Posts Tagged ‘storage’

So You Want A Garden Gazebo?

Saturday, July 4th, 2009
by Margaret Granholm

Gazebos started to become popular in the US in the mid 1800’s Gazebos have been around for thousands of years and can be traced as far back as ancient Egypt, 5000 years ago. They were popular in the middle ages, as well as in Persia.

Gazebos have been going in and out of popularity for hundreds of years. Sometimes being seen as a status symbol, only to be outranked by some new status symbol such as the large porches that became popular at the turn of the last century, and again in the 1940’s when large patios were the current rage.

Sometimes during the 1980’s the Gazebo fever came back strongly, and have been on an upswing since then. The multitude of designs and materials and blueprints along with ready made gazebo kits can make deciding on a gazebo a fun and exciting journey.

Gazebos are most commonly constructed of wood or vinyl. Metal and plastic glass is sometimes used. Bamboo is another material. The gazebos can be open or closed with ornate 2 tiered roofs, with elaborate wood work adorning the entire structure.

Take your time browsing the available gazebos. Or the available blue prints if you have decided to do the construction from scratch. What works with your garden, and your style? An elegant or rustic gazebo? Ornate with intricate design and beautiful details? Or plain and rustic?

So, you see, there are a lot of details you need to work out before you make a final decision on design. Will you construct a concrete floor, or make a wooden pad for the gazebo? Will you want a chimney to add a fireplace for chilly evenings? (Think roasted marshmallows and toddy)The only limit is your imagination. A garden gazebo will bring pleasure and beauty for your garden for many years to come.

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Home Decor and Decoration

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
by Rob Jackson

Whether you are decorating a new home or starting a new home furnishings decor project for your home you will need to start without a plan. If you don’t have a plan then you are going to have problems with your re-decoration. Components that should be considered during the planning stage are the color scheme and the furniture.

While you can re-decorate and make the room look entirely new with just a new coat of paint, make sure the paint you buy matches your home furnishings decor. You shouldn’t limit yourself to one color of paint, even if you are one hundred percent certain it will work in your house. Take many swatches home with you. Using sample paint jars and a small portion of one of your walls, you should further test out the paint you think you might like. As some paint will look great under certain light, but not as fantastic under others, you should be sure to observe the paint on the wall for at least a couple of days.

When it comes to choosing home furnishings decor you want to stick with the practical items. Not all rooms need the same type of furniture and you should buy based on the needs of each individual room. Because their functions are so entirely different, you would not buy the same type of furniture for your family room that you would for your formal living room. Measurements and diagrams showing the exact location of windows and doors in the room are essential before shopping for furniture. Always choose your furniture after you have decided upon the wall art and carpeting.

Even the best planners can have trouble trying to come up with a place to begin their project. The home furnishings decor decisions are not always easy to decide. Just because items look great in a magazine does not guarantee that they will look good in your home, so you should start your decorating by coming up with a list of goals. Always decide upon a budge as part of your goals. This way you won’t focus on a decorating idea that won’t work within your budget.

Many people turn to the internet for new ideas and to find tips on how to save money. great money-saving tip is to buy your furniture online in order to get a discount. The internet will give you more variety to choose from as well, which is particularly helpful if you are trying to come up with a specific or unique look.

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DIY Approach For Building A Flat Roof Carport: Part One

Saturday, June 13th, 2009
by John Moore

I have been considering building a flat roof carport for the better part of a year, and I have done a fair amount of research to prepare for my big project. While researching the type of carport that I would build I came across many different options, including metal carport kits which seem to be pretty popular from what I can gather. However, the esthetics of the available kits just didn’t suit me, so I am opting for a build from scratch project.

The first thing I did was to go to city hall and get a building permit. I had heard through the grapevine that I could get a building permit with only rough plans. I had also heard that there were some hefty fines for those you started construction before getting the permit. The permit must be posted to the outside of my house or affixed to a window and clearly readable from outside of my house. The permit has to remain there throughout the entire construction period.

The only hiccup that I ran into when applying for my permit, and this was not so much a hiccup as an oversight on my part, was the fact that my property taxes are going to increase as a result of building my new carport. I shouldn’t have expected any different, of course the carport will increase the value of my property, therefore my taxable value will increase. One minor comfort is the fact that my carport is not going to increase my taxes nearly so much as a fully enclosed garage would.

Following my fact finding step where I figured out what I needed to file with the city before receiving my permit, I now have the task of actually getting my visual concept onto paper where any details that need refining or problems with my concept will come to light before I commit my idea to a formal building plan. I have planned to build a carport that will echo the style of my house, so there are quite a few details that are cosmetic only, and I can add on top of the basic structure which will not impact the structural design. Deciding on a wooden carport actually has benefits in this way over a metal carport, since my final carport is going to blend in much better than if I had chosen a kit.

The final step before actual construction is to get my plans approved by an engineer. I have a lot of building experience but it is best to have a certified engineer go over the plans carefully before I even start the foundation. I think there is a very good chance that I might use the flat roof as the base for a second story addition at some point in the future. I don’t have the money to do the second floor addition right now but I want to have the option in the future. Accordingly, an engineer can help me calculate the load I need to plan for. I may do the second story addition in steps. Perhaps in a year I will build a deck with outside access.

So that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far with planning my big summer project – I just need to wait for the ground to dry out a bit since the spring has been pretty muddy, but I’m hoping to start digging some footings by the beginning of June. Even though I only have weekends to build my new carport, and I will certainly lose a few to fishing trips and weekends at the cottage, there’s still no reason that I shouldn’t get the whole thing built and finished off before fall. That will give me plenty of time to finish the details and painting before it starts snowing.

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