Home Improvement Advice.  As soon as you move in plant some trees around your home. Trees increase in value as they get bigger and will shade your house and help to save energy. The shade they provide can keep your house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. When planting trees, they can be the walls and roofs of outdoor rooms.

If you are moving new, large appliances into your home, protect your floors. If you have hardwood floors, it is very easy to scratch them while moving in appliances. Try adding some of the easy slide pads to the bottom of your appliances or furniture to enable a smooth and safe slide across hardwood floors.

Pile your home improvement lumber behind your couch! Don’t have a place to store your long pieces of lumber while you’re working on a project? Just pile it neatly behind your couch and no one will ever know it’s there. You’ll keep it dry, safe, and ready for the next time you are inspired!

Make sure you take before and after photos of any work or improvements you do to your home. You may like to look back on all the hard work and changes when it feels like the project as a whole will never be done. Keep pictures on your computer or have them printed for a scrapbook.

A great home improvement tip is to find some inspiration as soon as possible. If you wait until you are trying to pay for materials and complete a project, you will be very stressed out. You will reduce a lot of stress from renovating your home if you just take the time to plan now instead of later.

If space is at a premium in your home, consider remodeling the attic or basement. These often overlooked spaces can be a cost-effective way to gain more square footage in your home, without resorting to a costly extension. If the area is already partially finished, your project will progress quickly, and you’ll be enjoying your new space in no time.

Be safe on your home improvement project! Shut off the gas line when you are working near a fireplace, in a kitchen, in a basement or around any other fixtures that have a gas line. Construction in the presence of gas can be extremely dangerous! Make sure you know where the shutoff valve is! Also, be sure you know where the gas lines are so you do not inadvertently hit one.

If you’re improving the look and feel of your kitchen by installing a granite countertop, consider individual tiles instead of a single piece slab. Granite slabs of countertop length can cost up to $5000, and sometimes even more. Instead, install foot-long granite tiles. For the same amount of space, installing granite tiles will only cost you a few hundred dollars.

In conclusion, you wanted to do your own home improvement, but didn’t know much about it going in. You show now have more of an idea of what it takes to do it properly, which is great. If you have any more inquiries as to what to do, make sure that you re-read these tips to help the fundamentals sink in.

It may need more budget than the above mentioned improvements but one of the best ways to improve your home is to add a kitchen extension. Kitchens are the place where family mostly gather and it can be the first place that should be improved but when space is an issue no matter how many times you redecorate, only increasing the size will make a real difference.