Real Home ImprovementThe Home Improvement Blog with real advice

With the iPhone marketplace growing and growing daily it should come as no surprise that there are quite a few iPhone and iPod touch apps which can help during home improvement projects. Having tested a lot of home improvement apps, and in the process drawing out the very best ones, here is Real Home Improvement’s recommended home improvement apps for your iPhone and iPod Touch.

1) My Measures Lite (iPhone only)

My Measures Lite is a fantastic tool for anybody within an industry trade and also a fantastic app for anybody carrying out a home improvement project. Quite simply put, My Measures Lite allows you to take a photo of any object building or wall and then add dimensions afterwards – a little bit like a photo editor. With this app, you will never mis-measure anything again!

2) Ben Color Capture (iPhone only)

Ben Color Capture allows you to take a picture of any colour or any surface colour and match to to over 3300 hues which can be re-created in store. Very simple to use, highly intuitive and also completely free, Ben Color Capture is a fantastic app which could save you a lot of time when trying to find that perfect shade of paint!

3) Tapemeasure!

Tapemeasure! does exactly what is says on the tin. The app itself starts up straight away with no load time, and displays a vertical and horizontal ruler in either inches or centimentres. The only draw back to this app is that the maximum length the ruler / tapemeasure displays is 7 cm, or rather 3 inches, which can be toggled through a simple shake. A nice app for a quick measure.

4) Advanced Bubble Level Free

Advanced Bubble Level Free is a pretty handy app for the home improvement fiend in you as it does exactly what is says on the tin. It provides a rather accurate level guide when your iPhone / iPod Touch is placed in a flat surface and lets you see if anything needs tweeking or changing. It also loads up fast and has a quick download time.

5 ) Drywall Calculator ($0.99)

Okay admittedly this app is not free, but this application assists you in easily figuring out square footage of a room. Whether you want to calculate just the walls, ceiling or a slope (triangle), or any combination of the previous you would like to figure. This is a good app which does its simple purpose well.

So there we have it! Five (almost) free home improvement apps for those of you who have an iPhone and are going through a home improvement project .

There are many designs that you can put your home through – but one question always comes up within home improvement and home redesigns > Paint vs Wallpaper: Which suits your home best?

Of course there are many rooms in one house, with bathrooms obviously opting for paint over wallpaper for water damage reasons, but exactly what are the advantages and disadvantages of both materials and what can you do with them both?

Wallpaper Advantages

Wallpaper offers a huge variety of patterns to choose from as well as a huge selection of textures and colors which can be picked up at any home improvement shop or megastore. Plus, textured wallpaper can add more oomph to your walls which paints cannot offer (unless you get a professional painter which can be costly). Some new wallpapers even have beading, sequins, lace and ribbons that add more drama and style to a bare wall.

One of the main advantages to wallpaper is that it can easily hide holes in a wall or deep scratches which could have been caused from a variety of reasons. Also, if you are selling your home and have cracks in your plaster walls from general heating and cooling, a wallpaper session  can add new value to your sell.

Wallpaper is also your only option for fire damaged walls, unless the fire damage is light or you have arms of steel to get the soot off.

Wallpaper Disadvantages

The main disadvantage to all wallpapers is that they are horrible to clean and maintain as they (unless special wallpaper) soak up grease and stains quite easily. So if you have kids armed with crayons and chocolate covered hands your once beatiful wallpaper will quite simply become a mess.

Wallpaper can also be expensive, and the actual ‘putting it on’ time consuming if never done before. Wallpapaer generally also has a lower shelf life as they can fade under sun light.

Paint Advantages

Paint is a low maintenance, cheap and easy-to-apply interior treatment – Having painted walls means that you need not be so worried about maintaining and cleaning your walls. Most kinds of dirt and stains can easily be cleaned of a painted wall or when the stain does not come off completely, you can easily paint that area in the wall the same color to cover up the stain. While cover up stains and fixing unsightly marks on wallpaper can be quite difficult and expensive since you might have to remove one entire panel of wallpaper and replace it just because of a small stain.

Paint has a huge shelf life once applied, and if well maintained will last for years (ceiling paint excluded if you smoke as it will discolour due to nicotine stains).

Paint Disadvantages

Paint doesn’t really offer much texture or design and unlike wallpaper which can instantly create illusions, designs and texture where there are none, using paint to achieve the same effect can be a difficult task. If you want walls with flower designs without using wallpaper, you have to paint the flowers yourself which would take a lot of time and effort and usually only look crap anyway. You can also use stencils to paint designs although these designs would not be as detailed and flawless as those in printed wallpapers.

So which suits your home best? You now know the advantages and disadvantages to paint and wallpaper so take your pick . To be honest a mix of the two is always nice, and if you have a bedroom perhaps paint all round apart from the wall your beds headrest is on would be a good option.

All comments welcome.

Energy saving lightbulbs are slowly becoming the norm within houses with newer versions and revised editions becoming better and brighter. Although energy saving lightbulbs aren’t applicable in every room of your house – with really dark areas needing proper lighting, energy saving lightbulbs are one of the best ways to kick start a new greener life < and also save money in the process.

The phasing out of inefficient tungsten filament bulbs started well back in 2006, with bulbs over 100 watts being discontinued to make way for more efficient ones. The Next light bulbs to be phased out will be the standard shaped bulbs (usually called A-shaped) that are used in most homes, which require a fair bit of packaging and a lot of emissions in the production process.

Energy saving light bulbs fit in ordinary light fittings – and if you have a dimmer switch you can buy special dimming energy saving light bulbs. There are a few types of energy saving lightbulb to choose from, these are listed below;

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs): these are the most common energy saving light bulbs and come in stick shape, candle shape, small or medium screw and bayonet fittings – they are also the cheapest and regularly, dependant upon manufacturer, last the longest too.

Energy saving halogen light bulbs: Halogen energy saving lightbulbs are a good option if you have halogen lights in your home. They consume around 30% less electricity than standard halogen bulbs, and are also brighter than CFLS.

LED lights: LED lighting has been used within industry and the military for years – they have progressed rapidly in recent years and can now be used to replace existing halogen spotlights. LED Lighting can also be used in design, and if you are in for a spot of home improvement then LED lighting is a fantastic way to make your home more modern.

Metal Sheds

Do you have a bike? Be it a motorbike or bicycle I’ll bet you are adamant about the safety of it – and how it will always be fine. But in todays society this is very unlikely and as such you should invest in some decent security storage.

Asgard is a UK based online store specializing in metal garden storage. Products sold include Bike Storage sheds, Metal Garden Storage, Gas Bottle Storage, Mobility Scooter Storage, Centurion Metal Garden sheds, Caravan Storage Site, Bike sheds and even more! Asgards even take payment by credit cards – Visa, Maestro, Master Card and others as well as Paypal. All items are shipped free and come with a 10 year guarantee – so you know their products are quality!

The website is very good and as I said the customer service team is brilliant

Thanks for reading!

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