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5 Productive Things To Do Around the House in 5 Minutes or Less

September 5, 2014 By CENTURY 21

There are a million excuses for your home becoming disorganized, but there’s only one way to solve it – set up a cleaning plan that works for your schedule.This includes doing short tasks outside of your regular cleaning schedule. Try these five key shortcuts that can be done quickly in-between all of the other times you’re checking off your weekly to-do list.

1. Clean out your junk drawer: There’s always a junk drawer somewhere that needs cleaning out. Whether it’s in the kitchen or in your child’s room, take a few minutes to declutter that nasty miscellaneous drawer. Think like a minimalist; throw out old papers, pens and anything else that isn’t necessary.

2. Set a timer and fold laundry: If you’re really limited on time, tackle laundry in five-minute increments throughout the week. In each instance, set a timer before diving into your laundry pile. There seems to always be laundry around the house so every bit counts.

3. Switch out dirty hand towels: This is a task that can sometimes be left off a to-do list so if you’re presented with some free time, remember to do it. A clean hand towel in the kitchen and bathroom is essential to a clean house and is super easy to do.

4. Vacuum one room: Vacuuming the house doesn’t have to be an all day ordeal; you can spread out the chore over many days. Each day that you have a little bit of free time, pick one room to take care of. When you’re done, rotate back to the original room and keep the cycle going!

5. Wipe down the stove: As you’re waiting for the family to assemble at the dinner table, cut down on clean up time by wiping down your cooking area and put ingredients. It’ll make the after dinner process a lot easier.

There are so many things that can be done in less than five minutes. Take advantage of free moments and do something productive.

Recommended Reading:

-Productivity Tips for Working From Home

-10 Incredible Home Organization Tips

-Just DIY It: 5 Natural Cleaning Products

-Home Office Essentials

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Done in One Hour: How to Install a Faucet

August 16, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Replacing an old, inefficient faucet with one that’s equipped to save water can reduce your consumption by up to 80 percent. When you shop, look for logos such as Eco-Friendly, Energy Star, and Water Sense; these logos designate environmentally conscious features, including low-flow aerators and touchless controls. Donate your old fixture to a good cause (try Habitat for Humanity) or take it to a local recycling center (look in the Yellow Pages). Learn more about water saving products and techniques.

Here is how to install your eco-friendly faucet.

Supplies and Tools:

-Crescent or basin wrench
-Water pump pliers
-Bucket
-Towel

Step-By-Step Instructions:

1) Shut off the water supply. The copper lines that supply hot and cold water to the sink often have shutoff valves under the sink. Turn them off. In some homes, you may need to turn off water elsewhere, such as the lines in the basement that lead to the sink. Once the water supply is off, turn the faucet on to let water and pressure drain from the lines.

2) Disconnect the existing faucet from the plumbing. Use a crescent wrench (or a basin wrench if the nuts are difficult to reach) to disconnect the faucet from the supply lines. Then disconnect the sink from the drainpipes using water pump pliers. Keep a bucket and towel handy to clean up the water that will, inevitably, spill from pipes.

3) Install the faucet on the sink. Follow the installation instructions for your specific faucet. The process typically involves laying a gasket on the sink, then setting the faucet on top of the gasket with its tailpieces extending through the sink’s holes. Tightening a nut on the underside of the sink secures the faucet to the sink.

Complete these steps, then stand back and enjoy your brand new faucet!

5 Ways to Take Your Living Room from Good to Great

August 15, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Take your living room from good to great! A few small steps will make your living room a space that is great for entertaining, making family memories, or curling up with tea and a good book.

Try these five ways to take your living room from good to great:

1. Add Extra Seating: In order for people to spend time in the living room, there has to be somewhere for them to sit. Add extra seating so that your guests and family members can congregate. Buy an extra couch, love seat, chair, or build a window seat. Adding comfort to the living room will help create an environment where memories can be made.

2. Natural Lighting: Increase your living room’s natural lighting. BrightNest recommends maximizing natural light by strategically placing mirrors across from windows to reflect light from the windows. They also recommend hanging translucent curtains instead of opaque ones. Paint your furniture, walls, and ceiling a light color to increase the illusion of natural light. Learn more of BrightNest’s tips here.

3. Clear the Clutter: You probably have several coffee table books that haven’t been opened since 1994 (we all do). Instead of letting them sit in your living room collecting dust, put them away (or get rid of them), along with all other non-daily items. Clear off surfaces and floors to create as much open space as possible. It’s both practical and aesthetically pleasant.

4. Add Art: Fill your living room with beautiful art that you love. You’ll love admiring it every day. Art is also a great conversation starter. Tell your guests why each piece is special to you and your family.

5. Add Personal Photographs and Family Heirlooms: Your family will love spending time in a room that is filled with family memories. Hang photos on the walls, keep photo albums in a bookshelf, and display family heirlooms around your living room.

Follow these suggestions to make your living room a room where everyone will want to spend time. Get ready for cocktail parties, family game nights, roasting s’mores in the fireplace, and spending lots of time in your new room.

Recommended Reading:
-5 Ways to Take Your Bedroom from Good to Great

-Take Your Kitchen from Good to Great

-Serene Spaces: 5 Tips for Creating a Calm Space

-10 Secrets for Making Your Bedroom Feel Larger

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Be My Guest: How to Style a Guest Room

July 23, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Hosting friends and family members means that you get to spend quality time with people you love. Make your guests feel at home.

These tips will help you style a guest room that they will love (yes, even your in-laws).

Minimal Style: Your guests may have different home decor preferences than you. We recommend choosing a soothing color scheme for paint, bedding, and furniture. Neutral paint colors will create a soothing space.

Comfortable Bedding: A bed is a focal point of any bedroom and it is essential for getting a good night’s sleep and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Some people prefer hard pillows and mattresses and some prefer softer. We recommend choosing ones that offer medium support so that guests at either end of the preference spectrum will be comfortable. Once you’ve chosen a mattress and pillows, make the bed with soft bedding that your guests will love to sink into at the end of a long day.

Nightstand: Stock the nightstand with essentials that your guest may need during his or her stay. If you have makeup, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, and soap samples, put them in a small makeup pouch for your guest to use if they accidently left anything at home. If you don’t have samples you can place full size bottles in the bathroom for them to use as they get ready. Keep a few books on the nightstand in case they want to read before bed but didn’t pack a book. You may want to add extras like fresh flowers, a candle, and an alarm clock.

Closet and Dresser: If you have space for a dresser, add one to the room so that your guests can unpack and organize their clothes and essentials. Stock the closet with a few hangers.

Towels: Place towels on the bed so your guests have something to use when they get ready.

These guest room essentials will ensure that your guests have a comfortable stay when they come to visit.

Recommended Reading:

-Serene Spaces: 5 Tips for Creating a Calm Bedroom

-5 Ways to Take Your Bedroom from Good to Great

-Sweet Dreams are Made of These: How to Style a Bed

-How to Style a Nightstand

-10 Secrets for Making Your Bedroom Feel Larger

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How to Keep Your Home Cool Without Touching the Thermostat

July 21, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Contribution by Andrea Davis, HomeAdvisor

The temperature keeps rising…and rising…and rising! When will it stop? As you wait for the temperatures to make their slow decline, how about helping to avoid high utility bills? There are plenty of ways to keep your home cool without turning on the air conditioner. Here are some simple, effective methods that will cost you a fraction of the electricity bill:

1. Keep the sun out! From about May to August, the sun is not your best friend from around ten to four p.m. That’s when it shines through the windows and increases the temperature inside. So avoid it by installing window shutters, blinds and shades to keep the rays out. If you already have them installed, be sure to keep them closed from the time you leave until you come home.

2. Get those ceiling fans turned around. You might not be aware, but ceiling fans need to have their motors switched seasonally. During the winter, they need to turn clockwise and during the summer counter-clockwise. Counter-clockwise pushes cold air down and warm air up so the room feels cooler, whereas during the winter you want the fan to push cold air up and warm air down for the opposite effect.

3. Buy more fans. If some of your rooms don’t have ceiling fans or seem hot anyway, you can always purchase standing fans. Recent innovations have allotted new fans that don’t have spinning, loud blades. You can buy regular fans with blades or tower fans that have adjustable airflow and are completely quiet.

4. Invest in energy-efficient lighting. Did you know fluorescent and incandescent bulbs give off heat, which helps to increase room temperature? Buying LED bulbs is not only energy-efficient, but they also help keep your house cool during summer days. They come in all sizes and watts to fit about anywhere you need lighting.

5. Ventilate hot air immediately. Because you can’t grill every day during the summer, there will be times when you have to cook with the oven or stove. This means a lot of hot air, so you need to use the hood vent immediately. The same goes for when you take a shower or bath with the bathroom fan. You should also be sure your attic fan is properly venting out hot air that could increase house heat by 10 or more degrees. By getting that the hot air out immediately, it won’t spread to other rooms and increase the temperature.

Photo courtesy of Home Power

6. Let in the cool air! When the sun sets and temperatures start to drop, there might be a cool breeze blowing across the yard. So open the windows and back door to let it pass through the house and cool down all of your rooms. It will require no electricity, and you’ll be able to take in the night sounds as you fall asleep.

Header image courtesy of DesignMine

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5 Stages of Having Your Kids Home From College

June 9, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Isn’t it exciting to have your kids home from college? You haven’t seen them in months and now you will get to spend quality time with them (or so you think). You quickly go from the excitement of having them home to the excitement of sending them back to school. We get it. You’ll gloss over the details when talking to friends, but we know the five stages of having your kids home from college.

Stage 1 – Anticipation: You have been counting down the days on a calendar (“So retro, Mom”) or a nifty Facebook app (“Mom. No one does that. Like no one. Ever.”). You clean the house, leave a pile of interesting articles you’ve cut from newspapers on their bed, and buy all of your son or daughter’s favorite foods.

Stage 2 – Excitement: You pick your son or daughter up at the airport. You carry an entire bag of dirty laundry to the car and refrain from asking them why they didn’t just wash it at school. You cook their favorite dinner then proceed to ask them 20 – okay, maybe 200 – questions about school, their love life, and whether the campus is safe. Things are great! Your child is back and you are thrilled to get to spend quality time with them while they are home.

Stage 3 – Disappointment: Your son or daughter starts hanging out with his or her friends. You realize you won’t actually get to spend as much quality time together as you had anticipated.

Stage 4 – Annoyance: Your son or daughter comes home late, makes the third stair squeak late at night, and has noisy friends over constantly. You are starting to remember their time in high school. There is a pile of dirty dishes in the sink and a pile of clothes on their floor.

Stage 5 – Anticipation (again): You make your son or daughter have a family dinner the night before they leave. You drive them to the airport the next day. You come home feeling nostalgic and lonely and set a calendar countdown or Facebook app countdown for when they will come home next.

Time may go by faster than usual, but the best part about having your son or daughter back from college is knowing they always have a place to call “home.” Now to get ready before their next visit!

Recommended Reading:

-7 Reasons You’re Secretly Jealous of Your Dollhouse Family

-90’s Nostalgia: Doppelgängers to our Favorite 90’s Television Homes

-Oh, That’s Scandalous: Dirty Little Secrets

-Moving Advice You Should Not Take From Stock Photos

-5 Zombie-Proof Houses Your Family Won’t Be Caught Dead In

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Picture Perfect: How To Take Great Photos of Your Home

June 8, 2014 By CENTURY 21

Staging your home for sale is an important part convincing buyers of the quality and value of your property. With most real estate listings online, the power of a good photo goes beyond a clean space.

Here are some tips to help you take picture perfect photos of your home:

Invest in a Quality Camera: Show your buyers the best of your space by investing in a camera that will give you sharp images. Blurry photos do not highlight the space well or give a good first impression. Better images will make homebuyers more eager to see your home. Spending a few extra bucks now might make you extra cash in the long run.

Use Natural Light: Take advantage of a sunny day to photograph your home. Natural light makes a space feel warm and inviting while flash creates shadows and reflects off windows or mirrors. (HGTV) Buyers look for homes with extra light so use this as another opportunity to sell your home. Keep in mind when photographing the exterior to make sure the sun is behind you to avoid dark shadows.

Show Your Space: No one likes to feel cramped. According to Houzz, buyers want to get a better feel of the movement and floor plan in your home. By photographing in one spot and showing several rooms, you show the buyer an expansive view of the space.

Clear the Clutter: You want to give buyers a space to imagine themselves in without feeling like it’s lived in. Store away any unnecessary items that take away from the main focal point of the room. Keep your home clean and tidy. If you’re trying to photograph a small space, make extra room by rearranging furniture or photograph from a doorway. (Design Sponge)

Edit the Small Stuff: Don’t worry if you don’t get the exact shot you want. Photo editing sites, like PIXLR, are great for quickly touching up photographs. Crop out what you don’t need or adjust the brightness to enhance the space. Try not to go overboard with editing which can turn off buyers.

Buyers are attracted to homes that have a good presence, and what better way to showcase that than with a good photo. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

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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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« Previous Page

5 Productive Things To Do Around the House in 5 Minutes or Less

Done in One Hour: How to Install a Faucet

5 Ways to Take Your Living Room from Good to Great

Be My Guest: How to Style a Guest Room

How to Keep Your Home Cool Without Touching the Thermostat

5 Stages of Having Your Kids Home From College

Picture Perfect: How To Take Great Photos of Your Home

Recommended Reading: 5 Coffee Table Books

Recommended Reading: 5 Coffee Table Books

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