Author: kothea2

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5 Ways To Make Some Extra Space In Your Home

Is your home starting to feel too small? There are tricks to create the feeling of having more space, but what you probably require is actual space. Whether it is your family or your shoe collection that has grown since you moved in, there just isn’t enough room anymore. If you love everything about your home except the lack of space, then before you contact the estate agent to start looking for somewhere bigger, here are a few ways that you could make extra room in your current house.

 

Have a sort out

Our houses tend to be full of things that we no longer need and it could be that by clearing this out you are left with a lot more space. There is no need to just throw it away either! With sites such as Freeads you can make money for your unwanted possessions. It will take no time at all to post your ad, which won’t cost you a penny! Then you can de-clutter your home as well as making a bit of easy money that you can put towards something new to help organise it.

 

Make use of your loft

Our lofts are primarily used to store junk. If we don’t know where to put something it tends to end up there to keep it out the way until the day we might need it. Since you have realised you won’t ever need the things that were up there and have just got rid of most of it during your sort out, why not make the most of your loft space and turn it into an extra room? This could be a playroom for the kids, a guest bedroom or even an office!

 

Effective Storage

Think outside the box and make the most of unused space by turning it into something useful. There are many awkward spaces in the home, including sloping ceilings and empty space under the stairs. But these can be transformed into a handy storage solution. Perhaps you could turn a bay window into a window seat, which will provide both extra seating and extra storage underneath or use spare wall space to add cupboards or shelving.

 

Multi-Functional Furniture

When purchasing furniture for your home, look for something that is going to be multi-functional – furniture that will provide you with what you require from it whilst also offering storage for efficient use of the space. A fold up kitchen table is handy for providing space when not in use, or how about a coffee table with inbuilt shelving? Your bed, for example, takes up a huge amount of your bedroom, so by purchasing one with either space or storage underneath you are putting an area that would otherwise be wasted to good use.

 

Build an Extension

Are you are still feeling space-deprived? By having an extension added to your house you could make an existing room bigger or create new rooms. Not only will this provide you with the space you need when you need it, it will also add value to your house for when you do come to sell it.

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Interior Designer | Brand Boost + Author Boost

Off-White Textured Upholstery on Contemporary Seating
Off-White Textured Upholstery on Contemporary Seating

Modern-day interior designers should know that there are a few neat tricks you can do on your website AND blog to make YOU stand out more in Google when your clients search for you or the things you create.

I’m going to take you through two DIFFERENT but related changes to your blog/website.

Company Brand

When you search for a brand or a rock star or something famous(ish) then you sometimes will see some interesting bits of information appear on the right hand side of the Google search results…the place where the ads normally can be found. Try this search for Barack Obama to see what I mean. This interesting information might come from a Wikipedia entry about a rock stars career or it might tell you that company’s local contact information and maybe some images of their work or some customer reviews of their services.

If you can get a Wikipedia entry about your ‘notable’ business then you will have this problem solved. Tell me how you did it as it is notoriously difficult. (Hint: Don’t try).

You only sometimes see that information because the brand owner has only sometimes told Google what to put there. You can assume that Coca Cola have done this and this search for Coca Cola shows you. You’ll notice it is slightly different to the Obama-Wikipedia one, perhaps your version shows a local stockist?

Well; you are a brand owner of your interior design business. Have you told Google?

Here’s How

You need to potentially do quite a few things here. You (or your techie person) are going to be getting involved in HTML code using rel=’publisher’ and you are going to need to create a Google+ page for your business. If that hasn’t put you off let’s continue.

Firstly you need to create a Google+ account for YOU.

1. If your business has the website BlahDesign.com then you need to have a personal email such as Nathalie.Arrigone@BlahDesign.com (Nathalie@yahoo.com will not work). With that email address go and create a Google+ account for you ie Nathalie Arrigone. It is possible to create a login based on Nathalie.Arrigone@BlahDesign.com if you look closely.

  • Do not use the wrong name eg Nat Arrigone or Nathalie A. It will not work.
  • Do not try and put a funny picture there. It will not work
  • You need a passport standard photo. Otherwise it will not work.
  • Do not put a picture of your company or product. It will not work
  • Got the message?
  • You could of course create a totally fictitious persona based on a photo of your dearly departed aunty. Which would be a bit creepy 🙂

Almost there! Well the first part, at least.

2. While you are on your new Google+ page the only thing you NEED to do is to check that you are listed as a contributor to your website AND to your blog. Go to “About/Links” and add that information.

3. Now use this link to verify your email address.

4. Now choose your profile and then PAGES. Create a the appropriate page for your business. Ideally Local Business or Organisation

  • Add your real-world website AND verify it eg www.BlahDesign.com AND https://blog.BlahDesign.com
  • Add all the appropriate email addresses eg info@BlahDesign.com and verify them ALL including yours if you have not already done so..

5. Finally ! You have to now put a link on your website to your new Google+ PAGE – replace 1111111111111 with the number of your Google+ page. Do it on your home page and also for the home page of your blog.

<a href=”https://plus.google.com/111111111111111″ rel=”publisher”>

Please do not try to link this to your personal page. It will sort of work. For a while. You have been warned!

6. You can now test your new Google+ Company Page is working with the Google Structured Data Testing Tool. Just look for the section further down the page concerning the PUBLISHER information. It’s just that bit that should be nice and green coloured.

So that should be “all” you need to do for the company branding. You can play around some more with the Google+ Business Page and you can add map, product, address and other information which will also get shown by Google in various places.

2. Personal Branding – You as a creator of content. AUTHOR Boost

If you create truly meaningful content then you should go forwards with this option. This particular post that I am writing now would count as meaningful, original content. If you put up a blog post with the line “Here is a picture of a chair I like” – then that is not meaningful content. The content needs lots of original stuff (pictures and/or words and/or video).

Personal branding will mean that sometimes Google will very kindly put your Google+ image (from earlier) next to your content when it appears in their search results. Not always. Sometimes. When they choose. You can’t control it (and from 2015 onwards Google have decided to display it much less as it attracted people away from clicking on their ads !!)

You add this line to EVERY post your write and/or every page of your web site. You change the 4444444444 with your personal Google+ Account (not your company page. The company page will not work. Don’t do it. Honest).

<a href=https://plus.google.com/44444444444 rel=”author”>

Do not try and confused Google between the real you and your company…it will NOT work.