Photo by Chantal DeGaust on Unsplash
You can never have too many plants inside your home. Indoor plants can help boost your mood, productivity, concentration and creativity. But being a plant parent means finding the right ways to display your flora so they can grow and thrive in any space. We’re going to dive into several different ways you can set up your plants so you can enjoy a piece of the outdoors – indoors.
1. Floating Plant Shelves
Floating plant shelves, available online and in home decor stores, are popular for their clean and minimalistic look. They come in a variety of styles: rectangular, triangular, and other geometric shapes that can complement any interior.
Ideal For: Small to medium potted plants
2. Wall-Mounted Planters
Similar to floating shelves, wall mounted planters are a fun element to add to your walls, and they are simple to hang.
Ideal For: Hanging plants like marble pathos or smaller herbs
3. Indoor Trellis Planter
Typically used in outdoor gardens, a trellis inside of your home will be eye-catching. Add it against your walls or use it as a divider in one of your rooms.
Ideal For: Climbing vine plants
4. Hanging Planters
Elevate your plants by using macrame hangers or other ceiling planters. This will add a nice boho look to your home while also allowing your greenery to get access to sunlight.
Ideal For: Orchids or hanging plants like String of Pearls
5. Window Sill Plant Display
If you have a lot of window sill space with sunlight, this is an ideal home for your plants. Use a variety of pot sizes or even something like a mini window greenhouse, available in hardware stores and nurseries, to add dimension to your window sill.
Ideal For: Indoor garden plants like chives, oregano, or basil
6. Hang Plants From Rails
Grab a wall-mountable rail, some pots, and hangers. When you put them all together, you’ve got the perfect place to exhibit your plants.
Ideal For: Herbs or small to medium plants
7. Clothes Rack Plant Hanger
A clothes rack can be transformed into a breath-taking vertical garden. Add your potted plants to the base of the rack and add hangers to the top to support any greenery.
Ideal For: Vine or hanging plants
8. Tiered Plant Display
Use a tiered stand to display your plants in a captivating and compact way in your kitchen or other parts of your home. Bonus points if you add additional accessories to the stand to accompany your flora.
Ideal For: Small plants like succulents
9. Simple Box Planters
Small box planters can go anywhere in your home from window sills to coffee tables.
Ideal For: Succulents or small flowers
10. Pin Climbing Plants
If you have vine plants and are trying to find an alternative way to display them, you can do so by stretching them across your wall. As the vines grow, grab clear push pins to hold the vine up across your wall.
Ideal For: Climbing plants like English Ivy
11. Dowels and Pipes For Plants
Another way to get your plants up off of the ground is by using things like a copper pipe or branch to hang your indoor plants.
Ideal For: Vine or other small to medium plants
These creative ways to display houseplants will inspire you to cultivate your green thumb!
Preparing to put your home on the market almost invariably involves three things: painting, cleaning, and organizing. Since you might also need to do some repairs and updating, it's crucial that you prioritize your tasks and make sure you're not spending more money, time, and energy than necessary.
Consulting with your real estate agent about what projects are the most important will help you make the most of your available resources.
All home sellers have a different timetable in which they need to get their home ready for potential buyers. Few people, however, have the luxury of tackling those projects slowly or sporadically. When you factor in your busy schedule with everything that typically needs to be done before a house goes on the market, time management and self motivation become crucial elements in the process.
Wall painting often tops the list
In spite of your best intentions, walls and doors are going to get scuffed, scratched, and marred. Small, but noticeable holes from nails and thumbtacks also have a way of increasing with every passing year. Regardless of how careful you think you've been, it's virtually impossible to keep your walls looking fresh, clean, and well maintained. Bathrooms pose even more of a challenge because moisture and steam from showers will gradually cause paint to crack, peel, and lose its original smooth quality. Bedroom walls, especially those of children and teenagers, will also be subjected to a lot of wear and tear.
Fortunately the cost of a couple gallons of paint, along with brushes, rollers, and other basic supplies, is an affordable solution for most home sellers. It's one of the most cost-effective methods of freshening up your house, and it significantly enhances your home's eye appeal and marketability.
One of the pitfalls of repainting your walls, however, is the possibility of choosing colors that may turn off some potential buyers. Colors which you may describe as vibrant, splashy, or cool, might be viewed by others as garish, tacky, or "over the tip." That's why it's often best to play it safe by choosing colors that are considered neutral, such as grey, beige, tan, eggshell, and ivory.
By veering away from colors that might be considered too bold and strident, you're increasing the likelihood that your décor will appeal to the widest range of potential buyers. While there may be exceptions to just about every rule -- especially as it pertains to decorating -- your objective as a house seller is to increase the probability that your home will appeal to as many people as possible!
"Immaculate" is a good goal
Another thing prospective buyers will frequently notice is the level of cleanliness in your home. While it's difficult (at best) to keep your home absolutely spotless all the time, it does pay to establish a few family rules and expectations to help you maintain a semblance of order until your house is sold!
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When your pocketbook determines you can’t afford a new, energy-efficient home, you can still satisfy your preferences by upgrading an older house. Try these options for improving energy efficiency in your home.
Apply for the FHA’s Energy-Efficient Mortgage program. With an EEM, you can finance an already energy-efficient home or use funds for certified home improvements that promote responsible energy use. Contact your lender to see if your state participates in this federal program.
Ask your utility provider for an energy audit. Most utilities offer this as a free service to customers. They’ll check for leakage around doors and windows, outlets and vent pipes and make suggestions for improvement, repair or replacement.
Have your home inspector check your attic spaces. You'll gain knowledge about how deep your insulation should be to keep your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Hire an HVAC professional to inspect your furnace and air conditioning, ductwork, and airflow. If your ducts need cleaning, employ a service to handle that. Not only will you have improved circulation, but you'll also reduce allergens, and lower your energy costs.
Trade out traditional toilets for low-flow models. Add aerators and flow restrictors to faucets and showerheads to reduce water consumption.
Install solar-operated power vents to your attic to expel heat in the summer. Consider a solar-powered water heater too. And, if your roof can handle it, install solar panels to boost your electrical power. Many states offer rebates for solar panel installation, so check to see what’s available in your area.
Install a programmable thermostat to help you conserve energy when you are away from home.
If you have a larger improvement budget, consider big-ticket items such as a geothermal heat pump, a residential wind turbine, or a fuel cell. You’ll find that on-going tax credits for these items can save you money over the years. If your municipal codes allow it, add a roof garden or mini-ecosystem to cover your existing roof. These systems retain moisture and insulate your home from heat or cold.
Your property specialist can help you determine which homes lend themselves to these upgrades. They'll introduce you to mortgage lenders that specialize in energy-efficient loan products.
Sharing living expenses with your partner or roommates can be a difficult and confusing issue for many.
Life would be made much easier if there was just one bill to pay on your home that includes everything.
Recently there have been attempts to bring such a suction into fruition. Many homeowners and renters have turned to apps that help them split expenses, or have signed up for mortgage agreements that cover stray expenses like property tax and private mortgage insurance.
In this article, we're going to give you a few tips on splitting the bills in your home to make things easier for you, your spouse, and your roommates.
Who pays what?
Many young couples are often left wondering who should pay which bill, especially when you share so many services.>
However, there's a big difference between sharing a Netflix account and sharing a car. One solution is to use the bills that report to credit agencies for whoever needs help building their credit score.
Putting credit cards under the person with the lowest score’s name can help them build credit even if they're simply listed as an “authorized user” which means you can take advantage of good interest rates and build credit at the same time.
Paying the mortgage
It can quickly become tiresome having to write two different checks each month for your mortgage or rent. To solve this problem, you can either alternate payments (you pay a full month’s rent or mortgage one month and your spouse pays the following month), or you can choose to pay bi-weekly, which will help you pay off your mortgage sooner.
The best apps to use
If you live with your spouse, you likely aren’t overly concerned with splitting all of your expenses 50/50. Chances are whoever has the higher income will foot the bill for the larger expenses.
However, if you have roommates there’s a bigger chance you’ll want things to be split evenly between you and the other members of the household. That’s where apps come in handy.
First, sit down with your roommates and go over all expenses. Write down each bill that you share: rent, heat, electricity, cable, internet, gas, insurance, and so on.
Then, decide who is responsible for making the payment on those bills. Even if you decide to split them all evenly, one person will have to be responsible for sending out the check each month.
Once you’ve determined which bills you have and who is going to pay them, it’s time to find out how you’re all going to contribute.
One way is to open up a shared account. Doing so can be messy, however, if you’re using that account for multiple bills. Some banks and services also charge a portion of the transfer, so you’ll each be losing money each month, and the amount depends on how many bills you have.
Some apps and services you can use to split bills and transfer money include Splitwise, Mint, PayPal, and Chase’s QuickPay. The benefit of apps that don’t transfer money is that they are often free and don’t collect transfer fees. So, if you’re comfortable with handling money by hand, you could save in the long run.