Last weeks blog post went over the best home remodeling projects to do to increase your home’s value.  One of the best projects to do is the kitchen.  The kitchen is the “heart of the home.” Instead of having a formal dining room, new homebuyers are looking for a more open kitchen floor plan in order to entertain guests. Renovating a kitchen can be quite expensive, but with these tips – you can make your kitchen look fresh, without all of the heavy expenses.

Cabinets
New cabinets are often a huge expense. If your current cabinets are in good shape, try renovating them by painting them white! White will brighten up the room and hide outdated designs. However, if your cabinets can’t be salvaged by a little white paint, consider updating them with some new doors instead. If you choose a door with a window, consider using designer shelf liner to make the inside pop.

Counter Tops
Buying or updating counter tops can be expensive, especially if you want to use granite. However, there is a way to get the granite countertop you want without breaking the bank. If you only have a small amount of countertop to cover, you might be able to catch a good deal on remnants at a granite supply yard.

Kitchen Backsplash
The backsplash in your kitchen has more function than simply looking nice; it also protects the wall from splashes, grease, and other cooking stains. Backsplashes take up little space and can be relatively inexpensive depending upon the material. You can use glass, porcelain, ceramic, pegboards, vinyl, or wood.

Lighting
Updating the lighting can do wonders within the kitchen and it doesn’t have to be too expensive.  Install under-cabinet lighting to help with task lighting without shadows. Having pendant or hanging lights can help light up other workstations or the center island.

Flooring
The floors are typically one of the most expensive parts of renovating a kitchen, but there are ways to do it without going too overboard on a budget. Using a less expensive material such as ceramic tile, vinyl flooring, or plastic laminate flooring are all good choices compared to wood. In general, they are also much easier to clean! 

If you are planning on doing renovations to your home, you may want to consider how the projects will affect the value of your home.  If you plan to move or are in the process of trying to sell, consider the following to increase the value of your home.

Update The Kitchen
The kitchen is known as the “heart of the home” where everyone tends to gather and have meals together.  If families are spending the most time together in this room, it needs to be updated. It’s important that the kitchen has plenty of room for people to gather. If you change the layout to something that is more open, this will draw more people in. Upgrade your appliances to stainless steel and your countertops to granite or engineered stone. Both of these changes are relatively easy to do and will help make your kitchen have a sleeker look.

Fix The Bathroom
The bathroom is the one room that you can almost guarantee anyone that comes to your house is going to use at some point.  Any bathroom that doesn’t have a working toilet (difficult to flush) or is cracked or old should be replaced.  The lighting in the bathroom shouldn’t be too intense or too dark. An easy way to brighten up the space would be to install a window to get some natural light into the room. A vanity that doesn’t take up too much space would also work well in an updated bathroom.

Reframe Your Entryway
A homes’ front door can make a big impression to your guests and boost the homes curb appeal.  Choosing a door made of steel or fiberglass has fewer limitations than doors made of wood.  While a steel or fiberglass door can make your home more energy efficient, a fiberglass door is about three times more expensive than that of a steel door.

Renovate Your Attic or Basement
Being able to update your attic or basement into another living space can help you increase equity, as long as you build it to code.   You can turn it into another bedroom, a man cave, or even a place for the kids to hang out.

Go Green
Energy efficiency is something that people are starting to look for when they’re purchasing their homes. Not only is it great for the environment, it will save money in the long run.  You can make your home “green” on a small scale (programmable thermostats, ceiling fans, adding storm doors) or large scale (installing solar panels.)

Install Built In Speakers
Having built in speakers makes your home more high tech, which will stand out to buyers. Put speakers in each of the rooms and centrally wire a sound system into your home. Choose to install surround sound in rooms that you tend to watch television in order to make movies and sports a little more exciting.

It’s All About Lighting.
Nobody wants to live in a dark space. As mentioned earlier, having windows to bring in some natural light is a great idea, but you can also install dimmer switches. Dimmer switches are great for being able to control how much light you want in a room so it isn’t too overwhelming at any point.

It’s the holiday season, which means in just a few short weeks, winter weather will be creeping up on us, quicker than most of us would like.  The cost to keep your house nice and warm all winter long can often be quite expensive. Try some of these quick hacks before the weather gets too cold, to keep the warmth in and your heating costs low.

Close up your fireplace.
If you have a fireplace, you want to make sure that the flue is closed all the way.  You should check to make sure that you are unable to feel any breeze or cold air coming in when it’s closed.  If you want, put some glass doors around your fireplace opening as an additional way to keep the cold air out of your house.

Cover your water heater.
Take a trip to the hardware store and pick up a water heater blanket that will help to keep your water heater tank from losing heat so quickly.  It’s fairly inexpensive and will help you save some money on the heating bill.

Get a programmable thermostat.
If you don’t already have a programmable thermostat, you should consider installing one as soon as possible.  Thermostats can be set to keep the house cooler when nobody is home and warmer when there is.  There is no need to keep the house warmer when nobody is there to enjoy it!

Replace inefficient windows and doors.
Windows and doors are meant to keep the cold air out! If you can feel a draft around any of your doors, try adding a double a triple pane windows along with insulated doors and garage doors.

Change your furnace filter.
Be sure to change your furnace filters. If they are dirty, your furnace has to work harder than it needs to. Filters should be changed monthly within the heating season and should also be serviced periodically in order to make sure that its in proper working order.

Each of these small changes won’t take too much effort to put into place and can significantly decrease your heating bill, while keeping your home warm all winter long.  You’ll be the best prepared for this cold winter!

Source: msn

Location, Location, Location. You’ve heard of the importance of location if you want success in a business, it’s similar when you are going to buy a home.  Obviously, you want to choose a neighborhood you’re going to like, but how do you choose if you don’t know or aren’t entirely sure exactly what you want? How do you know what to look for? When considering a neighborhood, you want to look at your own life and needs and find a neighborhood that matches with you, not the other way around.

Do you have children or are planning on having children in the near future?
If you are planning on having children or currently have them, you want to keep in mind the school system of the neighborhood or town that you are going to be moving into.  Are there schools that you would be happy for your children to grow and learn in? This may not be a huge consideration for you if you don’t plan on having kids, but if you are – it is very important to think about.

Do you want to live on a busy road or a quiet one?
The differences are pretty large between living on a busy or a quiet road.  On a busy road (one with a double yellow line) it likely is faster to get to places since it isn’t off the beaten path at all, but you’d also have to deal with the possibility of traffic and all that comes with it.  On a quiet road, you don’t have to worry about traffic as much, but the commute might a bit longer.

Are you willing to pay more for a safe neighborhood?
Granted nobody wants to live in an unsafe neighborhood, but is it worth the extra cash to live in a neighborhood that is gated or incredible safe? You have to make this decision as well.  Would you rather spend the extra money and move to a neighborhood where its very rare if something is reported or are you okay with taking your chances on a neighborhood where the crime rate isn’t near perfect, but you would save a lot of money?

How long do you want your commute to be?
When you’re on your way to work, do you want to be able to walk, drive a half hour, or somewhere in-between? How about to get to the grocery store or the movie theater? Maybe you have to choose between being closer to work or closer to the grocery story.

Answering these questions, in addition to ordering them in priority level, is necessary as it may be difficult to find everything you absolutely want. Once you find a neighborhood that you think you want, pay attention to your first impression of it. What made you drawn to it? Can you imagine yourself living in this space day in and day out? Paying attention to these little things is a great way to know what direction to go in. 

Cleaning your house is one of those chores that everyone has to do, but most people don’t enjoy.  Since it’s so time consuming and something that has to get done daily or weekly, you want to try to get it done as quickly as possible, but be efficient as well. Unfortunately, there are many mistakes that you may be making that are slowing you down.

You don’t follow the “top to bottom” rule.
When you start cleaning a room, start at the very top and work your way to the floors.  While you may want to do the things you like the least first to get it out of the way, you may be hindering your progress by doing so. For example, getting your vacuuming out of the way first may seem like a good idea, but when you go to clean off other surfaces later, you’re likely going to be getting dust and crumbs all over your nice vacuumed floor and have to redo it.  Starting at the top and working your way to the floor is the best way to make sure you don’t have to redo anything after it’s already completed.

You wash windows on a sunny day
You might not think much about washing windows on a sunny day may, but it could actually make your cleaning job take more time and be more difficult.  The heat from the sun could cause your cleaner to dry before you get the chance to wipe it away. This causes streaks, forcing you to start over.

You rinse dishes before the dishwasher
Many people choose to rinse their dishes in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher, but its not necessary.  While you should get food scraps off the plate, it doesn’t require rinsing as it’s been proven that doing so does not get your dishes any cleaner.  Save money and time by just loading the dishwasher without a pre-rinse.

You don’t let tile cleaner sit
While it’s listed on the back of most cleaning supplies, we don’t always follow the rule of letting the cleaner sit before trying to wipe it away, especially when we are in a rush. Letting your tile cleaner sit for a few minutes will make wiping away the soap scum and stains much easier as it breaks down and dissolves. 

You don’t multitask
You clean the house room by room and then go to do the laundry or run the dishwasher last.  Does this sound like you? Instead, load the dishwasher and get that going while you are cleaning the rest of the kitchen or throw in the laundry while you’re cleaning a room near there.  While you let your tile cleaner sit, instead of waiting around, start wiping down a different surface or clean the toilet. Managing your time better by seeking opportunities to multitask will help get you through your chores in no time.

You don’t have the kids help
If you have kids, have them help you clean and make it fun.  Have them participate in more than just cleaning their rooms. Make it fun for them by putting on some music and playing a game – see if they can do their chores before you finish yours and winner decides what to eat for dinner that night.

You don’t clean your cleaning supplies
When your cleaning supplies gets dirty, instead of getting rid of dirt, it will just spread it around.  You’ll work harder to get rid of the stains or dirt but will not have any progress. It’s important to get new cleaning tools as needed.