Smart and Timely Home Repairs

From www.SearsAdvantage.ca
Smart and timely home repairs.


Lifestyle editor Ingrie Williams shares a few ideas for around-the-house upgrades this fall.



A full-fledged reno may not be within your budget, but now’s a good time to consider a few smaller projects. Here are four affordable fixes that will add value to your home and put money in your pocket.



1. Reface kitchen cabinets.

Look for: clean lines and eye-catching finishes, like brushed nickel hardware. If you want to cook up a new kitchen, tearing out the old one and starting from scratch isn’t your only option. You can also keep your existing cabinets and simply replace cabinet doors and drawer fronts, to effectively transform the look of your space.



2. Interior and exterior painting.

Look for: modern neutral colours that will refresh any surface, whether it’s dingy hallway walls or the sun-baked roof of a shed. A stellar paint job is as much about colour as it is about care. A precise application is a must, so consider hiring professionals if you’re not up to doing it yourself. If wallpaper removal is required, their expertise can be a huge help.



3. A tankless water heater.

Look for: an incredibly compact (think carry-on-luggage size) Energy Star -qualified model that will provide hot water only as needed. By shutting down when the taps are turned off, energy use is reduced—along with your hydro bill.



4. Replace entry doors.

Look for: steel doors, in classic, unembellished styles that complement the look of your home, adding to its value. They’ll also keep wind and rain out, protect against heat loss—and some newer models are warp-resistant.



Tip: Need another incentive? If you buy the goods and complete the work before Feb. 1, 2010, you could get a personal tax break. It’s called the Home Renovation Tax Credit. Spend anywhere between $1,000 and $10,000 on home improvements, and you could qualify for a 15-percent non-refundable tax credit of up to $1,350.





For a complete list of installed interior and exterior renovation products and services, visit Sears HomeCentral online or call 1-800-4MY-HOME.

The Three "R"s of Home Staging: Refreshing, Reducing and Rearranging

When selling your house you need to think about more than just tidying up and straightening out a few things if you want to sell your home quickly and get the most money from the sale. Hiring a Professional Home Stager to guide you through the process of “house sale preparation” is your best bet. Why? Because Home Stagers know what it is that will sell your home best, looking through the “buyer’s eye”. A Professional Home Stager, employing the Three “R”s of Home Staging: Refreshing, Reducing and Rearranging, will ensure that your house is “sale ready”.

Refreshing your house takes into consideration the total condition of your house. All the little repairs that you’ve been meaning to do for awhile, like repairing the dripping bathroom faucet or replacing the trim around the windows in the guest bedroom now need to be done. A Professional Home Stager will be able to tell you what repairs, or upgrades should be completed in order for your home to look renewed, refreshed and up-to-date and thus competitive in today’s real estate market. The most common upgrades include painting, replacing or shampooing carpeting and replacing/updating lighting. According to the 2007 HomeGain Survey, the ROI of these relatively easy upgrades yield between 150% to 355%.

Now that your home is refreshed from top to bottom and front to back, you need to look at all the things in your house that you have collected or acquired. Thinking about moving is a great time to seriously consider “reducing” stuff around. Do you need or want all the back issues of National Geographic from the past 15 years or the straggly plants on the living room window ledge? Cleaning out the closets and clearing off the bookshelves are soul-cleansing activities that may have far reaching consequences for your well-being as well as giving your house room to breathe. A Professional Home Stager will also tell you that “clearing the clutter” means that prospective buyers can actually see the “bones” of your house and not be distracted by all the “stuff”. Clear and simple!

The grand finale is part of the magic that comes with Professional Home Staging. This is the positioning or re-arranging of your furnishings and accessories in your house to create a lifestyle image that speaks to the prospective buyer, “Buy me!”. A Professional Home Stager knows how to highlight focal points in your house, be they a fireplace, a dramatic window or decorative mouldings. The positioning of furniture creates a flow throughout your house that leads the prospective buyer around noticing all that your house has to offer and encourages them to imagine themselves living in your house. Well placed accessories including artwork, lend to the ambiance that you want to create.

So if you follow the three “R”s of Home Staging, your house will be guaranteed to look it’s best for that special time when you decide to move on and let your house belong to someone else.

Selling your house in the fall - Curb Appeal

The days are getting shorter and the nights cooler. Your house is for sale or you are planning to put it on the market now. With the trend in this area, you likely will not have difficulty selling if your house if it is well presented and well priced. Still, there are necessary tasks to complete to keep up appearances as the seasons change when it comes to the outside look.

Take a good look at your garden. At this time of year, annuals start to look "tired" and often past their prime. Think of replacing them with icicle pansies that are somewhat frost resistant. These flowers are bright and fresh looking. Seasonal Mums as well will brighten up a drab looking garden. Perennials may need "dead-heading" and cutting back if you haven't been keeping up with them. Also, now is the time to do some light pruning of shrubs and bushes to tidy up overgrowth. Freshen up any outdoor planters too. These few suggestions will go a long way to inviting prospective buyers to view your house.

But don't forget about the lawn areas either. Keep your lawn well cut and manicured until it stops growing. A lush, weed-free lawn suggests a caring attitude that is very important when selling your house. This is definitely a message that you want to convey to prospective buyers. As the leaves start to fall, keep up with the raking (even if this is a seemingly thankless and endless task). Again, this will suggest a well cared for house.

Pay attention to the house itself as well. After a summer in the sun, is there any peeling paint on the trim, does the front door need repainting? Now may be the time to give your front door a new coat of paint - try a bold colour that is eye-catching to lead the eye up to the entrance! Also, don't forget about windows - after the summer season they need cleaning to sparkle and let in the Autumn light. If you follow all these few suggestions, then your home will have that curb appeal that says "Come on in to see what else this home has to offer". If not, you may miss your chance for a quick sale at your price.

And the Bride wore. . .

WE worked like "crazy" setting up the venue in the cloudy drizzle, with multi-coloured table cloths and vases of seasonal annuals. Place cards were carefully selected rocks painted with everyone's name. Friends of the bride and groom manned the kitchen area with all the amazing variety of "pot-luck" offerings.

The sun shone at the appointed hour and the wedding was so wonderful with the couple conducting the whole ceremony themselves (an officiate was present for the signing of the registrar). As you can see, the bride wore a stunning dress with a beaded red bustier and a full beaded tulle skirt. It came from a designer in Greece where the bride's family is from. So very elegant, but take alook at the footwear. Yes, sometimes comfort takes precedent!!