How to Turn Your House into a Castle

DIY Stone Projects - Turn Your House into a Castle

If you have the guts to consider renovating your home to give your family the best abode anyone can think of, then this is for you. Stones offer a natural, unique and mature touch to your home. With the right addition, you really can transform your home into a castle without having to go through the stress of finding and purchasing expensive and complicated materials to make it look better. This professional hacks provides the top 10 house transformation tips you would ever find on the internet.

 

The Kitchen:

I'm starting from the kitchen, because if you would be doing a full-on renovation, you might as well start from where it hurts. The kitchen might be the most difficult project piece to get your hands on considering the fact that most of the appliances and things there are pre-installed, and you just can't mess with them. On the other hand, it's one of the easiest ways to increase your property's value. Even though that might not be your goal, it's not a bad addition to the benefits.

• The Counter Top:

The kitchen is a very complicated area and to a very large extent, the current trends that do a major transformation include the use of classic stone bench tops. However, a better option is the use of laminate instead of natural stones. Laminates are smoother, and have looks that are more modern. Other reasons for Laminates being a better option include the facts that they offer lots of color pattern choices, and last up to 20 years without maintenance.
Examples of laminates that fit this description include the Calcutta, which might be the most prominent among this type, and the marble, which is just elegant in its own way.

Black & White Marble

 

• The Kitchen Walls:

One of the major reasons why the marble is a good idea for the counter top is that it's easier to clean, and the kitchen being a very busy area, soups are bound to spill. However, one other major consideration for this precautionary measure is the walls of the kitchen. Using stones to decorate the walls up to the wall cabinet levels can be a good way to avoid the permanence of this mess. Stones are easier to clean, and have a high cohesive resistance against dirt.
For the kitchen walls, I recommend the use of natural stones, because they are non-combustible (considering the location it's to be used), they provide an ageless design, they have architectural uniqueness and are Eco-friendly.
You might be forced to consider the cultured manufactured stoned like the Canyon Springs, the Vedder, or the Wolf Creek, but the natural stones still have the most advantages and are the easiest to maintain. Since I have recommended the natural stones category, my personal favorite is the California Gold. I have seen it in most (well priced) renovated homes.

 

California Gold

 

The Bathroom and Toilet:

• Walls and Floor:

The toilet, even being a private place, can be renovated by using stone floors and coating the walls as well as the bathtubs exterior with them. Unlike the kitchen, it's better to have the colors and the stone types matched here. Also, in contrast to the kitchen, the toilet doesn't exactly need a natural look or some sort, but you feel more comfortable and well positioned to ease yourself or enjoy your bath with a beautiful and classy view around you. With that being said, for the floors and walls, you would have to use stone tiles because they have large types that aren't complicated and with cool colors that would set your mood to support whatever action you wish to perform.

Basic examples of stone tiles that do justice to this idea include white marble like Aspen or Mountain Myst, for the tiles, and materials like Blue Ruby, Blue Sky Inner Corner, etc for the bathroom floors (as used for swimming pool floors). My personal recommendation for this category is the white marble - Spartacus because it's a mixture of stone and glass, which denotes class and strength in one piece.

Spartacus

 

• Toilet Counter Top:

The same option goes for the kitchen counter top. If you feel like it, you can use the same stone material as you've chosen in the kitchen. However, in this case, your concern does not include soup stains, but soap stains, which aren't stains if you really think about it. Therefore, you can go all the way with a classy style without having to worry too much about stains, but solely on water resistance. In this category, the major competitors still are the laminate and natural stones.

Since the Laminate won the argument the first time, we might as well just go through with it through the house. The Rosy wood Laminate does more than a good job in improving your bathroom's view.

Rosy Wood Grain

 

The living Room:

Modern day interior decorators, and even architects understand that your living room is your main chance to give your visitors an impression about yourself and your family. As much as you would like to flaunt the idea that you're renovating, you should also try to keep everything simple and classy without allowing your redesign compromise every preexisting feature in the house that you've been used to. The major considerations for this category include the floor, the walls, the pillars and the fireplace.

• The Living Room Floor:

For the living room floor, your concerns aren't that much depending on how cultured you are with your house conduct. If you don't mind footwear in your living room, then you might have to take things up a few notches. In either scenarios, tiles work just fine. Recommended examples include large tiles like the Buntzen, Meeki, pearl white, etc. My personal recommendation is the Meeki, because it basically blends with any color and other stone designs you wish to implement in the home's interior.

Meeki

 

• The Walls:

Unlike the Floor, these don't need to be completely altered. In most cases, the design of the fireplace decides for the walls. After giving the fireplace a homier look with well-cultured stones, you could extend this by lining the walls out towards the pillars leaving subtle hints of exotic taste and class.

Cultured Manufactured stones are lightweight, durable and have versatile home applications. They easily add luxurious looks to your home surfaces without giving you a hard time about the color blend or the projection statement. Major recommendations include the Bermuda, Cache creek, Evergreen, Greenwall and country. You could add a little more aura to the magnificence by fastening a brightly colored artwork to the wall using a cordless drill.

Cache Creek

 

The House's Exterior:

Before making an impression with your living room, the exterior adds non-negotiable value to the overall look of your house. The most common areas that could do with a little renovation spice include; the walls of the house itself, the walkways, the garden and the fence.

• The Walls:

Unlike the interior of the house, you can choose to add stone tiles to strategic areas like the pillars and the lintels. On the other hand, you could line all the walls with cultured stones that have moderate weather resistance properties. In this category however, the most common include the use of cultured stones as explained in the second scenario.

Examples include; Bermuda, Grey Valley, Grey Mountain, Cache Creek (above), Canyon Springs, Mohave, and Mountain Top among others.

Grey Mountain

 

 

• The Side Walk:

For the sidewalk, you have to consider slippery seasons, and make sure that your choice of floor material gives your foot and footwear a firm grip and be less susceptible to accidents even while beautifying your home. The stone materials that fall under this category include the Midnight Creek (below), Gossamer, Commodus, Casa Blanca,  and the Augustus among others. If you would be using stone walls too, its better to use a neutral color for the floors so that it matches without too much complication. Therefore, my recommendation in this category is the Casa Blanca.

Casa Blanca

 

• The Garden:

The garden doesn't require any rigid design or predetermined structure according to some star magazines. As far as this category is concerned, putting two large stones beside your tree's garden might be all you need. However, my personal recommendation is to use the same design and styles as that of the exterior walls of the house and the fence to dress the walls of the garden. The Midnight Creek comes in handy in this category.

Midnight Creek

 

 

• The Wall Fence:

This part of the house can use the same design as the walls of the exterior itself. If you feel the need to, you could do a full stretch with the same stones as the wall itself, or if you have a little budget, you could repaint the walls, and have the stones on the pillars. Both ideas work just fine and depend on your preference. Brick veneers can do just the trick. Examples in this category include; Grey Mountain (above), Roma, Dark Chardonnay, Coal, and Vega, among others.

Dark Chardonnay

 

Conclusion

As much as you would love to make this project a complete DIY achievement for yourself, consulting professionals before commencement would help you make design decisions and executions more efficiently. If you wish to boost the beauty of your proposed stone wall project using beautiful artworks, then you would probably be needing a cordless drill for fastening. Here is a place to get some information on the best cordless drill for the money. 

 

Visit Discount Stones Customer Reviews page to get insights about the quality of our products and services. Create your own stone and brick veneer clearance through wholesale quantity discount. 

 

Vincent Walter 

*follow on Twitter @BCDPvincent

 

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