocating

Based on your budget, you already know whether you want a move-in ready house or a fixer-upper, which will need some renovations. If you want to settle for a fixer-upper, you should consider those below your price range. This way, you will save enough for your preferred upgrades. It’s still advisable that you speak to your financier to learn more about the renovation loan process.

Document Your Walkthroughs and Settle On the Best

As you view different houses, the features can sometimes blend, and it can get confusing, which feature was in what house. To ease the confusion, be sure to take photos of the areas you love. If you are searching for a dream home, one of the things you should avoid is getting caught up in the listing. If you have narrowed down your search to ten houses, your choice should be based on your top three choices.

Quit Searching

Even after finding an ideal home, some buyers still want to keep browsing to check on more trends. Once you have made your choice, there is no need to keep checking for new listings. This can confuse you even more and delay the home buying process. Therefore, learn to be confident with the decision you make.

Wrapping Up

When purchasing a dream home, the initial step involves getting pre-approved for a home loan. Given that the loan will act as a guiding principle for purchase, your choices are to settle for a new or older home. Understand that issues with purchasing older homes range from simple renovations to remodeling. This means that you’ll have to spend less part of your loan so that you have enough for renovations.

5 Problems With Buying an Old House

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Home and Living Discussions. Our primary residences are the biggest purchases many people will ever make. The age of the property is a significant consideration and there can be issues with purchasing older houses. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Problems With Buying an Old House.

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Old homes come with a particular elegance and grace. Unlike new builds, they are filled with history and, depending on where you live, you may be the latest in a long line of inhabitants to make this house into a home. However, while many people will romanticize old homes, they come with their fair share of issues, so if you’re planning on investing in an older property, you must understand what problems you might encounter.

It Is Not Energy Efficient

New homes are made to conserve and retain energy. Some homes are so good at this that you may not even know it’s winter, as the insulation is so effective that it efficiently traps the heat inside. This is not the same as old houses, especially considering they do not come with double glazing and other amenities essential for conserving energy.

While this might not be much of an issue in the summer, you want to enjoy the heat; it will become a problem in winter. You might think you can counteract the chill with a wood fire or ramp the heating up, but this will make your energy bills skyrocket, which is never something you want.

It Can Be Difficult To Upgrade

If you’re someone who wants to combine the traditional with the modern, it’s perhaps best to wait and make sure this is possible. Old homes do not come with the convenience of newer builds, or even houses that are 10 to 20 years old.

This will make it difficult and expensive to upgrade them. For example, if you want to bring smart home technology into your house, you might be in for a surprise. Often, there is not the space to do so, and the foundations may not be as stable as you’d like them to be, which will make any upgrades challenging at best and dangerous at worst.

The Pipes May Be Rusted

Likewise, there’s also the risk that the pipes have not been updated in years, which means there could be rust and decay within the walls. If you’ve ever owned a property before, you don’t need reminding how hazardous this can be, so it’s worth checking on the pipes before moving in.

There are several ways to do this. You can request an inspection to ensure the house is safe for you to live in and fit for purchase. Alternatively, you might want to look at dye tablets for leak detection, which can identify any issues later on. This approach is useful for any house, but it may be most useful for an older house with the original pipes.

The Roof Could Be Damaged

A damaged roof is another issue that you may encounter when purchasing an old house, especially if the house is close to woodland or near overhanging tree branches. Over time, these environments can cause debris to damage the roof, causing the tiles to crack or fall, and this opens up the chance for gaps in the roof.

This will impact energy efficiency, making it impossible to keep warm, and it could also cause severe issues with the house’s frame. As houses are made of wood, weather damage can cause damp, and therefore rot, which will affect the house’s structural integrity, which is not something you want to encounter. It could be both costly and dangerous if you do not spot the issue quickly enough.

Pests And More

If you’re used to modern homes, you are going to be shocked at how easily bugs, critters, and pests can get into an old house. There are many reasons this would happen, and it usually relates to holes in the brickwork, but a damaged roof can also be inviting for them, especially during winter.

Pests and more are not something you want in your house, even if you’re an animal lover. If you are scared of bugs and spiders, it can put you off purchasing an old house altogether, but you can take action to keep these pests out, so they do not make things worse. Call an exterminator to deal with termites that could affect the structure, and seal up any gaps that you find.

This Old Place

While elegant and steeped in history, an old home can come with an array of issues. With this in mind, you must ensure that you know what you’re getting yourself into and whether all the repairs and upgrades will be worth it. If you decide they are, then you can enjoy a house that will soon become a home once again, as it has for many centuries before you.

Are You Making These Critical Home Business Mistakes?

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Not all businesses are traditional brick and mortar businesses and some of the most successful businesses are actually run out our personal homes. But are you running your home business correctly? The following contributed post is entitled, Are You Making These Critical Home Business Mistakes?

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These days, a lot more businesses are being run from the comfort of people’s homes. This isn’t just because of COVID-19. Working from home provides people with numerous benefits including great cost savings. However, to gain access to the key benefits you need to ensure that you are making the right decisions from day one. Here are some of the possibilities that you definitely need to keep in mind.

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Failing To Manage Your Tech

First, when you run a company from home, you must be aware that you will be completely reliant on tech. If your tech stops working then so too will your business and that’s an issue that you’re probably not prepared for. A lot of home business owners think that they can manage their own tech but this is almost always a mistake. Without managed IT services for small business, you are going to miss out on a lot of issues. You could even sustain a hack and it can take weeks for you to realize that this has actually occurred.

Forgetting To Set Up The Right Work Environment

Next, you need to think about your work environment. When you are running a business from home, then it’s easy to assume that you can run your company from anywhere in the property. While this is technically true, it’s probably not advised. For instance, the temptation will be to not even bother getting out of bed in the morning. If you try to work from your bed, then there’s a good chance that you’re not going to reach your full productivity potential.

Instead, you should make sure that you do have a full business office. It’s important to ensure that there aren’t too many distractions around you. Working with a TV in your room is a massive faux pas. Unless of course, you need to keep up with the news for your job.

You should also make sure that your tech is set up the right way too. It’s important that you don’t get distracted when using your tech. This is why blocking some of your favourite sites temporarily through the day can be a fantastic decision.

Failing To Invest In Marketing

Finally, when you run your business from home, you’re not going to have the same level of visibility as you would with a business office. This is why you need to make sure that you are investing in the services of a great marketing team. It’s also important to ensure that you are spending enough on marketing. On average, you should consider spending about 25% of your budget on marketing. This is true, regardless of whether you are running a small or large company from your home. In the first year, you should expect to spend at least three thousand on a digital marketing campaign.

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As you can see, there are numerous mistakes that you definitely do need to avoid when you are running a business from home. If you don’t take these into account then you could put your business at risk as well as your wellbeing.

Homeowner Discussions: Is It Better To Relocate Or Revamp?

Three key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Home/Living Discussions and Home/Property Discussions. A popular television show is “Love It Or List It” where homeowners must decide whether to update their current property or find a new one altogether. It’s something all homeowners must face. The following contributed post is entitled, Homeowner Discussions: Is It Better To Relocate Or Revamp?

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A happy home life is something that everyone deserves. So, when you’re not 100% satisfied with the current living situation, you will have a number of key questions to consider. The most pertinent, however, is whether to move property or invest in improving the one you already own.

While there’s no single right or wrong answer for everyone, there are several key factors to consider. Be sure to consider the following issues and you won’t go far wrong.

The Financial Aspects

Given that a property is the greatest financial asset at your disposal, it’s impossible to ignore the monetary elements. When relocating, buying a fixer-upper could be one of the greatest ways to bolster your financial status over the long haul. However, it will require a lot of patience. Moreover, you’ll need to remember that buying and selling properties comes with various taxes, fees, and hidden costs.

Meanwhile, most people can add value to the existing property as well as their home lives with ease. Land clearing with the view to creating an extension or adding luxury backyard items can deliver a fantastic ROI. Meanwhile, attic and cellar conversions are capable of making the home feel bigger. They also add significant value. Moreover, you can complete projects one at a time to aid your cash flow at this time.

In many cases, then, working on your existing home is probably best in the short-term. However, each route can deliver benefits in the long haul. The key is to do it correctly.

Lifestyle Changes

When buying a property, you aren’t just purchasing a building. You are committing to a new way of life. Therefore, it’s essential that you think about those impacts on your life as well as the benefits of the property itself. When moving to a new city, weighing up the career prospects and living costs is as crucial as the cost of the property. Otherwise, it won’t become the foundation of a happy life like you crave.

Even when moving locally, you may need to consider transport links to your work or the schooling facilities. The truth is that your move may provide an upgrade or a downgrade. Only thorough research will give you a clear indication of what to expect. If you decide that a move is right for your future, it’s important to choose a suitable time for the move too. Moving during your child’s exam season, for example, may not work.

Staying put offers stability and convenience, but only you will know if it’s where you wish to stay. If the surroundings are a source of displeasure, a move could be right.

Personalization

When hoping to make a house a home, character-defining features are vital. If planning to move into a new property, you should invest in personalization from the start. Living in someone else’s dream property will never deliver the best results, even if the surroundings are impressive. This is another incentive to choose a home that needs a little work. It’ll save money, that can be spent on those updates.

If your current home is in good health and just needs a little updating, cost-effective ideas work wonders. New kitchen cabinet handles are far cheaper than gutting the room. Meanwhile, a change of color scheme or rearranging the furniture can bolster living spaces. Fixing TVs to the wall or using shelves rather than display cabinets can deliver stunning rewards too. Increased floor space is the key.

It’s quicker to personalize an existing space, but starting from scratch in a new home may be better for some. But only if you have the time and budget needed for success.

Superb Ideas For Tricky-To-Decorate Spaces

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Home/Property Discussions. A key consideration for your living space is decorating it. Decorating your home to your satisfaction will be critical to your quality of life and generally how you feel in your dwelling. The following contributed post is entitled, Superb Ideas For Tricky-To-Decorate Spaces.

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Most modern homes maximise the volume of interior space by making sure that everything is square. Older homes have more hidden nooks and crannies. Even so, homeowners of both types often find themselves in situations where they have to decorate tricky spaces. Either they’re too small, hard to reach, or a weird shape.

The good news, though, is that a lot of keen home DIY enthusiasts have come before you. And they’ve figured out myriad ways to get the job done, even in the tightest of spots! Here are some solutions:

Windows With Architectural Details

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Some homes have weird windows with architectural features that get in the way. You would think that something as simple as treating a window frame would be easy. But that’s not the case at all. You wind up with bits and pieces of the window design jutting into your room or getting in the way of your tiling work.

Whatever the case, the best approach is to leave the feature alone and then just work around it. With paint, this is easy. With wallpaper, it’s more complicated. And with tiles, it’s the hardest of all. Sticking with a period feature and working around it neatly, however, often creates a beautiful visual effect. In fact, it looks so good, you don’t envy those with simpler setups.

Nooks In The Ceiling

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There’s nothing more annoying than trying to repaint a ceiling with a dormer window. The angles are just impossible, even if you have a great ladder.

For some people with double-height ceilings, the problem is even worse. Not only do you have to twist and turn at some weird angles, but you also risk falling to your doom.

The best solution here, according to Access One Scaffolding to build an aluminium frame below the area in which you’re working. The idea is to create a temporary walk surface – like a second floor -to make it easier to get to those tricky areas. If you still can’t reach, you just add extras to the frame until you’re in the perfect position to start painting.

Random Spaces Behind Doors

It’s always hard to know what to do with spaces lurking behind doors. You can’t put an antique table there. And you certainly can’t place pottery there. So what the heck are you supposed to do with it?

One idea is to buy a piece of artwork that just so happens to fit the available space. It won’t get in the way of the door opening, but it’ll also provide visual interest.

Another idea is to install a wall lamp. Again, it shouldn’t get in the way but will also provide a bit of extra beauty.

A Gap Under Your Stairs

The most obvious option here is to create a cupboard for your vacuum cleaner. But what if you have cantilever stairs? Your best bet here is to insert some plants and hope for the best. What you’ll find is that large indoor shrubs look natural and cosy in the nook, thanks to their foliage. You can also try adding lanterns and even attractive bins if it still looks sparse.

5 Top Tips For Finding Your Dream Home

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. A key wealth-building strategy is the purchase of our primary residences. As easy as it may seem, finding our dream home is not easy. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Top Tips For Finding Your Dream Home.

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Image by Pexels from Pixabay

If you’re on the hunt for your dream home and you don’t know where to begin then don’t worry, you have definitely come to the right place. Whether you’ve been renting for years or this is going to be your first house, you need to ensure you’re doing all that you can to find the right home for you. Luckily, there are lots of tips and tricks you can bear in mind to ensure you’re doing exactly that. From setting yourself a budget to looking at all of your available options, the more you’re doing the easier the process will be. With that in mind, here are 5 top tips for finding your dream home:

Set Yourself A Budget

One of the first things you need to do when it comes to finding your dream home is to set yourself a budget, as this will ensure you’re not looking at houses that are out of your budget. Whether you’re thinking about the cost of the deposit or the monthly remortgage payments, you need to be sure you’re choosing a house that you’re going to be able to afford comfortably. This may mean taking a look at your overall budget, as thinking about the other costs you have is important. For a guide to creating a personal budget, you can visit this site here.

Look At All Of Your Available Options

When it comes to choosing your dress house, often it’s all too easy to look at just a few of your favourite options. Whether you’re saving yourself time or you think you’ve got your heart set on a property, you may be surprised if you start researching all of the options that are available to you. From looking further afield to working with different estate agents, you never know what you could find. For a great estate agent, you can visit the Lake Murray real estate site here.

Make Sure You’re Viewing Places In Person

Another thing you should make sure you’re doing when it comes to finding your dream house is to ensure you’re viewing all of your potential choices in person. Although it may take some time, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you find when you do. For a guide to viewing a potential house in person, you can visit this site here.

Consider The Local Area

When you’re thinking about the perfect house for you, you may want to think about the local area too. Whether this means finding somewhere close to your child’s school or choosing somewhere that has great transportation networks, you need to be sure you’re choosing a house that is in the right location. If you daily to do this, you will soon start to resent the house you’re in.

Don’t Make A Decision Too Soon

Finally, you need to be sure you’re not making a decision too soon. Although you may find a house that seems perfect, it’s always better to take a break and think about it first. During this time, you can do some more investigating into your mortgage options and ensure that you will be getting the best deal for your dream home. When you apply for a mortgage, it’s vital to keep in mind that your personal information will be stored and used in a credit check; it will also be used to contribute to HMDA Scrubs to assess demographics in the market. Understanding how and where your information is being used can help you make the best decision for your future.

Specialist Contractor

When you buy an old property, you may not realize the range of historical features it contains. These features can give your home a unique charm, from intricate stonework to carved wooden details. However, they also require specialist knowledge and expertise to properly maintain and repair. This is because they have the skills and experience to understand how the original materials were used and crafted, as well as the techniques needed to reproduce them accurately. Specialist contractors are hard to find and often overbooked because they’re so rare! If you want to save yourself the hassle then find someone who can find your dream home for you, so you can avoid having to hire a specialist to create what you’re looking for. Paul Ognibene from Urban Spaces can help you with that, as they put a prime focus on making neighbourhoods better for the families that live there.

With lots of great tips to bear in mind, you can be sure you’re finding your dream home in no time. What else do you need to do? Did we miss anything off of the list? Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.

5 Simple Ways to Combat Stress While Working From Home

Three of the focuses of my blog are Career Discussions, Current Events and Health/Wellness. The Coronavirus/Covid-19 Crisis/Pandemic has caused many workers to work at home which hasn’t been a simple adjustment for everyone. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Simple Ways to Combat Stress While Working From Home.

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Coronavirus has drastically affected business both large and small around the world. And because of the global pandemic, many have had to work from home instead of the usual office setting that they are used to. This change has affected the ability to work for those not familiar with a remote routine, leading to countless feelings of stress and as though they are on edge.

But to be as successful as possible within your role, it’s important to identify methods that will help to relax you – so that you’re feeling as productive and motivated each day.

Although it’s undeniable that you might not be as engaged as you would in your work setting when you’re among your colleagues, it’s still important to seek techniques that guarantee you get your work completed on time. But if you’re unsure as to where to start, then it might be a bit daunting. To help guide you, here are 5 approaches you could take:

1. Create a Dedicated Workplace

When working from home, it’s important to create a dedicated workplace – and to not sit in your living room on the couch or in another busy environment. By opting to sit and work in a loud part of your home, you’ll only feel stressed and as though you can’t complete tasks to the best of your abilities.

So to prevent this from happening, consider creating a home office that you can comfortably work in. This won’t only help your concentration levels, but will also be more ergonomic – especially if you have an adjustable office chair.

2. Keep in Contact with Colleagues and Loved Ones

During this time, it’s only natural to feel isolated when you’re at home all the time. And even though life is gradually getting back to normal, many people are still working from home either full time or part of the time. If you’re feeling isolated and stressed, then it’s essential that you try and stay in contact both with your colleagues and with loved ones.

Human interaction is vital throughout your working day and it’s something that shouldn’t be ignored. Giving you a little pick me up, these virtual video calls will make all the difference to how you’re feeling.

3. Take Breaks Throughout The Day

Although this might seem like an obvious one, it’s still worth a mention – especially during the coronavirus outbreak when you may feel limited as to what you can do. Taking breaks throughout the day is critical to recharging your brain and giving yourself that much-needed breather.

Without doing this, it’s clear that your mental health will start to suffer. So make sure you take time out away from your screen and manage any feelings of stress. Even just 10 minutes or so away from the desk will help you to refresh.

You could spend these breaks going on a walk nearby, baking something delicious or doing anything activity that doesn’t revolve around a screen. Just make sure that when you’re doing this you’re following the social distancing guidelines!

When work is finished, you can then have a cooling down period in which you unwind. Some people might take this time to understand the importance of grow cabinets if they use cannabis to relax, or another activity they enjoy doing.

4. Establish a Working Routine (And Try to Stick to it)

Without a schedule in place, you might feel as though you’re struggling to find a balance between your work time and your personal time. These blurred lines could start to make you feel stressed and as though you never have time to unwind.

It’s therefore a good idea to create a daily schedule. Within this time, you could list exactly when you’re going to work (which will usually align with your core working hours) and when you will stop work for the day.

Although this is a simple trick, it can prove to be invaluable not only in this time but in the future if you have to work from home again.

5. Switch Off

As part of your downtime, it’s also worth putting your phone and any other technology away at least two hours before you sleep. At the moment, the news and social media are incredibly negative, so instead of focusing on this before you go to bed, consider opting for reading a book or another activity.

When working from home, you want to ensure that your sleeping pattern is as good as possible with no disruptions. This is therefore a beneficial practice to do each night, to allow you to fall asleep more naturally.

Final Thoughts

So, there you go! Those are 5 simple methods that you can use to help you to relax and combat sleep while working from home.

The methods that you use, of course, is up to you. But whatever proactive steps you take towards ensuring that you manage your levels of stress, while remaining engaged the more successful you will be.

Small Changes To Create A Dramatic Impact

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. One of our biggest investments is our primary residence. There are subtle changes we can make to our homes that greatly increase their value and their livability. The following contributed post is entitled, Small Changes To Create A Dramatic Impact.

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If you feel your home needs an upgrade without breaking the bank, it can be overwhelming to decide where to start. With this guide, we can show you five easy ways to make a significant impact by changing the smaller details in your home.

Upgrade your plumbing

Upgrade your plumping by switching your plain white pipes to an eye-catching style. Which is popular for many bathroom styles using parts such as sanitary tubing. Many trends include pipes that are visible as you walk into the room to create a feature to the sink and bath area. There are multiple ways to uplift your pipes, but opting for a stainless steel version can be easy to keep clean by leaving a shine. If your home is more of a vintage style, this can be a great option as you could use a different color or texture to adapt to your liking.

Switching your light switches

Small details in your home should not go amiss either, such as your light switches. They are items in your home that get used loads of times throughout the day, yet we forget to modernize them. Rather than a white plastic covering, you could change this to match the metal items in each room, such as door and drawer handles or kitchenware. You could have a different cord on your string lights as well.

Modernize your windows

Grey windows are very popular at the moment as they look cleaner for longer. They also create a modern style for your home from the inside and the outside. If you want to make your home stand out from the rest of the street, then changing the color of your windows can do just that. It is advisable to match the color of your windows to your door or plastic cladding because it brings the whole house together.

Radiator coverings

If you do not like the look of radiators or are living in a smaller house, then looking for a cover for them can transform your space. They often come in various patterns and colors to suit your style as well as hiding any pipes underneath. Many people choose this option to create an extra side to put items such as plants and keys on the top. It can be a quick and easy project and be very useful.

Change your flooring

You could change your flooring by opting for a different texture such as slate, wood, or tile for a dramatic effect. They are hard wearing choices that stay at a high quality for years. If you are not in a situation to change all your furniture, you can change the floor to provide you with the illusion that you have changed more than you have.

Hopefully, with this guide, you will be able to transform your home by changing five small things, such as switching your pipework to bring more of a feature out. Your guests will think you’ve had a full renovation with these small changes.

The Importance of the Home Office as a Business Owner

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Regardless of the type of business you own, having a home office can provide a tremendous advantage and be an asset as well. Don’t underestimate its importance. The following contributed post is entitled, The Importance of the Home Office as a Business Owner.

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When you run a business from home, your office space is so important. It’s a place you need to feel relaxed yet productive, and so creating something that works for you is key. There are lots of different things you need to be keeping tabs on when you’re running a company, from data to documents and much more, so you’ll want to make sure everything stays organised and you can work comfortably. Here are a few ways you can go about it.

Choose the right computer for you
Your computer will play a major role when you work from home– most of your work will be done from this device. So you absolutely need the right machine that will be fast, reliable and perform all of the tasks you need. If you’re planning on using an old, outdated PC or laptop then you could be putting your venture at risk. Invest in something that’s going to perform well and is suited to you, don’t choose the first thing you see and read lots of reviews. Your best bet would be to go to different computer stores to check out different models and be recommended something by an expert which suits your venture and what you’ll be doing on the machine.

Focus on the desk and chair
Go for the largest desk you can fit in your space, since you’ll be more comfortable and have enough room to complete all of your daily tasks. Something solid and sturdy will stand the test of time, and you can always install shelves above it if you need the extra storage space. Don’t overlook the chair too, you’ll be sitting here for long periods so something comfortable and supportive is absolutely essential.

Keep it clean, unfussy and organised
There’s a lot going on in the home office, to keep it organised it’s crucial that you’re regularly cleaning and decluttering. Regularly remove dust and debris since computers and other electronics tend to attract it- a good electronic contact cleaner can make the job easier. In terms of decor, keeping it minimal can help with productivity- it doesnt need to look cold and corporate, but avoid too much personal clutter. Paint the walls a light, neutral colour, add in some plants to decorate since they add colour and texture without looking fussy and research shows they actually boost productivity while you’re working. Finally, in terms of data and documents, move what you can to the cloud as you won’t need to mess around with paper files and hard discs, you can store it online and access it from any other computer without compromising your security. It frees up space in your home office too and makes it feel less crowded and cluttered. You’ll find that you’re much happier and more productive in an organised space.