Steps in Refilling Outdoor Wall Cracks

Your house has walls that face the outside. The repair of these walls and other walls outside the house is part of home improvement. Outdoor walls are always subjected to heat, rain and temperature changes that make them crack. This wear and tear needs to be addressed to preserve the beauty, strength and life of the wall.

For this home improvement activity, you will need render mix, exterior stabilising solution, trowel, sponge, wire brush, sandpaper, water and an old paint brush.

Step 1 – Clean the crack from dust, moss, plants and any other objects. Do this until the last dust in the crack by picking up tiny dust using a paint brush dipped in water.

Step 2 – Using the trowel, put some mixed render firmly into the crack. Smooth the render with the back of the trowel until it is even on the wall. Let about a half of an hour pass until the render feels almost dry to the touch. Rub the rendered area with the sponge; this will make the edges of the render level with the wall. It is advisable that the mixture of the render is nine parts soft sand, two parts lime and one part cement. The lime will render the cement pliable, thus giving it the ability to expand and contract.

Step 3 – Cure paint flakes. Using sandpaper, rub away any paint that is flaking into small bits. Place a dab of render in the flaked area. Level the render using the trowel. When the render is almost dry to the touch, smooth it with the sponge.

Step 4 – Have the wall ready for painting. Before proceeding with painting the wall, clean and scrape away any debris, dirt or moss with the use of a brush. Using exterior stabilising solution, coat the wall. Let the solution dry and then paint the wall with exterior paint.

Refilling outdoor wall cracks is easy and an important part of home improvement.

Read More

An Introduction to Learning Kitchen Organisation

Home improvement is an activity that encompasses many goals including beautification, comfort, maintenance and repair, additional space, saving energy and safety and preparedness. Kitchen organisation points toward all these.

The kitchen is a part of the home which is very much used and used for a very important function of storing food and preparing them for consumption. Thus most home owners keep their kitchen in excellent condition. Orderliness and sanitation are two essentials of a properly managed kitchen.

You may start home improvement by organising your kitchen. To start managing your kitchen, determine the things that are still useful, functional or consumable and those which are not. Do not hold on to or hoard things that you no longer need. Keeping things that you do not or will not use will add to the kitchen a clutter of things that you have no use for. Test kitchen utensils, gadgets and other things if they are still functional and if you need to use them on a regular basis. Leave in the kitchen only those things which you use on a regular basis.

Having only the selected things left in the kitchen gives you the space to organise and less number of things that lower the tendency of dirt and insects. Group the things that you often use and put them in a section very accessible to you while preparing food. Doing so gives you the ability to save time and effort.

Designate and develop a single area for food preparation works. Near it must be the storage area for utensils. Categorize your kitchenware by putting together those of the same kind. Separate storage of ingredients from utensils and other kitchen gadgets. Some ingredients may react with the metallic elements of the utensils and may cause one or both to be damaged. Keep the kitchen counter free of unnecessary items. Leave the kitchen clean after preparing food.

Kitchen management is one best way to start home improvement.

Read More

How to Paint Kitchen Countertops

Painting your kitchen countertop is one of the top home improvement activities because it will enable you to create for your kitchen, where you spend time everyday cooking, a new and inviting view without the expense of a major renovation. If you know how to paint a wall, painting kitchen countertops will not be a total home improvement stranger to you.

1. First, you need to clean your kitchen countertop thoroughly. Use warm  soapy water in removing the dirt and rinse with fresh, clean water. Make sure no grease and cooking oil are left on the surface so that the paint will completely stick to the countertop surface. 
2. Provide a more porous surface for the primer to stick to by removing the shiny coating from the laminate. To do this, sand the countertop surface with a fine to medium grit sandpaper. Afterwards, vacuum clean all dust.
3. Prevent paint from getting on areas outside the paint zone. Backsplash or tape the walls where it meets the edges of the sink and any recessed cutting boards and everywhere it meets the countertop.
4. Apply a coat of primer to your countertop and wait till it is fully dry before applying more paint. To make your painting work faster and easier, tell the in charge of the paint store to tint your primer with the same colour as your primary colour of paint. This will reduce the number of coasts that you will need to apply and enable the paint to cover the area more thoroughly.
5. Apply paint first to the corners and along the edges with a brush. This will enable you to control your application more and prevent you from accidentally painting those parts which should not be painted.
6.  Apply paint to the rest of the surface and allow it to dry before determining if a second coat is necessary.
7. Allow two days for the paint to cure fully. After it, apply a coat of clear urethane. Allow the urethane to dry; and then lightly sand the surface and apply another coat of clear urethane. Repeat the process until you have the sheen you like. If brush strokes in your urethane applications are noticeable, very slightly thin the solution with water to help it go on easier.

Painting or repainting your kitchen countertop is an easy, very less costly and satisfying home improvement activity.

Read More

Colour Basics: Do’s and Don’ts

Choosing the right colour palette can indeed be daunting, but don’t lose hope especially when your doing the project yourself. With these home improvement tips for colour choice, we make the task simple for you.

Avoid these 7 Colour Mistakes

1. 
   
   Don’t overlook the basics. Yes, choosing a colour palette can be difficult, but look on the bright side and set yourself up for success by learning the colour wheel and how the different colour schemes would work. The colours in the colour consist of the primary (red, blue, yellow), secondary (green, orange, violet), and tertiary (light green, yellow-orange, and blue-violet).
2. 
   
   Don’t forget 60-30-10. These numbers represent the colour principal which is used to create aesthetically pleasing schemes. 60 percent for the dominant colour, 30 percent for secondary, and 10 percent for accent colours.
3. 
   
   Don’t ignore lighting. Lighting does affect your choices of colours. Before making final selections, observe how colours look in the room at different times of the day.
4. 
   
   Don’t think neutral only means ‘Beige’. Although the latter is a neutral colour, your favourite colours’ shades may also be used as neutrals in your room. A neutral is simply a balance of warm and cool tones.
5. 
   
   Don’t overload a palette. Multiple colours may look beautiful, but putting together too many of the wrong shades can create the opposite of harmony: disaster. To be on the safe side, follow a favourite scheme, such as monochromatic, complementary, etc, and remember to follow the 60-30-10 formula.
6. 
   
   Don’t always follow colour trends. It may seem refreshing to add trendy colours to your scheme but accessories and wall colours can easily switch out. One of the most indispensable home improvement tips is when buying new furniture is to choose shades that will stand the test of time.

We hope you’ll find these expert home improvement tips useful to you, and have fun choosing colours!

Read More

DIY 101: 3 Elements in Interior Design

If you’re going the DIY route but wants professional-looking results when putting enhancements in your interior decor, we share to you the three principles of interior design.

Effective interior design not only breathes with functionality but also creates a mood showing off the personality of the family living in there. Ensuring decorating success means having the interplay of function, mood, and personality in your interior design.

Function

More than just eye appeal, decorating and adding pieces to a room has to work for you and the family. Here’s how to put it together one element to another:

• Focal point – every design should have this, which is a piece or place that first attracts the eyes.

• Furniture – place furniture in their most functional places; if it’s too large or too small, take it somewhere in the house where it can function as it is.

• Lighting – is selected to for its functions as well as for visual appeal.

• Furniture arrangement – make a graph of your room, and measure and mark outlets, windows, doors, vents, etc. Then measure your furniture and place it in your floor plan. Main furniture pieces should be directed towards the focal point.

Mood

Colours, furnishings style, and the amount of pattern and texture you use and your accessories – these create the feeling of a room. Because there are so many options to try, you can make this part of decorating more interesting and fun by establishing a theme. Here are the factors to address when setting a room’s mood:

• Inspiration piece – be sure it makes you feel good when you see it in the room

• Theme – developed from your inspiration

• Color cues – supports the theme

• Patterns – background colour should be the same, patterns are in same colours, vary scale/sizes of patterns

Personality

Here’s the part where you can install personal touches into the design. Make your personality stand out in your interior decor using these strategies: accessorizing, whimsy, and the unexpected.

Read More