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Decor 101 Decor and Renovation Tips: The Property Mag's Definitive Guide to Beautifying your Home
Everyday thepropertymag.co.za reports on the state of the housing market; we’ve heard statements about its imminent collapse, the inevitable upswing, and we’ve been told “if you don’t have to sell, don’t.” With all the confusion surrounding the property market there are things you can do to improve the marketability of your home; whether you are looking looking to sell now or wait out the storm. Adopting the ‘sensible’ property owner’s mantra – ‘Don’t move, improve” – and concentrating on your home’s appearance may be the best move in today’s turbulent financial climate. Here are 101 decor and renovation tips to help you boost your home's value so that staying put won't just make sense financially, it will be an absolute pleasure. 1. Extend your value: An extension could add between 10 and 50 per cent to the value of your home, depending on its size and how well it's finished. The key is to get its proportions just right. So, you've plenty of bedrooms but a tiny kitchen? Add on a downstairs extension to create a spacious kitchen diner. Got a huge garden but a small house? Put on a double storey extension to create the family home of your dreams. 2. Kitchen, the first to go: Planning a new kitchen is an absolute must for anyone seriously looking to boost their home's value - it could add up to 10 per cent in value to your home, it's the first thing a potential buyer will look for in the future, and it's also the room you're likely to spend much of your time in, particularly if it is a kitchen diner and living space all in one. Pick one that matches the style of your home - so choose a contemporary kitchen for a modern home, or something more traditional for a period property. 3. Use quality materials: quality drawer slides and hinges mean cabinet doors will stay closed and drawers won't stick. Stay away from drawers that are stapled together or made of particleboard. For cabinet interiors, wood veneer is more durable than melamine, laminate, MDF or particleboard.
9. Avoid maintenance nightmares: Natural surfaces with inherent texture – slate, terra-cotta, brick and tumbled marble – are more difficult to clean but camouflage the odd crumb. Smooth surfaces in light colours, such as white laminate counters or ceramic floors, are easy to clean but show everything. 13. Planning a new bathroom: An effective bathroom design should address all your needs, physical and spiritual. 14. Choose elegant fixtures: A pedestal sink with graceful lines is more attractive than a blocky cabinet vanity. A classic claw-foot tub is like bathroom sculpture. Even enclosed in a deck, the simple lines of the lip have an inherent beauty that surpasses most acrylic versions.
19. Build a shower area: Consider building an open-concept shower area that doesn't need a curtain or door and is less confining than a standard shower stall. In addition to well-designed drainage, a ceiling-mounted rain showerhead and/or a high wall-mounted showerhead that splashes less water will keep the area outside the shower drier. 21. Design lighting that works: Good lighting is imperative. Combine halogen pot lights with wall sconces beside or over the mirror for lighting with no shadows. Always install dimmers.
24. Add an ensuite: Squeezing in an en suite bathroom could add up to five per cent to the value of your home, assuming you don’t sacrifice a valuable bedroom for it. The best bet is to put one into - or steal space from - a large bedroom, or fit a wetroom into a large cupboard. 25. Upgrade outside: Upgrading the exterior of your home could add a whacking 15 per cent to the value of your home. How does the front garden look? Are there any DIY jobs you could do, such as repair guttering? Does the front door need painting? Are the windows clean? 26. Redecorate: Redecorating is an easy, and not necessarily expensive, way to improve your home. Paint is the cheapest way and there are lots of easy to live with, space-enhancing colour schemes to choose from. 27. Just add wallpaper: Wallpaper will give a classier feel to your rooms than paint, although you can cut down on costs by combining the two. 28. Try wall stencils: Stencilling is really making a credit crunch comeback, too, because it can create an expensive look at a minimal cost. 29. or Wall Stickings: Wall stickings are all the rage in home decor at the moment. If painting isn't your greatest skill, how about sticking? Wall stickers cost a fraction of what wallpaper would, but their impact on a room is just as great – and they’re incredibly easy to apply.
31. Don’t put off problems: Dealing with problems your house has while you’re staying put makes real sense – trying to do so in the run up to putting it on the market is likely to be both stressful and more expensive. So, spend time and money now to get rid of woodchip wallpaper, sort out plumbing problems identify and deal with damp, and restore wood or remove aertex. 32. Save energy: Find ways to save energy, and therefore money, at home. Use the money you save to spend on more eco friendly improvements. 33. Go green and save: Looking to redesign your home, want to be green and save cash? You can do it all by choosing to buy recycled, used or antique furniture over anything newly made. 34. Recycle, recycle, recycle: Thinking of some major improvements, such as redesigning the garden or updating the kitchen? You can go green and save yourself money, even with jobs of this scale, by opting for architectural salvage or recycled building materials over brand new products, too. 35. Be eco-friendly: Use eco-friendly, low-VOC paint, and paint everything – walls, floor and ceiling – the same colour. Tip: Rent a spray machine from your local hardware store and cut painting time in half. 36. Go au-natural: Make room for greenery. Bring in large potted plants or built-in planters to keep the air fresh. Choose native plants that don’t require much water. 37. Local is lekker: Think local. Source materials and furniture from nearby places to reduce the negative impact of long-distance shipping. 38. Glam your garden: Turning a neglected plot into a glamorous garden can have a real impact on your home and how you feel about it, let alone adding to its overall value. You needn’t spend a fortune – just a few clever ideas and regular maintenance can do the trick. 39. Give your garden some flavour: While you’re improving your garden, why not make space for a kitchen garden, like Jamie Oliver? It needn’t be on the same scale – even a window box is enough to start off with.
41. Add something new: Spruce up your garden by adding a new garden dining set, whether wooden, metal or funky and contemporary. The only effort involved is paying for it. 42. Room with a view: The view of your garden can be beautifully framed from indoors by the right blinds, or by curtains. Choose a window dressing that complements your room as well as your garden; opt for light curtains that let in plenty of natural light and accentuate the colours of your garden. 43. Clean house: Need a bigger house? Forget moving – spring cleaning and de-cluttering is the answer. Start in the room you wake up in – it always makes a big difference to how you feel about the day. Invest in spacious new wardrobes, and if you can stretch to it, a brand new bed, preferably with storage space beneath. 44. Create Space: Investing in a set of new shelves or a sideboard will make your current home feel much more spacious, too. You never know, you might even make room on them for some new buys, such as the latest TV and hi-fi equipment. 45. Light up your life: choose the right lighting for each room in the house. A simple hanging light fixture will not suffice for every room: customise your lighting according to the activities carried out in that room. Studies need plenty of light to keep eyes relaxed; low-lighting in the dining room gives it a romantic atmosphere. 46. Mix it up: Use mix lighting to distribute light evenly. Avoid using one central light that will create hard shadows and glare. Instead, combine general lighting like fluorescent or PLC down lights with halogen lights. This will distribute light more evenly throughout the space. Also, general light, recessed in the ceiling or spots overhead will need back up from 'task' lighting at eye level.
58. it’s all about the bedroom: turn your bedroom into a restful getaway by focusing on the right accessories and pieces. Bedrooms aren’t just for sleeping anymore bedrooms have evolved into comfortable getaways for people to relax and unwind from their hectic schedules. 59. Do something different: Current bedroom furnishing trends are leaning away from the standard set of a bed, two nightstands and a few dressers all of the same style and collection, towards a more romanced and eclectic combination of pieces to create a personal refuge or escape. Choose a signature piece of furniture to set the tone of the room.
61. Keep it simple, stupid: Don’t overpower the natural design of your home with excessive decorating and over-the-top design. If your home as beautifully unique features try and keep the focus on these focal points in your home; arrange furniture around a beautiful oak fire place, or use large windows which showcase a beautiful garden as a focal point for the lounge instead of the TV. 62. Too much of a good thing: Don’t over accessorise. Rather use a few great pieces than attempt to cram every nice accessory you’ve found into one room. Just because it matches does not mean it adds to the overall look and feel of the room. 63: Achieve balance: balance big chunky pieces with smaller pieces to give the room depth; but don’t mix and match too much. An oversized wardrobe can make a double bed seem smaller than it actually is. Make sure your furniture complements each other and adds to the mood of the room. 64. Think trends, not fads: Try to avoid the hot trends that tend to come and go. You might regret it later. Rather go for decor and changes that are classic and that you can be certain you will like for years to come. 65. Don’t overspend: Do Not Spend More Than You Can Recoup - Why spend R$4,000 on new flooring if the resale value is less than that? 66. Refurbish Rather Than Replace: Where possible try to refurbish existing floors and cabinets. A simple refurbishment can make your home look as good as new. 67: Save: Save extra roof shingles for future repairs. You may forget the brand name and colour of your shingles or they may not be manufactured any longer. Tracking down discontinued roof tiles is not fun. 68. Add water: Water features, like swimming pools, add value to any property. If you have a pool consider re-furbishing your pool or the look of your swimming pool area. Thinking hard about not just what your pool does, but how it integrates into and enhances your home, garden and lifestyle is very important. There are so many considerations think pool furniture, decking, water and rock features, Martini steps and so on that the best counsel is to do lots of research first 69. Create an oasis: Trees and pools do not get on. Not only can large roots interfere with the construction of a pool some builders will not build within three meters of trees of any size but they can drop leaves and block your filters and cleaners in no time. But trees create an atmosphere like no other; add a few palm trees in large pots to your pool-side area for that ‘just found’ oasis look.
71. Get a green thumb: Gardens are not just places where one grows plants and vegetables. To complement the amount of effort you put in here, you should try and improve your garden decor so that your garden looks beautiful, even without flowers. 72. Create a singular focus: One way to make a difference to your garden decor is to focus on one part of the garden and build the rest around it. This can be done by building a gazebo, an arbour, a rose pillar or any statues or sculptures of interest. 73. A sense of architecture: You can provide an architectural form and a sense of style to your garden decor by adding a bit of iron gate work, elegant metal topiary forms or concrete statuary to the garden. Simple garden ornaments and artful decor contribute tremendously to the aesthetic value to your outdoor living garden spaces. 74. Adding water features: Building a waterfall or a fountain can add a lot of value to your garden decor. In fact, most Japanese gardens have a water feature, and the ones without water features have something that represents water, like grey gravel or sand. If you would like to be a little innovative, you can turn your whole garden into a water garden. 75. Collect and scatter: After having collected a variety of art and ornamentation to add to your garden decor, make sure you scatter it throughout the landscape. Some people place topiary, sculpture or tuteur forms in distant small landscaped garden spaces for maximum viewing impact. Try and frame ornamental pieces of art with easy-growing shrubs and low-growing flowers. 76. Planters and containers: For an elegant garden decor, you may need to carefully choose the planters and containers to hold your plants. Many kinds of containers are available, the popular ones being made of concrete, fibre stone, fibreglass and plastic. For earth tones, you might choose terracotta. Correct use of planters can also add height, shape and life to your garden. 77. Light your way: Lighting up a garden nicely also enhances the garden decor. Other than lighting up the pathway in your garden, you can also light up a specific tree by focusing light beams on it. Make sure you keep safety concerns in mind for lighting options. 78. Define your place: Try and use varieties of height to beautify your garden. Garden ornamentation will define garden spaces. Taller garden decor and sculpture can create pleasant and sprawling visual architecture in small spaces. Always try and place taller plantings toward the back of the garden. 8) Block what you do not like 79. Add interest: Block a part of the garden with climbers like ivy or vines if you do not like the way it looks. A trellis or obelisk can also be combined with the climbers to block the view. It will only end up enhancing your garden decor. You can also add a birdbath to your garden.
81. Create Harmony: matter how you wish to decorate your garden; you should make sure that everything is harmonized. Utilising all your resources with perfect balance can enhance your garden decor and make it your own piece of paradise. 82. Glam your garage: Reshape your garage from being a dingy corner to something funky and lively. 86. Do things right: Ensure the best results possible by working with the right people and planning your renovations according to your budget.
95. Live in your living room: Since we multi-task in the living room, our designs must accommodate for such tasks, and at the same time, offer a room for comfort and the best furniture placement than any other room in the house.
97. Dress your windows: Don’t overlook your window dressings; a successful design can be brought to its knees because of ill matched curtain. Choose the right way to frame your windows and tie in your design. There are many important things to consider; design, colour, material, and placement. All of these can make or break your final product. Choose window dressings that complement your overall design. Don’t match hefty curtains with a sleek, modern design or blinds with an old-Victorian dining room. 98. Plan, plan, plan: Make sure you design your plan well. When planning for living room furniture, do not purchase your furniture without measuring the space first. Your living room design layout will start with a focal point, which is usually a fireplace, large picture window or bay window. Place your seating in the area of the focal point. 99. Get ready, set, go: Are you ready? It's important to be thorough about your wants and needs, but you also have to get along with your crew. You've got to deal with these people; they're going to be in your house. Do your homework and try to be consistent rather than changing your mind frequently about what you want or don't want to be done. 100. Remember the basic realities of home renovation: It will take longer and it will cost more than you have planned.
Compiled by Crystal Espin
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7. Install an island that works: Beware of placing a bulky cube in the middle of the room. Choose an island that has an open, airy look. Ideally, an island should be unencumbered by appliances, but if you want it to house a dishwasher-sink combo or a cook top, try to maintain the light look of a leggy harvest table. 
16. Choose durable flooring: Ceramic, marble and stone tiles are all excellent durable and water-resistant choices for a bathroom. Subfloor heating coils will make these hard surfaces warm. Well-sealed hardwood floors offer natural warmth and act as a foil for the other hard, cold surfaces in a bathroom. 
23. Incorporate luxury into your room: If you're fortunate enough to have lots of space to work with, indulge yourself with an expanded ‘spa-like’ bathroom that includes a dressing room – a haven for privacy and relaxation. Outfit it with a television, fireplace, exercise equipment, makeup vanity and even a large comfortable occasional chair upholstered in thick white terry-cloth. 
30. Replace old carpets: Replacing old, worn or outdated carpets can transform a room instantly. Current carpet trends are for bold colours and patterns, but for a look you won’t tire of, go for something classic, neutral and easy to live with that’s made to last. 
40. Add an outdoor room: If you have a large garden and want to add a little more indoor space without building an extension, why not consider an outdoor room? These will give you space for anything from a home office to an extra lounging area to somewhere for the kids to play. 
50. Say goodbye to glare: Don’t strain your eyes by watching television in a darkened room. Backlight your TV set by placing a lamp behind the screen to soften the contrast and reduce the glare. 
60. Mix and match: Follow European trends of mixing and matching stained wood with painted wood or iron. Blending eclectic items gives your bedroom an interesting twist. For example, combine an iron bed like with a pair of hand-painted nightstands for a European-inspired look. Complete the look by incorporating a stained or distressed dresser, a lingerie chest or a beautifully hand-painted armoire. 
70. Private Property: The other thing to consider is whether you want the pool to be a private area of repose, perhaps screened off by trellises or walls, or whether you want it to be the centre of entertainment and attention. 
80. Temporary glam: If you organize parties in your garden, they are some ways to improve on your garden decor. If you are on a shoestring budget, you could light the garden by candles, lanterns or string lighting. Clean up a certain area within the garden to provide a tidy place for your guests. Addition of fragrant containers would fill the garden air with a pleasant smell. Also, do not forget to get comfortable garden chairs for your guests. 
90. Comply with permit and zoning requirements: Doing a renovation without a permit can cause enormous problems if the illegal work is discovered. The city can fine you, and even force you to tear down your renovation. Do not work with a contractor who suggests bypassing these requirements. 
96. Dress your walls: Wall décor consists of many different applications and choices such as wall pictures and frames, tapestries, wallpaper, paint, fabric, leather, wood panels, tiles, stone, glass, mirror and more. Depending on your design theme will help you determine the wall décor of choice and mood you want to create. 
