Author: Josie

How to Incorporate More Detailing into Your Décor

Josie

It can be difficult to fill that empty space in your home without going overboard and killing the vibe you’d created in the first place.

The moment you add too much detail to the room you can overdo it and its hard to go back from there. But that said, it’s still really beneficial to add details to your home, as these help to highlight certain areas and bring the décor to life.

Are you looking for ways to incorporate a little more detail into your décor? Here are some top tips to help you achieve just that.

The Right Fixings

Having the right ironmongery and fixings throughout your home is crucial. A door handle can transform the way a door looks in an instant, so you want to make sure you have the right style for your home.

Whether you opt for a classically chrome design, or you invest in a bold diamante number, you can enhance the way your doors look and add a touch of character to the area. The same applies for your fixings. You need your hinges and fixings to reflect the style of the room. For those with a modern style, you want to go for the clean, brushed texture that will reflect the light and keep the modern feel strong.

When you first decorate a room, it may not seem like an obvious feature to consider, but as soon as the room is complete, you’ll appreciate just how important that decision is. There are so many beautiful fixings and handles available, with a fantastic range at Milford’s Building Supplies for you to choose from.

Remember to keep the style consistent throughout your home, as this will ensure your interiors flow perfectly.

Lighting Features

Playing around with different lighting and shades will help you to create a look that really works for your interiors. Depending on the lights in each of the rooms, you can really play on the style you have and make them that little bit more special.

It’s harder to do this with spotlight lighting, but with lamps and hanging bulbs, you can find some stunning shades available that will transform that area of the room and bring it to life. You need to have a strong balance of lighting within each room to ensure it’s light and fresh, and with a stylish shade or feature surrounding it, the room will look ten times better.

If you’re looking for an edgy style, a great way to enhance your lighting is to paint your own lampshades to fit the theme of the room. By painting your shades, you can create a look that is unique to your home and really captures the feel you want to give for that particular room.

Shelving Storage

The one thing that can make a room look gloomy or dull is storage. From the moment you enter a room, you instantly pick up on the cleanliness and tidiness of the space, so it’s important to make sure your rooms are neat and tidy.

Adding in some shelves can create a lovely focal point within the room, which is a great additional detail. This is also a really good way to provide essential storage, as you can place books, boxes, photos etc on there to keep them neat and tidy, whilst still on display.

6 Ways to Improve Your Garden this New Year

Josie

Give your garden a new look this year with these 6 great garden tips!

A garden is mostly overlooked when you think about the main factors of getting your house exactly how you want it, but in actual fact, gardens can really make a house stand out far more than you’d expect.

Take a look at these 6 great tips to improve your garden this new year.

Photos via: Houzz

1. Clean Up

The first, most important step is to clean up all the junk you have in your back garden/yard! Get rid of those broken plant pots, wilting plants, that ornament you dread to look at every time you enter your garden!

The sooner you get rid of all these things, the quicker you can start re-decorating your new garden! Also, give the full garden a hose down. Get the patio, and all the concrete as clean as you can before taking any further steps to making your garden perfect.

2. Turn your Patio into a Dining Area

One way to start transforming your garden, is to turn your patio into an outdoor dining area. This will be great for summer, hosting barbecues and social events, having friends over for a glass of wine in the sun etc.

There are multiple different ways you can decorate and transform your patio; maybe you would like to get a large glass table with dining chairs? Or what about building a stone barbecue with a small circle table, the possibilities are endless!

3. Rattan!

If you are considering getting some sort of outdoor furniture, I highly recommend you go for rattan! This type of garden furniture is completely versatile and goes with pretty much any style you choose. There are a range of different colours, and styles of rattan to go for. Wayfair offer a huge range of rattan furniture for you to browse at a reasonable price.

4. Consider investing in a Greenhouse

This is a game changer… invest in a Greenhouse! Not only will this create a new hobby for you to do in your spare time, it also looks incredible in your garden. Also, this can really help you save money on purchasing vegetables and fruits etc. in the long run.

Greenhouses are a great way to completely change the feel of your garden, whilst also allowing you to discover a new hobby. Two Wests offer an extensive range of all different types of greenhouses for you to purchase, look at what they can offer to suit the needs of your garden.

5. Start an Outdoor Kitchen

This links in very well with the last point about investing in a greenhouse, start an outdoor kitchen! What I mean by this is start growing your own herbs, vegetable, fruits and whatever else you like. This way, like the last point, you can save money in the long run, plus you will gain a hobby from it!

6. Add some Light in your Life

Lights really change the way a garden looks and feels. By adding lighting to your garden, you can create a lovely setting in your garden, as well as looking incredibly nice during those summer nights when you sneak into the garden for a gin with your friends… (shh I won’t tell if you don’t).

Two Wests also offer a fantastic range of lighting for you to pick from at a very good

How to Organise Your Living Room for a Neater Home

Josie

Give your living room an organized and relaxing atmosphere with some our expert tips!

In many homes, the living room is a space that is used for a number of different things. From relaxing and watching the TV, to playing with the children and entertaining guests, the living room is often a hub of activity, so it’s important to have a space that is organised and welcoming.

Keeping on top of the organisation within your home can be difficult with such a busy schedule, so starting with a neat layout and clear organisation from the get-go will be extremely helpful in the long run.


Photos via: Living Etc.

Everything Needs a Place

Start off with the mindset that everything needs its own place. If you have designated areas for specific items, you’ll find it much easier to keep them neat and tidy. Ensure your living room has plenty of storage space to begin with, such as a stylish oak sideboard or a bold bookcase, as this will help you provide a home for specific items. Once you’ve got the storage sorted, you can start to figure out where you want things to go.

Having a clear system will make it easier to tidy your living areas when they become messy, as well as making the room feel welcoming. Having a place for everything is crucial, even when it comes to the remote controls or your favourite weekly magazines, you should always have somewhere to keep them, even if its pride of place on the coffee table.

Identify the Lost Items

Its always a bit of a mystery when you find a random sock on the coffee table shelf, or when you discover the calculator on the bookcase, as it’s clear they aren’t supposed to be there.

Over time, random items make their way into the living room and they’re never going to look right there, so it’s always worth having a good tidy up and identifying which items are out of place.

Find all of the items that don’t belong in the living room and put them back where they should be, as this will instantly help to declutter the room and make it feel tidier.

Make Sure It’s Functional

With the living room being such a busy room within the home, with constant activity throughout the day, you need to ensure the space is functional. Whether you’re entertaining guests, or you want to work out to your latest fitness DVD, the space needs to work for you and your family. Take a look at the layout of your furniture, does it work? Are you able to enjoy your living room with this setup?

If you feel like there’s room for improvement, then now is the perfect time to reshuffle the furniture and try to find a layout that works. You often find that the more floorspace available between items such as the sofa and the coffee table, the better. You don’t want your television to be too close to the sofa either, so have a play around with the layout and find the perfect setup.

Throw Things Away

Everyone is guilty of hoarding in some way or another. Whether it’s the latest issue of your favourite magazine, or you want to keep hold of a selection of DVDs even though they’re scratched, and you have them on Amazon Prime, there’s always something cluttering up your home that doesn’t really need to be there.

Take a look at the items within your living room and figure out what you could throw away. By doing this, you’ll instantly feel as though the room is tidier and fresher, with no rubbish cluttering up the space.

Home Improvement Projects Kids Can Help With

Josie

These home improvement ideas are the perfect projects that you can do with your kids!

Photos By: Unsplash

Household improvement and construction can be a drag. For example, when rebuilding a bathroom, your bathroom could be out of commission for several days. This means that you have to find another place to use all of the facilities until your bathroom is complete. Bathrooms are a trendy renovation in homes, and they can turn out very pretty and well done. 

But, several other home improvement projects may not be as overwhelming and require outside help. These projects are some that you can do with your kids. Hard work at a young age, through responsible and supervised projects, such as home improvement projects, can be a great way to instill a sense of pride and work ethic in your children. 

DIY Outdoor Playsets 

Building your outdoor playset can save you a ton of money. The premade treehouses, swings, and sandboxes can cost a fortune, but starting to develop sandboxes and swings as a weekend project can help avoid having to pay this massive fee.

Not to mention how comfortable and kid-friendly these projects are. If you are interested in getting your kids involved with household projects, these outdoor playthings, such as sandboxes and swings, can be a great place to start. Your kids will be thrilled that they are getting a new swing or jungle gym, so they will be happy to help out with the project. 

Shop for Supplies With Them 

It is hard for some of the more significant home improvement projects to get your kids fully involved with them. There could be dangerous power tools and nails sticking out of the floorboards, so you probably don’t want your kid around. But, one thing you will always need during these projects is tools and materials. 

You can always take your kids shopping for the materials and supplies you will need at the hardware store. Plus, this can give them a good education of what is to come in the future when they have to do their projects. 

Starting a Garden

Starting to make a garden with your kids is a great way to do a small project that must be maintained daily. Making a garden is one of the easiest projects to do in terms of hard labor, building, and power tools, but it is also one of the hardest to maintain because of how much attention they need.  A garden is a perfect way to show a young child responsibility, and there is an excellent reward afterward. 

No significant job should go unpaid, and because it was your children helping with the projects, you can not just hand them a paycheck. Instead of paying your kids with money, take a family trip somewhere enjoyable to show them that all of their hard work did not go undervalued. 

If you are looking for a great vacation spot, there is a lot of real estate for sale in Whistler. Whistler is one of the most relaxed ski resorts in North America, and there is something fun for everyone to do at these resorts and available houses for rent and purchase. More importantly, your kids will have learned that hard work pays off.

Furniture At Work® Advises on Office Health and Safety Standards During COVID-19

Josie

Stay safe while working from home with these safety standards!

All Photos By: Unsplash

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in governments around the world implementing measures to try to slow the spread of the virus. For many countries, this meant several months of lockdown, where all non-essential businesses were closed, and people were told to stay in their homes as much as possible.

Many countries are now beginning to relax these rules, but there are still strict rules in place regarding social distancing and other measures designed to keep people as safe as possible. For those that have returned to their place of work, things probably look very different.

The current advice in the UK states that people should work from home if it is possible for them to do so. However, there are many roles which require a physical presence in an office or other workspace. For these workplaces, employers have a responsibility to maintain the highest possible standards of health, hygiene and physical distancing for all employees, which includes performing a risk assessment before people return to work.

Furniture At Work provides a comprehensive range of protective screens and guards to help promote social distancing and keep people as safe as possible. The current guidelines state that all employees should ideally be kept two metres apart during the working day. Adding protective screens to each workstation helps employees to feel reassured that they are at minimal risk of contracting the virus while at work.

Other measures that workplaces should be implementing include practices that minimise contact and limit the amount of people each employee must communicate with in person each day. This includes establishing an infrastructure that requires minimal sharing of equipment and having fixed teams in place so each ‘bubble’ can be kept separate from others.

Specific work areas should be marked out with paint or tape to help people maintain social distancing, signage should be provided to help people stay two metres apart, and people who have to work closely should be set up to work side by side rather than face to face, to help prevent transmission.

Cleaning and sanitation are an essential part of keeping staff healthy in any business in 2020. If you want to keep COVID-19 out of your home, it is essential to learn how to stay safe and clean your workplace properly. All employees should be provided with hand sanitiser and any cleaning products that may be required, which should be of the correct potency to kill coronavirus germs. Staff should not only be provided with access to proper sanitation facilities, but also trained in how to use them effectively.

Cleaning should be performed regularly, particularly in high-traffic areas such as corridors or lifts. Employers should also be taking the time to talk to their staff regularly so that any concerns they may have can be discussed and dealt with, inform them of any additional support measures being put into place, and check up on their general health and well-being.