Although it is still freezing in many parts of the country it is also the time of year when we can all see the light of spring at the end of winter’s tunnel. With that in mind, many home owners begin to think about making home improvements outside the home that will make the coming summer the best ever.

One of the biggest changes you can make to the way you use the square footage outside your home is by having an in ground pool built. If you are one of the many people considering adding a pool this year then you are not alone. According to the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals there are still at least 100,000 new in ground pools commissioned every year, even in a sluggish economy.

Before you begin working on the design process and long before any actual construction begins, you have to decide what type of pool you actually want. Not shape and size, that comes later, but what you actually want it to be made of.

The three main types of in ground pools are concrete, fiberglass and vinyl lined. There are also other lesser known types of pool being installed in some areas of the country, such as steel or aluminum walled pools.

Concrete Pools

If you want a truly custom in ground pool created for you, concrete is the only way to go. Concrete can be poured to conform to any shape so if you want, say, a guitar shaped pool, you can! Some concrete pools are also often known as shotcrete pools because the concrete is literally fired from a gun onto steel reinforced walls.

A concrete pool is going to take longer to build than any other kind – up to 12 weeks in some cases – but they also usually last a lifetime. In addition a concrete pool can also be remodeled, enlarged and altered according to a home owner’s changing tastes.

Vinyl Pools

Vinyl pools are made from a preformed flexible liner that is lowered into the “swimming pool hole” and attached to a reinforced frame made of steel or aluminum. Installing a vinyl pool will only take a week or so and is less expensive than a concrete pool. On the downside, if you do not use a vinyl that is thick enough they can be quite easily punctured by pool toys, leading to an expensive repair job.

Fiberglass Pools

Fiberglass pools are a relatively new innovation. They are preformed at the factory and then transported to the site where they will be installed. They can be lowered into the pre-dug hole in just a few minutes and in theory a fiber glass pool can be completed in as little as three days from.

Fiberglass pools have some significant advantages over other types. They  have a smooth gel coat finish that is extremely durable and stain resistant. Unlike concrete, fiberglass pools are nonporous, making them a lot easier to care for.

All three types of pools–concrete, vinyl and fiberglass–are available nationwide. If you are unsure what pool type is right for the weather conditions in your area take advice from a good local pool contractor since he or she, having installed a great many of them, will know for sure.

When homeowners start thinking about a home remodeling project they can quickly become rather confused about just who they should enlist to help them bring their vision to life. Will they be OK simply hiring a good general contractor or should they consult an architect as well? And what about an interior designer, or a lighting designer or a….? The list can go on and on.

The fact is that no two projects are quite the same and there is no one good answer. A general contractor is often the go to expert for taking your dreams and paper scribbles into solid reality. He or she can handle the multiple contractors that may need to be involved, implement all those details in the blueprints and bring the whole project to a satisfying conclusion for all involved.

However, a really good contractor will also be prepared to tell a homeowner when they think that the project may benefit from the cavalry, in the form or an architect or designer, being called in.

A great many people think that an architect only works on new builds, but that is far from the case. An architect should be consulted or utilized when your home remodeling project is going to change the look of the exterior of the home , the basic traffic patterns inside the house, or if you are commissioning a room addition, which is almost like commissioning the building of a little house onto the larger structure.

When it comes to the decision whether or not to hire or at least consult with a designer, the choice is tougher than ever because there are so many different kinds of designers these days. The one thing that all good designers do have in common – whether they do lighting or landscaping – is an uncanny knack for seeing things that could work so well that other professionals just would not. If getting a great aesthetic outcome is a major part of your remodeling project – which it almost always is – an hour or so spent consulting with a designer can be money very well spent.

Making a few home improvements should normally be a sure fire way to increase the value of your home at resale time right? Wrong, not always. There are, in fact, some home improvements and home renovation projects that may make getting the selling price you want harder than had they not ever been implemented in the first place. Here are some home improvement projects to avoid.

Taste and Function Specific Kitchens

You are an avid amateur chef. You remodeled your kitchen and it now rather resembles the ones they use on Hells Kitchen, all stainless steel and professional equipment.

Personally you love it because it is so functional, but a potential buyer may be intimidated by it, especially if their culinary interests don’t go far beyond making toast. You always want to appeal to the broadest range of buyers when selling any home and, if a potential buyer believes that it will cost them significant amounts of money to make changes to the remodeling initiatives you made, they may still make the offer, but it is likely to be for less than you wanted.

The same goes for bathrooms as well. Not everyone always dreamed of having a heart shaped tub the way you might have done…

Bright Paint Jobs

Most real estate brokers will tell you that giving your home a nice new coat of paint before you put it on the market is a good idea. But by new paint they mean a nice neutral color, not bright, bold shades that may intimidate some buyers. Save the bright red walls that looked so trendy on that home show for your next house.

Water Features

Added water features like in ground swimming pools, hot tubs or fountains may give you a lot of pleasure but, to some potential buyers, they can represent an extra expense and inconvenience they don’t really want rather than an extra that they do. Once again, that will often cause them to offer a lower price because of the extra money they perceive that the water feature will cost them once they move in.

Bad DIY

They seemed like good ideas at the time – laying your own floor, installing your own cabinets and so on – and the results weren’t all that bad. One or two mistakes here and there but you have learned to live with them.

The problem is while you may have lived with the flubs that occurred during your do it yourself project a potential buyer will probably not want to. And they will see it; home buyers develop eagle eye vision and demand a price reduction because they will have to be the ones paying to fix it.

The bottom line is that, yes, your home is your castle and if you want a heart shaped bath and bright blue walls in a restaurant style kitchen you should be able to have them. Just make sure that you understand the potential impact such things will have on your home’s resale value before you get such projects underway.

Bathroom Lighting Remodeling Considerations

The way you light your bathroom is every bit as important to the overall look and function of the space as any other element. If you are considering, or are already about to undertake a bathroom remodel, coming up with a great bathroom lighting design plan – with the help of your bathroom remodeling contractor or even a specialist lighting designer – is an essential part of the planning process. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you do so.

Central Ceiling Bathroom Lighting

Most bathrooms, large or small, really do benefit from having a central ceiling lighting source regardless of any other light fixtures you choose to incorporate into the room as well.

That central light source does not have to be a boring flush to ceiling dome light though. One popular bathroom lighting trend is to add a small chandelier – or chandlet as they are sometimes known – to the center of the room to add a sense of drama, as well as a great source of light, to your remodeled bathroom space.

Shower and Tub Lighting

There is nothing worse in the bathroom than trying to take a shower without proper lighting. For both men and women lighting around the bath, sink and shower needs to be bright enough so that you don’t cut yourself to ribbons shaving and can actually see whether it is shampoo or body wash you are applying to your hair. Recessed ceiling down lights can be a wonderful way to illuminate this area as they provide all the light you need without dazzling bathers with too much of a glare.

Mirror Lighting

Bathroom mirror lighting is tricky. Too harsh and the shock you get in the morning may be more than you can stand before that first cup of coffee hits your system. On the other hand, if the light is too dim, ladies may be applying clown make up without even realizing it as the lack of appropriate lighting fails to reflect the real picture.

If you are lighting a small mirror, a great bathroom wall sconce placed either side of the mirror should provide just enough shadow free lighting for daily grooming tasks as well as making an attractive addition to the overall bathroom décor. For a larger mirror a strip of horizontal vanity lights will make sure that everybody using the area has sufficient light. You should mount the strip 78″ off the floor for optimum illumination.

Cabinet Lighting

How many times have you stumbled in the dark in the middle of the night on your way to the bathroom, afraid of turning on the bathroom light for fear of waking the rest of the household? Under cabinet bathroom lighting can help solve that problem as well as provide additional task lighting at the same time. Have your bathroom remodeling contractor or electrician install an energy saving low-voltage linear lighting or LED system in the toe spaces beneath the vanities and cabinets to provide just enough bathroom light at night.

A recent Wall Street Journal article confirmed what many people in the contracting industry already knew – that more and more people are implementing remodeling projects that they have been putting off for years.

People are moving beyond just the basic repairs necessary to make their home functional and impleementing the kind of home improvements that mean they can continue to life comfortably in their current home rather than braving a housing market that is continuing to bottom out.

When you are planning remodeling  projects though you should not forget the impact on your home’s eventual resale value. Although you may be planning to stay put for the foreseeable future, history has shown us that eventually the real estate market will rebound again and putting your home up for sale will become an attractive option again.

With a little planning, finding the balance between your current needs and desires and what will attract buyers in the future is not that hard to do. Certain projects are always going to appeal to both current homeowners  and any future potential buyers because, done right, they are always going to improve the look, function and value of a home.

Bathroom remodeling and kitchen remodels are a perennial best bet. But there are other remodeling projects that fall into the same category as well. Basement remodels and attic renovations are always popular, with attic conversions really gaining in value over the last few years.

No home remodeling project is eve going to add value to your home if it is sloppily executed though. That is why finding the right home remodeling contractor is the real key to the success of any project you undertake around the house,whether you ever intend to sell up and move on or not.