Posts Tagged ‘Garage Conversions’

Amazing Guest Room Decoration Ideas… You Can Use Even If You Don’t Have One

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

It is always a lot of fun having friends and relatives round to stay so why not make their stay that little bit more special by turning a normal spare room into a special place they will be clamouring to come back and stay in. Here are some simple ideas that won’t cost too much to put together.

Themes

A great way to go is to come up with a theme and apply it to the room. You could keep it simple by having a particular colour as a theme. With ‘green’ for example you could not only paint walls shades of green, you could decorate with plants and have green rugs and green pillows on the bed. Follow this up with green towels and even green soap.

If you want to take the idea of a theme a bit further you could choose ‘cinema’ as a theme and have a nice big screen for them to watch movies and adorn the walls with film posters and leave popcorn and 3D glasses on the side. The further you go with the theme the more of an impact it will have.

Fun Painting Feature

If you want something a bit less labour intensive why not try some kind of painting feature. No, not just a big painting, get a nice big blank canvas in a nice frame and hang it bare on the wall. Provide paints and drawing materials and then whenever someone comes to stay get them to put their own mark on the canvas. This will be a nice fun thing for guests to do as well as a nice memento for you to remind you of all their visits.

Freshness

A classic way to decorate a guest room that is always enjoyed is with a feel of freshness running through it. People can feel uncomfortable when they are away from home so by making your guest room light and airy with draped white sheets, fresh flowers and clean white or pale fabrics and paintwork they are sure to feel perfectly comfortable and happy.

And if you don’t have a guest room but you want one…

Ever Heard of Garage Conversions?

One thing Ideal Windows and conservatories has found is that many people who do not wish to sell their property but do want more room for guests are converting their existing garage which is hardly used into a new guest room. This can be seamlessly blended with your property both inside and out and even adds value. Plus you can have fun decorating it from scratch too!

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Top 3 Most Highly Recommended Home Improvements

Monday, September 6th, 2010

Never has there been a better time for improving your home. With the house market in a mess and financial ruin closing many doors in the faces of those seeking mortgages, making home improvements may be the best bet for those wanting something fresh to wake up to in the morning. Next time you have the chance, take a walk around your home and see what you would like to change if you could. You may have considered something impossible to change without knocking your whole house down and starting again, but if you ask any home improvement company they will normally give you a pleasant surprise.

Here is some of the most highly recommended and most popular home improvements people are having done at the moment to help you imagine what you could do to your home soon.

Home Gym

With the cost of going to the gym getting higher and higher as much as they are getting busier and busier, wouldn’t you like your own private gym? Well with a home gym you can have just that. By looking at Garage Conversions or converting an existing structure like an out house, you can transform a previously useless space into your own gym. This option is fairly simple to complete and has been performed in countless homes up and down the UK. Other options for converting a spare space would be to turn it into an extra bedroom, a snooker room, a kid’s playroom or even your own night club!

Extension

Another very popular thing to do to your home just now is to add an extension. This can be in the shape of a Conservatory or sunroom, or just a whole new wing of your stately home. Some might consider this too much hassle what with all the planning permission paperwork to wade through, but with many of the top home improvement companies providing this work as part of the service, there really are few excuses left.

Facelift

A very simple way people have been boosting their assets is by giving their home a makeover. You can do many things to the exterior and interior of a house to make it look brand new. New windows make a surprising impact, as does a new roofline and fixing or replacing natural wear and tear to brickwork, woodwork and other external features.

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What Effect Has the ‘Big Budget’ Had On Homeowners?

Monday, September 6th, 2010

The budget has been one of the biggest talking points of the coalition governments first hundred or so days. With the new government taking the reins amidst a recession, it was always going to be an incredibly important part of their job. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has recent announced that the budget was somewhat ‘regressive’ in nature and that the acts of changing tax and benefits structures have resulted in the poorest people in the country being hit the hardest. The Treasury responded by pointing out the pro growth and pro employment effects, aspects of the budget have achieved.

So what affect has the budget had on homeowners?

VAT Increase

The VAT increase from 17.5% to 20% due next year will affect every home owner looking to do home improvements. The cost of work and materials will increase as will the cost of new developments up and down the country. This means it is more important than ever that you opt for a home improvement company like Ideal Windows and conservatories which always offers the best possible value to its customers.

Possible Council Tax Freeze April 2011

Every homeowner will be looking forward to Council Tax being frozen in April 2011. Council Tax has been increasing steadily for a while, so any reduction in outgoings is a bonus.

Mortgage Approvals

Not so much as a result of the budget but an interesting improvement recently is in the number of mortgage applications being approved, possibly due to the Government offering banks insurance guarantees. Month on month between February and March approvals went up, although this was (understandably) from an already low level.

Stamp Duty

Holidays on stamp duty were frozen for an extra 3 months, meaning that people buying a home worth less than £175,000 this year won’t have to pay up.

While these are positive things for homeowners and those making home improvements like adding conservatories and Garage Conversions, the response from industry experts remains muted for now. The worry is that with unemployment still on a downward trend and with the threat of a double dip recession on the cards, the positives may be short lived or not be potent enough to provide a lasting swell.

While there is still concern over the housing market, those without an inescapable reason for moving or buying have the opportunity to make the most of their investment in the mean time. Extending, improving and upgrading in order to ride out the storm is recommended.

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3 Ways to Increase the Appeal of Your Home

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

In the current climate, the ability to be fluid in your housing situation can be a bonus. With Housing Minister Grant Shapps offer 8 million social housing tenants the opportunity to control where they want to live and be able to swap homes for somewhere where they might find more opportunities, it is clear that the way people view housing is changing. There is an increasing number of private home swapping organisations emerging also, meaning that instead of tackling the sometimes tough housing ladder, you can take advantage of the opportunity to swap homes with someone who lives elsewhere in the country, perhaps saving yourself a packet in legal fees and hassle.

To make your home as attractive as possible to someone looking to swap with you, now can be a good time to think about adding to your home. Indeed, if someone who has a home in an area you would love to live in comes along and was looking to move to a house like yours in your area, but they were torn between your house and another, if your house had the little added extra it may well just seal the deal.

So, what do people look for in a house? The wow factor of course!

Conservatory

Of course a conservatory is a major plus for anyone looking for a new home. Unless they are agoraphobic (fear of open spaces) a house hunter will fall over themselves to have a home with a conservatory. Their feeling of space and openness coupled with their cosy interior are simply too tempting for most people to resist.

Double Glazing

With money tight, being able to say that your home is 50% more efficient when it comes to heat retention and insulation is a real ace in the hole, not to mention the fact you are adding a fresh sheen to your exterior. Double glazing, in this climate, is a must and the addition of high quality UPVC Windows is even better.

Garage Conversions

Your home from the outside could look like a traditional 2 up 2 down with a car garage on the side. For someone without a car, this may not be too appealing. However, if you convert your garage into a home gym, an extra bedroom or even your own private cinema, anyone coming to view your home will be completely bowled over with excitement. Garage conversions can be a great understated way to add a huge amount of extra living space to your home.

Anyone of these simple solutions could mean the difference between you moving to your dream area and not. In fact, once you have added your new conservatory or home cinema you may not want to move after all, having created your dream home.

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The Icelandic Ash Cloud and Us

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

How might the Icelandic ash cloud affect the everyday homeowner in this country? In Iceland, people have been out shoveling ash like snow, and in some places been forced to stay in their homes. But if the ash were to get that bad over us and start falling like rain how might it affect people’s homes across the country? Let’s look at a number of scenarios and how your home could be affected.

Best case scenario

So the ash has been falling gently on the UK for a few days and it is like a beautiful Christmas morning, but in June, and the snow is dirty grey and black ash. While this would be annoying and slightly dangerous from a visibility point of view, the most you would have to worry about as a homeowner would be the mess. Having cleared your rosebushes and dusted down your driveway, doors and windows bought through Ideal would be pristine in no time thanks to their easy clean and scratch resistant surfaces, and after a quick soap and water session they would be good as new.

Medium case scenario

Having made it through the best case scenario, the winds suddenly change and torrential ash falls for several weeks. Winds whip the ash around and up under your roofline and into the house. The ash fills your gutters and gets heavy enough to stop the flow of water and causes blockages and pulls your gutters down. With Ideal, rooflines are a crucial part of a healthy functioning roof. As part of this eaves guards, gutter guards and insect guards work to both protect your roof and keep it healthy in spite of the volcano.

Worst Case Scenario

Ash falls in blizzards of unending darkness, while rocks and boulders the size of Transit vans tumble from the sky and one crashes through your garage. After several months living in a church hall and after the skies have cleared, you can call Ideal or go on their website and get an instant quote for garage conversions or even for that brand new Conservatory you always wanted. We provide an extensive range of conservatory designs after all.

While the ash cloud may not cause this level of carnage, it may just delay your holiday. But knowing how much faith you can have in Ideal Windows and conservatories can offer some piece of mind in these temporarily darkened times. Whether you are an existing customer or just out there looking for someone to trust, know this – with Ideal you can’t go wrong.

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Conservative Conservatories

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Now that the country has voted in the historic 2010 General Election, what can we look forward to from our new government? As the MP’s decide who will do what and with whom and for how long and why, we can only speculate at this moment in time as to what will the effect be on us as individuals. What can a homeowner expect to see affected?

The Conservatives promised to: “Help first-time buyers get on the housing ladder, by increasing the stamp duty threshold for them to £250,000, so that nine out of ten first-time buyers will pay no stamp duty.”

This will mean more new homeowners with the opportunity to improve and enhance their homes with new garage conversions and conservatories. They also promise to reintroduce their Right-to-Buy scheme, as seen in the 1980’s, which offers the opportunity for families to get on the housing ladder.

Labour has done well in many areas where housing was a major issue, and held seats threatened by those standing on a single issue of housing. They also intended to suspend stamp duty on properties bought by first time buyers on sales up to £250,000.  Similar to the Conservatives, they both seem to agree that giving better opportunities to first time buyers is an important thing, which should leave some extra cash to improve things such as insulation and roofline products. These will be important what with scorching summers, freezing winters and looming ash clouds with which to contend.

The Lib-Dems interestingly backed a proposal by the Energy Saving Trust for the government to underwrite what they are calling ‘green loans,’ in which householders would apply for commercial loans to revamp their homes, with the cost being repaid through energy bills which should fall because of improved energy efficiency of the renovated house. With this policy in place, many people who would otherwise be unable to make home improvements could now make these alterations to their windows or conservatories.

Be it a helping hand to get on the first rung of the ladder or a little push towards improving what you have already, it seems that whatever your political allegiance, all the parties have something in their back pocket which will help homeowners to make a difference to the value of their home and their quality of lives.

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