Summer is right around the corner, and many people like to take this opportunity to improve their houses. It’s perhaps the best time to make some changes- you can prepare for the changing of the seasons better and even make your summer experience cooler.
Here’s a shortlist of home improvement ideas you can do, and fortunately, they’re not as difficult as one would think it is.
Use Your Spandrel
Many people have seen how Harry Potter spent his childhood in a room under the stairs. But beyond its association to the famous character, your spandrel (the name of the space under the stairs), is actually a good place to start renovating. For one, you can turn it into a usable space either for your kids or yourself.
Be it a playroom, a storage room, or even a study corner, it’s best to clear it off and make it into a useful space. It adds usable square footage in your, which is something to consider, especially if you’re looking for value-increasing upgrades for your home.
Don’t Neglect Your Exterior
While we stay inside our houses most of the time, it doesn’t mean we should completely neglect the exterior of our homes. The summer heat can sometimes be unbearable, but if you have a good yard, you can make it an experience like no other. Consider hiring professional paving services, and then put up some patio roof for protection against the sun.
This way, you can still have your summer barbecues or even just hang out outside. Summer is supposed to be a season where you can kick back and relax, and this is one way to go about it.
Try a Sunken Living Room
Living room improvements are among the first things we think about when renovating the home. It’s one of the most used spaces in our house, and your living room has probably seen a hundred renovations already. What else can you try? A lowered living room. You heard that right, a lowered or sunken living room can make your space feel a lot bigger. The space between the floor and ceiling can really create the feeling of wideness and openness and add in a ceiling fan, you would have the best summer living room.
Use Better Lighting
Lighting is one of the things that really sets the mood for your home. And with summer being rich with natural sunlight, consider opening up windows and moving furniture around to allow for better natural light. This can make your home feel bigger and more open, at the same time, saving on electricity for lighting. If you don’t have such big windows, you can try placing a mirror near (not against) a window to reflect sunlight around the room.
Turn a Walk-in Closet to a Nook
A few years ago, downsizing was such a big thing that many people often have too much storage space and not enough things to put in them. While that’s not exactly a bad thing, it does lead to the question of what you’re supposed to do with your empty closet. Well, if you have a small walk-in or recessed closet, you can turn that into something really cool like a multipurpose nook.
It can either be a work table where you have all your tools and equipment there, be it for art and crafts or even books and writing materials. With the nook facing the wall, it’s a great way to focus and zone in on what you’re doing, and it’s also a very good addition to your home.
Place Fans in the Right Location
While most houses have an air conditioner nowadays, its power consumption remains significant- especially during summer seasons. This is one reason why you should learn how to use an electric fan to make your space feel cooler. And since fans don’t inherently create cold air, but simply move it around, it’s best to put it in the coolest part of your home.
Put it near a window or even in the middle of a room and the angle is facing the hottest parts of your house. Or, you can even face one fan outside, and another inside- effectively release warm air while generating a cool one. This creates a cross breeze and is a very cost-efficient way to cool your house.
Home renovations are fun to do, especially as a way to greet the changes of the season. Take this opportunity to improve upon whatever is needed inside your home. After all, it is your home, where everything should in place be to your comfort and happiness.