Home Ownership Takes Time & Money


When you buy a house, everyone focuses on the money you need to complete the purchase. Less attention is paid to monthly operating costs once you complete the purchase (read True Cost of Home Ownership). The first six months are spent moving and settling into your new home. Then life takes over.

Most homeowners are surprised when they discover it takes a fair amount of time to maintain your house and handle repairs. You never realized how easy life was when all you had to do was call the landlord with problems. So what do you do when there’s no landlord to... 

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Top Kitchen Trends for 2019


For many homeowners, the kitchen is the heart of your home. Whether you’re buying a new house or thinking about remodeling your kitchen, it pays to start by reviewing how you use this special room. We’re eating out more so new homes tend to have smaller kitchens (and bigger closets). What’s important is understanding your priorities and balancing these against new kitchen design trends.

That’s especially true if you’re remodeling a kitchen. The average kitchen remodel can run from $22,507 for a minor remodel to $66,196 for a major kitchen remodel. If you have your heart set on a luxury kitchen costs can easily exceed $100,000.... 

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Ideas to Make Your Home Sparkle


white kitchen with many home upgrades from lights to countertop

We hope you had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. And now that the decorations have been put away, your home might not feel as warm and inviting. Everything might be clean and organized but something is missing?

Your budget might not be ready for a typical home upgrade like a kitchen or bathroom remodel, so here are some budget friendly home updates you can make. Some are free while others might require a small budget and/or giving up a free weekend (or you can hire a handyman). A few will give you a new room feel for a lot less than a full... 

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Creating Holiday Memories at Home


As the holidays approach, each family looks forward to their own traditions. These typically focus on decorating the house, baking cookies, preparing special dishes, buying gifts and of course, visiting with friends and family. The holidays are a wonderful time of year but what if you could capture more of the excitement, the memories and enjoy them all year.

Creating Perfect Photo Opportunities

Everyone who has a smart phone now has a camera. Some are better at remembering to capture those special moments and with practice, your photos will get better. Everyone will snap more and better photos if you take time to... 

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Want to Be Comfortable this Winter?


Winter is on it’s way so we’ll all be spending more time indoors. That means you’ll want to be sure your indoor air quality and indoor temperatures are the best they can be. So let’s start with a few key concepts:

Your HVAC system(s) heat and cool your home. Each system will perform better with an annual tune-up. You should have an HVAC company perform this task because of the sophisticated equipment used to measure and adjust settings. It’s worth the money and should reduce your utility bills and extend the life of the system(s). Ventilation (the V in HVAC) exchanges indoor air with fresh air... 

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Are You Ready for an Emergency?


With so many storms and other natural disasters in the headlines, it’s hard to ignore today’s changing climate. Fortunately each of us doesn’t have to worry about every type of emergency but chances are you’ll have to deal with one during your homeowner journey. So this month we decided to review what you can do to make sure you, your family and your home are ready for a disaster.

Family Communications & Safety

Your family must always come first so you’ll want a plan that everyone is familiar with. Write it down, review it each year and keep copies in your cars,... 

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What is a Smart Home?


Do you remember when your cell phone took on a new identity that we now recognize as a smart phone? There’s no real definition but we all recognize that todays’ phones do a lot more than phone calls. We can send and receive e-mail, search the Internet, watch videos, edit documents, download apps and more.

You get to pick which apps you enable on your phone and similarly, you get to decide which smart products you want in your smart home.

So what is a smart home? It’s a house where many home features can:

Communicate with each other to enhance your lifestyle. Can be controlled by... 

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Minimizing Kid Clutter at Home


As the kids head back to school, parents are breathing a sigh of relief that life will settle down into a more predictable routine. With new schedules, it’s the perfect time to review and change where things are stored to keep the kids and house more organized. Given a choice, who wouldn’t like less clutter?

Let’s start by thinking about where the kid clutter comes from (you can use the same exercise for yourself):

Paperwork from school and extracurricular activities that comes home and often has to be returned. Backpacks, books and everything needed for homework stored in a convenient location so leaving the house in the morning goes smoothly. Sports... 

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Goodbye Boring Walls & Ceilings


Decorating styles are changing, although it’s not clear what’s driving these changes. Maybe it’s because we’re not moving as often, so there’s more disposable income to make the updates you’ve always wanted to your home. Maybe it’s new, open floor plans and higher ceilings that give us more choices when it comes to decorating.

The reality is we’re breaking decorating barriers everywhere – in the hallways, stairs, living rooms, bedrooms and even bathrooms. So we thought it was time to explore all the new and affordable ways homeowners have found to dress up their walls and ceilings.

Ideas for Creative Ceiling Designs

Traditionally, crown molding... 

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Outdoor Kitchens Appear Here to Stay


We’re spending more time at home which means eating in versus eating out. It seems natural that if we enjoy eating out, we might love “eating out at home”, so maybe it’s time for an outdoor kitchen? Just the idea of moving outdoors can help us relax and be less formal about the meals we eat and what we wear. Well if you happen to be a foodie, it might also be fun to explore new recipes for meals cooked on a grill.

So for those who are ready to upgrade their trusty old grill, we thought we’d offer some tips to plan the... 

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