Contemporary Home Office: Design Essentials

Contemporary Home Office: Design Essentials

Working from home sounds like the best thing in the world, and that’s usually not far from the truth. However, most people don’t realize that working from home is still working, and you need to do your job. In order to be productive, you need your own space, which is why setting up a home office is vital. If you’re thinking about doing that as well, here are a few design essentials you have to look into.

Find the right spot

Even if you’re working from home, not just any home office will do. It needs to be motivating, creative, and visually appealing, and that’s not always easy to achieve. That’s why picking the right location is so important. While some people can work in their bedroom or kitchen, others need separate space – quiet and isolated. Choosing the right location could take some time and energy, but you’ll surely be able to do it.

Make it big

Before you find the perfect spot for your home office, you need to take size into consideration. No matter what you do and how old you are, you need an office that won’t make you feel claustrophobic. It needs to be big enough for your desk and chair, but it needs some maneuvering space as well. This is particularly true if you’re planning on holding meetings in there and welcoming clients. That’s why turning a spare bedroom into a home office is the ideal solution, and you’ll always have enough space.

Impress your clients

Despite working from home, some people have to work with a number of clients they need to see regularly. That’s why their home office needs to be specious, equipped with some comfortable furniture, and properly decorated. This may not sound like the most important thing in the world, but it’s the best way to impress your clients. That’s why you should explore professional office interiors that are visually appealing and help you make a great first impression. This way, you’ll send the right message and make your home office more functional and remarkable than ever.

Think about the storage

All working professionals need proper storage space, even those who work from home. Luckily, being the boss of your own space allows you to do whatever you want. Most people get one of those wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling bookcases that give them enough space for their possessions. Others prefer smaller filing cabinets and shelves that are easier to organize. Whatever you opt for, try to keep your things in order and always close by.

Natural air and sunlight

This is another perk of working from home – you can keep your window open as much as you want. Fresh air and sunlight do wonders for your productivity, and insisting on these things is more important than people realize. That’s why installing bigger windows that let lots of air and sunlight in your home office goes a long way. Moreover, this will minimize your need for artificial lights and make your office more sustainable at the same time.

Organize your equipment

Every home office needs a computer, a printer, a wireless router, and a million other things as well. While most people don’t a problem with the mess, you need to get these things as tidy as possible. Instead of being knee-deep in cables, you should organize them and keep them under control. This will make your office look nicer and feel less cluttered, and that’s something we all need.

Designing your home office is easier than it looks, but only if you put your mind to it. Define its purpose, figure out what you’re trying to achieve, and insist on things that will help you reach your goals.

Guest Contributor, Lillian Connors

Guide To Keeping Pests Out Of Your Kitchen

Guide to Keeping Pests Out of Your Kitchen

There are few things as horrifying as seeing a line of ants march across your kitchen countertops or feeling the dread of seeing fruit flies swarming your bananas. Pests can destroy your enjoyment of a good meal faster than almost anything. However, the last thing you want is to use poisons where you prepare food for your family and friends.

The wet spring and summer in most of the United States is spurring on pest infestations this year. While they won't all be kitchen pests, the environment is ripe for more than ever before. Even in drier regions, ants, cockroaches and flies will move indoors in search of food and water. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to remove them quickly and safely.

1. Seal All Food

Pests such as ants, gnats and roaches are attracted by food. One of the first steps you should take when you notice an infestation is sealing all food sources. Put cereal in airtight containers, place open cracker sleeves in a sealed plastic bag and move fruit to the refrigerator.

Even if you don't yet notice any bugs, it's a smart move to seal anything dry in your kitchen and pantry. Pests often start as a small problem and grow into a larger one. Prevent them from taking hold in the first place.

2. Fix Cracks and Openings

If you're having an issue with ants or mice, these creatures are getting into your home from somewhere. Inspect the outside of your house for gaps and cracks in the foundation. Plug up any holes where mice might enter. Track down where ants are marching into formation. Fill any open spaces and remove the easy entrance to your home. Of course, very small pests such as ants will likely find a way inside anyway, but you don't have to make it easy on them.

3. Remove Infested Food

It might seem obvious, but if you notice even one pest in your cereal or flour, remove the food entirely. Where there is one bug, there are almost always more. Getting rid of the food source may also remove much of the temptation to the creatures invading your home. Seal new items the minute you bring them into your home.

4. Call an Exterminator

If the infestation doesn't seem to get better, don't be afraid to call an exterminator for help. A Terminix in Illinois professional can identify the species of bug and give you steps to remove the problem, as well as prevent it in the future. Yes, you will pay for the services, but you'll avoid months of aggravation and living in unsanitary conditions.

5. Use Natural Repellents

There are some natural things you can use that bugs simply don't like. Natural solutions are typically safe for your family and pets and much less costly than commercial solutions for getting rid of pests. Mosquitoes and flies don't like basil, so plant some and hang the dried herb in doorways. Peppermint drives away spiders. Use the same method of planting around the outside of your house or bringing dried peppermint into your home.

You could also try using essential oils. Fleas and moths dislike lavender and cockroaches hate catnip.

6. Sweep and Mop Regularly

Invaders such as ants are known as spilled food pests. They love to find debris and feast on it. Sweep and mop your floor regularly to keep food pieces to a minimum and remove the temptation for them to enter your home. Mop up spills the minute they occur and clean out cupboards and drawers regularly. The cleaner your kitchen is, the less chance these pests will find something to survive on.

7. Eat Your Fruits

Eating plenty of produce is healthy for you, so many people leave a fruit basket out on the table or counter. The problem arrives when you don't eat your fruit quickly enough and it begins to decay. Rotting fruit is nirvana to fruit flies, who will enter your home and lay eggs so fast you'll have dozens of them before you know it. Remove any spoiled produce and put out a small amount of red wine in a tall glass to trap the flies already in your kitchen.

Be the Food Police

Since food is the top culprit that attracts kitchen pests, make sure everyone eats in designated areas, cleans up after themselves and puts everything away in the refrigerator or a sealed container. Over time, you'll get rid of any pest problems you have and avoid finding new ones.

Guest Contributor, Holly Welles

Holly Welles is a home improvement writer who believes anyone can make the most of their space. You can find more of her work on her blog, The Estate Update.

The Ultimate Guide To Surviving Your Bathroom Renovation

The Ultimate Guide To Surviving Your Bathroom Renovation

Want to update your bathroom without spending a huge amount on the renovation? By making some slight adjustments and changes in your bathroom, you can easily renovate your bathroom and not spend copious amounts of hours and money working on it.

Take for example, some DIY techniques like re-surfacing, which can be quite costly and not appropriate for the long-term. In order to survive your bathroom renovation, have a look below at some of the ways to help you survive your bathroom renovation:

Make a list

First begin by keeping a list of bathroom accessories that you would like to purchase, such as good quality bathroom sinks, a flushing toilet, bathroom mirror, toilet paper holder, towel holder, bathroom faucet, shower head (rain shower), shower valve, or bathtub.

Choose a design

Before you begin any work, such as tearing up flooring or putting in a new shower head, you should decide what you want your bathroom to look like when finished.

There are many bathroom trends out this year from futuristic styles to vintage brass and gold components and or beautiful tile patterns and shapes to suit your bathroom.

Set a budget

One of the best approaches to stay away from costly renovation is to set a budget and stick to it. Take a moment to sit down and calculate the different costs from the materials to the cost of extras, fixtures, and fittings that are within your budget.

Also, to survive your bathroom renovation you should definitely set aside some money, in case of any unforeseen turns.

Prepare sanitary products before beginning work

Everything from the bath, sink, toilet, taps, and the shower should be decided on and ready to go before you begin plastering and tiling. This is to ensure all the pipes and waste are in their correct position.

1.   Shower

Consider some important features of a shower during the renovation, for example, the best shower drains, shower curtains and shower heads. You can pick a settled or hand-held shower head, or rain or waterfall showers that suit the structure of your new design.

2.   Sink

To really modernize your bathroom, and if it fits within your budget and if space allows you, then you could decide on his and hers sinks.

3.   Bath

There are so many beautiful bathtubs to choose from so it is important to choose one to fit within your original design. From freestanding tubs to bathtubs with that utilization minimal space, or simple access baths for those with an incapacity.

Fittings and fixtures

First, choose a vanity unit that is of good quality but affordable, one that will last for years to come. Then move on and consider a couple of necessary extras, new tapware, and a toilet. 

The fittings and fixtures that you pick will determine the functionality level of your bathroom, and select low-cost items that will have you paying only a fraction of the price.

Make your renovation pop

One feature that can really make your bathroom renovation pop is using floor or wall tiles. It really brings out the overall design of your bathroom, and it can be an easy enough job if you are choosing floor tiles over wall tiles. Choose a shade and shape that works in with your original design, it will all contribute to the vibe of the space design bathroom.

Installing lights

Consider the region you live in; you may need a dampness verification or heat lighting. As well, to fit within your budget it is advisable to choose LED lights, they are good for the environment and they use less energy compared to other lights, saving you money in the long run.

A bathroom renovation can be done with minimal effort and still look as modern as before. You should de-mess, revive tired looking parts, and apply a couple of other techniques and thoughts.

 Guest Contributor, Megan Hudson

How To Choose The Best Framing Nailer For Your Wood Project

How to Choose the best Framing Nailer for Your wood Project

If you came here searching for the perfect framing nail gun, you came to the right place. Framing nail guns are nail guns that are built with the durability, power and most importantly, proper type of nails to be used for doing framing.

Framing Nailer Types

There are many different types of nailers out there that can work for many different types of tasks. It makes sense that the same nail gun you use to secure roofing would not be the proper tool for attaching finished surfaces indoors. Framing nail guns are on the much more powerful size compared to a cheap finish nailer.

There are two different types of nail guns that could be used for framing. One is the coil nail gun, the other is the stick nail gun. The big difference between these two is in how you feed the nail gun ammunition. Coil nail guns use strings of nails and can hold many more nails before needing a refill.

A stick nail gun uses a large hard stick of nails that is then fed into the gun when fired. Generally speaking, coil nail guns are the more durable and more expensive models that are preferred for day to day use by professionals. Stick nail Guns can be slow and clumsy to reload even with practice compared to the massive amount of nails a coil nail gun can carry.

Each nail gun we stock for framing comes with a different set of features. The more expensive the gun, the more fine tuning and adjusting of features will be possible that will enable you to get the perfect gun for every job.

Framing Nailer Basics

Every Framing Nailer we sell however comes with the most important thing to adjust for a nail gun. That would be the depth to which the nail is sunk. This is a vital feature for every construction project and every gun sold will offer you a chance to fine tune on this feature

The second main difference to consider when purchasing your nail gun is how you want the gun to be powered. Cordless and Corded nail buns are equally popular these days and neither shows any signs of slowing down soon. Corded framing nailers are still extremely popular for their low coast and their ability to go all day without interruption.

Cordless nail guns have come quite a long way in the last few years in terms of technological advances. There are two different types of cordless framing ouns. One is electric and runs off a battery that works very similar to a corded nail gun. The other way uses trace amounts of explosives to blow the nail deep into any surface.

Find the Best Framing Nail Gun

A pneumatic framing nailer gun can do an excellent range of jobs, from stud get the job done to joists. You can nail down sub-flooring and even establish trusses. You can fasten sheathing, nail decking, construct fences, and far more. With a framing nail gun, you can do all the rough wood do the job and much more on just about any residential creating. It is an incredibly essential element of constructing a wood construction.

There are lots of diverse framing nailers on the marketplace, from common brands like Hitachi, Senco, Max, Bostitch, Paslode, Porter Cable, and Dewalt. How are you going to opt for the very best 1 for your needs? Since you happen to be not intending to purchase all the pneumatic framing nailers out there, you need to educate on your own on what every single nail gun has to offer you. I place this quick guidebook collectively to assistance you do just that: decide on the correct nailer for your demands.
Inquiries to ask just before you invest in:

Weight – Are you concerned about the fate of the nail gun? Some builders look for the lightest framing nailer since they can get the job done longer with much less arm fatigue. Which is the benefit of a light-bodyweight nailer. Other framers will not genuinely thoughts the more 1 or so pounds. I have personally used guns as heavy as 9 pounds and as light as 7 pounds and can perform just about as quickly with both one.
Dimension – Size is also an essential aspect to some contractors and DIYers. A much more compact sized framing nail gun can match into tighter spaces to shoot the nails in the correct spot. Some framing nailers can fit in between studs and joists as narrow as twelve inches. Other folks are more bulky and you are going to have a tricky time with tight locations.

Electrical power – Pneumatic framing nailers selection pretty a bit in the power to drive nails. Some nail guns can shoot nails up to three-one/4 inches long. Others can simply drive the larger 3-one/two inch nails. Many framers never require to shoot nails any larger than 3-1/4 inches extended. Other individuals, on the other hand, want to have the additional power to drive bigger nails when the need to have arises.

Features – What feature do you require in a nail gun? The modern-day guns have a huge array of capabilities readily available. Some have selective triggers, in which you can switch involving get in touch with nailing and sequential actuation nailing with the push of a button. Instrument-free of charge nail depth adjustment is also offered on some framing nailers. A number of are approved for use with specialty nails. It all depends on what you will need (or want).

Lastly

Now that you know what to think about just before getting a framing nail gun, it is time to make my tips. In this website link I have put together the finest pneumatic framing nailers. These nailers are really encouraged by several developing contractors.

Guest Contributor, William Aguinaldo

Principal Plumbing Considerations for Commercial Buildings

Principal Plumbing Considerations for Commercial Buildings

When building any sort of building, commercial being no exception, you will need to pay attention to plumbing before you finish the entire project. Having a well-thought-out plumbing system in place is extremely important, especially for commercial buildings, where the supply of clean water and disposal of wastewater need to be constant and seamless.

Therefore, if you’re building your commercial space, aside from the architects and other contractors you’ll need to find, you’ll also need to search for a reliable expert plumber who will take care of this job for you. With that in mind, here are some considerations you’ll need to address.

Know the requirements

First of all, it’s important to mention that different types of commercial properties all have different water requirements. Establishments, such as hospitals, restaurants, hotels and high-rise buildings all have different water requirements and require a specific plumbing grid. The engineer you decide to hire for this project will have to know what type of commercial property you’re building so that they can accurately plan out the type of plumbing grid you’ll need. For instance, if you’re aiming at building a high-rise building, the plumbing system will need to be equipped with booster pumps and gravity storage tanks so that the topmost floors receive the same amount of water as the lowest ones.

Do the calculations right

Additionally, in order to calculate the average water flow your plumbing system will need to be able to handle, you need to know how much people – on average – will be occupying the space on a daily basis. For a commercial property that’s not in the hospitality industry the grid can be significantly smaller than the one that is a part of this industry. Simply put, if you’re building a hotel, your grid will have to be significantly more advanced and complex than if you’re building a regular office building.

Rely on expert advice

Since plumbing is one of the crucial aspects of a building’s infrastructure it needs to be addressed as early in the process as possible. That’s why it’s important to run this by the commercial construction company that you’ve hired to get the job done. Simply put, if you pair an expert plumbing team with a trusted commercial construction company you can rest assured that the entire project will be done as efficiently and as responsibly as possible. Of course, make sure that both teams are true experts in their field and pay close attention to what they’re saying and advising you to do.

Conduct regular maintenance

Finally, once your project is done and you start using your commercial space, that doesn’t quite mean that your job is done. Rather, your job as a building owner has just begun. What this means is that now you’ll need to take care of the plumbing system you have in place. Again, depending on the type of your commercial building, you’ll need to schedule regular maintenance. Sure, in a hotel or a hospital, the maintenance will have to be conducted more regularly than in ordinary office buildings. Regular and preventive maintenance is crucial as not only can it save you huge amounts of money in the long run, but it can also put your mind at ease.

If you’re thinking about building a commercial property and you’re struggling to come up with an optimal plumbing design for the space, have your construction company work closely with your plumbing experts to create a layout that will work best for everyone. Also, make sure that you vocalize any questions and concerns you might have during the process to ensure that everything goes smoothly and that you’re happy with the final result.

Guest Contributor, Lillian Connors