Designing a kitchen is not the complicated task some people would have you believe. In point of fact, there are some basic rules that only need simple adjustments to suit your needs.
If you have an uncomplicated design to work with, and not a lot of money to spare, then it is perfectly reasonable for you to deal with the job yourself. There are also plenty of Internet websites produced by suppliers of kitchen equipment, that will help you decide how to plan it.
The layout of the kitchen will be dictated by its dimensions. Do not be too restrained by the size if you are planning to build an extension. It may be a good idea to begin with a drawing of what you consider to be your perfect kitchen, in spite of the fact that it bears no relation to the available space you have at the moment.
In any kitchen, the layout should have an uninterrupted line between three areas for food preparation, cooking and serving, as well as allowing room for storage. Where possible, there should be little or no chance of movement between these areas being interrupted by anybody walking through the kitchen.
If you have enough space, try not to fit wall units or shelving units, they can make the room feel too enclosed. A large larder is ideal for the storage of fresh and tinned food as well as china.
The best place for the sink would be next to the window. Blinds take up the least amount of room as well, allowing more room for storage, perhaps on the window sill.
A lot of furniture owes much of its shape and style to the various art movements of the time. In the early 20th century, Cubist, Post-Impressionist, Italian Futurist all lent their styles to the birth of Art Deco. With all these styles, furniture became much more than storage and shelving units. In some cases they were more like sculptures or works of art, though many people today prefer their furniture to be practical as well as attractive, perhaps putting more emphasis on its storage utility than its artistic values.
In 1925 at the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratif et Industriels, Moderne, later known as Art Deco was first introduced to the world. The Exposition had originally been scheduled for 1912 but was postponed. American designers were invited to the Exposition but felt they had nothing ‘modern’ to exhibit.
Later, however, various museums and department stores across the USA held their own exhibitions of the new style. Thus began the American search for their own individual style of Art Deco. As with the Italian Futurists, the American designers gained a great deal of their inspiration from the inventions of the era, machines, cars and aeroplanes for example.
In Britain, several Art Deco designers were making their mark, including an architect, Sir Edward Maule, who, in the spirit of Frank Lloyd-Wright, the American architect and Modernist designer, had turned his architectural skills to furniture design. He designed and built work tables that were exhibited at the Exposition in Paris in 1925 and although it was rather an exotic style for English Art Deco at the time, it was considered to be one of the few storage pieces comparable to those of the French designers.
If you have space, turning it into a room dedicated for dressing has two great advantages. It will add to the value of your property, and the other is that your bedroom will be free of the need for wardrobes and dressing tables.
There are various choices that could be considered;
• The en-suite room – the perfect choice if the space is available. A room adjacent to the bedroom gives a wide storage range. Fitted storage would be preferable and a chest of drawers
• The walk-in closet – small, perfectly formed room with storage and maybe enough space to get dressed
• Spare bedroom / dressing room – if the spare bedroom already has plenty of fitted storage anyway, then it could be easily utilised as a dressing room as well
• The bathroom / dressing room – a lot trickier but if planned carefully enough, both functions could be combined. It might not be such a good idea though, if there is only one bathroom in the house
Fitted closets make the best use of available storage space. Good quality storage space will offer shelves for sweaters and shirts, drawers to organise socks and underwear and plenty of hanging space as well. Pigeonholes in which to store shoes are also a good idea.
Good light, natural light if possible, is vital in a dressing area. If natural light is impractical then try using low voltage spotlights. A dressing room need not be regarded as a luxury, since it creates extra space in the bedroom.
Sometimes, the only place we have any control over is our own homes. It is true to say that the furniture we choose plays a major part in how we live. The design of furniture from the imposing Victorian style to the more minimalist fashion of recent times is interesting, as is the way that our environment has influenced the design of all kinds of furniture. Some quite unusual items have been created.
The transformer robot steel desk, for instance, is similar to the robot in the TV series of the 1960s ‘Lost In Space’, although it was built in 1987. Its bottom section is constructed from steel and most of the top half has been built using painted plywood. The desk has two angled, open shelves above a roll-top section. Its writing surface has twin flaps and sits above is a filing cabinet and drawers.
In 1995, a fold-out table was built by two Japanese designers and is beautifully functional. From an upright side table, it can be folded down into a low coffee table by the use of angled sides and hinges.
In 1967 – a storage unit trolley was designed in order to show off a company’s newly developed laminate. It consists of four columns and 14 layers of laminate shaped in different ways. Mobility is achieved by four castors on its base. The bottom shelves are set at different levels some narrow to accommodate magazines and newspapers. The top shelves are more for cups, plates and glasses.
In larger houses, the kitchen has re-established itself as the heart of the home. It is where the meals are prepared and eaten. It is where the family can relax and guests can be entertained, especially when parties are being held, the table will hold the buffet and there will be room for the drinks as well. In smaller houses, however, the situation is different.
The living room tends to be a multi-purpose place where several functions can be achieved. As a formal living room, it is simple to arrange a sofa and a couple of armchairs around a focal point such as a media centre, a television, DVD player and CD player all stacked into a shelving unit. Collections of DVDs and CDs can be arranged in the unit itself or another low storage cupboard placed against the wall. There needs to be as much space as possible between items of furniture, which can be difficult if there is planty of items needed to be placed in storage.
Kitchens tend to be smaller so the living room needs to double as a dining area as well. A drop-leaf dining table is ideal for the purpose, since it can be folded down and tucked away in a corner or against the wall when not in use.
Part of the living room can also be used as an office. With the laptop computer becoming more popular, the dining table can serve as a desk and file and document storage is achieved with the use of a small bookcase, when the laptop can be stored when not in use.
When you sell your house, you will find that most of the people who are interested in buying will hate clutter. Even the things that nobody would give a second thought to seem to bother them. CD and DVD collections, kitchen accessories and so on are very distracting. Let us take this room by room:
• Living room – try not to create open storage for books, ornaments, photographs and so on. Keep your bric a brac to a minimum and if you have a pelmet, put some ornaments on there. If you have a large collection of books, store them away in a box
• Kitchen – a Welsh dresser overflowing with china or pots, pans and cooking implements hanging from the ceiling. While this may appeal to you, it may feel to some too crowded. Set out a few plates of similar design or colour on the dresser, store the other crockery and pans etc. away in a drawer or a kitchen cupboard
• Bedroom – store clothes out of the way, in a spare room if possible. If not, under the bed storage boxes would be ideal, just be certain they are hidden from sight using a valance
• Bathroom – make use as far as possible of ‘closed storage’, cupboards with doors in other words to create a sleeker look. Open shelves, no matter how tidily arranged, will still look cluttered
• Halls and landings – keep these as clear as you can, shoes and coats should be stored in an under stairs cupboard.
If you have made the decision to sell your house, there are many things to be organised. One issue that needs to be addressed is the appearance of your home and the first aspect of its appearance is the outside. A prospective buyer, obviously, will not be impressed by a weed-infested garden and a lawn that has not been mowed for over a month. Decent storage space for gardening tools will also be a bonus.
Basically, there are four different types of garden;
• Gardens for entertaining – their focal point will be a large terrace or an expanse of decking, providing room for alfresco dining. A small lawn and a couple of token flower beds will generally suffice as long as the terrace has a few planters.
• The ‘statement’ garden – consists of mostly grasses, bamboo and topiary. The focal point is often a small water feature.
• Low maintenance, country style – with minimal grass area and plant beds closer to the house, the majority of this type of garden will have wild-flowers and trees.
• The blank canvas type – little more than turf encircled by a fence.
The last two types of garden tend to be suitable for most people. A garden shed for the storage of a lawn-mower and other garden tools will meet with approval. If you have a greenhouse and the potential buyer is not that keen on gardening, it would be a good idea to point out its possibilities as a storage area for things like tents, skis and bicycles as well as garden furniture. Garden furniture racking will maximise the effectiveness of a good storage shed.
If you have storage cabinets you want to put against a wall, but find it blocked by a radiator, you could consider underfloor heating. This is usually achieved using a network of electrical cables or hot water pipes. The Romans designed a system of underfloor heating by tapping into hot subterranean springs in the area, especially in colder climes like Britain. With the recent need for more renewable energy sources, this particular idea has been used in new housing estates when it is feasible.
You may wonder whether this kind of heating system is really for you. Well, consider how much wall space is taken up by radiators. Placing any items of furniture in front of them cuts down on their efficiency considerably. With the radiators out of the way, you will be able to place extra shelving units or storage cupboards against the wall space previously occupied by radiators.
Underfloor heating is a lot more energy efficient than a central heating system using radiators. It is important to understand that its actual installation could be quite expensive. However, it would pay dividends if you decide to sell the house, you would probably be able to add quite a bit to the asking price when a potential buyer realises the benefits and cost-effectiveness of underfloor heating, as well as the extra storage space you will have created. This type of heating system can be installed under almost surface including terracotta, stone or wood. Each material will have its own limitations though, so make sure you speak to a contractor with experience in this kind of work.
Over the last couple of decades, architects have been concentrating more and more on making every inch of homes count as far as storage and living areas are concerned. In semi-detached and terraced residences in particular, there are restrictions on the amount of extending you can do. So you need to reach for the sky, to borrow a phrase.
Converting the loft into another room that can be used as a guest room, office, hobby or play area seems to be a good idea. However, if there is not enough room to be able to stand upright, then you need to consider a roof extension.
The cost of this kind of project will differ depending on the size and specification. However, undoubtedly, an investment in a well designed roof extension, particularly if an en-suite bathroom is included, will reap great benefits should you decide to sell the house.
For this job, it is wise to hire the services of both an experienced architect and builder. You need to remember that the appearance of the house will be changed significantly, and the extension must be completely watertight or you will have years of costly misery ahead of you.
Once the job has been completed, you must now consider the problem of furnishing the room. The sloping ceiling is best tackled by installing ceiling to floor closets or shelving units. As a home office, you could add to its versatility by adding a sofa bed for the occasional overnight guest.
Wherever you’re working, be it at home, the office or the factory, storage is at a premium. You may have storage cabinets for important documents, or mobile racking for tools, but it seems that you can never have enough, especially for things like office stationary.
The storage of pens, paper clips and pencils, for example, is easily achieved by using a desk tidy. These can be made from household objects or bought online.
Making a desk tidy is fun and individual to you. One idea worth considering is to use the lid from a spindle of DVDs, turn it over with the cover resting on the desk. A small, empty plastic bottle cut to the appropriate height could then be fixed to the centre or to one side of the lid, and you have a pen and pencil holder with a space for paper clips or staples in the inverted lid.
Alternatively, if your desk has drawers, it might be a good idea to use an old cutlery organiser to keep pens and so forth tidied into one place. The organiser would also be a good place for the storage of USB sticks which can be a nightmare to find once they have been misplaced.
Stacking books on the desk’s top may look fine, but when you want to consult one particular volume and it is at the bottom of the stack it can be problematic. Try to store them across the back of the desk, possibly with two small stacks of books as bookends.