Reminder: Winter Home Maintenance

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With a lot of the country dealing with bitter cold & figid temperatures, it’s a good reminder to make sure your home is ready for winter.  We have had a few personal experiences that made us realize we hadn’t planned ahead for some of these items: drafty windows in below zero temps, leaves in the gutters that didn’t allow snow to appropriately melt, and not keeping a close enough eye on trees in heavy snowfall.  We learned our lesson with that one and had the worst case scenario happen to us last year with a tree falling onto our house in a big snowstorm.  Luckily, damage was only minimal and to our defense, it was a tree on Boulder County property – not one of ours!  I do come from the standpoint that you learn from your mistakes, but it would probably be best to try to avoid major issues in the first place because burst pipes or chimney fires are not something to joke around about.

Houzz & Huffington Post both have checklists that are worth a read: Your Winter Home Maintenance Checklist and Winter Home Maintenance Checklist.  To me, it’s worth paying attention to things that you think may affect your home and addressing those as soon as possible.

Happy winter, folks!

 

Refresh Your Bedroom

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As the days are getting shorter and the weather is getting cooler, a cozy bedroom is something many of us can really appreciate. If you have extra money to put towards updating a bedroom in your home, you may wonder where to start. I really enjoyed this article from Houzz: “How to refresh your bedroom on any budget.” From a budget of $100 to $10,000, there are great tips on where to prioritize spending your money. I love the focus on a new set of bedding in the article – I cannot agree more because if anything, it’ll help you sleep better. My go-to for bedding is The Company Store – I have never been disappointed in one of their products. Check out their Cloud Blanket & Throw – that was our most recent purchase and I cannot begin to tell you how soft it is.

If you make any of these updates, please leave a comment and let me know how it went!

What Guests Really Notice in Your Home

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While reading up about home decor & inspiration, I stumbled upon an interesting article from Popsugar: “What Guests Really Notice in Your Home.”  This is a timely article given many of us are expecting guests this coming holiday season.  The list isn’t overwhelmingly long – just 6 key things to think about:

  • Scent of the Home
  • Well-stocked bar
  • Fresh Flowers
  • Lack of Clutter
  • A tidy bathroom
  • An organized entry way

The only addition I would add is …”A tidy and clean bathroom!”  You can’t fool your guests into a fresh, organized, home if your bathrooms are way overdue for a cleaning.

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Real Estate Tip: Potential buyers will notice these things too when looking at your home for sale… except for the well-stocked bar, unless it comes with the house 😉

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11 Steps to an Organized Kitchen

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I don’t know about you, but I have a tough time enjoying our kitchen when its messy and cluttered.  However, staying on top of the mess is time-consuming and sometimes feels overwhelming.  The kitchen is often the catch-all for lunch boxes, mail, laptop bags, groceries, and of course the never-ending supply of dirty dishes.  This article has some great tips to get your kitchen under control and keep it that way.

What better time to get inspired to organize your kitchen than a weekend?  Happy organizing!

Old Home Ideas That Deserve a Comeback

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I recently read an article titled: “15 Old House Features We Were Wrong to Abandon.” The point of the article being there are many home features that we were probably right to leave behind (at least as of today), but there are some really cool features that deserve a comeback.  Clicking through the list, I was surprised and excited to see that our home already has four of the fifteen and two more that I have planned to add to our home.   Funny thing is, those four features are some of my favorite features of our house.  They include:

  1. Transom windows.  We have them over interior and exterior facing windows and doors in our house and it makes the house seem so much more open, airy, and bright. Plus, its such an unexpected feature – we get positive comments on them all the time.
  2. Laundry Chute.  I cannot begin to tell you how helpful it is to push a load of dirty laundry down our chute, straight into our laundry room vs. carrying it down the stairs, through the family room, then kitchen, and into the laundry room.  You know you’re guaranteed to lose at least one sock on a trip like that!  It has been such a great element to our home that when my parents were doing a full remodel on their home in CT, I suggested they add in a laundry chute to the plans and they did!
  3. Intercoms.  I’ll be honest, ours is pretty outdated and a bit of an eye-sore in our house (we’ll get to replacing it eventually) but trying to get someone’s attention upstairs or in the garage without yelling does come in handy.
  4. Ceiling Medallions.  We have a ceiling medallion in our kitchen and I thought it was such an interesting feature.  We replaced the original light fixture that was hanging there and kept the medallion.  I never would have thought to add it, but I am happy it’s there and adds a little personality to our kitchen.

And the two I hope to add to our home:

  1. Dutch Doors. It will be so wonderful to be able to open the top door to talk to the delivery man without our huge dog running out to bark at them.
  2. Clawfoot Tub. This is my dream tub for our master bathroom remodel if it fits within the space & budget.  Stay tuned on that one – work to start in Fall 2017.

So, there are six of the fifteen that I clearly agree society was wrong to abandon.  Below is the remainder of the list from the article I read.  I don’t see an immediate need for them at our house, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fit for another family.  Hope this starts to get you thinking during your next home remodel or search.

  1. Sleeping porches
  2. Boot scrapers for your front stoop
  3. Pocket shutters
  4. Phone nook
  5. Dumbwaiter
  6. Mail slot on your front door
  7. Root cellar
  8. Rumford fireplaces
  9. Picture Rail Moulding

 

Decor Decision Making

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This January, I finally pulled the trigger on a purchase that I had been researching for months.  I was scouring my go-to sites daily for affordable decor (Joss & Main, Wayfair, & Zulily) and after weeks of no luck, I expanded my search to my more expensive favorite retailers (Pottery Barn, Serena & Lily, and Crate & Barrel).  I found TONS of options, but I just could not for the life of me make a decision.  Believe it or not, my big decision was 2 decorative pillows for our family room couch. Crazy – I know.  Why are the small purchases sometimes the hardest!?  It took me months to decide on 2 pillows and literally 2 days to decide on a 12′ x 15′ rug for our family room.  Believe me, the rug was a lot more expensive than the 2 pillows 🙂

I think my hang-up was that the colors of our family room are so comfortable to me.  A lot of grays, blue, and white and that is something I have always decorated with.  However, I wanted to take a little chance with the pillows and put a splash of unexpected color in the room.  Our beautiful rug has a touch of mustard yellow, salmon pink, and mint green – all colors I like but wasn’t sure I wanted to highlight.  I finally decided to pull out that salmon pink and purchased 2 really cozy, cotton cable knit sweater pillows in a Paprika color.  I had gone back and forth on whether to purchase a pillow with a design or keep it simple.  In the end, I decided that the rug had such a strong pattern that simple, classic pillows would look best.  The faded “pink” turned out to fit in perfectly and I’m really pleased that the pillows made the room even a touch more comfortable. Yellow lab approved.

Rest & Recharge in the Rocky Mountains

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It has been a few weeks since a post, primarily because we headed up to our home away from home for some rest & family time.  We are lucky enough to have a family home in Breckenridge and we love getting out of town whenever we can to head up to the beautiful town high up in the Rocky Mountains.  We spend our days enjoying winter activities ~ skiing, snowshoeing, and throwing snowballs for our dog.  I also enjoy my walks, albeit a little chilly with less oxygen, but lots of gorgeous homes to look at which makes me happy.  Mountain homes have such a unique look with their creative use of wood beams & siding, gorgeous stone walls & fireplaces, large windows, and properties littered with aspen trees & mountain views if you’re lucky.  On my walk today, I couldn’t help but pause for a short break to take in the sweeping views of Breckenridge Ski Resort.  It was high 30s and bright sun and even though the town is bustling with visitors for the holidays, up here east of mountain, I can walk a little slower and enjoy the peace & quiet.

Inspiration from the East Coast

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My husband, son, and I made the trip to the east coast for the holidays this past week. We are lucky that both sets of families are just a short Amtrak ride apart so we spent some time in MA and some time in CT. Both my husband and I grew up on the east coast and the coastal elements from CT and MA definitely shine through in my design style. My parents just recently completed a major home addition and I was so excited to see the finished product. One interesting aspect they added was an enclosed walkway between the garage and the house – a gorgeous hall of windows and a light stone tile. It’s a stunning feature from both inside and out and such a luxury on cold rainy days like we had when we were visiting.

 

A Passion for Homes

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Nearly a year ago, October 2016, I was a new mom home on maternity leave and I found myself doing a lot of soul searching.  The days were long but filled with tremendous love for this new little boy that joined our family.  Nearly every day, I would pack up the baby & harness up the dog and we would venture out on a long walk. I would find myself daydreaming on these walks. “What are my dreams?”  “What are my passions?” “What do I get excited about?”  These are questions I have asked myself a million times before but, I could never really come up with an answer that I believed was true.

Finally, after countless strolls through neighborhoods in Boulder, CO, things started to click.   I realized that I was checking out each and every home I passed with curiousity.  I realized that I dream about future homes for my family.  I constantly envision our next house project to continue to make our home comfortable, yet beautiful. I get excited seeing what other people have done with their homes.  I spend free time perusing real estate sites.

Fast forward to Fall 2017.  I’m excited to announce that I’ve made a major career shift from marketing & selling in Corporate America to marketing & selling a new product, something I’m passionate about: Homes.