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Planning Permission Tips UK: The Value of Design Statements When Submitting a Planning Application
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The Best Time to Inspect Your Home! Home inspections conducted prior to a home being placed on the market is one of the wisest moves a seller can make. The initial response from sellers when approached with the idea of an inspection done as the home is about to be put up for sale is most always the same - "What?!" Useful Home Products Will Help Your House Sale Profits Even if you've never been involved in the sale of house before and yours is about to go on the market, you probably know enough about the process to be able to repeat, like a litany: clean it; paint it; fix it. But do you find yourself asking: How clean does the house have to be and how do I tackle the job? Do I really have to paint? What are the best colors to choose? What do I need to repair? When considering these questions, it's good to remember that most prospective home buyers are an unimaginative lot. Your house may be immaculate but if the rooms are cluttered, crowded, and dark, they may appear to be less clean and much smaller than they really are. Picture this: an old, seven-piece mahogany dining room suite plus a rocking chair and seven boxes of books packed in anticipation of your move are wedged into a dark green room with a brown rug and a window covered by heavy velvet drapes. Why is this decorating scheme a mistake? It's because most people are unable to imagine how big and beautiful the room would look if painted off-white, everything removed but the dining room suite, a pastel tablecloth and a fresh flower centerpiece on the table, curtains stripped from the window, the rug removed, and everything spotlessly clean. In the words of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, you must "make it so"; otherwise, it might take you a very long time to sell your house and the offers to buy will not only be slower, but lower. Clean, Clean, Clean Your best friend when cleaning your house for resale will be tri-sodium phosphate (TSP) or its equivalent. TSP is one of the home products that top the list of must-haves, and it's not expensive. Roll up your sleeves, put on your rubber gloves and scrub your walls and ceilings, and anything else that needs your elbow grease. Unless you can afford professional cleaners, there's no way out of this one. Carpet cleaning is another must and there are home products for the do-it-yourselfer or you can hire a cleaning company to take care of this job. If you have shabby rugs scattered throughout the house, forget cleaning them; it's probably better to remove them altogether. There are home products to clean things that require special care ? ceramic tile, porcelain, stainless steel, wood cabinets, aluminum siding, etc., and you can find whatever you need at your neighborhood hardware store. Ask questions and read labels. When using commercial cleaning products, wear gloves and a mask. It's wise to be careful. Paint for a Pristine Finish As thorough as your cleaning job is, it won't have much impact on sagging, faded wallpaper, gouges in the walls, or cracked and peeling paint. Repainting is the solution, and interior painting jobs start with stripping off old wallpaper, attacking cracks and gouges with filler, and then getting to work with your roller and brush. This is also the time to do all the small repairs that need your attention: hammer in nails; repair the broken step; replace the broken glass. When selecting paint, the best colors for your walls and ceilings are white, off-white, cream, creamy off-white ? you get the picture. A light, cool, neutral color can fit into everyone's decorating scheme. (You want that young couple to see your home as the perfect setting for their red plush love seats.) If you have recently painted one or more rooms in quite dramatic colors, leave them as they are. As long as the walls and trim are clean and fresh, prospective buyers won't mind a bit of repainting if they want to change the colors ? the main thing is not to overwhelm them. If you need to paint the outside of your house, it's not necessary to restrict yourself to neutral colors for exterior paint; however, a bright color is not a good choice. Something fairly subdued is better, but be creative when painting the front door; a dramatic touch might be needed to make your house memorable. It's easy for a buyer to repaint a door if he or she doesn't share your love of Christmas red or purple passion. Remove the Clutter It's time to say goodbye to your high school chemistry notes, the clothes you outgrew five years ago, the playpen your twelve-year-old no longer needs, and everything else your family will never use again, read again, or wear again. Be tough! Do it! Take it to the dump; hold a garage sale; donate it to your favorite charity. Don't let it take up any more of your storage space ? you're going to need it all to store the things that are currently stacked on shelves and floors and cluttering up counter tops throughout the house. Important home products that can help you deal with this part of your preparation are closet organizers. They come in every size and style imaginable, and you are sure to find something suitable. When you have everything neatly stored in your closets and cupboards, walk through the house and pick up and put out of sight everything else on your counters and table tops that don't need to be there. "Clutter-free" means clutter-free and it won't kill anyone in the family to have to reach under the counter for the dishwashing detergent or the toothpaste for the next few days or weeks. You probably don't think of furniture as "clutter," but clutter is anything that unnecessarily crowds a room, a doorway, or a hall. If your home has very small rooms and you can manage without some furniture items for awhile, arrange to use a friend's garage or basement to store them. It will "open up" the rooms and make your house appear larger and brighter, and that's a good thing. Let There be Light Sunlight is a friend to the house seller, and you should try and let as much of it into the house as you can. Wash windows inside and out and wash or dryclean the window coverings: curtains, drapes, and blinds. Before showing the house to a prospective buyer, replace burned-out light bulbs, turn on the lights, open the windows, lift the blinds, and pull back the drapes. Final Touches Ask a non-smoking, non-pet-owning friend to come into your house when you have finished cleaning and painting. Are all the pet odors and smoking odors gone? If the house passes the sniff-test, place some potpourri in open dishes to add a fresh, clean scent; otherwise, get back to work. Finally, step outside and see what a prospective buyer's first impression of your yard is likely to be. Mow the lawn, trim the hedges and bushes, weed the garden, edge the flowerbeds, and sweep and clean the walkway, deck, or patio. Your yard is another selling feature of your house, and must be clean and tidy, too. Home products can help make your house appear big, bright, clean, and ready for a prospective buyer to move right in, which is exactly what you want. Design Psychology: Fabrics From a riot of color in bold chintzes to the gentle rustle of taffeta, fabrics influence our mental attitude in many subtle and not so subtle ways. Playful patterns make us smile, while mixing prints and solids can present a paradox of dynamic energy. No matter which effect you're looking for, you'll want too choose the right fabric colors, patterns, and textures to reflect your interior design plan. Geothermal Heat Pumps 101 It seems like about three million of you have asked me to explain how a geothermal system works. Well, maybe not three million, but it's a bunch of you and I'm honored that I have the opportunity to do it. Now you've probably already figured out that I'm not smart enough to be real technical, but I do have some common sense. So I will use a common-sense approach to explain how the most efficient heating and cooling system available today can help you. Which Type of Radiant Floor Heating is Best For Me? If you are looking to warm your floors with a radiant heat system, and have typed "radiant heat system" into a search engine, you might find yourself scratching your head at this point. There are dozens of products available to purchase, and there are even more companies telling you that their product is the best. Paving The Way For Californias Asphalt Consumers The California asphalt paving industry is ever-changing and in order to provide the best services, asphalt paving companies are turning to new technologies to stay ahead of the competition. An Interview with Design Psychology Expert Jeanette Fisher Interview with Jeanette Fisher by Gary Anderson, of www.abciowa.com Expansion for Heat Absorption In the refrigeration cycle, the refrigerant must undergo a change in state in order for the heat to be absorbed from the environment. Planning Permission Tips UK - Garage Conversions - What Value Do They Add? Most conversion works to an existing structure is often more expensive than having it knocked down & rebuilt. The main reason for this is the VAT element that is exempt for new dwellings. There have been numerous examples where extensive extension & conversion work has proved more expensive than rebuilding the scheme a-fresh from the ground up. Three Types of Lighting for Room Remodeling When remodeling a room, choosing the correct lighting is one of the most important considerations. Proper lighting sets the atmosphere of the room, creates a particular mood, or provides accent to an architectural style. Lighting also accentuates the good aspects of a room or disguises a room's shortcomings. How to Choose a Freezer for Home The average household freezer is a silent slave. It operates year in and year out, requiring nothing other than a constant supply of electricity. Eventually, though it may need to be replaced. Why You Should Get A Patio Awning In these days of climate change, the UK summer is believe or not, getting warmer and sunnier. Whilst this gives us opportunity to enjoy more time in the garden and sitting on the patio. It also means we need to take measures to protect against the sun's harmful rays. This is where a patio awning comes in. Five Ways to Create a Healthy Home Have you ever thought of your home as being healthy or unhealthy? While the concept of a healthy home may be new to some of us, it is steadily gaining popularity with homeowners. A healthy home can include a number of elements from building materials used to construct your home to using non-toxic cleaning products. Below is a list of five ways to assist you in creating a healthy home environment. Choosing Window Frames There are three main types of material used to manufacture window frames. These are aluminium, PVC-u and wood. These are also vinyl-coated and fibreglass frames, but for simplicity at this stage we shall stick to the three main types. The three materials each have their strengths and weaknesses and in this article we shall look at the several properties to see how each type shapes up. The properties we look at are heat insulation, sound insulation, security, appearance, maintenance and least but definitely not least, cost. We shall also briefly talk about the different styles of windows commonly available today. 10 Common Uses for Baking Soda Baking soda is a great household cleaner. Here are ten ways to clean your home with baking soda: Get Everything Done Quickly Using Your Basic Tools No one wants to have their house equipment broken. But it might happened your electricity went off or your water system not working etc due of broken installation. You realize it will take a whole day to wait for your electricians or plumbers to come. So, what should you do? Installing a Bathroom Vanity and Countertop The installation of a new bathroom vanity and countertop can transform an outdated bathroom into a contemporary one. Installing a vanity and countertop is simple to do and can be purchased from any home improvement store for less than $500. If You Have Any Antique Clocks...Keep Them. They May Be Valuable Keepsakes Been shopping for antique clocks lately? Aluminium Window Frames When double glazing first became a popular window choice in the 1960s, most frames were made of aluminum. Aluminum remained the most popular choice for framing double glazing windows through the mid-1980s, when it held over 60% of the market. Since the introduction of PVC window framing, the market share of aluminum framed windows has dropped steadily. As of 2003, less than 17% of windows sold were aluminum framed. There are many reasons for the drop in popularity - and still some good reasons for choosing aluminum over PVC or wood frames. Light Up Your Life A house or any particular room can be carefully planned, well thought out and perfectly executed but without the proper lighting it never really comes to life. A perfect example is a tile back splash in a kitchen. Without some nice under cabinet lighting to show it off it never really reaches it's potential as an eye opener.
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