Choosing the Right Backsplash for Your Kitchen

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Every chef’s kitchen should have a style that matches the delicious food that comes out of it. But even if you’re doing little more than making mac and cheese out of a box, your kitchen still can be a place of color and creativity. Kitchen backsplashes are nothing new, but they’ve seen a recent surge in popularity. We’re fortunate to see homes every day with creative takes on this tiling trend, so we decided to showcase some popular backsplash designs to serve as inspiration.

Glass Tile

Image Rights – Better Homes & Gardens

  • When designing a kitchen, function and flair should work hand in hand. The appeal of glass tiling is that it’s easy to clean.
  • Backing up the functionality is affordability. While glass tiling runs more expensive than ceramic, the cost is typically below stainless steel, and even some stones.
  • Glass tiling is perfect for those with an artistic flair. Whether it’s simply a splash of color, a full mosaic, or even an intricate design, glass tile lets your inner artist shine.
  • While the initial cost may be greater, glass tiling can more easily be found in pre-set sheets, making DIY installation far easier than many other types of tiles.

Ceramic Tile

Image Rights – Kitchen-Design-Ideas.org

  • If you need a backsplash that can hold up to consistent use, ceramic tile is a great fit.
  • The most cost-effective tile to professionally install, ceramic tiling offers a glazed shine with a variety of color options.
  • Creating a clear, simple, ceramic backsplash is a great way to add a colorful flair to your kitchen.
  • Between the cost-effectiveness and its low-maintenance nature, ceramic is unsurprisingly the most common type of kitchen tiling.

Metallic Tile 

Image Rights – Architecture Art Designs

  • Stainless steel is one of the more popular backsplash options for those interested in a metallic finish, but we’re also seeing more aluminum, copper, and bronze tiles.
  • The range in metal type obviously impacts the cost, but most metal tiles are much more expensive than their ceramic counterparts – at least $10 per square foot more.
  • For that extra cost, however, you’ll receive a sturdy backsplash with a modern sheen that is easy to clean.
  • With stainless steel in particular, consistent maintenance is necessary to avoid a dulling of the backsplash’s shine.

Stone Slab

Image Rights – Houzz.com

  • Sturdy? Check. Waterproof? Check. Classy? Check. From soapstone to marble to granite to good old-fashioned brick, there is no more low-maintenance backsplash base than stone.
  • For the pleasure of acquiring a stone backsplash, you’ll typically pay more than most other materials. Between installation and material cost, the up-front payment can approach $1,000 for less than 30 square feet of wall space.
  • With a wide range of stone to choose from, a number of color options are available at varying costs.
  • If that upfront payment is manageable, the results will blend both aesthetics and function, and stone’s resiliency makes any follow-up costs minimal.

For an expert DIY challenge, there are many other ways to create a satisfying backsplash that fits your fancy, including vinyl wallpaper, wood, and even beadboard. What’s your dream backsplash style?

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How Reliable Are Home Valuation Tools?

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What’s your home worth?

It seems like a simple question, but finding that answer is more complicated than it might seem. Sites like Zillow, Redfin, Eppraisal, and others have built-in home valuation tools that make it seem easy, but how accurate are they? And which one do you believe if you get three different answers? Online valuation tools have become a key part of the home buying and selling process, but they’ve been proven to be highly unreliable in certain instances. One thing that is for certain is that these valuation tools have reinforced that real estate agents are as vital to the process of pricing a home as they ever were – and maybe even more so now.

There are limitations to every online valuation tool. Most are readily acknowledged by their providers, such as Zillow’s “Zestimate”, which clearly states that it offers a median error rate of 4.5%, with varying accuracy across the country. That may not sound like a lot, but keep in mind that amounts to a difference of about $31,500 for a $700,000 home. For Redfin and Trulia, there are similar ranges in results. When you dig deeper into these valuation tools, it’s no small wonder that there are discrepancies, as they rely on a range of different sources for information, some more reliable than others.

Redfin’s tool pulls information directly from multiple listing services(MLSs) all over the country. Others negotiate limited data sharing deals with those same services, but also rely on public records, as well as homeowners’ records. This can lead to gaps in coverage. These tools can serve as helpful pieces of the puzzle when buying or selling a home, but the acknowledged error rate is a reminder of the dangers of relying too heavily on them.

Home valuation tools can be a useful starting point in the real estate process, but nothing compares to the level of detail and knowledge a professional real estate agent offers when pricing a home. An algorithm can’t possibly know about a home’s unique characteristics or those of the surrounding neighborhood. They also can’t answer your questions about what improvements you can make to get top dollar or how buyer behaviors are shaping the market. All of this – and more – can only be delivered by a trusted professional whose number one priority is getting you the best price in a time frame that meets your needs.

If you’re curious what your home might be worth, Windermere offers a tool that provides a series of evaluations about your property and the surrounding market. And once you’re ready, we’re happy to connect you with a Windermere agent who can clarify this information and perform a Comparative Market Analysis to get an even more accurate estimate of what your home could sell for in today’s market.

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Stay Safe While Selling Your Home With Our Seller’s Checklist

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Staying organized while uprooting your life and moving from one home to another can feel impossible. Not only are you trying to get the best financial return on your investment, but you might also be working on a tight deadline. There’s also the pressure to keep your home clean and organized at all times for prospective buyers.  One thing you can be sure of when selling your home is that there will be strangers entering your space, so it’s important for you and your agent to take certain safety precautions. Like so many things in life, they can feel more manageable once written down, so we made this handy checklist.

  • Go through your medicine cabinets and remove all prescription medications.
  • Remove or lock up precious belongings and personal information. You will want to store your jewelry, family heirlooms, and personal/financial information in a secure location to keep them from getting misplaced or stolen.
  • Remove family photos. We recommend removing your family photos during the staging process so potential buyers can see themselves living in the home. It’s also a good way to protect your privacy.
  • Check your windows and doors for secure closings before and after showings. If someone is looking to get back into your home following a showing or an open house, they will look for weak locks or they might unlock a window or door.
  • Consider extra security measures such as an alarm system or other monitoring tools like cameras.
  • Don’t show your own home! If someone you don’t know walks up to your home asking for a showing, don’t let them in. You want to have an agent present to show your home at all times. Agents should have screening precautions to keep you and them safe from potential danger.

Talk to your agent about the following safety precautions: 

  • Do a walk-through with your agent to make sure you have identified everything that needs to be removed or secured, such as medications, belongings, and photos.
  • Go over your agent’s screening process:
    • Phone screening prior to showing the home
    • Process for identifying and qualifying buyers for showings
    • Their personal safety during showings and open houses
  • Lock boxes to secure your keys for showings should be up to date. Electronic lockboxes actually track who has had access to your home.
  • Work with your agent on an open house checklist:
    • Do they collect contact information of everyone entering the home?
    • Do they work with a partner to ensure their personal safety?
  • Go through your home’s entrances and exits and share important household information so your agent can advise how to secure your property while it’s on the market.

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How Glass Design Can Help Reflect the Best of Your Home

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Glass has been a key component of home design for style and function for thousands of years. The versatility of glass is such that nearly every single modern home constructed utilizes glass in some way, shape, or form. But there’s no need to settle for simply including glass window panes and calling it good. Whether it’s in the interior or exterior, accentuating your home with glass is a great way to invite light, show creativity, and convey a truly modern sense of style in your home. We picked a few of our favorite ways to utilize glass below:

 

Glass Furniture

Photo Credit: Trendir.com

  • Glass tables, chairs, bookcases, and more are unique choices that deliver a clear message in your home: you mean business.
  • If you work from home often, a glass table is an excellent accent to add a hint of professionalism to the home office.
  • Glass shelving can be used to keep a space feeling open and light, while still maximizing function.

 

Creative Window Glass

Photo Credit: Freshome.com

  • Whether your climate is arid or humid, snowy or rainy, there’s a glass style that fits your home.
  • Multi-paned glass not only is tougher but provides enough protection from the elements to make it worthy of full-wall usage in some homes.
  • Embracing open glass windows and walls is a great step, but adding glass features throughout a room can help enhance the sense of openness and promote a sense of natural lighting.
  • Stained glass needn’t be the purview of Gothic architecture alone. A well-placed stained glass insert can completely transform the lighting and aesthetic of an otherwise unremarkable interior.

 

 

Glass Accents

Photo Credit: HomeDIT.com

  • A glass table or window is all well and good, but sometimes your space needs more, or has limitations on what can be done.
  • Stepping stones, candle-holders, and light fixtures are just a few ways to use glass in the periphery of your home to shed light and attention onto the parts of your home you’d like focus on.
  • Feeling particularly bold? Glass items with multi-chromatic finishes can shed lights of various colors, delivering just the right vibe for the moment.

 

Sea Glass/Beach Glass

Photo Credit: LovelyGreens.com

  • Whether lakeside in Idaho or on the beach in Santa Monica, the experience of living surrounded by water is unique in all its forms. But a dash of seaside flair can be added to any home.
  • In some cases the best ways to evoke the spirit of waterfront living is with sea glass accents.
  • From a DIY sea glass-filled candle jar to a letterpress tray display of color, or even a faux-stained glass window styling to play with lighting effects, sea glass is a fun accent that can bring a theme all the way home.

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TO BE BUILT HOME IN TIMNATH RANCH!

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The Alta plan is a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home at 7125 Silver Ct with high end finishes backing to the greenbelt. Entertain in a gourmet kitchen featuring 9′ cabinets with full height back-splash below, quartz counter tops, wall oven/microwave, SS appliances, 5 burner gas cook top, SS hood, and fire clay farm sink. Opening up to a vaulted 10′ great room with hardwood floors throughout and a cozy fireplace. Your mud room allows for extra storage and access to the 3 car garage. Photos are of a previously built home and are used as example. Buyer can make selections. Contact Jacqueline Feil for your private showing at 970-402-7509 for more information or click the link below for more details.

http://windermerenoco.com/listing/87436286

 

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Gorgeous Townhome in Bucking Horse Neighborhood!

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This gorgeous town home at 2033 Scarecrow Road is located in the wildly popular Bucking Horse neighborhood! Boasting a spacious main level & sprawling kitchen. Your new home features wood floors, granite counter tops, & custom back splash. Fantastic hand-crafted fireplace enclosure with lighted shelving. Beautiful master suite & additional bedroom with private bath on the second level. Large front porch & enclosed yard with raised garden beds round out this amazing home. Management fee includes water, trash & neighborhood pool! Contact Jon Holsten for your private showing at 970-237-2752 for more information or click the link below for more details.

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Beautiful Two Story Home in Timnath!

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This gorgeous two story home at 5960 Jasper St in Timnath Ranch awaits. With 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, this home has an open floor plan and has been updated throughout with granite counters, stainless steel appliances, lighting, plantation style shutters and much more. The beautifully landscaped back yard backs up to a greenbelt giving you more space and privacy between your neighbors. Enjoy the community pool, clubhouse and fitness center as an added bonus. Contact Rondi duPont for your private showing at 970-691-0056 for more information or click the link below for more details.

http://windermerenoco.com/listing/8737967

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Charming Brick Ranch in Loveland!

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This adorable brick ranch at 906 Heather Dr offers plenty of space and a large yard with mature trees. The main floor has beautiful original hardwood floors, 3 bedrooms, and a large covered deck right off of the dining area. Both the main floor and the basement have wood burning fireplaces and full bathrooms. The basement has 2 bedrooms, one is non-conforming, and a large family room. Newer roof and ready to move into. Contact Meagan Griesel for your private showing at 970-691-0056 for more information or click the link below for more details. 

http://windermerenoco.com/listing/87317866

 

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What’s Starting?

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Here are some interesting stats from our friends at Metro Study who study new home activity along the Front Range.

• New home starts are up 14% compared to last year – this is really good news and is helping to relieve the shortage of housing inventory

• Every product type saw an increase in starts compared to last year (single family, town-home and condominium)

• Condominiums saw the largest increase in starts by a long shot, up 112% over last year- this is excellent news for first time buyers and those looking for product in lower price ranges.

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Keeping Up with the Joneses: The Great Paint Debate

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A few weeks back, Jenn and I decided to finally pull the trigger on painting our home. The vinyl siding of the 1942 Seattle Cape Cod fixer we purchased nine months ago had been sun bleached to the point of resembling a kind of soft lemon chiffon yellow you’d see on a cake your grandmother baked. Great for dessert, bad for today’s exterior home color.  We wanted a charming, warm and inviting new exterior home color but were fearful about what it would cost to have a professional do it. We had saved between 10-15k by renovating our bathroom ourselves.  Couldn’t we just pick up some paint and make a Saturday of it?

 

Pro tip: In Seattle, painting outside competes with the weather. Make sure you have a runway of at least a week of good weather to ensure you can paint the house in its entirety while leaving time for it to dry.

Seeing as the summer season was pretty much over (say it ain’t so!) and the wet Seattle fall was nearly upon us, we figured we had only a week or two left to get the job done. I’m the kind of person who jumps on a new project… and maybe sometimes I put the horse before the cart. *Cue Jenn’s pursed-lips smirk* So once Jenn and I agreed we were going through with the project, I had three different painters bid out the job and booked the least expensive (but experienced) professional within two days. I scheduled him to arrive the following day.

 

Good Husband Tip: Don’t give your wife 12 hours to decide what color to paint your house.

 

Pro Tip: Don’t feel bad about shopping for the best price with home professionals. They bid homes out every day and won’t be offended. Most of the time, they present a bid with room for negotiation. It never hurts to get a second bid or ask for a cheaper price.

With the pressure of our painter showing up the next day, we scarfed down dinner and took a trip to the paint store.  (I tried to convince my wife this was an opportunity for us to bond as a family unit.  “We could make it educational! Teach Addie about hues and shades!  C’mon, honey… it’ll be fun!” *Cue Jenn’s pursed-lips smirk*) We knew we had to get special paint for our vinyl siding so that narrowed it down to about 20 options.  And we wanted a sort of dark blue so we picked out two colors that looked promising and headed home to test them out.

Pro Tip: When testing paint, make sure you let it dry before you decide which color to go with.  Paint a few different swatches on various sides of the house and watch how it looks during different times of the day.

One test swatch (on the right, called “Prime Time”) was a little purplely/blue grey and the other was a slightly lighter blue (on the left, called “Stone Cold).  Those are two seriously stellar wrestler names, amiright?

 

With our painter arriving that evening, the pressure was on for us to choose. We’re Millennials so we did the only logical thing you can do when making a big decision. We asked our friends on Facebook. 76 comments later, there was still no clear answer.

Mid-debate, our dear friend Kim Gorsline of Kimberlee Marie Interior Design called us up with some highly insightful information.  First of all, a paint store has pre-mixed vinyl siding paint but they can actually make ANY color into vinyl siding paint.  Which means we had a lot more choices (which left me feeling excited and gave Jenn heartburn).  More importantly, Kim pointed out that the two options we had might not be exactly what we hoped for.  She suggested a few colors that had more grey tones and in much deeper shades.  She promised us that we’d still get the blue house of our dreams even if the colors looked dark grey on the swatches.

Pro tip: You can get small paper swatches for free or pay a few bucks for a large paper square but nothing will compare to a sample of real paint on your surface.  We spent $59.34 on paint samples and it was worth every penny.

Back to the paint store we went, grabbing three more options to test.  Our painter began taping off the trim as we took a few steps back to assess the swatches… BOOM! We had our answer… Britannia Blue by Benjamin Moore. Not the best wrestler name but a nice blue nonetheless.

We trust Kim’s vision and design talent wholeheartedly and as the days went on and the paint went up, we couldn’t have been more pleased.  I installed some new lights fixtures and house numbers that Jenn picked out.  Only this time, I gave her three days of lead time *Cue Jenn’s pursed-lips smirk*

 

Tyler Davis Jones is a Windermere Real Estate agent in Seattle who, with his wife Jenn, recently traded in their in-city condo for a 1940s fixer-upper. Tyler and Jenn, along with the help of some very generous friends and family members, are taking on all the renovations themselves. You can follow the transformation process on the Windermere Blog or on Tyler’s website and Instagram. 

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