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Apartment Living Hints And Tips

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Living Hints And Tips

Welcome to the place to gain more information and tips that will turn your apartment into a home. Like Colored bulbs in light fixtures will splash their color on walls and or ceiling. Wall washer light fixtures (get the kind with a cord that plugs into a socket) and torcheres (up facing floor lamps) are ideal for this

Make your Apartment a Home

How to deal with small spaces.

Of course, there is one great tried-and-true way to deal with small spaces: make them cozier. Using dark colors, soft upholstery, and dramatic lighting can turn most any tiny nook into an intimate and wonderful corner. And most important transform your new apartment into a home that reflects your personality

150 Best Apartment Ideas

Solve Your Apartment Issues

Customer Review:
"Apartment living presents decorating challenges unlike homes, and this book will show you how to get around them. "

150 Best Apartment Ideas

by: Ana G. Canizares

Amazon Price: $16.06 (as of 02/18/2012)

New ideas on how to design, build, and decorate a home are always of essential value to architects, designers, and homeowners alike. This book offers an extensive collection of apartments from all over the world.

Create the Loft you love

Loft life isn't just for artists anymore

150 Best Loft Ideas

by: Bridget Vranckx

Amazon Price: $15.83 (as of 02/18/2012)

From New York to Johannesburg, Buenos Aires to Barcelona, the lofts included in this book are variations on a simple open plan theme begun decades ago.

Great Apartment Living Books on Amazon

With a little imagination and creativity--and without hiring a professional--almost anyone can transform a small living space into a comfortable and stylish environment. Whether decorating a dorm room, an apartment, or a little cottage, what we strive for is a look and feel that expresses our individual personalities. Part style guide, part idea sourcebook, this handy volume--designed to meet the needs of real people with real budgets--is packed with smart ideas, basic design principles, and enough inspiration to get you off the sofa to make it happen.

Do More - Make a Rental a Home

Adding Your Touch:-- Facing a rather empty apartment? Living in a cluttered unit? It's time to start making order of this chaos and turn your rental into a home. The first place to begin is to figure out what makes "your style" and start displaying that Display your collections. Little shelves or bookshelves with a few of your prized items always adds a personal touch to a room

Apartment Magazines

Buy a cheap wine rack to store your bathroom towels. You'll be surprised to discover that rolled-up bathroom towels fit surprisingly well in a wine rack, creating extra space in your cupboards!

Display Photographs

Pictures and photographs are a way of making a temporary rental more of a home and litte reminders of friends and family. Visitors love to stop and look at interesting photographs, asking "who's this?" Keep your family and friends close by displaying their pictures. Hang a few pictures of family and friends. Your refrigerator makes a perfect place to hang photos and other memorabilia. Make your own photo frames.

by Travis Isaacs

Add Some Art

For a whimsical yet grown-up addition to your walls, consider framing and hanging cartoons. Simple black and white sketches can add a playful touch to your apartment and fit in places that larger prints and paintings might not. If there's a particular comic strip you've always loved, try hanging each frame of the strip separately in simple picture frames.

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Add some fun

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Small Patio Help

Small Spaces, Beautiful Gardens

cc licensed flickr photo shared by jo-h

Using a simple 15' x 15' space, you can have an area for sitting, gardening and even a water feature. The choice of materials for your patio is based on personal taste. Many people like the classic look of brick. Brick is durable, easy to install and bricks are available in many colors-browns to reds. Patio pavers are inexpensive and easy to install. They are available in many shapes and sizes and are long lasting and durable. Flagstone is available in many shapes and colors. If you choose pre-cut standard sized flagstones, the installation is relatively easy. Flagstone also comes in random sizes. This requires an installer who is experienced at fitting and installing stones of varying sizes and widths.

Once you have selected the materials for your patio project, it is time to think about design features. Pay attention to where the sun shines in your patio area. If you would like to have box gardens, or a small patch of grass, plan to have them in the areas that receive consistent amounts of sunlight. If you are planning for a fence, remember to plan the fence height and location not to interfere with your garden plans. A fountain or small waterfall will add a luxurious and exotic feel to your patio. Running water helps obscure outside noises and creates a relaxing atmosphere, especially if you are in an urban area or have noisy neighbors.

There is nothing as pleasant as enjoying a meal on your patio. Design an area large enough for a table and a few chairs. If you are very limited on space, built-in planters with wide borders offer a place to sit for buffets and casual gatherings. Even a small patio should have a place to store gardening tools, hoses, lawn chairs and other out door items. A storage shed can double as an area to start seeds and to pot plants. A storage area will also allow you to protect bikes and children's toys when they are not being used. Once you have decided on a design and have selected a landscaper to do the work, sit back and wait for your low-maintenance patio to become a reality.

Small Spaces, Beautiful Gardens

by: Keith Davitt

Amazon Price: $48.94 (as of 02/18/2012)

The simplicity with which Keith Davitt has been able to convey complicated design concepts is extraordinary. He has combined this with exquisite illustrations and "before and after" photography. This book will inspire you with the confidence to transform even the most mundane of spaces into a visual and livable joy. It's also a must on our coffee table!

Balcony Gardening

Overwintering annuals have to be brought indoors. If you're overwintering your tropical plants, then simply move them to the other side of the windows for the winter. Overwintering perennial plants can be a bit dodgy. I have found that some roses and perennials(the hardier sorts like Explorer and Daylilies) will overwinter in a container if they are leaned against a warm wall and then insulated with old blankets on their cold balcony side and underneath. In other words, protect them from the cold on the cold side but leave them open to the "leaking" warmth on the warm side of the balcony. This of course depends on both the severity of the winter and where you're trying to garden. You won't overwinter perennials outdoors on Alberta balconies but you might get away with it in Philadelphia. In general, when gardening on an apartment balcony, treat all plants as annuals.