This time of year people start thinking about outdoor space. You want to find more reasons to be outside than inside and who can blame you, Virginia is beautiful in the spring. Building a space to live and entertain in the outdoors can range from installing a simple patio, to building a deck, to building a Florida Room addition. Any one of these projects adds value to your home and can recoup the cost when you decide to sell. Whether you’re keeping it simple or going big, here are the best elements of outdoor living that will make sure you get the most out of your outdoor space.
Location
Now’s a good time to locate the sun in relation to your property. Where will the sun be in the morning/afternoon/evening? You want sun in your sunroom, so maybe the shady side of the house isn’t the best location. The most ideal spot has sun exposure with some shade perhaps provided by a tree.
Multiple Uses
You want your space to accommodate lots of different occasions. Being able to fit a dining table as well as a seating arrangement can assure you get the most for your investment. Not only can you enjoy meals or lounge in the cool breeze, it can double as a home office for mornings when you’d like to take your coffee al fresco.
Decor
Just because your room can be exposed to the elements, doesn’t mean your furniture needs to be plastic. Upholstered seating, along with pillows, throws and a durable rug truly make the space double as a second living room. Complete the effect with side tables and lamps, just make sure to include outlets into your design plans. If you’re worried about sun damage to your furniture, adding privacy curtains can protect your fabric as well as prevent overheating.
Making an addition to your living space can be such an exciting project as well as a sound investment. As a transitional space between indoors and outdoors, pile it up with lots of potted plants and whimsy. Have fun with it! After all, it is supposed to be a space to relax, enjoy the scenery and entertain family and friends.
With home improvement projects, sometimes it’s the things that are used the most that are noticed the least. Like all the doors in your home — in and out of rooms, to closets and utility rooms. But after a closer look, the scratches, cracks, old hinges and outdated style can be hard to miss.
Replacing interior doors is an affordable way to give your home an updated look versus an expensive remodel. Most of the homeowners that come to us are looking for doors that have a unique or more modern look than what they have.
There are a lot of options that many people might not even think about. For example, double doors are a much more functional and attractive alternative to sliding doors and bi-fold doors, while French-style doors can add natural light and architectural detail to a space.
A big thing with customers right now is not so much the door, but the hardware. Homeowners are choosing update hinges and doorknobs with more modern colors like brushed nickel or aged bronze.
While installing interior doors can be a job for do-it-yourselfers, it can quickly turn into a bigger job than expected, especially when replacing doors in older homes.
Most doors are not going to just fall into place. The jobs we do involve cutting, trimming and shaping the door to size, and sometimes replacing the molding.
We advice homeowners looking to replace interior doors is for them to do their homework, know their budget, and have an idea of what they like.
Many of us who have their own business or company are always trying to think of ways we can get our name out there and get more clients. We sometimes feel a little threatened when we encounter someone who does the same type of work that we do. Our natural instinct is to find out what they are all about and figure out the things we do better, we’d like to think that no one does what we do but we all know that is far from the truth.
In my many years of being the construction industry I have worked very hard to build my portfolio and set of skills. At New Earth we are particularly passionate about building and repurposing furniture. We have a saw mill on location in which we build all sorts of things like: tables, armoires, closets - you name it and we do it! That however doesn’t mean we have mastered all every single building skill there is out there. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and as a successful business we realized very quickly that we weren’t perfect.
Our competition may have a better set of skills with certain things in which we may not as experienced or don’t have the tools to do. In our many years in business we’ve realized that some people perform better than we do in certain areas and that we can a lot of the times offer something that someone else can’t. We’ve built a network of business in which we relay work when we are not able to take it on ourselves. This keeps the integrity of our business and instead of helping us build enemies we build a friendly network of contractors that refer business back to us. Think of it as free advertisement and a way for people to talk about you through word of mouth in a positive light.
Instead of shying away talking to other businesses because you think they pose a direct threat to you, think of them in a positive way and how you can help each other out. If a customer comes to me, I can’t perform the job and know of someone that can but don’t let them know, we all lose.
Next time you talk to a business that lives in the same industry as you are, embrace them and ask them ways that you can help each other out.
For more tips and tricks for all your home needs visit: NewEarthVA.com
Since you're stuck inside staring at the walls, why not give them a new look. Adding modern trim work, crown molding and a bold coat of paint can completely change the look of a room without the expense of doing a complete renovation.
Contrary to what many homeowners might believe, you can use paint in your home without opening up every window as long it’s an environmentally friendly and waterborne paint, which has virtually no fumes. Plus, the dryness of the colder months can actually produce faster results.
To really add visual interest to your walls, homeowners could go with a new or dramatic paint color or use painter’s tape to create stripes or patterns.
Wallpaper is making a bit of a comeback thanks to home improvement shows. It can definitely be a do-it-yourself project or you can get professionals to do it.
Replacing interior doors is an affordable way to give your home an updated look versus an expensive remodel.
A resonable investment of $500-$800, can get custom trim and crown molding which can really make a difference in the way that a rom looks. Wider baseboards are something that is pretty trendy right now.
This is just one of the many projects we will be covering in the next couple of weeks that can be done during the fall and winter seasons.
For more tips and tricks for all your home needs visit: NewEarthVA.com
Dipping a roller in some paint and slapping it on a wall seems like such a simple task—and to an extent, it is. But there are a few tips and tools that do make the job quicker, easier, and result in far less paint in your hair.
I'd painted dozens of rooms before I finally read an article on the proper way to roll on paint, and I'll be honest, I rolled my eyes at the idea of it. I typically bought cheap brushes, cheap paint, and didn't much care for painting rooms, but it didn't seem too difficult.
As it turns out, just because it seemed like a simple task, there were plenty of things that made the job easier that I wish I would have known several houses ago. Here are a few of them.
Learn to Roll Paint Properly
There's an actual technique to this, and I found that when I had a system down like this, I got more consistent coverage (which meant fewer coats and touch-ups,) I also realized I hadn't been loading my roller with enough paint in the past, which meant I was pushing the roller hard into the wall to get enough paint on it. Not only does that get tiring, it can leave streaks where paint gets pushed out of the ends of the roller. Once I had a system down, like the one described in this video, things got a lot easier, and the wall looked much better in the end.
Use a Bucket Instead of a Tray
This doesn't mean you need to buy five gallons of paint. Instead of pouring from a gallon into a tray, you can dump the whole gallon into a five-gallon bucket with a paint screen. It's far easier and less messy to load paint this way. I still use a tray if I'm doing a small space—like a hallway or bathroom—but if I know I'm going to use a gallon or more of paint, a bucket is the way to go.
Add an Extension Rod to Your Roller
My favorite extension rod is actually the 24-ish inches that snapped off a wooden broom handle at some point—proof that just a little bit of extra reach is helpful. Of course, if you want something fancier you can get actual extension rods at any hardware or big-box store.
Buy Good Brushes
Good paint brushes feel ridiculously expensive so for a long time I wouldn't spend the money. Then, I bought one of these rubber gripped edging brushes, and the difference was amazing. I thought it was just hype, but these are super comfortable to use (I tried a short-handled wooden version too and it wasn't nearly as comfortable in my hand) and they give you a great line. I'm not always responsible with my painting equipment, but I always make sure to clean and wrap the bristles on these to keep them in good shape.
Note: These brushes work so well that I stopped taping off rooms years ago, and just rely on the brush and a steady hand for cutting in all of the walls and trim. It actually works beautifully and saves me a ton of time, mess, and materials taping everything off.
"Cutting in" is when you use a brush to paint all of the edges and corners of a room. It often requires being on a ladder or step-stool for the edge around the ceiling, and you have to reload your brush with paint quite often. While I try to avoid any tools that feel "gimmicky" I've found the HANDy Paint Pail or similar lined paint pails to be quite useful.
They use liners which, yes, are more expensive, but it's one less thing to clean so I find the expense is worth it for me. It also has a handle which, for my small hands, is way easier and more comfortable than trying to grip a quart of paint in one hand while climbing up and down a ladder. That scenario has ended in disaster for me more than once.
What to Avoid
This is purely my personal opinion, but I feel like you get the best results spending money on high-quality basic tools like paint, brushes, and rollers. There are a lot of gimmicks out there that profess to make the job easier or fool-proof, like edgers, automatically loading paint rollers, things like the Point N Paint and any number of other "as seen on TV" tools. (Can we just universally agree that any tool that substitute "N" for "in" in it's name can't be trusted?)
This is just a DIYers perspective on tips and tools that have worked surprisingly well for me in the past, but there are a lot of ways you can paint a wall. If you have your own tips, I'd love to hear them.
For more tips and tricks for all your home needs visit: NewEarthVA.com
