Seven Costly Mistakes New Homeowners Make

Owning a home for the first time is exciting, but that excitement can fade quickly if faced with extensive (and expensive) damage. New homeowners often inadvertently cause damage that can cost thousands of dollars or more in repairs.

The Home Book authors David MacLellan, George Wolfson and Douglas Hansen recommend steering clear of these common first-time homeowner mistakes.

1. Overloading Upper Cabinets in Kitchen

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Avoid stacking heavy dishes in an upper cabinet, which is only supported by the wall behind it. Shelves may begin to sag if the cabinet struggles to bear the weight. At worst, your cabinet can detach from the wall completely.

2. Using Attic or Garage Trusses as Storage

Despite many homeowners doing otherwise, storing items on top of garage or attic trusses can lead to sagging, increasing the possibility that the roof may collapse. If you truly need the additional space, consult a structural engineer who can advise you as to the best course of action.

3. Tinting Dual-Pane Windows

Many new homes have dual-pane windows, which help insulate a home by sealing ‘dead air’ between two panes. Tinting can disrupt the reflection of the sun’s rays, trapping hot air in the dead air space. Heat can cause the elastic seal to rupture, eliminating insulation.

4. Disconnecting Bathroom and Laundry Vent Fans 

The noise may bother you, but disconnecting a bathroom or laundry vent fan can increase water vapor, adversely affecting drywall and electrical outlets and leading to damages from dry rot, mold and mildew. Turn the fan on during each use of the room.

5. Irrigating against the Home

When installing an irrigation system, ensure that irrigation spouts spray away from the home and add-on structures. It seems like a no-brainer, but it can happen in places where you least expect it, including the posts of an overhead deck.

6. Altering Finished Grades

If you’d like to install a walkway, patio, drainage system or even a pool, make certain that your contractor doesn’t just pour concrete over the existing finished grade. Doing so can result in water flow towards the home, which can cause the foundation to shift. A shifting foundation can lead to both interior and exterior damage – a costly, and preventable, repair.

7. Improperly Installing Add-on Structures

Before installing any structure, such as a trellis, sun screen or lanai, check with your municipality for any building codes that may apply to your situation. Do not nail or bolt the structure directly the exterior wall. Homeowners who do so run the risk of dry rot from rainwater collection.

Source: RISMedia’s Housecall 

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2015. All rights reserved.

5 Tips to Avoid Home-Design Arguments

(TNS)—Sharing your life with someone is a beautiful thing, but that doesn’t always mean you share the same design and style preferences when it comes to your home. Whether you’ve lived together for one year or 20, use this advice from highly rated interior designers to stop the fights that have kept you from painting the walls or tiling the floors.

1. Start with a design plan

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Jodi Schavone, owner of Décor Coach in Apex, N.C., says to make a list of how the room has to function for each person before embarking on a design project. This will help couples and families prioritize and understand why one idea might be better than another.

Think realistically about how you’ll use the space, along with whether you have a big family or like to entertain. Look through pictures online or in magazines, and talk openly about your likes and dislikes.

2. Listen to each other
Communicate openly, and don’t forget to listen. Interior designers say the majority of their job comes down to listening to clients. Sometimes your spouse or partner might just want his or her ideas heard. Discussing concerns helps to avoid conflict, and will help you determine what he or she likes about a particular color, pattern or piece of furniture.

3. Blend your design styles
“A home is like a marriage,” Schavone says. “It won’t work if it’s one-sided.” Not everything has to match. There are ways to mix style preferences, according to Schavone. This could be as easy as using one person’s color choices with the other person’s fabric selection. You want your new space to reflect both of you.

4. Give and take to keep the peace
There are usually places in the home where each person can have it their way, says Kathy Tufts, owner of Beyond Design in Clifton, Va., For example, choose neutral themes and colors for your common area, but allow some creativity in personal offices, bedrooms or hobby rooms. You’ll have to compromise many times throughout your life. This is good practice.

5. Hire an interior designer
Bringing in reinforcements often helps you see eye to eye, but could cost you between $100 and $200 for an initial one-hour consultation. “A big part of my job is being a marriage counselor or peace mediator,” Tufts says.

Schavone agrees. “In listening to my clients, I detail what’s most important,” she says. “If I address the important parts of their ideas, they can usually give a little.”

©2015 Angie's List
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2015. All rights reserved.

5 Home Upgrades Under $100

Irvine, CA, Mar 3, 2015—Looking to give your home an upgrade but lacking a big budget? According to Elsie Parker, REALTOR at CENTURY 21 Award, there are tons of small home tweaks all packing serious redesign punch. Here are five home upgrades for under $100.

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Paint. Painting has long been the budget designer's best friend. “A coat of paint can make a room feel fresh and new, and leaves ample room for creativity,” says Elsie. You can completely recolor the whole room, or add an extra accent pop on one wall.

Get new drapery. New curtains for the living room or bedroom can offer an interesting new look with minimal effort and cost. “Go seasonal with colors--think yellow for spring and bright blue for summer--or simply swap to a heavier fabric once winter arrives,” suggests Elsie.

Lighting upgrade. Install new lighting in a previously drab room to give it an immediate visual upgrade. “Bathrooms are often in need of a lighting upgrade, but another frequent offender is the front entryway, where guests view your home for the first time,” notes Elsie.

Replace hardware. Replacing the hardware on your cabinets is an easy way to give your kitchen a bit of bedazzling without breaking the bank.

Create a door shelf. Adding a shelf above a door way not only creates more storage room, but is an elegant place to display photos or books. Simply add a wooden shelf above your door and then paint it to match the door's trim.

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For additional information on home upgrades and real estate, please contact Elsie Parker, at eparker@century21award.com, (714) 402-0567, or www.esphomes.com

For more real estate information, please contact CENTURY 21 Award at info@century21award.com, (800) 293-1657, or CENTURY 21 Award.

Ceilings: Your Fifth Wall Has Design Potential

(BPT) - Many homeowners don't consider ceilings part of their interior design, and it shows. Most are expanses of bland white paint. But savvy do-it-yourselfers are converting these blank canvases into interesting and functional design elements that accent a room's decor, create a cozier space or disguise problems commonly found on this fifth wall.

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Updating a ceiling is one of the easiest and budget-friendly ways to freshen a space. Dana Vento, DIY expert and popular home renovation blogger, recommends tackling a ceiling project that can be quickly and easily finished over the weekend. Here are her tips:

Warm up with wood. There's a reason wood flooring is so popular - it tends to warm up a room and add character. The same goes for ceilings. Real or engineered wood panels can extend your sense of style in any room. That's because they come in a wide range of tones, textures and patterns to suit any decorating style, from rustic to mid-century modern to contemporary.

Go beyond vanilla. For those who want to add a splash of color, the ceiling holds special allure. Painting the ceiling the same color as the walls (or one shade lighter) can make a small room feel larger. A bright color, say yellow or pink, could enliven a child's room, while a sky blue ceiling creates a more soothing ambiance. Black ceilings have their own design advantages, dramatically defining a dining area in an open floor plan, for instance, or enhancing the enveloping atmosphere of a home theater.

Add shimmer. Love the look of metals? Consider today's pressed metal ceiling tiles. They're far easier to install than their antique ancestors, and the light-refracting properties of copper, brass and lacquered steel can help raise the ceiling visually in any room.

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2014. All rights reserved.