Bathroom Shower Screens Vs. Shower Curtains – Weighing the Pros and Cons

Many people start their day with a cold, quick shower to give them that jolt that will make them ready to take on the challenges of the new day. Others choose to cap off their day with a warm shower, washing away the dirt, grime and troubles of the day gone by just before retiring to bed. Whatever your routine may be, everyone wants to start and end his or her day in a clean bathroom, no matter how luxurious or simple it may be.

In many homes, the shower and the toilet are housed in one space. Although this greatly saves space in the home, it is inevitable that the whole room gets wet after someone finishes showering.

The traditional way to keep water from splashing all over the bathroom is to utilise a shower curtain. It may look deceptive, but the humble shower screen can more than adequately keep the whole bathroom from getting wet. They're available in various designs, making it easy for homeowners to find one that suits their bathroom's design. They're easy to install and remove. Simply hook them on the shower curtain rod and you’re done. Some models out in the market are also machine washer-friendly.

However, there are some caveats to using a good old shower curtain. For one, it can stay wet longer than is necessary. As such, it can be a potential home to unwanted house guests, especially moulds which are harmful to all the occupants of the property. Also, some people feel claustrophobic using shower curtains.

As such, many homeowners have used bathroom shower screens in lieu of shower curtains. Instant shower screens, Adelaide homeowners may say, are considerably more expensive than shower curtains but they offer greater returns on investments.

Optima shower screens can keep shower water confined in a single area as effectively as, if not more than, a shower curtain can. On top of that, a shower screen can instantly update the look of the bathroom with its clean lines. Apart from that, shower screens can give the illusion of space because they utilise glass. The use of glass in small spaces is a well-known trick used by seasoned designers. Also, shower screens can dry faster than shower curtains. That means that they're easier to clean and moulds will not thrive on them. They'll also outlive shower curtains by years. Available in various options like bi-fold and sliding doors, shower screens, simply put, are the better investment for your home.

About the author: Kenneth Lawrence is a passionate "handyman". His craft involves DIY concepts and he would like to share guidelines and tips about stuff on home improvement. He writes articles about DIY concepts by visiting helpful websites like http://instantshowerscreens.com.au/

Smart Ideas for Small Bathroom Design

Small bathrooms have been the bane of many homeowners. Modern condominiums and old houses alike can suffer from this characteristic, which impacts the comfort, efficiency and privacy of your home. The bathroom is ideally your place of retreat, but when it’s cramped instead of cosy, it can hinder the quality of life you have in your very own abode.

What every homeowner should know is that small bathrooms can be a good problem to solve. You don’t need to spend a huge amount of money and sacrifice the time and convenience of your household by breaking down walls to add much-needed square feet to your bathroom. You can actually leave the space size as it is and yet still be able to enjoy a smartly functioning space. Making your bathroom bigger actually starts in your mind – with some creative bathroom ideas, you can make a space look and feel larger than it actually is, and even enjoy some additional space for movement while you’re at it.

Bathroom renovations need not be a full-scale construction and plumbing contract. There are a few tweaks you can do – replacing a fixture here, transferring another there, changing the scheme – that will achieve unbelievably wonderful results. Here are some tips from the experts:

Scale down what you can. Modern bathroom fixtures now focus on the efficient use of space. Downsize at least one major element, such as the toilet,the sink, the bathroom, the faucet or the shower unit and you’ll immediately see a significant improvement. Go for compact modelsthat are also often designed to be friendlier to the environment than their old-fashioned counterparts, and you’re hitting two birds with one stone.

Tweak the layout. Another mark of smart small bathroom design is a well-implemented floor plan. Sometimes, better placement is all you need to get the improvement you’re looking for. Try moving the caddy to another area, putting the counter to a corner or clustering objects together.

Check the color scheme. Going for solid colors is the safe and traditional way to make a small space look more spacious. Depending on your strategy, you can also use stripes, patterns or artworks to create negative and positive spaces that will make the room look a little bit roomier.

Clean up and organize.Nothing can make a cramped room look stuffier than the presence of clutter. Find a way to organise your toiletries and knick-knacks. Follow regular cleaning schedules. A clean, tidy, tiny bathroom is definitely better that a big but grubby one.

Author: Kenneth Lawrence- a passionate "handyman". His craft involves DIY concepts and he loves to share guidelines and tips about stuffs on home improvement. http://www.smarterbathrooms.com.au/ is one of his resources.

Advantages Of Using A Stainless Steel Clothes Line

Advantages Of Using A Stainless Steel Clothes Line -When the TV news magazine show “Inside Edition” featured the hazards of using machine dryers (they gather a lot of flammable lint that can burst into flames upon exposure to heat), many people from countries that have good weather for the most part of the year, such as Australia, actually expressed the desire to make a switch to the safer, traditional way of drying laundry — which is using a clothes line.

While making the switch will mean significantly more work for homemakers, especially since drying can take a much longer time and they will have to hang clothes on the line properly, then afterwards they will have to iron the dry clothes, ensuring the safety of their household better is deemed always worth the sacrifice and hard work.

But how does drying work on bad weather days? Well, most of today’s clothes lines can be installed indoors and outdoors, so indoor air-drying of laundry is possible. There are various designs for an effective stainless steel clothes line and many are compact enough for easy installation in small rooms, basements, and patios for indoor drying. Households can have one to use for indoor drying and another one for outdoor drying – they can easily switch back and forth between these two whenever there’s a change in weather. When the dour weather changes back to sunny, they can go back to drying outdoors and when it gets wet out again, they can go back to drying indoors.

Stainless steel clotheslines, for example, are very easy to install. A core hole is only needed to be drilled on the concrete or any wall.

Apart from these benefits, another important advantage stainless steel clotheslines provide is their ability to hold a lot of laundry items even if they have a very compact design. An accordion-type clothesline that can be stretched out can actually hold up to 75 kilograms of laundry; it is incredibly durable and remains sturdy even if people pull them out and push them back in frequently. Likewise, the material does not corrode or rust over time even if it’s exposed to harsh weather elements like rain and snow; plus, cleaning to get rid of water stains and dirt is easy.

Lastly, these clothes lines are quite versatile – you can dry anything on them, be they damp books, shoes, bags, toys, etc. It is important to mention as well that some people are known to double the function of their accordion type stainless steel clothes lines by turning them into temporary shelves when pushed against the wall for storage. They place laundry brushes, detergents and other essentials on the “plank” created by the “gathered” lines or bars.

With many people being more environmental-friendly and pitching in with energy conservation, going back to the basics is really making worth the switch to. Natural air-drying of clothes instead of using electrical dryers and other machines, not only helps in reducing or lowering one’s electricity or utility bills, but also contributes greatly in lessening pollutions and other environmental wastes.

About the Author:

Kenneth Lawrence is an “all-around, DIY” handyman.  He has been sharing his knowledge and skills about home improvement and other relevant new trends through his blogs. He had help with this article from http://www.lifestyleclotheslines.com.au/stainless-steel-clothes-line/.

How to Convert Your House into a Shop

The Department for Communities and Local Government held a consultation in the summer of 2013 to discuss changes to the legal requirements governing the use of high street properties. This particular meeting centred on the legal process of changing a shop into a residence, and recommended that the power to change use ultimately rest with local councils, while the secretary of state retain the right to overturn rejections if deemed unreasonable.

This particular consultation may have dealt with the conversion of shops into houses, but it brings other issues to mind, as well. What if a homeowner would like to turn their residence into a shop? The decision to grant change of use still rests with the council.

By and large, your request for change of use is going to depend on local and specific variables. That said, councils are often keen to grant this sort of activity, as it is as a benefit for local economies. However, certain considerations must be taken into account, including the following:

·         The potential loss of economic health for the neighbourhood

·         The need to provide additional services as a result of the conversion

·     The impact that the conversion would have neighbourhood’s or area’s local character

·         The ability to provide parking for the area

·         The increase in rubbish produced because of the conversion

If you are considering adding a shop to your property, you will probably find the council supportive. Resistance is much more likely to come from other homeowners in the area, who may be concerned that the introduction of a new shop may create noise, traffic and other disturbances.

House Conversions Can Be a Goldmine

There are plenty of reasons to consider converting your home into a shop, not least the ability to carve out a substantial living from home. Today, more people than ever before are working from home and telecommuting, and that requires some home office modifications. However, brick and mortar services are still the mainstay – even in today’s digital age.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few home conversion ideas that could see you turning your residence into a commercial workhorse:

·         Turn Your Home into a Retail Shop

This is a complicated conversion, but it can be a serious money-maker if you live in an area that doesn’t have that many retail outlets to begin with. Know your market and make sure that the products you are planning on offering are actually in demand. Once you have done your research, applied for the conversion and received permission, then you’ll have plenty of work ahead of you. To begin with, you may need to take out a wall or two to open the space up. In addition to this, you will want to go online in search of shop supplies and shelving that you can use to fit out the space. Just remember: if you live in a highly residential neighbourhood that does not have many retailers to begin with, then local residents will become your de facto target customers.

·         Turn Your Home into a Boutique Hotel

This conversion is probably going to be easier to get permission for, since it will not do much to change the character of the neighbourhood. Of course, the success of your boutique hotel (or even a guestroom for rent) will depend largely on the desirability of your location. If there is not a local attraction bringing people to this area to begin with, then it will probably not be successful. If you choose to go this route, consider listing your room or house with online directories such as airbnb.

·         Turn Your Home into a Restaurant or Café

There is a widely perpetuated myth out there that restaurant failure rates are sky high. Many people seem to be under the impression that 90 per cent of all restaurants opened end up failing in short order. The real failure rate is closer to 60 per cent, according to an article published in Bloomberg Businessweek. This may still seem high, but it’s right on par with the success rate of many small businesses across the board. If you know the business and have the capital, converting your home to a restaurant could be highly profitable.  

About the Author:

ShopSupplies is a company in Australia that specialises in fittings and shelving. They offer a large selection of display systems, showcases, counters, slat panels, and other Shop Supplies shelving solutions.