Southern Shores | Your Guide For Coastal Living

Your Guide For Coastal Living

Buying Balinese Furniture the Easy Way

Date March 25, 2017 Category Home Design

Outdoor Furniture

When you go to Bali for a holiday you will see many lovely things to buy for gifts or for yourself. However, there is a limit to what you can carry home in a suitcase, so you may be disappointed that something like some lovely wicker furniture had to be left behind. Of course, you can arrange to have it freighted, but there will be an additional cost and the time spent in getting it through customs may be longer than you want.

After all, you’ve gone there for a holiday, not to waste a whole day getting something shipped to your home. Bali has some beautiful outdoor furniture that will look lovely in your garden, but you can avoid all the hassles of arranging for freighting – and picking it up off the dock at home – by simply buying your goods from a furniture store that imports Bali or Indonesian furniture.

Tips for Making Your Home Easier to Live in

Date February 12, 2017 Category Home Maintenance

Many homes have all anyone could possibly want for a pleasant life, yet there are still quite a few older homes that are not up to modern day standards. These days we need the kind of amenities that weren’t even thought of in our parent’s day. Many of them include things that use gas or electricity, so it’s essential to have an experienced electrician install them.

Australian standards require most electrical things to be installed by licensed electricians when doing home renovations or maintenance even something as simple as a ceiling fan. Having all the modern amenities makes a home much more pleasant to live in and reduces stress in a lot of cases.

10 tips to Make Your Pool More Eco-Friendly

Date December 16, 2016 Category Home Maintenance

pool-more-eco-friendly

Even though most pools are not the most environmentally friendly things on the planet, people still love them. There is nothing quite as refreshing as a swim in the pool on a hot day. There are several ways you can make your pool more eco-friendly; even using a kreepy krauly more often can help by reducing the need for as much chlorine.

Here are some more tips to make your pool more eco friendly

Use one of the robotic pool cleaners that also skim the top of the pool to remove surface debris before it sinks. A cleaner pool requires less maintenance such as backwashing, which wastes quite a lot of water.

How to Add Cottage Charm to a Modern Kitchen Design

Date November 24, 2016 Category Home Design

Cottage-Modern-Kitchen

The modern kitchen is known for its sleek, neutral colours and minimalist look. If you have a kitchen design like that, but are not totally happy with it, try adding some cottage kitchen elements to it. They can mix and merge with what is already there, offering workspace that is user friendly and functional, but still pretty in that warm, charming way the cottages of yesteryear had.

So how can you add the look and feel of a country cottage kitchen to your modern one? Here are some tips.

5 Benefits of Adding a Carport to Your Home

Date October 24, 2016 Category Renovating

carport

If you don’t have anywhere to house your car, adding a patio or carport to your home will have many benefits, not least being the fact that your car will be protected. Leaving a car out in the weather is the best way to see it degrade over time, with that nice mirror finish soon looking less than pristine and rust forming in places you probably can’t see.

However, it is not only the car that will benefit from having shelter. You will find when taking out car insurance that one thing you will need to fill in is whether you keep the car out on the street on if it has a locked up garage. If the former is true, your car insurance is likely to be more expensive. Even if you keep the car locked in an open yard, it is still liable to vandal damage as well as damage from the weather.

4 Ways Aluminium Doors can Enhance Your home

Date September 3, 2016 Category Home Design

Aluminium-Doors

Once, windows and glass doors had to be framed in timber, which had to be kept painted to prevent warping and twisting. Timber frames made the doors much heavier so design and use was limited. These days there are aluminium frames which are amazingly light, yet strong enough to hold that glass in place. They don’t have to be painted because the colour is already there. The lighter frames meant that doors especially, can be used in ways that were once impossible. Here are four ways in which aluminium doors can enhance your home.

You can remove a whole wall and replace it with bi-fold aluminium framed glass doors. This allows the outside to be easily accessed, gives more natural lighting and enhances your living space. Having breakfast or supper on a warm spring day with all the kitchen doors opened into the garden or the veranda has to be much more enjoyable than sweltering in a closed up room. It’s like enjoying the outdoors without having to go out there.

7 Advantages of Glass Fencing for Your Pool

Date June 1, 2016 Category Home Design

glass-fencing

Everyone who has employed a Sydney pool builder to build themselves a nice pool for their home knows that it is essential to have a safety fence around it so that toddlers and children cannot fall in and drown when you are not watching. However, traditional pool fencing has relied on steel rods to perform the task of keeping children out where they are safe. Such fencing may do a good job, but it is less than attractive and can make a small space look and feel even smaller. That is where glass fencing comes into its own. Here are some of the other advantages you will find with glass pool fencing.

It is aesthetically pleasing. Frameless glass means that you can see right through it with nothing to spoil the view or cut your yard in half. Since you can see through it, you can keep an eye on the children without having to sit right by the pool.
The spigots that contain the glass sheeting and keep it upright can be of stainless steel or anodised aluminium. They are firmly attached to the concrete base and quite short so they are not intrusive to look at.

7 Advantages of Colorbond Roofing for Your Home

Date March 21, 2016 Category Home Design

Colorbond-Roofing

These days, more than ever before, Perth Colorbond roofing is a popular choice for people building homes, whether they are upmarket homes or more affordable ones. Once, the roof of choice was tiles, with corrugated iron being left for sheds and commercial buildings. But once Colorbond arrived with its large colour range and ease of transport builders soon found many other advantages of using this material for their homes.

While the simple silver colour of yesterday’s corrugated iron did not suit brick walls, the large colour range of Colorbond roofing means that there is a colour to suit every style and type of home and every building material. In fact, many people are turning to darker coloured roofs that seem to merge into their city surroundings or provide a foil for the surrounding countryside. The beautiful colours in Colorbond roofing have been derived from the many elements of the Australian countryside. Mountain mist, sea-spray, soil colours, eucalypts, rocks and even the sky have all played a part in the colour range.

Limestone As A Construction Material In Building Industry

Date November 9, 2015 Category Home Design

Limestone-As-A-Construction

Limestone has a wide variety of uses in home construction based on the numerous products into which it can be processed. Consultants who provide building and construction advice have recommended it over and above, it has been used in the building and construction industry for walls and floors on buildings. This is in various ways as follows:

Limestone blocks used in building of structures such as houses
Perth stone cladding on walls
Retaining walls
Floor paving and tiles

Limestone blocks used in building structures
Limestone is well used for construction of both strong and durable structures, proven by some of the structures found in world history.

Limestone is first shaped into blocks then used as construction stone. It can also be sized into brick-sized blocks which are much smaller generally in physical size.

Some of the icons of world architecture such as the great pyramids of Egypt have been constructed purely out of limestone. The reasons why limestone is preferred for this specific use is:

6 Kitchen Renovations to Die For

Date July 17, 2015 Category Renovating

kitchen-renovations

If your kitchen is badly in need of renovating it is essential to know what kind of renovations are possible and what would best suit your lifestyle and tastes. Not everyone has specific tastes in kitchen renovations so it is wise to get some ideas and jot down those that appeal to you most. However, you also need to ensure that your kitchen becomes more functional as well as more attractive, while at the same time fitting in with the decor the rest of your home displays.

Finding kitchen renovations to die for is not difficult; you only have to Google the topic to find many wonderful pictures of lovely kitchens. What becomes difficult is incorporating the different elements so that they work together and don’t look odd with the rest of the home. For instance, you may really love exposed beams, but unless they are featured somewhere in the rest of the home they won’t look very attractive on their own in the kitchen.

If you are serious about having the best kitchen renovation possible but know that you could use some advice, it is wise to consult a professional kitchen renovator, one who specialises in doing kitchens only so that they can give you the benefit of their advice – and won’t try and talk you into renovating the rest of the home as well.

5 Tips for Choosing Security Fencing

Date May 16, 2015 Category Home Design, New Home

Security-Fencing

When it comes to security fencing, most people think in terms of keeping people out, but in fact keeping people or animals in is often more essential. When you think what would happen if your toddler or your doggie friend got out onto the street, you will soon see the need for the kind of fencing that will keep them safe. So how do you choose this kind of fencing?

The first thing to do before choosing any kind of fence is to check with the council to see if there are any rules and regulations about fencing in your suburb. It could well be that certain kinds of fencing are required, in which case you won’t have much of a choice.
If you do have a choice you will need to think whether privacy is also a requirement. Steel cladding fencing – or any kind of fencing that cannot be seen through – is the best for privacy. It can keep your dog from seeing another dog over the fence and barking at it all day long. And it can keep nosy neighbours from seeing what you are doing, while still keeping your animals and children safely contained.

Tools and Equipment for Home Renovations

Date February 25, 2015 Category Renovating

Tools-Equipment-for-Home-Renovation

When you are planning on home renovations of any kind, it is essential to have a checklist of the tools you will need to complete the job. Most DIYers think in terms of cordless drills, hammers, saws of various kinds, a ladder, screwdrivers and so on, but more may be needed, depending on the job you are going to do.

For instance, if you plan on adding another room or a deck, foundation work will be needed. This means you need more than a shovel and crowbar; very likely you will need an excavator or a bobcat and depending on the layout of the block it could be a tiny one or a larger one that is needed. But wait! Can you even operate one of those things?

Most people have no experience with operating an excavator and it is not the kind of thing you should learn as you go. Could be you might dig up something that was meant to stay down there, like the foundations you wanted to keep, or some plumbing work or even phone lines. Luckily, when you hire equipment such as a bobcat or excavator, it usually comes with a skilled operator.

Advantages of Professional Landscape Design

Date October 17, 2014 Category Home Design

Professional-Landscape-Desi

Increasingly, people are including specially designed outdoor areas as part of their lifestyle enjoyment. Whether it is a fire pit surrounded by comfortable seating or a water feature that offers tranquillity and interest, your outdoor living area deserves a chance to look its best. There are many advantages to getting professionals in to help you with your landscape design.

Professional landscape designers do this for a living. They are always aware of the latest trends so have the vision that you may lack to create a space that is uniquely suited to your tastes and lifestyle.
The professionals have undergone a great deal of training in their field. They have the qualifications to know what will work and what won’t. If you have a brainwave for your landscape design, they will be able to help you bring it to fruition.

The Advantages of Professional Carpet Cleaning

Date April 28, 2014 Category Home Maintenance

Professional-Carpet-Cleanin

Many people try to save on costs by cleaning their own carpets, but this is not always the best way. Cleaning a carpet is not only about having it look good, but about hygiene and keeping your carpet in good condition so that it lasts a long time. Professional carpet cleaners such as www.brilliancecarpetcleaningperth.com.au have several advantages over trying to clean the carpet by yourself.

Why professional carpet cleaning will help your carpet last longer

Ordinary vacuum cleaners cannot possibly get all the dirt and grit out of the carpet – not right down to the bottom layers. Instead, it builds up and does damage to the fibres. Carpet cleaning professionals use heavy duty equipment designed to get all the dirt and grit out of the carpet right down to the underfelt and beyond.

Grit left in carpet will cause a great deal of wear and tear, cutting into each of the carpet fibres so that they are weakened. Then when the carpet is vacuumed these fibres break off and are sucked up into the vacuum cleaner. Eventually, your lovely carpet will show signs of wear and tear and become much thinner in high traffic areas. That’s because the fibres that should have remained in the carpet have gone into the bin.

Why Designer Garden Pots are Essential for a Balcony

Date June 3, 2013 Category Home Design

Designer-Garden-Pots-for-Balcony

There are several reasons why designer garden pots are essential for a balcony. When you have pot plants outside on the ground level there are many elements apart from the actual pots that are visually attractive; the lawn or pavers they are standing on and the surrounding garden with its shrubbery and other design elements.

But when pots are on a balcony, much of that is missing. Any view is too distant to impact the visual aspect of the pot and so there is only the floor and walls, along with any other pots or ornaments you have on display. So the pot and the plant in it make the main visual impact statement. In this case it is important to have a pot that looks really attractive.

They offer colour

Designer garden pots tick the boxes for being visually attractive since they come in an array of colours not usually found in common nursery pots. Their shape is more unusual as well, which offers another visually appealing element overall, especially when you have chosen the shape of the plant to enhance the shape of the pot. You could have a mounding plant in an oval pot, or perhaps grow one with upright, sword-shaped leaves for contrast.

6 Tips to Make the Most of Your Security Fencing

Date April 27, 2013 Category Home Design

Security-Fencing

When you have security fencing installed on your property it is usually in the hopes of keeping intruders out, thus limiting loss and damage. To make the most of your security fencing you need to think like a potential burglar. What they look for is a property that they can get into and out of quickly and unseen. So take a look at your fencing and how it is set up and see if it is really as secure as you could make it, especially if no one is at home all day long. Here are some tips to help you.

Since intruders don’t want to be seen they often choose a property with plenty of shrubbery for them to hide in. If your grounds are covered in trees or shrubs, consider cutting some of them down to provide a clear view from the fence to the house or commercial building.
Are there trees overhanging the fence? Low branches can help a resourceful intruder climb your fence. In addition, branches can fall from higher trees with enough force to smash a section of fence. Remember, there doesn’t have to be a storm or strong wind; sometimes branches suddenly fall down on a still night.

Moving Into Your New Home – Tips for Seniors

Date March 17, 2013 Category New Home

seniors-moving-house

Most seniors are only too well aware that they cannot do what they used to. This is one of the reasons that older people often downgrade, moving into a home that is smaller or easier to maintain in some way. However, even the actual moving is often difficult, especially when you cannot get any help from your family or a younger friend. The ideal way to move is to have a holiday somewhere while the Removalists Perth to do all the packing and unpacking. This is not always possible due to budgetary constraints, so here are some tips to make moving into a new home easier for seniors.

Start packing early so you only have to do a little bit each day.
Many older people have arthritis or a bad back that makes bending painful or even impossible. If you have to pack and unpack yourself, make sure you place the box on a chair or an unused bed so you don’t have to bend over.

What Will Make Your Property Sell Faster?

Date October 12, 2012 Category Home Maintenance

home-improvement

There are many improvements you can do to your home to ensure a speedy sale for the price you want. While it is important to make sure everything is clean and tidy and no repairs need to be done, the seller will often do some kind of quick renovation to enhance the look of the home. Repainting or papering walls is a popular way to freshen up the walls and ceiling of the house, but what about the floor? Should you get the Perth carpet cleaners in or change your flooring to tiles or timber? It depends on two main things.

What to Expect When You Hire Equipment for Home Renovations

Date August 17, 2012 Category Renovating

Hire-Equipment-for-Home-Renovation

Whether you are renovating a property or doing any similar job that needs large plant hire equipment to do it, the best way to get that equipment is to hire it. It is almost impossible to purchase high ticket equipment such as a bulldozer, excavator or bobcat due to the cost tying up your finances.

Such equipment is really expensive and if you need a loan to buy it, you will be paying probably over double the purchase price due to the interest on the loan, so hiring equipment is the best way forward. But what can you expect when you rent equipment?

You can expect the equipment to be in good condition with low work hours on the clock.
You can expect that the equipment to be delivered to your work site without you having to supply a truck to cart it.

8 Tips for a Stress-Free Move

Date May 18, 2012 Category New Home

Removalist

Moving house is one of the most stressful things you will ever do. Not only do you have to pack up all your worldly goods, but unpack them at the other end. Then there are still the children, seniors and pets to take care of and ensure they don’t get lost along the way. So here are 8 tips to help cut down the stress of moving.

We know that packing and booking the removalists early is imperative, but not so many people think about connecting the internet at their new home. Arranged it several weeks before the move to be sure that there will be a connection on the day you move in.
The electricity connection needs to be set up for the day you move in so that you won’t be paying for the previous tenant’s usage.
Pets and toddlers can be difficult to handle with everything else that you have to do. If possible, leave the children with friends or relatives and put the pets into a pet motel.

How to Create a Dog Friendly Landscape Design

Date February 21, 2012 Category Home Design

Dog-Friendly-Landscape-Design

Since dogs are such a large part of so many people’s lives, it makes sense to create a landscape design with your doggie friend in mind. After all, dogs have needs too and making an outdoor space that does not consider their needs will mean that the dog is getting into trouble all the time for ruining the garden, or the owner is dissatisfied with the result of the dog’s natural activities. The way out of the dilemma is to plan a dog friendly landscape design, but one that is also person friendly.

What do dogs like to do?

To do this you have to remember – or find out – what is natural for a dog to do. Most people know dogs like to roll around on the grass, dig holes and pee on the lawn. What a lot of people don’t realise is that dogs are highly territorial and like to run around the boundaries of their backyard in order to protect it. The trouble is that most outside areas include a narrow garden along the boundaries.

Fibreglass vs. Concrete for Swimming Pools

Date July 17, 2011 Category Home Design

Fibreglass-vs.-Concrete-swimming-pool

Once you have made the decision to have a swimming pool installed on your property there are several factors to take into account and one of the most important ones is what it will be made from; fibreglass or concrete. Here is a breakdown of each to help you decide which one is best for you.

The concrete advantage

Concrete swimming pools have several advantages over fibreglass, the main one being that every part of it can be customised. Shape, size, design, colour and accessories can all be unique because the construction is done onsite, not in the factory. This allows you to put a pool in a corner of any shape and size; it can even be a triangle if that suits the position best. You can have steps and levels in the pool however you want them and you can add lighting and even spa jets to enhance usage.

Concrete lasts a lot longer than fibreglass and is lower in maintenance. When a concrete pool is installed properly there will be no staining at the seams from groundwater.

Stress-Free Kitchen Renovations

Date April 16, 2011 Category Renovating

Stress-Free-Kitchen-Renovation

Renovations in the house are often stressful, but when it comes to the kitchen it can be even more so. The kitchen is one room that is used throughout the day to get meals and snacks and if it cannot be used to its full potential due to ongoing renovations this is sure to cause a great deal of stress. Since stress is not good for your health, it is important to find ways and means to cut it out of your life, especially during renovations.

Good organisation is key

For some reason, many homeowners think they can renovate the kitchen on their own. But when it comes down to doing it, they get into strife because they haven’t organised the various trades to come on the right day – or at all – and so those renovations drag on for weeks, creating a stressful atmosphere in the home.

It is far better to have the whole renovations done by professional kitchen renovators who are used to working out exactly what is needed. If you are doing it yourself, you don’t really have much idea about how long each task will take. If you allow too long, time is wasted waiting for the next portion of the job to be done. If you don’t leave enough time, tradesmen are sitting around doing nothing while they wait, which costs you money for nothing.

What to Expect with Professional Property Maintenance

Date February 3, 2010 Category Home Maintenance

Professional-Property-Maintenance

There is no doubt about it that a home looks much better when the correct Perth property maintenance is done on a regular basis. Many people spend their leisure time looking after their garden and lawn and doing other maintenance chores around the house, just to keep it looking spick and span. But when it comes to rentals, not everyone cares about how the place looks. Unless tenants have signed a contract to say they will care for the lawn and garden they probably won’t and the value of your investment property can go down.

Be clear about what you want done

The best way to keep it all in order is to hire professional property maintenance people to get the job done. But it is essential to be clear about what you want done. Many professionals only offer gardening or lawn mowing services, so it is no use expecting them to do any more. They won’t have the right equipment for it.

Advantages of Using a Professional Scaffold Hire Company

Date April 21, 2009 Category Home Maintenance

Professional-Scaffold-Hire

Nearly all buildings need scaffolding in place before the building can start, or at least before the building can progress further than the ground floor. Many buildings today are huge and complex, soaring many metres into the sky. Without Safe Scaffold it would be impossible to get the job done.

It is important for the scaffolding to provide safe support and access to all the various parts of the building, otherwise the builders and others simply cannot work on it. However, the scaffolding is in itself a big build – one of the most important components of the overall construction. That is why it is important to use a professional scaffold hire company. Here are some of the advantages of doing so.

A professional scaffold hire company has engineers that can custom design the scaffolding so that it is right for your particular construction job. This makes it much safer than using generic, pre-made scaffolding.