Month: December 2018

How Does Flipping Houses Work?

Renovations

Flipping houses continues to be a lucrative endeavor for many looking to earn a nice return on their initial investment. However, successfully flipping a house involves a lot more than what you may have seen on television. Here’s how to get started flipping houses.

Consider Your Budget

You probably know that it isn’t enough to simply choose any home in any neighborhood. For example, if you aren’t starting out with a lot of money, trying to flip a home in a wealthy neighborhood won’t get you the big bucks you’re looking for. In fact, it may end up costing you more to flip a house. For your first time out, consider flipping a house located in a middle-class or blue-collar area.

Create Your Renovation Plan

Even though you may understand renovation, it’s wise to stick to the basics, such as new fixtures and flooring, and updates to the bathroom and kitchen, such as the installation of sliding interior doors. Avoid properties with mechanical issues and structural problems even though you may know how to fix them. Both can cost you more time and money than you have.

Get Financing

Now that you know your budget and where you plan to flip, it’s time to consider whether you’ll need some additional help. The best time to arrange loans for flipping houses is before you even make an offer on a property. Do your homework and compare pricing for several loans, as well as their fees, as these will have the greatest impact on your costs.

Get Your Team Together

If you don’t have your own team, your next step will be to find one. Along with general contractors, you’ll also want to add tradespeople, such as electricians, plumbers, and HVAC specialists, to your network. On the real estate end of things, having a competent and knowledgeable home inspector and a realtor will be two absolutely crucial network additions.

Buy and Inspect

It’s important to be patient with this part of the process, as finding the best deal may take time. Here, again, it’s best to stick with your original budget and renovation plan. Don’t move forward if needed renovations and price are beyond your means. Once you buy, you’ll really benefit from an inspector who can confirm there are no significant issues.

Renovate and Sell

The best way to flip a house is quick so that you can pay out as little as possible while you flip. Good contractors will know how to efficiently install elements like glass closet doors and complete other work without any quality being lost. Your realtor will be instrumental in helping with home pricing and selling it for a profit. The better your network and the more homework you do, the higher the chance of flipping success.
Getting more for a home is possible with unique elements like sliding glass doors. The Sliding Door Company’s top-quality products are completely customizable. Find a showroom near you to browse our wide variety of products.

What Are the Big Interior Design Trends for 2019?

It seems crazy to think, but 2019 is almost here! That means new design trends, fads, diets, and styles. Whether your go-to style is warm and cozy or sleek and modern, there’s always something that’s up and coming in fashion, while something else is going out. So, what’s in store for maximalism and minimalism for 2019? We round up a few favorites we can’t wait to see next year—or now!

Maximalist Trends for 2019

While “more is more” seems like a phrase uttered around the holiday dinner table rather than in reference to interior design, the general feeling behind maximalism is: the more, the better! While it may sound cluttered, there are many ways to incorporate the plush elegance of this design ethos. Bold colors are in; bland beige is out! Hello, glamour and luxury!
One major home decor trend for 2019 in maximalism is emotion. While that might not sound like a “trend,” what that translates to is big, bold patterns on fresh wallpaper, living room rugs, bedspreads and pillows, furniture fabric, and art. Bright, passionate colors and complex patterns involving botanical and natural themes, as well as anything textural: faux fur blankets, embossed wallpaper, shiny interior glass doors, and velvet cushions are all in.
What if you aren’t ready to incorporate over-the-top patterns or colors into your design scheme? Not to worry. Maximalism doesn’t have to be cluttered and disorganized! Suspended barn doors can help to create smaller, more intimate areas of your home to experiment with. Play with mixing colors and patterns, even if they clash, and don’t be afraid to move things around until they feel right. Mixing and matching are what maximalism is all about!
Another new home trend for 2019 in maximalism is theme. The goal here is to have a story—a narrative that connects each to piece and grounds the contrasting textures and colors. For some, this might look like a collection of botanical prints, nature specimens, dark greens and reds, and warm hardwoods. For others, a set of leatherback chairs might accompany floor to ceiling bookshelves, with antique gold framed art, heavy velvet drapes, and artifacts from world travel. Collections of items, whether they are books, shells, or photographs, give the space an organized feel, even if the individual elements are vibrant and luxe.

Minimalist Trends for 2019

So, what if you prefer the sleek and refined style of minimalism? Then you’re not alone! This trend has been going strong since the 90s, and it’s easy to see why: clean lines, with an emphasis on single objects or colors. Yet, simple doesn’t have to mean boring, as these design trends prove.

One major home interior trend we’re going to see next year for minimalism is one for maximalism, too! Texture, texture, texture—but here, it’s all complementary. Since minimalism is all about neutrality, whether in color or objects, it can easily lean toward cold and boring if you’re not careful. Here’s where texture is your best friend! Keeping with a similar color scheme of warm grays, for example, you could add a fluffy carpeted living room rug or a large-weave crocheted blanket. The contrasting fabrics give the room a tactile, inviting feeling and prevent it feeling too sterile.
Another trend we can’t wait for 2019 to implement is glass. We’re talking interior sliding doors, frosted glass closets, and smoked glass room dividers. While glass counts as a texture, the sleek surface that glass offers provides light and reflection, which translates as warmth. Open spaces feel larger and more inviting, and different glass options allow for as much, or as little, privacy as your space needs. Different transparencies and metal options help to support your overall design and bring the space together.

What if I Want 2019 Trends Now?

Here’s the best news for home interior trends for next year: You don’t have to wait for January 1st to try them out. If you’re ready to embrace 2019 now, call The Sliding Door Company at 888-988-5033 to schedule a consultation, or find a showroom near you!

Start the New Year off Right with a New Interior Design Scheme

Glass Door Solutions

One of the changes you may have been considering for the new year may be to the interior of your home, but you may not have the time for a full renovation, or the resources available for expensive design trends. The good news is that you don’t have to renovate your home in order to completely transform it; all you need to do is incorporate these simple ideas.

Love Your Living Room Again

There are many ways to inject some new life into your living room without renovating. The first thing to do is to look at the way your furniture is arranged. If you don’t like it, ask yourself how you’d like your living room to look. Do you need more room, and would moving one or more pieces of furniture around help you achieve that goal?

Make Moving Fun

Ask a friend to come over and help you move heavier items (it might help to include a delicious dinner or snack). Not only will this give you a chance to catch up, but it’ll be a lot quicker and less painful to change the location of furniture if there’s a configuration you don’t like.

A Different Perspective

Next, it’s time to think about how you display certain items. For example, you may have pictures hung on the walls and a collection of some kind in the display cabinet. If so, consider displaying those pictures inside the cabinet. For your collection, choose to display them all together on a side table or shelf. A collection that’s all in the same spot will draw the eye and create visual interest.
Using your display cabinet for pictures might seem unusual, but this can also be a great way to generate visual interest. Not only that but, in placing family photos and keepsakes in the cabinet, they’re protected better than they might be in the open.

Divide and Conquer

If your living room is a very large space and you want to make the most of it, consider installing sliding glass doors. These innovations allow you to divide a large space into two separate, usable areas at will.

Hail to the Hallway

The hallway helps you get from one area of your home to another but, beyond that, you may not have given your hallway much thought. The truth is that this area of your home is perfect if you want to get bold and brave. Why? Because its area is typically the smallest of all the areas in your home. This makes it the most economical space to redesign.

A Splash of Color

Today’s paint colors are available in the thousands, and the best thing about today is that anything goes, so you don’t have to worry about breaking any style rules. Perhaps you love a particular shade like mustard or berry but aren’t feeling it for a room. Why not try these shades in your hallway instead?

Fool the Eye

Use light colors for the hallway, and it can make it appear to be taller and more airy, giving the impression of a larger space. If you’ve chosen a saturated jewel tone that’s darker, such as teal, you can still increase the perceived size and height of your hallway by placing framed art or a similar piece over a main doorway to attract the eye upward.
To give new paint colors even more of a boost, install sliding doors on the rooms off the hallway. This will allow light to pass through without sacrificing privacy and really make that new shade stand out.

A Better Bathroom

The bathroom is another typically small space that can be completely, yet easily, transformed. In addition, a small bathroom is a space where you can really experiment. If your budget is small, many experts in home decor trends will tell you that a great place to spend your money on is the bathroom. Get those fancy taps you’ve always wanted or buy that antique washstand you’ve had your eye on.

Do Some Reflecting

Mirrors are ideal for increasing the size of this room. They can bounce light around like nobody’s business, and there are so many styles to choose from. One large antique mirror with a gilded frame can be a beautiful and eye-catching, yet practical, addition. If you have two sinks with a single mirror, replacing it with two and installing a sconce between can really switch things up.

Get More Real Estate

You can get a lot more usable space in your bathroom by trading that traditional door for a sliding, lockable door in frosted glass. How is this possible? Because glass sliding doors are situated right up against the wall; they don’t swing in and out. This means that whether the door is open or closed, you are always saving the maximum amount of available space.

Bedroom Beautification

If your bedroom is your sanctuary, then ensuring it’s as cozy and comfortable as possible just makes sense. You don’t have to worry about falling victim to fleeting home interior trends to achieve it, either; all that is needed are a few simple changes.

The Time Warp

If you have a particular era that you love, the bedroom can be the ideal place to go back in time. When redesigning for a certain period, you’ll not only want to consider color, but fabric as well. For instance, a 1920s-inspired redesign can include lots of opulence and sparkle, so consider soft, shiny, and luxurious pillows and bedspreads.
On the walls, choose antique velvet wallpaper instead of paint. To up the style ante, you can wallpaper just one wall, such as the one directly behind your bed, and repaint the rest in a popular hue of the era.

Mix It Up

As we said before, anything goes. If you’re an old soul who also loves modern style innovations, there are no rules against mixing the two in your bedroom—or in any room, for that matter. Don’t be afraid to combine kitsch with class, or yard sale finds with expensive statement pieces. You may be pleasantly surprised at the incredible impact this has on your bedroom’s look.

Healing Nature

It’s been scientifically proven that having certain plants in your home can improve the air quality. The bedroom can be the ideal space to house these living wonders. Plants are beautiful to look at, which will elevate your mood, and their air-scrubbing properties can enhance the rest you get.
Sunlight also has a dramatic impact on health, improving focus, and kick-starting crucial hormone production and many other major processes in the body. In fact, sunlight has been found to be so healthy that many health practitioners now recommend exposure to sunlight instead of, or along with, prescribed medications.
Here, again, is where interior glass doors can help. They reflect the sun and infuse the room with natural light. They aren’t only doors; they can be mirrors, too, which makes the room look bigger and eliminates the need to sit a mirror on the ground or hang it on the wall. These doors really are important pieces of interior design furniture.

Get Cooking

The kitchen is the place where your family may come together for meals. It may also be your happy place, where you can spend hours creating and never get bored. Whatever you use your kitchen for, redesigning can be easy. Adding metal elements, such as copper, to appliances or accents can be enough to get your kitchen glowing.
Continuing with the “no rules” theme, you can most certainly have a chandelier in your kitchen, whether it’s an antique or modern piece. If your kitchen is situated next to your living room, cooking odors can easily migrate and settle in sofa fabric. To avoid this, install a sliding door between the two rooms. This separation will be enough to keep smells contained while allowing you to hear what’s happening in the next room

A Door for Every Room

As you can see, it’s easy and affordable to change up the look of any room in your home. The same is true of the interior glass door products made by The Sliding Door Company. We offer a wide range of glass types, locks, and frame designs so that you can make your interior design dreams a reality for every room. Learn more by calling 1-888-988-5033 today.