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Lighting Your Home: Room by Room

Choosing the perfect lighting for your home is not a piece of cake at all. It’s not as easy as going to the shop and choosing the lights you like to fix into your place. It is much more than that. Especially when you want to get that right, you must put a lot of effort and thoughts into the lighting of your place. This post is written to lead you to the right direction when the lighting of your place concerned. To make things simpler for you, this post is also going to give you a room by room lighting tips and tricks.

Public and Connecting Area

This zone or area usually includes the public places of a home which are used by the member while passing through room to room or some places where the members are supposed to spend the last of their time. Speaking of which there comes the staircases, halls, porticoes, foyers and so on. Make sure the foyer gets special attention while lighting your home because it is the place which does the job of offering the first impression to the guests. This is the reason why the lighting of the foyer should be adequate and gorgeous. The hallways and staircases should have bright and proper lighting so that no accidents can happen due to improper or too dark lighting. Try to keep the lights or chandeliers well matched with the color of the walls to keep the uniformity alive.

Personal Spaces

Personal spaces or zones basically include the bedrooms, dressing rooms and the bathrooms. Well, when it comes down to the bedrooms, lighting your home gets even trickier. The lights in the bedroom should be mild and comforting but adequate and proper at the same time. There should be some dimming options so that you can adjust the lighting from the brightest to the darkest at your will. A couple of bedside lamps can be put there but they should be highly shaded so that if one person feels like reading late, the person next to him doesn’t get disturbed by the light. The dressing room and bathroom should be properly lit as well. There should be extra light installed above the mirrors so that when you stand in front of one, you get the perfect reflection.

Living Area

Living area is the public area of a home where the family members and/or guests tend to spend quite a lot of their time. So, the lighting of this zone should have both of the functional and decorative value. Track lighting or sunken one will do a good job when you are lighting your living space. Try to mix and match several kinds of light but make sure they look like a team. Really, there is no place for a nomad while lighting your home. And you should not let that slip your mind.

Kitchen and Dining

Adjustable fluorescent lights can be a great option for your kitchen lighting. Add as many lights you need in your kitchen otherwise, the quality of the food can be dimmed by the dimmed lights. For your dining space a classy chandelier along with some general lighting should do perfectly.

 

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Remodeling Your Bedroom: The Simplest Way

Remodeling your bedroom might sound like a not-so-tough of a job but the reality is quite the opposite of that. Just running along with a paint brush or re-positioning your furniture randomly wouldn’t do the bedroom remodeling job at all. To have a perfect remodeling, you need to be thorough and systematic. Here is how you get a superb bedroom redo in a very easy and simple way.

Get Your Prerequisites Listed

Like any other remodeling jobs there are some prerequisites of your bedroom makeover as well. Get all of them listed so that you get to have all the things ready for the renovation. For instance, you should have a clear idea about the things you need, the things you want, your own style and of course the limits you have got. This way, you can keep your bedroom remodeling realistic and trouble free.

Say Hello to Neatness

So what if you are a voracious reader? Surely, you don’t need the entire library in your bedroom! Get rid of all the extra stuff you have piled up in your bedroom and see how beautiful it looks afterward. Don’t forget, the best way to do something right is not to do anything wrong. Saying goodbye to all the unnecessary or less useful things can make your bedroom a much more tasteful look. It will not only make it spacious but also make it as cosy and comfortable as possible. So, consider this as the first real step of your bedroom remodeling and try to stand by it.

Soothe the Walls

What happens when you are a person of vibrant color and nerve-piercing hue? When it comes down to your bedroom makeover, you better hold that back. Really, just this once try to push that personal preference for vibrant colors into the back seat and give your bedroom what it needs. And the thing your bedroom needs is peacefulness. You surely can choose bright colors for your bedroom as long as they are easy on nerves and have got the soothing effect. Otherwise, try to play safe and try something nice, mild and bright.

Get the Correct Covers

Window coverings are very important part of a bedroom. So, just try not to have rugs as your window covers. A bedroom gets filled up with heavy furniture like closet, bed, dressing table etc. As a result, the windows play a vital role to give it a bit more sense of comfort and freedom. This is the reason why choosing the correct covers for them holds a very prominent place in your bedroom makeover. On top of that window coverings need to give you the privacy you deserve without suffocating you at all. This is why you need to have something moderately heavy as a fabric but not too heavy to give you a suffocating feeling. The color should be mild and bright to wear down the heavy effect. A white based light velvet or heavy cotton curtain can be a good choice for you when it comes down to your window coverings.

 

 

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Bank Interior Design: How to Pull It off in LA

Any kind of interior design looks very simple when it is totally done but in reality that simplicity takes a great deal of complex set of work to be achieved. When it comes down to interior design of any kind of building, there is no easy out of that and there is no short cut road as well. And you should do well to keep this fact in mind that even the seemingly simple interior design of a bank follows the same rules too. This post is going to discuss about the bank interior design so that your bank can have the a1 look. So, if you are looking for having a makeover of your bank, go ahead and have a look.

Focus on the Who

Who are your clientele? This question needs to be answered before you go down to the bank interior design and decoration aisle. For instance, if your clientele are the average people, you can stick to the regular amenities while dealing with the more sophisticated and upscale clientele would require more sophisticated choices of services and amenities. So, make sure get the nature of your clients sorted out first.

Position the Desks Properly

This is a very important part of any bank interior design. Let me tell you why, just like most offices a bank also needs to put choose functionality over appearance. Well, that does not necessarily mean that a bank cannot be well decorated but to keep a bank functional and beautiful at the same time is a very tricky job. And because of this reason, you need to position the desks in a manner that allows the maximum functionality along with the good look. To do so you can position the desks facing the entrance of the bank so that the bank employees can see the approaching clients and can prepare to serve them right away.

Stay Classic and Neutral

It is okay to be tempted by the trendy stuff when we are talking about a new outfit or an up-to-date hairstyle but the same cannot be said about this. The interior design of a bank should not be based on trends. It should be given a versatile and classic look so that any kind of furniture and decor go well with that. Besides, try to keep the colors you choose as much neutral as you can. Take beige for example or tan, either of these two can be perfect for a bank because of the neutrality and warmth they possess.

Get an Achievement Corner

An achievement corner is a must have for any organization. It boosts up the moral of the employees and drives them off to push their limits and to bring new successes. Here you can display the names of the winners, their achievements and things like them so that the other employees try harder to win the awards. This way the bank interior design can play a good part in the employee performances as well.

Image Courtesy: Www.Freephotosbank.Com

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Why to Hire an Architect

An architect is a must have for any kind of new establishments. It does not matter whether you are building an office or at home or a diner, your entire building project will be on the verge of destruction if you do not hire an architect. Remember, hiring one of the good ones will not be a very easy task for you. You have to be ready to pay at least 8% to 12% of the total expenditure or cost of the building to the architect. The rate may vary from one firm to another. Well, it should not matter to you much as paying the price will worth every cent for sure. If you are wondering about how that is going to happen, a quick look at the reasons behind hiring an architect will help you there.

Identifies the Needs of the Establishment

Where is the living room going to be placed or how many bedrooms are to be there in a house? How many cubicles should be there in the office? Or how many tables should be set in a restaurant? Regardless of the nature of the building, these are some of the most vital questions which need to be settled before the building is under construction. And only a proper architect will be able to answer to these questions and to many other relevant and important ones to make the establishment a rocking one. This is how an architect becomes successful in determining the needs of a building and fulfilling them along with taking them to the next step.

Plans Ahead

Planning ahead is one of the most important jobs to be done while creating a building and taking help from the experts can help you there. It takes a sharp mind, a lot of skills, and super power of assumption to plan anything ahead successfully. And you need to hire an architect for that so that everything is done the way it should be done without a single nuisance.

Maximizes Investment

Anything cannot reach up to its true potential until the investment and effort put into it is maximized. The same statement is true for any kind of new establishments as well. If you want to save some money by not hiring an architect, your total cost might reach to an unacceptable number just because of poorly done investment and lack of judgment.

Manages Perfectly

” A boat without a radar” is a common saying for sure but it is built on pure honesty. Well, a mismanaged architectural project can be related to that quite easily. Seriously, without a proper and strong management any project cannot survive, let alone an architectural one.

Looks for the Bigger One

Hiring an architect can be proved highly beneficial for you because of his or her ability to see the bigger picture quite easily. For instance, an architect would not only design the sitting areas in a restaurant and think about that only; s/he would definitely see it all as a whole picture and do whatever is necessary for the whole design.

 

 

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Beautiful Patio: How to Get One for Your Restaurant in Laguna Beach

The concepts and ideas of having a beautiful patio for a restaurant in Laguna Beach are never too simple. Yet, beautiful patios can be attained with a little mixture of wit, taste and logic from the side of the owner and a blend of smartness, efficacy and dedication from the contractor’s side. Here is a list which contains a number of things which will help you to have a great restaurant patio without having too much of a trouble. So, what are you waiting for? Go have a quick look at them!

Make Sure You Have Dotted Every I’s and Cut Every T’s of the Legal Affairs

So what if I am planning on to put some extra chairs and a few tables in front of my diner or perhaps on the rooftop of my building? Well, it seems pretty simple and harmless notion initially but later on there can be a lot of legal affairs related issues can be bothering you like forever. If you are not cautious enough, your restaurant’s license can be jeopardized by that. So, try to avoid any of such possible future problems by acting wisely at present and gathering as many permits, documents and authorizations you need to arrange a beautiful patio for your restaurant.

Be Friendly to the Pets

Well, this kind of friendship should not necessarily mean that you befriend with each and every furry animal that come into your restaurant as cuddly and beloved companion of a guest. It means that you should be well prepared for having pets into your restaurant patio and you should also be well equipped with enough room and facilities to entertain pets of the guests. If your patio is a smaller one and you cannot afford any pets corner, you can hire a few attendants who could walk the pets while the guests eat in peace.

Keep the Critters Away

Stray cats or any other kinds of animals can be lured to the smell of food served on your patio. They would be very keen on having a bite or two of the leftovers. And having those creatures away can be a challenge to you. So, be prepared for that and be ready to deal with any kind of critter-challenge instantly and effectively so that your restaurant can live up to its reputation hygienically as well.

Have Some Shades Ready

Always have some shades ready for the guests. Try to get the removable ones so that the guests can soak as much as vitamin D they want on a lukewarm day and ask for a shelter from the harsh rays of sun on a day which is too hot to endure. Besides, the customers must be provided with adequate shelter from rains, winds and storms whenever is necessary. Besides, a few shades can really enhance the look of your beautiful patio. So, think about it and try to keep them handy so that you can have them in action when situation demands.

 

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The Living Room: What to Do to Do It Right

The living room is one of the most important parts of each and every household. When each and every member of a home occupies his or her bedroom to have his or her own personal space, living room remains one of the few places where a family can share a nice time together without violating the privacy of anyone in the family. On top of that, this is the place where the homeowners entertain the guests. Speaking of which, this area needs something more than just comfort and ease, it needs some nice decor as well so that it could be presentable to the guests. Decorating living room can be very easy if you follow through the net few steps.

Stay Neutral

Pink is essentially a girlie color while blue stands for guys. A living room should not be tagged with ‘girlie’ or ‘manly’ color as it is a common place. The living room decorations should be neutral so that they offer welcoming warmth to every member or guest who comes into it regardless of gender. Gray, olive green, brown, creamy white even pure white could be a great shade when you want to have a bright, soothing and neutral one and to avoid anything too flashy.

Use Removable Items

The time of the total “strings attached” is long gone. So, keeping built-in racks or shelves should be discouraged a lot. If you want to have a bookshelf like that try to have one that contains removable wooden or plywood shelves so that you can get rid of them whenever you want without demolishing the brick-built ones.

Get Multipurpose Furniture

Having multipurpose furniture in your living room can be a great idea for you to implement. This is an era of cool, compact and stylish ones which can be achieved easily by using multipurpose furniture. For instance, use a customized sofa-bed instead of a sofa which will definitely help you to accommodate more people in your home if you feel like being a very generous host for a particular period of time. You can also use an ottoman cum coffee table to add some more diversity to your living room furniture.

Give Your Fireplace a Modern Makeover

Adding some modern features to your existing fireplace can be great for your living room. Your living room decorations can take a great positive turn when you modernize your fireplace. When your fireplace is a more functional one than ever, your living room will be a much nicer place for your guests, your family members and yourself.

Get Some Window Seats

If your living room is designed with windows around the corner, you can afford to have some window seats for sure. Window seats do not only save space in your place but also provide a great view of the garden or road outside.

Using these ways you can have a great living room at your place. It would be compact, comfortable and stylish at the same time which would be a clear symbol of an ideal living room in modern time.

 

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Restaurant Design: Watch out for the Don’ts

Are you in need of designing your restaurant? And do you want to get that done neatly? Then you have to take a couple things under your consideration. First of which are the do’s that you should be doing all through the designing process and the second one is the don’ts that you should be avoiding to do during your restaurant designing is going on. Avoiding the mistakes is just as good as doing the right thing. So, be steadfast in not giving in to the don’ts and see how you get a great restaurant in the end of the process.

Don’t Be Absent

Many of the owners keep making the same mistakes when it comes down to restaurant designing and remodeling. They simply tend to believe that hiring a professional is enough for the job. Some of them even take it to the level of “I am not a builder, the one I hired is, s/he knows how to pull it off and so s/he will”. If you are thinking like one of them, it’s high time for you to take some responsibility. For instance, hiring a professional nanny won’t do your kids any good if you don’t give some of your time to them. The same thing happens with your restaurant. If you are an all-time absentee there, you cannot expect to have the best possible final effect even if you have hired the best builder in your locality as the restaurant will simply miss your personal touch and believe me it will show.

Don’t Micromanage

Micromanaging is a big ‘no’ to restaurant designing ideas. For instance, a reporter won’t be able to write a single line let alone a complete report if the editor keeps hovering over his shoulder and keeps editing him from word to word while he is actually trying to create something. This is the reason why an editor only edits a complete draft to turn that into a perfect report. If you are inclined to micromanage your restaurant design, you can face the very similar problem. In such a case, it would be better for you to hold a weekly meeting where you can talk about each and every correction you would like to have done on the previous week’s work.

Don’t Double-cross

This is a matter of shame that some of the property owners try to deceive their builders by cutting their working hours down and hiring the workers to work in the late hours for a lesser amount of money. This type of deceptions can destroy the rapport and relationship between the client and the builder. Besides, the quality of the work done by workers without any firm supervision will be substandard.

Don’t Be Shy to Be Economical

Don’t be shy about your budget and affordability when it comes down to your restaurant design. Don’t stick to irrational imaginations which you cannot afford. If you want to make your restaurant into a lavish masterpiece, try to take one step at a time. Ask your contractor to design it in such a way that will help you to include a number of add-ons to the original design when you can afford.

 

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The Do’s of Restaurant Design: Get the Best One in Beverly Hills

What are the things that beat the others fair and square when it comes down to restaurant designs and ideas? Well, getting a perfect blend of look, comfort and functionality cannot be attained by one or two moves only. It takes a series of things to be considered, calculated, planned and implemented to get the perfect combo. This series of things can easily be named as the do’s restaurant designing. And to get the best restaurant design in Beverly Hill all you have to do is to get these do’s done while designing your restaurant.

Do Consider the Contractor

Just because your restaurant is open to public shouldn’t mean that every Tom, Dick or Harry can have a shot at this. Judge the personality of the person who you are considering to hire carefully and see if s/he would do fine or not. For instance, you should be cautious about hiring too much of a perfectionist because s/he might not be able to keep up with the deadline by taking more time than usual to satisfy her hunger for perfection. Similarly, you should write the too cool and too casual one off as well as s/he might not understand the gravity of the work at all. Of course, there are exceptions in both of the categories but you should keep the risks at your arm’s lengths so that you will not have to face any difficulty in the future when the job is in progress. Take the reputation of the contractor and the customer feedback into account too as they can give you a clear picture about what to expect and what not to from your builder or contractor.

Do Have a Solid Contract

A contract should be an ironclad one. It should be strictly professional and should cover each and every aspect. A contract should include the overall cost, the deadline, how add-ons are to be handled, the payment methods, installments, dates and of course the names of all authorized parties. This way you will be safe from tackling unexpected and unwanted scenarios.

Do Get an Active Directory

Get a directory if you want to keep your restaurant design perfect. Note down everything that has been happening every day and compare that with the projected development once a week or so. This will help you keep the track of the work that have been going on in your restaurant and give you a firmer control over the happenings. So, get a directory and keep that updated!

Do Be Clear about Insurance

Insurance is a very important thing for any kind of agreement. Make sure your builder has insurance for its crew and workers. Remember, if any of the members of the working team gets injured working on your restaurant design project, you can be held responsible for that. So, make sure your contractor has got it all covered.

Do Have the Final Say

Give your contractor as much as freedom s/he needs but keep the authority in your hand. Having the authority in your grasp will let you keep things slipping out from your hand when necessary.

 

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The Exterior Don’ts You Should Avoid

It is often assumed and even said that the best way to do the right thing is to keep away from the wrong ones. Well, this is a hard and fast truth indeed even when it concerns the area of exterior designs, concepts, ideas and styles. So, when you are determined to do some great jobs done on the exterior design of your home, you should be very cautious about avoiding the most common and crazy mistakes along with making the right moves. Here is a list of exterior designing don’ts which will help you to have a great household exterior.

Don’t Let Your Home Sit as a Prop

The purpose of getting an exterior job done on your property is to add to the beauty and value of your place. This means the exterior styles and designs are the props for your home to be more presentable and beautiful not the vice versa. Yet, many people get some heavy jobs done in the name of exterior beauty which actually hide the house completely or make it look like a prop which can be a disastrous thing to do for their entire exterior styling projects. Do not copy and paste their mistakes, just learn from them so that you can avoid them in a trice.

Don’t Let Yourself Follow the Lead

You better take the matter in your hand and you should start leading by planning the entire exterior designing process ahead and following it without failing. Many of us tend to start an exterior design project as a part of a craze, not knowing what to expect and how to pull it off. Don’t let yourself be one of them and try to stick to a specific plan till the end of your exterior project.

Don’t Plant the Same Kind of Shrubs and Plants

Many people seem to have a misconception of having the same kind of plants and shrubs in their gardens. This is one of the most common mistakes in home exterior design they tend to make. This happens to be like this because most of the plants and shrubs do not bloom in the same season and sticking up to a single one can lead your home to have a very dull one if you ask me.

Don’t Let the Ivy in

Having Ivy climb up to the walls of a house can present a delightful view for sure but they can present a way to the termites and pests into your home as well. On top of that, Ivy can cover your windows and ventilators which can keep fresh air and natural sunlight out.

Don’t Plant Big Ones

Planting a plant that will grow into a huge tree in your yard within a few years is one of the most sever home exterior design mistakes you can ever make. If the tree grows up to its full length it will be towering your place inconveniently. Besides, if it is planted way too nearer to your home than it should have been, then it can be very helpful to the burglars to climb on to your place easily.

 

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The Do’s of Exterior Designs and Ideas for Irvine People

 

Has your jogging session ever come abruptly to a hold by a beautiful garden of a house? Have you ever envied your neighbor for having a perfect lawn and garden? Have you been trying to grasp the idea of home exterior since the very beginning of your home ownership and still yet to find some luck? Then this post is going to smooth things up for you up to a considerable amount so that you don’t have to worry about it anymore. Seriously, by using some simple ‘do’s’ you can make your home in Irvine not only beautiful on the inside but also in outside appearance. Here is a list of things you should be doing to enhance the outward look of your home at Irvine.

Do Use Your Think-tank

When it comes to your home exterior design, you should try to use your think-tank more actively than you usually do. People should give a lot of thought into the exterior of a home because it is the first thing that others come across when a house is concerned. Following the footsteps of the wise, you also should be doing some useful use of your think-tank.

Do Have a Yard

The home exterior gets much better when there is a yard included in it. It could be a pavement or even a simple grassy one; just have one that is going to be catchy, low maintenance and fun! Make the exterior design of your home shine with a yard!

Do Fix a Center Point

Everything is much better and more stylish when it is placed in a well thought and well-designed way. And to do that about the exterior design of your place, you will have to fix a focal or a center point so that the other decorative items revolve around that. You can get a statue, a small pond or even a fountain for the centerpiece of your garden.

Do Play Miser

Well, not all the time but play miser when it matters. Many of us become wretchedly thoughtless when we go for an exterior design. We never feel like ceasing to buy lavish and luxury stuffs which can jeopardize the entire designing process by putting you in short of money when you require it the most. So, playing miser works the best.

Do Have Multiple Styles

Mixing one style with another can be a great thing for your home exterior design. Many styles can be mixed and matched with one another perfectly and can give a home a perfect look at the outside. You can give it a shot because it is worth giving a try indeed.

Do Put Night Lights in Use

This is one of the best things that can be done to your home exterior. The night lights give your place a nice and dramatic look.

Give these do’s a try for the exterior of your home and see the change and improvement for yourself. And you can thank me later!

 

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Armstrong Cal Builders | 3130 E. Willow Street | Signal Hill, CA 90755 | 888-960-3090 | email