Mabusi Khuzwayo - Wakefields Malvern

29/06/2015

Keep your home warm using shutters. Let’s be honest; when the bitter cold of winter bites, the last thing on our minds is style. Once in the privacy and comfort of our own homes, we quickly haul out bulky heaters, mismatched blankets and throws, and use these to keep ourselves warm and our interiors cosy - with little care for the beautiful décor we have so carefully put together.

Wooden shutters, which are considered permanent fixtures, add value to your home and have great design-appeal. This is according to interior designer and marketing director of American shutters, Karina Palmer, who says the décor in your home doesn’t need to ‘suffer’ in order to achieve comfort and warmth. She says by making some clever design choices focused on the areas of your home that are responsible for most of its heat loss, namely the doors and windows, you can design a winter-friendly home that looks as hot as it feels.

Here’s the science: heat is lost through glass windows and doors via thermal radiation, heat conduction, convection and air leakage. Glass windows or doors that haven’t been insulated absorb the warmth inside your home and then re-radiate it to the exterior or allow it to pass through from the indoors to the outdoors.

Wooden shutters are great thermal insulators as they provide a barrier between the outside cold and indoor warmth.

When open, you allow the winter sun to shine through uninterrupted, and to warm up your interiors. When closed, the shutters trap the warmth from the day inside and prevent it from escaping through the glass windows and doors.

So, when winter bares its teeth, consider interior shutters to keep your home looking and feeling warm.

http//www.property24.com

24/06/2015

Property Advice: How to overcome real estate funding hurdles
http://ow.ly/OCNPe

Successful real estate investors come with a variety of talents and specialties – not necessarily all in the realm of real estate, says an expert.

22/06/2015

Florally inspired décor can make for a lovely and vibrant setting. Whatever the season, floral accents and patterns provide a style that is timeless. The following tips can help you design your home with attractive floral touches.

Living room
Floral design in the living room can make for a warm and comfortable room. Floral upholstery for the sofa or arm chairs is one way to infuse the room with flowers. On the other hand, you might simply want to enhance a plain sofa with floral throw pillows. Floral draperies and vintage floral prints will also make for an appealing space. Don't forget to add a vase or two filled with fresh flowers, which is a great way to bring the natural work indoors.

Bedrooms
When considering a floral motif for the bedroom, you can transform your walls with floral wallpaper or even a floral trim. Floral bedding is an eye-catching way to bring floral appeal into the design.

Dining room
You might opt for a traditional floral centrepiece that changes with the seasons.
Because there is a wide array of floral decorations, you might want to narrow down your décor to a theme. Wildflowers suggest a country or rustic theme. Choose fabrics or paintings that feature poppies, daisies, and wild roses. For a more elegant look, you might stick to a single-colour palate such as white. You can focus on flowers like white lilies or tulips.

Adding floral-inspired decorations and accents to your space is a fine way to transform the look of your décor. With just a few touches here and there, you can infuse each room of the house with the warmth and beauty of flowers.
Source: http//www.women24.co.za

16/06/2015

Some awesome kids help you celebrate .
http://ow.ly/On8St

A compilation of incredible talented and fearless kids, demonstrating their skills at everything from skateboarding and weightlifting to surfing...

15/06/2015

A recent study shows that the paint colour on your bedroom walls plays a role in your quality of sleep. The study, carried out by Travelodge, looked into 2,000 homes, to investigate the influence of colour on quality of sleep. They discovered that you can enhance your sleep by choosing specific colours.

Best Colours for Sleep
• Blue contributes to longer rest and is linked to calm and soothing feelings. Soft blues and greens promote the feeling of calm and tranquility. It may even contribute to waking up feeling happy, positive and upbeat.
• Shades of yellow were the second best colour for a longer sleep. Yellow is associated with peace and happiness and creates a joyful ambiance in your bedroom, letting you enjoy a relaxing sleep.
• Warm shades of orange were found to relax muscles and create a reassuring ambiance
• Silver mimics moonlight and tends to cue the brain that it’s night.
• A pink colour scheme creates the feeling of optimism in your bedroom and adds to feelings of positivity and relaxation.
• White and creams are soothing colours for your bedroom and are the most popular wall colours as they can be matched with any accessories.

Worst Colours for Sleep
• Red is not recommended for bedrooms as it tends to quicken the pulse, which is the opposite affect needed before sleep.
• Purple is not suitable as is can activate your mind and imagination, energising your body and consequently reducing your sleep length. Purple bedrooms can also increase nightmares and vivid dreams, making you feel exhausted and fatigued.
• Brown isn’t appropriate for the bedroom as it creates a gloomy feeling.
• Grey didn’t perform well as it can create a dreary and isolated feeling, resulting in restless sleep.
With quality sleep a priority, it seems logical to paint your bedroom in a colour scheme that promotes relaxation, calms your mind and promotes a healthy life.

http//www.spice4life.co.za

10/06/2015

Property Advice: Buying a home after getting divorced
http://ow.ly/NZ5Pg

Getting divorced is tough, and buying a new home afterwards may be just as hard, especially if you still co-own a property with your former spouse.

08/06/2015

June in the garden. How to make sure you enjoy a wonderful winter garden.

While it’s cold and grey, make sure your garden bursts with colour! Here are tips on what to plant in your garden this month…

The days may be shorter but, unlike winters in the northern hemisphere, South African winters still afford us plenty of opportunities to relish time in the garden. This month, add plants to the garden to brighten up your outdoors spaces and plant winter vegetables in your veggie patch.

Beautiful blooms. Paint your winter garden with colour by planting alyssums, calendulas, dianthus, lobelias, nemesias, sweet peas and pansies and violas. In shaded garden beds liliums, azaleas and camellias will all thrive in dappled light.

Veg out. June is the time to sow all members of the cabbage family - broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and ornamental kale. Other winter vegetables you could plant include radish, leek, onion and spinach.

Feed. The following plants require a little extra nourishment in winter…
• Feed lemon trees with 3:1:5 or 8:1:5.
• Feed bulbs with bulb food and winter and spring-flowering seedlings (3:1:5) once every two weeks.
• If sweet peas look brown and papery, feed them with 3:1:5.

Happy gardening!
http//www.all4women.co.za

05/06/2015

The one who gets up is so much stronger than the one who never fell

01/06/2015

Establish some privacy in your garden.

Townhouse living does offer some benefits, but privacy is definitely not one of them. Most townhouse gardens have hardly any privacy, and many are overlooked by units on higher levels. So how do you establish some privacy in your own garden?

While it depends on the Body Corporate rules that govern what you can and cannot do in your townhouse - and it pays to check by the way - you can add privacy without using brick and mortar.

Timber allows you to be creative in so many ways and, if you’re not allowed to attach a timber structure to the building, you can incorporate timber into the garden design to give you more privacy.

Mobile planters allow you move them around to create a private corner, and you don't need to spend a fortune on planter boxes if you make your own using shutterply. Shutterply is the commercial version of pine plywood, and has a much more rustic finish that can be stained and sealed. Or, go for marine plywood - much more expensive but has a beautiful finish.

Ornamental bamboo grows high without spreading and creates a wonderful dappled boundary that is perfect for planter boxes and for adding privacy to a small garden.

Source: http//www.home-dzine.co.za

27/05/2015

Property News: Holiday home buying seems on backburner
http://ow.ly/NrQBo

Expectation remains that major city markets will continue to outperform holiday markets for the foreseeable future, according to a new index.