Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1983-04-27, Page 33age 9 floii't You've looked around and come to the conclusion that you're better off staying in your old, but affordable home. How can you bring it up to date and make it more comfortable? Research indicates that the greatest need for remodeling older homes is in the kitchen and the bathroom and in providing storage space. Experts point out that the kitchen is now no longer simply a work area, but a social centre as well. Here are suggestions for bringing that presently drab kitchen into the Seventies: A storage island with butcher -block top can pro- vide needed shelves for pots and pans, a handy work area for the cook...or an island with a range can liberate the cook from a dark corner. Is there a porch adjacent to your kitchen? Why not enclose it for additional eating space. Or, you may want to eliminate a wall between your kitchen and breakfast nook to create one large family room. New appliances such as ranges with separate wall ovens, hi -lo double ovens, dishwashers, waste disposers, and trash com- pactors can be built into new counter units for great time- saving convenience. A dark kitchen can become bright and sunny with new windows or even a skylight or greenhouse win- dow. Extending a wall of the kit- chen can give your family the breakfast nook it needs, or provide space for a laun- dry area. Outmoded bathrooms are not only unstylish, they're in- ve, efficient. Here are some ways to bring that bathroom up to date. A tiny bathroom can gain added space from an adjoin- ing, spacious bedroom. Just a few feet can give a bathroom more breathing room and provide needed storage space, without affec- ting the bedroom space to any great degree. Extending a bathroom wall by cantilevering the ad- ded floor space ( thus avoiding having to add a foundation) can give you more room, as well. New fixtures such as whirlpool tubs, saunas or cabinet lavatories can make any bathroom more lux- urious. You can give a bathroom the semblance of spaciousness and vastly in- crease its eye -appeal by replacing wall with glass and fencing off the area around it, for a charming, private, little garden. An over-worked bathroom calls for added bathroom facilities! Scrutinize your home for areas that can be converted into an extra powder room or shower stall. A hallway, a closet, or even the space under a stair- way offer possibilities. You may be able to make better use of existing bathroom space by compart- mentalizing: partitioning off areas can allow more than one person to use the facilities and still have privacy, for instance: , If space allows, a double - vanity will speed up that morning bottleneck in the bathroom. Adding a small powder room off the basement recreation room can help Ontario Hydro has ual energy p rogra apt Homeowners with oil forced -air furnaces can con- vert to a combination electric -oil heating system for less than\ $500 under a new program developed by Ontario Hydro and municipal utility groups. The program announced today by the presidents off Ontario Hydro, Ontario Municipal Electric Associa- tion (OMEA) and Associa- tion of Municipal Electrical Utilities (AMEU) is one of a num er of programs being intr uced to assist custo ers to save money, on their fuel bills. In the electric -oil system offered, an electric heater installed in the main air duct (plenum), heats the house in all but the coldest weather, when the oil burner cuts in. Based on January, 19'i. figures and an oil furnace that has a seasonal efficien- cy of 65 per cent, Hydro estimates that heating elec- trically with a dual system is cheaper than heating with oil. Customers purchasing a plenum heater under this program could expect to recover their investment in about three years. The dual heating system, using a nine -kilowatt electric plenum heater is worth ap- proximately $1,i.i. Oil customers who reduce oil consumption by at least 50 per cent will be eligible for a $520 taxable benefit under the Canada Oil Substitution ogram (COSP). Add to this customer assistance totalling $ ,'.1 from Ontario Hydro and participating municipal utilities, which in- cludes a preservice check, administration and elec- trical inspection, and the customer's cost is approx- imately $320 plus the income tax on the COSP benefit. Ontario Hydro started the program on March 28. Par- ticipating municipal utilities will introduce the program as soon as possible. For further information, call the Marketing Depart- ment in London ( 1-1390). Get a head start Try starting melon, squash and cucumber seeds indoors, in 10 centimetre (four inch) flower pots with a well -drained house plant soil. Three or four seeds per pot, later thinned down to one or two of the strongest your 01 keep other throorns neat, particularly if there are youngsters in the family. Many older bathrooms have only one small window. A skylight can create the sunny, open effect you want, is ideal for decorating with plants. If the den has a closet that's just used for collecting odds and ends, consider in- stalling a lavatory in that space; it will take pressure off your bathrooms during the morning rush, will be handy for guests. Nothing is so inconvenient as lack of storage space, and providing new room for stor- ing out -off-season equipment or seldom -used items can a real bonus. Here are some ways you can add storage space to your home. Install wall -storage systems where you now have pictures hanging; art ob- jects can add the decorative touches, while the shelves perform useful storage duty. Turn that utilitarian basement -laundry into a thing of beauty, as well as seedlings will produce stalky young plants to set outside early in June. By starting them indoors now, these ear- ly plants will soon produce a bumper crop in the vegetable garden. function, with handy floor -to - ceiling shelving, encasing both washer and dryer. Install cabinets in the ..dead" space over your shower or tub for storing ex- tra linens, little -used items. If there's wasted space under that stairway, now's the time to convert it into a handy storage area. Turn one wall of the den in- to a floor -to -ceiling storage unit to house the TV, stereo, up t books, what -have -you. Often, space is wasted m the area above kitchen win- dows - install shallow cabinets for storing little - used housewares. If you occasionally have need for guest focilities, yet don't want to give up your den or sewing room, con- sider installing a pull-down bed that goes into the wall when not needed. That old-fashioned wash - ate basin is sitting on wasted space! Now's the time to remodel with a new vanity that can house many bath supplies, give your bathroom a more modern look. Remodelling projects can be as ambitious as complete- ly renovating a room or as simple as installing a few shelves...the dividends are well worth the effort in any case. TURN YOUR FUR ,ACE FF_AN®ooe KE THE CHILL t F ._.KEROSUNH EAT E R S An efficient, safe, economical way to Warm your family or recreation room in spring. Also great for the cottage, workshop or garage. Ideal for emergency heat, anywhere, anytime you need It! $ ®g Portable ��© Radiant 8 Model 14u. Cook stove EDWARD FUELS LTD ANGLESEA ST., GODERICH HWY. No. 4 TEESWATER 5240 366 392-61 OME STOP FOR fill YOIJR IIOME DECOREiT1MI NEEDS COME DISCOVER TIE DIFFERENCE (IT F4ORPIOLM[ DECORRT{NG CENTRE SELECTION. PRUCL FIND -'OVF RLL, SERVICE. ®CARPrFING ®WAIICOVERINGS from ®11 the famous mills - Rideaaaoead, Peeress, Crossiey- Parestan, Burlington, Coronet, Harding. ® SURFACE FL RI C Armstrong Floor Fashion Centre, Pius Conge eum. *PRATT & LAMBERT PAINTS & STAINS i Icy Seaworthy, Mayfair, Footers®deer, Eisenhart, langfbsther and swore. ®COST= WIN;: c W u u SHADES AND BLINS RAPERIES ®ug B4ei'uee Joanne Podium Cathy Seger CLL US - WE MORT I4''; 'USE CifILLS A rrnstrong fl or Tashi . n MN ►ECORATING CEN 54 King Street, Clinton` A (Just opposite:: the Post Office) 482-3528; PM fa days a wreak, Monday to Friday Ie90 eta-®� er, Saturday 9 ar a to 5:90 Pea