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.
A good holiday light display can be awe-inspiring, leaving neighbors talking and prompting people from all over town to drive by just to see it. Unfortunately, some of these displays can be difficult to install, and may even require some technical know-how if you want the display to sync to music or have multiple parts working together. There are services that can help with this, putting in the work to set up your lights, regardless of whether you want a modest display or something that would make Clark Griswold green with envy. Are they right for you, though? Here are a few things to consider.
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.
Keeping your family and your home safe is an important responsibility. There are a number of devices that you can buy to help accomplish this, with some of the most common being smoke detectors. There are many options when it comes to choosing a smoke detector, including several “smart” smoke detector models. If you’ve wondered whether one of these smarter smoke detectors is right for you and your home, here’s a closer look at how they work.
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.
When the last of the brightly colored leaves cling tightly to otherwise bare trees, you know that winter is coming. It’s a sad state of affairs, but happens every year, just like clockwork. The sleet, the snow, the ice, the cold, it all comes in a cycle, and because of that, you need to be paying particular attention to your furnace this time of year. Even if it hasn’t yet started raining down frozen apocalypse upon your head where you live, being ready for the day you’ll have to kick the heat on is a good idea. After all, you don’t want to find out that your furnace isn’t working properly when there’s a foot of snow in the forecast.
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 it comes to home automation, one of the more popular options for consumers is the smart thermostat. These devices can be a great addition to your home, giving you more control over heating and cooling to keep the house comfortable while keeping your energy costs in check. Unfortunately, just getting a smart thermostat isn’t going to optimize the heating and cooling of your home without a little more work. The reason for this is that your existing vents are betraying you.
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.