Your House Fix

If a lot of books are in your decorating vision you are going to need bookshelves.

Bookshelves come in all styles, sizes, shapes and designs. These range from simple brackets and boards on a wall to elaborate new or antique library bookcases.

If you have walls of books to shelve, built in bookcases are another option. These can be quite economical for you DIY’s or very expensive for the top of the range custom bookshelves.

In order to incorporate bookshelves in a room, you need to know how much space is required for the books, what sizes  the books are, what design are the shelves to be and what else might be stored on the shelves besides books.

Some of the bookshelves I like can be found at Amazon.com. They have over 5000 to choose from.

All homes need books. Books are found in all home styles from contemporary to traditional and all styles in between.

Bookshelves warm up an interior and piles of books on tables give a home a comfortable lived in look.

Books of all types provide life and excitement to a room.

So go out and redecorate by adding books to your house, and by reading them you will gain much more than just adding more objets d’art.

So many homes seem to be designed with every window  in a different size and often different styles. This is very expensive to build, but it also increases the expense of decorating the interiors.

When every window needs a different size curtain or drapery and/or  blind, everything often needs to be custom made. To save costs while creating a cleaner look, use standard size windows that can be treated with ready made blinds and draperies. This will create more harmonious rooms as seen in old colonial homes with their identical windows and timeless style.

When remodeling make sure the windows are in proportion to the house and not too small or large.

For blinds custom or ready made I like  Select Blinds and Blinds.com.

Your living and dining areas can be a lot more exciting and comfortable with proper lighting  from many sources, all controlled by dimmer switches.

For light fixtures that reflect your style visit Lighting By Gregory  and find an aray of chandeliers, sconces, table lamps and pendent lights that can transform your living areas and allow you to express your unique style.

A dining room chandelier, be it plain and rustic or elegant crystal should never be the room’s sole source of lighting. Bright chandeliers often give off a harsh and glaring light. To correct this side lights in the form of table or buffet lamps, sconces, floor lamps or ceiling spots are used to give a soft illumination of light and shadows. This allows the chandelier to be dimmed to minimize glare and be the architectural feature it was intended to be. Lighting By Gregory is one of the best places I’ve found for low prices on quality light fixtures.

Sconces are a good way to highlight your walls and accent your art work, mirrors and the architectural features on them. They also illuminate hallways without resorting to glaring overhead fixtures.

In new construction they must be carefully planned, for they cannot be properly located on the walls until the interior decoration and furniture they are to be placed with are chosen. A sconce that is too high or too low or not centered properly requires major electrical and construction repairs to fix it.

Review all types of sconces from a lighting retailers like Lamps Plus and decide on the style and size before having the architect, designer or you specify their locations on the walls or on the plans. I know of a home where a whole wall had to be replastered because a sconce had to be moved 5″.

So plan carefully because you don’t want a badly positioned sconce to dictate how you place furniture and decorate the walls. Again chose the sconces carefully and look at the lighting site Lamps Plus.

Bathrooms are becoming more modern in appearance with straight lines and a simplification in design that speaks of an Asian influence. We are seeing a lot of stainless steel, wood and white ceramics being used.

New plumbing hardware,  sinks, showers and tubs in new streamline styles are readily available for the weekend project do it yourselfer.

Check out your local Home Depot or Lowe’s for solutions to your outdated bath.

Before starting any major home improvement project or remodel always check the value of the other houses in your neighborhood. If your project is going to raise the value of your house a significant amount over those in your neighborhood it might not be wise to such an extensive a project.

If you ever wanted to resell your home, potential buyers would not want to pay more than the going price of the neighboring houses. Therefore you would not be able to recoup your remodeling expenses.

Minor fix ups such as painting, refreshing the landscaping, new light fixtures, new plumbing hardware and other cosmetic improvements will help make an older home look updated without the cost of a major remodel.

Check out Amazon.com for great books on all types of home improvement ideas.

Winter ofter brings one to thinking about gardening or new landscaping. I think the short gray days bring this on automatically!Have you ever looked at the two bushes and one tree in your front yard and thought that it showed all the charm of a cabin on the dust bowl prairie with a broken fence and one tired tree beside it? Well if so you are not alone and now is the time to plan a solution with a trip to your local garden center, Home Depot or Lowe’s and get inspired.

These stores can help you plan your landscape using the correct plant material for your locality and climate. Search gardening books on Amazon for  gardening ideas.

Sometimes just a major trimming of overgrown bushes and a through cleanup of flowerbeds will cure a lot of eyesores. If you need gardening tools check out Gardener’s Supply Company.

There are a lot of very good home improvement books on the market. These can be readily found at Amazon.com  and other bookstores. They offer a wide variety of solutions to any DIY project from patching a wall or building a room. Be sure to browse the books to find the one that tells you how to do a project using the skill level that you are comfortable with.

Home improvement books can often give one an idea of what a project will need in materials, time involved, cash required and even what building permits may be required.

So check out Amazon.com for the books that can save you money, time and frustration in your remodeling or fix up project.