Home Makeover Diva

Home Design Makeover Ideas

Upgrade Your Window Treatments To Sell The House

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Selling your home? Don’t forget to upgrade your window treatments to sell the house.

An easy way to make your home more attractive to potential buyers is to upgrade your window treatments. A lot of sellers upgrade everything else but forget to upgrade their window treatments. This can be be a big mistake for some buyers, especially if you have old grimy mini blinds.

Replacing those blinds

Replacing old blinds can be done in a snap. In today’s market people are looking to see more natural light, so don’t limit 3721092146_e8f22ea87fyourself with those old dusty mini blinds. They hardly let anything in. Replace them with today’s alternative 2″ faux wood blinds. They are attractive and they let in double the amount of light as mini’s. They are very popular right now, and can be found at great prices,  especially if your sizes fall between 17″-72″ wide and aren’t any taller than 72″. You can buy those at home improvement warehouse near you and even have them cut the width to fit your windows for you. Most places don’t adjust the length for you though. But in most cases if you can read directions and are handy, as well as the time and patience you can do it yourself.

If your blind sizes don’t fit in that range then consider custom made blinds. Just remember, custom blinds take time to be made, so give yourself at least three weeks for custom orders.

Blind replacement cost

So what about cost? Every company has a starter price group that while are more expensive than stock blinds, aren’t as astronomically priced as the top of the line. The great thing about custom blinds is that they are made exactly to your size, so you won’t have to shorten the length like you will for those in stock blinds.  If your price conscious look around at who has the best deal. A lot of window treatment companies offer promos every couple of months. Bali and Levolor for instance, are two great brands that provide a good value. Often, they are well priced too, you just need keep your eyes open.

Five Things You Should Know About Granite Countertops

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Choosing solid surface countertops is a big step. So we thought that these five things you should know about granite countertops would be a good place to start off at, before dropping big bucks at your local big box store.

    1. They can be expensive. Slab granite starts at $50 a square foot installed! It’s less expensive if you can lay the slab yourself, unless your experienced in laying slab surfaces. But that being said once you get it down, you won’t need to replace for at least 10 years unless you taste changes or you decide to change your cabinets. (As a quick side note, if you are going to the expense of replacing your counter tops, make sure your cabinets are worthy!)
    2. They need to be sealed. Not every kind of granite countertop needs to be sealed, but you need to know what you got and figure out which way you have to go. Sealing or having someone else seal it for you, will cut down on those pesky water spots and possible staining. Also keep up on your seal. I recommend resealing every six months to a year, with a food grade eco-friendly granite sealer. Good sealer is expensive, there is no question of this. But don’t cheap out at the end as you will definitely get what you pay for. You need to protect your purchase. It doesn’t make any sense to spend all that money on the granite and try to save $20 on the sealer.

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  1. Granite doesn’t only come in slab form it also comes in tiles. which is much less expensive. Tiles start at $3 a square foot. Though install will start at $10 a square foot. You can install it yourself, but once again make sure you know what your doing first. Natural stone is much harder to install than ceramic. It’s harder to cut, and the tiles aren’t always the same thickness so you need to know how to adjust for that. Also if you are installing tile instead of doing slab, don’t expect it to look like a slab because it’s not! You are going to have grout lines and you are going to see them. Also you are going to notice the slight differences int he tile height. So start out with realistic expectations. Just because it doesn’t look like slab, doesn’t mean it’s not going to look beautiful.
  2. It’s durable. Heat resistant and scratch resistant it’s not going to show wear like traditional laminate or tile countertops. That’s the beauty of natural stone, it’s not going anywhere. Now just because I said it was heat and scratch resistant , doesn’t mean you can try to intentionally burn or scratch it. It just means it won’t burn or scratch under normal everyday tasks.
  3. It’s beautiful. You don’t have to be a geologist to appreciate the beauty of the shade variations and stone formations of natural granite. Speaking as someone who often goes to granite show rooms with clients, I can tell you there is something there for every taste. From neutrals in the golden and brown tones to colors that pop in the greens, blues and reds whatever your statement there’s a granite for it. Whether you want it to blend to or to be the focus of your kitchen.

Choosing Solar Shades Options For Every Budget

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Inexpensive range:
 One option for choosing inexpensive solar shades would be the rolls of film you put on your windows. Just beware that some newer windows warranties are void if you use that film, so check with your window manufacturer first before automatically taking the easy way out for solar shade options. Now the films themselves range in color of tints (silver,gold, platinum etc) and come in different sizing. But an average sized window can usually be done in $20 bucks or less.

Today’s newer films are much easier than traditional window tinting options. They don’t require a special formula to spray on the window and while it is still helpful to use a squeegee to apply them, they don’t rip or bubble as easy as they did as recently as five years ago.

Choosing Solar Shades

Mid range:
I must admit, I’m a big fan of the big box home improvement retailers because they help cater to every price range. If you’re looking for middle of the road to mid range solar shade options, check them out. Physically drive down there to what they have in-stock. Stores like Home Depot in particular, have solar shades by Design View that comes in 2 colors and look a lot like a mesh screen.

So you can still see out of and not have to worry about the UV rays fading your furniture or new cabinets and wood floors. For their in-stock selections, you will be limited to a max size of 60″ and it’s around $60. Keep in mind that they can be cut down to just about size under 60″ that you need though, so you get the custom look without the custom price.

More expensive range:
Custom order solar shades range in price depending on style, brand, and size. Many companies have a book of fabrics to choose from. Some of these listed, look just like mesh screens, while others have patterns and even fabrics that look like woven woods. The right match for you just depends on what your taste and your budget is.

Besides, the other great thing about “special order” roller shades is they are custom made just for you and they have a lot of extras you can add. Such as, cordless or corded controls, decorative hems and tassels, delicate beading and upgraded valances. But with custom orders also come custom prices, be prepared to shell out more money to get the shades to look and function exactly how you like. Also give yourself around three weeks for a lead time. So order ahead of time if you have an special events planned. Follow this advice alone on placing special orders with any big box store is going to save you a tremendous among of stress overall.

Choosing Kitchen Tile Backsplash On A Tight Budget

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Adding a kitchen tile backsplash to your kitchen will increase the value of your house and it will help update or add pizazz. And the great thing is it can be done inexpensively. So it doesn’t matter what your budget is, there is a tile for everyone and every style out there. But before you get to choosing a new kitchen tile backsplash design idea, you need to get a handle on the numbers.

On a super tight budget? Tile starts under .20 cents a piece at your local home improvement big box store. The tools, thinset and grout will run close to $30. So depending on the size of your project you could get this job done spending well under $100. And it’ll make a big change in your kitchen. Need something done with tremendous ease, in addition to sticking to a tight budget? How about backsplash ideas that are doable in about an hour!

There a few basic styles of tile you have to choose from

Choosing Kitchen Tile Backsplash On A Tight Budget

1) Ceramic tile: often comes in shiny for those of you that like a semi or hi-gloss look to your kitchen. It’s one of the most inexpensive tile and it’s super easy to clean. Common sizes are 4×4, 3×6 (often referred to as subway tile), and 6×6.

2) Porcelain tile: often comes in a matte finish and common styles look like natural stone. so you get the natural look in a more stain resistant and often times less expensive tile. sizes range from 6×6 to 18×18. Porcelain is also a more durable tile. . .though on a backsplash that shouldn’t matter as much…since you are not walking directly on it.

3) Natural stone: available in many types and sizes. Slate, Travertine, Marble, Granite and Limestone are just a few that have been favored in kitchens. Great because of its natural look, no 2 are exactly the same. They range in price from reasonable to expensive. If you are budget conscience make sure you keep the price tag in sight before you fall in love.

4) Glass tile and metal tile: range in size from 1×1 mosaics to 8×8 tiles. most common are on mosaic mesh though. the glass and metal both can bounce around the light in the room helping to make the space open up and look bigger. great in kitchens with no windows or natural light. they also range in price from reasonable to oh my. . . so once again make sure you keep that price in sight before you fall in love. Often times people will use one of the other types of tiles as their main and only use glass metal and natural stone as accent pieces. this way the cost is kept down a little, and you still get some of that look you were wanting.

Update! Be sure to check out:

Backsplash Ideas Start To Finish In Under An Hour!

Ideas For Your Kitchen Backsplash With Tile Samples

There are a lot of styles out there and a lot of choices to make before you start tiling. make sure you know what you’re in for and get a look around at what’s out there before you start your project. there are many books and websites out there to help guide you.