Data gathered by Australian property site RealEstate.com.au has revealed that more Australians prefer their homes to have modern interiors characterised by simplicity, clean lines and fully functional furniture.
Anyone can make their homes more energy efficient. However, those who are building a new home have the upper hand in this regard, since they are bound by the Building Code of Australia to meet a minimum level of energy efficiency.
Granted, the law requirement could mean additions to the total construction budget, but those additions are generally a pittance compared to the savings such energy efficiency measures will give you.
In any case, whether your house is new or old, there are a number of things that you can do to make it more energy efficient and in effect, a little friendlier to the environment. Here are some of them.
The new year brings a fresh start that more often than not inspires new home improvement ideas. Nothing spells “fresh start” better than to get home improvement projects up and rolling . These projects don’t even have to be big ones. They can be quick, simple and should not cost you that much.
Whether it’s done in a high-traffic area or a barely used room in your house, painting adds a pop of colour and a fresh clean feel to your walls. If you’re painting newbie, don’t hesitate to ask for tips from people working at the paint store, from colours to do to painting techniques that will make the job easier and faster for you.
If painting is too much work, then perhaps putting up wallpapers might do the trick for you. Many of the wallpapers available in stores today are very chic, and they certainly would make amazing accent walls. Plus, the choices are simply amazing. You can get wallpapers with texture, wallpapers with retro patterns, metallic wallpapers and many more.
Changing your drapes is one great way to greet the new year. Sure, everyone wants brand new drapes every single time we change them, but there are less expensive ways of changing them. One such way is to recycle your curtains and drapes to another room. The drapes you had in your living room, for instance, could be switched with the ones in your bedroom, and vice versa.
When you give your cabinets a facelift, it does not necessarily mean you have to change a lot of things about them, although that could be an option. Giving it what we call a “spa treatment” will do. Dust the cabinets inside out, then wipe them down with a soft, damp cloth. If your cabinets have nicks and scratches, get a soft cloth and dab those areas with just a tiny bit of wood stain. When the wood stain is dry, wipe lemon oil onto the whole cabinet using a soft, clean cloth. All these will enhance the natural colour of your cabinets and give them a newer feel.
Your door handles are perhaps the most worn-out among all the fixtures in your home, and the coming of the new year is the perfect time to replace them. To spice things up, you can actually replace them with handles that are actually different from the last ones. Just make sure that they look perfect for the door and that they don’t end up looking out of place.
With the holidays just a few weeks in the past, it’s safe to assume that your home has to deal with a lot of clutter, especially when you have children at home or when you’ve had people come and go for the entire holiday season. The new year would be the best time to organise your home. You can start with just putting things back where they actually belong. If you’re up to it, do some segregation, like keeping the things you still use and deciding which ones you can actually throw or give away. Organising your home may not be as simple or as quick as other home improvement projects, but it’s one of those home improvement ideas that has to be done, whether it’s the new year or not.
The kitchen, as far as many home owners are concerned, is the most important part of the house so if you are planning a kitchen renovation, naturally, you will want to get it right in all respects. Here are some kitchen innovations to think about when you are planning and designing your dream kitchen.
The way the kitchens of modern homes function and look like today, most of us are probably thinking that we have reached the pinnacle of kitchen design. Then again, if the innovators of the past thought about things that way, it’s highly likely we’re not going to be enjoying stuff like smartphones or even the Internet.
No matter how seemingly modern and multifunctional our present-day kitchens may be, they can still be made significantly better with innovations that may seem crazy or just too much today, but could be really necessary and useful in, say, half a century into the future.
Let’s talk about some of these kitchens of the future, which are actually really cool to have.
