design

Time To Make Your Laundry Room Shine

January 12, 2022 by khproperties Leave a Comment

The humble laundry room is emerging as an influential part of the home for today’s buyers and renovators. Upstaged by new kitchens, many buyers rarely gave a thought to the laundry room beyond its practical function – until now. New interior designs and increasingly sophisticated washing machines have put ways of doing the wash at the front and center of many buyers’ thinking when viewing a home. Revamping your laundry room and making it a center or storage and organization can be a worthwhile upgrade before you put your home on the market. The room has become a hot button for buyers.

If you have a laundry room that needs a facelift, here are eight tips for a great renovation project.

Quality appliances: You can’t go wrong with installing excellent appliances. American and European brands are winners. Buyers love to see a front-loader washing machine next to a dryer.
Faucet favorites: The combination of a quality faucet and basin is critical to the success of a laundry. A swivel faucet is essential. You might also want to consider one where the hose can be pulled out and retracted. If you’ve got a dog, it makes washing them a breeze.
The look: Give your laundry room some style. You’ll find inspiration on the internet from sites like Pinterest and Houzz. If you’re selling your home shortly, keep the same color scheme as the rest of your home or use neutral colors and tiles.
Storage savvy: The laundry room is often the dumping ground for items that don’t belong anywhere including sports equipment that is out of season. So, focus on storage solutions to keep your space clutter-free.
Closet caper: Staying on the storage theme, you probably keep mops, brooms and vacuum cleaners in the laundry room. Consider installing a thin vertical cupboard to put them out of sight with specialized grip fittings to hold them upright.
Workspace: A striking aspect of a modern laundry room is bench space. If you can supplement that with a fold-down ironing board attached to the wall, that’s even better.
Stay dry: A rail above head height to dry shirts and dress on hangers is another popular inclusion because not everything can be thrown into a tumble dryer.

Is An Open Floorplan The Right Style For You?

December 27, 2021 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Open floorplan living is often billed as the perfect floor plan, bringing family together in a single room where cooking, conversation and the screen share the same space. It has been a popular feature of a home for two decades and more. However, a small but noisy school of thought now suggests it’s time to revert to the old formula in which rooms have a specific purpose. As experienced agents, we have seen real estate fashions come and go and come again. Perhaps you’re seeking an open floorplan layout for your dream home, or maybe thinking that smaller rooms are easier to maintain, and heat and cool.

If you’re searching for a home right now, we’ve pulled together a list of benefits and drawbacks to open floorplan living. It might help you consider a broader range of properties if you’re aware of all the pros and cons of various designs and floor plans.

Open Floorplan Benefits

A living area where no boundaries lie between leisure and the kitchen will be a magnet for the entire family at least twice a day. Interaction is essential for a harmonious household – especially if you have teenagers – and open floorplan living helps you achieve this.
Young families will benefit because it is far easier for mom or dad to keep an eye on young children. It also avoids the temptation to pack them off to their bedroom or playroom, where they won’t see you or talk to you.
For anyone who loves entertaining, open floorplan living is essential. You can slave over your stove while not being excluded from your guests or supervise homework while cooking the evening meal.

Open Floorplan Drawbacks

It’s usually the highest maintenance area of the home. With so many activities going on, there’ll inevitably be a mess at the end of the day. For example, folks often use the island bench as a dumping ground for bags and keys. If you love a tidy home, you might find yourself continually cleaning.
It’s a privacy killer. Without a sound barrier, it’s hard to read a book when the TV is on or there’s a conversation in the kitchen. When the phone rings, everyone else in the room is asked to keep quiet, or you’ll need to take the call elsewhere.
Decorating an open floorplan area can be tricky. Furniture needs to match and be of a similar size. The visual balance of an open floorplan area can be ruined if your couch is far larger than your dining table.

Nine Mistakes To Avoid With A New Kitchen

December 21, 2021 by khproperties Leave a Comment

No room carries more influence with a buyer than the kitchen because it’s where the everyone gathers and many memories are made. The kitchen can represent up to 20% of the entire value of a property, so it’s important to make sure it is both functional and attractive. With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the common mistakes that we’ve seen in our daily lives as real estate agents to help guide you when you upgrade your kitchen.

Stay on budget
Set a spending limit. The cost of renovating a kitchen can go into six figures if that’s what you really want. So, be disciplined and work out what you can afford and what will offer a return on your investment. Talking this through with your agent can be a big help.

Going DIY
Unless you’re a kitchen designer, then put your new kitchen into the hands of experts. They know the tricks to maximize space and storage. They’ll also be familiar with the latest trends, which change all the time.

Follower of fashion
Don’t choose popular, fad colors that will date the kitchen in a few years. Keep your ambitions stylish and traditional, especially if you plan to sell in the short to medium term. Many buyers might not share your taste, and your hard work and money will have been for nothing.

Small countertops
It’s a mistake to try and create more floor space by sacrificing the countertop. You need to plan the use of every square foot of a kitchen, and priority needs to go on where you prepare your meals.

Storage shortage
It’s fashionable to take the gadgets off the countertops these days to deliver an uncluttered appearance. Every kitchen needs lots of storage, not just for equipment but food and drinks, too. Buyers will walk through your kitchen, opening and closing doors to see if the storage meets their expectations. They love corner-storage spaces.

Smoke gets in your eyes
Never forget the importance of ventilating your kitchen. A vent fan will push the smoke and smells outdoors so the rest of the home doesn’t take on the smell of old cooking.

Poor lighting
Illuminate the sink and areas where you will prepare food and eat. During viewings, agents will turn on the lights, as this makes the home feel bigger. Badly positioned lighting in a kitchen can be exposed.

No plug, no play
A common mistake is to have insufficient electrical sockets, especially around the countertop, where you will use a blender, juicer, coffee maker, and so on.

Waste of space
Be smart about where you place your trash. External bins on the floor are unsightly and unpopular. Your new kitchen should integrate a bin into a cupboard, preferably under the sink.

Ready To Sell? Use These 4 Feng Shui Tips

November 15, 2021 by khproperties Leave a Comment

If you know anything about the ancient wisdom of feng shui, it might be profitable to pay some homage to the art when preparing your home for sale. While there is a unique philosophy rather than science underpinning feng shui, many of its instructions about furniture arrangement make perfect sense. They can enhance the enjoyment of living in a home and improve the impression that it makes with buyers conducting a walk-through. Although some of its approaches can be instructive in terms of preparing your home for sale, there are some easy actions you can take to give your home better feng shui.

Doors: Make sure to have doors that open and close easily. This improves energy flow. Doors must not be blocked or pushed up against a piece of furniture when opened. Buyers will think the space inadequate if this is the case.

Energy: If your home has an unimpeded line-of-sight from the front to the back door, that isn’t good, according to feng shui. Energy that comes into the home escapes straight out the other side. Arrange furniture so there’s not a runway through the heart of your home.

Beds: Feng shui demands beds are strategically positioned. If your bed faces the door directly, you’re in what adherents call the “coffin position”. That’s because your feet are pointing out the door. And don’t put beds (or mattresses) directly against a wall as this disturbs the balance of a room. It also makes a room feel smaller.

Desk: If you’re offering a home office as part of your home, don’t have the desk facing the window. If you do, your qi, or energy, goes out the window, too. And whatever you do, don’t put a desk in the main bedroom. It will make it difficult to sleep according to the feng shui masters.

We hope you’ve found this list fun, helpful, or both. If we can help you secure your dream home or sell your existing property, please do not hesitate to contact us. We can discuss buyer preferences, prices trends in your neighborhood, and the best ways to maximize your property’s value.

That Color is Too Dark

December 20, 2018 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Your eyes are incredibly complex human machines. If you don’t believe me, google any one of the thousands of optical illusions that get passed around the internet – like what color is the dress or are the plates upside down or right side up. The eye can play tricks on you and when it comes to painting and choosing paint colors, you often have to try and outthink your eyes. We sat with a designer recently and discussed how choosing paint colors can be difficult but with the right mindset, you can overcome some of the common things that come up.

Darker isn’t always darker as stated by https://www.surepaint.com.au/. One of the first things people think about a particular color is that it’s too dark. While it can be, it’s not always the truth. Dark colors can actually draw in more light and make rooms seem brighter. Painting an entire room black probably isn’t going to work to make it look sunny, but you’d be surprised how dark colors can actually lighten a room. Check This Out to know where you can find the right kind of paint for your space.

Test in large areas. Most people will paint small swatches on their wall when trying to make a decision. The designer suggests painting large patches – think feet, not inches to truly get a good idea.

Let the paint dry. Paint colors change as they dry (and they dry differently on different walls and surfaces).

Don’t always count on a color that looks good in your friend’s house. Paints are affected by a lot of factors and what looks one way in your friend’s house may not look anything like that in yours. Everything from the surface to the natural lighting to the objects in the room can make the color look completely different.

If you just don’t feel you have an eye for it, don’t be afraid to ask the experts in the store or to hire a designer or professional painter to assist. Not everyone has the natural ability to bring color and design together to make those picture perfect rooms that we all dream of having.

image courtesy of acme