In the summer, people usually assume they use less energy and have less of an environmental impact; and although this could be true, many activities in the summer can also have negative effects on the environment. In other words, turning the thermostat down and keeping your house cooler may bring you joy, but it doesn’t help the environment nor your wallet.

How should you change this? Well, there are a few ways to reduce carbon footprint!

Ride a bike or walk. The weather is gorgeous during the summer, and it can give you the opportunity to walk any place that you’d like! Walking everywhere can be unlikely, but if you’re headed just down the street or visiting a family that’s few blocks over, traveling by walking or riding your bike will be a more affordable and green way.

Closing your shades. One of the easiest and most affordable ways to keep the temperature down in your home over the summer. By closing your curtains, shades, or blinds, you can block out large amounts of light and heat from your home! Keeping the heat out of your house can help you save money on air conditions, as well as take less energy to cool down the home.

Using less hot water. It’s the summer and it’s extremely hot, so why use hot water? It takes a lot of energy to heat up your water, so reducing the amount of heated water can lessen the energy bill and help the environment!

Downsizing is something we hear frequently, but what is it exactly? Downsizing is essentially moving into a smaller home! There are a few upsides: saving money, time, and having less clutter in your life!

So how do you know when you need to downsize? Over the years, many people have downsized not because they want to, but because the housing market crashed. The others opt to live in a smaller space because it’s close to work, or more near amenities. Here’s how to make the transition as smooth as possible:

 

Taking inventory. The first thing to do before doing ANYTHING is to take a close inventory of your belongings. Then ask yourself, if everything you had lost in a fire, what would you replace? Take stock of things that you hold dear or have a function and the things you could live without. As an idea, you can make three different lists: things you must have, things you can live without, and things you can replace. Your must-haves can come with you, the items you can live without could be sold, donated, or gotten rid of entirely. Your replaceable items can be reserved for things you could potentially sell to buy something smaller.

 

Determine your lifestyle needs. Think about what lifestyle you want to embrace when you move forward into downsizing. Do you have room for large, bulky furniture? How much smaller is your new home compared to the one you’re living in? Do you feel you should keep something because you spent a large portion of your money for it? It helps to ask yourself some questions.

 

 

Give yourself plenty of storage options. Once you transition into your new home, make sure to make use of all the available storage space. Under the bed storage boxes, shelving mounted on walls, and ottomans that carry storage inside; they’re all your best options if you’re moving to a smaller space. However, one rule when finding storage in a small space is to store up, not out. You can make use of your walls for storage and shelving, it will help keep things stay off the floor.

 

Quality and multipurpose. You should always go for quality over quantity. Choose generous pieces of furniture that makes of statement, instead of trying to squeeze too many pieces in one room. If you’re buying new furnitures when you downsize, choose furniture pieces with multiple functions. Also, looking for durable fabrics, since smaller homes often need flexible spaces, may benefit you!

 

 

 

Building your home is an exciting and special process to embark on; especially with so much potential for creativity and freedom of choice. Home buyers LOVE personalized items. Why? Personalization makes people feel unique. There a thousand and thousands of home designs available in books, websites, or catalogs. Some of them might come close to your vision! Once you are able to narrow down to a handful of home plan concepts, it’s time to look into the customizable options of homes.

 

Proper House Design.

House design golden rule is that form follows function It’s quite basic, but many people approach home design follows this process the other way around. For tips on customizing homes or designing a floor plan, check our articles: “How to Build Your Custom Home with So Many Options” or  “Create your Dream Home Today“.

Top Popular Home Customizations

 

  1. Large or open kitchen – If you are a parent who enjoys cooking, the kitchen is the heart of your home. If you design your kitchens with generous amounts of space, you can create an inviting atmosphere and a comfortable room to be in.
  2. Master bedroom on the main floor – Every home has a master bedroom. If you build on right on the main floor, you can omit the necessity of a flight of stairs! This is a wonderful benefit for those little ones at home.
  3. Taking out walls – Eliminating walls between rooms can make your floorplan feel breezy and modern; it also allows air and light to flow naturally throughout your home. Adding extras such as high ceilings, can also open space up for your home even more.
  4. Indoor pool that leads outside – If money’s no object but space is, you can convert any internal part of your home, to come up with an indoor pool. Especially the space leads to a balcony.
  5. Home office – Enjoy the convenience and comfort of working from your home with your very own personalized office! Making your home office detached from the rest of your floorplan can help give you the privacy you need when working.
  6. Having a mud room – A mudroom typically stands in the corner of the house where you can install a small shower, water sprayer, storage for shoes, hangers, and so on. This room should made right by a door where you can easily remove dirt and debris; it’s ideal after a long day’s work outdoors.
  7. Utilizing a garage – If you own several cars, you have to plan how to use the garage accordingly. If you don’t own many cars, or any cars, you can use the garage for extra space such as a garden or a room.

 

 

A small garden space doesn’t mean you can’t have the dream garden you’d want. Here are some small garden ideas to help maximize your space.

 

Mailbox Garden. Add a huge impact to a small garden by offering tough plants that stand up to the harsh growing conditions surrounding a mailbox. This type of garden tends to stay low and will not block your views while backing out of your driveway!

 

Herbal Garden. Herbs are relatively self-sufficient, and easy to grow. Watering only once a week should do the trick. Make sure you remember to water gently at the base of the plants to prevent runoffs and allow moisture to reach the roots.

 

 

Woodland Garden. Find a little 6×6 corner of your yard and color it in with a cheery, small garden. It could feature ferns that would look beautiful from spring to autumn.

 

 

Salad Garden. Here, your vegetables can share a four-foot square plot. If your best planting spot gets only four hours of direct sunlight, try to plant more leafy greens such as spinach or lettuce.

 

 

Luscious Flower Garden. Add some spice to your summer with the bold reds, oranges, blue, and yellow tones! Featuring plants such as morning glories, yarrow, daylilies, can count on the border to look good no matter how hot it gets during the summer!

 

 

Romantic Garden. Beautifully scented roses or daisies can make your small garden look more loving and caring. The varieties of flowers such as roses, daisies, and daylilies can hold up to drought and other tough weather conditions.

 

 

English cottages radiate with beautiful floral prints, simple furnitures, and relaxed design. The décor can be casual or formal, but the focus is rather emphasized on function rather than flair. The furnitures are traditional and the rooms are full of colors. English cottage decorations exude warmth, comfort, and family.

 

Furniture

 

Furniture styles are traditional, and the predominant material is wood. The wood can be light or dark, painted, stenciled, or even distressed. Furnitures such as tables, dressers, and bookshelves are usually oak, mahogany or pine. Throw pillows often can soften the look of wooden chairs or window seats.

 

Making a big statement. Even the humblest items can sprout boldness in English cottage designs. An antique item or peeling paint can become an object of intrigue.

 

Antique treasures salvaged. Cottage rooms provide a space for old things to find new life! Repurposed antiques are very popular.

 

 

Keep it basic. The most striking schemes can also be the simplest. With colors stripped out, you can turn your focus on each loving piece. All of it is prim and elegant, like the best English cottage interiors.

 

Colors

 

Colors are important in English cottage decorating. Hues are pulled from natures, much like the pinks and yellows of an English Garden. The colors can be vibrant or natural, and the styles features many different patterns such as floral. For a room to appear cozy, you can use 3 to 4 colors of the color palette.

 

Calming colors. Muted hues are common in an English cottage styled home, as they emphasize a look of elegance and coziness, while also allowing bold pieces to shine. Furnitures and kitchen cabinets are the best places to have muted tones.

 

Wallpaper and fabrics. Toile is the most recognizable pattern for wallpaper and fabric and is characterized through its two-tone color ways and large repeat.

 

Opposites attract. English cottages have a nice balance between informality and elegance. A marble surface crowns on a rustic, shabby island can work really well in a cottage kitchen, thanks to the soothing colors.

 

 

 

Owning a modular home with 4 bedrooms is a huge milestone in your life! Making this switch can definitely help you stop worrying about sleeping in your parent’s basement, or being bothered by noisy neighbors; oh, and most definitely the rental payments. Owning one is not cheap – but it can be so rewarding. Once the finances are in order, the question many new homebuyers have is whether to buy a new home or build one themselves. Innovations in the construction as well was real estate had helped caused modular homes to be increasingly popular. This has given new home buyers ideas and choices to browse for homes other than the contemporary or traditional types of housing. Modular homes differ as they are homes built like traditional homes, but in a factory environment.

 

 

Once your home is complete and transported to your desired location; you finally have your complete home! But what factors should you consider before choosing between a traditional home and a modular home? Here are some factors you should contemplate before buying your first modular home.

 

Location

The location or site you choose for your home is EXTREMELY important. Much like any traditional home, you want to occupy your residence to a location that will give you and your family a sense of security and peace, as well as a site that’s large enough to accommodate for what you want in your home. Perhaps you prefer to have a home that leaves you enough space for parking and gardening, or maybe even space for some fun outdoor activities with your friends and family! However, there are other factors such as site topography, the neighborhood, security, utilities, social amenities, and orientation.

 

Site Topography – The site topography is referring to the surface shape of the land. Whether its hilly, steep, flat, or sloping, is all a characteristic of a topography. When choosing a land, a flat landscape is most ideal; however, sloping slides can also be built without much hassle. In some cases, it might result into additional costs.

 

Neighborhood – Settle in a place where you feel most comfortable spending your time in! This is going to be your place of residence, and it’s important to make sure your family and you can feel at peace here. Therefore, choose a location that offers you the ambiance you’d want in your home.

 

Security – Living in an unsafe neighborhood can make you mentally on the edge. Before settling into your location, you should take time to understand the security of the area! It might be a good idea to get to know the neighbors or look into the news of the area you are planning to move into to get a good idea of what it might be like to live there.

 

Utilities – Take time to understand the main utility bills that you will be paying if you’re settling into a home. Outside of the basic amenities, you might need to think about security services, smart home devices, and landscaping if need be.

 

Social Amenities – Be sure to choose a home where social amenities such as hospitals, schools, the mall, or even the library is within a reasonable distance.

 

Orientation – Orientation refers to the how your home is place and getting the optimal sun exposure. This will be a factor when considering the most suitable design for you home, incorporation of views in your home, and the street appeal.

 

 

House Style

Before you buy a modular home, decide on the style you would like for your home. Engage with us to help you come up with a desired style, we have pre-made floorplans, or you could make your own. We advise to find a floorplan and make the changes you need for your desired home. Working on it alongside, we can help deliver the desired finished products. There are a large variety of styles, plans, and customizable options to choose from!

For ideas and information on how to design your home, and what style to choose from, please look at our articles: House Styles and Create Your Dream Home Today.

 

Planning Restriction

Acquiring a permit from a local administration will be of great help. When you buy a modular home, be sure you and the owner of the land sign an agreement. This give you legal protection, should there be a dispute in the future.

 

Budget

Owning a home requires preparation in terms of finances. Your new modular home will require you to get bills of quantities that will tell you the exact amount of money needed to complete your new home. It is advisable that you discuss with us beforehand, to allow you adequate time to prepare your finances. If you don’t have enough money and want to own a modular home, discuss with us and your bank on the possibilities of funding your project through mortgage factors that affect the price.


Remodeling Possibilities

If you decide to invest in the bathroom, kitchen, or bedroom of your dreams, there’s nothing holding you back from reconfiguring your home design and layout because it’s a modular build. Much like a stick-built home, you’ll need a structural support and layout. You can contact us, and we can you help you remodel! Be sure to let us know early on, as our contractors need time to prepare for any structural differences regarding beams or other support structures.

 

Lifestyle

Owning a modular home can be bombarding! It requires both mental and financial readiness to find, build, and move into your new home. It’s best to evaluate your readiness. You should find time to understand whether it is the right time for you to own a modular home. You should also evaluate whether your lifestyle can accommodate an extra expense in mortgage deductions.