5 Landscape Design Features That Require Minimum Maintenance

No matter where you live, if you are considering a new landscape design for your garden, there is something that your garden will have in common with every other landscaped garden, and that is the need for it to be maintained.

Whilst landscaped gardens can invariably be a quiet oasis where you can relax wherever the desire arises, the relaxation will have to stop at some point. Maintaining your garden will have to begin whether you do this daily, once a week, twice a week, or every fortnight, and it will come down to two factors. The first is how committed you are to keeping your landscaped garden looking great, and the second will be how your garden has been designed.

For the former, there is not much we can do to influence that, as each person reading this will have their individual commitment level regarding how diligent they are in garden maintenance. However, for the latter,  we can alert you to the fact that there are several features that you can include in landscape designs that reduce the level of maintenance needed for them. Read on, and we will highlight five popular low-maintenance landscaping features.

Decks, Walkways And Paths

This next suggestion is based on the premise that the fewer natural features you have in your landscaped garden, the less maintenance you need. So, by asking your deck builders to add walkways, including paving, to your landscape design, you have a scenario where the only maintenance required is to clean them occasionally and check for any damage, which should be a quick, effortless task.

Decks are great for sitting out, enjoying your garden, and entertaining friends and family. The other benefit of walkways and paving is that almost all options are available as local conditions, such as the climate, do not impact what types you can use in your landscape design.

How To Remove The Most Common Messes Made By Children From Your Carpets

We are sure any parents reading this, or those who occasionally have children visit their home, have had to deal with messes or stains caused by those beloved children and may even have had to call in professional carpet and couch cleaners to deal with the issue. Let us be honest and admit that children, even the adorable ones, can be messy, and the problem is messes and carpets are not compatible.

You may carry out regular carpet cleaning as a rule, but when children are around, the need and the frequency of that carpet cleaning may increase significantly. In a home with children, it may simply be part of your routine; however, if you only have children visiting when that visit is over, you might be faced with a genuine need to have carpets cleaned due to the mess that has been created during the hours the children were there.

Thankfully, most carpet cleaning issues that children have created can be resolved. You may hire a local carpet cleaner who can remove any stains created and give your carpets an overall clean to bring them close to as new condition as possible.

Soil Vs Mulch Vs Rocks - How To Make The Right Choice For Your Landscaping

Soil Vs Mulch Vs Rocks – How To Make The Right Choice For Your Landscaping

Many landscape designers will advise homeowners on the materials that they recommend for specific aspects of their landscape design. One of those concerns is what should be used in the various plant, flower, and vegetable beds and the walkways throughout the garden, with the choice normally narrowed down to one of three which are soil, mulch, and rocks.

Each has distinct characteristics and offers variable benefits, depending on its use, and whether they are used in the right ways and in the right locations within the garden. For those unsure what benefits and uses soil, mulch, and rocks have to offer within landscaped gardens, read on and you will discover them so that when it comes time to make your choices, you make the right ones.

The Case For And Against Soil

Arguably the simplest option, given that you are adding nothing to what your plants are already embedded in. Apart from simplicity, the other advantage of simply using soil as it is, is that there are no further materials to be purchased, and thus no further costs to be incurred, which might be important for those on an extremely tight budget.

Relocating Your Office

5 Questions You Must Ask When Relocating Your Office

There are office relocations which take place almost every day, that, unfortunately, are happening for no other reason than the business owner fancied a change of scenery. Many of these moves will have no detrimental impact on their business, but there are also many which do.

Relocating an office is not something which should be done on a whim, and before you actually set the wheels in motion for one, you have to be certain that you are moving your business for the correct reasons.

To help you determine if this is the case, there are a number of questions that you should be asking about any potential relocation with the help of Removalists Western Suburbs. The answers to those questions will tell you whether an office relocation is the right or the wrong move for your business.

Is The New Location Convenient For Employees and Clients?

Although it differs from business to business, in most cases the closer a business can be to its market and its client base the better. For this reason, if you are thinking about relocating your office, it makes sense to establish whether or not it means you will be closer or not to where those clients are based.

In addition, a happy workforce is always an asset for any business so moving to an area that makes it more convenient for your staff to get to the office will be positive.

Green Cleaning

How Green Cleaning Can Transform Your Office

Different offices and business premises have significantly different ways of operating and therefore require different cleaning regimes. However, it doesn’t matter if you’re the owner of a digital marketing agency or a small mechanic shop – there’s one thing everyone can do to reduce the environmental impact of their cleaning regime.

Reevaluate and move to “green cleaning” wherever possible.

Okay, this might sound like more trouble than it’s worth, but it’s not. I promise! In the rest of this article, I’m going to outline a few popular ways to transition to green cleaning, as well as its benefits and a few ways it could transform your office environment.

How Can We Transition to Green Cleaning?

To begin with, you should sit down and have a chat with your commercial cleaning company. Let them know that you would like to implement green cleaning techniques and that they should stop using toxic chemicals and anything else that could have a negative environmental impact.

Blocked Pipes

Top Tips for Preventing Blocked Pipes

Blocked pipes can be frustrating at best and extremely expensive to fix at worst. Blockages are a significant cause of plumbing failure, but the good news is that they can be avoided if you’re careful.

If you have just had your kitchen plumbing fixed or have had your bathroom renovated by Bathroom Renovations Perth, taking a few simple actions during your everyday cleaning and maintenance routines can help avoid significant problems in the future. In the rest of this article, you will find a list of our top tips for preventing blocked pipes and keeping your plumbing in good condition throughout the year.

  1. Don’t Put Food Down the Drain

You might think there’s nothing wrong with putting food down the drain. In the end, it will wash away with your wastewater, right? Wrong!

Washing food scraps, coffee grinds, and anything else not liquid down the sink is a recipe for disaster. Foreign material is one of Australia’s leading causes of drain blockages, so it’s essential to ensure all food waste ends up in the trash.

Glass Pool Fencing

The Pros And Cons Of Glass Pool Fencing

With the recent rise in the number of people landscaping their backyards with elegant and stylish elements, modern glass balustrades have become a popular way to include pools in landscape design. Glass is quickly becoming one of the most widely used pool fencing materials, which means that it’s essential to consider the ins and outs of using it.

To help you decide whether you should be using Glass for your new pool fence, we’vecompiledr a short list of the pros and cons of glass pool fencing. Find it below:

Pros Of Glass Pool Fencing:

The pros of using Glass as a pool fencing material are numerous, and include:

Glass is easy to maintain – Keeping your pool fence clean and well-maintained is crucial. Many fencing materials are hard to maintain, requiring regular cleaning and repairs. However, Glass is straightforward to clean, and the simplicity of most glass fences means they are deficient in maintenance.

Roll-Out Ready Lawn

Benefits of Roll-Out Ready Lawn

Roll-out ready lawn, instant lawn, ready-made lawn, it may have different names, but it all means the same thing: convenience. Whether your current garden is worse for wear, or you’re creating a whole new landscaping plan, this product can provide no end of satisfaction. Find out below why instant lawn options could be perfect for you.

It’s Cost Effective

You might think that next to growing grass from seed, ready lawn is expensive. However, what if you compared it to other landscaping materials you may have used instead? Concrete, paving stones, plants, and synthetic turf are often far more expensive to buy than instant lawn. Adding more lawn to your landscape design plan, as opposed to more plants, can end up being the more affordable option in the scheme of things.

You Don’t Have to Grow It

Growing grass can be quite an arduous process. You have to tend to it regularly, including stopping birds and wildlife from making off with the delicious seeds. At the end of the growing process, you’re not always guaranteed a perfect lawn either. Many things can stop it growing to its full potential. With a ready lawn, what you see is what you get, and there’s no growing involved, so all you need to worry about is a lawn care program to keep your lawn in top condition.

Swimming Pool

How to Choose the Right Swimming Pool

Choosing to landscape your property is a significant step to take, but not everyone is skilled in or an expert in landscape design. As a result, you can run into many problems if you try to go through the process alone. But, it’s not only plant and footpath placement that can be a problem, but more considerable additions such as a custom swimming pool as well.

You may have an idea in mind of the swimming pool you would like, but how will it fit into your overall landscape design? It might be time to pay attention to these tips below or call in the landscape design experts such as Harrison’s Landscaping.

  1. Budget

It’s okay to have dreams of a large, extravagant pool repairs or renovations that will be the envy of your entire neighbourhood, but is it within your budget? Before you put pencil to paper and sketch out what you want, you need to ensure it’s within your budget. Landscape design is one thing, but putting that design into action is entirely another. Get quotes from landscaping companies in your area.

  1. Sizing

The sizing is possibly the most critical part of the landscape design process. Does it need to work within an area of your home that already features landscaping? Or, do you have a blank canvas with which to work? Fortunately, you don’t even need a lawn area to have a pool. You can benefit from rooftop terrace plunge pools and small pools that sit in nooks in your backyard.

  1. Style

Some people want swimming pools they can do laps in, while others prefer them for entertaining and relaxing. Your needs can dictate the style. A lap pool tends to be longer and narrower, while a pool for entertaining is often wide to cater for more people. Experts can incorporate almost any style into your landscape design.

Buy Limestone Blocks

Why You Should Always Buy Limestone Blocks From A Professional Supplier

Limestone is a great building material. It is tough, durable, relatively inexpensive and quite easy to use. Things like retaining walls and fences can be created with large limestone blocks, while smaller blocks can be used to build things like garden beds and paths. Limestone bricks are becoming quite a popular structural material for houses and new buildings.

However, it’s important to make sure that you get your building supplies and specifically limestone blocks from a reputable supplier. Since they are often used as a structural material, they need to be strong and internally sound. There’s nothing worse than building a nice retaining wall out of brand new limestone, only to have it crumble or break within a few months or a year.

With this in mind, I’ve put together a list of my top 3 reasons why you should always source your limestone blocks from a professional supplier – failing to do so can lead to all sorts of problems. These include:

  1. Limestone Blocks Sourced From A Reputable Supplier Will Be Structurally Sound

This point mainly applies to reconstituted limestone blocks – blocks which are moulded from a mixture of crushed limestone and cement. If they aren’t built right or if the cement and limestone are mixed in the wrong proportions, reconstituted blocks can be weaker than expected.

This can be a major problem if they’re being used for things like retaining walls, where strength is an essential attribute. Make sure that you always buy your reconstituted blocks from a reliable supplier who can give you strength tests.

Kitchen Design

Space Saving Kitchen Design Trends

Space-saving kitchen design does not mean compromising on style or functionality. Various trendy kitchen design ideas, from innovative storage options to chic small-scale appliances, can help you maximize the space in your home. Following the advice of Kitchen Professionals, some of the most recent trends in kitchen design include:

  1. Small, mighty appliances – You can place revamped vintage appliances such as stoves and vintage-look refrigerators that are available in smaller sizes. These devices provide the required functionality without sacrificing on style. It would be best if you looked for vintage appliances that can fit in your kitchen space.
  2. Single-bowl sink – Opting for a single-bowled sink over a double-bowl counterpart can save you a lot of counter space. You can find small-scale single-bowled sinks in all varieties and styles.
  3. Under-mount sink – If you want to save every inch of your kitchen space, opt for a small, under-mount, single-bowl sink. This way, you can keep more counter workspace beside the sink since its edges will be well concealed.
Types of Timber Floor

Timber Flooring – Beauty and Durability

The appearance of a room is limited only by the quality of the timber flooring material used. Blackbutt, Jarrah, Karri and Oak are great options. At the point when you are building your new home and looking at designs, don’t overlook the choice of hardwood timber flooring just because of the additional cost. From an aesthetic and structural point of view, you can’t go wrong.

Important qualities of flooring material is that it should look great and have the ability to withstand appliances and furniture as well as the foot traffic in certain areas. If the floor you choose to install can satisfy these requirements and be both beautiful and durable, then it should be given serious consideration when planning your home.

Handyman

Mr Fixit

If you own apartments, offices, or have an investment property or two and in which you have paying renters, then there will always be some property maintenance that needs to be done. Whether it’s done while the people are still living there or they have just moved out and you need to fix a few things before the new tenants shift in, you should have a handyman scheduled to do these jobs for you.

Fast Fix

It’s common knowledge that something that needs fixing, if not attended to quickly, will definitely get worse. That, of course, means it will cost a lot more money. So, as they say, taking care of business as soon as possible might mean a lower cost. Whether the handyman is a permanent employee depends entirely on the number of properties you own. A block of flats and a couple of houses could mean almost full – time employment. That’s a serious overhead you need to consider in your running costs.

Blocked Drains

Blocked Drains – What you Need to Know

Whose responsibility is it to attend to a blocked drain? If the drain is on your property, it’s your problem to unblock it. Plumbers advise that if you are renting, you should check with your real estate agent to find out who is responsible for plumbing issues like this.

In some instances, it might be the council’s responsibility. If you are unsure, you can visit the council website or give them a quick call.

Unblocking Drains

There are many ways to unblock a clogged drain. Some are relatively easy, others not so easy. Here are a few things you can do before you call a plumber.

Baking Soda (or Bicarb Soda) and Vinegar

It’s an old way to do it, but it works often enough to head the list. Most households carry these items, which are environmentally friendly – more so than caustic-type chemicals.

Here are a few mixtures and methods you can try. Mix half a cup of baking soda and half a cup of vinegar, then toss it down the sink quickly. The other way to use this combo is to wait for the sink to dry, then pour the baking soda and vinegar into the sink. Leave it overnight or for a few hours, then clean it with boiling water from the kettle.

alfresco furniture

The Easiest Choice in Purchasing Outdoor Furniture

When you book a holiday to Bali or any other country, the last thing that is likely to be on your mind is purchasing outdoor furniture. But once you arrive at your holiday destination and decide to check out all the shopping opportunities you may well change your mind. Bali and other parts of Indonesia have some beautiful, handcrafted alfresco furniture that you may well want to take home with you.

That’s where you can run into a lot of problems. It is not that easy to arrange for safe transport, given the furniture must go by sea and you will need to arrange for the many different legs of the journey. First it has to be taken to a local port, then packed into a container and loaded onto the right ship, then after it arrives in Australia you’ll need to organise a truck to bring it to your home.  This seems to be a lot of hassle, especially when you are on holiday and want to enjoy yourself.

Easy Ways to Recycle

10 Easy Ways to Recycle

Recycling is one of the most widely known and practiced sustainability procedure in Australia, with many recycling centres for all kinds of goods in nearly every larger town and recycling bins in most places.  Recycling doesn’t have to be a hassle; it is simply a matter of knowing which kind of waste goes where and taking it there on your shopping day or whenever you are in that area so it’s included in your lifestyle. In fact, many things can be recycled successfully without even going into bins. Here’s how.

  • Kitchen scraps don’t have to be tossed into the bin, especially if you have a garden. You can utilise peelings and some other food scraps to make your own organic – and free –fertiliser. This can be spread on or dug into the garden whenever you have enough or when you are gardening. Non-meat products can be buried straight into the garden without waiting for them to turn into compost. This is nature’s way of doing it.
  • Lawn clippings are a much wasted, valuable addition to the garden. They help prevent weeds from growing while keeping the soil moist and cool. Then they break down gradually and provide nutrients for the plants, so why throw them away?
Pergola on Budget

How to Pimp Out Your Pergola on a Budget

A pergola can create a wonderful outdoor haven that you can use for relaxation, entertaining or alfresco family meals. However, if it is not comfortable and attractive you won’t want to be there for long and neither will the family.  A patio or pergola can easily start to look worn and tatty over the winter months when it is not in use so much, so here are a few tips on how to pimp out your pergola and make it the attractive feature it was meant to be.

  • Comfortable seating is a must. If your pergola is lacking seats, add an outdoor sofa or easy chairs and a table. These can often be picked up online for a song, or you could visit the local op-shop. If you have seating you like, consider giving it a coat of paint to brighten it up.
  • Bright cushions will add a pop of colour, but make sure they are outdoor cushions, otherwise you’ll be carting them inside and back out all the time and that can be annoying, especially if you are carrying your morning coffee.
Fencing

How New Fencing can help Your House Sell More Quickly

If your house is for sale, you may feel frustrated if it has not elicited much buyer attention. To help a house sell quickly, new fencing may be needed. Fencing contractors can soon construct a new fence for your home, and you may find it sells more quickly.  Street appeal is an essential part of getting buyers to look at your home, and having a brand-new fence will undoubtedly enhance the look of your home from the front.

When someone purchases a home, they don’t usually want the added expense of doing repairs – unless they are buying a flipper, a home they intend to resell quickly after doing it. So, having your home in excellent condition inside and out will help it to sell soon. It could be pristine inside, but if the outside looks neglected or the fence is falling, buyers will be put off going inside it, so they’ll never see that new paint job or the professional carpet cleaning job you did yesterday.

Shade Sails

4 Reasons to Consider a Shade Sail for Your Home

Shade is an important factor to enhance your life and make you feel more comfortable in the hot weather.  These days, shade sails from someone like Shade Sails Perth are often used to create the best kind of shade and there are many good reasons for choosing them over natural greenery such as trees. The most obvious one is that trees take a long time to grow, while a sail can be installed in a few days.

A sail can be placed close to the home, while having a tree in the same place could put your home in danger of falling branches, bushfires and problems with the electric wiring, not to mention roots from the tree tangling with your house foundations and plumbing.

Why would you want shade so very close to the home?

carpet cleaning

Questions and Answers About Carpet Cleaning

Q: How often should carpet cleaning be done? Is it better to wait as long as I can?

A: NO. Years ago, holding off on the carpet cleaning was a common theory. That was due to there being no way to clean a carpet without leaving a soapy residue. People used to say that their carpets tended to become dirtier after cleaning. That method of cleaning no longer exists and residue is no longer a problem.

It’s a proven fact that your health can be affected by dirty carpets. Don’t think of your carpet as being a great looking floor covering, or an effective way to muffle room echoes or as a fashion statement. Your carpet is the largest air filter in your home! Those fibres are hanging onto pollens, soils, allergens, bacteria and a heap of other contaminants that, if not in your carpet, would be floating around in the air.

Today, a professional cleaner, using a truck mounted steam cleaning procedure, will do a great job that will not need to be repeated for 12 – 16 months.

Types of Fencing

Security Fencing for Home

Would you put up a home security fencing as a safeguard or as a response? Some people do it as a result of something already happening. Others consider home security as a sort of pre-emptive action. It’s better to be prepared and have made all your plans and choices instead of after something has happened. By then you’re your valuables have been stolen. A bit late. A really simple way to secure your home is by installing a security fence.

Fencing Material

That fence can be made from either chain link, wood, bricks and mortar, limestone blocks or steel rods. It all depends on the look you are after.  It also depends on your budget. You might have reasons to prefer chain link, or you might opt for the installation of a wooden fence. For real privacy and staying in fashion with ‘Games of Thrones’, dig a trench, construct a granite block wall, turrets and parapets and drop in a drawbridge. Kidding! Although in some neighborhoods even this level of security is merely a challenge.

shopping spree

Your Shopping Spree in Bali

When people go to Bali they want to do more than look at tourist spots or go surfing – at least, most of them do. What many people look forward to be going on a shopping spree.  This is not necessarily always about clothing and accessories for themselves. Often they take a list of stuff to buy for their family and friends. And sometimes they admire the beautiful furniture and wish they could fit that in their travel bag.  While this is not possible, it is possible to get Bali-type furniture such as outdoor wicker furniture from a furniture store that imports it.

So instead of wanting something that will take a great deal of effort and trouble to get back to Australia, let the store to all the work and all you’ll need to do is choose what you want and have it delivered.  If you were to purchase it while in Bali, you’d have to take a day out of your holiday to arrange for transport.  This will be 3 different legs of the journey, not just one.

Landscape Construction Business

Where to Find Customers for Your Landscape Construction Business

With any business, customers or clients are essential. If you have a landscaping business you will need clients just as much as any dentist, cafe or hotel would. The only thing is that due to the nature of your work, you need customers that have a certain amount of money to spend; more than the cost of a dentist visit or a coffee.  So where can you find clients that need your services and can afford to pay for them? Here are some tips.

  • Develop strategic relationships with suppliers who are likely to deal with the kind of clients you want. People such as tile suppliers, a glass fencing installer, swimming pool builders or even furniture suppliers. To do this, offer them something of value so it’s not just all about you. For instance, you could offer to do the landscaping for their showroom if they pass on your information or brochure to their customers.
  • Develop strategic relationships with design and other professionals such as interior designers, architects, bank managers, real estate agents and accountants. You have to give them value in some way to do this. It might be possible to set up a time in which you are available for free phone advice about some of their construction problems, especially if they are DIY handymen. You could offer a low cost or free inspection of their project to identify potential issues. In return, they could give your contact details to their clients with a good word about your work ethics. Have a business card made to facilitate this.
Transport Company

The Most Common Reason to Use a Transport Company

The most common reason people use a transport company is for when they are moving, especially if they are going a long distance. Freight consists of any number of product types and that includes the furniture in your home. The size truck you use will depend on how many bedrooms there are in the house and what other goods you may have that take up a lot of room. For instance, you may have a grand piano.

No matter whether you have a lot or a little, your possessions are always precious and you don’t want to see them damaged. Neither do you want to pay a fortune to send your goods across the state or the country. It’s important to choosing a professional removalist company, such as Brilliance Removalists Brisbane, carefully so that your moving experience is a good one.

Removalists

Some Quick Tips for Choosing a Removalist

Asking somebody else to look after your precious belongings can be hard. You hope that they will look after your things, treat them with care, and not throw them around. Fighting that inevitable anxiety can be a problem as you contemplate that move into a new home or office. You’re not expected to do everything but a good start in this process is to start looking for a professional removalist, such as Brilliance Removalists Perth. If you have a checklist for this task, all the better. Here’s a couple of things that may be of help:

1.What’s the total Cost Going to be?

You should be able to get an upfront answer about how much the removal is going to cost. A reputable, quality moving company will be able to give you a straightforward quote. The pricing could be based on an hourly rate or a total costing. At least you will know before you move what it’s going to cost you. Some removalists charge by the hour or any part thereof. Experienced, reliable removalists can give you a depot to depot fee which means you won’t be paying any extra if they take their time. Shop around and find out the most competitive prices, and base your decision on what’s best for you.

Need an Electrician

Why You Need an Electrician

You don’t have electrical problems in your house every day but things happen on occasion that will cause you to need an electrician. Worn out wiring causing shorts, faulty switches and electrical cords are common enough problems that will require to be fixed. It’s important to have these issues dealt with as quickly as possible. Neglected electrical problems can result in dangerous situations. These are not DIY jobs either. It’s better you hire a licensed and reputable professional to do this work.

The Technicalities

All electrical work needs to follow safety guidelines and proper precautions should be taken to ensure protection against electric shocks. Wiring and installation jobs are best carried out by a licensed electrician. They know how to safely work with electricity, they should be familiar with the latest technology and more importantly, they have had the proper training and experience to do a professional job.

Electrical Jobs

Some of the services and installations done by electrical contractors include –

  • Electrical wiring
  • Rewiring
  • Security camera installation
  • Smoke and Fire Alarms by Fire Services Perth
  • Emergency Systems
  • Appliance repairs
  • Air conditioning
  • Electrical Heating
  • Lighting