Home Renovation — Page 2 — You are in My World Now

Decorative Fypon Elements For The Whole Home

November 4, 2012 by Trish

Homeowners are often looking for new and affordable ways to update the look of the interior or exterior of their homes. As they investigate the different options, they may find that certain construction materials offer more convenience than others and Fypon urethane falls into that category. Environmentally conscious homeowners will appreciate an option that doesn’t deplete the amount of trees and forestation across the country. With many weather resistant qualities, Fypon products are ideal for exterior home improvement projects, and homeowners who are looking for a way to update the look of their entire home will appreciate the versatility of Fypon decorative elements.

Just what is Fypon urethane?

Fypon is actually the name brand for products made from urethane foam and forced into the decorative shapes and designs that are so popular in new homes and in remodeled older homes. These products provide homeowners an alternative to wood. Without needing to provide the continuous maintenance that wood products require and without feeling guilty about reducing the forests for their decorating purposes, homeowners may use Fypon elements on the exterior and interior of their homes. Some examples of decorative elements include:

Exterior Elements

Louvers
Trim
Keystones
Door and window surrounds
Pediments
Crossheads
Pilasters
Balustrades

Interior Elements

Faux beams
Decorative trim moldings
Window trim and brackets
Ceiling trim and brackets
Interior balustrades
Ceiling medallions
Column wraps

While many people will think of these elements in the traditional white, there are also many other colors available for either exterior or interior applications.

Benefits of Fypon for Exterior Decorating

There are many decorative reasons to consider adding Fypon decorative elements to the front of the home or for any of the doorways and windows around the sides and back of the home. The framing around doors and windows creates a multi-dimensional look and enhances the existing beauty of the home. Adding extra details such as sunbursts, molding, rams head pediments and more will provide a fresh, new look to the exterior of the home and will also create an appearance that stands apart from the other homes in the area. Homeowners will also appreciate the use of these decorative elements as they work to seal up any areas around doors and windows that may have been a source of drafts or air loss for the home. With Fypon elements, homeowners can create a variety of different decorative styles and may be able to reduce the amount that they pay for their heating and cooling costs. Plus the weather resistant qualities make this decorative material a worthwhile investment.

Fypon Benefits for the Interior of the Home

Many of the benefits relating to the use of Fypon will be the same both inside and outside of the home. The added detail can frame an attractive display or may be used as a display in and of themselves. Molding full of grape bunches, twining leaves or other decorative patterns can increase the formal tone of a room or could be used to create a traditional and homey feel throughout the home. Cleaning and other necessary maintenance inside the home may be simplified when Fypon elements are used.

Whenever a remodel is in order or if the time has come for a complete change with a new home, Fypon decorative elements are an affordable and convenient alternative to wood décor. Both resistant to the elements and adaptable for many indoor and outdoor decorating, Fypon elements are growing in popularity in the building and reconstruction field.L

Lawrence Reaves writes for Accent Building Products, a home improvement company offering kitchen cabinetry, fireplace mantels and a wide variety of Fypon accents for your home. Check out Accent Building Products and the productst they offer here.

How to Increase Bathroom Storage Space

September 29, 2012 by Trish

With sales of grooming products soaring (especially mens) fitting all your age defining skin serums, exfoliating lotions and bronzing creams into your bathroom can be challenging. Add to that piles of towels, bathroom cleaning products, laundry and jumbo packs of toilet roll; and your bathroom will feel less like a spa sanctuary and more like a clutter haven. Luckily there are lots of ways to wash away your storage woes in even the smallest of bathrooms….

1) Built in cabinets

Built in bathroom cupboards put your square footage to good use because they can be built to the exact specification of your bathroom, making the most of oddly shaped spaces. The size, shape, length, width and thickness can all be altered to fit. A recessed built in cabinet is the best choice for conserving precious floor space and any unused drywall space is an opportunity for this storage perk. Free standing bathroom cabinets are another option, and if you’re on a tight budget these are significantly cheaper. Medicine cabinets are often wall mounted alongside the mirror, but above the toilet is a good spot for maximising a small space. Whatever style of cabinet you go for today’s cabinets are masters of organisation, with more and more amenities like built in drawer dividers, cosmetic trays, appliance garages (that hide but keep hand things you use everyday like hair dryers and electronic toothbrushes) and even wardrobe-like spaces for hanging clothes and laying out ties.

2) Vanity Cabinet

A vanity cabinet is a great storage solution because it combines a wash basin and countertop with closed shelving below. It also gives a bathroom a more stylish look because it hides the sink plumbing. When choosing a vanity cupboard go for one with ample shelves and drawers so you can store lots of lotions and potions. This is especially the case if you have teenage girls.

3) Towel rails

Towel rails or ladders are the best way to keep towels off the floor. There are lots of stylish designs these days so if you want your rail to be a feature point then be bold and go for an unusual curved or spiral design. If stepping out of the bath into a warm and toasty fluffy towel sounds like your idea of heaven then go for a heated rail.

4) No space left behind

If you want a minimalist look why not build some storage into the bath itself. The hidden space in a tub surround can be a good place to store toilet rolls and cleaning products. The back of the bathroom door is an often overlooked place for storage potential. Hooks can easily be installed for hanging towels, wash cloths, shoe holders, dressing gowns etc. Small recessed niches alongside the shower are handy for keeping shampoos and shower gels, and they stop a wet footed dash across the bathroom to reach forgotten items. Even shower curtains these days can come with inbuilt storage pockets.

Ben writes about bathroom remodling and currently works for Speedy Services. He loves to redesign and renovate is home and is often found in the tool hire shop.

I smooshed my hand

June 18, 2012 by Tricia

You’ll have to excuse me for not writing much lately. Earlier this month I had an accident that resulted in me damaging my left hand – badly. Oh and unfortunately my left hand is my writing hand so that makes typing on the computer or doing pretty much anything a whole lot more difficult!

We’ve been doing some renovations on our home and my husband “stupidly” left an extension ladder – you know one of those huge metal ladders – out in our living room. It was lying on it’s side up against a table that we have our turtle tank on but that table happens to be right in the hallway that leads from the dining room to the kitchen. Well … Early in the morning of June 7th I was wandering into the kitchen to get a drink of water and as I came back through that hallway in the semi-dark my foot caught on the ladder – or something – I really don’t know what happened and the next thing I knew I was falling literally on top of the ladder and almost under the side table.

Skip forward to a very swollen left hand, a huge bruise on my lower left thigh a trip to the local emergency room that took 6 hours – with xrays of my hand and a follow up visit with a plastic surgeon that specializes in hands and I’m in a special hand splint because it looks like I have a torn ligament in my left thumb, and possibly a torn ligament in my outer left wrist or maybe a break in the bones there. Next week I have a follow up visit with the surgeon to see how my hand is doing. It’s still swollen and bruised but less than it was to begin with so that’s good. Then if it’s not healing well enough or if she thinks it might be a complete tear of a ligament I guess she’s going to send me for an MRI and then depending on the results I might have to have surgery.

So … thanks for leaving the ladder out Chris! Whatever happens it looks like I’m going to be in this splint for at least another four weeks so there goes half the summer. Do you know how hard it is to type on fingered and how hard it is to do just about everything else with your non-dominant hand? I take a lot of medicines and I can’t even open my pill bottles properly! I have to leave most of them open with the caps sitting on top and I’m really messed up if I close one! Oh and I can’t even use the plastic twist thing on a loaf of bread to open or close the bag. It’s hard to do with your non dominant hand and since my left hand is all splinted up so that I can’t use my thumb it’s almost impossible and very painful to do with my left hand. So my bread is put in a Ziploc bag for now.

The huge lump in my thigh is slowly going down. It’s been 11 days since the accident. What was once one huge lump is now several smaller ones. I don’t know if that’s good or bad? Smaller is good I suppose but it was HUGE to begin with. I was told not to be too active.

I know I’ll figure more things out as time goes by, but I’m not a happy camper.

The Huge Branch that Fell on Our House and Car

September 17, 2011 by Tricia

Back in August – August 21st to be exact, there was a sudden violent summer storm in our area of Toronto and while it only lasted about ten minutes it sure caused a lot of damage to not only our house and property, but to many other peoples homes in our area as well.

As I said the storm came on suddenly – it had been looking like rain for a while, but all of a sudden the sky had that dark almost greenish look that to me means impending tornado and there was in fact a storm and tornado watch at that time. Then, just as I stepped out on to our enclosed front porch to see if my husband was home yet from getting the groceries the storm started with a violent rush of rain.

I was trying to close the windows on the enclosed porch when I saw our car pull into the driveway. I moved towards the door, thinking that maybe I’d run outside to help my husband bring the groceries inside but then the rain really started shooting in the window that I hadn’t managed to close yet … and then there was a huge bang on the roof and all of a sudden there were branches all over our lawn and the car that my husband was still inside of … or at least I was hoping my husband was still inside … because if he’d started to get out of the car he could have been hit by the huge branch!

As it turned out … my husband was still in the car being tossed and turned like he was in a car wash. He was trying to call the house but of course I was on the porch and wouldn’t have heard the phone … plus little did we know but the power went out and would be out for the better part of 7 hours!

When the rain finally slowed my husband crawled out of the car and we both counted our blessings that neither of us had been hit by the huge tree branch. It had fallen off the big maple tree on the other side of our neighbors house. It’s a city tree … but of course as it turns out because of it was storm conditions we can’t make a claim for the damaged that the huge maybe 500 pound branch did to our house evestroughs and car … we tried and were turned down. Nice eh?

Here’s a couple of pictures of what the tree branch looked like covering our small lawn and car. I figure the branch was over 20 feet in length and weighed more than 500 pounds. Most of our neighbors were stunned by what happened – one seemed to care less but that seems to be typical behavior for them. Sigh.

Now that the city has turned down our claim for damage we’re going to have to either get a quote from our insurance companies or just pay out of pocket for the damage that the big branch caused … either way we have to get the evestroughs fixed as a couple of them have dents in them that look like the lip of a measuring cup and rain water pours out of that area just like it does out of a measuring cup … so yes we have to fix it.

Battling my roses for our new fence

June 7, 2011 by Tricia

I barely have any skin left on my arms! Why? Well … I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the last few days moving my big rose branches around in my backyard as my neighbors have a new fence put in. Actually I guess as we have a new fence put in, because it’s the fence we share that’s causing me to have to do all this work!

The fence is pretty much done now. I’m not sure that I like it, but there’s not much I can do about it now. There were two guys working for the fencing company and one of them was fairly helpful and polite to us when we asked questions but the other guy was a real jerk. He definitely should never talk to customers!

If I wasn’t so upset by the whole fence going in situation (our neighbors just kind of thrust the fence thing upon us instead of asking us what we wanted and letting us be part of the decision making process) I would have enjoyed watching the nice guy work. He was fairly good looking and I guess building fences helps build muscles .. or else he used testosterone gel because he sure had a well developed body! Me on the other hand …. as I said in the beginning .. I probably didn’t look so good covered in scratches from all those rose branches! It’s going to take a week to heal.

I think I’m going to try to sleep in tomorrow if I can. I’m so tired. I’ve been working outside for three days in a row on all this fence and garden stuff … I’m exhausted.