Remodeling Your Laundry Room with the Essentials

The first thing that comes to mind when we consider remodeling a part of our house is our bedroom, bathroom, or kitchen. Upgrading these rooms adds major value to your house, but another area to consider, that greatly enhances the livability of your home, is the laundry room. Not only should the room like nice since you spend a fair amount of time in there, but by organizing it as well, you can complete your chores quicker and with more ease.

Laundry rooms need not be too elaborate or fancy. The primary concern, after all, is functionality, but there is no reason it can’t be pretty and enjoyable as well.

To help you remodel your laundry room, here are a few design solutions to consider:

• Always put your washing machine and dryer side-by-side. It is a tedious task bringing all of your washed clothes to another part of the room in order to dry. Though it’s manageable for smaller load, bigger loads of are hard to handle, and you’re likely to drop clean clothes on the dirty floor.
• Add more storage. Aside from storing cleaning agents and detergents, you also need storage for clothes hangers, clothespins, an iron, small baskets, and hampers. This will prevent items from being scattered all over the place.
• Create a pleasant view of the outside. Oftentimes, the laundry room is a dark and confined area that you would rather avoid. Make laundering more pleasant and relaxed by adding a window to let in the sunlight and open up a view of your backyard.  If you have small children, this also helps you keep an eye on them if they are playing outside while you work.
• Create a folding and sorting space. After drying your clothes, you will need a place to fold and sort them out. Have a wide counter that gives you room to work easier. The extra space is also perfect for being able to have someone give you a helping hand.
• Allow room for ironing. Instead of leaving your ironing board out at all times, store it in a large cabinet or closet or look for a wall-mounted one you can easily open and close when needed.
• Have a hanging space. You don’t want your clothes to wrinkle as soon as they come out of the dryer, so have a rod where you can hang them immediately.

Jennifer Fields
Oklahoma City & Edmond Real Estate Agent

 

 

 

Creating A Greener Bedroom At Home

The room in your house that provides the most peaceful retreat should be your bedroom. This is the place where you rest and sleep, so in addition to being peaceful, it should also be clean.  There are ways you can clean your bedroom that keep it well-maintained and safe for the environment.

One way to start making your bedroom more eco-friendly is by using organic bedding. Buying an eco-friendly mattress and pillows will not only reduce the buildup of synthetic mattresses in landfills, but it will also be better for your health. Organic bedding is made of more natural materials, so you suffer fewer allergic reactions.

Cleaning the air is another way to create a greener bedroom. Though we love to turn up the air conditioning on hot days, nothing beats the goodness of fresh air. During the day, allow fresh air to come in. Open up the windows to let the air circulate well and push the stale air out. You can even add fresh potted plants to your bedroom to help in cleaning your air.

Your bedroom walls are another aspect of your room that can be made greener. Instead of using paints that are high in VOCs and other toxins, use low-VOC paints. Not only do they produce a weaker odor when painting, but they are less harmful both to the environment and to your health. Paints high in toxics often release ammonia, benzene, and xylene in the air.

Finally, avoid having too many things inside your bedroom. As much as possible, avoid having carpet and rugs in your room, as they are usually made of synthetic fibers that may contain harmful elements. In addition, dust and other contaminants tend to collected in the fabric, which leads to worse allergies.

Jennifer Fields
Oklahoma City & Edmond Real Estate Agent

 

 

 

Seven Key Tips for Successfully Remodeling Your Home

Are you planning to remodel a part of your house soon? If so, then you need to know the keys to making your home remodeling project more successful. Remodeling a home is a tough job, especially if you plan to do it yourself. When planning your remodel, it is important to take all factors into consideration, including cost of labor (if applicable), time involved, the skills and knowledge required, and the monetary cost.

Below are some key tips for successfully remodeling your home:

• Finalize exactly what you want. By knowing what you want, this will reduce the time and money that would likely otherwise be spent on redos and repairs.  Test paint colors before you paint the entire room, get samples of materials to see what goes best in your home before buying everything, and carefully consider the functionality and aesthetic appeal of your design.  Finalizing exactly what you want will also enable you to work faster because everything will be prepared and ready to go.
• Canvass first prior to buying. You may have a regular hardware store from which you normally buy your tools and materials, but canvassing other local shops will give you more options and enable you to compare prices. This will help you cut costs when possible.
• Be reasonable.  When it comes to making decisions, sometimes you need to consider functionality and what truly looks best for the space over a technique or design element that you have been wanting to try even though it wouldn’t be a good fit for your home. Another factor that usually always comes into play as well is your budget.  If you make a decision, consider its long term benefits and weigh the pros and cons.
• Write everything down. Jot down every decision and factors to consider so you can narrow down possibilities to definite choices. Writing down everything will enable you to record easily reference information if necessary and help you to consider things more objectively.
• Avoid rush things. Everything takes time, even making decisions. Don’t rush into something that you will regret later. Give yourself time to ponder things that matter, even if it takes weeks or months.  When you finally do a remodel, you want to be sure it’w what you truly want.
• Hire help if necessary. Don’t take everything on yourself if you’re not sure you can handle it. Sure, you may know what you need to do, but there may be times when a particular job will be done better by a professional. Don’t make cost your only consideration. Think of it as an investment in improving your home and avoiding the cost of corrections later.
• Always stay within your budget. Don’t get so excited about the project that you end up running yourself into major debt.  Try to pay cash for as many things as possible.

 

Jennifer Fields
Oklahoma City & Edmond Real Estate Agent

 

 

 

Make Your Home Office Feel Like Home

With so many people working at home these days, a home office needs more than just a simple desk, chair, and lamp. Homey decor helps to make the area look and feel more conducive to working and also creates a sense of comfort. When people are at ease, they work more efficiently.

There are many things you can add to your home office to make it look and feel good. Below are some ideas on how you can transform your home office into something that feels like home:

• Use wicker baskets instead of filing cabinets. Get rid of the typical cabinets you see in offices and instead organize your files in wicker baskets that can be placed in built in shelving spaces.
• Hang inspiration around you. You can put a picture of your kids on your desk, create a pattern of different photo frames on the wall, or perhaps feature some of your kids’ best artwork on a bulletin board.
• Add something natural. Add potted plants or even a small aquarium with colorful fish to keep the natural energy flowing in your room.
• Make your office lighting more elegant. Get rid of the typical desk lamp and have floor lamps light your room instead. Remember that you can choose whatever style of lamp you want because it’s your office.
• Invest in a good desk and chair. When you work in an office somewhere, you use what they give you.  When you work from home, you can make it look like you own the company.
• Have an ottoman set in your office. Create an area where you can take a break and relax for a few minutes.
• Decorate the room with homey pieces. Make your home office feel like home by adding decor that is reminiscent of that in the rest of your house. You can add decor that goes well with other items in your home like unique vases and old clocks.

Jennifer Fields
Oklahoma City & Edmond Real Estate Agent

 

 

 

Decorating Tricky Spaces Inside Your House

Designing your home interior is fun when everything comes together perfectly, for instance having a living room that’s big enough to accommodate your furniture and still have room to walk around.  However, not all houses are blessed with just the right size or number of rooms. Sometimes, tricky spaces emerge inside a house and they cause a huge design dilemma.

Below are some examples of tricky spaces and how you can decorate them:

• Narrow and long hallway – The best way to design a long and narrow hall interior is to make use of the bare walls. Hang framed paintings or pictures from one end of the wall to another. You can create a colorful theme using different colors and frame shapes. You can even create a huge collage with a more personal theme. You can place it in the center of the wall or design a creative pattern. Regardless of how you decide to display your wall art and photos, it will be a great place to take a walk down memory lane.
• Small living room with limited shelving – Instead of using bulky shelves in your living room, create a wall-to-wall built-in display, where you can display book, photos, and other decor.
• No entryway – When getting inside your house and a small living room meets you instead of an entryway, don’t worry. What you need to do is to make everything sleek and simple. Instead of investing in a huge coffee table, use a small table instead. Have individual chairs arranged in your living room instead of buying a bulky sofa set and for display. A side table and a display counter that divides your living room with another part of the house will be ideal for added storage and display.
• Small bedroom for two kids – If you have two kids squeezing their beds into one small room, try bunk beds instead. You can utilize the vertical space in the room instead of taking up the limited floor space.  Another option is a slide-in bed that can provide more space during the day when the kids aren’t sleeping.
• Tiny bathroom – Small bathrooms will look bigger if you install mirrors on the walls. In addition to your vanity mirror, install a wall mirror on the other side of the wall to reflect the light and make the room appear more spacious.
• Small studio room – Having to incorporate a living room, dining room, and kitchen in a studio is very tricky. The best thing to do is to opt for smaller furniture instead of buying bulky, larger tables and chairs.  Built-ins will even reduce the need for bulky shelves and cabinets.

Jennifer Fields
Oklahoma City & Edmond Real Estate Agent

 

 

 

Tips for Choosing the Color of Your House

Due to the endless selection of colors available for your home exterior, it can be difficult to decide which one to use.  The process of choosing usually involves a lot of back-and-forth, so to help you pick the most appropriate color, consider these tips:

• Look around the neighborhood. Unless you have the guts to do something totally different, try to maintain the general theme of your neighborhood. If most homes are painted in neutrals, then try to stay within that color range, so your house won’t appear out of place. If your neighborhood sports lots of different colors, you have more flexibility.
• Keep in mind the design and structure of your house. Particular house structures often require more neutral paint colors in order to look elegant and appropriate. Other houses, in the Victorian style, for example, look better with colors.  So, stick to what is best for the house structure itself.
• Go light to make your house look bigger. Small houses can benefit from light paint colors because they make them look bigger.
• Make it stand out. Either go bold or go light. Your home will stand out if painted light in a more crowded surrounding or bold in a free and more open environment.
• Check your surroundings. If your surroundings have lots of trees and green bushes, try to stick to neutral earth tones like browns and greens. Houses near the beach or where it is always sunny may look better with warmer colors like shades of yellow.
• Mix contrasting colors. Using contrasting colors for your base and trim will highlight every detail of your home exterior to make it more impressive and interesting.
• Match your paint color with fixed elements of your house. Fixed elements include things like bricks and stone that are already permanent when it comes to color and design. If you do not plan to paint these elements, try to coordinate with them.

 

Jennifer Fields
Oklahoma City & Edmond Real Estate Agent