Budget Bathroom Makeover Ideas

Do you want to give your bathroom a fresh new look without ripping out walls and starting over? These quick and easy budget-saving tips can help you give the room a new look in a weekend. Budget Bathroom Makeover Ideas by Rachel Paxton I recently gave my bathroom a complete makeover. It was much easier than I expected, and only took a few days to complete. For less than $200 I gave my bathroom a completely new look that I love. The first thing I did was choose some paint. I started out with bare white walls. I chose Kilz brand paint. The color is called "Garden Glove" (a cheerful spring green), and a gallon cost about $15 at Walmart. One gallon was plenty to paint the entire bathroom. Just painting the bathroom gave it whole new look. I also bought a small can of white paint to touch up the paint around the doorways. Because our master bathroom is not very well lit, we decided to change the light fixture. For only $40 (including bulbs) at Home Depot, we installed a vanity light fixture over the mirror behind the sinks. It only took a few minutes to install, and it looks great. The bathroom is much brighter now than it was before. To gain some extra storage space, we purchased a white cabinet that stands over the toilet. It has four shelves and a cupboard and cost about $100 at Home Depot. I recently saw that Walmart had some similar cabinets for between $50 and $75. We have two windows in our bathroom so I thought plants would really brighten up the room. I bought some pretty solid color flower pots from Walmart for a couple of dollars and some matching spring primroses (less than $2 each). I set the pots on top of the new cabinet. The finishing touch will be a couple of ferns to hang above the garden bathtub, in front of the windows. I love my new bathroom. It looks like a completely different room. Just a few simple changes can update and rejuvenate your bathroom too! About the Author: Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For easy home decorating ideas for busy moms, visit Frugal Home Decor at www.Frugal-Home-Decor.com. Article Source: www.ladypens.com

DIY Methods to Save on Utilities

by: Rick Chapo If your utility bill is out of control, you need to consider ways to tame the beast. There are plenty of do it yourself [DIY] ways to save on utilities. DIY Methods to Save on Utilities Utility costs for heating, cooling and electricity are near record highs. Worse, they are expected to rise fairly dramatically over the next few years. Since you will live in a residence for the rest of your life, making small changes to save money on utilities will save you tens of thousands of dollars, if not more. Here are some areas to check out and fix to start saving some bucks. Leaks and drafts from the interior of your home to the exterior can easily double your utility bill. There are a couple of obvious areas to check out such as windows, frames around doors, fireplaces and entrances to attics. Less obvious spots to check include gaps around electric outlets, mail slots, pipes, spaces around baseboards and gaps around air conditioners where the interface with the exterior. If you find gaps, caulking can often take care of the problem or you can pursue a weekend DIY repair. Insulation in a home can be a real problem when it comes to utilities. Since I hope to avoid getting sued, let me just suggest builders tend to use the minimum amount and grade of insulation required by regulations when building homes. If you live in a tract home, this may be all the more true. If you seal the areas where you have drafts, but the heater or air conditioner is still turning on every few minutes, insulation may be a problem. Inspecting insulation isn’t the easiest or most comfortable task. The easiest method is to first climb into the attic and see if there is any exposed insulation. Unfortunately, the grade of insulation in the ceiling may not match the grade in the walls. To check the walls, the best bet is to find a small area where you might have a hole. Closets are typical spots. If you have kids, look for areas where a doorknob has punched through a wall. If none of these are available, you can remove a small surface area in a closet. Once done, determine if the entire area is filled with insulation as well as the R grade of your insulation. Compare it to recommended grades in your area. You can then patch the area and nobody will be the wiser. If all else fails, get a thermal inspection for a professional. Most people are not going to need to blow out their insulation. Doing so will help, but sealing a home will go a long way to cutting your utility costs. With this in mind, give your home the once over. About The Author: Rick Chapo is with http://www.solarcompanies.com – a directory of solar energy companies. Visit http://www.solarcompanies.com/articles to read more solar power articles.

Cheap Ways to Get More Curb Appeal

Whether you're thinking of putting your home on the market and want to spruce it up tosell, or you're just looking for quick and easy way to make it look a little brighter, Jen the Domestik Goddess has 6 Quick Ways to Dress Up a Front Door" from a new paint color on the door to a seasonal decoration on the front step. As you go about your daily business, take a look at the fronts of other homes and make a mental note of what paint colors and decorative accents appeal to you. Then try a few ideas out at home, to find the style that suits you best. Just think — for the price of a can of paint or a yard-sale treasure, your home can have a mini-makeover every month! She is wise, I think, to suggest that homeowners go easy on the landscape lighting -- we see too many bad arrangements of lights picked up on sale and on impulse at Home Depot, and just poked into the ground along the front path. We'll talk more about landscape lighting and front entry tricks for better curb appeal in future posts.