Outdoor Living Trends - Builders Tips for Alfresco Renovations

Perth’s Outdoor Living Trends – Builders Tips for Alfresco Renovations

G’day, Perth landscapers and homeowners! If there’s one thing we know how to do in this sun-soaked corner of the world, it’s making the most of our outdoor spaces. With our Mediterranean climate and laid-back lifestyle, the line between indoor and outdoor living is getting blurrier by the day. So, let’s dive into the hottest trends and smartest tips for creating your perfect alfresco area, straight from the mouths of Perth’s top builders.

The Alfresco Revolution

I remember the first time I saw a proper alfresco setup in Perth. It was at my mate Dave’s place in Cottesloe. He’d just finished renovating, and I was blown away by how his outdoor area seamlessly flowed from the kitchen. “It’s like having another room,” he grinned, flipping snags on the barbie while the kids splashed in the pool. That was the moment I realized – outdoor living in Perth had come a long way from the humble patio and Hills Hoist.

These days, an alfresco area is practically a must-have for Perth homes. But what’s trending now, and how can you create an outdoor space that’s both stylish and practical? Let’s break it down, shall we?

  1. Blurring the Lines: Indoor-Outdoor Flow

The biggest trend we’re seeing is the seamless integration of indoor and outdoor spaces. Here’s how to nail it:

  • Large sliding or bi-fold doors: These create a wide opening that makes your outdoor area feel like an extension of your living room.
  • Consistent flooring: Use similar materials or colors for your indoor and outdoor flooring to create visual continuity.
  • Level thresholds: Eliminate step-downs between inside and out for a smooth transition.

I recently worked on a project in Mount Lawley where we installed floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors along the entire back of the house. When they’re open, you can’t tell where the living room ends and the alfresco begins. It’s magic!

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5 Principles Of Hillside Landscaping

5 Principles Of Hillside Landscaping

While the vast majority of gardens that are subject to residential landscaping work, be it new designs or for ongoing care and maintenance, will be perfectly flat, not all are. Some will have inclines of varying degrees, and there will be those situated on a hillside. This is the landscaping project that landscapers will find most challenging. In truth, the ability to create a workable landscaping design on a hillside can often prove to be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

If you are up for the challenge, Intreeg Landscapes advises you that creating a landscape design for a Sutherland-shire garden that has a large slope on a hillside is not easy, and there are certain principles that you must follow to succeed. Read on, and you will discover what those principles are.

Ensure The Slope’s Integrity Is Not Compromised

One of the most important aspects of designing landscaping for a hillside is safety. You might wonder why that would be so in a garden environment; however, if your landscaping design involves any significant digging or construction, there are risks.

The primary risk is that you affect the integrity of the hillside to the extent that it becomes unstable. If that happiness then there is a risk that soil could loosen, and a mudslide occurs with all the consequences that could follow on from such an event. One key design principle to follow is to make lots of small digs to create multiple levels within your design, rather than try to with just one or two large excavations.

Use Plants With Deep, Fine Roots

Carrying on from the previous point about the integrity of the slope’s soil, another way risks can be minimised is with the careful selection of the plants and trees which you intend to grow. In particular, you want to select plants and trees which are known to create a network of deep roots. The theory is that these deep roots help to bind the soil underground, strengthening its integrity and thus acting almost like a safety net beneath your hillside landscaping.

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Why Storage Rental Is The Solution To Your Home Renovation Woes

Why Storage Rental Is The Solution To Your Home Renovation Woes

Suppose you are planning a home renovation project but are worried about cluttered spaces, disorganisation, and potential damage to your belongings. In that case, there is a solution that will eradicate all of those worries, and it is renting a secure storage facility. Secure storage rental can provide a clutter-free space during your home renovations where you can store anything which you regard as valuable, whether that be in monetary terms or sentimental value.

In this blog post, Brilliance Storage lays out the benefits of renting storage units during home renovations and, more importantly, provides you with tips for the most effective ways of using storage rental during the period renovations take place in your home.

Advantages Of Storage Rental During Your Home Renovation

When planning a home renovation project, one of the biggest challenges is dealing with the clutter that arises. Furniture, appliances, and other items can easily get in the way, making it difficult to work efficiently. This can lead to frustration and stress and can even cause delays in the project timeline. This can be especially so if you have hired contractors who deem your home unsafe to work in due to the existing clutter.

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7 Steps To Ensuring Your Kitchen Renovation Is A Success

7 Steps To Ensuring Your Kitchen Renovation Is A Success

Planning kitchen renovations is not something most people would do regularly unless they were employed as kitchen designers or cabinet makers. The fact that, on average, kitchens are only updated every 7 to 10 years suggests that most homeowners are happy to live with their current kitchen for some time, and thus the planning of a new one is a rare event in their lives.

The fact that it is rare means there is a risk that, unless a proven series of steps are followed during the process of planning a kitchen renovation, mistakes can be made. Those mistakes can lead to a kitchen that is unsuitable, unworkable, running well over budget or, worst of all, the renovation does not take place at all due to a series of irreversible mistakes along the way.

We are sure you do not want any of that to happen to you, especially if you are currently thinking about a kitchen renovation for your home. It is, therefore, we hope, going to be helpful if you start with a proven roadmap to get you from the initial idea to a completed kitchen, and it just so happens that what follows is such a roadmap with seven critical steps to a successful kitchen renovation.

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DIY Vs Professional Solar Panel Installation

DIY Vs Professional Solar Panel Installation

Solar panels are a popular alternative energy source for homeowners as they harness light from the sun and convert it into usable, clean, and cheap electricity. With the popularity of DIY, some people are considering installing solar panels on their own instead of hiring a professional solar panel company to install them.

Before deciding which route to take if you are considering solar panels,  it is essential to understand the pros and cons of DIY and professional solar panel installation, respectively, and that is precisely what we will help you do as you read through this blog post.

DIY Solar Panel Installation

DIY solar panel installation involves purchasing a solar panel kit and installing it yourself. This option appeals most to people with electrical experience who want to save money. DIY solar panel kits typically come with instructions that guide you through the installation process; however, remember that installing solar panels is not a simple task and can take considerable time and effort.

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Split System Air Conditioning

Advantages of a Split System Air Conditioning

Some summers are much hotter than others. Whatever the reason for the hot weather, it is lovely to relax in a home cooled by a split-system air conditioning unit when the outside temperatures are soaring. You sleep much better when it’s cool, so you feel much more energetic the next day instead of feeling like wilted lettuce.

If you don’t yet have an air conditioning system, airandwater.com.au has provided a list of advantages of installing a split system.

  • Biggest advantage? You’ll feel much more relaxed day and night.
  • A split system is easy to retrofit, meaning it can go into a home that is already completed, no matter how old it is. So long as the home has electricity.
  • It is quiet. You will hardly hear it inside and outside; the more modern units are whisper-quiet, so you don’t have to worry about annoying the neighbours.
  • It is relatively inexpensive and much less costly to purchase and install than a ducted system.
  • If you get a reverse-cycle one, it can be used for heating in the winter and cooling in the summer, so you get more use out of it.
  • It is easy to maintain. All you have to do is clean the filters. It should also be checked every so often by a professional.
  • It is cost-effective to run, especially the later models. You’ll find it costs less to run during winter than radiant heaters, especially fan heaters notorious for gobbling up power.
  • It doesn’t interfere with the view from the window like a smaller one would, and it is aesthetically pleasing.

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5 Reasons To Ask Your Landscape Architect To Include Water Features

5 Reasons To Ask Your Landscape Architect To Include Water Features

When discussing your wishes with landscape architects as to what you want to be included in your new landscape design, we sincerely hope that one or more water features are on the list. As for constitutes a water feature it can be anything from a small bird bath to a large fountain, from an artificial stream to a pond, and many more including a full-sized swimming pool if your property is large enough.

Water features are amazing in that they can activate several senses including seeing the beauty of cascading water, listening to the peaceful ripples from a small stream, or the cooling feel as you splash cold water onto your face on a hot summer’s day. You can also include taste if you have a drinking fountain, and smell if you have a fish pond, so that takes care of all five senses.

As well as what we have just described, water features have several other benefits for homeowners who request that their landscape architect include one in the landscape design they are creating. If you are unsure of what they might be, please continue reading and you will discover that we have highlighted five reasons why you will want a water feature in your landscaped garden.

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Why The Direction A Garden Faces Is A Critical Factor In Landscaping

Why The Direction A Garden Faces Is A Critical Factor In Landscaping

When asked to design landscaped gardens, there are many variables that landscapers must take into account. The list of variables is a long one, and can include:

  • Client’s budget
  • Uses for the garden
  • Size of the garden
  • Lawn or no lawn?
  • Real lawn or artificial lawn?
  • Type of mowing – lawnmowing? vertimowing?
  • Types of plants such as shrubs, flowers, or trees
  • Decking from deckingsydney.net.au and pathways
  • Fixed features such as seating and retaining walls
  • Water features, pools, ponds
  • Timescale for completion

Doubtless, you will be able to think of several more. However, there is one aspect of the garden being designed that we guarantee many clients do not even think of, and possibly even a few landscapers fail to think of too, and that is the direction the garden is facing. Whether a garden faces north, east, south, or west, can have a significant impact on what and how well plants grow there, as well as several potential features that may be included.

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Why You Must Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes When Choosing Glass Balustrading

Why You Must Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes When Choosing Glass Balustrading

No matter what improvements you plan to have done in and around your home there is always a right way and wrong way to do so, and that applies equally if you are choosing glass balustrading. Given its permanence and the investment it is likely to require, we would urge any homeowner planning to have glass balustrading installed to do everything they can to make the right choices.

Unfortunately, there are many examples of homeowners not going about choosing glass balustrading correctly, and ending up having to have it replaced sooner than would otherwise be necessary, or having to live with it but resenting it every day. Often, the reason for their poor choice is that they made one or more of five common mistakes concerning choosing and purchasing glass balustrading. Here are those five mistakes you must avoid.

Mistake #1 – DIY Instead Of Professional Installers

If you are an expert DIYer and know all there is about installing glass balustrading you need not read any further. For everyone else, please do not make the mistake of trying to install glass balustrading if you have no experience of doing so. It requires skills, experience, and specific equipment to instil glass balustrading correctly, and for this reason, we certainly recommend you employ a professional glass balustrading company for the work such as westperthglass.com.au.

Mistake #2 – Doing Little Or No Proper Research

In truth, this mistake could apply to just about anything you can think of, and it especially applies to choosing glass balustrading. By proper research we mean thinking about how glass balustrading can be used in and around your home, looking at other installs for ideas, researching designs and options for glass balustrading, and researching local glass balustrade suppliers and installers. Fail to do any of these and your choice, when you make it, will be all the poorer.

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Heat Your Pool

Don’t Forget These Safety Measures When Installing a Pool

When you start looking at swimming pools to install on your property, it’s easy to get caught up in aesthetics. You want to make sure the swimming pool suits your property, so you put a lot of time and effort into its shape, colour, and even the texture of the tiles.

However, of even more importance are safety measures. How will you keep pool users safe? It might be worth considering some of the following safety features.

A Pool Fence

At the same time you’re looking at swimming pool designs, consider which pool fence you will choose around the pool to keep your friends and family safe. There are many different design options, ranging from glass pool fencing to steel, but whichever one you choose should have self-closing and self-latching gates with child-proof features.

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Refinishing Concrete Floors

Options For Refinishing Concrete Floors

If you have a garage, a retail outlet, a manufacturing facility, or any other kind of commercial premises that has a concrete floor that is badly in need of attention, then it is most likely time for you to start considering which concrete floor coatings might be an option in terms of fixing it.

It may also be the case that rather than fixing a concrete floor that is in a poor state of repair, you are remodelling the flooring, or even renovating an old building.

If the concrete floor you are working on is located in an older building it is possible that refinishing might be the answer. Another possibility is that the concrete floor you have is cracked, has a lot of bad stains, and you want to upgrade it in such a way that it complements the rest of the interior.

This often happens when a business updates its fixtures, fittings, or machinery along with other some renovation work, and the concrete floor ruins the aesthetics of it due to the staining or damage it has.

In these, and indeed other scenarios, the good news is that are several excellent concrete floor coatings options for you to choose from. Even better, concrete floor coatings are a solution to your concrete floor problems that need not cost a fortune, and can often transform a drab and dreary area, into something which is bright and a lot more pleasing on the eye.

If you have a concrete floor which needs to be upgraded with a new finish, here are some of the most effective coatings and refinishing options you can consider:

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Green Home & Office Policy

Why Should We Implement a Green Home & Office Policy?

If you own or manage a small business, you should consider implementing a green office policy. There are numerous reasons why you might do this and numerous ways to do it. For example, if you run a small SEO company that doesn’t absolutely require people to come to the office every day, you could add a work from home section that allows employees to telecommute when appropriate.

Similarly, things like recycling, sustainable resource use and end-of-day procedures should be outlined to reduce your office’s environmental footprint. In the rest of this article, I’ve explored exactly why you should implement a green home or green office policy and how to do it.

Why Are Green Office Policies Useful?

There are numerous benefits associated with green office policies. The obvious one is that implementing them will help you and your employees understand exactly what they need to be doing in the workplace.

For example, a well-written green office policy will deal with a range of things, such as:

  • Waste disposal, including what is disposed of, where to put it and how things like paper and plastics are recycled.
  • Electricity and other resource use, including what things are done at the end of the day.
  • Printing, especially with respect to when it’s appropriate to print documents and when they should be kept in digital format.

As you can imagine, the exact details of your policy will depend on the type of business you run.

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Save Water

How Can We Save Water in Our Building?

In the face of changing climates and ever increasing populations across the world, water shortages are becoming more and more common. It’s therefore a good idea to get a plumber to pay attention to your plumbing system and its condition to ensure you’re not wasting water in your office building.

There are numerous things that you can do to conserve water at work. We certainly haven’t covered all of them below, but we’ve put together a short list of our favourite actions. Good luck, and remember to speak with a professional plumber if you do run into problems.

  1. Stay on Top of Leaks

Most people don’t realise just how much water a leaky tap can waste. Unfortunately, even small leaks can waste litres of water per day, which is quite significant over the course of a year.

For example, let’s say that you have three slowly dripping taps in your office building. If each of them wastes 10 litres of water per day, you will be wasting more than 10,000 litres per year. Pretty significant, right?

  1. Use Low-Flow Faucets

In the modern world, many taps and faucets come equipped with low-flow settings to reduce the amount of water you use. However, if your office building contains old plumbing systems, you might not be benefiting from these.

It’s therefore worth speaking to your plumber and asking them if it’s possible to restrict your water flow somehow. The chances are that, if you’re just using your taps to wash hands and fill the kettle from time to time, you won’t even notice a slightly lower flow.

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Landscape Design

How to Improve Indoor-Outdoor Flow with Landscape Design

Achieving the right look with landscape design is no easy feat. If you’re a home owner looking to spruce up your property or even starting a new project from scratch, you will probably need a professional landscaping contractor.

Landscape design and landscaping, in general, can be quite the balancing act.

It doesn’t get any easier when it comes to indoor-outdoor flow, either. You may have a beautiful outdoor area and an even more lovely home, but how do you get the two to talk to each other? You can either consult expert landscapers in your area or read on.

Light it Up

If your goal of improving indoor-outdoor flow is so that you can enjoy both areas equally, then think about lighting. You may be less likely to utilise your outdoor entertainment area if it’s poorly lit. No one wants to sit in the dark when your home has plenty of lighting for everyone.

Consider installing solar lighting, fairy lights, and permanent ones that enhance the connection. A well-lit entertainment area is welcoming and warm.

Provide Cover

Your outdoor entertainment area should be a seamless transition from your home. You should be able to walk out of your living or kitchen area, directly into an equally as sheltered and covered outdoor space. Consider building a pergola-type structure to enhance that cover. Otherwise, look at shade cloths and archways to connect the two areas.

Furnish Smartly

Just because you added decking or paving stones to the outside of your home, doesn’t mean you’ve mastered landscape design. It might look kind of like an outdoor area, but it’s not finished.

If you want to improve indoor-outdoor flow, then make your deck area an extension of your home. Add comfortable seating, plants, outdoor rugs, lighting, and even outdoor cooking appliances such as a barbecue.

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Electrical Appliances

Your Electrical Appliances

Life has been made so easy for us these days. It all started with that guy Edison turning on the lights in New York city about 135 years ago. We suddenly had electricity and that was the beginning of the end of the dark ages – literally. That was also the beginning of the technicians that learnt and worked with electricity – electricians. It’s all very well having great technical advances but almost everything is run by electricity and when stuff goes wrong, we need expert help to get things fixed.

Vacuum Cleaner
It all started with the foot in the door salesman spilling a heap of trash on your carpet, then turning on the cleaner, which sounded like an old Boeing 707 starting its jets, and then sucking up all the spilled mess like magic. Now, we have Lux Living robot vacuums which not only clean your floors automatically but are a source of great enjoyment for cats to ride on and get filmed for YouTube. Regardless of the style and fancy attachments, when it stops, call an electrician.

Microwave
Gone are the days of cutting firewood, lighting the fire in the stove, and cooking your food. Keeping the home fires burning made sure you had hot water and a hot house, even in the midst of summer. Now, you open your microwave, adjust your settings and you can reheat leftovers, cook a whole chicken, and explode eggs, popcorn and small animals, if that’s your thing! When the microwaves stop waving – call an electrician.

Toaster
This appliance goes hand in hand with the best thing since sliced bread! We still use a forked stick poked into a piece of bread hung over a campfire when we are ‘roughing it’, but at home, we place the sliced bread into the slots, push the lever down and Voila! We get toast. When the bread gets stuck you put a knife in the openings and try to lever it out. Bang! Call an electrician –  if you’re still alive.

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Fire Protection

3 Reasons Why You Should Always Have Fire Protection Gear On Your Premises

If you are the owner or manager of a business or a commercial building, you have a few responsibilities under Australian law. The most important of these is to ensure the safety of your employees, customers and any others in and around your building. Fires present a significant risk to workplace safety, which means that you should always take appropriate precautions – such as installing fire extinguishers – to reduce the risk of fire damage.

However, fire protection equipment comes in a lot of different forms, not just as fire extinguishers. Depending on the type of business you have, you should consider installing things like fire alarm systems, hydrants, fire blankets and fire hoses. Some of the reasons why you should always have fire protection gear on your premises include:

  1. Fires Can Be Dangerous, And Potentially Fatal

Fires have the potential to be deadly, especially when they aren’t managed properly. A fire in a workshop or office setting is always unexpected, and it is important to be able to react quickly and cooly to make sure that preventable damage or injury doesn’t occur.

A fast response to a fire can be aided by making sure that your building contains the most up to date fire protection equipment, and that your staff and team members are trained to use it fast and efficiently. If someone is injured because of lax preparation, you, the business owner or manager, will be held responsible.

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Bathroom Basin

Spectacular Bathroom Basin

These days, with a greater emphasis on personal grooming than there may have been in the past – we are spending increasing amounts of time in the bathroom. Homeowners usually don’t need too much persuading that they should give some thought to decorating their bathroom, but the questions that then arise are ‘how?’ or ‘what bathroom decorating themes should I employ?’ and will I need a plumber?

Modern (Contemporary) Bathroom Décor
Contemporary bathroom décor is best characterized by its clean lines and gleaming surfaces. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that this type of décor is more commonly found in your modern urban apartments. Stainless steel fixtures such as –
• basins
• mirrored cabinets
• bathrooms
• shower walls
• taps

All feature heavily in contemporary bathroom decor and are available in a wide variety of shapes. Glass and ceramic fixtures are also very popular these days. Lighting also plays an important part in the bathroom with fixtures ranging from simple to funky and available in all colors, shapes and styles.

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moving-into-new-office

5 Things to Do Before Moving

Moving to new business premises can be a stressful process, and it’s one that takes far more planning than a standard house move. You often have to factor in the needs of several different staff members, plan the new floor area, and then pack up hundreds of items. This is all before the removalists even arrive! Because it’s such a hectic time, it’s no surprise that very few businesses actively choose to move if they can avoid it.

However, if the time has come to relocate your business to smaller or larger premises, there are several things you and your staff must do to make the process go as smoothly as possible. If you can avoid letting your stress levels peak, there’s every reason to do so. We’ve outlined five top moving tips to do before moving offices below.

  1. Have a clear-out

Every office has a room that no one uses or even enters. It’s that room filled with odds and ends, outdated software, old fax machines, filing cabinets, and broken chairs. It’s a dark and dingy space with floppy discs lining the shelves, and a flickering light that makes it seem all a bit spooky. While you avoid that place, except to discard your broken furniture, it’s now time to clear it out.

Have all heads of departments take a walk through their own areas to determine what needs to be thrown out, and what can be sold before the removalists arrive. Anything not of use to anyone both in your current premises and your new one can be discarded. By removing all the unnecessary clutter, you’re saving time and money with your removalist company, while also ensuring you go into your new premises with a clean slate.

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Timber Flooring

Add Value with Timber Flooring

With good home design, timber flooring not only looks great in your home, but adds significant value. It is so hard-wearing that it’s more than likely it will outlast the residents! Unlike carpets which retain dust, they are far easier to keep clean, and as a result, they are a good choice for allergy sufferers.

When a homeowner chooses timber flooring, they end up with the most beautiful and long-lasting floor that adds value to the home, be it a new one you are building or an old one you are renovating. The timber comes in many different shades and hues so matching with existing home colour schemes will make life easier. There is a natural ambience with timber and it has a sort of golden glow that seems to fit in with many different styles of décor.

Cleaning
With just a quick mop or a vacuum to remove the dust, the timber is easy to keep clean. Unlike carpet spills that will leave a wet patch or a stain, spills on a timber floor can be wiped clean in a jiffy. There’s nothing like timber flooring to enhance the looks of any room. In rooms like the dining area or the kitchen spills of grease and food can be easily wiped clean. Even in the family or living room, the timber floor can make it easy on the eyes with no reflection, unlike vinyl or tiles.

Décor
Bedroom furnishings look super over a timber floor – and you can add a pretty mat if you like to opt your toes on something soft when you first get up. Timber can even be used in the bathroom and laundry if they are properly treated to keep the damp out. Sometimes it’s not hardwood that is used for the flooring. In the case of softwood, the timber can absorb moisture, so humid or damp conditions might make it warp.

The Weather
Nothing like timber flooring to walk on during a hot Western Australian summer as they are cool to walk on and also provide nice insulation in the chill of winter, in addition to the traditional insulation.

Colours and Hues
Different woods have different colours and textures. It’s a natural product, so don’t expect a consistency of even colouring all over. Of course, that’s part of its charm. When the timber flooring is all laid, the darker and the lighter shades seem to blend into one another and look just fine.

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Lawned Garden

Get the Best out of Your Lawn

After a hard day at work, there’s nothing like retreating to your garden to get the stress out and relax. Your garden, be it the turf in your front lawn or in your backyard with plants and flowers, is more than just a feature that enhances your property. Your green space, your creation, is part of your character and it can have a number of different functions, depending on your lifestyle.

You can transform the whole yard into a great, enjoyable living space. Apply a bit of creativity and a few resources and you will have an exciting as well as relaxing place to spend your downtime.

Here’s a few tips that might help:

Tip #1: What do you want from your lawn?
It doesn’t matter whether you are redesigning an existing area or starting from scratch, what is your overall plan? Do you want some water elements, as they will add energy and peaceful sounds? How about a porch or a patio where you can sit and look at your view? You might love flowers, so flower beds will be the go. Vegetables? Everybody loves growing their own vegies. A herb garden?

The design is up to you. You have to make it work, so don’t do a half-hearted job or make it so the garden needs more maintenance than you have time to spare.

Tip #2: Speaking of maintenance…
It’s not a project that ends when the fat lady sings. Keeping your garden in tip top condition is an ongoing labour of love. Keeping your lawn healthy and your plants looking as though they belong in a flower shop is all about maintaining, watering and positioning – sunlight and shade. Make sure you have put down the right type of turf that grows best where you live.

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Commercia Shade Sails

Commercial Shade Sails – Plan Before You Buy

Without customers a business will go broke, not matter what kind it is. That is why most businesses try to cater to the needs of their customers, including providing shade sails in an outdoor setting. If you are considering such a purchase, it is wise to do some planning beforehand so you know just what is needed and where, before you go ahead. After all, no one understand your business the way you do.

One thing you have to realise about shade from a sail and that is, it will not be there all the time. As the position of the sun shifts throughout the day the shade the sail throws will move.  So when planning on the position of the sail, you’ll need to have shade in a specific area at the time when you have most customers.  That way you’ll be able to please the most people and get the most value from your investment.

The reason for the sail is important
However, you may be installing the sail for a different reason. It could be to stop the glare of the late afternoon sun shining through your shop window where it not only fades the colour of goods displayed, but makes it difficult for customers to see the floor display from inside, if they are looking towards the window.

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Patios Perth

Why Patios are So Suitable for Outdoor Fun in Perth

When it comes to patios, Perth residents really appreciate having the chance to enjoy some time outdoors with shelter and shade when necessary.  Perth is in an area of Australia that experiences hot, dry summers and cooler winters. But those cool winters are nothing like many other areas; no snow and little in the way of biting cold wind.

So patios make the ideal way to extend the floor space of their homes and enjoy an outdoor room during the day or evening. The main reason for shelter in Perth is the heat of the sun, which is why many patios come with insulated roofing. Even if there is only one wall, that type of roof acts like a dense, green tree; it keeps the shade underneath pleasantly cool, even on hot days.

Like many areas, Perth gets its share of wind, both hot and cold. So if you are considering adding another wall to the patio to block the cold wind, make sure you don’t also block that cool, refreshing breeze coming in from the ocean in the summer. Then it will be the ideal place to cool off in the late afternoons. Once the patio is installed, think about the best way to furnish it to suit your lifestyle.

Many people add a fireplace to the patio so they can use it even in the winter months. In Perth, a fan would probably be a better option. A comfortable outdoor sofa, a colourful rug underfoot and a table will certainly help to make the area suitable for alfresco meals and leisure time relaxation.

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Components of Interior Design

4 Important Components of Interior Design

When it comes to a high end hotel, getting the interior design right is all important. Without it, your hotel will not be what your guests rightfully expect, even if the food and service is amazing. A great deal of pleasure in life comes from what we see around us, so if that experience is lacking in a hotel, the guests will not be as impressed as they should be. In fact, they will be seriously underwhelmed.

There are 4 main components of fitting out a hotel or any building: –

  1. Fixtures and fittings -includes lights, door knobs, taps and other bathroom fixtures
  2. The furniture – beds, tables, sofas, easy chairs
  3. Soft furnishings – bedding, linen, pillows, cushions, drapes, carpets
  4. The accessories – decorative items such as mirrors, artwork, vases, sculptures, chandeliers, lamps.

Each and every part of these things should be of the very best quality, but they should also be chosen to complement and in some cases, contrast, with the overall decor and style.  This is where an experienced interior decorator will be needed. They have the training and experience to know what goes with what and how it should all be set up to make the most of the space.

Placement is almost as important as the item to be placed.  When things are placed in just the right spot everything integrates as a whole and the room is harmonious. For instance, guests will be comfortable and have everything they need to hand, while being able to enjoy the view through a picture window or from the balcony.

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Heat Your Pool

Ways to Heat Your Pool

While lots of people enjoy their swimming pools in summer and warm days in the off seasons, in many climates spring and autumn are really too cold for swimming in cold water. To get more use from your pool you may want to consider heating the water. This can be done constantly if you use the pool a lot, or occasionally if you are not into swimming every day. Heating the pool means you can jump in for a dip even in the winter.

Here are 3 main ways to heat the water in your pool.

  • Solar heating. This doesn’t use solar panels like solar electricity. It uses rubber matting on the roof of the house. The sun heats the matting and a pump pushes pool water through it. The water is warmed before returning to the pool. This is good for people who live in sunny climates and have a large roof space. It may not be so good an option for those who live in areas where there is often cloud cover. It is most effective if the matting is installed on a north or west facing roof and the area of matting equals about 80% of the pool surface. It may seem strange, but this same set-up can also be used to cool the pool water down, for those who live in tropical climates. The water is simply pumped through the matting at night instead of day.

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outdoor-furniture

How to Choose the Best Outdoor Furniture for Your Needs

There is a lot to consider when purchasing outdoor furniture and to get the most suitable, everything should be taken into account. Things such as your usual weather, if you will want to move the furniture around, if it is to be placed close to a pool and what kind of surface there will be under it are all important. It is a decision that should not be made in haste if you want it to be the best for your lifestyle and climate.

However, there is another important factor and that is comfort. If the furniture is not comfortable you will not want to bother using your outdoor haven no matter how balmy the weather is. So your comfort level should be assessed and taken into account before making the final decision. How? Here are some tips.

  • Think about what chair you find most comfortable to sit in when inside. Is it a lounge chair or dining chair; a bean bag or a bench seat?
  • Do you like to have a soft or firm backrest – or none at all?
  • Do you have a bad back or an injury that needs support when you sit?
  • Do you like to have your upper legs supported as well as your seat?
  • Are armrests essential or don’t you care one way or the other?
  • Is your idea of relaxation putting your feet and legs up, or do you prefer to keep your feet on the ground?
  • Do you love to gather around a big table with your family and friends, or would you prefer to have the chairs spread out with some side tables for when you need them?

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Robotic-Pool-Cleaners

The Benefits of Robotic Pool Cleaners

Everyone who has a pool will know the work involved in keeping the water clean. The PH can easily be changed by leaves, dust, dirt and insects that fall or are blown into the pool. So the task of cleaning it and maintaining the right PH is ongoing. However, robotic pool cleaners can do some of the work.

A pool cleaner can be placed into the pool at night and left to do its job. All the debris will sink to the bottom where the cleaner can scrape or suck it up. That leaves the walls to be cleaned. These should be scrubbed down on a weekly basis so the algae that forms there will fall to the bottom and can be sucked out by the pool vacuum cleaner.

Most people use chlorine and other chemicals as their pool cleaners, however chlorine is not an environmentally friendly solution. These days there are alternatives that make your water so pure there is no need for dangerous chemicals such as chlorine to be added to the pool. Of course, even then you’ll still have leaves and other debris falling into the pool so will need to clean it out.

The long-handled pool scoop is ideal for removing larger items such as leaves, twigs and bigger insects. However, it can’t scoop up fine dust. That is why you have filters in the pump. These too, should be cleaned out regularly for the pool water to remain cleaner. If pool cleaning becomes a daily habit, it will reduce the need for more chemicals.

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Get-Fleas-Out-of-Your-Carpet

How to Get Fleas Out of Your Carpet

Anyone with pets is likely to have fleas in their carpet, whether they allow the animal inside or not. If there are fleas in the yard, there will soon be fleas inside because they come in on your clothing and you don’t even notice. You can also tread flea eggs or larvae in on your shoes or bare feet and because they are so tiny you can’t tell. The right kind of carpet cleaning by a professional company is essential to get rid of this pest.

Actually, professional steam cleaning is the best way to treat carpets when there is an infestation of fleas because it uses hot water that will kill them. The main trouble is that flea eggs become embedded in the floor cracks under the carpet and these can survive if the water doesn’t quite reach them. The eggs can then hatch, even up to 12 months after they were laid. That is why you may think that the carpet treatment didn’t work at all. Treating carpets for fleas is a long term job.

Here are some steps to take that will help you deal with that flea problem.

  • First and foremost, treat your pet for fleas on a regular basis. Never allow the treatment to be done late, not even by a day. Dogs and cats can pick up fleas when they go outside the yard, since they are hosts to this pest.
  • Wash all their bedding in hot water 3 times a week until you are sure no fleas are left in it.
  • Vacuum the carpet thoroughly every day for 3 weeks paying particular attention to the crevices and edges – and get rid of the vacuum cleaner bag each time. If your cleaner is a bagless one, empty the dust into a plastic bag and then spray it with insecticide for fleas before knotting the end. That will ensure no fleas escape from the bin back to your yard.
  • Also vacuum the hard floor surfaces at the same time, making sure to get under the furniture and in the corners.

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Timber-vs-Tiles

Timber vs. Tiles For Your Floor

If you are planning to build a new home you will find many decisions need to be made. One of the more important of these is the materials you want the various components of your home to be made from. But before anything else can go into the home, the floor must be put down, even though the coverings – if there are any – will need to wait until later.

It is important then, to decide what material you will have your floors made from, for each specific roo, such as the kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom. There are several choices:

  • Solid timber
  • Floating timber that is installed over something else, often done for renovations.
  • Flooring panels that must be covered with something such as carpet or vinyl (although you need a professional carpet cleaning service like www. brilliancecarpetcleaningperth.com.au close at hand).
  • Polished concrete
  • Tiles – ceramic, cork, porcelain or stone

Advantages of a solid timber floor
Solid timber is a very popular choice of flooring, even though it is fairly expensive. It has several advantages; durability, strength, aesthetics and variety in colour and pattern that can be achieved by using parquetry.

For a solid timber floor, you would usually have tongue and grooved planks that fit together and are laid directly over the floor joists. This kind of flooring is extremely durable and long-lasting. It can last a lifetime. Once it is finished properly it will not scratch too easily, but after some years it can be re-sanded and finished to create a floor that is almost new again.

Maintenance is relatively easy with damp mopping and vacuuming the two best ways to keep it clean. Modern finishes mean polishing is not necessary.

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Why Pursue Limestone Floor Tiles

If you are after home improvement ideas, then Limestone flooring features superior comfort all the time. It has the endurance that most people would like. It is also presented in various colors that would match any kind or type. Basically, it will always be a classic flooring selection to pursue. It is recommended with its organic color palette which may always add an old and classic charm to a décor.

Today, there is the modern limestone floor tiles starting to gain attention. This may be cut in large-format. There are times when it can be in plank. Other instances, it may take geometric shapes. This only goes to show that it is really versatile.

The Benefits of Limestone Tiles

It is an efficient substitute for hardwood
Limestone tiles have always been a neutral palette. In appearance, they are highly textured. A tile flooring made up of limestone is a perfect example of natural beauty. It somehow resembles the look of hardwood. With this, one thing is for sure – this property will give user a natural stone product which is hard-wearing and long lasting. This is also perfect for people who want to achieve a modern take on their classic limestone. This tile has the semblance of the natural variations of hardwood. It is just that in this take, it is packed with natural stone. This will add a textured and rustic charm to a room. That is for sure.

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12 Reasons Why Colorbond Roofing is so Popular in Australia

Even in the last decade the popularity of Colorbond roofing has increased by a large margin. There are various reasons for this.

  • Put simply – it looks good. The clean, elegant lines enhance just about any housing style you could think of from old-fashioned country homes to the most modern urban development.
  • You can get it curved so those that want this particular style for the veranda are happy.
  • There are many colours to choose from and many of them blend in with the Australian environment. Various shades of greys, browns, green and creams are taken from different aspects of the Aussie landscape such as eucalypts, mangrove swamps, sand dunes, coastal coves, outback deserts, and even some wildlife colours are used to create a palette of colours to delight everyone.
  • Because there are so many colours it is easy to choose one that will match in with the rest of your home. You can even add a feature wall or fence to match, creating a cohesive look to the whole property.
  • Colorbond roofing is a strong and sturdy material that has been developed especially for Australian conditions, so people know they are getting a product they can trust.
  • Many people are also happy to support an Australian company by purchasing their products.
  • It has thermal properties that help to reduce the costs of heating and cooling a home over its lifetime.
  • It is ideal for bushfire prone areas as it is fire resistant and provides few niches for live embers to get stuck in. Rather, they blow off or go out before they can set fire to your home.
  • It is low maintenance, so you spend less over the lifetime of the product.

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