Visit the Shaks

The old joke about buying a Christmas tree that's too tall for your house is one that has been played out in my own family. How do you know how big a Christmas tree you need? CasaSugar has the answer.

Create You Squidoo Lens On A Shak Subject And You Could Be Featured On Shakadoo! Once you have built your lens, submit it to the group HERE.

Laminate Flooring Guide by JonitasKalimpo

Laminate Flooring, Make a Dream Home

Unlike hardwood, laminate floors will not stain, fade, dent and are far more scratch and water resistant. Warranties range from 10 years to lifetime and cover such factors as mentioned above. Entry level laminate wood flooring is designed for light traffic areas and come with warranties ranging from 10 to 15 years. Most people set their expectations too high and expect that entry level floors will perform under heavy traffic conditions and still look good for the duration of the warranty. This is however not the case, as an entry level floor subject to high traffic will start to show wear and tear within three to five years.

We hope this guide will help to understand better what laminate flooring is and how can improve your home, ALOT!

Everything You Need To Know on Laminate Flooring

Laminate Flooring mimics the look of traditional woods while offering easy installation and lasting durability. At first glance, it can be difficult to spot the difference between hardwoods and laminate flooring. What appears to be a natural wood grain pattern is really a thin layer of decor paper (a photographic image) under a tough-as-nails protective film that is glued and pressed to a high-density backing board. Laminate Flooring comes in an array of wood effects as well as stone and ceramic effects.

Laminate floorings main advantages are that it is easy to install, is very hardwearing and relatively inexpensive compared to real hardwood flooring.

Laminate flooring is a floating floor, which means it does not fasten directly to the sub-floor. Instead the planks are clicked together. This enables the floor to be fitted fast and with no real mess.

Most laminate floors today fit together with a click system with the most common being the UNICLIC system as used by Quick-Step. This is extremely easy and fast to fit. The ingenious UNICLIC-system has a special shape of tongue and groove. You simply place the tongue of one plank into the grove of another at an angle and press down. Their sophisticated and very accurate milled shape makes it possible to create a very tight connection during the installation. The floor can be walked on straight away.

If you are laying laminate flooring over a concrete sub-floor then you will fist need to lay down a damp proof membrane (DPM). This is basically a sheet of plastic usually around 5mm which helps protect the Laminate from moisture. On top of this goes the foam underlay this acts as sound absorption and also helps even out minor irregularities in the sub-floor.

Most manufactories now offer a combined DPM and underlay along with several underlay's that have better sound absorbing qualities
Most of the leading laminate floor manufactories now also have ranges of flooring that also include built in underlay. This underlay is pre-fitted to the bottom of the flooring and is usually of sound absorbing quality. You do not need to install this type of floor a secondary but if you are laying over a concrete sub-floor you still have to lay down a D.P.M. (Damp Proof Membrane) first.

Laminate flooring has been around in Europe for around 15 years and has seen massive growth in the past few years read the rest....... 

To learn everything you ever wanted to know about laminate flooring, visit the entire lens by clicking: Laminate Flooring Guide

Create You Squidoo Lens On A Shak Subject And You Could Be Featured On Shakadoo! Once you have built your lens, submit it to the group HERE.

Hiring Contractors For Service Work by SemperFidelis

Hiring Contractors for Service Work

A lens devoted to hiring contractors to do work in your home or business.  Avoiding the pitfalls of hiring the wrong contractor.

Lies From Contractors

If you have dealt with contractors, you have probably heard the same lies I have. They erupt from their mouths as rationale for their questionable behavior and unreasonable demands. They are often accompanied by "righteous indignation" that anyone would question this contractor's forthrightness.

Here, in no particular order of deceitfulness, are four of them.

It's a standard agreement

Sure it is.  It's your standard agreement that requires the property owner to give away the store and that doesn't require the contractor to complete the job in a workmanlike manner or, for that matter, even complete it at all.  The "standard agreement" does require you to pay, though.

One electrician who did work on a property of a landlord I know had a "standard agreement" that didn't even require him to clean up his mess or repair the wall he put holes in for the wiring.

Everybody does it that way

I certainly hope they don't, because if everybody did it that way, buildings would be falling down all over the country.  Those are the words you hear when you ask about the corners the contractor cut to get the job done cheaper. Because contractors always "did it that way" we have building codes.  Those building codes were not instituted because every contractor was meticulous in his work.  They were instituted because of the work that goes along with "everybody does it that way."

I need the money up front

Then you don't need to work on my property.  You get paid when you are finished and the work is done properly.  Not getting paid should not be a problem for a contractor because of contractors' lien laws, which can result in a lien on the property they worked on if the owner doesn't pay.  If the contractor doesn't have the money or credit to buy the necessary equipment to do the job, that should raise a crimson flag.

To learn everything you ever wanted to know about hiring the right contractor, visit the entire lens by clicking: Hiring Contractors For Service Work

As part of the ongoing effort to get the house clean for all the company that is coming to my house over the next several weeks, I have been cleaning out closets. Today, I am tackling the coat closet.

I actually didn't think this would be as big of an effort as it has turned out to be. In my mind, I was going to look at the coats, get rid of any coats that were outdated or too small, and go on with my day. I quickly realized that my coat closet was divided into three parts, all of which are stuffed with way more stuff than we really need.

First, there was the bottom of the closet. The picture above is maybe a third of the shoes I threw out of there, most of them mine and my daughter's. I got rid of any shoes that were too ratty or too small. Then I boxed up all the sandals and put them away for winter. Finally, I left one pair of dress shoes and one pair of tennis shoes in the closet for everyone. All other shoes went back in the closet of the shoes' owners.

Once that was out of the way, I went to the easy part- cleaning the coats out. I got rid of all coats that were too small or outdated and/or ratty. Everything else stayed. We don't seem to have such a coat fetish as we do shoes, thank goodness.

The top part of the closet was the hardest part. It had become a mish-mash of whatever crap we randomly threw up there. There was an empty box, a truckload of hats, scarves, and gloves, some yoga equipment, and an odd assortment of diaper bags. I haven't carried a diaper bag in over a year. I tossed all the diaper bags, neatened up the yoga equipment, and used the box to put hats, scarves, and gloves in. I ditched any hats, scarves or gloves that were too small or ratty. Life is too short to wear an ugly, ratty scarf!

Finally, I added in a few hangers for the guests that come visiting. Now my coat closet is ready for both guests and winter!

If your wood furniture has scratches or dings, don't despair! Frugal Upstate has the solution:

Enter the Minwax stain pen. These puppies only cost around $5 (the one I bought at Wally World was $5.43-I think they were a tiny bit cheaper at Lowes) , last quite a long time, and are WAY easier than opening up a can of stain and worrying about drips etc. I had originally thought that I might have to sand down and restain certain sections of the woodwork, but lucky for me and thanks to this gizmo, that is no longer necessary! Take a look at the difference in this windowsill after I used the pen:

You'll have to go over there to see the difference. It's amazing!

Stephanie at Stop The Ride is thinking about something I have been thinking about lately: keeping the clutter out of Christmas. She has lots of great advice, including this:

2. Start by limiting yourself.
Set yourself a limit, either in dollars or quantity of toys, you will buy for your children. To see the system we use please refer to Four for Christmas.

I had been thinking about three toys per kid for Christmas, but four is a nice, round number, too. Stephanie's advice about keeping the relatives from giving your kids hordes of toys is great, too. I have already talked to my mom- the person most likely to add to the toy mountain- and she agrees that this Christmas should be simpler than in the past.

What are you doing to limit the Christmas toy mountain? Or are you?

It's important to teach your kids how to clean, if for no other reason that they will need to know how to clean when they are on their own. One thing my mother would never let me do is laundry, because she was afraid I would somehow ruin her washing machine, so when I moved out on my own I had to call my grandma and ask her how to do laundry.

This article in the LA Times agrees with me, and I'm glad to see some validation. All my kids have chores and I have taught them how to do everything age-appropriate that they are able to do. By the time a kid of mine reaches 18, they will be little Suzy or Sam Homemakers, if I have anything to do with it.

For a long time, I was afraid I was perhaps too strict by making my kids do chores- many of my friends didn't have their kids do any chores around the house and I was worried about whether I was too strict. However, as time has gone by and I see my 13 year old is capable of cooking a simple meal while his friends are still clueless about how to use the microwave, I feel like I have been doing the right thing.

Shak-ers, am I right here or am I right?

HT: Strollerderby

Maire Kaye is talking about her favorite tunes to clean by over at the Clutter Control Freak blog. She makes a mix CD and listens to it while she cleans. I have one, too, it's called the "Clean House Mix". Here's my playlist:

1. Somewhere Over The Rainbow Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole
2. Copa Cabana Barry Manilow
3. Like A Rolling Stone Bob Dylan
4. Coconut Harry Nilsson
5. Walk Of Life Dire Straits
6. Battle Of Who Could Care Less Ben Folds Five
7. Lonely Ol' Night John Mellencamp
8. She Drives Me Crazy Fine Young Cannibals
9. Sundown Gordon Lightfoot
10. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover Paul Simon*
11. Friends In Low Places Garth Brooks
12. Johnny Jump Up Minstrels Of Mayhem
13. Wonderwall Oasis
14. Gin And Juice The Gourds**
15. Devil Inside INXS

So that's my cleaning playlist. Tell me all about what you're listening to!

*This song is helpful when you're cleaning your tuckus off and your husband is lazing on your couch. Sing along loudly.
**Not to be played around small kids. Also, this is a cover of the Snoop Dogg song Gin and Juice.

If you're not regularly reading Amy at MomAdvice, you should be. Today she has a great post about readying your house for winter. She links to a video she did for her local news station. There are lots of great money saving tips there, like buying a programmable thermostat to save money on your heating bills. Go on over and check it out for yourself!

Casa Sugar links to this awesome idea for displaying photos on the wall by using CD jewel cases. This is a good way to recycle your old CD jewel cases, and makes for a very pretty display. It's also not a hard project, so you can whip this out in an afternoon. What a great idea!

[photo credit: photojojo.com]

Now that the cooler weather is here, it's time to start doing those outside chores that nobody wanted to do when it was miserably hot. I'm compiling a list of things I need to do for my house, and I thought I would post what I'm doing here, and see what everyone else was doing. Here's what I have on my list:

1. Paint and repair the fence. I don't actually have a fence, but my mom does, and since my dad's been so sick, I offered to help.

2. Power wash the deck and sides of house, re-stain deck. The good thing about the drought in Tennessee is the fact that I can count on several days in a row to be able to stain my deck and give it ample time to dry.

3. Clean out gutters. I hate doing this, largely because I have some gutters on one side of my house that are up way high, but it must be done. I have one gutter that needs special attention because it seems to be leaking. Ugh.

4. Wash, wax, and detail cars. I like to get my cars all nice and clean before it gets cold, because I never feel like washing the interior windows of my vehicles in 30 degree weather.

That's all I have on my list for now, but I'm sure I am leaving some things off. What are you doing to get ready for winter?

Much of my antique furniture comes from estate sales. You can often find the most wonderful bargains at estate sales. This is one of the places antique dealers find the pieces they sell. Might as well cut out the middle man and go to the estate sales yourself.

But where do you find estate sales? I have found a very good source for finding estate sales is by using EstateSales.net. They send emails and I just look through to see what's going on, and if something interests me, I go to the sale. It's as simple as that and I don't have to fuss with getting a newspaper and trying to remember the best day to get the paper, etc. Try it out for yourself!

Hanging art on your wall can be easy or a source of a whole lot of drama. You know how it goes, "The left side needs to be higher. No, MY left. Now the right side needs to be higher." Ugh.

I have a very easy method of hanging pictures on the wall. Essentially, you use lip gloss to mark the exact spot where you are going to hang the picture. This enables you to put the nails exactly where they need to be- no easy feat with some pictures.

When hanging your pictures, make sure the center of the picture is at eye level. This is the most common mistake novice decorators make when hanging art. I've made that mistake myself, it is quite easy to want to hang the pictures higher than they should be.

When hanging a group of pictures, think of them as one unit. This means the center of the grouping should be at eye level. Be careful grouping pictures that are different sizes, sometimes this works, usually it does not.

Think of your furniture size when picking pictures. For example, your picture should not be longer than your sofa. Additionally, you shouldn't pick a tiny little picture to hang over your piano.

When you hang a picture that hangs from a wire, use painter's tape to keep it from sliding all over the place. Just wrap the wire several times with painter's tape, and hang.

Be creative! You don't have to just hang your picture on the wall, you can lean them on a shelf or mantle, or hang pictures on a wire, like this.

Happy picture hanging!

While decorating it is sometimes unavoidable to have the odd accident every now and then. But what do you do if find that you have created a nasty looking stain on your carpet? Home Tips at Arca Max have some great ideas that should help out in this awful situation.

Obviously it would be easy to decorate without the carpet, but that is not always possible, and by even covering the carpet there are always little gaps and liquids would find a way through too.

Home Tips have some great suggestions, which include how to remove new stains that are still wet, and even how to lift off that dried in stain; this is probably the worst one to lift. They explain how to clean the areas without damaging the carpet itself, after all, who wants to spend time cleaning a carpet only to find that it has been ruined in the process?

Finding space in the kitchen for pots and pans is sometimes difficult if not impossible. But here is quick, easy and stylish way to get those pots and pans out of the way and onto their own rack.

Now this is no ordinary rack, as you can probably make out the rack is made from a discarded bicycle wheel, which can be bought from a second hand shop or maybe you have an old bike of your own, which makes this true recycling!

You will need a bolt that fits through the hub and some of those butchers type hooks to complete the project, in all the total cost should be around $15 to $20, which is a bargain.

Source  [Apartment Therapy]

Its probably not the top priorities of a student, but there always comes a time when the dorm just has to be tidied up even if it is just to allow them to get in and out everyday.

But being on a tight budget can be a problem, so here are a few starting points just to get the ball rolling so to speak.

Get a futon - These are made for dorms, space saving and modern in design, best of all they can be bought for less than $200 and that they double as sofa and so save space, great for sleepovers.

Wallpaper - Not just any old wallpaper, this wallpaper is draw on and peel off wallpaper, which you can personalize yourself, for $45 you can get a nice light shade from paperapartment.com you also get a maker pen to draw on the walls too, when you are finished, just peel off and then the dorm is back to how it started.

Reflect - Mirrors are great for making small spaces look larger, great if you can place them on opposite walls the room will look as if it goes on forever. Small mirrors can come in various shapes and sizes, but the great thing about them is that they can be self adhesive, which is good for just placing on the wall.

Wall covering - Does not have to be wallpaper as that can be just too permanent, so have a look at tapestries and small throws, these can be very reasonable in price and just simply hung on the wall. These will come in many different designs and colors.

Cushions - You do not need many of these to make an impact, four can make a dorm look homely and very comfortable, pick one design and match with some solid colors for great effect.

String lights - The standard dorm lighting system, with so many designs to choose from there is bound to be something that fits into your lifestyle, be it chilies to sport related lights.

Most of this can be done for a few hundred dollars, which includes the futon, but be aware to budget and account of the costings, it is all to easy to let it get out of control.

Source  [GW Hatchet]

Estimating the amount materials needed is essential when undertaking a large project. If you order too much you over spend and get left with unwanted materials and on the other hand, if do not order enough, then you will end up have to order more materials, if the retailer has a minimum order then you will end up with an excess of materials and wasted more of your budget.

To help you in this, I have put together some clever material estimators, with these all you need do is measure up the room space, including height etc, then enter these details into the calculators, within a second or two you will have the exact amount of material needed to complete the job.

Drywall - Just enter the dimensions into this calculator, and it will give you an estimate including the amount of fasteners, joint tape and joint compound is needed.

Fences - These come in all shapes and sizes, so it is essential to get this one right, otherwise it will cost.

Grass Seed - Grass seed needs to be spread evenly, so that there are no patches.

Paint - This calculator will tell you the amount of paint required for a specific sized room or wall, it will also tell you which brushes and rollers are needed.

Tiles - Enter in the details of your tile requirements and sizes of floors, walls etc, and you get the exact amount of tiles that are needed to finish the job.

Tile Pattern - Design your own tile pattern,

Wallpaper - A great way to cover walls and bring a new texture, but it is very easy to buy too many rolls of wallpaper, use this tool to calculate how many you will need.

Window - With windows, getting the right sizes can be very tricky, but with this tool, the will be m mistakes, and you can get more quotes over the phone, without the pushy sales people coming round.

While doing any decorating or home improvements is always possible, no matter how careful you are to make a mistake or maybe just a quick freshen up, but don’t panic because there may be an easy solution to cover up, your mishap even if it has to just a temporary measure.

Paint - Always the best and easiest way of making a room look clean and fresh, depending on the size of the room this can be done for a minimal amount of expense, as the walls of an averaged sized room can be completely covered with two to three liters or a gallon of paint, which if picked in a sale or an offer will cost way less than $50.

Fabrics - When you have had a sofa for a while it sometimes begins to look tired and worn in places, but replacing can run into hundreds of dollars, and can take a few weeks to be delivered, so by simply buying a new sofa, may not be the quick fix. An alternative would be the use of cushions and throws, these can either be matching or completely different to your current color scheme, but by doing this can be a really good way of giving your sofa a makeover without the cost of buying new.

Rugs - That bare patch or nasty looking stain will completely disappear underneath a rug, make sure that is a good size, i.e. not to big or small, this can be a very cost effective way of covering over any type of stain or marking on the floor.

Paint effects - If you have a wall that has markings like cracks or even mould patches, the simple technique of sponging or rag rolling can be used, and this will cover the markings in away that they will not be so apparent, therefore camouflaging the offending marks.

Source  [Home Decorating Sense]

Using a paint roller can help you to get the job done faster and at the same time use less paint and therefore save money, but what about the mess? So what is the best way to use a roller?

1. Firstly the easiest way to prevent paint marks on other walls and ceilings, is to use a paintbrush, yes I know it’s about a paint rollers, but what can you do? Use the brush to paint a nice border around the wall or ceiling that you are intending to paint, around 75 mm should do, this will help you not to mark other parts that do not need painting.

2. In the tray it is easy to put too much paint into the tray, which will result in too much paint on the roller, leave the raised section of the tray can be used to remove excess paint from the roller.

3. Push the roller up and down along the tray until it is fully loaded with paint, it needs to be evenly balanced otherwise there will be gaps on the wall when you start to use it.

4. Pick a starting point on the wall, it should be about a width of the roller away from the border that you have already done, work the roller back towards the border, this will fill in the gap.

5. Try to spread the paint evenly all over the surface, only refill the roller when it is running out of paint and remember to start each new application about a rollers length away from where you finished and work your way back, this way the wall will get an even coating and not two coats on some parts and one on another.

6. When you have finished applying two or three lots of paint, it is a good idea to get a new or dry roller and apply it all over the newly painted surface; this will even up the area, so that there are no patches or unpainted areas.

Source  [Better Homes Gardens]

When we think of stairs and storage naturally we would be thinking about the space that is underneath the stairs themselves, but in a lot of buildings this space has already been utilized into a useable space, what we are going to be looking at is something entirely different, something that will change the whole concept of stairs for the future.

Well as you can see in the image, this system makes use of the some of the space under the stairs, in fact the front of each step can be transformed into a drawer, the size of which is determined by the size of your stair case, and you can do as many as you wish, the space that is taken up will not really make that much difference to because of the angle of the stairs.

This is a really cool design feature, which can be applied to any home, that has wooden stairs, even just a couple.

The design is from Australia and by the looks of it will only be available there for the mean time, but if this is looked into, I believe that this can be done as a DIY project, if you think about it, the work would involve the removal of the front panel, and creating a draw from it, and by placing runners inside the stairs this would create your drawers.

It is worth looking into as this type of project could create a lot of storage.

Source  [Gizmo Central]

Once you have got to the furniture stage in your kids room plan, there is one thing that they will all love, and that is a bean bag, but instead of buying one, why not make it for yourself.

You'll need:

Butchers paper
3.3 x 150cm wide fake fur
45cm closed-end zipper
35cm red fabric
35cm iron-on stabilizer
35cm Vliesofix
Matching thread
Embroidery threads
500g bag polystyrene balls

Equipment:

Metal Square rule or set square,
Scissors,
Pliers,
And sewing machine.

Getting started:

Draft out pattern pieces onto paper, do not forget to leave enough for a seam, about 1.5 cm.

Cut out the bean bag sections, this will be six side, one full circle and two half circles.

Sew along the long sections, press when finished.

Draw heart shape on red fabric, mark the center point, here you can embroider your favorite pattern.

Place stabilizer on inside of panels and press to set.

Place vliesofix to the inside of panels; remove paper and iron onto fur.

Sew around heart with a wide stitch, remove excess stabilizer.

Sew the other four long sections and join up, press to open up the seams.

Sew the small circle to upper edges of bag and press the edges flat.

Place the two half circles together along straight edges, press seams open.

Place zipper into place sew 6mm either side.

Sew large circle into place, then turn inside out, the bean bag is now the right way.

All you need do now is get the polystyrene beans into the bag, just snip the corner of the plastic bag only an inch or so and slowly pour them into the bean bag.

Source  [Yahoo]

The kitchen is the center of the home and more and more it is becoming the central meeting place for all the family, this is the reason why so many people are in the process of or thinking about a refurbishment of the kitchen, this can be very expensive and time consuming, but what can you do about it?

There is a great way to freshen up the look of your kitchen without all the fuss of going through having a completely new kitchen, this way is to simply reface your existing kitchen cupboards and it is not as hard as you may think it is and because it only involves the door part of the cabinet then the cost is going to be a lot lower than replacing the whole thing.

You can quite simply just replace the doors, this is a fairly easy job but can be quite pricey depending on where you and the type of door that you choose.

Depending on what the doors are made of you can refurbish them by stripping them if they are solid wood and then either finish with a varnish, paint or stain, if they are made from a veneer construction these type of doors can painted with special paint or covered in a veneer covering.

This simple process can give you kitchen a completely new look and without all the hassle and expense of having a new kitchen fitted.

Source  [Home Improvement]

The prospect of tiling a floor no matter what size can be daunting, in fact if you have never done this sort thing before, it can be a bit of headache even before you get started.

This piece will explain the basics; obviously as you get going it will become easier.

1. Everything has to be cleared from the floor, all appliances, furniture and even the baseboards if you have them.

2. Is your floor concrete? If not then you will need to clean, put down a layer of cement and cover with a concrete backing board, once dry this will need to be screwed into place to secure it.

3. Locate the exact center of the room, you can mark thins with some chalk or anything else that is at hand.

4. Try a “dry” run, this will give you an idea of what the tiles look like down on the floor, and where you are going to have to do some resizing.

5. Begin to lay the tiles for real, in order to set the tiles trowel down some adhesive onto the floor, carefully place the tile down and firmly press on to make sure that they are firmly in place, you may wish to use a spirit level to check that each one is level.

6. For cutting the tiles a wet saw is preferable, these can be hired. Please be very careful with the tile edges and chips, they can be deceptively sharp.

7. Once all the tiles have been laid and the adhesive has dried out, the final phase is to grout the joints, this is the best job because it is the last job and pulls the whole project into place. Apply the grout to the joints and thoroughly wipe off the tile surface with a damp cloth or sponge.

That is the basics; if you take each step slowly then you should be having no problems at all.

Source  [DIY Network]

There has probably never been a better or easier time to get started on a bit of interior design on your own property, this can be both very satisfying and of course save quite of money in hiring professionals, this money can then be put towards some other renovation or redecoration project.

Homes today are seeing a whole host of changes, some of which are most defiantly out of the box, and yet because of the attitude to décor and styling, there is a anything goes approach by many people, whereas you would have seen house kept to the style of when they were built, we are now seeing old houses that have an ultra modern interior and visa versa.

This in effect actually helps the design, because there are no conventions you are able to capitalize on your own likes without the fear comment.

But there are a couple of things that you must ask yourself before you start. 1. What do you want to improve? And 2. What is your design budget?

There are many fast and easy ways of simply changing the look and feel of a room, by just adding soft furnishings, mirrors and a coat of paint on one or all of the walls.

What you really need to sort out in your head, is work out exactly what you do not like about the particular room and then work around that, this may be furniture, color, pictures and lighting, then think of a solution to the problem, if it is the sofa, then what are the alternatives and what would the cost be?

As you can see, by doing this job yourself, you can plan around your likes and dislikes, and in most cases it is possible to spruce up a room, with a coat of paint, some soft furnishings and possibly the additions of flowers, candles and books.

The basic approach works best, be simple and effective.

Source  [School of Interior Design]

We all have an idea of what our ideal house would be, but how we get it, is another matter.

Whether you are a first time buyer or looking to downsize now that the kids have left home, you just cannot walk down to the realtor and buy the first house that you see, you need to prepare yourself for the task and it is a task.

First off you need to establish your financial limits, what is your top price? Get this figure and stick to it, going over can take you into a whole world of struggling.

Now is location, you have heard it all before, but location has to be the prime objective for any home buyer, it can make a complete difference to the life that you intend to live, this can take on many issues, such as traveling to work, schools, health and of course shopping, the factors can have bearing on the potential investment value too, so now you have price and location.

The final thing that you need to establish, is size and type, how many bedrooms, house or apartment, you need to work out exactly what your needs are, there is no point in buying a house that it is too big, or in the same manner too small, the same goes with bedrooms you need enough not too many. It is far better to a two bed roomed home in an up market area, than a four bedroom home in a not so good area.

Once you have sat down and established these needs then your search should be easier and straight forward.

Source  [The New Homemaker]

When you decide to have a move around at home, the obvious starting point is to move the furniture around, this ok at first but you can quickly run into problems when the furniture begins to pile up or it has to be moved back.

So in order to avoid this and all the headaches that are associated with this, why not plan your space on paper first, this may sound as though it is going to be technical or challenging, but its not, and there is a lot of help out there for you to get started.

The simple way of room planning is to get some graph paper and measure the room, transfer the measurements to the graph paper and hopefully you should be looking at a scale drawing of you room, you can do this for your whole house is you wish, and now you can measure the what furniture you intend to place in each room and make a scale model, really just a piece of colored paper will do and place these in the room you can now see what space has been taken up and if it all fits in the room.

If you require a more professional looking plan, then it may be worth looking into some of the kits that are available such as the Home Design Tutor, the basic kit from them is only $24.95 which is enough for a property of 2000 sq ft or below. Includes 700 precut, 1/4-inch scale, reusable peel and stick furniture and architectural symbols for every room in the house including living room, dining room, kitchen, den and bedroom furniture, every standard kitchen cabinet and appliance, an extensive assortment of bathroom fixtures, windows, doors, walls, lights, outlets and switches, plus a 5,600 square-foot Floor Plan Grid and design worksheet.

Source  [About]