Summer Refresh: Backyard Facelift

Summer is the time for backyard BBQs, pool parties, long nights, and yard games. Hanging out with your family or hosting friends on your old, dingy deck is not very appealing. A bare concrete patio? No bueno. Lucky for you, refreshing your backyard space doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Try your hand at the makeover ideas below!

RESTORE YOUR DECKING

Depending on the shape it’s in, sometimes all your deck needs is a little love. If it’s still fairly new, your deck might just need a deep cleaning and a new coat of sealant. There is a multitude of deck finishing and cleaning solutions on the market to choose from to achieve this. However, if it’s more worn down, the rejuvenation process may be a bit longer, including searching for larger repairs, tightening any hardware, giving it a good cleaning, applying a stain, sealant, and paint, and more.

CREATE A PATH

Put down materials like mulch, bricks, or stones to create a clear path from your house to the pool or playhouse in your backyard. You can also include a little flair to your pathway by adding yard decorations like gnomes, lawn art, glow-in-the-dark rocks, or garden stakes.

ADD LIGHTING

Ambient lighting can completely transform your outside space into a relaxing, cozy oasis. Consider adding solar lights that don’t require a plugin or battery replacement. The lights turn on automatically when the sun sets, making your deck come alive. You can also consider paper lanterns, rope lights, mason jar lamps, or small twinkle lights, depending on the style and mood you’d like to set.

BUILD A PRIVACY SCREEN

Privacy screens come in all styles, shapes, and sizes. Consider purchasing and installing bamboo fencing or lattice panels for a quick and easy solution. Or, if you are feeling a little more adventurous, you can build a wooden frame and grow climbing plants or vines or stretch outdoor fabric in between. Whichever route you end up choosing, make sure you get the most out of your efforts by evaluating all lines sight before building.

DIY PERGOLA

A pergola is a fantastic idea for your dream backyard. Clear out an area on a deck or in your yard and build your own pergola with this guide from DIY Network. Planning to spend a lot of time outside with your backyard remodel? Add curtains for extra shade to create the ultimate relaxing space.

ADD ACCENTS

The addition of a rug, some planters, and some cozy patio furniture can eliminate that “driveway look” most concrete slab patios have. You can even add a few accent pillows to brighten up the space. For longevity, you can add fake flowers and plants to your planters! Just create your desired arrangement and forget about them till the season changes. Easy!

GO VERTICAL

Whether you’re looking to expand your garden without taking up horizontal space or searching for small backyard ideas, wall planters are terrific for changing your outdoor area on a budget. Build a custom DIY vertical planter, or simply drill plastic planter boxes or pots into a wooden pallet to place against your house. Hanging pots from a metal lattice also works well.

ADD LAWN GAMES

Backyards can become the ultimate relaxation space, but take some time to add a little fun to the yard – especially when company comes over! Complete your yard makeover by setting up lawn games. Croquet, bocce ball, ladder golf, and bucket ball are all awesome ideas for including recreation in your backyard green space. You can DIY several backyard favorites or hit up stores like Target to find something fun.

2020’s Most Horrifying Home Trends

HGTV recently released their design trends for 2021 and that got us thinking – 2020 was full of some pretty lousy home decor trends. And some of these trends were greatly overused thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Your home should be a place of comfort and refuge. Designers are hoping you ditch these design trends in 2021.

7. Antlers

Many designers attempted to modernize taxidermy. This lead to white, brass-trimmed, fake deer wall mounts started surfacing on walls. Designers are now saying they look kitschy. Save the antlers and other taxidermy wall mounts for your hunting lodge.

6. Chevron

That continuous “V” pattern can make your eyes do funny things if you stare at it too long. And with more people hunkering down at home during the pandemic, chevron has really become a sore sight for the eyes. Chevron-patterned accessories—rugs, pillows, and linens—are being cast aside for more toned-down patterns.

5. Chalkboard Paint

DIY chalkboards or chalkboard wall paint first graced kids’ rooms and then started edging into other spaces in the home (hello chalkboard kitchen walls). Designers want to erase this now-outdated trend from memory. Reserve walls for paint, not scribbles. If you need something for the kids to scribble on, try a roll of paper from Ikea.

4. Wallpaper – specifically on the ceiling

Metallic wallpaper on the ceiling looks chic in magazine photos and TV design shows. But in reality, wallpaper on a ceiling is a terrible idea. Wallpaper has proven to be a short-term fad that comes and goes through the years. Save yourself the trouble of putting it up—and then taking it down in short order.

3. Grey Interiors

The gloom and doom of 2020 has been depressing enough, with a continuous train of bad news. Do we really want our interiors to make us feel gray, too? All-gray interiors—floor-to-ceiling paint, along with gray furnishings and cabinets—make us long for vibrant color pops, like in blues, greens, or yellows, that bring us hope.

2. Clutter Core

Some homeowners have embraced a lived-in look while spending more time at home during the pandemic. But there’s a reason minimalism has worked before. Social media tried to tell us “cluttercore”—a backlash to Marie Kondo’s decluttering movement—was in vogue. Instead, cluttercore dictates stuffing every shelf and wall space with knickknacks. It’ll bring you greater comfort, cluttercore enthusiasts say. Let’s get real: Clutter is never cool, even in a pandemic. Warning: don’t confuse this trend with Cottagecore.

1. Mason Jars

Crafty people, inspired by Pinterest, have been collecting mason jars like their as rare as toilet paper in a pandemic. This signature farmhouse aesthetic encouraged a range of DIY design projects, including filling mason jars with flowers, candles, or candy. They clutter countertops with forgettable décor. Interest in mason jar designs has plunged 40% since its 2015 peak, according to the “2020 Décor Trends: What’s Out & What’s In” report by Living Spaces. Nowadays, save the mason jars for storage in the pantry.

Check out more design trends on our blog.

10 Money-Saving Decor Hacks for Sprucing Up Your New Home

There are some very simple decor tips for your new house that make it feel like home. The whole moving process instantly gives us all the feeling of wanting new furniture and decor and just creating a fresh start. That feeling is not wrong at all – it’s expensive, though. How about some money-saving hacks that appear as if you have an endless bank account.

Finding a happy medium that still meets your needs for a fresh look and that dream home feel is completely possible.

We’ve gathered tips from professional home stagers, decorators and experts in order to give you everything decor-related for your new home. There are a lot of great tips, too!

Don’t rush to go shopping. Talk about starting off with a bang. Heading to the store to get furniture and decor all at once, tends to result in impulse purchases and also leads to the purchase of matchy-matchy items. Perfectly matched items create a cold-feeling atmosphere.

home decor tips by data driven real estate

Curtains above the windows. The best news is that it doesn’t matter how big or small your windows are if you hang your curtains above your windows and wider set, your room looks a bit grander.

Art at eye level. When you hang your art, whatever it may be, hang it at eye level. A good idea is to grab a statement piece or cluster different size (smaller) art in a common area. Rule of thumb is 57” off the ground.

Layered lighting. Overhead lighting is the quickest way to take the “homey” feeling out of a home. Layer the lighting with lamps that are smaller and taller. This could be side table lamps, dim standing lamps, and dim counter space lighting.

Create a hotel bed. Think of your sleeping space as a sanctuary. Load it up with the sheets you love, splurge on the bedding you like and add a few more pillows. Not only will you love your bed but you’ll be happy to make your bed every day which also helps spruce up the decor.

Rugs in zones. A wall doesn’t have to be the divider between rooms or areas, a rug can accomplish the same thing. Place rugs in the different areas to signify a living space, a dining space, an entryway, etc.

Produce is decor. Talk about cost-effective decor that can be changed at any moment. Grab some fresh produce and create a centerpiece.

Soap containers. This is one of those tips that go a long way and will always work. Grab dish soap or hand soap or any liquid soap at a great price. Find one of your favorite reusable soap dispensers and fill it with the inexpensive soap.

Karate chop pillows. Those large decorative pillows on your sofa and bed can sit straight up and be a nice clean square or you can karate chop the middle for a fancier, high-end look.

The two-inch rule. Leave two inches of space between your furniture and the wall. Think of it as allowing breeze or air to float through your home. The goal is to eliminate tight spaces.

coffee table decor tip data driven real estate

Bonus Tips:

We wanted to stop sharing tips but these bonus tips are definitely something we don’t want to leave out. Trays, mirrors, and scents are super-important so let’s move forward with even more ways to spruce up your home!

Trays. Things look better in trays. Add them as centerpieces or offset on an ottoman with a short stack of books, fresh flowers, and a candle.

Mirrors to reflect the outdoors. Hang smaller mirrors and lean larger mirrors across from windows to bounce the light around. The room will feel so much brighter. Heads up if you have a window in direct sunlight.

Scents are important. The smell of a room creates ambiance. Often times the sweeter scents aren’t as warm or welcoming (or even fresh) in a larger room. Think of the feeling you want when you enter a room. In the kitchen, apples or citrus scents reveal baking or clean. In living spaces, something with a woodsy smell or clean, airy scent will “trick” people into thinking it’s cleaner than it really is.