HomeKeepr Blog

People don’t always appreciate all the roles that windows fill in the home. They provide natural light, give you a way to open up and let in some fresh air, and even help regulate indoor temperatures. Many homes even use windows to add a decorative element that is hard to achieve with other forms of decoration. With that said, not all windows are created equal. Some windows use cheap materials to keep costs down. Your old windows may have started out in good shape but ended up showing their age as time goes by. They may have even become damaged or otherwise in need of repair. Regardless of the reason, you might have windows in your home that just aren’t doing what you need them to do. Should you replace them? Here are a few things that you should consider to help you make this decision.

The way your home is decorated says a lot about you, your family, and your lifestyle. Not only does choosing the right colors set the mood in a place, putting those colors in the right spots can also dramatically change the features of a room. There are so many ways to use color to change your home!

When the weather outside is frightful, a fire can be so delightful. That’s what the song says, anyway. But loads of homeowners tend to agree with the sentiment, so surely they can’t all be wrong. Adding a fireplace to your home can seem like a big undertaking, but there are several options for homeowners looking to add a little snap, crackle, and pop to their living spaces.

Everything has its season, and for paint, winter is that time. Year after year, paint companies release their chosen Color(s) of the Year, which are meant to be reflections on trends that are coming to interior design near you. If you’ve been considering repainting a bedroom or your whole house, knowing what’s in can help you narrow down the impressively huge list of paint options available.

Oh, baby, it’s cold outside… and inside, too, if you’re standing close to a drafty window, door, or mysterious source of outside air. Persistent drafts are funny things. They can be massive pains when the wind blows just right, and almost unnoticeable when it’s still, making it both difficult to locate the problem, and hard to keep front of mind as you go about the rest of your week. But if you’ve got a persistent draft, transient or not, this can be the year you solve it. You’ll also save yourself a bundle in home heating and cooling costs throughout the year, so bonus.

Roasting chestnuts over an open fire is a delightful holiday season tradition, but unless your flue has been inspected and cleaned, it’s not a very good idea. After all, a far less popular holiday pastime is running out into a winter night in your pajamas because your flue caught on fire. Flue fires account for about 46,000 home fires yearly, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Although most homeowners made it out in time, the property damage that can result is often massive. Some flue fires will go undetected and may smoulder for a long time, while others will quickly burn a house to the ground. This is why it’s so important to keep your flue clean and in good repair, especially if you’re using a fireplace or other wood-burning heating sources.

While the fall has been mild and even warm in many areas, it’s important to realize that winter is right around the corner. There’s no way to tell what the winter might hold, and even if you don’t see much in the way of snow and ice you can still run into some problems if your home isn’t ready for cold winter temperatures. To make sure that you’re as ready as possible for whatever the winter might have in store, here are some things to consider as you make your winterization plans.

When you’re shopping for a home, it can feel like you’re hemorrhaging money. You’ve got all sorts of things to pay for, from loan application fees to home inspections, so when the issue of earnest money comes up unexpectedly, it can be a “slam on the brakes” moment. Now that the days of low to no down payments are largely past and markets everywhere seem to be running thin on inventory, earnest money may well be the most important negotiating tool you’ve never heard of.

Chances are, you’ve at least heard of building permits even if you haven’t applied for one yourself. Going by their name alone, you can probably guess the general gist of what these permits are used for. You might be surprised to find out that a lot of homeowners don’t really know that much about building permits, especially when it comes to details such as when you need to apply for one. It can actually get kind of confusing at times, so here’s a rundown of the basics of building permits so you won’t be left scratching your head the next time you’re considering a new project around the house.