Affordable ideas to do up your kitchen

Kitchen Flooring

You may not believe this but as a home-maker, you spend most of your time in the kitchen. The kitchen is a place where you have casual chats with your family members, prepare food for the entire family and thus, having a right look and design for the kitchen is extremely important. Since you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you surely would like to have a new design for your kitchen every few months. However, that may not be possible considering the high costs involved in remodelling the kitchen. However, this is not the end of the world for you as there are many décor ideas which are not just affordable but also easy on the pocket. Today, kitchen décor ideas have made custom –made to suit any type of kitchen ranging from modern, traditional or a country kitchen. 

Décor magazines

For handy kitchen décor ideas, you can scan through various lifestyle and décor magazines to get an idea of what are the designs and themes that are trending in the current period. However, you should stay away from such magazines that are only about pictures and offer no advice on kitchen designing. Seeing the attractive pictures in the décor magazine may lure you into adopting one of the designs for your kitchen, but it is also important that the particular design that you have selected suits your kitchen size and type.

Tiles for commercial establishments

When it comes to choosing the flooring for commercial spaces like malls and restaurants, you have to be careful that you choose the right type of flooring as the flooring meant for residential spaces would not suit commercial establishments. Places like malls and shopping centres have to cope up with heavy footfall throughout the day and at the same time maintain a safe and comfortable environment for the patrons. Hence, the requirements for commercial flooring are completely different from that of regular flooring. Here are a few considerations before your look for commercial flooring.

Commercial Flooring

Illusion of space

When looking for tiles for commercial spaces, look for those that can create an illusion of space. Most malls and shopping centres have tiles in greys and beiges as these are supposed to be most neutral of all colours. While looking for tiles for commercial establishments, the most neutral shade is chosen. However, times are changing and more and more innovative designs are coming into picture. These innovative designs for floor tiles are now being taken as an integral part of the floor design process. Opting for carpet tiles for commercial flooring gives you a chance to create flooring that is truly unique, custom-made to suit the area’s colour, taste and mood.

Durability

When looking for tiles for commercial spaces, remember that it is practically not possible to replace the tiles every few years. Hence, for commercial spaces, you need tiles that are extremely durable and have a long shelf life. Places like shopping malls will be exposed to heavy customer traffic and thus the tiles should be able to withstand the load and should be resistant against damage. Apart from damage, tiles for commercial spaces should be resistant to general wear and tear. For commercial spaces, you can opt for carpet tiles that have a dense loop pile construction which can be used along with vinyl flooring. Remember that when it comes to durability, hardwood flooring is the last option you should consider as it is not known for durability.

Why ceramic tiles are best for your bathroom

Ceramic Tiles

When it comes to choosing tiles for your bathroom, one good option you have is that of ceramic tiles. The bathroom is a place where it is difficult to take up redesigning tasks every now and then. So for the bathroom, you want materials that are long lasting and superior in quality. That is what the best quality of ceramic tiles is. Ceramic tiles are known for their durability as they are designed to have a long shelf life. Apart from being extremely durable, ceramic tiles are resistant to moisture and dampness. As they are designed to be resistant to damp surfaces, they are an excellent option in a place like the bathroom which sees a lot of moisture.

If there are old people in the house, you may be worried about their safety when they use the bathroom. But with ceramic tiles, there is no such worry as they are safe to walk on even when they are wet. Thus, you can install them in your bathroom without worry of old people slipping on the wet surface. Another great thing about ceramic tiles is that they are extremely easy to clean. You surely do not want to waste hours everyday just cleaning and washing your bathroom. Ceramic tiles are easy to clean and low on maintenance. If you are very particular about anti-resistant tiles for your bathroom, then you can also get slip resistant ceramic tiles for your bathroom. They are widely available in the market. Ceramic tiles come in different shapes like rectangles, squares, octagons and hexagons. You can also find diamond shaped ceramic tiles for your bathroom. Apart from this, there are many other shapes you can find in ceramic tiles.

Tiles- Perfect option for your balcony



Outdoor Tiles



When we buy a home, we always look for an additional outside space like a balcony or a terrace. Though not all of us are lucky enough to have a separate terrace, most of us have balconies attached to our homes. Though many of us do not spare much of a thought in designing the balcony, there are many who take a great amount of interest in designing the balcony. The balcony is considered an even more important space in hot summers when you desperately look for some place to chill and feel good. You may have a small sized balcony or a large one, but the fact remains is that it should be designed in the right way to gather most benefit from it. If your balcony is decorated in a right manner, it will greatly help to reduce the bad effects of any harsh weather conditions.

When it comes to designing the balcony space, the floor and the walls need to be done rightly done as this will influence how the entire atmosphere in the balcony is. For floors and walls of your balcony, tiles are an excellent option. Tiles are mostly made from natural stone. As they are made from natural stone, it helps to keep the surrounding temperature down when there is scorching heat outside. Apart from the cool temperature, tiles are also known to beautify your balcony and add a unique look to it. They will surely augment the appearance of the outdoor space. If you are wondering about the price of tiles, then worry not as tiles are extremely affordable and you can easily purchase them even if you are working on a tight budget. Thus, tiles are a perfect option for the walls and floor of your balcony. There are different types of tiles in various shapes and sizes and patterns if you closely research the market.

Few unique features of ceramic wall tiles




Ceramic Wall Tiles

 

When it comes to choosing wall tiles, most home-owners always prefer ceramic wall tiles because of the innumerable features they have to offer. Ceramic tiles have a lot of advantages over other wall tiles in terms of both practicality and looks. Though wall tile manufacturers constantly come up with innovative alternatives to various types of wall tiles, they find it much difficult to replicate or come up with something better compared to ceramic wall tiles. Ceramic tiles were popular in the olden days and they still continue to remain popular because of their unique features.

Features 

You must be wondering what the so-called features of ceramic wall tiles are. To begin with, ceramic wall tiles are extremely durable. Ceramic wall tiles are endowed with a long shelf life. So once you have fitted ceramic wall tiles for your home, you do not have to worry about replacing your wall tiles for a long period of time. Ceramic wall tiles are designed in a futuristic manner so that they do not lose their appeal over time and continue to look stylish and aesthetic even years after they have been installed. Another great feature about ceramic wall tiles is that they are designed to be water-proof. So they are a great tiling option in places like bathrooms and kitchens where the flooring and the walls are subjected to frequent moisture. Ceramic wall tiles will not retain moisture easily. Ceramic wall tiles are also known to be resistant to stains and marks. Thus, they are a safe option in the kitchen where the walls are prone to catching marks and stains. Another feature that makes ceramic wall tiles extremely desirable is the fact that they are easy to clean and maintain.

Selecting right lighting for your verandah

Outdoor Tiles

If you have a verandah outside your home, then you must of different ways of designing it. One of the important things when decorating any outdoor space is how you do up the lighting. The type of lighting you select for your outdoor space determines the aesthetic appeal of the place.
For your verandah, you may want fancy lights to impress the guests and visitors who come flocking to your house. When it comes to choosing fancy lighting for your verandah, you have a lot of options to choose from as fancy lights comes in a pool of different shapes, sizes and varieties and you can easily hunt for them in the local market. If you want your fancy lights to be custom designed, then you can also place an order for these fancy lights according to your preferences and the look of your verandah. If you opt for the right type of lighting for the outdoors of your house, it will just not add beauty to your home but also provide an enhanced level of security and protection for your home.
Before you start to install fancy lights for your vernadah, you need to check the pavements and courtyards while you wander in daylight as well as in the night. This will let you know at what places you will need the maximum lighting and what places can suffice with minimum lighting. The idea is that the entire verandah of your house is reasonably illuminated. You do not want a lot of light focussed at one place while another place remains pitch dark due to insufficient lighting. Mark the areas where there is a lot of darkness as this will help you to fit appropriate lighting for your verandah.

Replacing damaged ceramic tiles




Ceramic Tiles

  Ceramic tiles are known for their aesthetic value and long shelf life and they come if various shapes, sizes apart from varying degree of thickness. Sometimes, harm may be caused to the ceramic tiles when a hard object smashes on the floor. Damaged ceramic tiles need to immediately removed and replaced.

Once you see that any of your ceramic tiles is damaged, you need to purchase new ones. The damage may have caused uneven ends at the corners. This requires correct shaping to be done. Once you are done with shaping, you have to start the procedure of laying the tiles. To lay the tiles, you need to first prepare the floor surface. To start with, you need to remove all the broken pieces of the ceramic tiles. Following this, hack the dry grouting that is present beneath the surface of the tiles. While doing this, care should be taken to see that the surrounding tiles are not harmed. Ensure that you clean all the debris before proceeding with installing the tiles.

When you finally start replacing the broken tiles and fitting new ones, you should see to it that you do not harm the existing tiles which are in good condition. Before you start to lay the tiles, wet the surface and let it be for around forty minutes. To even the surface, a mixture of cement and sand is used. The ratio is two parts of sand and one part of cement which gives a rich mixture. Add the right amount of water to make the mixture consistent. Spread the mortar in the area. Put the cement grouting on top of the surface. After this, lay the tile on the top and use a mallet to level the tile while pounding it.