How to Decorate Your Home with Fresh Flowers
Don’t you just love the smell of flowers? You can brighten up your home in so many different ways with fresh cut flowers. But what if you don’t have a green thumb?
Tag: interior design
Avoid These Interior Design Mistakes
Once you’ve found the right home, the fun really begins. Each room of your home is a blank canvas, waiting to be explored and designed. Before you head out on this new venture, here is our best advice on avoiding some classic interior design mistakes.
Prepping Your Household for the Holidays
Just like the certainty of death and taxes, the impending arrival of the holiday season is upon us. While many people dread this time of year because of the stress associated with it, it should be a time of celebration and communing with friends and family.
In order to truly enjoy this season without being stressed out, it’s important to get your household in check before the holiday gatherings begin.
Here’s how you can do everything for the holidays while still maintaining your sanity:
- Make a list…check it twice — The first thing you need to do is take an inventory of your home and look for the areas that need to be worked on. You don’t need to clean and overhaul every single aspect of your house. Just focus on those areas that need the work and organization before your guests arrive. This would include high-traffic areas that your guests will be visiting, such as the living room, den, dining room, kitchen, and guest bathrooms (and bedrooms if you plan on having overnight guests). Areas like the garage and master suite can probably be put on the back burner until spring cleaning comes around.
- Go room by room — Once you have an idea of what needs to be tackled, then you should go room by room and take care of cutting out the clutter before you move on to the next room. If you have kids, this is the perfect time to clean out all those unused and/or broken toys before Santa brings a fresh load of stuff. An important thing to teach your child is the importance of generosity during this time of year, so be sure to get them to donate their old toys and clothes to those less fortunate.
- Clean before you decorate — It doesn’t make sense to put up your giant tree and decorations and then try to clean around it. Instead, get everything cleaned thoroughly before you decorate. This includes getting rid of all the dust, vacuuming, and wiping down walls and baseboards. Sure, these items may not be visible when the decorations are up, but you will have peace of mind knowing that it has been taken care of.
- Delegate — The holidays come with a whole extra level of cleaning and daily pickup to keep your house looking great for your guests. Don’t try to do all of this alone. Instead, delegate the jobs to all of the members of your household so that you don’t get burned out doing it all. A chore list just for the holiday season is a great idea for staying organized.
One of the biggest things to remember is that a clean home may be important during your holiday season, but it is not the most important part of the holiday. If you spend so much time stressing about cleaning up, then you won’t be able to actually sit back and enjoy time with your friends and family. That is the truly best part of the holidays and one that you don’t want to skimp on just to keep your house clean.
**********
Whether you’re buying, selling, refinancing, or building your dream home, I’m here to help you explore the many financing options available. Ensuring that you make the right choice for you and your family is my ultimate goal. I am committed to providing my customers with mortgage services that exceed their expectations. Find out more by visiting my website.
Getting in Touch with Your Inner Interior Designer
If you’re many people, you probably spend a lot of time watching shows on HGTV or TLC like Trading Spaces, Fixer Upper, or Property Brothers. These shows have almost single-handedly rejuvenated the interior design and remodeling craze. But most of us don’t have the option to hire Chip and Joanna Gaines to design our homes for us.
So this month, let’s look at some tips and tricks that will let you get in touch with your inner interior designer so that you can make some major changes to your home.
- Do some research (and dreaming)—One of the best things to generate ideas for your home is to start doing a lot of research. The good news is that this is easier than ever. Social media sites like Pinterest and Instagram have an abundance of pictures and infographics that can help give you ideas about how to easily transform your house. You can also check out design magazines and websites online.
- Pick your colors—Now that you have some ideas about what you want your room to look like, you should pick out your color scheme. Go for a rule of three. The first color will be a neutral or understated color that will serve as the main color for the room’s walls. Then, have a second, complementary color that will be a bit bolder and will serve as the color “pop” with your furniture or possibly an accent wall. Finally, the third color should be another bold color that coordinates well with the second. This will be the color for your accessories such as pillows.
- Get bold—When it comes to furniture, you don’t want to have a lot of little furniture pieces that are going to make your room look cluttered. Instead, choose one bold piece of furniture like a sofa that you can build the rest of the room around.
- Use your words—One of the biggest trends in the last few years that can really add a personal touch to a room is a message. Many people are using “word art” pieces to express a simple theme in the room like “love” or “family.” Others are using wall appliques of messages that present a personal philosophy as a kind of designer mantra for your home.
These are just some of the ideas that will help you begin creating your own interior design style. The important thing to remember is that you should go with what speaks to you. There are all kinds of theories about how to properly decorate a home. But what really matters is going with what makes you feel comfortable and happy.
**********
Whether you’re buying, selling, refinancing, or building your dream home, I’m here to help you explore the many financing options available. Ensuring that you make the right choice for you and your family is my ultimate goal. I am committed to providing my customers with mortgage services that exceed their expectations. Find out more by visiting my website.
Hot Decorating Tips For Your Home This Winter
The holidays have passed but the temperatures are still dipping across the country and for many people snow has already declared the full arrival of winter. If you’re like me, you’ve put away the tree and holiday decorations; you may now be looking for something else to help spruce up your home for the season. If that’s the case, then look at these great decorating ideas for winter. These are guaranteed to keep you warm and cozy all season long.
Wreaths
Wreaths aren’t just for Christmas. Take down the red and green holiday garland and replace it with a wreath featuring pinecones and simple greens. If you want a little splash of something special, consider white flowers that are reminiscent of the snow piling up outside.
DIY Wooden Sign
It’s easy to create your own decorating style with a homemade wooden sign. Just get a reclaimed piece of wood with some paints and stencils and let your imagination go to town. Including an uplifting personal message or inspiration will help warm your heart this winter.
Sweater Pillows
If you’ve had a bunch of old sweaters lying around that don’t fit anymore, there’s a great way to reuse them to decorate your home. By cutting the sweater material into pillows and then stuffing them, you can have decorative throw pillows for your sofa or bed that will be soft and comfy.
Faux Fur Blankets
One way to dress up your home in the winter and keep yourself warm at the same time is with faux fur blankets. These will add a nice country feel to your home and provide a lot more insulation than a blanket or afghan.
Coffee and Hot Chocolate Nook
If you have a little corner of your kitchen that you can use, create a nook for serving coffee, hot chocolate, or even hot cider. Be sure to include a Keurig or similar coffee maker with plenty of pods/cups to make your hot beverages.
Also stock up on all the accouterments, such as creamer, sugar, and mini-marshmallows for the cocoa. Finally, you can spruce this area up with a rustic sign for coffee or cocoa. This will go a long way to warm you up on cold winter mornings.
Winter Sporting Goods
If you live somewhere that winter sports are played—skiing, skating, hockey, sledding—then you can take some of the old sporting goods and use these for displays either in your home or on the front porch.
The winter is a great time to spruce things up and add some decorative touches to your home. By “bringing the outdoors in” this winter, you can provide a rustic look that will warm your heart and home.
**********
Whether you’re buying, selling, refinancing, or building your dream home, I’m here to help you explore the many financing options available. Ensuring that you make the right choice for you and your family is my ultimate goal. I am committed to providing my customers with mortgage services that exceed their expectations. Find out more by visiting my website.