Spruce up your home for summer with cabinetry

(ARA) – With the dreary shadow of the economy looming, what better way to cheer your family’s mood and welcome in summer than by incorporating a creative color palette into your living room, bathroom or home office? With Americans spending more time at home these days, many are investing in home upgrades. Take a cue from Mother Nature and bring in functional and affordable cabinetry in surprising colors.

Designers are reporting increased demand from consumers for cabinets with painted finishes, according to the Research Institute for Cooking and Kitchen Intelligence. Cabinet manufacturers are expanding finish options beyond the traditional brown and reddish tones to include bright and relaxing hues that create a summer retreat within your own home.

For example, Diamond Cabinets recently introduced several new cabinet finishes to its Inspired Collection, including a sunny, buttery yellow called Honeysuckle; a lagoon blue appropriately dubbed Oasis; a chameleon-like neutral, Portobello and Tidal Mist, which is reminiscent of foggy, ocean-front summer mornings. Other finishes in the collection include Moss — an earthy green — and Crimson, which emulates the look of summer berries.

Finishes from the Inspired Collection are also available with an heirloom technique, which creates a worn look around the cabinet edges, giving them a vintage feeling as though they have been open and closed for years.

The key is to have fun when incorporating a bright palette into your home. Pair colorful finishes with modern dark wood cabinetry to create a look that will be fresh for years. Use an unexpected hue for your laundry room cabinets to add a spark of personality in your space.

Sleek, versatile storage

The open, airy personality summer evokes can be easily mimicked throughout the home. For instance, an X-shaped Wine Cabinet is ideal for clearing bottles of your favorite summer wine selections off high-demand counter space. Its fluid design makes storing bottles of varying sizes a breeze. The X-shaped cabinet can be put to good use in other rooms of your home as well. Use it to neatly tuck away rolled-up towels in your bathroom; in your home office to store stationary or other small items; or in a playroom where it creates a compact home for children’s toys. Whatever your use, the sleek, open storage allows your personality to peek out without making your home look cluttered.

While you may enjoy quiet summer evenings listening to rustling tree branches and singing cicadas, you may feel the urge to grab your favorite summer tunes to liven up an afternoon barbeque or impromptu campfire. Find tunes easily with a smart CD/DVD Rollout Insert Cabinet, which allows you to smartly store your summertime favorites.

Incorporating cabinetry with playful colors and smart design into your home is a sure-fire way to invite the ease and excitement of summer living into your family’s life all year round.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

The Good News: Bath Remodels Remain Tops for ROI and Enjoyment

(ARA) – National foreclosure statistics can be downright frightening – until you realize that despite record increases in foreclosure rates, the majority of American homeowners are still making their mortgage payments.

If you are among the majority of homeowners whose hard work and smart financing decisions will allow you to stay in your home through the recession and real estate downturn, you may actually have the wherewithal to make some improvements to your home. Low interest rates and increased competition among remodeling contractors make this a great time to enhance your house’s value and your enjoyment of your home with some popular upgrades.

“From talking with homeowners at home shows across the country, there’s still a lot of desire to invest in improvements that are beneficial to both the home’s value and the people who live in the home,” says Steven Deland of Acryline Spa Bath. “People still want to create as luxurious a home environment as they can afford, especially in the bath where the trend toward a spa-like atmosphere continues.”

From both an investment and personal enjoyment standpoint, there are clear advantages to remodeling, renovating or upgrading a bath, including:

* A modest bathroom remodel will recoup you up to 75 percent of the cost upon resale, according to Remodeling Magazine’s 2008-2009 Cost vs. Value Report.

* Baths are among the easiest remodels to achieve using “green” practices and products, from eco-friendly materials like ceramic tile to luxurious, water-conserving fixtures and low energy-consumption lighting.

* With even secure homeowners feeling the anxiety of living in a recession, demand is increasing for cost-effective ways to relieve stress, and upscale baths are perceived as a way to do exactly that. Upgrades like massaging bath systems and luxurious soaking baths are seen as a more cost-effective, personalized alternative than repeated trips to a spa or massage therapist.

Few bath improvements make as strong a spa-like statement as an upgraded bath. A luxurious water experience can elevate a bathroom from a simple utilitarian room to a center of therapeutic relaxation in the home. Massaging baths like Acryline’s Ultimate II System use jets of warm air, circulated through bath water, to create a soothing, relaxing bathing experience. Enhanced keypad operation allows the user to set heat and intensity levels, and choose massage options without the distraction of having to self-program the system. For more information on Acryline, or to find the retailer nearest you, log on to www.acrylinebathsystems.com

 “Demand remains strong for tub experiences that really underscore that feeling of spa-like relaxation in the home bath,” Deland says. In fact, Acryline, which specializes in massaging bath systems, is so confident of continued demand that the company has never stopped investing in plant and equipment upgrades, new technologies and new products despite the economic downturn.

“Since the end of World War II, the U.S. has seen repeated cycles of prosperity and downturn, yet American homeowners have historically seen their homes double in value every 11 years since then,” Deland points out. “Investing in your home is still one of the most sensible ways to spend your money and improve your life.”

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Open to the elements: ceramic tile breaks out of kitchens and baths

(ARA) – Outdoor living is more than just dressing up patios with a few planters and installing a pool in the backyard. Instead, people are transforming ordinary backyards into “specialty rooms” complete with kitchens, bars, TVs, lake-like pools and heating elements for cool nights.

With increasing demand for stunning outdoor sanctuaries, pools and other water features such as fountains, ponds and waterfalls have gained priority status. At the same time, ceramic tile has crept beyond its standard uses in kitchens and baths to appear in some of these more uncommon and unexpected scenarios. Tile of Spain-branded manufacturers continue to produce a broad variety of products that add oasis-like attributes to outdoor living.

“Tile can be used in a multitude of outdoor living applications and not just in decor,” reports Patti Fasan, a Tile of Spain ceramic tile consultant. “Today’s tile serves practical purposes with its superior property advantages — ideal for pools and other outdoor settings.”

Why ask for ceramic tile when sculpting your backyard Shangri-La? Ceramic tile offers beauty, safety and practicality all rolled into one. It inhibits the growth of mold, mildew, fungus and other organisms that usually accompany the presence of water. It’s highly resistant to pool-related chemical agents such as chlorine and won’t fade, even under continuous exposure to direct sunlight. And perhaps the most important benefit of ceramic tile when designing a spa or pool area: slip-resistance. Tiles are manufactured with a defined and rated anti-slip factor.

Keeping the needs of homeowners in mind, Natucer recently introduced Filter Floor. Using a very thin open joint, this floating ceramic floor allows rain water to pass through the tile surface and drain away underneath, preventing stagnation of water and resulting mildew. Filter Floor is a good material for use on terraces, balconies and as a swimming pool surround and is available in two finishes.

Interior design that reflects the natural beauty of outdoor surroundings is gaining popularity as well. This entails bringing the outside elements indoors so there is seamless transition between the boundaries of the structure and its surrounding natural aesthetics.

One example is the Segorbe series by Tile of Spain-branded manufacturer Grespania that achieves the palette of a forest floor — a mesh of moss, leaf and stone. This tile is available in marengo, negro, beige, marron, ocre and marfil colors. The Imazi series by Vives Azulejos y Gres is inspired by one of the most alluring expanses of our planet, the Sahara desert. This wall tile is available in white, cream, nut, pearl, black and marengo.

The look of weathered wood is sweeping the design front in a frenzy of textures and tones. But as we all know, water and wood are not always the best partnership, requiring possible replacement and refinishing from warping and staining. Tile of Spain manufacturers have embraced advanced technology to replicate finishes virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. So for that organic poolside look, people can easily achieve the look of wood without the risk of water damage and high-cost replacement. The Ginza series by Inalco allows the classic look and warmth of wood but gains the technical standards and durability of ceramic tile.

For more about tile produced in Spain call (305) 446-4387 or visit www.spaintiles.info.

Courtesy of ARAcontent