4 Ways to Make Your Lounge Room Pop

Ways to Make Your Lounge Room Pop

Your lounge room is one of the most significant rooms in your entire home. It’s where you go to do so many important things – from relaxing with a cup of coffee to watching your favorite TV series to catching up with family and friends. It makes sense, then, for you to show this room some love.

A lounge room should be complete with all of the essentials that make it easy to relax and be comfortable. Unfortunately, a lot of us have left our lounge room interiors to fall to the wayside. The good news is that if your lounge room is in need of a revamp, there are a few ways you can easily transform it. The following 4 ideas will truly make your lounge room pop, so you can start to really enjoy time in it.

1. Lay Down a Statement Rug

There are few easier ways to make your lounge room pop than with a statement rug. By statement rug, we mean a rug that is eye-catching and bold. There are a couple of ways a rug can have these qualities. Perhaps it has a color that instantly captures attention, or maybe it has an interesting pattern. It might even have both!

Of course, you’ll want to get a rug that suits your particular tastes. There’s no point selecting a zebra print rug if you prefer a minimalist aesthetic. Stay true to your tastes but at the same time, don’t be afraid to branch out a bit. Many stores have generous return policies, so if you realize that you’ve gone a bit too bold with your choice, you can always make a return and swap it for something more suitable to your taste.

2. Get A New Coffee Table

A coffee table is one of the most practical items you should have in your living room. Due to their usefulness, the range of coffee tables available can be slightly overwhelming. Different materials, colors, finishes, patterns – it’s no wonder many people put off buying this essential piece of furniture!

That’s why it helps to refer to an expert roundup of the top-rated coffee tables. Given that the coffee tables were all reviewed this year, you won’t have to worry about selecting a style that is outdated. Selecting the right one for your lounge room is simple with categories like “Best Wooden Coffee Table” and “Best Budget Pick.”

Decorate with some indoor plants

3. Decorate With Some Indoor Plants

While it’s tempting to crowd your lounge room with all types of decorations, this can often make your room look more cluttered and cramped. Indoor plants, however, have the opposite effect. They can make your room look more spacious, not to mention sophisticated. If you don’t have the faintest idea on how to pick indoor plants, there is a lot of guidance online.

For example, this guide to indoor plants highlights the benefits certain plants offer, how to take care of them, as well as where to purchase them. As you’ll see, having an indoor plant can provide a lot in the way of health and wellness benefits. You may just develop a green thumb after placing your first plant in your living room and seeing what a difference it makes.

4. Call in the Experts

If you’re serious about transforming your lounge room, you may need to do more than just make a few additions here and there. While a lot of homeowners want to go down the DIY route when it comes to renovations, this can prove to be a costly and time-consuming operation. Not to mention that mistakes could cause bigger problems in the long run, and potentially devalue your property.

That’s why sometimes, it’s best to call in the experts. At Maya Construction Group, they have the experience to lead your lounge room remodeling. Whatever you have in mind, from a complete overhaul to smaller changes, we’ll work with you to make it happen. They even offer a free in-home consultation, so you can be assured we know precisely the vision you have in mind!

 

This post is from Kristin Hitchcock who frequently contributes to Family Living Today. She was raised in Tennessee and still lives there with her husband and toddler. She seeks to help others make informed decisions for their family through her writing by providing clear and concise information on all sorts of topics.

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98 Remarkable Kitchen Design Ideas You Have to See

Kitchen Design Ideas

Designing a kitchen can be fun, or it can be a headache. If you're a little way into the process yourself, chances are you've already encountered your fair share of headaches.

Don't let frustration get the better of you. The last thing you need is to make a mistake in the planning phases, because that can get expensive, and potentially leave you with a brand new kitchen that you don't even like.

Instead, let's look for inspiration from the pros. We've gathered 98 different kitchen design ideas to help you find inspiration. In this list, you'll come across things you definitely want to include, and things you definitely want to avoid.

So let's take a look and get your plans sorted before the contractors show up.

Modern Kitchen Designs
Minimalist Kitchen Designs
Country Kitchen Designs
Contemporary Kitchen Designs
Industrial Kitchen Designs
Colorful Kitchen Designs
Classic Kitchen Designs
Rustic Kitchen Designs
Eclectic Kitchen Designs
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Kitchen Remodeling: 10 Lessons Learned

Kitchen Remodeling - 10 Lessons Learned

A full kitchen renovation is the kind of project that requires a lot of commitment on your part; and that means in terms of time, finances, improvisation, and stress management. You will have workers in your house for weeks at a time, you will run into unexpected problems, you will get tired of microwaving meals in your living room, and you will come out the other side of this project knowing some things that you didn’t know before.

In fact, that’s precisely the point of this article. We’ve chosen some of our favorite stories about lessons learned from kitchen remodeling. Each story comes from a homeowner who finally took the plunge, and can now relay some important things they’ve learned as a result.

Things like…

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9 Tips to Make a Small Kitchen Look Large

Small doesn’t equal bad, especially when it comes to your kitchen! When this is your kitchen reality, and you’re not in the market for a complete remodel, it’s time to pull out some design tricks! The lucky thing is there are easy and affordable hacks to make a small kitchen look bigger.

From the Bottom to the Top.

Does anyone ever give much thought to the lower cabinetry other than stuffing in the soup pots and the cookie sheets then quickly closing the door before anything falls out? (Or is that just me?) Anyway, let’s start thinking of the lower cabinetry in the way of the saving some space. There are slimmer cabinets available for purchases (12-15 inches deep) that can be installed on the bottom. It creates floor space which is important when your space is already small. Take this cabinet change as an opportunity to purge some never used kitchen items that take up a lot of cabinet space.

Skip the Farmhouse Sink.

I know. We love big, double sinks too especially with a country, rustic styled home. But sometimes space is more important. Sometimes that sweet, sweet counter space is more useful. And without a huge block of a sink, which is a huge “eye stop” the space will look bigger.
Slim the Fridge. You may have noticed a theme: space saving with appliances helps to open up room elsewhere as well as giving the impression that there’s more space in general. If you can do it, look into a smaller fridge, 28-30 inches, and your kitchen will feel less cramped.

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The 10 Best Renovations To Do Before Selling

Home Improvement - 10 Best Renovations to do Before Selling

Home Improvement

To put it lightly, selling your house is a pretty big deal. You have to interview realtors, clean more than you’ve ever cleaned in your life, welcome strangers into your home at all hours, and stage the place for sale.

For many homeowners, until their realtor walks through their home pointing out dozens of issues that could potentially diminish the selling price, they had no idea how much work was ahead of them. Of course you want to increase value anywhere you can, but home-improvement projects can easily stack up, and seem overwhelming at first.

In a perfect world, maybe you would be able to tackle each and every imperfection, netting the highest possible selling price. In reality, homeowners are dealing with limited budgets, limited time, and certainly a limited capacity for stress and chaos in the house where they still live.

Besides, as your realtor may have already mentioned, home improvements will not always get you a dollar for dollar return on investment.

A classic example:

A beautiful $80,000 in-ground swimming pool with all the bells and whistles typically won’t automatically increase a home’s value by $80,000 – not even close. For many potential buyers, the thought of maintaining a swimming pool is a turnoff, and can actually decrease a home’s value.

Very few people can afford to invest money without seeing some sort of return. This is why realtors, architects, and home renovators have all paid very close attention to the types of upgrades that will increase your home’s value. After years of working with families looking to upgrade their home before putting it on the market, we have come up with our 10 best recommendations for home improvements that are actually worth it.

To maximize your home’s value, consider these areas…

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Avoid these 8 Mistakes when Remodeling a House. Stop Regret Before it Starts!

Remodeling a House

 

Almost everyone approaches the prospect of remodeling a house with excitement and determination. Unfortunately, those feelings can cool off rapidly once the reality of the situation hits you.

Home renovation can be a lengthy and frustrating process. Homeowners who realize they are staring down a disruptive, occasionally messy, and expensive remodeling project often make some big mistakes in an attempt to make the process less impactful. You can avoid these pitfalls if you know where to look for them.

We want to level with you:

While we would all love it if we could simply point to a picture in a catalog, say “That one!” and have the kitchen, bathroom, or living room of our dreams magically appear, it simply doesn’t work that way.

There is a lot of planning, negotiating and patience required on the part of you, the homeowner. Trying to make the process go faster or cheaper can sometimes get you into big trouble.

So here are the 8 biggest mistakes to avoid during your renovations:

 

Overestimating Your DIY Prowess

overestimating-your-diy-prowess
It’s true that you can save yourself some money if you are able to do a portion of the renovation work yourself.

But here’s your gut check:

Be brutally honest. Did a single semester of shop class in high school truly prepare you for large-scale carpentry work? Likewise, just because you can tighten up a leaky shower head; does that mean you should start soldering pipes on your own?

If you have actual construction experience, then you can and should jump into the project, assuming you want to. If you don’t have solid skills, you may end up doing some damage to your home, resulting in a repair bill on top of your remodeling costs.

Professionals ply their trades all day, every day. They can spot potential problems that the average person may miss, and they can do the job faster and more efficiently. This is especially true of highly specialized tradesmen like electricians and plumbers. Messing up in one of those areas can have serious consequences.

 

Going With the Cheapest (or Most Readily Available) Contractor

going-with-the-cheapest-contractor
Let’s be clear:

You should not allow yourself to be overcharged or treated unfairly, but if you run into a contractor who is quoting you much less than others, consider why that might be.

Remodeling contractors should provide you price quotes with extensive details. They should have specific plans outlined for job aspects such as permit costs, a general contractor fee, a waste removal plan, and insurance.

Make sure your contractor has also included information about how changes to the project are handled once the project is already underway, as this can make a big difference in the final price tag.

Of course, also consider the way the estimate is written as well. If you receive a document saying something along the lines of “finished basement,” with few other specifics outlined, you can safely assume your contractor did not carefully price out your job. He may be quoting low just to get his foot in the door. That’s a red flag.

One last point:

If you run into a string of contractors who all have a waiting list, and then one who mysteriously doesn’t, maybe take a pause before hiring him. The best ones can sometimes require advance booking.

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29 Living Room Design Ideas. Now You Can Easily Choose Your Style!

29 Interior Design Ideas

The living room is the beating heart of every home. It’s where families gather together for everything from important celebrations to casual TV watching. If you’re going to take a picture of the kids in their graduation gowns, or open birthday presents, there’s a good chance that will happen in the living room.

For all these reasons, we don’t throw out suggestions for living room design ideas lightly. We understand that your family will spend more time together in this room than any other room of your home. We know that this will often be the first impression guests get of your place. It must reflect your family’s unique style, while also meeting all your practical needs. Clearly, this requires some careful consideration.

With that in mind, we have created a list of some of our favorite living room designs. We’ve picked out some great aspects of function and style to help give you some inspiration for your own home. Take a look, and let’s start planning your new living room together.

 

White Space

 

white-spaceClean, defined lines and understated colors brings this contemporary room to life. Without the “busy” feeling of too many colors or patterns, we can instead focus on the open floor plan, leading up into the dining room and kitchen area, as well as to the staircase in the back.

 

 Lofty Ideas

 

lofty-ideasThe extra-high ceilings with exposed wood beams allow plenty of room for windows and skylights. The natural lighting adds a bright and clean feel, enhanced by the polished hardwood floors. The floor-to-ceiling fireplace mantle draws the eyes upward, bringing the viewer’s attention to the loft-style hallway.

 

 Creating Space

 

creating-spaceThis smaller living room is given a more open feeling, thanks to a light color scheme, and a clever use of built-in storage and shelves. The space is cozy and inviting, without seeming cramped or disorganized. Custom lighting adds even more brightness.

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Remodeling With Your Pet in Mind

People often refer to their pets as their “babies”, so it’s not surprising that pet lovers would want to customize their home for their furry friends. Here are 10 ideas to include in your next home renovation that will have your best friend with four legs feeling at home in no time.

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Top 8 2015 Kitchen Remodeling Trends

At Maya Construction, Chicagoland’s leading kitchen-remodeling company, We’ve seen trends rise and fall over the years. Certain materials, colors or popular interior designers can influence these trends. Now that 2015 is coming to a close, let’s take a look at the newest trends in kitchen remodeling, and maybe you’ll get inspired to reinvent your kitchen for the New Year.

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5 Tips For Selecting The Right Contractor

Remodeling or renovating your home can be a huge undertaking, with very high stakes. After all, not only is remodeling an expensive, long process with many moving parts, but the project is your home itself. After all:

If you’re going to live in it, you have to love it.

room under renovation (painting)

At the same time, even if you’re completely rich, you can’t just throw money at a problem and expect it to turn out perfect. In fact, this is the easiest way to ruin your renovation. A proactive, intelligent homemaker is the key to a successful remodeling. And part of your job is to pick the right crew. Here’s how we would pick the best man for the job:
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