So you might have just bought a house—you got your finances in order, looked at all those different home mortgage loans, got approved and finally chose a home to buy. Maybe you did this before the wedding, or right after, but regardless buying your first home is a major milestone in most people’s lives. It marks a transition in life. However, when you walk into your new house, it may not yet feel quite like home. Here are some tips for helping you make it so:

Personalize Your Walls

The walls in your home need to reflect the people living inside its walls. Personalize your home’s walls with things you love. Family and friends are a good place to start with decorating. Pick out several of your favorite pictures and have them framed. You can even forgo framing and use other creative methods if you wish to shake it up. If you want something a bit more modern and trendy, consider a custom name sign for you and your spouse.

Thematic decorations are other options for personalizing your walls. If you love to spend time at the beach, consider adding seaside themed items on one of your walls. A sun-bleached piece of driftwood or shells set in shadow boxes is a good place to start. Don’t forget practical considerations like hooks for coats or keys. None of this has to be too extravagant, hitting up some thrift shops and consignment stores can help get you a start, and can help foster some creativity and experimentation with decor. Make sure to check out your local small businesses; you’ll be able to find truly unique pieces at truly amazing prices.

Decorate with His and Hers

Your home needs to reflect everyone in your home. Decorating for his and her is one way to make this happen. Wherever there is a feminine accent add a masculine one.

Start out with a limited color palette. Fewer colors make it easier to mix and match accessories. A neutral base filled with different textures is another option. If the man in the house prefers leather furniture, it is easy to add an upholstered chair in a feminine fabric to coordinate with a leather couch. Balance floral prints with clean dark frames for a masculine touch. Each room should have a balance of both people in the relationship.

Go Furniture Shopping

If this is your first house, chances are that your last home was an apartment or condo. And if your last living space was an apartment or condo, chances are that you’re a little low on furnishings. Bare rooms can get in the way of making a house feel like home, so set aside some time to go furniture shopping. You don’t have to spend a ton of money. In fact, it’s better to buy strategically. What are the most important pieces for each room? What interior design theme do you want for your home? This isn’t supposed to be stressful, so relax and have fun with it.

Customize Your Kitchen Appliances

Now that you finally have the freedom to swap out appliances whenever you want, look into getting the ones that fit your particular style. Do you prefer an electric stove over a gas burning one? Want a french door style refrigerator instead of that old 2 door from the 1980s? The choices are yours to do with as you see fit. Whether your goal is ease and comfort, or becoming the next master chef, a house becomes a home once it is tailored to your needs.

Sometimes something to do is check your neighbors homes and what they have done. If you ever choose to sell, at least now you know what you have put into it and can sell it by yourself rather than pay realtor’s fees that can take away from your profit. These tips will help you to make that first house into a home you can enjoy for years to come. Make sure to check out our recipes to celebrate your new home in style!

Four little letters comprise a word that stops everyone in their tracks. M-O-L-D. Mold is a fungus that has spores that freely travel the in air at all times. It grows on paper, cloth, wood, and behind drywall, among other things. Moisture of any kind from anywhere, such as flooding or humidity, can cause mold to grow.

Of itself, mold has useful properties; it is responsible for penicillin, for instance. It’s when the mold spores proliferate that the trouble begins. Mold attaches to any organic material, eating away at it and causing structural damage. It attacks those with allergies, asthma, and other lung problems; they suffer first and worst.

Controlling the humidity and moisture levels inside your home is your best course for avoiding the growth of mold. Everyone knows that one of the most reliable and efficient ways to lower the humidity in the home is to have a dehumidifier installed on your heating and cooling system. It pays to begin at the beginning—outdoors.

Clean the Outside of the House

Clean out the gutters and downspouts. Accumulated sludge, leaves, and twigs clog the gutters and downspouts. This prevents them from doing their job properly, leaving water to get into your walls, basement, and crawl spaces.

If the drainage on your property isn’t enough, have trenches dug so water will be headed away from the house. You can even do it yourself and backfill the trenches with decorative gravel.

Check the roof; this is your first line of defense, and the first place moisture will try to get through. Loose shingles and damaged flashing should be repaired or replaced before any worse damage is done. Then check the attic for mold.

Decaying organic matter such as dead trees and flowers can make a potential mold problem worse. Remove fallen trees, check for rot on living trees, and make sure you remove or grind stumps so they don’t pose a threat to your home.

Move to the Inside of the House

Seek out any wet areas and dry them immediately. Dripping window unit air conditioners, condensation from HVAC units dripping from air vents, drainage problems with dishwashers or washing machines are all sites for mold growth. If these appliances are causing the moldy issues, it might be a good idea to look into replacing them with new appliances.

Then check your house for mold-friendly areas. Does condensation gather on windows? Are there watermarks on the ceilings? Does your basement flood? Check on these areas and have them repaired or replaced.

Use Mold-Resistant Materials

Building materials are now mold-resistant; paint is, too. Drywall is mostly gypsum plaster between sheets of paper. Today’s technology offers us drywall that is not made of paper at all. It’s made of fiberglass wrapped around the gypsum and is also waterproof.

Mold-inhibiting paint is available for those with water problems in bathrooms, laundry rooms, and basements. Remember to scrape off the mold and clean before painting. Mold-resistant primer is also available.

Moisture Control Indoors

When working in areas of high moisture, such as kitchens and bathrooms, open a window for venting if there is one handy. Indoor humidity is ideally 30 to 60 percent. The HVAC unit can’t do it all, so helping with an open window will save you from a moldy kitchen or bathroom.

Keep an eye on indoor humidity with an inexpensive humidity checker from your local hardware store. Another way to tell if there is excess moisture in your house is to look at the windows. If they have condensation, then open them.

Now is the time to remember that one of the reliable and efficient ways to lower humidity in the home is to have a dehumidifier installed on your heating and cooling system. Make sure to check the unit as well as the air handler for moisture. Empty drainage pans. Mold will grow here as well and will blow through a house.

A lot of homeowners think an air conditioner removes humidity in the home. It does, but not at the rate that will prevent mold from entering and growing. The harder it tries to dehumidify, the power bill costs rise. A dehumidifier added to the HVAC unit will lower the power bill.

Dehumidifying works using a refrigerant. The air at dew point is basically moisture. Water then condenses in the air in the house. It is collected by a coil, which freezes. When the unit senses humidity, the air conditioner kicks on. A heating unit melts any ice on the coils.

This is called a humidistat, while an air conditioner has a thermostat. You can set the desired humidity level on the humidistat. The dehumidifier cycles on and off with a fan blowing as it senses humidity and then the lack of humidity in the air. It will remain on much like an A/C does until the air is dry.

References:

• http://www.dehumidifierbuyersguide.com/how-dehumidifiers-and-air-conditioners-work/
• https://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/stories/how-to-prevent-mold-9-tips
• https://www.fivestarclaimsadjusting.com/prevent-mold-growth-home/
• https://www.mold-advisor.com/mold-paint.html
• https://www.lairdandson.com/air-conditioning/
• https://www.treequote.com/
• https://www.sidingatlanta.com/