Should You Power Wash Before Painting Your Home’s Exterior?

YES! 100% Yes. 🙂

Improving the exterior of your home with a new coat of paint is a great way to boost curb appeal, increase value, and make your home appear new again. Before any paint is applied, there are some steps you’ll need to take to prepare the surface. One of the most crucial preparation steps is having your home power washed.

Find out why power washing is the most crucial step when preparing your home for an exterior paint job.

Click here to read the full article from our friends at Color World Housepainting.

Outdoor Lighting Ideas and Options

Grab some great hints for illuminating your outdoor space with these outdoor lighting ideas and options.

Whether you use your outdoor living space for entertaining, relaxation or both, you don’t want the fun to end when the sun goes down. As you explore deck and patio design ideas, consider that the right outdoor lighting ideas and options will help beautify the space and ensure it can be a ’round-the-clock destination.

Click here to read the full article.

40 Stunning Ways to Landscape Around a Swimming Pool

Turn your basic swimming hole into a relaxing oasis with these creative ways to use low-maintenance landscape plants, hedges, rocks and more in your pool design.

Click here to read article.

25 Quick Ways to Add Charm to Outdoor Dining Areas

Set the scene for relaxing get-togethers and fantastic meals with these updates!

Click here for Quick Ways to Add Charm to Your Outdoor Dining Areas

Design Ideas for Porch Steps and Stairs

Give your feet an experience and dress up your home with these designs and materials, including exotic wood, stone and concrete.

Click here for design ideas to spruce up your porch and stairs!

Remodeler: Save $5000 with maintenance

RSVP spoke with Rob Hundley of Back Construction in Lexington, Kentucky, recently on a wide variety of topics related to home remodeling.

Back Construction is an award-winning remodeling company that has been listed as one of the top remodeling companies in the nation since 2005.

Rob Hundley, Back Construction

One of the topics we discussed was on why homeowners remodel their homes in the first place.

Rob says: “No matter what kind of project (remodeling) they want- something that is often overlooked is routine maintenance. Homeowners as a matter of their yearly process, go out every spring, go out every fall, inspect their windows, inspect their gutters, take a look at their roof, just look for anything odd that’s changed over the years. Pay attention to those too.

A lot of the projects that we get into on the siding and window end of it is because of deferred maintenance that hasn’t taken place and they haven’t taken care of their home. If they’ll do maybe three to five hundred dollars’ worth of work now, it would save them three to five thousand dollars down the road.”

Home remodeling usually falls into two categories: wants and needs. Obviously wanting to remodel your family room is not a need, but having to remodel your siding or windows due to cracks and weather related issues must be taken care of before it gets to be a major problem.

It’s lack of attention to your home that typically necessitates some remodeling projects. With the recession, large numbers of homeowners have not had the money to address the typical maintenance that needs to be done to a home, which is a shame. As Rob states, without this attention, it’s only going to cost you more in the long run. Sure, it can be difficult to put a little money into your home now when money is tight, but don’t forget- when it comes time to sell your home, having kept up with routine maintenance means you can be ready to put your home on the market quicker than having to first hire a remodeling company to fix all those problems that have been building up over time.