Have you always dreamed about living in a trendy industrial loft? What if you could do that without moving to a big city, giving up a backyard or paying a hefty price for your pad? The Buy Owner Blog is here to show you how to get the look of a loft without making a big move, sacrificing space or spending too much money.

First, consider the location…within your home. If you don’t have an open floor plan, a loft-like living room might look a little awkward next to your country kitchen. Also, at the risk of redoing your entire home, rather than just one room, you may want to choose an unused space like the basement, the attic or the bonus room over the garage. These spaces typically don’t fit with the rest of the house and take on a personality of their own when finished and decorated. By choosing to redecorate one of these low-traffic spaces, you can still pursue your dream while having a functional home that meets your needs and possibly the needs of a new owner should you ever sell the property.

Now, on to the construction…

Exposed Brick: If you know that brick exists behind the plaster in your finished basement, you need to consider the condition of the bricks and the absence of insulation before you knock down any walls. Cut a small hole in the wall first to test the waters. If you need to install brick, you can do so easily by applying veneers, as the process of creating a brick face is similar to adhering a backsplash onto the wall of your kitchen.

Exposed Ductwork: You would most likely deal with exposed ductwork in an unfinished basement. So if your basement is not finished, you may already have a loft-like ceiling! If your home boasts a finished basement with a tile ceiling, you can easily lift up one of the tiles to see the condition of the ductwork. Consult a professional contractor before you knock down a drywalled ceiling.

Flooring: Hardwood floors are typical of lofts. Feel free to choose any type of wood you want. However, if you want to keep costs low, a Pergo or laminate faux wood flooring is the best option. You can always add area rugs for added flair and comfort.

Painting: Where is your “loft?” And what kind of look do you want? If you constructed this space in an unfinished basement, inexpensive spray paint allows you to create your own custom designs and replicate an urban graffiti style. If you’re working with a finished basement or attic space, paint the drywall yourself. Neutral hues like black, brown, tan and gray are good base tones. A bold-colored accent wall is common in many lofts and may make a smaller room appear larger.

Artwork: A typical urban loft shows somewhat like a gallery. However, you don’t need to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on an original Monet or DaVinci. Create your own unique works of art by framing personal photos, magazine clippings or even travel calendar pictures.

Mix & Match Design: Today’s “modern” décor is all about mixing new pieces with old. This look is easily achievable by purchasing a new expensive piece and complementing it with vintage pieces from yard sales or thrift stores. You can also divide and open space into separate areas using multi-functional dividers like a long dresser, a trunk, lockers, or an island, depending on the look you’re going for and what is available to you.

Unless you live in a state that shows off year-round sunshine, the month of February tends to be a little drab and dreary. The cold winter weather lingers while the spring rain tests its waters. It’d be easy to acquire a gloomy state of mind until the grass is green again. This year, fight the gloominess by incorporating color and brightness into your home! The perk of a personal living space is that it can be as bright and cheerful as you want it to be, without any regard to what the world looks like outside.

Aside from the fact that bright attributes in your home will brighten your mood, they will also grab the attention of those passing by or visiting and could create an interest in potential buyers, if you are or soon will be selling your home.

Here are some ideas on how to brighten up a drab day in your colorful confines:

• Visit a flea market or a local antique shop and purchase some affordable and unique table lamps, floor lamps or sconces to add literal brightness to any room.

• Trade in your thick window curtains with Roman shades or lacy curtains that allow light to seep through. Choose deep red tones or floral prints that will emphasize sunshine and sunsets.

• Purchase white or light wood furniture, and outline the drawers or legs in a bright color of paint. With stencils, paint a design all over the piece.

• Add colored panels to flank your outside windows. Opt for royal blue, maroon, deep red or off-white, depending on the tone of your exterior.

• Switch your front porch lights with colored bulbs. Opt for purple, pink, bright yellow or some other pastel that reminds you of the upcoming spring.

• Add some plants or flowers to your front porch or a visible garden. Research what types of plants will grow in your area in February, such as skunk cabbage, Russian sage, white fir or winter honeysuckle.

• Hang a wallpaper border in your kitchen or bathroom, displaying bright sunflowers or ruby red apples. It will brighten a room without changing the paint color. If you grow tired of it, you can remove it with minimal work.

• Cozy up by a fire or the television with a bright-colored blanket. When not in use, throw the blanket across the back of the couch. It can add a bright flare to any room.

If you have your own ideas on how to add color and cheerful brightness to a drab room, share your idea with other Buy Owner Blog readers. Warmer months are in our future!

Looking to expand your house as a whole? Thinking of adding another level to your floor plan? Hoping to increase appeal to potential homebuyers with large families? We’ve got good news. There are ways to upgrade your home and make your house stand out. Like adding a dormer.

What Is a Dormer?
Today, dormers are popping up in houses more and more. A dormer is one large and open floor of a house: No walls separate bedrooms. The staircase from the floor below directly opens into this wide, open space. The dormer is usually used to place numerous beds in. This could be used as a bedroom for numerous kids, a place to keep overnight guests, an open space to host a party or an oversized room to use as a media room, a hobby room or anything you prefer! A dormer basically provides your house with the massive room you always wished you had.

How to Add a Dormer
You can build the dormer onto your house yourself! For a video tutorial from BobVila.com, click here. For a more traditional and less risky route, hire a contractor to build the dormer.

The first step is to obtain permits that allow you to add onto your home. Once that is complete, you’ll need materials for siding, insulation, drywall, roofing and windows. You’ll need to remove the roofing already covering the area for the dormer, then attach the walls, then build the roof and then work on the insulation and windows. Or if you already have an upper floor of bedrooms, you could remove the walls that separate these rooms and create one large room.

Dormers are just one more new way to make your house stand out from the rest!

So you’re looking to spruce up your home by incorporating a new paint palette or getting some new furniture. But how do you know if you can handle it on your own or if it’s time to hire a professional? Here is a list of pros and cons of hiring a home decorator that will help you decide when to make the call:

Pros
An interior designer is trained, informed and knowledgeable about home design.
They can help you see the big picture because they do not feel attached to your home.
They will save you time and energy by presenting you with all the possibilities and helping you make an informed decision.
They can make the most of what you already have in your home.
They have access to the best resources.
They can give you an unbiased opinion.
They can offer advice if you have no artistic flair or don’t trust your own taste.

Cons
It costs money to hire an interior designer.
Your designer’s taste might differ from your own.
Even though you have the final say, you won’t be in full control of decorating ideas.

If you’ve decided to seek help and hire a home decorator, be aware that there is a difference between an interior designer and an interior decorator. A designer is someone who is professionally trained and probably even has a degree in the design field. In some states, interior designers are required to have a license to prove that they have the necessary training and qualifications. A designer focuses on the functionality and efficiency of a space. A decorator, on the other hand, does not necessarily have any formal training and deals mainly with surface decor such as paint and furniture. Both professions serve a purpose in home decorating, but it’s important not to confuse the two.

Those of you in colder climates, are you looking for a way to make your home more comfortable in these cold winter months? Those of you down south, are you wishing for a way to expand the amount of home space that is available for using in the winter?

Instead of adding onto your home, and spending a hefty amount of money, create a heated and/or air-conditioned garage!

Lots of options are available on how you could implement this renovation, but first let’s discuss the perks of having a climate-controlled garage:

• It will add living space to your home, space that everyone can enjoy no matter what time of year it is.
• You could finish it and expand the total square feet of finished space in the home, which would be a vital selling advantage.
• If you park your cars in the garage, it will keep the cars in a controlled environment and running smoothly. Up north in winter, you’ll be glad to know this means no more warming up the car for 20 extra minutes!
• You could customize this extra space to use as a hobby room, a room for keeping pets, an extra entertainment room, a party room or anything you prefer.

In order to make your renovation as efficient as possible, do some research before choosing what to purchase. Measure the size of your garage, and with those measurements, determine the required amount of wattage, ventilation and other safety issues. Before getting started, make sure your garage walls are insulated. If not, complete that job first, or the heat will just evaporate through the cold walls. After that is complete, lots of options are available for heating, which include:

• Mini Split A/Cs: A simple and affordable option for controlling the climate of your garage is through mini split A/Cs, which provide heating and cooling for less than $2000! For more information on this option, click here.
• A powerful heating unit that is specifically made to heat a garage up to 500 square feet. These units are available in gas, electric and propane.
• Natural gas heaters, either a forced air vent that blows air from the home’s furnace, or an infrared tube that radiates heat. These are the most economical options and come in different sizes to suit the size of your garage.

Decide which option suits your needs most and enjoy extra heated and cooled space all year long!

Adding insulation to your garage will only add benefits to your lifestyle and your home’s value. It will decrease the cost of your energy bill because the insulation will keep the garage warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. If your garage is attached to your home, the neutralized temperature will also keep your house warmer or cooler without outside influences sneaking in. It will keep your car at a more comfortable temperature, it will offer you the option of heating the garage once it’s insulated, and it will allow you the luxury of incorporating the garage into your daily living space!

Insulating your garage is a simple process that you can complete on your own, and the initial cost is worth the money you’ll save in energy bills and the increased value of your home. To get started, follow these steps:

1. Find out your local building codes to make sure that the type of insulation you want to add is in sync with these codes.

2. If you want to add electric or plumbing to the garage, complete these processes before insulating. If you want to heat the garage, you can do that after insulating.

3. Measure your garage to see how much insulation you’ll need. If your attic resides in the garage, you might want to consider insulating this area too. You could also insulate the ceiling, the floor and the door for the most energy efficiency.

4. Determine the R-Value of your garage, which is how much insulation is needed in order to keep the weather conditions in your area out.

5. Choose the type of insulation that will be most beneficial to your needs. Options include batt insulation, which is rolls of insulation made of fiberglass or wool; loose-fill insulation, which comes in chunks that are blown or sprayed onto the area; reflective insulation, which is foil that reflects heat and prevents it from leaving the garage; or rigid insulation, which is made from foam and contains a high R-Value, but needs to be covered with drywall because of its flammability.

Once you have the insulation, move all objects away from the walls. If you’re using rolls of insulation, cut the pieces to fit between studs and joists, and try to cover every square-inch so that air cannot come in or go out. If you’re using spray insulation, wear a mask and goggles. When you’re done, enjoy your cozy, energy-efficient space!

To read up on eco-friendly insulation, read our article titled Energy Efficient Insulation. For more information, read this article from home-garage-help.com. Look for an upcoming blog about heating your garage!

Wrapping up the holiday season and moving on can seem like a chore not worth doing. Often, we feel lazy after all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, as well as discouraged to strip down our holiday décor, and we don’t know where to go with the sweaters that didn’t come with gift receipts. However, if your house is currently or soon to be on the market, you really need to step things up and move on from the holiday season.

Homebuyers are already prepared to move on from the holidays and to now keep themselves busy in a new way: finding the perfect house. If other home sellers are prepared to show their houses before you, that could lose you a sale. How do you make sure this doesn’t happen? Prepare your home now by reorganizing with these five simple steps!

• Find space for your new gifts by cleaning out drawers and closets. Replace old clothes with new clothes, and then bring the old clothes to a home shelter or a local charity.

• Don’t allow your children to cover the home with toys from Santa. Keep the toys in one designated room, and provide containers for the toys to be neatly put away after playtime.

• Take down all of the holiday décor, restore it in boxes and then store the boxes in the basement, attic or somewhere away from sight. Reposition your regular décor, so the house doesn’t appear bare.

• Sweep, dust and clean after the decorations are successfully stored away. Sweep up remaining pine needles or sparkles of tinsel, dust away leftover food crumbs, and clean windows where stickies might have left marks.

• Keep a homey, cozy atmosphere available for visiting homebuyers, without it feeling like the holidays. Light a fire in the fireplace, brew fresh coffee, replace winter candles with spring aromas, and have little pieces of chocolate on hand.

Homebuyers will be impressed at your quickness to move on from a time we all love, and to get down to business with selling your home. Good luck!

The holidays have come and gone. If you already have a system for storing your decorations, keep doing what you’re doing. However, if you have recently moved into a new home or are looking for a new way of organizing, this article is for you!

Here are the top 5 tips for storing your holiday decorations:

1. Trees
   • DO NOT store a fake tree in its original box. The cardboard will deteriorate over time.
   • DO store your tree in a commercial “tree bag” if it is a whole tree or inside several black garbage bags if it comes in two or three parts.
   • If you do not have room inside a hall/basement closet, the garage is a great place to store a holiday tree, especially if it’s six feet tall.
2. Ornaments
   • Small ornaments fit well inside empty egg cartons, so save those convenient containers throughout the fall months.
   • Although it may be tough to keep track of the original boxes belonging to older ornaments, try to keep the box in which each ornament is packed. It is a lot easier to store boxes rather than oddly shaped ornaments.
   • If you cannot find an original box, plastic cups and shredded newspaper work just as well.
3. Candles and Potpourri
   • To prevent scratching, wrap candles in newspaper or tuck them inside old socks.
   • DO NOT store candles in a very warm places, as the wax will melt. Even the slightest bit warmth may leave with you a misshapen candle.
   • When it comes to potpourri, there is no way around storing little bits and pieces other than to dump them in a plastic container. Make sure the lid is secure; duct tape it if you have to.
4. Figurines (and linens)
   
   • Treat figurines the same way you would ornaments. If an original box is unavailable, try newspaper.
   • If you have holiday towels or linens, easily store them by wrapping them around your figurines (or even by laying them in between layers of ornaments).
   • The best place to store figurines would be on a shelf inside a closet. If you have to put a box on the floor, keep it towards the top to avoid breakage.
5. Lights
   • Cut a large piece of cardboard, perhaps the side of a box, into a rectangular shape. Then make small slits on each side and keep them an inch or two apart. Wrap the lights around the board, tucking the cord in each slit as you move down.
   • Carefully wrap the strand in a circular motion and place the strand into a plastic bag. If you toss the lights in unprotected, they may tangle or even break.
   • The garage may not be the best place to store lights if you live in a cold climate. You may find that a lot of the works don’t work after sitting “outside” in the cold.

How do you store your holiday decorations? Share your ideas below!

After the holidays come to a close and the decorations are neatly restored into boxes, our homes tend to appear emptier and drabber. There are no more strings of multicolored lights, sparkly tinsel and fuzzy Santa hats to brighten our spirits. Though this drab feeling will pass with time, and you’ll soon remember what you love about your year-round décor, why not add a bold touch here and there? Little additions to your home’s winter décor will add just enough flare to beat the winter blues!

• Add throw rugs, pillows, vases or other miscellaneous knickknacks in warm, earthy tones that will increase the energy of a room. These tones will lift your mood by reminding you of the warmer days ahead. When those warmer days arrive, your décor will already be ready for them!

• Hang a new piece of framed artwork on your wall. Anything new to your eyes will lift your spirits. Opt to hang a framed picture of your family or friends, from over the holiday season, to remind you of the good times you shared.

• Go shopping at an antique store, a thrift store or a flea market for small and affordable finds. You can add flare to your home without feeling guilty for shopping post-holidays.

• Switch your winter, holiday candle scents with fragrances that will remind you of spring, the season of rebirth. Choose floral favorites or an ocean/rain aroma.

• Purchase some herbs to plant in indoor pots, and set the pots on a windowsill or near a window. The herbs will provide natural fragrances and a healthy addition to meals. When summer arrives, bring the pots outside!

• Replace heavy curtains with light, airy alternatives. These will allow the short hours of sunlight to stream inside, and it will remind you of warm summer breezes to come.

• Drape blankets and throws over your couches and chairs to add new patterns to a room and to have on hand during blistering cold nights. Also, keep fresh logs of wood in the fireplace for a quick strike of a match!

• During winter clearance sales, score some visually appealing mugs and some convenient hot chocolate, tea or coffee mixes. Place packets of hot chocolate or tea inside the mugs, and use these sets as a centerpiece that is easy to reach!

Before you know it, you’ll be hanging red hearts and Cupids around your house while you nibble on chocolates. After that, spring will be here before you know it!

Whether you’re moving into a new home at the beginning of this new year or you’re just wanting to stay on top of trends as they come, January marks a key point on the decorating calendar. What will be in this year? As always, home designers turn to the clothing trends seen on the runway, as these two trends tend to overlap with each other. According to home trendsetters, such as Fashiontrendsetter.com, Sherwin-Williams and Curbly.com, here is what to expect:

• The economic recession might impact color choices. People will steer toward neutral, practical colors, such as gray, which is predicted to be a popular shade of 2010.

• On the other hand, dramatic colors could sore in unexpected combinations, such as black and white, and leather and crystal.

• Layering will be popular for fabrics, textures, accessories, patterns and more.

• The green movement will continue to skyrocket with eco-friendly options that remind one of nature and that use recyclable materials.

• Rooms will be designed to reflect an open, relaxing and light décor that feels uncluttered, relaxing and reflecting of nature.

• Pain palettes for 2010 focus on colors found in nature and that are reminiscent of Native cultures. The purpose of these calming tones is to create a cozy sanctuary. Whether dark or light hues are your style, you can choose from Sherwin-Williams favorites like Oceanside Blue, Darkroom, Rockwood Amber, Nomadic Desert and Foothills.

• The Hollywood Regency style will reemerge, especially with furniture. This eclectic option will mix and match shockingly vibrant patterns and personality.

• Other trends to expect include Art Décor and Art Noveau shapes and patterns, mosaics, patchworks and multi-cultural inspirations.

A universal view is that in 2010, pretty much anything goes. Displaying your unique personality through your home decorating is recommended. Continue to watch the runway clothing trends, and subscribe to home decorating magazines and blogs ahead of time, in order to beat the crowd at showing off the newest trends!