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How to Decorate Your Home on a Budget

May 29, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Buying a home is expensive, but decorating doesn’t have to be. You can decorate a home that shows off your style and personality without breaking the bank. Use these tips to decorate your home on a budget.

1. Make a Budget: Before you start shopping, create a budget that makes sense for you. How much are you willing to spend for a quick update? Figure out which pieces are essential in your home decor and work around that. For example, if you’re decorating a living room, a majority of your money will go towards a nice couch or entertainment center. List out what you’re willing to spend for certain items.

2. Shop Flash Sale Sites: Flash sale sites like Joss & Main and One King’s Lane offer their customers designer brands for discounted prices. These types of sales are a great way to stay within your budget, while still achieving the look you want.

3. DIY: Estate sales and flea markets are great ways to find vintage pieces for less. Don’t be discouraged by their rugged appearances! The furniture might need a little TLC, but a simple DIY project will do the trick. Quick paint jobs, new hardware and some dusting will have these pieces looking good as new! You can also buy less expensive furniture from stores like Ikea. Paint them, add new fixtures, and make them your own. Google “Ikea hacks” for inspiration.

4. Personal Touches: Grab a camera and get outside! Sometimes the best wall decor is your own. Print your favorite photographs to display in nice frames. Play around with patterns and color depending on your style. Create gallery walls with your favorite family photos, photos from trips, wedding pictures, or pictures around your neighborhood.

One added benefit of this approach is that it encourages you to infuse your personality into every element of home design. You don’t have to stick to the status quo – you are making decisions that represent you and your family.

Recommended Reading:

-How to Style a Nightstand

-How to Style a Coffee Table

-How to Style a Bookshelf

-Color Palette: Ginger Jars

-Color Palette: A Day in the Garden

-10 Secrets for Making Your Room Feel Larger

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5 Tips for First Time Homebuyers

May 27, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Congratulations! You are ready to buy a home. Purchasing a home is an exciting life milestone and is a huge decision with so many factors to consider. Finding the right property can be a challenge for growing families. What may seem like a good fit now may not be the best choice for your family in the long run.

Here are our 5 best tips when buying a home for your growing family:

Neighborhood - Do your research before looking at homes in neighborhoods that aren’t convenient for young families. Look into school districts, local parks, neighbors and proximity to doctors and hospitals. Consider the length of your commute to work so that you can maximize the amount of time you have to spend with your family.

Space – How many kids do you want to have? Simple things like sharing a bathroom or closet space can become a hassle in the long run. Families with small children might want to look into an open-concept floor plan for safety reasons. A designated playroom might be a smart idea for your family, or maybe you’d prefer two levels instead of three. List out what your priorities before making the move.

Affordability - Now that you know what you’re looking for, the next step is figuring out what type of home you can afford. A review of your income, savings, monthly expenses and debt will be necessary. Use our Affordability Calculator!

Offer - Once you’ve found your ideal house, it’s time to get started with the financial and contractual side of the purchase. Let your CENTURY 21^® real estate professional guide you through this process. Purchase contracts vary in length and terms from state to state, and sometimes within a state. Multiple offers on the same home are not uncommon, so you may only get one chance to make an offer that the seller will consider. That’s why it’s important to think carefully about your strategy. In most cases it is better to have your real estate professional present the offer. Learn more here!

Inspection – Once you’ve made an offer, hire a professional home inspector to give the house a standard inspection and make sure that it is a safe home for your family.

Agents affiliated with the CENTURY 21 System are ready to make a commitment to help you capitalize on current market opportunities and assist you in making an informed decision. A CENTURY 21 Agent can help ensure you make the right choice for the long term, get a better understanding of different neighborhoods, schools, and market conditions, find a mortgage specialist, and more. Find an agent today!

Recommended Reading:

-We Asked, You Answered: Tips for First-Time Homebuyers

Recommended Resources:

-Mortgage Calculator

-Affordability Calculator

-Amortization Calculator

-Refinancing Calculator

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Do This, Not That: Tips for Staging Your Home

May 25, 2014 By CENTURY 21

You never get a second chance at a first impression. It is important that potential buyers get a great first impression when they come to your home for an open house or see your listing online. Factors like cleanliness, brightness, and furniture placement all make a big impact on the home’s overall appearance. Making buyers feel comfortable in a new space is key to selling a home. We asked our Facebook friends for their best tips for staging a home to sell.

Here are five tips for staging your home:

“Make sure all furniture is about one and a half inches from the wall, this creates the illusion of more space. Clear all personal pictures. If the front door is worn, paint it an interesting color that is inviting and make sure the path to the home is welcoming.” – Michael L.

“You hope that you will have a lot of people in short period of time, freedom of movement is essential.” - CENTURY 21 Ilford

“Good photos get action. Make sure the lights are on and that you are using a good camera. Don’t use your cell phone!” – Kristy W.

“Everything off the counters! Toilet seats down. Blinds all the way up to show off recently cleaned windows.” – Wayne F.

“Stage with smaller furniture to make rooms bigger and go with light colored furnishings unless the area dictates darker classy designs.” – Peter C.

Find more great tips on our Facebook post, and visit CENTURY21.com for more home selling advice.

Do This, Not That: Tips for Staging Your Home

May 25, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Here are five tips for staging your home:

“Make sure all furniture is about one and a half inches from the wall, this creates the illusion of more space. Clear all personal pictures. If the front door is worn, paint it an interesting color that is inviting and make sure the path to the home is welcoming.” – Michael L.

“You hope that you will have a lot of people in short period of time, freedom of movement is essential.” - CENTURY 21 Ilford

“Good photos get action. Make sure the lights are on and that you are using a good camera. Don’t use your cell phone!” – Kristy W.

“Everything off the counters! Toilet seats down. Blinds all the way up to show off recently cleaned windows.” – Wayne F.

“Stage with smaller furniture to make rooms bigger and go with light colored furnishings unless the area dictates darker classy designs.” – Peter C.

Find more great tips on our Facebook post, and visit CENTURY21.com for more home selling advice.

10 Incredible Home Organization Tips

May 21, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Organization may seem like a chore, but it doesn’t have to be! Our fun and efficient organization tips will keep your home looking tidy and spacious. Who doesn’t love a great, inexpensive, home hack?

1. Bathroom Towel Rack: Towel space is important in a bathroom. Use a coat rack as a towel rack.

2. Produce Baskets: Baskets are perfect for storing produce and supplies. They also look charming, if we do say so ourselves!

Martha Stewart

3. DIY Chalkboard Bins: Use chalkboard paint to label what is in each of your storage bins. You’ll know what you need – without having to take down the bin.

Here’s What’s Cooking

4. Mason Jar Organizers: Clear jars make it easy to spot what you’re looking for and you can save valuable real estate on your desk!

Shoppe

5. Letter Holder: Recycle an old shutter by using it as a letter holder!

Scraphacker

6. Magnetic Tool Holder It’s easy to lose your tools in a cluttered garage. Keep your nails and bolts neat, tidy, and visible by making a magnetic tool holder.

Listotic

7. Ladder Laundry Rack: Add extra space to your laundry room! Paint a small wooden ladder and hang it from the ceiling. Add hooks and start hanging your laundry to dry.

8. Wine Rack to Office Storage: Turn a regular wine rack into an office storage tool by putting in cups filled with pens, markers, or other office supplies.

Organize and Decorate Everything

9. Magnetic Spice Holders: Yikes! It can be so hard to find the right spice. Organize your spices by making magnetic spice holders that you can put on your fridge. Find the right thing, every time, and save space.

One Lucky Pickle

10. Jewelry Organizer: Turn a mirror frame and fabric into a DIY jewelry organizer. It saves space and it looks beautiful – fashion is art!

The Plunge Project

We’ll be back again soon with more organization tricks that will help your home feel clean and comfortable! In the meantime, you may like our series on styling different areas around your home!

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Kitchen Design Inspiration from CENTURY® 21 Homes

May 8, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Your family spends a lot of time in the kitchen, so it’s important that the kitchen is comfortable and functional. We chose a few incredible CENTURY21^®kitchens to inspire your decorating decisions!

This kitchen’s monochromatic color scheme, light colored paint, lack of clutter, and extra lighting makes it seem larger. Build an island with storage and maximize cupboard space to create extra space for cutlery, pots and pans, and appliances. Can you spot the fridge? The clean, streamlined look is maximized because the fridge, dishwasher, and garbage cans are all concealed by matching paneling. The island doubles as a seating area so friends and family members can gather around.

We love a white kitchen! It may seem like white and light gray would feel dreary or sterile, but this kitchen feels bright and airy. The lit up cabinets, track lighting, and large hanging lights make the kitchen seem larger. If you have bay windows, take a cue from this kitchen and make a breakfast nook that your family will love.

This kitchen has an open floor plan, making the kitchen appear to be infinite. The cooking area seamlessly transitions into a larger dining space and seating area. Add a built-in desk so that you can finalize paperwork and projects while you are waiting for your perfect soufflé to be ready. We have a feeling that if you recreate this look, your family will spend most of their time together in the kitchen!

If you take these design suggestions you’ll never say, “There’s too many cooks in the kitchen!”

If you liked this article you may also like some of our other interior design inspiration articles:

-How to Style a Bookshelf

-How to Style a Centerpiece

-How to Style a Coffee Table

-How to Style a Nightstand

-Five Simple Chalkboard Paint Projects for the Home

-Storage Matters

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Let’s Get App-y: 3 Apps for Interior Design

May 6, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Interior design? There’s an app for that. We’ve rounded up five apps that will make your interior design projects easier. These apps seem like something straight from The Jetsons, but we can assure you that they are real and really helpful!

1. Benjamin Moore Color Capture® App (Android, iPhone, iPad): This app has multiple uses that are perfect for helping you choose colors for your home. If you’ve ever chosen paint colors before you know how hard it can be to choose between two colors that look so similar, yet so very different. Use this app to share your favorite colors on social media or by email, “favorite” colors, access the full color wheel (without having to carry it around), and write down notes. One standout feature of this app, is that you can take a picture of something that you love and the app will generate the corresponding Benjamin Moore paint colors! Paint different rooms with the colors of your favorite bouquet, sunset, flower, outfit, and whatever else inspires you!

2. Furnish (Android, iPhone, iPad): Wouldn’t it be great if you could see how your furniture would look in your home before you buy it? This app allows you to do just that! Use the app to browse furniture from their partners, Target, Ikea, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Herman Miller, and Knoll, then upload a picture of the room where you want the furniture and see if you like how it looks!

3. Home 3D (iPhone, iPad): Use the architecture functionality to create your home’s floorplan and rearrange it so that it becomes your ideal layout. Use the interior design functionality to add and rearrange furniture, to paint or wallpaper different rooms and to test different looks. If that isn’t cool enough, you can also use the 3D dollhouse mode to virtually walk through your home!

4. iHandy Carpenter (Android, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch): iHandy Carpenter has a plumb bob, a surface level, a bubble level bar, a steel protractor, and a steel ruler all conveniently located on your phone! This is a great app for carpenters, handymen, and people who are decorating their home. No more tilting your head quizzically to see if the painting or picture you hung is straight!

5. Autodesk Homestyle (Android, iPhone, iPad): Use Homestyler to see how furniture, light fixtures, rugs, paintings, mirrors, and more look in your home! The app has 3D images which give you an accurate representation of what your home will look like. Use the app to browse and buy furniture from a long list of brands including Crate and Barrel, Ethan Allen, Jonathan Adler, and Pottery Barn. We all know that choosing paint is a huge commitment. You can try paint colors and wallpaper to see how it looks in your home! Browse the Design Stream for inspiration and ideas, share designs with friends and family, look through Portfolio Pages of professional designers, and ask the professionals for their advice.

Loving your living space is so important. Interior design can be stressful because you want everything to be perfect. These apps help you try before you buy and make sure everything is just right.

Happy decorating!

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Just DIY It: 5 Natural Cleaning Products

May 5, 2014 By CENTURY 21

You know the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make natural cleaning supplies?” Okay, we made that one up, but there are so many ways to make natural cleaning supplies using things that you may already have at home.

5 Natural Cleaning Products:

1. Toilet Bowl Cleaner (Yahoo Shine): You need a measuring cup, a toilet brush, half of a cup of baking soda, 10 drops of tea-tree essential oil, and half a cup of distilled white vinegar. Pour the baking soda into the toilet bowl, add the oil, then add the vinegar. Let the water sit for several minutes then scrub it with the toilet brush. Flush the toilet and voila you have a clean toilet!

2. Natural Air Freshener (How Does She): You need a spray bottle, eight ounces of water, and five to seven drops of essential oils. Simply pour the water in the spray bottle, then drop in the essential oils. Screw the top back on and spray away.

3. Natural Laundry Detergent (Wellness Mama): You can make natural laundry detergent using just three ingredients! You need Washing Soda, Borax, and a natural bar soap of your choice. Grate the bar of soap or mix it in the food processor until it is finely ground. Mix two parts washing soda, two parts Borax, and one part grated soap then store it in a closed container. Use between one eighth and one fourth of a cup per load of laundry.

4. Homemade Dishwasher Detergent (Happy Money Saver): You need one cup of Washing Soda, one cup of Baking Soda, three packages of unsweetened lemonade drink mix, one cup of Kosher Salt, and one cup of water. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and start using your new dishwasher detergent. The lemonade makes it smell good and has antibacterial properties. We think that you could also try adding in a few drops of lemon juice.

5. Natural Multi-Purpose Citrus Cleaner (Lexie Naturals): You need a glass container, citrus fruit peels, one tablespoon of salt, vinegar, distilled water, and five to ten drops of essential oil. Cut the orange peels and put them in the glass container, add salt to the orange peels and let them sit for twenty to thirty minutes. Fill the containers with vinegar and water. You can do half vinegar and half water. Now put a lid on the jars and let it sit for two to three weeks. After you’ve waited two to three weeks, strain the solution and fill up a squirt bottle. If you want to add essential oils, you should add them now. Now you are ready to start cleaning!

These natural cleaning products will help you to save money and have a home that is both clean and green.

If you enjoyed this blog post you will also like our cleaning checklists:

-Spring Cleaning Checklist: Bathroom Bacteria Busters

-Spring Cleaning Checklist: Bedroom

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7 Reasons You’re Secretly Jealous of your Dollhouse Family

April 19, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Did you play with a dollhouse growing up? Were you just a tiny bit jealous of the tiny inhabitants of the teeny tiny houses? It’s okay if you were – no judgment.

Here are a 7 reasons to be jealous of your dollhouse family:

1. Someone bought their home for them and they didn’t pay a cent!

2. They don’t pay mortgages, rent, or bills.

3. Your dollhouse family can move easily without the stress of relocating and hefty moving bills.

4. Their clothes, furniture, and food are free. They don’t even have to use the Sims’ Rosebud !;!;!; cheat for more money.

5. They live forever and never look a day older. It’s like Benjamin Button, but better.

6. They have an interior designer, a maid, a chef, full-time security, and more! Daddy Warbucks would be impressed.

7. They don’t have to make difficult decisions or any decisions at all!

We hope you enjoyed this little walk down nostalgia lane!

For entertainment purposes only.

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We Asked, You Answered: Tips for First Time Homebuyers

April 17, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Buying a home for the first time can be difficult and overwhelming! You have to find a home you can afford and a home that you and your family love. There are so many factors like the price of property taxes, the school district, the crime rate, mortgages, and whether or not the home is a “fixer upper.” We posted a question on our Facebook page asking for your best tips for first-time homeowners. Read advice from CENTURY 21^® Agents and clients.

Here are five tips for buying a home for the first-time:

1. “Be realistic about what you can afford and what the home will look like within your budget. Don’t expect a $150,000.00 home to have all the bells and whistles a $300,000.00 home does.” – Susie F.

2. “Ask your C21^® agent for a reliable & trustworthy lender to get pre-qualified before starting your house hunt.” -Bill C.

3. “Get prequalified. Work with a REALTOR^® to find a great home. Once you find a home you like, visit the neighborhood in the evenings and weekends to see what it is like when more people are around. Check with local police department to find out about crime rates in area. After you have been prequalified, do not do anything that will adversely affect your credit score. Then be prepared to sign and initial a lot of paperwork.” - Audrey M.

4. “Find a GREAT CENTURY 21 Agent, get pre-qualified. Know what you’re looking for, but be ready to give a little if need be on your home expectations list.” -Lisa C.

5. “DON’T buy anything on credit until after you move into your new home.” -Eric G.

For more great tips, check out our Facebook post and buying advice on our site. Buying a home is an exciting milestone in your life. We hope that these tips will help you find your perfect home!