Around the House

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Tips for Freshening Your Home With a Little Spring Cleaning

May 13, 2013 in Around the House by Hayden Homes | No comments

cleaning day

Spring has arrived, and its tradition, it has brought with it everything that is synonymous with this time of year: sunshine, daylight savings, flowers, showers, and the urge to freshen up household spaces with a little spring cleaning.

A little spring freshening of your household can not only spruce up your home’s appearance, it can boost your home’s value, add curb appeal, and help encourage your neighbors to do the same.

Here are five ideas spring cleaning your household.

1. Freshen up your home’s curb appeal.  Your home’s front yard and entry is the first thing people see when they come to visit, yet it is often neglected because homeowners enter their home from the garage and not the front door.  Make your entry more inviting by sweeping up the front porch, patio, or entry, removing cobwebs and dust from the front of the home, and cleaning or power washing the exterior and front-facing windows.  If you are feeling extra ambitious, add a fresh coat of paint to the front door, replace the doormat, add some potted flowers, and revive the front porch seating with new furniture cushions.

2. Clean your home’s windows. Nothing will freshen up your home quicker than a good window washing.  Washing your windows allows more of the daylight in, brightening your home and instantly creating a sunnier, friendlier space.  While you are up on the ladders cleaning away, you may also want to consider giving the blinds a good dusting and the window treatments a good washing. Also, don’t neglect the screens.  Spritz clean, remove of bugs, and repair broken or torn areas.

3. Dust off hard-to-reach places.  Hard-to-reach places often get neglected by the daily and weekly cleaning regimen. Use this opportunity to dust off light fixtures, fans, floorboards, and other hard-to-reach places such as under the beds and behind couches and end tables.

4. Organize your garage.  Over the course of the year, garages tend to get neglected while the stuff inside them continues to pile up.  Spring is the perfect time to clean and organize this space because the warmer weather allows you tackle the mess with doors wide open, while also adding much need space to store and retrieve your favorite spring and summer gear such as tents, bicycles, coolers, camp chairs, and kayaks.

5. Spruce up the main spaces.  Go through the shared spaces of your home and remove anything that’s off-season, too heavy for the room’s visual, unnecessary, or very bulky.  Simply ridding your home of the extras can spruce up any space, making your home appear brighter, lighter, and cleaner.  For the smaller things you reach for all the time, look for storage solutions that will tackle the clutter without impeding on convenience, such as magazine racks, charging stations, and mudroom lockers.

Bonus Tip: Tackle the paper clutter.  We all have a place where paper clutter congregates.  Spring is the perfect time to go through old files and rid of old bills, statements, assignments, and other paper clutter.  Since spring comes just after tax season, it’s easier to know what items you can purge, and start fresh for the new year.  You can even opt to scan in your important papers which will help you rid of paper clutter altogether (just remember to backup those files!).

There’s nothing like a little sweat and elbow grease in the mild temperatures and spring sunshine to motivate you to freshen up your home. Tackling these cleaning tasks will make your home fresh, clean, and inviting, and allow you to relax the rest of the spring and summer away!

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Saving Money in 2013 with Five Home-Related To-Do’s

February 11, 2013 in Around the House by Hayden Homes | No comments

For the first time, finances and not diet and exercise made the top of Americans’ New Year’s Resolutions lists. More and

Save Money

more Americans are looking for ways to save money in 2013 so they can be more financially fit, save more money, or possibly make that investment in a new home this year.

Inspired by an article written by Ken Torrino for New York City Real Estate, “5 Money-Saving New Years Resolutions for Your Home,” we thought we’d pass along some ideas for how to save money on household-related items in 2013.  These five simple tasks take less than an hour to perform, but can mean big savings for homeowners in the long run.

1. Change your filters.  Clogged filters are not only reduce air quality, they can also compromise the efficiency of your heating or cooling system by 15-20 percent.  New filters, which cost just a few dollars, can save you big dollars in the long run on your energy bills and service on your heating and cooling systems.  Plus, new filters will improve the air quality and create a healthier habitat within your home.

2. Get rid of the extra fridge.  Refrigerators use a lot of energy, especially the extra ones that often reside in the garage.  Getting rid of an old fridge will not only save you money on your electric bill, you can also get $40-50 cash and free removal of your fridge from companies like Energy Star of Oregon in exchange for forfeiting your old refrigerator.

3. Get new quotes on homeowner’s insurance.  It’s a good idea to shop around for homeowner’s hazard insurance every couple years.  There are potential savings for everything from your credit rating, to improvements to your home, to what type of dog you own.  You can shop around for rates and discounts that can be combined with your other insurance policies as well (such as auto and life insurance) and save even more.

4. Have a home energy review or home energy audit performed.  Most utilities in the Northwest offer free home energy audits to customers.  A trained technician will come out to your house and identify ways your home can be more energy efficient, which will save you big money on your electric, gas, and water bills.  In fact, minor improvements such as replacing weatherstripping, re-caulking windows, and replacing shower heads with water-reducing options can lead to huge savings.

5. Replace broken down appliances with energy-efficient ones.  If you are planning on purchasing a new appliance in 2013, replace them with today’s more energy-efficient options.  Water and energy-efficient appliances really do save money!  In fact, they can pay for themselves in almost no time. The older the appliance replaced, the more cost savings you will see, so start with the oldest and work your way from there!

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Two Reasons to Feng Shui Your Home

June 21, 2012 in Around the House, First Time Home Buyers by Hayden Homes | Permalink

Feng Shui. It’s been growing in popularity over the years, and it may have sparked your interest.  What is it, exactly? Well, it’s the practice of bringing harmony into your home by making your personal spaces, personal.  It’s the idea that your home is the is a physical representation of you–your joys, your interests, and level of peace (or chaos)–so a space that is comfortable, bright, and calming is more likely to have casual, happy, and calm inhabitants.

Feng Shui is more than a style, it’s a lifestyle.  But did you know that it can also be an investment?  Yes, that’s right!  Homes that are Feng Shui are organized, calm, and well-balanced, so they have the potential to appraise higher and attract more buyers.  So, it’s not just an investment in your personal happiness, it’s an investment in the wealth potential of your home!

…“Everything you own is energetically attached to you.  Things you love are like golden threads. Conversely, clutter is like dragging around a ball and chain.

“Look at your possessions with fresh eyes and ask yourself if each object reflects you and the home you want.  If not, it is time to let them go.  By removing the old, you create more space for the new – what you truly DO want.

“If you weed a garden and just leave it the weeds return stronger than before.  But, if you weed a garden and then plant it with gorgeous plants and flowers the weeds have no room to return.  Exactly the same approach should be taken with clutter.  Make sure you know what you want to fill your newly created space with, be it more joy or more balance.  This way you will stop the clutter from returning.”

…Just as it is necessary to build walls and lay floors and a roof to build a house, so is it necessary to prepare your home, set the stage if you will, to build the type of family life you truly want. So, clear the clutter, create the feeling you want in your house using feng shuiprinciples, and then allow stress-free parenting to begin flowing in.

via Lifehack.com, “Create a Stress-Free Home: An Introduction to Feng Shui.”

When you buy a Hayden Home, you get to choose the colors and textures (beyond standard cream), so you walk in to a home that is so very “you” from the get-go. A little color can go a long way to add personality, calmness, and warmth to “Feng Shui” your home. Couple that with the natural tones of hardwood floors, beautiful cabinetry, and gorgeous stonework, and you are that much closer to a positive, peaceful atmosphere with very little effort.

Even if you have never designed a home, we invite you to take a look at the variety of colors, textures, and finishes available by touring one of our model homes. Designing a welcoming space with Feng Shui principles is easy with so many choices!

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Home Office Spaces That “Work”

May 3, 2012 in Around the House by Hayden Homes | Permalink

One of the biggest advantages of working from home is the opportunity to get things done in a space that is personal, comfortable, and designed to suit your taste.  But creating a perfect home office space can present challenges for an amateur; such as spacing, lighting, electrical outlets, and furniture arrangements.

Houzz.com makes the following recommendations for creating a home office space you’ll love.  For more ideas and pictures to help inspire your home office space, check out their article, “Home Offices That Earn Their Keep“:

1. Start a home office wish list. Create a file, or even a board on Pinterest, with files and pictures of things you like, items you want, and colors and fabrics that suit your taste.

2. Decide how many people will be using the space.  This will help you determine adequate seating, supplies, and computers.  Is this just a home office, or will this space also double as a homework room, study, or place to balance the checkbook?

3. Will your office be paperless?  If so, you can opt for utilizing more table and creative space.  If not, you will need more storage for files and papers.

4. Think outside the office furniture box.  Designers are now opting to use everyday furniture to grace their offices.  A table can double as a desk.  And why not replace the ugly office chair with an antique tufted chair?  Try to find ways to incorporate comfort and style into your office space using items you love for the rest of the house.

5. Make an impact with color.  Use bold colors to define the space and give the room an extra “pow”. 

Hayden Homes offers numerous floor plans that incorporate specific areas for a home office. Most of our plans have the option for converting a third bedroom or loft into a den into a private workspace. The Orchard, Rockwood, Tumalo and Parkland floor plans are just a few that offer this option. To view and customize a floor plan that will meet your home office needs, visit our website and select a community in your area to access the “Design Your Home” function.

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