Take Your Luxurious Downtime to the Bottom of the Garden

Time is precious to us all. Everyone works hard and needs some time out. Make the most of your outdoor space by creating yourself a little haven of your own. Choose your furniture carefully and you'll have somewhere to enjoy for years to come.

An Extension of Your Home Without the Price Tag

The aim of creating living space outside must be to create something you want to use. It needs to be practical to fit in with your life and the space should reflect your personality.

A Social Space

Most people choose to use their outdoor space to spend time with friends. Al fresco dining, sharing a glass of wine with friends, or spreading out to read the Sunday papers all need comfortable seating. Some luxury outdoor furniture will make your space feel more special. Spend as much as you can afford and spend more time outside, weather permitting, of course.

Given the unpredictability of British weather, it is worth investing in waterproof materials or at least a screen or umbrella to protect against sun, wind or rain.

Popular materials for outdoor furniture include:

        Teak

        Rattan

        Aluminium

        Stainless steel

        Plastics

A Private Space

If you need somewhere to get away from it all by yourself, consider a hammock or hanging pod chair. Although there is something very romantic about slinging a hammock between two trees, you needn't live in an orchard as trees are no longer essential, with so many freestanding designs available.

Choosing the Right Material

There are several things to consider when choosing the material for your furniture. Black in clothing might be chic, but because it absorbs heat, it can get very hot in direct sunlight. This won't be comfortable on warm summer days when you and your guests might be wearing shorts. In contrast, white and silver (and other lighter colours) reflect the sunlight so can be difficult to look at, even indirectly, when the sun is out.

For wooden furniture, there is a huge range of stylish cushions available that not only add a lovely splash of colour to your garden, but are also a great way to inject your personality, just as you would inside your home.

Consider where you will store your furniture and accessories. They might be able to stay outside in the short term, but certainly over the winter months, you will need somewhere to put things away.

Whatever style or purpose you choose for your outdoor space, plan it carefully and execute it well and you will find it becomes an extension of your home for a fraction of the price of building new walls. There is no need for planning consent either, unless you are building permanent structures. If you factor in some lighting, too (think lanterns, fairy lights, flares or solar powered lights), you'll be able to use your luxury garden furniture well into the evening and get even more use out of it.

AUTHOR BIO

Mary James writes regularly on style-related topics for various websites and blogs. She specialises in interior design and accessorizing and has recently redesigned his own garden to make more of the available space. Buying some beautiful luxury outdoor furniture ensures she has an al fresco dining area.

Best Ways to Create a Feature in Your Home

Making a house a home is extremely important for both you and your family. It is the place where the most memories will be made and therefore has to be as perfect as possible. Those who are proud of their home want to ensure their house is also the best that it can be, with the correct decorations and the theme that most suits the family.

When guests arrive at their home, first impressions are the lasting ones and therefore it is important to impress. There are many ways of creating the perfect home that will leave your neighbours and guests speechless and in admiration of the home you have spent a long time creating.

Having a feature in your home is one of the easiest ways to draw attention in the room and creating a sense of awe. This feature is possible in a number of ways, with one of the most popular being the addition of a feature wall. Having your wall as a feature is inexpensive and one of the easiest ways of creating a talking point in the room. By simply adding wallpaper to one wall can create a whole new image and creates a sophisticated and elegant addition to any space.

An alternative way to create a feature in your home is by having an object of interest to people and this can be either in the home or the garden. For a garden feature, the most popular item is probably a water feature or small fountain placed in the centre of the lawn, or an eye catching pond, filled with fish. There are different options for inside the home, with a staircase being just one idea.

Having a bespoke staircase will create a unique talking point in your home and as you are able to choose every element, from the design to the colour scheme, it is personal to you and therefore perfect for your home. The price of the staircase will most likely depend on the style you choose, however they will range and although they may be slightly more expensive than a manufactured one, they are worth the extra money for the personal aspect they bring to your home.

A great feature for the kitchen is a centre island, perfect for providing a place to prepare food and creating extra space. The island is a great way to create a centre piece and adds an air of modernity to the room. The kitchen island is a great characteristic of the kitchen and is perfect for both practical and aesthetic purposes.

How to Drive down the Costs of your First Home

After plunging a significant percentage or even all of your savings into your first mortgage, the last thing that you will want to do is continue spending. The time after buying a first home is often one of the most financially difficult and restrictive periods in a person’s life and many sacrifices need to be made. There are a number of ways however that the costs of living can be driven down to help free up much needed cash.

Squeeze out every last drop

Sometimes it is baffling that something naturally occurring such as water can be so expensive. In some cases, mineral water can be more expensive per litre than petroleum and other finite resources. Those who live in areas that endure particularly heavy amounts of rainfall are often perplexed as to how these costs can be so high. By implementing a water retention system, these costs can be cut significantly. A drum to store water connected to the collection drains can save water that can be utilised in a number of different ways. Whilst this water may not be fit for human consumption it can be used to water indoor plants or wash the cars, without incurring the costs of running the water.

Understand your home

If you are one of those people who stares at the energy bills every month in disbelief and cannot fathom where all of these costs have come from, then you may need to further your understanding of where your home is using energy. A surveyor will be able to carry out an energy efficiency examination or an Energy Performance Certificate that helps determine where a home is using excessive energy and can serve to suggest ways in which these costs can be curbed. Whilst the initial outlay to implement these cost effective changes may be high, the long-term savings can be significant.

Brighten up your home

One of the simplest and most common ways in which you can cut costs is by installing energy efficient LED bulbs around the home. The average 8 watt LED bulb emits the same amount of light as a 65 watt halogen bulb making it more than 8 times as energy efficient. This increased energy efficiency translates into more energy being used to create light than other by-products commonly created by other bulbs such as heat and carbon emissions. Thusly this means that less energy is required to light the home. Improving LED technologies now mean that the whole home can be lit by LED downlights, spotlights and other forms of bulbs.

Create a Rewards System

If you have children then it can be difficult to influence their energy consumption. Kids are often guilty of leaving lights, computers and televisions running after they finish using them which can waste incredible amounts of electricity. By promising to take the whole family for a treat such as ice cream if the monthly energy bill falls significantly could influence everybody to be a little bit more careful when turning off appliances.

Creating a Sense of Brightness and Space in Your Home

Having a vivid and expansive home is easy to create with the right mentality and organisation system, however can be extremely difficult, especially when you have one without the other. Brightness and space are, in essence, silent partners, working together to give you the environment that is perfect for you and your family.

When you are redesigning your home, it is likely that you will want everything to fit in, from the theme of the home to the colour scheme. It is important that you choose a theme for your home as it may look odd if one room is extremely modern, while the rest has a French country feel.

The theme of your home is something that you should consider carefully, especially as you are unlikely to redecorate for a long time. It should be chosen depending on your taste with the consideration that you will be living in that environment for a long time. Modern and country are the two basic themes, however they can be more complex than this and will have an effect on the look of your room, from the wallpaper to the furniture you choose.

It is important, in any room to have an organisational system and without one it can be extremely difficult to create a sense of space. Everything in your home needs a place where it belongs and without one it can be extremely difficult to create a spacious room. An organisational system is achievable in a number of ways and while cupboards and drawers are the most conventional storage techniques there are alternatives that provide you with unique and unobtrusive ways of storing your belongings, including an ottoman bed.

You could create a floor plan, which will allow you to manage your space accordingly and if it is as accurate as it needs to be, it can provide you with clear images of your room and the best designs for it. Simply having a floor plan will reduce the amount of time the redesigning process takes by giving you an idea of the space that you have available. It can also minimise the costs involved, as you will be more aware of the size of the room, therefore minimising your chances of overbuying.

Brightness is ultimately created by the amount of space you have and also any natural light. It is important that you embrace any natural light in the room, avoiding blocking any out and enhancing what is available to you. Mirrors are great at reflecting any natural light and therefore strategically placing them opposite a window will create the best environment. To further increase the amount of light available, choose bright and light colours for the room, as they are natural reflectors, which will make your room look brighter and ultimately bigger.

Yellow Ball

 Not a real ball, of course. Those colorful balls decorate the parking area. 

Location : Ah Poong Sentul City (Bogor, West Java, Indonesia)

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