AfrikBoutik Blog

3 Luxury Kitchens in Sydney You Won’t Believe!

Today we present a selection of new kitchens designs for discerning customers who do not want compromise. They are three very different proposals magnificent in style, design and distribution, but inspired by a common concept: the love for details. Recognize them for their stunning appearance and excellent finishes that, under the splendid facade hiding spaces with multiple possibilities.

Several factors determine the choice of luxury kitchens: the pace of life, the number of family members, the available space, personal tastes, and budget.

If you want a luxury kitchen, we invite you to meet these three models:

Gloss White Kitchen

A composition inspired by the grand old kitchens. Master, splendid and distinguished, has character and is the queen of the house. The classicism that is perceived in the furniture and woods, contrasts with the latest appliances, designed to deliver maximum performance in the most demanding conditions. Its distribution in U allows you to maximize the available surface and wall cabinets complement the storage space.

With this set, the designers proposes an effective alternative for those looking for contemporary kitchen designs.

Gloss Black Kitchen

A practical, functional and balanced kitchen. It has black lacquered glass furniture, and is also available in white and purple. The combination between the fronts in black and white furniture gives the place a touch of topical but also the spectacular outside this kitchen hides a wealth of detail: drawers that hold up to 80 kg weight with automatic interior lighting, glass side high strength organic waste sorters, stainless steel handles and a stunning aluminum and glass countertop.

Kashmir & White Extra Kitchen Mate

Minimalism and clean lines in a kitchen that conveys elegance and serenity to the naked eye. A modern living space, clean and stylish, designed to integrate housing with complete harmony. This is a kitchen that, despite its apparent simplicity, offers multiple storage options and a large work surface. The central island breaks the monotony of the assembly and serves as the dining table.

Real Estate in Calgary

The Cliff Stevenson Group, is one of the Calgary real estate companies that really makes purchasing or selling a home a breeze. These Calgary real estate agents know exactly what they are doing and it really shows in their work. Their team consists of four employees which makes dealing with them more personalized.

All four Calgary real estate agents – Cliff Stevenson, Dawn Seymour, Mike Ehrman, and Sandra Wiebe – are licensed and have years of experience under their belts. They are pleasant to deal with and are knowledgeable about Calgary real estate. The Cliff Stevenson Group will provide you with expert advice that can help you decide which home would be the best fit for you and your family. If you are a homeowner who is planning to sell your home they are able to provide you with advice that will help you get a very good deal.

The real estate agents at The Cliff Stevenson Group are always prompt and professional. When dealing with this real estate company you will feel like they are your friends and not your Calgary real estate agents because of the vibe that they give off. If you need real estate agents who have your best interest in mind The Cliff Stevenson Group comes highly recommended. They are ethical and explain the entire Calgary real estate process to all of their clients.

The Cliff Stevenson Group is very easy to contact as well. You can contact them via email, mobile phone, or their office line. These real estate agents are even active in social media. It is safe to say that they are the Calgary real estate agents that are more than willing to go the extra mile to keep their customers satisfied.

Stop by their website, www.cliffstevenson.com, and check out all that they have to offer. You will find the website to be very easy to navigate and also very informative. Each agent provides a brief background about themselves so you can make sure that they have the credentials that you are seeking in your Calgary real estate agents.

If you decide to use this Calgary real estate company it is guaranteed that you will not be disappointed with your decision!

Steve Prachyl’s Brushed Metal Art

I never really knew anything about brushed metal art before, but after hearing about Steve Prachyl’s amazing metal wall art, I decided to see what all the talk was about. When you hear brushed metal, you typically don’t think of beauty. After seeing this artist’s work, I now think of brushed metal art differently. I was immediately blown away with how stunning his works of art are. This artist sketches on pieces of metal with a grinder. I have never even heard of this art technique before and it truly is amazing.

Steve Prachyl’s metal wall art features lines, textures, bright silvers, shapes, and transitions. The pieces of art are available in two different styles and different sizes. I chose to order a composite style metal wall art, which is constructed with thin metal and is mounted on eluded plastic backer. I chose the piece “The Ornamental” because I knew it would fit perfectly in my living room. I was so impressed with the line work in this piece, the brilliant curves, and the way it looked after I hung it up on my wall.

Metal wall art is completely unique and not something people are used to seeing. I really like this type of art and I am very pleased with my piece from Steve Prachyal and I know I will be purchasing more art of his in the future. If you are looking for a piece of wall art to compliment your room, I suggest checking out metal wall art. It is something that will look great in any one of your rooms and it will create a beautiful focal point. I guarantee you will have a lot of people asking you about your piece of art as I do now.

Metal wall art is completely impressive and something I will be buying more of in the near future. I am so happy with “The Ornamental” piece of art and how it makes my room look and feel.

JAPANESE RAIN CHAINS: FUN AND FUNCTIONAL HOME DECORATION

Japanese rain chains have a long and colorful history. Originally used for temples in Japan, they are intended to create an attractive and pleasing architectural water feature out of something otherwise mundane. Available in a nearly infinite combination of styles and fashions, you will be able to find one that exactly fits in with your own home decoration styling.

In Japan, rain chains (kusari-toi or kusari-doi, which can be literally translated as “chain gutter”) are an integral part of most homes’ water management systems. Their purpose is to transport water from the roof of a structure, where it is picked up by a gutter system, to ground level or below, where it is then typically stored. The stored water can then be used for drinking, cooking, bathing, or any other household purpose after purification.

What makes them special is the variety of pleasing aesthetics they can bring to any home. You can replace your plain, unadorned gutters with beautifully crafted rain chains in any one of numerous designs. Just imagine how much nicer your home would look if you never had to deal with the hassle of cleaning or replacing your old gutters ever again, and instead had beautiful, functional art.

Not only are they a pleasure to look at visually, they are a treat for the ears as well! The soft, tinkling sounds of water as it passes down the chain increases to a soothing rush of sound reminiscent of a babbling brook when precipitation is heavy. Depending on the ornamentation of the chain you are interested in, bells and chimes may be incorporated as well, if you prefer a more musical tone.

Don’t forget the additional opportunity to be artistic at the base of every Japanese rain chain! Depending on where exactly the bottom is located, you can place anything from a decorative pot filled with stones, (as is common in Japan) to your own bowl or saucer. You can use this space to really express yourself and complete the artistic vision you have.

If space is more of a concern, you don’t need to dedicate a lot of square footage to being artistic. They drain equally well right into a hole in your deck or wherever you might want them to deposit the water. The fact that the water drips down the chain itself is the important factor in minimizing the damage it can cause to surrounding things like your landscaping. Carefully managed, none of this will be an issue.

It is easy to see why rain chains have been a popular option for decorative water management for such a long time. Not only are they clearly more pleasant to look at, listen to, and maintain, their increased functionality is a significant bonus also. With the variety of types available, from cup based models, to link based systems, to our completely customizable premium versions, you should look at what we have to offer and see if one of these wouldn’t help beautify your home.

New-fangled Doors

When we decided to begin some home improvements, I figured I should probably do some research into what my options are for replacing the front door. The door that we have now is just an old wooden door and is certainly flawed in many ways. I am not really up on the latest door “innovations”, so I decided to head to the all powerful Internet and see what kinds of improvements have been made since my current door was installed (which I can only assume was 20-30 years ago).

Since the age of wooden doors, I did see that they now offer PVC doors which come at a much lower price point, but unfortunately share many of the pitfalls of a solid wooden door. What I found that was really of interest, was a new hybrid door called a composite door. Composite doors somehow managed to take all of the complaints someone might have had with the old standard doors and make the necessary improvements. They get their name “composite” from the fact that they are composed of mixed materials in order to get the benefits from each. They are often filled with a polyurethane foam for the insulation, something that has always been a problem with our solid wooden door.

I don’t quite understand how this works, but whatever the outside is made out of is supposed to protect against any warping, denting, decay, or paint chipping. Imagine having a door that you never needed to repaint! Oh the wonders of science! Because of the combination of materials like steel, wood, PVC, etc these doors are also especially secure, so you can feel safe that your family is protected against break-ins. This new-found knowledge has opened up so many “doors” (har, har, har!). It completely exceded my expectations for fixing some of my major qualms with our old door. Now I just need to decide on the color and style and all the rest of the really fun stuff and get to replacing our shabby old front door.

Personalize your Home with Address Plaques

House plaques which are also known as address plaques are very important because they are a stylish means of letting your visitors, the delivery guy as well as emergency personnel reach you easily. Thus, besides adding a touch of elegance, they are functional. This means that a lot of caution must be taken when selecting your house plaque so that you get a slate that is beautifully designed to compliment your home. In fact, it is advisable to have your plaques designed as per your specification as this will give it a touch of uniqueness.

The process of choosing a house plaque is not just exciting but also fun because you will come across numerous designs before finding one that you deem suitable for your home. Remember, plaques, which are the first thing that a guess coming to your house will see, are also viewed as being an extension of who you are. It is therefore important to ensure that the house plaque that you choose is a true reflection of who you are even as you add that fancy look to your home. Most importantly, it should also be easy to read the house numbers and free from the effects of harsh weather conditions.

When it comes to choosing plaques you will need to first identify the type of address plaque that you want. This is because besides the wall plaques that are common, there are also other types of plaques that include the hanging plaques and lawn plaques. While the wall plaques are attached on the wall of your home, hanging plaques are usually attached to a pole from where they hang. On the other hand, the lawn plaques are placed in the yard where they stand out. The selection of any of these types of plaques is determined by the amount of space available. For instance, if you are a land owner and have sufficient space at the front of your home then you can comfortably display your house number using a lawn plaque.

If you are considering a wall plaque, then the size, color and even shape of your plaque is determined by the place you intend to place it. In most cases, vertical plaques are recommended when you are considering having the plaque next to your door. In terms of color, the plaque must be able to complement the surface so that it stands out. The other important consideration in the choice of the plaque is the material that is used. While most people would want to go for metal plaques, natural materials such as wood and stone are most preferred. This is because of they are more durable. Most of the metal plaques are not able to withstand harsh climatic conditions because the metal is recycled. Even then, the choice of materials remains a personal decision. You could also go for illuminated plaques, ceramic plaques or even personalized plaques. In summary, house plaques are a very important addition to your home as they ensure that your visitors as well as other important people are able to easily locate you.

High Quality Stainless Steel Tiles For Your Kitchen

If you are building a professional kitchen, or simply want a kitchen which you can spend quite a bit of time in, then retrofitting it with stainless steel tile and products is highly recommended.

Most professional kitchens will use stainless steel in the construction of the entire kitchen, not simply the countertops but the appliances, backsplashes, hoods and walls. Stainless steel has a resistance to bacteria growth, in a study done by poultry science, an area of stainless steel treated in several different ways and then exposed to a microscope to read a bacteria count. They found that a stainless steel treated with an electropolished finish was the least susceptible to bacteria growth, finding that even after raw chicken had been on it, there was very little bacteria growth even a few hours later. This is however only with proper cleaning.

Outfitting a kitchen with stainless steel tiles, can drastically reduce the amount of bacterial build up within the kitchen area. In many cases with the extreme heat of a gas stove, it is important to use a durable material such as stainless steel, as the finish on some other cheaper tiles may wear and melt over time. Stainless steel is very durable and easy to clean. Using stainless steel tile in your kitchen can provide it with a very futuristic and clean look.

Tiles can also be used to make countertops, which is where the real bacterial build up is. Why not have peace of mind and make sure that you and your family is the most protected from kitchen born bacteria as you can be. Some countertop materials seem to just let bacteria sink in, and are very difficult to clean. Regular vinyl countertops also scratch quite easily and can start to look worn and come apart. With a stainless steel countertop made out of stainless steel tiles, it’s very durable, and can take an absolute beating. The countertop will remain functional and like new even decades later. Stainless steel tile countertops can add value to your home, and make your kitchen even closer to restaurant/commercial quality. The life expectancy of stainless steel products can be more than 100 years.

Some very simple ways to clean stainless steel involve just cleaning it with soap and water. This will cut down on your cleaning costs, because there is very little need for hard scrubbing and expensive cleaning products with a material that is this easy to clean. This could mean just with the amount of labor and cost of those expensive cleaning supplies purchased to clean other, hard to clean kitchen areas, that stainless steel tiles can and will eventually pay for themselves in the savings alone.

Stainless steel tiles are a great addition to any kitchen, they are built to last and can drastically improve the look of your home. Stainless steel should never be used with hash cleaning products like bleach or hydrochloric acid based products, which will save you money on your cleaning bill. Overall stainless steel is built to last and can improve your health and cleanliness in your kitchen by reducing bacteria growth.

Incoming search terms:

• stainless steel tile countertops

Trust Home Depot or Lowe’s

My girlfriend and I recently decided to rent out the upstairs floor of our townhouse and live in the basement. In order to do this we would need a massive renovation for basement which was used as a living room. We would need to make a bathroom a small kitchen area and a separate bedroom in order to make it livable for us. Rather than hire a ton of contractors and drive the cost up we decided to DIY our basement.

This was going to be no easy task and would take careful shopping in order to make sure that our project came in at a reasonable price. As we began shopping around for building materials it seemed apparent that Home Depot and Lowe’s would be our go to stores. What we did find out however is that one was far superior in pricing their building materials then another.

Home Depot seemed to have far better sales and pricing on the majority of the items that we needed for our project and we were the only ones to notice the difference. Our local Home Depot always seem to be buzzing with activity words Lowe’s would remain stagnant. I can remember showing up just as Home Depot opened so that I would have access to a number of bathroom fixtures the day they went on sale. I actually managed to do the entire bathroom using the sales offers for about half of what it would cost me do it at Lowe’s.

We were the only ones to notice that Home Depot beats Lowe’s for pricing. Even with many housing related stocks and companies falling in the stock market and in the eyes of investors, I can remember hearing on the news that Home Depot was actually seeking a slight gain in the stock market despite the decline in housing investments. This shows that it’s not just a local issue in the battle of Home Depot versus Lowe’s, but that Home Depot truly is offering better pricing and therefore gaining the majority of the business in this market.

One especially helpful service that Home Depot offered was a reasonable van rental that allowed me to take some the larger items that I purchased like baseboards and drywall and easily load them into the back of the company van, for easy transport and removal. Lowe’s did offer a similar service but even it seemed to cost more money. I am quite amazed that comparable products and similar services seem to command more money at Lowe’s than Home Depot.

In the end our renovation was finished we had our renters moved in and were making the money back in no time. We are actually quite happy with how the basement turned out. All of the new additions make it a much nicer apartment than the upstairs unit. Looking back at the price list I’m so glad that we did the comparison shopping. I would recommend to anyone to look at the price difference between Lowe’s and Home Depot and see that Home Depot offers a far superior value.

Incoming search terms:

• home depot rental price list

A Guide To The Magic Wand For Your Kitchen

Scenario of the day: you are a living in Toronto, a stunningly beautiful house you just moved in a while ago. The kitchen wasn’t exactly the high of the house, but since there weren’t too many lows to curve the balance, here you are a few months later, figuring you need a plan to have that kitchen be a cozy place where you can barely wait to cook spectacular meals to enjoy with the rest of your troop. You will find Do-It-Yourself hints all over the internet, but what if you don’t actually have the proper time for any of those? You will be needing a contractor.

Toronto kitchen renovations, kitchen enlargements and any other home additions of the sort, whatever be the case, there is a list of what you should do to get the job done without the usual hassle. There are countless websites for renovations Toronto where you can post your project and wait for one of those natural born handymen to flag his readiness and redo your kitchen, but, truth to be told, you need someone licensed for this, because you can’t really risk money on beginners or timewasters. So what then? Always look for tradition, because it makes any company to live up to your expectations. There are companies that have many years of experience in this field, some are family businesses known for top quality renovation.

Another thing you might want to consider are the awards, they make a reference be the reference you want to use at the end of the day, because you get a feeling of certainty that those people will know what they’re dealing with. Now, a useful thing you might run across is having the entire process is described, from calling for a free appointment to the completion of the job, which is very useful to the untrained eye of whoever wants to redesign something in their house. Greater Toronto Contractors guides you through a fully detailed similar section.

Companies that are also members of various associations add more of the trust factor in your decision making. Focus one the ones that draw your attention by wearing a Renomark stamp (renovators mark of excellence) which runs the motto – renovate with confidence. What’s even more appealing about these is that some usually present bits of common knowledge online about renovating a kitchen, which gets you an enlightened perspective of the whole thing if you started all of this without a clue about specifications and whatnot.

Eventually, if you’re either looking for home additions Toronto or just a renovation of what’s already “cooking”, your kitchen can become your dream kitchen, as cliché as that sounds. Who doesn’t just want to get home and prepare the fastest snack in the universe in a welcoming space of his own choice or bake the cake of the week on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and serve it cold around a pleasantly designed kitchen island while the music conveniently crawls in?

If you’re planning on a great kitchen, plan a great planning first !

You Can Never Have Too Many Bookshelves

Christmas is coming, so we should be all decorating our homes with glittery candles, and little Santas and shiny snowflakes and centerpieces and table cloths and God knows what else. But even more important is all the space we need to receive guests, because there is no Christmas celebrating without friends over for a glass of wine, carols and jokes, coziness and happy vibes.

Consequently, I was just facing this past couple of days the following problem: I got tons of books all over the place. Stacks of fiction, dictionaries, huge philosophy volumes and magazines I wouldn’t want to throw away cause you never know when they’re going to be useful. They pile up on the floor of the living room, devouring all that space and looking messy. Solution to that, bookshelves obviously, but not any kind of bookshelves. Have you checked out what are the trends? If you haven’t, then you’re in for a big surprise. The new designs of bookshelves are absolutely magnificent, from the colors, to the structure, they’re going to blow your mind. So very interestingly shaped, they’re the sheer definition of creativity. It would be a pity to skip research online and just stop at the hypermarket for a boring squared metallic bookshelf and not take advantage of the multitude of options we now have.

Not only do they serve for book keeping, but can also add a very personal and modern plus factor to the whole appearance of your living room. You can now actually turn this utility item into the most mesmerizing looking object in the entire room. All you have to do is look for creative bookshelves online, and you’ll soon discover you a few too many.

Surprisingly enough, it is possible to store your books inside a properly built table and still look very fancy ! Or a chair, a couch, even inside the staircase itself ! The days of traditional shelves hanging down the walls are way gone. Nowadays, those that still are wall-attached look so carefully carved and curl up like true pieces of art. When you’ll have friends walking inside your living room, they’ll be too amazed to actually realize they’re looking at a bookshelf, they’ll be too busy being fascinated by their shape because they usually look like depicted from a contemporary museum of modern arts.

At the end of your search, you might consider hiring someone to build them, since you won’t find such craftship at the store down the street you’re living on, and you don’t find such beauties easily to order online either, but you do find ideas, that make everything seem worthy. Do get inspired and go for what most excites your eyes, some effort and time consuming but eventually you’ll be thrilled with the dream bookshelves coming to life, that you won’t regret anything. Christmas is coming, so take good care of those books lying on the floor and get yourself a Merry Christmas in a beautifully decorated living room with your loved ones.