Home Improvement

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THE BATH CONNECTION

If you are tired of looking at the same old bathroom, then you need to visit and speak with the experts at the Bath Connection in Millburn, N.J. Staffed by knowledgeable designers who can create a new and beautiful look for your bathroom or kitchen in any style or budget. The showroom, displays a wonderful variety of vanities, faucets, accessories, sinks, showers and hardware accessories. On display are saunas, marble or stone counter tops, shower doors, and unique bathroom accessories.

The Bath Connection, 183 Millburn Ave., Millburn, NJ; 973-467-7888

REINVENTING YOUR LANDSCAPE FENG SHUI

Some homeowners need the professional assistance of a designer to fix their landscape. Whether it is a complete or reinstallation needed, the weekend gardener usually makes the same design errors instinctively.

•Creating a design that is functional, enhancing, and low maintenance will probably be only part of the design errors when trying to create that perfect garden picture.
•Adding color to an existing landscape will require the ability to visualize the correct location within the landscape in order to provide a placement balance. How many plantings should you install? How large will the plants grow? What are their growing needs? When should I separate or can I divide? Do the new plants provide visual affect throughout the year?
•Many homeowners purchase shrubbery or plantings strictly by what they like. In doing so, you have stepped away from any fix that would enhance rather than hinder the existing landscape. What type of design will my landscape, if any, now reflect?
•A bloom balance throughout the season requires consideration. How often does the plant produce blooms and when? What is the duration time? What is there growing rate during the season? Do I need to fertilize and when?
•Picking the wrong size, type of plant or shrubbery, probably will require more maintenance then anticipated. What plants are suited around a structure? Which are prone to infestation or disease? If trimming or pruning is needed, when should it be done?
•What are your visual expectations? Will your new installation enhance the home and the surroundings or deter? Does the new shrubbery draw your eye to the areas intended? Are all plantings and shrubbery in there appropriate best suited location?
•What about lighting? What about adding hardscape? What type of bed enhancements will you now add? How about a trellis or pergola? What about privacy fencing and how do I address those?
•Thinking about adding a water feature? Who will do the installation and how much of it? What type of water presentation would best suite your landscape?
•What about costs for installation? What kind of warranty does the garden center or home center offer? Should I wait until the end of season and just buy any available plant or shrubbery on sale?
•What watering will be needed and for what duration in order to allow for substantial rooting? How much and how often should I water? What is the best time of year to plant? Can I plant any plant at any time?
•If trees, shrubbery or plantings are added, how deep or how high should they be in the ground? What type of fertilizer and dirt mix should be used for planting? Will staking be necessary? Will they survive if put facing the North side as opposed to the East? Is wind burn and issue?
•What about the labor and time expended on the landscape project? How much and what types of hardware or machinery needed to properly install, regrade or create the landscape or hardscape? Do I need to bring in dirt and how much?
•What should I expect to spend or budget? The value of all exterior landscape should be approximately 15 percent of home value. How much can be fixed or remedied as opposed to full installation?
•Issues of drainage or re-grades need also be considered. If you have swales or a low spots, how will those issues affect your new plantings? Is top soil or dirt needed and how much?

Lots of questions with soooo many things to go wrong and become costly. There is nothing more frustrating then spending your time, money and labor putting in new landscape and having it die. For whatever reason, you are back in the same situation the following year needing to reinstall new again. Even the best landscape installers will loose a plant or two on occasion however, the replacement will probably be free. How do you measure success? Adding any new landscape will add some value to the home but, is it appropriately done? A landscape that is more than 12 to 15 years old probably has too much over growth and should be replaced. There isn’t anything
more gratifying than to have someone to ask who did your landscape. Sometimes, the only way to fix the problem is to start over.

Our professional installers have been on staff since 1977 creating residential designs for individual needs. Payment plans available.

J R Landscape & Management Services, 908-665-2184

DECORATING SPACES THAT DEMAND A SECOND LOOK!

Little thought was given to the design and usage of the front porch during the seventeen and eighteen hundreds. The great American front porch, for the most part, was just there; part of the home that belonged to everyone and no one, a place for family and friends to perhaps pass the time. Outdoor living spaces that were sociable yet undefined.

Centuries later these prosaic spaces have evolved into offices, bedrooms and dining rooms. Porches by definition today are no longer transitional areas. They are rooms
created exclusively for outdoor living with all of ones’ comforts and amenities in mind. Through better design, a porch space today helps to integrate landscape and structure and it allows the eye to comfortably flow through the setting without deviating from the welcome appearance. In other words, it can become a happening place!

Think outside the box and imagine an intimate table for two or a cozy room with a fireplace and bar or office space to store your most up-to-date electronic equipment. Today with families spending more then 65 percent of their leisure time outside the demand for outdoor living areas has grown expediential. Today these outstanding rooms have become the perfect “Getaway” spots to unwind and relax, meditate or exercise for so many families.

Knowing how to integrate function, style and pizzazz is not always easy. But there is hope. Companies, such as PORCHez, are being sought after for their professional advice and exclusive knowledge. This specialized company approaches these rooms without walls in the same way as and interior designer would. But there are several distinct differences. PORCHez has to consider exterior elements such as ultra violet light, wind and insects when formulating their design. When you combine the knowledge of an exterior decorator and the functionality of weather resistant products you can’t fail.

Right now, someone is embracing life’s new found living space with a transcending smile or wave to friends arriving by whim at dusk. Come sit a spell and enjoy the new view. With the right expertise, your porch will wear a smile and reluctantly say goodnight.

PORCHez, 908-665-2199

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