Carribbean Journal on the latest Baha Mar consructions news:

The Baha Mar resort project, the largest in the Caribbean, is moving forward with construction toward a planned December 2014 completion date.

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The project, which has dubbed itself the “Bahamian Riviera,” will ultimately offer around 2,200 hotel and residential units spread across four resorts; one, the Baha Mar Casino & Hotel, along with three from major international brands Mondrian, Grand Hyatt and Rosewood.

The largest will be the Baha Mar Casino Hotel, which will feature 1,000 rooms and 100,000 square feet of gaming space, followed by Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar, with 700 room and a large-scale conference centre.

It will also offer a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, which is scheduled for completion in late 2013.

The residential component of the resort will include 307 units spread across the property’s different branded resorts.

http://www.caribjournal.com/2013/01/21/baha-mar-resort-project-moving-forward-in-the-bahamas/

If you are planning to use mirrors as part of your home decorating, you will do well to know about the various and unique advantages of using mirrors in the living room, bathroom and other rooms of your home.

Dark rooms often look small and give the feeling of a small space.  This is the main reason why, for years, many interior decorators have been using mirrors to create a sense of light and space in small places.   Mirrors will help give a sense of greater space by reflecting light.  This reflection will fool the eye making it appear as if there is a greater amount of space than there really is.   Such a kind of mirror placement can bring the natural outdoors right into your home.  Small rooms in particular will greatly benefit from good positioning of a mirror or a series of smaller mirrors on a prominent wall.

One of the easiest tricks to create space and light in a room is by placing a mirror on the wall which is opposite a window. This will reflect the daylight and will automatically help brighten the room.

Using a large, full-length mirror in entry ways will instantly give the person entering a sense of increased space.  This works most effectively when the mirror is placed on a wall or walls that the eye looks at first.  If your entrance is very dark and lacks windows and natural light, place a small light above the mirror (as you do with paintings) and the reflection will create a warm, harmonious, welcoming reflection throughout the entrance.  By the same token, placing bright lamps in front of mirrors in bedrooms and living rooms will assist the spread of light throughout the rooms.

Most of us have seen houses where an entire wall is covered with mirrors.  Most likely the room was small or narrow and the owner decided to strategically place mirrors on a wall to open up the room creating a sense of flow and increased area. A bed or a table placed right next to a mirrored wall will instantly appear to be larger giving the feeling that, in fact, the room has doubled.  Mirrored placemats on a dining table can add additional reflective effect but be careful not to overdo it.

Bathrooms are often a challenge to decorate but one of the best uses of mirrors is to fill the entire wall above the bathroom sink with a large beautifully framed mirror.  Next, place two individual light fixtures almost halfway down the mirror, about 12 inches from each side.  This easy to follow tip will double your lighting and will create an atmosphere of luxury.

And who said mirrors could only be used to enhance the inside of our homes?  Mirrors have the ability to make small patios seem larger.  Try using them throughout your garden, they will enliven the beauty of the plants and flowers.  So go ahead and have fun with mirrors, just be sure to use mirrors that are weatherproof if you to use them outside.

DO: Pay attention to color choices when painting your home.  Many of us have probably read about the psychology of colors, but often will pay no attention to its powerful meaning.

We are constantly surrounded by color, but few of us know which colors to use when painting our homes.  Certain colors can send a negative or positive message, open your appetite, make you feel relaxed, cool or warm, or even encourage a sale.

For example, if you suffer from high blood pressure stay away from red. If you want to draw attention to your wall, use it. The eye will always look first at anything painted red.  Red is the color of energy and you will be surprised to know that your heart will beat a little faster if you are surrounded by red. Red is not a good color to paint a whole room, but instead, try using a splash of red to make one wall the focal point. Using the right amount of red will draw the eye and make a statement in an otherwise neutral room.  A red wall in your living room will keep people talking and energized. A bit of advice: do not paint your kitchen red if you are trying to loose weight. Red has been proven to increase appetite in most people.

In The Bahamas, we are surrounded by blue skies and blue water. The color blue will actually cause the body to feel relaxed by allowing your brain to release chemicals that are calming to the human body. Painting a bedroom a light shade of blue is a good idea.   Darker shades of blue can create a cooling effect, which is a welcoming feeling during our hot summer days. Studies show that by painting gyms blue, weight lifters are able to lift heavier weights. So go ahead and paint your gym blue if you happen to have one at home.

Green is the color we all love. This is the color of money, harmony, peace, nature and growth. It is also very pleasing to the senses.  Bedrooms and dining rooms are a good place to use different shades of green and a darker green can be used in a study or library.

Please stay tuned to next week’s article where I will be talking about yellow, pink, purple and orange.

DO: place electrical plugs in strategic areas.

The more electrical outlets you have properly spread out around the rooms the better. More outlets mean more options in setting up your furniture, lights, electronics and appliances. Any wall longer than eight feet should include at least two outlets evenly spaced from each other. In corners, one or two electrical plugs are usually a good idea, as this is where lamps and other items that need electricity are usually set up.

If you are planning to use granite as a backsplash in your kitchen, consider placing your electrical outlets underneath your top kitchen counters.  This practice will save you a lot of expense by avoiding having to cut holes in your granite, and will also minimize the chance of cracks. Your installation will become much easier and your kitchen will look much better by having a solid granite backsplash.  This idea can also be used when applying glass tiles or ceramic tiles to your wall.

Years ago, one plug over the bathroom sink was more than adequate.  Nowadays, with countless new electrical gadgets available to the consumer, having at least two outlets makes much more sense. It is not uncommon to hear some of my clients complain they wish they had placed more outlets in the bathrooms.  If you take into consideration that by the time the wife is done plugging in the blow dryer, the curling iron, the flat iron, the electrical toothbrush, the Epilator, the Water Pick and the air freshener the husband may find himself scrambling for a place to plug his electric shaver.

Another place few people think of placing electrical outlets is in the walk-in closets.   This is the perfect place to use a plug in air fresheners or a dehumidifier during our hot and humid summer days.

Do not ask your agent to make offers on properties if you as a purchaser or renter are not prepared to go through with the deal.

On occasions, a purchaser or renter will decide to test the market by having their real estate agents make offers on properties knowing full well they will not proceed with the purchase or lease once the offer has been accepted.  This is a very embarrassing situation for us as agents to have to deal with.  As a client, you may not be aware that by not being serious about your offers you are not only playing with the agent’s time and livelihood, but also with the seller’s hopes and emotions.

Having to sell your home, the place you are most likely emotionally attached to, is serious business.  For most families, this can be a lengthy and tiring process that can take months of having to show the house or apartment before receiving that very important first offer. Most sellers will have a family meeting where many issues will be addressed before the final decision to accept your offer is made. Empty offers can create false hope and the experience may leave the whole family hurt and demoralized.

If you would like to be taken seriously as a purchaser, a written offer prepared by your agent and signed by you should be presented to the sellers along with a 10 percent deposit.   This will show the sellers that you are serious about purchasing the property, and that you are willing to go to contract as soon as the offer is accepted.  By following this procedure, your agent will have a much better chance of negotiating on your behalf with a favorable outcome.