Home Design: 2013

How-to Find and Deal With Contractors For Home Improvements

With home values in America decreasing, you may want to think about investing in some home improvements. You may have had some things that you always wanted to fix, but weren't sure how long you were going to be in your home. Now that you may be staying in your home a little longer than you originally thought, it's a perfect time to make some improvements so you can enjoy it more.

You may also want to help sell your home faster by adding some additional value. Heating, air conditioning, windows, kitchen and roofing tend to be the areas typically looked at first. While making the decision about what home improvements to make can sometimes be difficult, finding and dealing with a contractor to fix your home may be equally stressful.

Many people have heard of horror stories regarding dealing with unprofessional contractors or scam artists. Doing home improvements yourself can save money, but if you're not really a handy man or woman, don't have much time or just think you could benefit from professional home improvement services it's probably well worth looking into.

There are websites that specialize in connecting those in need of home improvements with licensed, insured and reputable contractors that can prove to be very useful. One of them I read about started when the current owner's wife had an unfortunate incident with a roofing contractor that left her out of over a thousand dollars after she left a deposit and never heard from him again. Some will even get you three estimates on the home improvement that you are interested in from prescreened professionals, and best of all the service is free to you!

Some tips for dealing with contractors; ask them to give you detailed proposals with costs, make sure you communicate well with them, try to show them what you want with photos or illustrations in addition to talking with them about it, expect messes and delays depending upon conditions.

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Still Getting Settled in San Jose

I just hit this city about a week ago today and the first thing you notice is how expensive every little thing seems to be. Of course the company sent me here and gave me a stipend to pay some of the moving expenses of the move. It is a really big opportunity for me to manage the entire operation here, so I am not really complaining. The first thing I needed to do was to find a set of box springs and a nice memory foam mattress in san jose. Of course I rented a trailer and put it behind my truck, but there was only so much room and when I was getting ready to load it all up I realized that it was going to be a huge problem to try to get every thing in my old apartment loaded up.

Sleek and Modern Or Cozy and Inviting - Perfect Home Interior Design Ideas For You!

When it comes to home interior design, no doubt you have a very strong opinion about the things that you like and dislike. Decorating a home is a very personal thing. It allows you to put your own personal touches into a room. The way that you decorate or design a space really shows you off as a person and people get a clear idea of who you are by the way your home looks. There is no rule book, really, when it comes to designing a room. You need to put things in a room that makes you feel good and when you do that, others will feel at home too.

Before you start decorating or designing a room, think about your personality. Do you tend to have a more modern flair, or do you describe yourself as more down home country? Once you decide which type of design fits you best, then you can start doing research and shopping around for furniture and accessories that will match your design aesthetics. Starting with a blank space can be very helpful. If you have a few furniture pieces you would like to incorporate into the room, leave those pieces in there, but clear everything else out. Some of your older pieces can be painted, stained or re-covered to match your new decor. If you tend to lean towards a mixture of prints and textiles, make sure that you go with the same color palette and choose a coordinating color in a soft tone for the walls so as to not have the room look too overbearing. You never want to leave your walls plain white. Adding color to the walls really helps to complete a room and warms it up incredibly well.

If you choose to have a monochromatic room with very little color, that's okay too. Sleek lines and crisp furniture pieces really lend to a modern look and feel of a room. If you are going with a black, white or grey color palette, throw in a little splash of color to really make your room pop! A bright red leather chair or a colorful art piece will give your room character and definition without it seeming too overpowering. Home interior designs can be as exciting as buying the home itself!

Home Improvement & Remodeling Will Change Your Life

Home improvement and remodeling involve the renovating the whole house or just one area and making additions such as another floor, a room, a deck, a garage or a garden to name a few. There are different types of home improvement that include beautifying your home and making it more comfortable and functional. Remodeling, on the other hand, takes a similar juncture but usually involves changing the whole structure of a room or the building itself. Home improvement and remodeling can be a do-it-yourself project but still needs proper planning, materials and equipment.

Home improvement is the process of making additions to a house or apartment (if possible). It makes the house larger in terms of adding rooms or areas as well as making your home more beautiful and elegant than it used to be. There are different types of home improvement which include:

Beautification and added features - wallpapering, wall painting, wood paneling, carpeting, wood flooring, solid hardwood flooring, upgrading of furniture such as cabinets, fixtures, sinks, kitchen and bathroom, replacing windows, and improving the backyard
Comfort - adding or upgrading heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, electrical systems, and soundproofing rooms
Maintenance and repair - repair of roof, foundation, plumbing and electrical systems
Additional space - adding bedrooms, recreational rooms, attics, or basements
Saving energy - improving insulation, windows, lighting, and heating systems
Safety and preparedness - fire and burglar alarm systems, security doors, windows and shutters, and storm cellars.

Remodeling, on the other hand, involves the process of improving a structure whether the whole house or office or a specific area of a structure. It is often applied to many commercial and residential structures especially when these are transferred to other owners. Other reasons for remodeling include if the business or the family becomes bigger and if the owner of the structure wants to change its design.

Remodeling involves the following processes:

Planning - organizing and putting plans into writing and drawings
Engineering - application of the technical know-how in renovating a structure
Structural repair
Rebuilding
Finishes

Home improvement and remodeling industries have risen in popularity in recent years due to television shows focusing how to do these activities on your own and showing which designs are best for your own home. They usually show the step-by-step process and the "before" and "after" pictures. Anyone will be enticed to have their own rooms renovated just by watching these shows.

Home Design and Decor

Whether you have just bought your first starter home or have upgraded to your dream house, the overall design of the home as well as the decor can be the single greatest way to showcase your personal sense of style and taste. Designing a home and choosing decor can be an expensive and time consuming proposition; however, for those on a shoe-string budget, it is still possible to create the look you want without breaking the bank. Making a few wise decisions early on and sticking with your plan will help ensure your complete your home makeover on budget whether that budget is $100 per room or $5,000.00 per room.

Creating an overall plan is the first step towards a unified home design. Utilizing your own tastes, decorating magazines and books and some of the excellent home decor television shows, think about what you would like to showcase. Determine what your overall decor theme will be. Are you contemporary or traditional? Do your taste lean towards fussy or minimalism? These answers can serve as a jumping off point as you begin to design your home.

One of the easiest ways to begin working on your overall home design or even a simple redecorating project is to develop a plan and there is no better way to do so than by using simple software designed to help you move from layout and color palette to accents and furniture pieces seamlessly. The HGTV Home Design and Remodeling Suite is fully loaded with features that make remodeling even the fussiest of rooms easy. The software can help you utilize the tricks of the professionals to create floor plans complete with style notes, color choices and even furniture.

The software eliminates paint chips with its library of brand name paints and tints. Browse through the library, select your ideal color and 'paint' the walls of your three dimensional room. No more picking a paint color based on a 1 inch square chip. The software also includes a full library of three dimensional furniture pieces, allowing you to design spaces that fit your existing pieces or help you determine what size and shape furniture you should be looking to purchase.

For those looking to redo their bathrooms or kitchen, the software even has an extensive library of cabinets, appliances and floor selections. This allows you to complete 'see' your new room without spending a dime on the expensive appliances and cabinets. It is easy to create the perfect room and even easier to stick to a budget when you are utilizing a well developed floor plan and style guide.

Professional designers are talented. They will often offer you a computerized presentation of your 'new' home or décor. With budgets as tight as they are, why spend the money on a professional designer when you have the ability to do it all yourself. Take a quick tour through the library of colors, furnishings, doors and windows and design the room of your dreams.

The Most Dramatic Home Interior Design

When many people think of home interior design they often conjure images of high priced consultants and even more costly furnishings. Yet each day we walk right past or over the most important and least expensive design elements in our homes. These are basic design elements that set the tone for any other decoration we will accomplish in our home. But like most things in life, the simple things are often overlooked or taken for granted.

The first of these design elements is so basic and yet so under-utilized that it is almost laughable, and just so happens to be the cheapest tool you can use to enhance the appearance of your home. PAINT. Before we can design any other element in our home we must first set the tone and depth of the backdrop. We have to paint the interior of any design area to enhance all other design elements. Before we can furnish or accessorize any room in the house we have to paint first. Color trends have changed and if it has been awhile since you last painted your home, you may want to give serious attention to this basic but necessary design tool. There are many more wonderful colors to choose from now and the colors you choose will set the mood and the backdrop for any home design plan. (We have some suggestions on how to use color to compliment you home on our web site).

The second fundamental tool that will make or break your interior design plans is your choice of window coverings. Here again we see that so many times we look right past this basic design element and focus on things that really do not make the impact that a proper WINDOW COVERING can achieve. Installing the proper window covering in the right colors will add depth and perspective to your overall design and the effect is phenomenal. Once again, if it has been some years since you updated your window coverings, you may find that other attempts at enhancing your home fall flat because of an outdated covering or color. Most window dressing is inexpensive and the current trend is toward the most simple of styles, so this means less money you have to shell out to update your home design.

The last tool I would like to discuss is also just as important as the first two and yet so often overlooked that literally we walk all over it. You must update your FLOORING. You can do all you want with furnishings and such, but if you set everything on and against a backdrop of outdated flooring and flooring colors, you have pretty much just wasted your time. What is that I hear? Someone is complaining about the cost of updating to modern flooring. You can update your floors without spending a fortune. Many hard surface floors, such as laminate, are designed to be installed by the homeowner, as a do-it-yourself project and this saves you money. Still too much for you to spend right now? Let me ask you this. Would most of you drive around in a twenty-year old car? No! And yet many of us think nothing of walking around on twenty years of dust, dirt, allergens and just plain outdated color. Your home and your family deserve better. If you are renting or living in a dorm or other such circumstance, you simply cannot replace that outdated floor. Or can you? If all else is impractical, then consider using an AREA RUG. They come in all sizes, shapes and colors, and can be the perfect solution to your flooring problem. It is a fact, that you will not browse any interior design magazine without seeing an area rug on the floor. That is how important they are to home design. You will also be pleasantly surprised at how reasonably priced rugs can be.

There are many area rugs on the market that are definitely cheap. Now let's not go too cheap though, because an area rug is a design element that can last a lifetime. And it's portable. You can always take it with you, or move it to another area when you adjust your home design. Rug styles also last, they don't become outdated the way that other design elements can. And the best news is that a good quality wool rug does not have to cost a fortune. We feature 10'x13' area rugs on our web site that are less than $500.00. This is quality and economy that will last a long time in your home. Many of these rugs were designed to last twenty-five years or more.

Home Design Floor Plan - How To Purchase A Home Design Floor Plan?

Regardless of whether you are building a new home, adding to an existing home, or remodeling your current home; you will need to have a home design plan. If you have experience in architectural design, you can easily design your home design floor plan. However, if you are like most, you will need to hire an architect to plan your home design or purchase home design floor plans from a reputable organization.

Home design plans are available in hundreds of designs. You can find everything from Beach House plans to Victorian House plans. Homes range in size from 900 square feet to more than 10,000 square feet and most plans can be customized to further suit your needs.

Some companies offer full-service packages, which include home design floor plans, cost estimating services, and referral service to quality home builders in your area. Other companies provide discount services or bundle packages, which allow you to purchase a set of three or more home design plans at a reduced rate.

When purchasing home design plans, make certain they are designed by professional architects who are NCARB certified. Home design floor plans need to meet nationally recognized building codes and should include the following elements:

1) Exterior elevations of the front, rear, and sides of the house

2) Interior elevations showing details of fireplaces, cabinets, built-in units, and other special interior features.

3) Detailed floor plans showing the placement of interior walls and dimensions for rooms, doors, windows and stairways.

4) Cross section detail, which show construction details of the home, insulation, flooring and roofing.

5) Roof plans showing details of the layout.

6) Foundation drawings for a crawlspace or basement.

7) Schematic electrical layouts showing the detail of light fixtures, outlets, and switches.

8) General specifications plan which outlines details of the home and property where it will be built.

Home design magazines such as Architectural Digest and Interior Design, provide many time- and money-saving resources. Oftentimes, you can locate unique home design plans by perusing the classified section of home design magazines.

Your local library can also provide you with information on every aspect of designing your own home. Oftentimes, libraries offer "Do-It-Yourself" videos on a wide range of topics, which can be exceptionally helpful if you plan on building your own home.

What Makes A Good Home Design?

A home design from an architect's point of view is not just brick walls painted with expensive colors and finishes. There are many factors involved while designing any architectural building.

Architect's prefer two types of approaches while designing a home building. In the first type the architect focuses on the requirements of the client as far as number of spaces, style, budget is concerned. He may discuss various aspects with his client and come up with a unique home design that is the best possible solution for the needs of his client.

On the other hand some architects think the opposite way. They first visualize the complete form of the home building and then "fit" the necessary spaces inside this form in the best possible way. One of
the best examples of this type of designs is the "Guggenheim Museum" in New York designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

This museum designed has been derived from an inverted cone form pointing down at the ground. The rest of the museum spaces have been very creatively "fitted" in the cone shape without disturbing the
massing of the cone itself. This type of design practice requires a great deal of command on visualization and designing of circulation spaces within the building.

So which of the above two is the correct method? Both are correct methods, that is because the success of any building design is not dependent upon the methods of design but the comfort levels of the residents.

If a home building can not provide basic comforts to the residents like fresh air circulation, ample sunlight, clear circulation spaces, then it can be said to be a failure. Fulfilling these basic requirements of a home design is not at all dependent on expensive construction methods.

Even a low cost home building can be a great design that makes full use of all the natural resources to make the residents comfortable. That is why a good design does not mean "expensive design". In the
modern contemporary design styles simplicity is the key to better design and interiors. The design that can solve the basic functional problem as well as triggers the emotional impulse in the user is considered a good design.

What is a Home Designer and How to Choose One

A home designer specifies design, materials, stylishness, as well as details for residential building projects. In lots of states in the US home designers aren't mandated to have an architectural diploma or architectural license. Many people may evaluate these kinds of home designers not having these qualifications to be an undesirable factor. Basically that is definitely not even close to the truth. A professional within the field of non commercial design a "home designer" is the most suitable choice that will lead you through the design and building undertaking.

A great home designer generally possesses years of expertise not only designing and drafting the construction docs in addition will often have put in many years on actual construction sites performing the actual job themselves. Now this isn't at all times the situation however, these people with this kind of knowledge are usually best to design your home. Not just because of their experience and expertise in the profession but their rates tend to be more affordable when compared to a registered architect's charges will be.

The rates a home designer, as well as an architect command has proven to be completely different. Architects attain four years or more of college getting an education and studying the particulars on architect home design as well as architectural design of almost everything else all varying from little homes to large high-rise buildings. Architects are registered to approve numerous facets of building not employed for individual houses. Because of these two details architects demand very high service fees to create an architectural design in addition to a set of construction drawings for houses. The majority of architect's charges vary from 7% to 15% (sometimes greater) for his or her services on a housing project. Almost all home designers' rates for this exact same service vary from 3% to 8%. This particular large variation in rates combined with the undeniable fact that each commonly possess the identical or the same level of expertise in residential design is actually the reason why the majority will probably select a home designer above an architect for their housing project.

Even though design capacity can virtually, be trained, the most effective jobs are the effect of a mix of skill and knowledge, therefore your choice in who to employ shouldn't be exclusively selected simply for their reduced rates or education. A home designer needs to be selected as due to their outstanding results of their labor.

Home designers make use of numerous sources and instruments accessible to them to assist in communicating their architectural designs as well as the construction documents into the completed product. Many home designers continue to utilize pencil and paper in addition to numerous types of color goods to symbolize and express their design to their clientele. Even though this can be a great method of communicating a design to a customer it really is outdated and doesn't consistently accomplish the job the home designer developed it for, to help the customer to fully grasp and picture the design. Nowadays there's a large amount of computer programs that enable a great house designer to provide their house design to their clientele. These types of graphic tools as I prefer to refer to them include things like 3D colored renderings, walk-a-rounds, as well as walk-throughs.

Therefore, when you're looking to select a designer it's also advisable to consider exactly how they show their designs to their clientele. Not everybody can easily figure out a conceptual drawing of a 2D floor plan. In fact ultimately it will come right down to what home designer you sense you might have more suitable connection with and you feel the most confident with.

Building a residence signifies one of the biggest monetary assets the majority of people is likely to make within their lifetime and very few comprehend just how complicated the procedure will be till they're involved with a lot of restricted covenants, construction requirements, zoning ordinances, design and style choices, material options, suppliers as well as builder options and so forth. Do your family as well as your bank account a favor and locate a home designer to partner with and to who you're confident with.

Why Make a Home Design Plan

Building or refurbishing a home can be fun but it can also be challenging because of the many things that has to be accounted for before starting the project.

Building a home is a big project no matter how little the home is and how meager the budget. In fact, a person can be more cost effective in building his home if he creates a home design plan before introducing changes in the home.

A homeowner should take note of the design of the house he is about to build and put the design into paper. This way, he can avoid committing design mistakes that can cost him money and precious time.

Being hasty when building a home can be detrimental to the home design and also to the budget. A home design plan can be created by the homeowner and builder himself provided he has some knowledge in drawing plans. However, if he does not have any idea about these things then it is best to get the services of a person who is knowledgeable in such matters.

Of course, asking another person to make a home design plan can add to the cost of building the home but it will be cost effective in the long term because it will ensure that the home is properly constructed technically and aesthetically.

Creating a home design plan can be a technical matter and requires research and preparation. The designer of a home plan will take all aspects of the home when preparing the plan including the lifestyle of the people who would be living in the home and the available space.

Leaving everything to the experts may be just the right thing for any homeowner. However, he should also take an active part in planning the design of his home. While he does not know the technicalities, he should be able to suggest what he wants and where things should be placed.

It is important that the specification of the home design plan is not totally left to the discretion of the designer. The home should be a reflection of the personality of the residents and the owner should thus have a say in the overall appearance of his home.

To avoid conflicts while the house design plan is being drawn, the family should already have a consensus as to what motif or design they want for the house. They can choose from the various designs available like a home that depicts country living or it can be minimalist or modern.

Allowing the family to plan ahead can mean a smoother construction process. Making material changes after the home design plan has already been drawn and while the home is being constructed can result to a poorly built home. Plus, it can add to the expenses of building a home.

Once the family has arrived at a consensus as to the general appearance of the home, they should appoint someone who will talk to the designer and who will coordinate all the design and construction process with the designer. Having everyone in the middle of the construction phase can be disadvantageous as it can result to delays in the project.

Anyone who is about to have his dream house built should make sure he gets a good designer to create the home design plan. This way, the technical and aesthetic characteristics of the home is ensured.