Your home should be designed for both your comfort and your convenience. It’s where you spend most of your time, and you want it to be as relaxing and maintenance-free as possible. A great way to make your home easier to take care of and more enjoyable is to customize your home essentials. It personalizes many of the facets of your home, making them the most beneficial for your specific tastes and needs.
What are home essentials? Actually, it really depends on what makes you happy. Something that’s important to one person might not be that vital to someone else. Everyone has their own style of living, and their own basic needs. And, you need to keep your home safe from accidents or damage. Your home essentials would be anything that you need to make your home safe, comfortable, and efficient. Here are some different things to think about.
Essentials to Keep Your Home Safe
Keeping your home safe is about protecting yourself and your family from any harm. You also have a lot invested in your home. Not only is it a financial investment, but it holds all of the possessions that you have collected for your entire life. Here are some ways to keep your family safe and protect your home from damage.
- Smoke alarms: All too often, homes are destroyed and lives are lost either because of a lack of a smoke alarm or one that wasn’t operating. You should have a fire alarm on every floor of your home, at a minimum. There may even be other strategic locations where you might want one.
- Carbon monoxide detector: The thing about carbon monoxide is that you can’t see it or smell it. By the time it affects you, it’s usually too late to do anything about it. You would want a carbon monoxide detector located near your furnace or water heater or any other source of gas leading into your home.
- Leak detectors: Water damage can be one of the most expensive things to repair in your home, especially if a leak is somewhere that isn’t readily visible. And, unnoticed standing water can create areas where mold and mildew can grow, causing health issues for you and your family. Leak detectors can be placed in any locations where there are water lines. It they get wet, they will emit an alarm letting you know instantly.
Customize Your Cleaning Essentials
Keeping your home clean will not only make it more comfortable for you, it will also maintain its value. And, every home has different types of surfaces to clean. Here are some ideas to customize your cleaning essentials to make the chore easier for you.
It’s actually worth it to spend a little money on high-quality cleaning supplies to really keep your home clean and free of allergens. Simply dry dusting really only moves the dust around so it can land somewhere else, creating a vicious cycle.
Your floors are the toughest part of your home to maintain. After all, where is all of that dust and dirt going to eventually settle? It can be a battle to keep your floors clean. If you have several different floor surfaces, you can easily find vacuums that will work on all surfaces. They might be somewhat of a financial investment, but they’ll make it so much easier to keep your floors clean. Self-spraying mops are also ideal for cleaning hard floors quickly and effectively.
A steam machine is ideal for deep-cleaning almost any area of your home. While you might not use it every day, it’s a great way to clean and sanitize any area when it’s time to get down and dirty.
Your Bedroom is One of Your Most Important Home Essentials
Don’t forget about your bedroom when you are customizing your home essentials. Customizing it allows you to create your own personal, unique space where you can relax, sleep, or just escape from the everyday pressures that life can sometimes throw at you.
There might be a few things to consider when customizing your bedroom. It all depends on the look that you are going for, the things that make you the most comfortable, and the size of your bedroom. Justin Poile from VisionBedding says that a minimalist bedroom should have walls that are mostly empty. Posters, a TV, or unnecessary shelves and decorations make a room feel smaller and more cluttered. Having a few personalized items can make a much more impressive statement about yourself rather than having the room cluttered with various things, and it makes the room look bigger, as well as making it easier to clean.
In some ways, having your own personalized haven is actually an investment in your physical and mental well-being. Be forewarned, though! You may create a space that is so comfortable that you could find it a little difficult to pull yourself out of it. But, that’s not such a bad problem to have.
Think About Your Bathroom
There isn’t a much more essential place in your home than your bathroom. And, you do spend some time in there. So, why not make it comfortable and convenient for your particular needs and taste.
Think about the color scheme. It should be a peaceful, calming room for, well, you know. But, the overall feel should also be conducive to productivity as well. How many times do you find yourself rushing to get ready in the bathroom? Make the colors work for you.
The same goes for the lighting. Bright? Yes. Too bright? Not in some areas. Use the lighting to your advantage for whatever you are using the bathroom for.
How about a little aromatherapy. Scented candles and oils are perfect for those long soaks in the tub, and they look great as a part of the bathroom decor.
Your bathroom should scream clean! If it doesn’t look clean, it won’t be comfortable for you at all. Aside from the basic bathroom cleaning, you should try to eliminate as much of the clutter as possible. You could customize your vanity area with cubbies and organizers to keep all of those little essentials neat and tidy.
There is something to be said about guest towels. They help to maintain the overall tidiness of your bathroom. You can always keep them hanging, and have your hand towel neatly hanging beside them.
You could even enhance your bathroom with a little speaker to play some of your favorite music during those soothing baths, perfecting the ideal environment, combining a hot, soapy tub with soft lights, scented candles, and soothing music.
How Can You Customize Your Kitchen Home Essentials?
It’s probably the busiest room in your home, right? Between all of the cooking, eating, and cleaning, your kitchen sees a lot of foot traffic. You may even use your kitchen area as a home office or for your kids to do their homework. Here are some ways to customize your kitchen, making it more conducive to your particular uses.
Your kitchen can sometimes be the hub of most of your family activities. Or, maybe it’s where your friends congregate when they come over. Why not make it more fitting for gatherings? You could add some comfortable seating, or even a center island with stools to promote an interactive atmosphere with anyone else that is in the room. Food and fun always seem to go hand-in-hand, right?
Customize your work area. If you are a cook, think about where you spend most of your time preparing food. The best way to organize your work area is to keep the things that you use the most as close to you as you can, within arm’s reach if possible. It will make the cooking and cleaning process much quicker and more productive
Lighting is also important in the kitchen. Dimmable lighting is ideal for kitchen areas, where you may want bright lights in the preparation area and softer lighting in the eating area.
Treat yourself to some handy gadgets. There are so many newer innovations in cookware, utensils, and appliances available today. They can make cooking even more enjoyable, save you a lot of effort and time, and they make great conversation pieces when you have an audience.
How About Your Tools?
Tools are a must unless you plan on hiring someone to take care of all of the little things that need repair. While you may not need a huge toolbox loaded with various tools, here are some basic tools that will make any repairs a little easier.
Of course you can buy individual screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches, etc. But, you can also find some nifty new designs for multi-use tools. Imagine a hammer that can transform into a screwdriver or a wrench that will double-duty as a pair of pliers. These little innovations will save you money, take up less space, and may even be easier to use for those little jobs around the house.
How about some power tools? They may not be used very often. But, when the need arises, you
could have some of the basics ready to go. They will save you a lot of time and effort when it comes to making some of those small repairs. Think about a drill or jigsaw to get you started. There are some great, affordable choices out there. You can even find some convenient cordless options that will make them even easier to use.
And, always keep your tools clean and organized. It’s definitely worth a few minutes of cleaning after each task to make sure that everything is in its place and ready for the next time that you need to use it.
Home Improvement Supplies
If you’re the kind of person who is always looking for small ways to make your home look better, you probably have a few different home improvement supplies on hand, ready and waiting for you whenever you get the urge to do something. You can also customize your new home at Burlington Condos.
Painting is probably the most common home improvement project. Of course, you can always tackle a paint job with the traditional brush. But, there are a few different application methods that are available today. Paint sprayers and automatic paint rollers are just a couple of the newer ways to apply paint. And, they’ll not only save you time, but they don’t make quite as much of a mess as you might make.
How about an indoor tent for spray painting smaller items? It’s a great way to keep everything else in the room safe. You know how spray paint sometimes seems to land where you don’t want it to.
There are also some amazing new furniture paints and techniques now for either keeping your furniture looking great or for entirely changing the look of it. You can even find furniture paint that you can use on furniture without any prepping at all. That’s right! No cleaning, sanding, or stripping. It’s designed to adhere to any surface. All you have to do is seal it after you are done, and your customized furniture will be good for years.
Documentation Log
It’s a really good idea to keep a journal of sorts for your home, keeping track of any work that is done.
It can be especially helpful for keeping track of any professional work that was done, especially if there are any issues with warranties.
You can use your home journal to help you with your budget planning. After a few years, you will notice a trend on how often certain things need maintenance. You may see that you are painting your kitchen every five years or your sidewalks are being power washed every spring. Having this information on hand can take some of the surprises out of your monthly expenses.
A maintenance log is also a very good selling tool if you should ever choose to put your home on the market.
It’s all about turning a house into your home. Customizing your home essentials will maximize your time, make your home more efficient, and, in some cases, even save you money in the long run. Take a look around your home and think about some things that you would like to customize, and make it happen. A little pampering never hurt anyone. Go for it!