Entries by admin

Dorm Room Design on a Budget

Caucasian female students unpacking in students room

It’s that time of year again. High school graduates across the country are packing their belongings into boxes and making the drive to the college campus they’ll call home for the next few years. Many of them will spend at …

6 Signs That You’re Ready to Be a Homeowner

Happy family celebrating moving day, playful young couple having fun at home, funny activity, laughing husband pushing excited wife sitting in cardboard box

Ready to buy your first home? Join the millions of others out there who are navigating the waters of real estate for the first time.

It’s exciting, yet it’s completely intimidating at the same time, and for good reason. Your …

Clever Landscaping Ideas for Tiny Front Yards

Worker is paving a place in the garden.

If you’ve got a teeny tiny front yard, you may have already discovered that landscaping can be pretty challenging. Having limited square footage doesn’t mean you should completely ignore this small piece of land – curb appeal is extremely important …

9 Kitchen Design Mistakes to Avoid

Hand drawing of an interior design project of a modern kitchen

No matter how amazing and comfortable the rest of your home may be, there’s something about the kitchen that has everyone congregating to it. No doubt, your kitchen is the hardest working space your home, and should be designed to …

Tips for Hiding TV Cords in Your Home

TV and wooden cabinet with gray armchair in modern living room the concrete wall

The average American household now has 2.5 TV sets, even when the number of people in that home is only two. Not only is there a TV set in the main living area, but many families have TVs in children’s …

3 Tips for Using Mirrors to Improve Your Rooms

Close up smiling woman hanging or fixing mirror on wall

Imagine a world without mirrors. You would have no way to check your appearance before leaving the house every day. You’d be forced to conduct routine grooming activities without the benefit of a clear reflection. But most importantly, your home …

Clever Ideas to Make a Home Gym Attractive

Training at home with gym equipment

Staying in shape is as important as creating an attractive house. The cost of a gym membership can add up over time, with monthly membership fees adding up to hundreds of dollars each year. For the same price, a homeowner …

4 Home Remodeling Projects You Shouldn’t Do Yourself

Modern and luxury dark gray bathroom vanity with counter top, round ceramic washbasin, black faucet and frameless mirror

Nothing can compare to the gratification that comes from successfully completing a home remodeling project yourself. Whether you’re retiling your bathroom or finishing a basement, there are many things you can accomplish yourself with hard work and determination.

However, there …

3 Ideas for Gardening When You Have a Small Yard

Woman holding indoor window vegetable planters

As consumer demand for fresh, affordable produce has risen, more homeowners than ever have become interested in growing their own. But with homes so tightly packed together in newer neighborhoods, finding space to design and nurture a garden can be …

New Home Buyer? 5 Mistakes to Avoid

Woman holding keys from new home and embracing man

Buying a house is a huge financial step, and is one you need to take with careful consideration. It’s the quintessential American dream, but can quickly turn into a nightmare if you don’t do your due diligence. Typically, it’s new …

4 Ways to Improve the Air Quality in Your Home

Air purifier and houseplant in living room. For fresh air and healthy life concept.

If someone in your household regularly suffers from allergies or sinus problems, there could be issues with the quality of air. Including the time you’re asleep, you’re breathing the air inside your home more than any other, making it vital …

Improve Your Living Space With Color

Image of Scandinavian home decor with green couch, rattan pot and floor lamp

Without realizing it, we’re affected by the colors that surround us throughout the day. While the walls of your home may be plastered with the same neutral tone while it’s on the market, part of making it your new home …

Houseplants: Why, What and How?

Photo of a lounge area interior with comfortable armchairs and houseplants

The “Why”

The “why” for indoor houseplants should be fairly obviously, right? They scrub the air in your home, they lend a tranquil vibe to any room, and as a design element they’re super versatile, adding color, texture, and shape …

Bathroom Remodeling Do’s and Don’ts

Photo of a worker carefully placing ceramic floor tiles on adhesive surface

It’s a small, unassuming space, but it’s a crucial one nonetheless. Bathrooms are one of the more important rooms that can add a great deal of value to a home if they’re modernized and up-to-date, not to mention bring years …

Prep Your Home for Holiday House Guests

Photo of a bed maid-up with clean white pillows and bed sheets in beauty room

Is your home is the hub of the holidays this season? If so, you’ve got some work to do before your guests knock on your door. Luckily, it doesn’t have to take weeks of hard labor to get your home …

Rookie Mistakes Home Buyers Should Avoid

Home buyers with a real estate agent signing a contract

Think about all those past purchases that you’ve later regretted. And while you may have wasted your money on these items that were seldom used, they pale in comparison to the amount of money you’d be spending on a home. …

4 Modern Decorating Ideas for the Holidays

Photo of Christmas pastel decorations in a studio

For decades, homeowners have covered their homes in the same two colors during the last month of the year. Greenery has long been used as the base color, with bold splashes of red to provide contrast. Colors like gold, silver, …

The Pros and Cons of a Home Addition

Photo of a man holding pros and cons cards

Whether your family is growing, or your home simply isn’t meeting your needs in terms of space, you’ve got a couple of options: either move to a larger home with more square footage, or add it to your existing home …

What’s Involved in Building a Green Roof?

Photo of a growing succulent in a bucket of fresh soil

Homeowners are typically open to any efforts that will effectively help to reduce their utility bills as well as their imprint on the environment, and green roofs can help do exactly that.

Creating a “green roof” with plants can slow …

Top Tips for Selling With Pets in Your Home

Photo of a woman sitting on a sofa while petting her adorable dog on the floor

Whether you’ve got dogs, cats, hamsters, or bunnies running around at home, they’re part of the family. We love our pets, but that doesn’t mean potential buyers necessarily want to see them – or any evidence of them – when …

6 Features Homebuyers Will Love

When it comes time to sell your home, take a close look around and see if your place has the goods that buyers are looking for. Considering the magnitude and expense of such a purchase, buyers want to fall in …

7 Qualities of an Excellent Neighborhood

Location, location, location. The phrase may have become somewhat of a cliché in the world of real estate, but it still remains the most important factor in determining the true value of a property. When you’re in the market to …

Common Code Violations Made When Renovating

Homeowners who are trying to cut costs frequently attempt to handle their home renovation projects on their own. While that might work just fine for simpler tasks, it might go horribly wrong for more challenging ones. DIYers need to be …

6 Signs It’s Time to Replace Your Windows

No matter how new your house is, window problems could arise at any time. They’ll eventually need to be entirely replaced. Windows don’t endure forever, even if they can last up to 20 years when they are of great quality …

8 Simple Ways to Update Your Home

There’s probably something in your home that needs updating especially if you can’t even recall the last time you switched things up. What could have been hip back in the day is undoubtedly displeasing today.

Here are 8 features in …

5 Tricks to Make Your Small Kitchen Feel Bigger

For the majority of homeowners today, having a large, bright kitchen could be a dream come true, but tight budgets and small kitchen spaces can be quite challenging to overcome.

Fortunately, there are resourceful methods to improve your kitchen’s appearance …

Most Frequent Regrets of First-Time Homebuyers

When looking at houses, first-time homebuyers have a lot in common. They frequently fall in love with a house right away and become overly emotional. When they lose a bidding war, they feel overwhelmed and devastated.

They also commit a …

Creating A Sustainable Home Garden

It’s nearly impossible not to be bombarded with news and information about how much safer and healthier organic food is for our bodies. Although, we also know how much more expensive organic produce can be.

SO WHY NOT GROW IT

Simple Ways to Boost Privacy in Your Yard

Whether you’re playing with the kids, enjoying a family meal, or even just catching some rays, the last thing you want is to be put on display in your own backyard. The demand for outdoor living space among homeowners has …

Tips to Decorating an Odd-Shaped Living Room

An odd-shaped living room can be a decorating nightmare. Whether you’ve got harsh angles, recessed walls, or columns in the middle of the room, it can be tough to arrange furniture, decorate, and create a functional space.

But rather than …

Budget Projects With Big Value

Not all home improvement projects are created equal. Some renovations may cost a lot but not add significant value to your home. Here are some inexpensive home improvement projects that will not only increase your enjoyment of your home, but …

Taking Interior Design Online

The internet is forever evolving how we access goods and services, so why should home décor be any different? Homeowners have a plethora of resources they can look too when searching for décor inspiration online, including blogs, online magazines, and …

5 Features Millennial Homebuyers Are Looking For

Millennials continue to be the largest segment of homebuyers according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Here are five features that tend to entice millennials who are looking to buy.

1. An Up-to-date Kitchen And Bath
Younger buyers often have …

5 Amazing Smart Kitchen Products

As technology continues to evolve year after year, new products hit the market that help make our lives easier. Check out these five amazing innovations that can assist you in the kitchen!

1. Instant Pot Smart Wi-Fi 8-in-1 Multicooker

This …

Five Tips For Funding Your Next Vacation

There’s nothing quite like some well-earned time off in a cool new place, but vacations certainly don’t pay for themselves. Here are a few ideas for funding your next getaway.

1. The change jar: It’s not groundbreaking, but it works. …

Choose The Right Paint Finish

It can be intimidating to stand in front of the paint swatches at the paint or hardware store and try to make a decision. Picking a color can be difficult enough—and then you have to choose the finish. Choosing the …

Five Home Repairs To Budget For

You’re going to have to do some regular repairs and maintenance on your home—it’s just a fact of home ownership. So that you’re not caught unprepared, it’s a good idea to keep a budget and set aside some funds for …

The Ins And Outs Of Home Inspection

Home inspection is a crucial step in the homebuying process. After finding the perfect house, you will want to ensure that there are no hidden faults that may require lengthy and expensive repairs or renovations down the line.

To prepare …

How Do HOAs Work?

When you purchase a home, there’s a good chance you’ll have to pay a homeowners association fee, especially in gated communities, townhouses, condominiums, and other similar planned neighborhoods. The idea is to keep common areas clean and maintained, and there’s …

Five Ways You Can Get Earnest Money Back

Earnest money is a deposit you pay when you make an offer on a home—it’s a way to show the seller that you mean business. Usually you can’t get it back, but there are several circumstances that allow you to …

The Best Smart Home Features

Home technology has greatly improved over the last few years, helping to increase convenience and energy efficiency. But some smart home features carry more value than others. Here are some that will not only help you enjoy your home more, …

Five Things That Factor Into Comps

You may think that sale price is the only factor when you’re looking at comps and trying to set a price for your listing. But it’s actually a bit more complicated. Here are five things that affect comps that you …

How An Agent Can Help Alleviate Stress

Purchasing a home can be a stressful experience, whether you’re a first-time buyer or you’ve been through the process before. But that’s one of the reasons that working with a real estate professional is so worthwhile. With your agent’s guidance, …

Types Of Mortgages You Need To Know About

Before you purchase a home, it’s important to educate yourself of the various types of mortgages you can get so you can make the right decision when the time comes to choose yours.

Fixed Rate. The most popular on the …

Calling In A Professional

Renovating your home can be a stressful and expensive endeavor. How much should you spend? Who should you trust? Who’s the best contractor/architect/designer/etc. in town? If you find yourself asking these questions as you consider a renovation, you may want …

Five Tips For Reducing Clutter

It doesn’t take much time to go from a perfectly organized room to a cluttered, chaotic mess. Papers pile up on surfaces, coats and bags end up on furniture, shoe boxes and shopping bags get stuffed in the first place …

How To Keep Your Utility Bills Low

As a homeowner, costs can really start to add up, so it never hurts to take measures to help you reduce your monthly utility bills. Here are a few ways to do just that!

Electricity Bill

Saving money on your …

How To Make Small Spaces Seem Bigger

It may seem inconvenient or difficult to decorate a small space in your home, but there are a variety of strategies to make that smaller area seem much bigger. Here are some ideas to help you maximize the space in …

Renovate Vs. Relocate

Is it worthwhile to improve your property, or is moving a better choice?

Unless you built a custom home, you probably have a long list of things you’d like to improve in your current home. Browsing online listings might get …

Tips From Interior Design Experts

Interior design is no walk in the park. In fact, many people build their entire careers on their keen eye for making each room in a home flow beautifully. This is not to say that only professionals are capable of …

Top Tips For Staging Your Home

A recent survey from the National Association of Realtors® revealed that 77 percent of buyers’ agents said staging a home makes it easier for potential buyers to visual it as their own. That’s why staging is not to be overlooked! …

Fixing Common Gas Grill Problems

Summer may be officially winding down, however there are still many BBQs ahead, so you need your grill in tip top shape. Here are some of the most common gas grill problems and how to fix them!

Excess Smoke: If …

How To Plant A Tree In Your Yard

Have you ever wanted to change the landscape of your yard by adding a tree or shrub? Whether you have a green thumb or are a green dud, with proper preparation and some good tips, you can successfully do it …