8-13-17 At Home

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HOME

Small Spaces

Tips for dorm life

Smart House

Technology can make a home more efficient A special publication of the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer

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Saturday, August 12, 2017 Messenger-Inquirer

LETTER from the

EDITOR School is back in session for the younger students, but many college kids are still at home with mom and dad preparing for their big move.

In this edition of At Home, you will find design tips for small spaces and how to make a dorm room feel more like home. You will also read about technology that can improve every room of your home.

I am still looking for homeowners who have tackled a big DIY or home renovation project or anyone who has an interesting story about their home. If you would like your story told, please contact me at mrichardson@ messenger-inquirer.com or 270-691-7233.

— Meghann Richardson Special Publications Editor

How to make a dorm room your own Children spend roughly 17 to 18 years living under mom and dad’s roof. When the time comes to go away to college, young men or women find themselves on their own for the first time in their lives. Once youngsters move into their dorm rooms, many attempt to add a few personal touches to their new home.

All too often a college dorm room is drab and uninspiring.

Universities tend to make dorm rooms sparse so they are easy to maintain. Very often walls are made from concrete or brick, and the space may not be very large. In addition, dorm rooms are often shared with a roommate, and the idea of spending semester after semester here may not be so appealing.

Students tend to arrive on campus with fixed budgets and not a lot of spending money for new furnishings, so dorm rooms often become populated with garage-sale finds and hand-me-downs. This may only add to the room’s poor aesthetics.

Making a dorm room

your own does not require a lot of money or know-how.

It starts with a vision, a few comforts from home and some collaboration with your roommate. The following are a few tips for young men and women looking to turn their dorm rooms from drab to fab.

• Know the dorm rules before making any permanent changes. Rather than face fines at the end of the school year, know what you can and can’t do to your room before making any changes. For example, schools may frown on holes in walls or other structural changes, so invest in stick-on hooks for hanging photos on walls.

• Remember, the bed is the pivotal piece of the room.

Most dorm rooms fit little more than two beds and two desks.

Therefore, the bulk of your design will come from outfitting your bed with a comforter that adds color and life to the room. If you haven’t yet decided on a color scheme with your roommate, you may want to opt for neutral colors, or even basic black-and-white, which will blend with anything.

• Invest in other creature comforts. A nice area rug and a few decorative lamps can remove the institutional feel of overhead fluorescent lights and cinder block walls. Task lighting enables you to get work done at your desk or to read on the bed.

• Consider curtains to add a homey feel. While blinds certainly have their utility, fabric curtains can help absorb noise and also make a dorm room feel more like home. If your dorm room has an attached bathroom, hang a shower curtain and use thick towels to make the space seem more like home.

• Carve out a spot for a mini refrigerator. Students should not survive on cafeteria food alone.

Bring a mini refrigerator for those late-night cravings. This will save you from overpaying at vending machines or at the nearby convenience store.

• Don’t forget photos. Frame photos of friends and family members and place them around your area of the dorm room. This way you will have familiar faces smiling back at you when you need a little pick-me-up.

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Back-to-college: Design tips for small living spaces

BY STATEPOINT

Moving on to college is an exhilarating first taste of true independence. It’s a time for self-directed growth, transformative lessons and the beginning of lifelong friendships. For many students, moving into a dorm or off-campus housing is the beginning of another quest: achieving a Pinterest-perfect setting in not-so-spacious quarters.

Decorating a small space doesn’t have to mean limiting your style or personality. Here are a few solutions for creating a setting peaceful enough for dedicated study, yet vibrant enough for entertaining.

COLLABORATION IS KEY

College living often means shared spaces. When it comes to décor for common areas, it’s important for roommates to agree on themes and tone. Color selection can have a dramatic effect on a room’s energy.

Make it a group decision when choosing between bold colors for a lively setting, or lighter tones for a calm sanctuary which can include multiple shelves and that promotes fine-tuned focus. drawers for easy organization and a working surface big enough to fit any FUNCTIONAL FURNITURE laptop with space to spare.

When furnishing a dorm or small apartment, the more purposes a single STEP UP STORAGE piece of furniture can serve, the better.

Organized storage solutions are A small entryway table adds a nice the secret weapons of any small aesthetic touch while serving as a home space decorator. To avoid clutter for keys, phones, wallets and other claustrophobia, start with the closet. everyday items that Invest in a modular tend to wander. To save organizer that enables Organized storage space, select a narrow you to customize your solutions are the secret piece, such as the storage, helping to Brooke Console Table increase floor space and weapons of any small from Improvements. keep clothes, shoes and space decorator.

To avoid Their 5-in-1 Ottoman, accessories in better which transforms from clutter claustrophobia, shape longer. start with the closet. a generous ottoman For non-everyday into a bed, chair, essentials, a rolling Invest in a modular chaise or recliner bag is a organizer that enables you storage just by unfolding and convenient way to keep rearranging, is a clever to customize your storage, items out of sight but way to add functionality helping to increase floor accessible. You can find to a room without a variety of sizes and space and keep clothes, taking up extra space. patterns at such retailers shoes and accessories in When it’s time to as Improvements. better shape longer. get down to work, a A limited space dedicated space is can hold unlimited essential. However, a separate office is possibilities with some creativity, a rare luxury. Transform any room into a careful eye toward multifunctional study sanctuary with something mobile pieces, and the right approach to and versatile, like a mobile office desk, balance and scale.

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Five steps to a smart home

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Automated lighting and thermostats increase efficiency

BY BPT

When it comes to technology, smarter is better. There are smart watches, smart televisions and just about ever yone has a smartphone.

So what about a smart home?

Smart thermostats and lighting timers represent the first steps toward smart home technology for many homeowners, but in a lot of cases, they were the only steps. Since then, technology has continued to develop, and today there are scores of home goods that can talk to one another while allowing you total control of your home from your smartphone, tablet or another device.

It all sounds so simple, so perfect, yet many consumers remain confused on how to make the most of smart home technology in their house.

Instead of finding the installation welcoming, they see it as daunting and expensive.

This doesn’t have to be the case.

Installing — and enjoying — smart home technology in your house is easier than you think. Follow these five simple steps and your home will be a smart home in no time. • Determine what you’d like to control remotely or automate based on time. Having total control of your home sounds great, but it also leads to total responsibility and sometimes you don’t need all that. For example, lighting solutions are a popular automated option. The smart dimmer

by Leviton allows you to dim and time lighting to meet your needs once you download the app, providing you increased functionality all from your smartphone or tablet. • Select technology that works with your home. When you’re shopping for products — like lighting switches — you should always be mindful of functionality. For example, does your home operate on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth? Understand the base functionalities of your home and you’ll streamline your shopping process. • Seek professional help. If you’re concerned about your ability to set up your smart home

technology successfully, don’t be afraid to seek out some guidance.

Call on your contractor to assist you in the installation. You can also download helpful guides and how-to instructions from the manufacturer’s website. The more information you have before beginning the project, the more comfortable you’ll be with the installation. • Download the proper apps. The key to your home’s smart technology lies in the corresponding apps. Make sure you’ve downloaded the right one to match your system. Many smart home technologies offer both iPhone and Android apps to provide the functionality control you need. • Set your schedule and optimize as needed. Your smart home is an ever-evolving machine, and the more time you take to continually customize your preferences, the more you’ll get from your system.

Establish your initial schedule and then add voice control through Amazon, Google or Apple. Finally, don’t be afraid to make continued improvements. You’ve already tackled the biggest hurdle of installing your system, and the ongoing small adjustments you add will make your system great.

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Make the bathroom the brainiest room in the house Smart technology has found a place in virtually every room in the home, even the one where we take care of our most low-tech needs. In fact, thanks to innovations like sensor-operated, self-cleaning toilets, moisture-sensing ventilation fans and digital shower controls, it’s possible to turn an ordinary bathroom into the brainiest room in the house.

If you’re ready to upgrade your bathroom with the latest smart technology, here are five elements to put at the top of your must-have list:

1. SMARTER SHOWER

From showerheads with light and

sound, to digital temperature and water pressure controls that you can set from your smartphone, an array of high-tech features is available to elevate the simple act of getting clean to the level of a luxurious, high-tech experience.

You can find something for every preference. Love to shower at night?

Install a showerhead that features its own lighting. Dislike fiddling with the controls every morning to get just the right temperature? Opt for digital temperature controls that allow for multiple pre-settings for individual users. Focused on conservation? Try a showerhead that senses what you’re doing — washing your hair, shaving

your legs — and automatically adjusts the water flow accordingly.

2. INTELLIGENT TOILET

A toilet that cleans itself is a dream come true for many people, but TOTO boosts the intelligence of its NEOREST AC wall-mount toilet even higher. The intelligent toilet features a WASHLET personal cleansing system that uses warm, aerated water for comfort, a warm air dryer and a heated seat. An automatic opening and closing function and auto-flush ensure you never have to touch the toilet.

The toilet keeps itself (and the environment in your bathroom) clean

with a flushing system that uses an environmentally friendly combination of gravity and high-speed water jets to spin away waste, while an in-bowl catalytic deodorizer helps keep the air fresh. The bowl itself is glazed with titanium dioxide and zirconium, which when activated by the toilet’s integrated UV light, creates molecular reactions that help keep the bowl free from visible and invisible waste.

Not only will you not need harsh detergents to clean the toilet, it’s is also WaterSense labelled, and uses just 1.28 gallons per flush (gpf) for solid waste and 0.9 gpf for liquid. Visit www. totousa.com to learn more.

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3. VERSATILE VENTILATION

Bathroom ventilation fans serve practical and cosmetic purposes.

Ventilation removes moisture and humidity that could promote the growth of mold and mildew, and can help exhaust unpleasant odors. Of course, not everyone puts ventilation to its optimum use, and that’s where a new style of bathroom fan comes in.

Ventilation fans that sense humidity — such as after someone has taken a long, hot shower — turn on automatically to help remove excess moisture from the room. Some fans can communicate wirelessly with wall switches or with an app that allows you to control the fan from your smartphone.

4. MULTI-TASKING MIRROR

Mirrors and medicine cabinets aren’t just for reflection anymore.

Now you can kit out your smart bathroom with mirrors that feature built-in TVs and can communicate with your home’s security cameras, and medicine cabinets with defogging features that can let you get to your post-shower shave faster.

Refrigerated medicine cabinets are perfect for preserving delicate drugs and cosmetics, and you can find both mirrors and medicine cabinets with built-in USB ports for charging your devices.

5. ADVANCED ACCESSORIES

Of course accessories can be additions that put any bathroom over the top, and you never have to settle for ordinary accessories in your smarter bathroom. Enhance the usability and convenience of your bathroom with items like: • A small robot that mops floor tiles automatically.

• A Bluetooth-enabled toothbrush that communicates with your smartphone to monitor how well you’ve brushed.

• A smart scale that helps you track your weight and health progress.

• Touch-free soap dispensers.

• A towel rack that uses hot air and ultraviolet light to dry towels and keep them fresh longer.

By upgrading to tech-savvy versions of everyday bathroom elements like toilets, faucets and showers, it’s possible to make your bathroom not only one of the most-used rooms in the house, but the smartest as well.

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Smart kitchen upgrade ideas to help you save time

BY STATEPOINT

Most home cooks want the flexibility of preparing complicated meals with ease and convenience. However, even those with a deft culinary hand may be limited by their tools, space and appliances.

Smartly outfitting your kitchen can help you jump meal preparation hurdles, particularly if you are someone who is inclined to prepare multi-course meals. Consider space-saving appliances with versatile functionality that can do more than one job at a time.

Just as you can multitask, so should your kitchen appliances.

Experts point out that it all boils down to the capabilities of your oven range. When pressed for time, you may have compromised on cooking times or temperature, leaving dishes to suffer through over- or under-cooking. Home chefs with this problem should consider upgrading to a double oven range, which would allow you to cook multiple dishes at separate temperatures.

Consider the flexibility of being able to

bake cookies in convection mode at 350 degrees while simultaneously broiling chicken, all in one unit.

If you do plan to make this upgrade, consider your needs and options. For

a fully electric range. Also available in dual fuel and all gas options, the Verona double oven ranges are fully equipped with two easily programmed multi-function ovens and provide multiple cooking modes, including baking, defrosting and broiling.

When form is just as important as function, consider ILVE’s larger double oven range options in 40, 48 and 60 inch sizes. All sizes feature two multi-function ovens and added multi-tasking tools such as a rotisserie and warming drawer. Cooktop options such as a French top and removable griddle give even more flexibility to ambitious home cooks.

With a dual oven range, you may find that a separate built-in oven becomes unnecessary, freeing up valuable cabinet space and valuable dollars for other useful chef’s tools and supplies.

Additionally, upgrading your most example, if an electric connection is important appliances can help you work the only option for cooking, consider smarter, not harder.

Verona’s 36 inch fully electric double Love cooking? Give yourself the tools oven range, which offers cooking performance one might not expect from that allow you to get more done.

For your beautiful Bath and Kitchen Cabinets We have the ideas for you. Come visit.

Plumbing - Lighting Bath & Kitchen Cabinets Home Accessories Irrigation - PVF Septic Systems 2110 Grimes Ave. Owensboro, KY 42303 270-691-6040 www.bathandkitchenideacenter.com