WarmlyYours Blog

Taking It Up Another Notch To Make Your Bathroom Even Hotter

2013-05-24T09:25:24-05:00

Radiant heating is a great luxury to add to any bathroom in your home. A radiant heated bathroom feels like a spa oasis with the radiant warmth creating feelings of tranquility and well-being. Installing in-floor radiant heating or even just adding towel warmers are great options, but there is still more you can do.

Now you can enhance your everyday shower experience with WarmlyYours New Shower Floor and Bench Mats. This is a novel luxury for shower and bathroom floor heating.

WarmlyYours Radiant Heating, makers of energy-efficient radiant electric heating solutions for any flooring surface including bathroom spas, has announced a new product, TempZone™ Shower Floor & Bench Mats. “These newly designed mats help expand the warmth of radiant floor heating throughout the entire spa bathroom, banishing the cold completely.” They are a perfect formula for a shower oasis.

Safe for use in wet locations, this system is designed to warm shower floors, benches, steam showers and saunas. Ideal for spa bathrooms, the shower floor and bench mat system works well for larger, luxurious showers with a European design. However, it is offered in several sizes to accommodate any shower application.

The Shower Bench Mats are available in 2 sizes, 2.6 and 3.6 square feet. The Shower Floor mats are available in 3 different sizes, ranging from 7.1 to 16.0 square feet with a hole in the mat to accommodate the shower floor drain. For larger bathrooms, multiple mats may be required.

WarmlyYours offers a custom installation plan, by providing the homeowner’s bathroom floor plan with dimensions, including the shower location. WarmlyYours will design your shower system for you, including product recommendations, for a warming roll and programmable thermostat.

TempZone™ floor warming systems are engineered with an insulated copper alloy resistance warming cable taped to a fiberglass mesh backing. The warming cable is evenly spaced in 3-inch serpentine loops, providing 25 percent more heating capacity than other competitive products.

TempZone™ is backed by WarmlyYours 25-year, No Nonsense™ Warranty.

Here at WarmlyYours, we are always looking for bigger and better advancements in technology, service and developments. We strive to take our company and products to the next level. We offer the widest selection of radiant heating products and we are confident that we can find a radiant heating solution tailored just for you.

There Are Endless Variations When Decorating With Green

2013-05-23T08:31:10-05:00

If there's any place where people want to feel they are in harmony with their surroundings, it's in their homes. And if they like to be in tune with nature as well, they're in luck, because the Pantone Color Institute has chosen emerald green as the color of the year.

"Emerald brings a sense of clarity, renewal and rejuvenation, which is so important in today's complex world," said Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone's executive director. "[But] there will be the consumer's expectation of practicality - what colors will have staying power and can be relied upon as a steadying influence in unsteady times."

Green Rejuvenates
Although emerald is often a color seen as luxurious and sophisticated, green in all its shades is also the color that's most abundant in nature, and can play a role in what Eiseman calls "skillfully balanced color palettes" that homeowners rely on to have long-lasting appeal.

Colors like emerald green can be used to rejuvenate a room design with accents and accessories in this jewel hue. In a living room, it may be an accent wall while a dining room may be accessorized with collectibles that feature emerald as a main color.

Kitchens are a natural place to play up the connection between green in nature with a selection of herbs for cooking or plants for decoration. Accents can range from a window valance to storage bins on a counter.

A bathroom is an ideal place to display green plants that will benefit from steamy, moist air. Keeping a bathroom warm during all the seasons of the year is easy with radiant floor heating, which allows people can step out of a shower onto a warm floor rather than cold tile. Being able to wrap oneself in warm towels straight from heated towel racks is another great advantage.

Neutral or Accent?
Green is versatile enough to act as a neutral or an accent color, according to Better Homes and Gardens. For those who like deep, rich colors, hunter green is one that complements virtually any other hue. Light mint green is a beautiful pastel that may not get as much use as a soft blue or creamy yellow, but it also is a good backdrop for accent shades.

Color is one of the essentials needed for a room makeover to succeed. Integrating a new color like emerald into an existing design scheme can be done in a way easily with changeable items, including area rugs, decorative pillows or photo frames.

Dealing With Budgeting In A Kitchen Renovation

2013-05-22T05:24:00-05:00

Kitchens are often popular places in the home to be the focus of renovation efforts by homeowners. After all, they're one of the most highly trafficked places in any house and in many ways take a lot of damage as a result, so it's natural to want to improve them. The American Institute of Architects pointed this out in its Home Design Trends Survey, conducted during the fourth quarter of 2012. This study found that during 2012's final months, the market demand for kitchen and bathroom remodeling was characterized as improving by 57 percent of respondents.

The main issue that numerous homeowners will face in a kitchen renovation is cost - not only the hard numbers for how expensive each improvement will be but also the long-term or tangential benefits that may (or may not) come as a consequence of any project. It will be important to consider both aspects of the cost factor when choosing what features to include and what ones you can afford to avoid.

Realism must be a concern
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, it behooves a homeowner to be realistic about what he or she can add to - or adjust within - his or her kitchen. This concern does not solely apply to the cost itself, but also to how any renovations will affect the practicality and aesthetic of the kitchen. John Ryan, director of design for Marrokal Design and Remodeling in San Diego, spoke to the news source about the potential perils of planning for a renovation without being fully aware of the expense involved.

Ryan also stated, "You don't want to overdesign your kitchen. You should keep it within the patterns and context of your home."

Don't let trends dictate your decision
By researching home improvement tips to find inspiration for your kitchen redesign, you may find certain popular features or design concepts. If they aren't affordable, however, you'll have to hold off on them at least until you have some extra cash on hand.

For example, The Review reports that kitchen islands have remained popular additions for many years, since their first appearances in the 1970s. While the pros are considerable - increased space and storage and convenience in terms of how and where in the kitchen you can cook - the source states that the labor and materials needed to install an island can cost thousands of dollars. Consider whether or not you really need a kitchen island - or a similar improvement - before you spend.

Consider the long term
Any change you make to your kitchen should be something that will have long-term benefits. For example, the advantages offered by radiant floor heating serve numerous purposes. The simplest and most obvious is a warm kitchen floor - no one wants to deal with stepping on cold tile early in the morning or in winter. That said, the increased energy efficiency this upgrade will deliver is a continuous tangible benefit - namely, a 25 to 30 percent reduction in your annual heating costs.

2013 Top Tile Trends

2013-05-22T11:08:07-05:00

When it comes to flooring, tile is big business. With advanced technology, tile has now been transformed into look-alikes of more luxurious floors but without the large price tag. Tile can come in all shapes and sizes. Yet, lately the style is what matters. Styles such as marble, granite, agate, malachite, terrazzo, limestone and wood can be integrated into tile – setting off a new trend in the flooring industry. Here is a list of the top tile trends to look for this year:

Wood Grain Tile: Today, faux wood tiles look so much like actual hardwood; you have to touch them to make sure. Not only does it look fantastic but, more importantly, you don’t have to worry about maintenance as you would for real hardwood flooring. Although faux hardwood has been around for a long time, it is just now climbing up in popularity along with electric radiant floor heating. Our TempZone™ Radiant Floor Heating Systems are the perfect complement for wood grain tile; providing you with warmth both aesthetically and physically.

Large Format Tiles: If you are looking for a clean and contemporary look, then large format tiles are the way to go. Last year it was the large tiles that were 8″x8″ squares and even 16″x32″ rectangles that were the trend but this year the tiles are as big as 36”x72”. These large tiles are great on floors and backsplash areas and are much easier to clean!

Photorealistic mosaic designs: An ancient craft, photorealistic mosaic tile is making a comeback. With the help of technology, almost any image can be placed and assembled on a tile palette creating a beautiful mural that is large and breathtaking.

Textured and dimensional tile: Never underestimate the power of textures and dimensions. Textures and dimensional tile can make a room more visually appealing with their unique accompaniment. For example, walkways are now being created out of pebbles instead of concrete to establish a look that is more bold and tactile.

There seem to be an endless quantity of different types and styles of tiles to choose from these days. Yet with this list of the latest tile trends, we hope you will find it is easier to narrow down the style you desire while keeping your floor modern and trendy.

Trending Options For Spicing Up Your Kitchen

2013-05-21T09:07:31-05:00

The kitchen is and traditionally has been a space in the home where people spend a great deal of time. This is often the case whether they live in an apartment or a house, with a spouse or a family. As such, it's natural that you'll want to spice it up with various improvements from time to time, so as not to grow tired of it. Some will be for the sake of functionality, like expanding the amount of cabinet space you have. Others will be more along the line of aesthetic improvements, such as upgrading to granite countertops.

To get a sense of what you want to do with the cooking, eating and socializing space that is your kitchen, take a look at some of the renovations or additions that have been popular among homeowners of late.

LED lighting
Light-emitting diode (LED) lighting has become a notably popular lighting method in a variety of settings, and the kitchen is certainly one of them. John Petrie, president-elect of the National Kitchen & Bath Association, told Zillow about their rising prevalence.

"From recessed to accent and under-cabinet lighting, LEDs are hot," Petrie said. "At our industry trade show, one of our kitchen manufacturer members had integrated LED lighting into the cabinet that turned on and off as the cabinet was accessed. It was a show stopper and very popular."

Unlike incandescent or halogen lighting, LEDs don't produce heat. This makes them ideal for the kitchen because they won't in any way affect the food you're cooking, preparing and storing, according to Yale Appliance. Additionally, while they may be more expensive than their traditional lighting counterparts, LEDs are much more energy efficient - the U.S. Department of Energy states that they use 75 percent less energy than incandescents.

Countertop options
The most popular choices for kitchen countertops largely vary by price point. On the higher end of the spectrum are options such as travertine and granite, which are both notably tough. Granite is more stain-resistant when properly sealed, however, which may make it more ideal for the kitchen.

Those looking for something more affordable can consider laminate. According to the Toronto Star, this surface is resistant to stains and quite durable, and can often be found in many different colors and designs. Its primary drawbacks are visible seams, which may come off as tacky to some, as well as the fact that you can't cut directly on it.

Radiant floors
In a kitchen, the heating provided by radiant floors offers comfort as well as energy efficiency. The former stems from the simple fact that given how often you spend time there, it'll be ideal for it to be consistently warm. The latter, as clarified by the Department of Energy, is because it is more efficient than either baseboard or forced-air heating under most circumstances.