Ideas To Use To Increase Your Home's Curb Appeal

 When it’s time to sell your home, the curb appeal is important. Remember that the curb appeal is your home’s first impression. Here are several projects which will help make that good first impression.

1. New siding

Remodeling Magazine put out the Cost vs. Value Report which said that replacing your siding will increase the value of your home. It can be a chunk of change, but you will recoop around 94% of what you spent.

2. Well-maintained lawn

Driving up to a home with a brown front lawn, or an unkept lawn that is overgrown is not the greatest first impression. During the warmer months when the grass grows quickly, you will need to mow the lawn at least once a week. If you have to fix some dead patches, then you can use grass seed or sode tile to patch it up good as new.

3. Clean windows and driveway

Cleaning your windows is a quick and easy project. You will enjoy the clean look on the outside as well as the inside.  A Clean window allows more natural light to come through, which will improve the look and feel of your home’s interior as well!  Pressure washing your driveway also makes your curb appeal pop. This can be done by renting a pressure washer or using your own.

4. Exterior lighting and a new front door

Low voltage lighting can be added to your landscaping that will highlight your curb appeal. According to the National Association of the Remodeling Industry a new front door will improve the livability of your house and its energy efficiency. The return on this investment is around 63%.

5. Energy-efficient windows and new garage door

Replacing all of your windows comes with a big price tag but can work to your advantage. New windows will update your home on the outside and the inside and it will also reduce utility costs and help with energy efficiency. Replacing the garage doors is very good to appeal to your curb appeal. According to the NARI, you will recoup 100 percent of your investment.

6. Adding a deck or patio and shuttered windows

Adding a wooden deck will not only expand your living space but will also bring a return on your investment. Shutters will increase value and add a lot to your curb appeal. They come in vinyl, wood, aluminum, composite and fiberglass.

These ideas are projects that will help your home make a great first impression and add value to your home. Remember when maintaining and keeping your exterior on your home up will not only help avoid costly bills down the road.

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Learn How To Design a Kitchen That Is Perfect for Entertaining

 

The kitchen is said to be the heart of the home and a place where family and friends gather. Delicious food is also a big part of most gatherings. A kitchen with a practical layout and up-to-date appliances is the recipe for a good working kitchen. If you want to make sure your kitchen is in working order, follow these tips to create both a beautiful and functional space.

1. Create Space for Gathering

The layout of your kitchen can make all the difference. You will want your kitchen to function as an entertaining-friendly kitchen. This can be done by selecting a floor plan that allows more than one person to be working in the kitchen. To do this, you will want tons of counter space to prep meals and allow everyone to have a place to gather.

A perfect way to create this extra counter space is by adding an island or peninsula to your kitchen space. An island can hold your kitchen sink, breakfast bar, and appliances. Remember to include good lighting for your space.

“I want people to help themselves to coffee or a glass of wine and to sit down and talk while I prep,” says Kate Arends, blogger and founder of Wit & Delight.

2. Choose Hardworking Appliances

Investing in hard-working, good-quality kitchen appliances is a must if you love to entertain. “It’s about efficiency. When entertaining, I want to do just that — entertain. I don’t want to be thinking about whether or not the oven is working or if there’s enough room in the fridge,” states Arends.

A big French door refrigerator can hold large platters. One appliance that you do not think about when entertaining is a dishwasher. Choose a dishwasher with adjustable racks so you can accommodate different sizes. A beverage fridge is another great idea so guests can have access to cold drinks.

3. Select a High-Performance Oven

An appliance that does come to mind when entertaining is the oven. You want to choose a high-performance oven that has a large cooking space. A built-in double oven is a good choice if you do not have a big kitchen. A double oven allows you to cook several dishes at the same time.

“Home appliances can be an investment and it’s important to get the right tools for the job,” she says. “I love to cook, so my focus was finding a range that could do all the things and an oven that I could set remotely. Some people won’t need these features — it’s a very personal decision,” offers Arends.

4. Use Materials to Tie Spaces Together

This applies especially to an open floor plan. Choose appliances, flooring, counters, cabinets and colors that flow with the living and dining areas.

“Look at the color of the walls in the living room and pull that into fabric in the kitchen, or use hand-painted tiles that pull a color from the dining room. Your cookware could be the color of the sofa,” she says. “It’s about being creative and seeing the opportunity to create a harmonious color palette,” says Arends.

5. Take Some Risks

Put your own stamp on your kitchen. Doing this makes your kitchen feel like your own warm welcoming space. Add some floating or open shelves where you can store personal collectibles. Color and texture can also anchor your kitchen. This can be created by adding tiled backsplashes, a brightly colored range and rich color countertops.

"Sometimes we forget that the spaces in our homes are for us, not for others,” she says. “We all deserve to live in spaces that delight us, no matter the size or if we own or rent. I hesitated on decisions because I was worried about resale value. I have such pride and ownership in this house, more than I felt in the last one, because I’ve leaned into what I wanted from a space."

“I wanted my kitchen to feel cozy and relaxed,” Arends says. “To achieve this, I moved in lamps and art — things that you often find in living spaces. That’s how I made the space feel more like me.”

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Ways To Create a Healthy Home

 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic is now a part of our lives, more homeowners now than ever focus on living in healthier homes. The link between a homeowner's home and their health is very important nowadays. The wellness and health of a homeowner are not based on the price point of their home, as the necessity for a healthy home spans across all price points.

Hayward Healthy Home five principles give great tips to design and construct a healthy home. These principles are continuous fresh air, proper sealing and insulation, cleanable surfaces and healthy home habits. A healthy home has a quieter inside environment and has an even temperature year-round.

Other ways to create a healthy home include using non-toxic materials and products, keeping good installation practices and design strategies. Examples of these include using wide-plank floor with a fresh water-based finish, no/low volatile organic chemical paints and finishes, appliances that were unboxed and left outside for 24 hours to allow them to off gas before installation, an induction stovetop, a steam oven, and a separate ventilation system in the garage.

“..when you make a home healthy, you also make it tight and energy-efficient, so you get that value, too. So health is really the powerhouse that’s going to make this change happen on a much faster scale than the drive to energy efficiency,” says Bill Hayward, CEO and chief sustainability officer of Hayward Lumber and founder of Hayward Healthy Home Score.

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Energy Efficiency Saves in Small Measures

In order to have a proper perspective of how much energy saving measures will have in your new or existing home, you have to know the paramenters of energy saving capability as well as have the right expectation for the process going into it.  If you live in a much older home, built in an older neighborhood during a time when real estate was not as “coded” as it is today, you can expect to see a more dramatic increase in savings after spending more money up front to make changes.  This is because building codes are truly on the cutting edge of emerging green techniques which are constantly promoting more structurally sealed homes with low-energy, efficient technologies installed in them.  The savings really do add up, though, through a combination of several energy saving techniques.  Home buyers and homeowners can be assured that energy efficiency saves in small measures that over a year’s time give a return on investment.



Start Simple
Because the process of building is an imperfect process (no matter how detail-oriented your builder is) performed by mutliple contractors who “touch the job” once and then leave, you would be amazed as to how much small spaces and leaks allow air and moisture into your home.  To begin the energy efficiency process, you will want to seal your home as much as possible by caulking and sealing the spaces around your plumbing pipes, electrical systems, light fixtures, and windows as well as the unused portions of your home which can include your attic or crawl space below.  By closing up these areas to air and moisture, you can reduce the amount of air it takes to heat and cool your home.

Work on Major Systems When Possible
HVAC systems are notorious for being big energy suckers, so if you have the money to invest in a completely new system which would include an overhead air conditioning and furnace system (the most energy efficient way to heat and cool your home), you should do so.  If you don’t have the finances for such an expense, having a contractor come out for a service call to inspect your ductwork for blockages or leaks will make sure that your ducts area as efficient as possible.  Clean ductwork allows better airflow which heats and cools a space more quickly.

Small Changes Make a Big Difference
While you are inspecting and focusing in on your HVAC system, you will also want to immediately replace your thermostat if you do not already have an electronic thermostat.  Electronic thermostats can run from $28 – $120 depending on how quality or complicated you would like them to be.  This is a small investment which makes a HUGE difference in your heating and cooling bill.  Buy purchasing a programmable thermostat, you are able to control your home’s temperature when you are home, away at work, or sleeping to keep your heater or air conditioner from “running all day.”

Change Your Ambiance and Save Energy
Another suggestion as a way to reduce the amount of energy used in your home is to replace all of your light bulbs with bulbs that are either CFLs or LED lights.  However, if you are affected by lighting and the ambiance it provides, you could end up spending a lot on the front end to get the desired lighting affect you would like with LED lighting – the closest lighting alternative to old fashioned light bulbs.  If you aren’t picky about lighting, the new CFL light bulbs are energy efficient and last longer than old fashioned bulbs and are becoming more affordable as well.

Adjust Your Temps During Warmer Months
The last energy savings idea to use is to reduce the water temperature on your hot water heater.  “Out of the box,” hot water heaters are programmed to approximately 140 degrees.  If you reduce this to 120 degrees, you can save on heating expenses.  Also, by insulating the pipes on your hot water heater and the pipes going into either the wall or the floor, you can maintain the heated water as well.  While this might be a good idea during warmer spring and summer months, you may want to increase the temperature again during colder weather months because the air temperature feels cooler when you shower or bathe.

By using these energy efficient techniques altogether, you can drastically reduce the amount of money you spend each month on your energy bills.  If you are only able to do a couple or few of the ideas at present, your savings will be less.  However, any money saved is money that can be used for other life necessities in a tough economy.

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