Home Decorating

One of the great advantages of home ownership is the ability to incorporate the exterior design ideas you have been longing for, and also to keep your home in great shape. Some ideas for improving the look for your property are more fanciful and turn out not to be financially practical or desirable in the light of day. Others are related to maintenance items that need to be done anyway just to keep your house in good repair. Why not use these necessary repairs and maintenance items to incorporate new design features that will increase the curb appeal of your home at the same time? Killing two birds with one stone is a necessity these days in terms of the tight financial markets.

Window Sills

Deteriorating window sills give a tired look to any home, so regular repair and painting are a necessity, especially since badly decayed sills allow air infiltration and heat loss. Eventually, rotted window sills allow water leaks and further destruction of walls and floors within your house. So, now is a good time to get to work repairing and painting your home’s window sills and trim.

While you are at it, why not use an appealing trim color that coordinates with the main color of your siding? In one fell swoop, you will make a needed repair, prevent further damage, and provide new charm and accent to the facade. Increased energy efficiency is an extra bonus that will greatly improve the comfort and value of your home.

Lawn

Revamping your lawn and landscaping is one of the more satisfying ways to increase the appeal and value of your home. It is generally an easy do-it-yourself project as well. As well as regular lawn maintenance, there is nothing like a few well placed spots of colorful flowers to perk up your surroundings. Sometimes, all you have to do is purchase and place potted plants strategically around the house. Anyone passing by will find it easy to imagine themselves relaxing in your beautiful lawn or gazing at the flowers through a window from inside.

Another easy project with big returns in terms of curb appeal is to add a colorful border of flowering plants to the sidewalk approaching your front door. Not only is it eye-catching, but it is equivalent to rolling out the welcome mat for visitors or prospective buyers of your home, all for the investment of a few dollars and an afternoon of work planting and mulching.

Take a slow, appraising walk around your property, with an eye to needed repair projects that will also increase the visual appeal of your home and landscaping. Make a list and prioritized the projects so that you accomplish the repairs that preserve the value of your property while at the same time adding a little splash of color to freshen the look or your precious real estate. This will keep it fun as well as functional to maintain your home.

There is one thing St Louis home loan consumers should do before putting their home on the market and that is taking a close look at recommended home improvement ideas that agents suggest and how you can make your home look like new at a great price.

1. Hot Looking Kitchen

This is probably one of the most important rooms in the home where people spend quality time. Some easy fixtures to replace would be the kitchen faucet, add new lighting fixtures and new cabinet door handles. All this can be done for just a few hundred dollars. And if you have a larger budget to work with, look into refacing your kitchen cabinets to give it that expensive look at a low cost.

2. Give Your Home A Face-Lift

One of the worse things you can do to your kitchen is having appliances that do not match. This is something every possible buyer will notice immediately and may pass on your house. You do not have to go out and buy new appliances. Simply buy new doors or face panels from the manufacturer. They are very easy to install.

3. Going To The Bathroom With A Smile

Another important room in your home is none other than the bathroom. Some simple changes you can make rather quickly would be a new toilet seat or a pedestal sink. They are easy to install and won’t break the bank.

An old, discolored floor can be replaced with vinyl tiles or sheet vinyl. And if the tub or shower looks dingy, something as simple as new grouting or replacing chipped tiles. But if money is not an issue, many people put in a prefabricated tub and shower surround.

4. Paint, Paint and More Paint

Nothing will make a room look new, clean and bright than a new coat of paint. Folks, this is another inexpensive route that you must take. Some additional tips would be to paint the ceiling, yes, the ceiling and paint all trim a contrasting color.

There are homeowners who paint their walls three different shades of the same color. The darkest shade would obviously go on the bottom with the middle section hosting the next lightest shade and so on.

5. Looking Down May Not Be Such a Bad Idea

What do you see? Old carpeting? Then you need to take some steps in making this look like new which in turn will reflect the same look on your entire home. This is no time to do-it-yourself. Call a professional carpet cleaner and let them do their voodoo that they do so well.

If this doesn’t go as well as you expected, don’t go out and buy new carpeting yet. Here’s two reasons why; first, you can go out and buy an area rug and cover up the small, dingy portion of the carpet. Second, most new buyers will go out and buy new carpeting for their color or style preference anyway so why incur a needless cost.

6. The Entrance Says It All

Greet your new potential buyers with a beautiful door. This doesn’t have to be expensive either. If it is made of wood, paint or refinish it. If the door has dents in it, then either replace it with a new steel door or one made of fiberglass. It your budget can handle it, consider upgrading to a nice wood grain door.

After you paint or refinish the front door, think seriously about replacing the door nob, lock set and knocker. Another great tip is placing two large planters on both sides of the new door.

7. Curb Appeal Can Be Priceless

You may have heard this advice time and time again especially from your agent, but a nicely mowed lawn, a few well-placed shrubs and a swept walkway makes an incredible first impression. As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Your house may be immaculate, but if the outside is in shambles, they may never come back.

So, if you don’t have a green thumb or not enough time, hire a landscaper. These changes can be inexpensive and will change the perception of your home. It may even help increase the overall value of the house you are selling which you and your St Louis mortgage broker will love when buying your next home.

Whenever I’m looking for inspiration for my next home project, I watch some home improvement TV shows. These days, there seems to be one on TV whenever I flip through the channels. I swear, it doesn’t matter if I’m channel surfing at 3 in the afternoon or at 3 in the morning, they’re always on. Most importantly, they’re always educational. Recently, I got into the house flipping business, and I’ve taken a liking to these shows so much I set my DVR to record them. Most of the times, when I find an episode or special particularly interesting I’ll watch it several times, getting something new from it with each viewing. Luckily for me, intellectual property laws don’t cover home improvement ideas!

Because I started watching all of these home improvement TV shows, I got interested in flipping houses. They made it look so easy on TV, and even when people were having troubles with their contractors and ran over budget they always seemed to make money on their investment. On of the biggest advantages to regularly watching home improvement TV shows is that you get to learn from the mistakes of others without having to actually go through them yourself. As you probably know, even a minor setback can cost you thousands of dollars when it comes to flipping houses.

Home improvement TV shows have taught me which rooms are most beneficial to renovate. The major money makers aren’t the living rooms and bedrooms, as I originally thought. Instead, the biggest way to increase the value of your home is to renovate your kitchen and bathrooms. If you know what you’re looking for, you can really make quite a bit of money. I also learned that it’s really important to develop strong and lasting business relationships with contractors and real estate agents.