Retrofitting your home can radically improve energy performance, especially during winter. In some cases, retrofits can achieve up to 50% reductions by addressing different energy loads around the home. Whether you’re completing a total remodel project or you’re looking to make energy improvements to your home, these are some retrofitting projects to upgrade your home for year-round energy savings.
Time to Service or Upgrade Major Appliances
Most of the energy load for your home comes from major appliances. While you don’t need to replace all your appliances right now, consider the ones that are not energy-efficient. Keep up with a proper maintenance schedule and upgrade them over time. Even if…
Remodeling your kitchen can be a big and sometimes expensive decision. Upgrading a mid-level kitchen costs an average of $15,000-$25,000 (be aware that remodeling usually involves significantly changing layout such as cabinet type and placement, not just upgrades). A top-tier upgrade is likely to cost closer to the $45,000-$50,000 range.
Such a significant investment begs the question as to the value you’ll recoup from your remodel. Certainly, there are factors of a kitchen that induce buyers to invest more in a sales bid, such as energy efficiency, eat-in spaces, and ample cabinet storage, but there are other intrinsic factors that might be more appealing to those who aren’t looking to sell.
It’s hard to believe we’re still talking pandemic two years later, but 2022 is shaping up to be yet another year influenced by COVID. The more time we spend in our homes, the more important our interior surroundings become, and, as we face another year of working at home, facing travel restrictions, and dealing with the hazards of getting out and about, we’re looking to make our homes sanctuaries of all the things we need and miss. That said, here are some of the furnishing trends shaping up for 2022 to meet our pandemic desires.
Nature
Almost every designer is predicting the incorporation of nature into our interior schemes. As we spend more time indoors and are unable to travel, we want to bring a little…
Fortunately, the world has come a long way from using lead and clay piping. Science and technology have provided the industry with best practices to abide by, and this information has advanced the engineering of pipe materials that are now safer, more durable, and able to keep our drinking water clean. Now, stronger and safer piping such as stainless steel pipes has been widely used since World War II. What hasn’t changed is the labor-intensive process of updating piping in buildings, but choosing the right piping materials will save you the headache of future repairs or the expense of having to do it frequently.
The upholsteries that surround us in the workplace can have a profound impact on employees, and creating a holistic physical workspace that supports creativity, innovation, and hard work can be as easy as selecting the right fabrics for your office furniture. A few considerations to mull over when choosing materials is to think about durability, stain resistance, rub resistance, elasticity, comfort, the care process, cost, and its moisture-wicking ability. These select fabrics cultivate peace and tranquility in the workplace through durability, comfort, and style.
Vinyl
Hygienic and enduring is probably one of the best combinations that you can find for office furniture. Vinyl is a…
