Custom Homes | 10 Laundry Room Ideas for Organization and Decoration

Custom Homes | No one likes doing laundry, especially if the laundry room is messy, bland and uninspiring. But there’s no need to fear cleaning your clothes, because you can turn a chore into a pleasure with these laundry room ideas that will add to your decor and organization.

1. Give it a paint job

Bring new life to your laundry room by giving it a coat of paint. Make a room bright and cheery with light colors, like the white cabinets in this sunny laundry room, or warm and peaceful, using darker or more earthy tones. Create the atmosphere you want, and make laundry time enjoyable.

Home Builder Jacksonville | Fall is the Season for Roofing

 

Home Builder Jacksonville | We roofers have been known to weather all sorts of bad weather to ensure that your roof is up and running and that your home and household are safe and dry. But while most of us are ready and willing to go the distance to address the needs of our clients, we, like the rest of the working world, find it easier to do our best work when conditions are ideal. Fortunately for you, plenty of roofers all across America read “ideal work conditions” as one thing: fall.

Why Fall?

Technically speaking, there’s nothing stopping you from getting roofing work done all year round. Nothing, that is, short of truly extreme weather. It’s mostly just a matter of determining whether current conditions in your area will allow us to do our work properly and safely.

It’s important to keep in mind that roofing work is outdoor work and that the quality of the output is a function of many external factors, weather conditions included. How you define “extreme weather” may vary depending on which state you’re from, but as a general rule, fall falls in a sweet spot in terms of weather: not too hot, not too cold. Goldilocks would approve.

Here are three other good reasons to have your roofing work done this fall:

New House Builder | Easy Fixes for Common Lawn Problems

 

New House Builder | With fall right around the corner, it’s a great time to start thinking about fixing any of the lawn problems that sprouted up during the summer months. The National Association of Landscape Professionals shows that 71 percent of homeowners think their neighbor should have a well-kept yard. Don’t be THAT neighbor!

Get your lawn looking lush and healthy again with these easy fixes for common lawn problems.

1. Crab Grass

Crab grass can be a real nuisance due to its unruly growth habits. While it’s an annual weed, it acts like a perennial, meaning it grows all season long. Some homeowners feel that simply mowing over the weed will remove it, but the most effective way to remove it for good is to pull it out, roots and all. If the crab grass begins to take over your lawn, herbicides may be the only answer for eradicating the weed for good.

Custom Homes | Building a Smart Home

Custom Homes | Imagine: Your weekly dinner with friends goes later than expected. Instead of coming home to a dark, unwelcoming home, you simply pull out your cell phone and, with the touch of a button, your home’s unique lighting system turns on, preparing your house for your arrival.

Perhaps you’re having weekly dinner with friends at your house. With the click of a switch you can change the lighting and music to create a wonderful ambiance that takes guests from an upbeat appetizer hour to a relaxing dinner mood.

All of this and more is possible with a home automation system.

What is Home Automation?

Aside from being a modern-day luxury, home automation is essentially one or two computers that are used to control unique home functions and features. The computers can be controlled automatically or remotely. Also known as smart homes these automation systems link several devices and appliances throughout the house and program them to work in tandem through a controlled, user-friendly interface such as a smartphone, tablet or wall computer.

New Home Communities | Hurricane Preparation Tips

New Home Communities | Hurricane Preparation Tips

New Home Communities | Lightning and thunder and wind, oh my! It’s hurricane season once again, lasting from May 15 until Nov. 30. That means your home and other personal property could be at risk for damage from extreme winds, rain, hail and lightning.

A hurricane is an intense cyclone of thunderstorms, characterized by torrential downpours and violent winds that can even turn tornadic. They are measured by category on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Hurricanes that are considered “minor” may be classified in one of two ways:

• Category 1, with winds reaching 74-95 miles per hour (mph)
• Category 2, with 96-110 mph winds

Hurricanes that are considered “major” include:

• Category 3 (111-129 mph winds)
• Category 4 (130-156 mph winds) or
• Category 5 (winds of 157 mph or stronger).

Moving Tips | 5 Steps to a Clutter-Free Move (Pt. 2)

3. Store Wisely

Moving Tips | No matter how much you declutter, some things are hard to part with. There will always be things you don’t use regularly that you still want to keep, and some of them take up a lot of space: the retro jukebox that’s a family keepsake, the old motorcycle you plan to restore “someday.” If you don’t have a garage or other storage spot in your home, rent a storage unit to keep these things safe and out of sight. But be sure to be discerning about what you do keep. Use that same checklist when deciding what to put into storage. Just because you have the storage space doesn’t mean you need to fill it up!

Moving Tips | 5 Steps to a Clutter-Free Move (Pt. 1)

 

Moving Tips | Moving into a new home is an opportunity to start fresh and create the clean, organized home you have always wanted. But a clutter-free home starts even before you leave your old home. Here are five steps to get you there:

1. Remove Clutter While Packing (and While Unpacking)

As you go from room to room to pack, you will encounter items that no longer serve any purpose in your home. Take the time to thoroughly sort through all of your possessions, so you can get rid of those items you no longer need. You can even create a checklist to help determine if each item is a keeper. Some questions you might want to ask are:

Home Builder Jacksonville | Tips for Homebuyers Who Work from Home

Home Builder Jacksonville | If you’re currently house hunting and you work from home, be sure to keep your work needs in mind as you shop!

When you found your current home, you may not have selected it with your work-from-home job in mind.

Now, however, as you choose your new abode, you can opt for features that make working from home easier and more enjoyable. Here are five tips to remember if you’re a homebuyer who also works from home:

New House Builder | Upgrade Your Home on a Budget

New House Builder | If your home doesn’t quite feel like you, it’s time to add a pinch of personality. Home upgrades can seem painfully expensive and daunting, but they don’t have to be. There are loads of easy DIY projects that allow you to add some spice to your space, without causing you a major headache. Here are a few ways to upgrade your home on a budget:

Custom Homes | Hire a Contractor or Do it Yourself

 

Custom Homes | Popular interior design and renovation shows have convinced many of us that home repairs, DIYs and renovations are a walk in the park. Sadly, that’s often not the case. For those of us who aren’t used to wielding tools, home projects can be stressful! They disrupt our schedules, and often cost a chunk of change. Unfortunately, it can be equally difficult (and expensive) to find a trustworthy contractor for the job. So what do you do? Hire a contractor or do it yourself? Here are some things I recommend considering:

Home Builder Jacksonville | Protect Your Home From Fire

Home Builder Jacksonville | House fires can be absolutely devastating for homeowners and families and many of these tragedies could be avoided. Take the following steps to protect your home from fire and keep your loved ones safe:

New Home Communities | How to Start a Neighborhood Watch

New Home Communities | Neighborhood Watch was started by the National Sheriffs’ Association more than 40 years ago, and it’s still going strong. The program enjoys great success because, in addition to empowering citizens to fight crime, it also strengthens bonds with law enforcement and gives neighbors a chance to get to know one another.

Although Neighborhood Watch can be particularly effective in high crime areas, it’s a crime prevention tool every community should embrace. In fact, the best time to form a Neighborhood Watch program is before your community starts experiencing crime.

If you want to start a Neighborhood Watch program in your community, this eight-step guide from SafeWise will get you started.

New House Builder | 5 Value Boosting Kitchen Upgrades

New House Builder | When selling your home, your top consideration should be how to help potential homebuyers love the space, and also feel they are getting their money’s worth. When it comes to upgrades, your kitchen has the highest ROI (return on investment) of any room in your home. The appliances, finishes, plumbing, lighting fixtures and cabinetry all add up to a worthwhile investment in the eyes of homebuyers.

When I help sellers stage their homes, we always start and end with the kitchen. Ensuring it has modern appeal and valuable amenities that will wow buyers is essential.

Here are my five tips to upgrade your kitchen so it becomes the heart of the home for potential homebuyers:

Home Building Trends | Choosing the Right Entry Door

Home Building Trends | Your entry door is a major aspect of your home. It is the first thing your visitors see before they enter your home, and it can act as both a means of security and a selling point. Investing in an entry door to withstand your area’s climate will ensure it remains functional and attractive for several years to come. Unfortunately, if you choose a material that warps and cracks under your area’s conditions, you could be looking at repairs and potential replacement in less than a year.

Here are four common door types and their climate categories to help you choose wisely:

Home Builder Jacksonville | 9 Ways to Childproof Your Home

Home Builder Jacksonville | Your children may have a room full of toys, but that won’t stop them from trying to stick their cute little fingers into electrical sockets or explore under the kitchen sink. November is Child Safety and Protection Month, so here are a few tips for any new or seasoned mom or dad to childproof your home.

1. Covers for outlets and power strips

If you already have a little one running around, this may seem like an obvious suggestion. Outlet covers are important to ensure that your child is not able to stick his or her hands into the electrical sockets. It’s also a good idea to get covers for power strips, even if you think they are hidden well enough behind a piece of furniture. You never know where these little ones will end up!

Custom Homes | How to Brighten Your Home!

Custom Homes | Chances are, you’re timid with colors. That’s alright – most people are! But it’s a new year now, which means a new you, and a chance to get a little wild with your color palette. Who knows? You might realize that bright mustard or rich amethyst is the decor touch you’ve been missing all along. One thing’s for sure – you’ll never know unless you try! Choose one of the colorful decor ideas below and welcome the new year with a bang!

1. Add a loud pop to a neutral palette

Going colorful does not mean spray painting everything you own! In fact, one of the best ways to really get the full kick of color from your bold palette choice is to layer it over a neutral base. Give any neutral room a pop of color with some choice bold details in bright, eye-catching hues!

New Home Communities | How to Pack Your Computer and Set It Up Again

New Home Communities | Books packed? Check. Kitchenware packed? Check. Clothes packed? Check. But, you look into your office and the music from a horror movie plays in your head. The computer stares at you, taunting you – “Go ahead pack me, I’ll never come back to life again.” The computer is one of the last things to be packed before a move as no one wants to disconnect this lifeline. You’re filled with the dread of trying to fit each computer piece into boxes and the horror of not being able to set it back up correctly in your new place. Thankfully, with these tips your entire computer will fit into one box. Also, you can put an end to the scary visions of endless tangled wires and the confusion of not knowing where to plug each cord. Simply color-code your computer wires and use your cell phone camera to document the process. Here is how to tame your computer:

New House Builder | Increase the Value of Your Home With These 7 Tips

New House Builder | If you have a small budget to spend on home improvement projects this year, you’ll want to make sure you use it wisely, especially if you plan to put your home on the market soon.  Agents always recommend that you stay on top of basic home maintenance, but beyond that, it can be difficult to determine which features to add or update in your home. You don’t want to spend money on something that’s going to go out of style anytime soon. So where do you start?

One way to tell if a certain feature is desirable is by looking at real estate listings online. Real estate agents have a limited number of words they can use to describe a home for sale on the multiple listing service, so every word counts. Looking at what they choose to include, and what they don’t, can give you an idea of what they see as a selling feature of a home.

To find out what buyers will be looking for in 2015, we asked real estate agents which features they were starting to see more often while out on home tours. Then we looked for those keywords in real estate listings to see which ones have grown in popularity over the past five years. Read on to see which home features made the cut.

Moving Tips | 5 Tips to Avoid Moving Injuries

Moving Tips | Moving can be a chaotic, expensive, and—if you’re not careful—painful experience.
While folks can save a few bucks by lifting and moving the boxes themselves, they run the risk of suffering moving injuries if they don’t know what they’re doing.
Of course, that’s not to say that a careful and in-shape person can’t move their possessions. Still, it helps to know what you’re doing when it comes to heavy lifting.
Read on for a few tips and tricks on how to get your stuff from Point A to Point B without layover at Point C (that would be your couch, with a heating pad applied).

1. Know Your Limits

If something feels too heavy to lift safely, then it probably is. Stop and get help—either from a friend, family member or a professional.
There are some items that regular folks just shouldn’t attempt to move themselves. Think large appliances, heavy bookcases and the like: It just takes one slip or trip, and you could break a bone.

New Home Communities | Should I Renovate or Just Move?

New Home Communities | Deciding whether it’s time to sell or renovate your home can be a daunting task. Do you stay and make a few upgrades or do you sell and buy a home with newer finishes? It all depends on your current and future needs. Before you swing a hammer or knock down any walls, review how you currently use each room in your home, research remodeling options and assess the value of any renovations.

Home Builder Jacksonville | 6 Luxurious Bedroom Remodeling Tips

Home Builder Jacksonville | The bedroom is one of the most intimate, comforting and relaxing places in your home. You spend a lot of time in the bedroom, so it’s important to keep it in the best condition possible. Over time, it might start to look worn down, outdated and in need of some repair. Here are some quick and easy bedroom remodel ideas to revitalize your space without spending thousands of dollars on a complete bedroom remodel.

1. Cut the Clutter

One quick way to refresh your bedroom without spending a fortune is to clean out and de-clutter the room. Remove anything that’s been stressing you out in the closet or looking out of place in the room. It’s time to update your bedroom, and what better way to do so than to remove all of those old trinkets and pieces of paper that have been piling up for years?
Get a big black garbage bag — maybe two or three, depending on the extent of clutter — and start filling them with items to go to secondhand stores or the trash can. Your closet and bedroom will feel renewed by the time you’re done, and so will you.

Custom Homes | The Latest Bathroom Design Trends

Custom Homes | Ceramic subway tile has been popular since 1904, when the durable, long-lasting tile was used to decorate subway stations throughout New York. The tiles are designed to stay in place for decades, with some manufacturers insisting that the grout and adhesives will need to be replaced before the ceramic tile wears out. That means that when you use subway tile to decorate your bathroom, you can be rest assured that you’re getting a quality product that will last for a lifetime. If you plan to remodel your home with subway tile, you can purchase it in hardware stores and online on sites like . The selection of subway tiles that some stores offer is almost endless, and so are the design options.

New House Builder | Tax Tips for First-Time Homebuyers

New House Builder | If you bought a home in the past year, congratulations! We know that buying a new home is stressful, but that it’s also exciting and very rewarding. With tax season around the corner, it’s time to consider the federal tax implications of your purchase.
Here are a few tax tips:

Most Likely, You’ll Start Itemizing on Your Federal Return

For many non-homeowners, the standard deduction is a no-brainer – it’s easy and you barely have anything you could itemize anyway. Once you own a home, however, the math changes: You can deduct your mortgage interest payments. This deduction, in combination with other deductions, will often exceed the standard deduction.
In 2014, the standard deduction is $6,200 for taxpayers who are single or married and filing separately, $9,100 for head of household filers and $12,400 for those married, filing jointly.

Home Building Trends | Separate Bedrooms for Siblings...Not Necessary!

Home Building Trends | If you have siblings, you probably shared a room growing up and may have some fond memories of that time. Somewhere along the line as families started shrinking and suburbia took over with its McMansions, sharing a room became a sign of not having enough space. But the truth is that separate bedrooms for siblings aren’t necessary: Most children actually benefit from sharing a room and enjoy the feeling of togetherness.

Home Builder Jacksonville | A Guide to Homeowners Insurance

Home Builder Jacksonville | Many newcomers to home buying get a surprise as they inch toward closing: the requirement to purchase homeowners insurance. That mandate comes not from state or federal law but from your lender, which wants to protect the investment in you – and in your home.

But in addition to satisfying your lender, homeowners insurance provides some real help for you, often in ways you didn’t even know about when you purchased it.

A standard policy typically consists of six parts: Dwelling, other structures, personal possessions, loss of use, personal liability and medical payments. Let’s look at what each of these parts covers and what you may not know about each.

New House Builder | Protecting Your Home From Flood Damage

New House Builder | Many people think a homeowners insurance policy includes coverage for flood damage, but it doesn’t. Flood damage is only covered by flood insurance, which is a separate policy. Unfortunately, even though the average flood policy costs just $600 a year, only 13 percent of U.S. homes are protected by flood insurance.

Even if you don’t live near water, it’s important to consider buying flood insurance. According to the National Flood Insurance Program, almost 20 percent of all flood claims come from areas considered to be at a low to moderate risk for flooding. To give you a good idea of the damage that can occur, Porch.com compiled data in this infographic on the total damage caused by Hurricane Sandy along with preventative and reactive measures that were enacted after Hurricane Sandy’s landfall.

Custom Homes | Cooling Your Home Without AC

Custom Homes | Want to keep your home cool without turning on the A/C this summer? There are plenty of alternatives that can lower both the cost of your utility bills and the temperature in your house. Consider these ideas when you’re looking to cool your house without air conditioning:

1. Check the ceiling fan.

During the spring and summer, your ceiling fan should be set to turn counterclockwise to push cool air down and pull hot air up. If your fan was set to turn clockwise during the winter — pulling cold air up and pushing hot air down — change the rotation now. This way, your room feels cooler. And you spend less on electricity to run the ceiling fan than you do to run your HVAC system.

Moving Tips | What Not to Pack When Moving

Moving Tips | You have gone through the packing drills: “Boxes? check; Tape? check; Precise type of boxes? check. Ready, set, go! Start packing!” Wait a second! Hold it! Before you pack every tea cup and toy car in your home; take a break and step back. There are some items you should first set aside; these items should not be packed. Certain valuables should always be kept close to you during a move, other items can be dangerous and some items simply should be left to the pros to pack to prevent injury and breakage.