Your guest house must in the first instance be in the right location. Make sure that all building and structural alterations are planned carefully. There is very little that can be done if serious mistakes have been made with regard to these two aspects. On the other hand, if your location is good and your rooms and bathrooms are well built and appointed, you will be able to deal with most other problems you may encounter by making adjustments in your rates, services or marketing. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Accessories’
Bathroom Decoration, how to put on the Style and Colour on
Once you have the plan in mind, you can turn your attention to the colour and style of your bathroom.
Your choices are almost unlimited and while your final selection boils down to personal taste, there are a few general guidelines.
To some extent, the bathroom is a place where you can indulge your decorative whims, but try to ensure that its decor — and the budget allocated — is in keeping with the rest of the house. (more…)
Awesome Array of Bathroom Styles, DIY Bathroom Grand Plan
It’s taken a long time, but the smallest room in the house has at last grown up. Gone are the days when comfort was a dirty word in a place of austere cleanliness: today’s bathrooms are designed to be enjoyed, whether your fancy is for fragrant foamy baths, a work-out with the weights and a muscle- pummelling shower or a reenactment of the Armada with a fleet of plastic boats. (more…)
Bathroom Renovation, where to start
The bathroom is not a simple room to renovate, restore or redecorate. It can also be pricey, as any undertaking can turn into a major task if plumbing is involved. However, as the home projects in this section will show, DIY in the bathroom can provide easy and satisfying solutions to give your bathroom a new look. You can completely transform your bathroom by adding accessories, tiling a wall, putting up a fancy blind or installing a large mirror.
Once upon a time the bathroom was a room which contained a bath and very little else. Today the bathroom has many more fittings, is often larger and is a real centre of activity. It is also no longer a purely functional room — some people think of their bathroom as a place to relax in the spa. (more…)
Sewing Project, Clever Cupboard Cabinet Built-in Storage
This neat fold-away sewing centre has ample storage for not only a sewing machine, but also an overlocker, shelves of patterns, sewing accessories and other odds and ends.
This clever cupboard idea is based on a simple upright cabinet that takes no more room than a bookcase, and folds away in one or two easy steps.
The overall cupboard is 1070 mm wide as built (to fit in a corner) by 2070 mm high, and is a total of only about 350 mm deep with the doors shut. When open it reveals seven shelves for storage, and a sewing table 1220 mm x 600 mm. (more…)
Learn to make a Decorative Fabric Shelves
These fabric shelves are ideal for a dual-purpose room which is short on space.
| MATERIALS | |
| ITEM | QUANTITY |
| 115 cm wide large check print cotton fabric | 2 m |
| 115 cm wide stripe print cotton fabric
|
2.20 m |
| 115 cm wide small check print cotton fabric | 1.50 m |
| Rectangles of hardboard (39 cm x 29 cm) | 5 |
| PATTERN
Cut two rectangles of large check print 152 cm x 32 cm for outside panels and top. Cut two rectangles of stripe print 212 cm x 42 cm for shelves and back. Cut eight squares of small check print 32 cm X 32 cm for inside panels, and cut one rectangle of small check print 62 cm x 32 cm for inside top. 1 cm seams allowed. |
|
Weekend Project, Building an Entertainment Centre part 2
3 Cut to length the shelf supports and drawer guides and fix in place. The shelf supports in this case were simply 12 mm x 12 mm cabinet timber strips cut to 350 mm (that is, 50 mm short of the front) and at 45°, and glued and nailed in place. An alternative would be to drill holes and use plastic or metal shelf supports instead. If the shelves were to be housed in the sides, the housings should be routed or cut out to a depth of 5 mm at this stage.
4 The drawer guides are 19 mm x 12 mm cabinet timber cut to 385 mm, and must be accurately glued and nailed (or screwed) to the sides. (You may prefer to fit the drawer guides when the drawers are ready, to double-check that the position is right.)
5 Mark and cut out the bottom shelf, 400 mm deep by 462 mm wide. When finished this will give a total width of 500 mm for the whole unit.
6 Mark and cut rear and front top members of cabinet from 75 mm x 25 mm and 100 mm x 25 mm cabinet timber. These are also 462 mm long. (more…)
Decorative Knobs Finishing Touches
That great second-hand find isn’t finished until you’ve added the decorative touches. If it’s flair or dash you want, fittings like knobs and latches can really add that ye ne sais quoi’ to an otherwise quite ordinary piece.
A ‘finishing touch’ is quite literally that — whether you add bold red plastic knobs to a chest of drawers in a brightly coloured children’s room, or install a very classy brass latch on a restored, natural-finish timber chest. (more…)
Painting to Furniture Surface, Painted Finishes and special effects
Painting Rag rolling
This is considered a basic painting technique. The effect is achieved by lifting some of the topcoat of painting colour from the basecoat (usually a lighter shade such as cream or a pastel) with a scrunched-up rag which has been soaked in solvent. A random textured effect is created as the lighter painting basecoat is revealed beneath the darker painting topcoat. (more…)
Slate Floor for a Family Room, Timber Floors, Power Tools easy Home Improvement
Step by Step
1 Slate must be laid on a firm base that will support it. Timber floors present a problem in that timber and particle (chip) board expand during humid periods, and shrink during drier times. Timber floors can be prepared in several ways. Care should be taken with all the procedures however, bearing in mind that timber or particle (chip) board is not the best base material for slate.
2 A number of slate suppliers have specially developed membrane systems available for the installation of slate on a timber floor. The one used here is the hessian and bitumen method and will provide the necessary `slip’ joint between the rigid tiles and the timber. (more…)
Slate Floor for a Family Room
Slate has enjoyed great popularity with home improvers for many years, because of its toughness and range of natural earthy colours, which can vary from soft green to deep purple, mottled brown and dark charcoal.
The project is to apply slate to a family room, where its lasting strength will provide good service. (more…)
Swag Pelmets / Curtains
Formal swag pelmets are draped pieces of fabric which, when attached to a pelmet support board, become a classic draped pelmet. They hang free of the curtain and usually add a classical, ornate appearance to windows.
Here are some rules to remember with swag trimmings: they look best on tall windows in rooms with high ceilings, so be sure that you don’t over-design your room; consider your fabric requirements (swag curtains can take up large amounts of fabric, and this can become a budget-breaker) — plain calico or home-spun fabric is one idea, as the old principle of using fabric generously applies well here. Generous amounts of inexpensive fabric look wonderful next to skimpy quantities of expensive fabric. (more…)
Window Dressing (Fabric)
Fabric, pelmets and blinds
Dressed windows, in the form of curtains, elaborate drapes and blinds, are probably the most decorative type of fabric use in the home. Large or small areas of attractively used fabric can quickly transform a room — so look upon window dressing as interior decorating, as well as a practical essential. (more…)
Installing a Skylight
The project is to install a skylight in a concrete tile roof to provide a lightwell for maximum lighting in an enclosed kitchen. The skylight will be 800 mm square so will need a rafter cut, and the lightwell is to be painted white for maximum natural light.
Step by Step
1 The size of a skylight is based on the floor area of the area to be lit. It is generally recommended that the skylight be at least 10 per cent of the floor area. In this case the skylight will be 800 mm x 800 mm.
2 Order the skylight, specifying size, roof type, the shape required, and if any accessories, such as diffusers or solar control features are required. (more…)
Bathroom Furnishing Touch
Bathrooms are common storage trouble spots that seem to get very messy, very quickly. These days there are lots of bright ideas for bathroom storage that utilize every bit of available space.
Building a vanity unit around a pedestal basin will help disguise any unsightly pipework while creating extra shelf and cupboard space. (more…)
Household Master of Guide part I (Bombe, Fabric, China, Book Shelves, Decor)
Boiserie
A French term for woodwork or wainscoting. In decorating it refers to the carved woodwork and paneling of seventeenth- and eighteenth- century French interiors. The carved details were often picked out in gilt and frequently were extremely elaborate. Traditionally used in conjunction with gilt furnishings and frames, and with an overdoor paneling with painting, boiserie blends only in very formal settings. (more…)
Household Master of Guide part H (Bobbin Lace, Fabric, Glass, Home Decor)
Blockfront
A furniture style usually associated with cabinets made in New England during the mid- eighteenth century. Notable examples of blockfront desks, secretaries, and chests that were outstanding in craftsmanship and design were made in the Newport workshops of John Goddard and John Townsend. The secretary shown here is attributed to Goddard. Most block front furniture is made of mahogany. The pieces have a raised surface at each side with a recessed area in the center. (more…)
Household Master of Guide part G (Fabric, Blind, Shed, Window Decor)
Blended Fabrics
Fabrics made from a combination of several fibers, either natural (such as wool, cotton, linen, or silk), man-made (such as acrylics and polymers), or both, in contrast to fabrics made of only one type of fiber. The advantage of blends is twofold. (I) Blending several fibers can yield fabric with the virtues of each of the fibers used (color absorption, durability, wrinkle resistance, warmth, or washability), some of which would be missing in a fabric made from any single one of these fibers. For example, the addition of Dacron, an acrylic, to cotton has produced sheets that do not need ironing. (2) Fabrics made with several fibers often have new qualities (weights, textures) with decorative possibilities that no single- fiber fabric has. (more…)
