Home Owner • February 25, 2020

Designing Your Home Office

by Windermere Evergreen

Image Source: Canva

Working from home is an aspiration for many of us, but to do so effectively takes effort. A disorganized space at home can be just as troublesome as a hectic office. The most disciplined telecommuters will tell you that you need a structured routine and organization in order to be successful.

Having a designated workspace is one of the most important elements to your success when you make the switch to telecommuting. Even if you live in a small space, you need to find a balance between home and office. People who work from home often have a difficult time separating their work hours from their non-work hours because it’s so easy to keep at it late into the night. But maintaining a balance and shutting down the computer is important for overall wellbeing. What are some other must-haves for a successful home office? Here are the top five:

Natural Light – Study upon study tells us that natural light is needed to boost productivity and mood. Make sure to set your desk up as close to a window as you can. If being near a window isn’t an option, a natural light lamp is the next best thing. It helps balance your body clock and leaves you feeling rested and refreshed.
To-Do List or Planner – Start each day off by making a to-do list outlining what you need to get done before the end of the workday. Make sure to set a realistic time frame in which all of that should be completed, so you can check each one off the list and feel immense accomplishment once you’ve completed them all.
Storage – If you have a big enough space, put in a large bookshelf where you can organize everything (think storage boxes). It reduces clutter and looks stylish. Using your walls and cabinetry is the most efficient use of space.
Calendar – Many people tend to rely on digital calendars these days because of their convenience. When all of your devices sync together and pop up with reminders, you never have to worry about missing an appointment. However, many people find that it helps to keep a paper calendar handy too so you can easily view your whole month at a glance. Choose which options works best for you by playing with both options, or something in between and see which one lets you be more productive with the least amount of stress.
Space for Inspiration – It doesn’t matter what field you work in, having a source of inspiration in your workspace is essential. Whether it’s a photo of your family, your dream car, or that vacation you’ve been dying to take, having that inspiration right in front of you provides a constant reminder of why you do what you do.

Living • February 4, 2018

Practical Resolutions: Preparing for the Best in 2018

by Windermere Evergreen

Everyone’s list of things to accomplish in the upcoming year is different, but one thing is pretty universal: most of us are too ambitious for our own good. The best thing to do is make reasonable goals for yourself and work towards accomplishing them one at a time. So be realistic. You may not renovate your entire home, but in all likelihood you can finish your kitchen remodel. You may start the year with plenty of momentum; just remember to pace yourself when it comes to big goals–it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Here are some tips to keep your goals in check:

Set a goal: I find it useful to create a bucket list of all the things I want to do and prioritize the most important, most time consuming and most expensive. Your goals and what you do to accomplish them will differ whether you are making your home more your style, saving to buy or preparing to sell. From this list you can prioritize the goals in order by urgency, seasonality, and difficulty. If you cannot fit all your projects in this year, move them to the rolling 2019 bucket list.

Make a budget: Do your research and make an informed budget. If you are looking to renovate, you will want to make a plan, check resources and make an informed budget. If you are looking to save up for your down payment on a home, you will want to assess how much you need to have saved in order to have enough to put down, and create a budget plan. Creating a budget is a great way to keep your finances in check and keep your projects as affordable as possible.

Set benchmarks: If you have a big goal, breaking it up into smaller bites is the best way to stay motivated. If you can do a little bit every week to keep your home clean and tackle an organization project, you are more likely to sustain the momentum than if you attempt a complete overhaul. Also, there’s one great thing about goal setting, budget making and project planning: the more you practice, the better you become!

Stay motivated: Your resolutions may already be going by the wayside now that we are caught back up in life-as-always. It may help to write out your resolutions in a central place–a document on your computer desktop, a list on your fridge, or benchmark reminders in your mobile calendar. The key is to keep your resolutions at the top of your mind so you can work towards them a little bit every day/week. For more advice on how to keep your momentum, go here.

The new year offers the chance of renewed energy to accomplish the goals from past years and start fresh projects. This is the first post in a four-blog series about setting home resolutions, come back to see more information on making your existing home more personal, and buying and selling your home in 2018.

For more information on Windermere Evergreen and our team, please contact us here.

Living • November 13, 2017

5 Lessons Home Renovations Can Teach You About Yourself

by Windermere Evergreen

I could spend ages talking about everything there is to learn from remodeling your house: the best types of tile for a shower floor, little details that you shouldn’t overlook when remodeling, tips and tricks for finishing a project on time — you name it.

But a remodeling project, being a rather noteworthy life experience, can also teach you a lot about yourself. No, I’m not talking about your tastes or preferences (for example, you learn that you love the color blue on your walls or you learn that you really just don’t like remodeling). Rather, it can teach you about some characteristics you never knew you possessed, or at least never had the opportunity to focus on — the good and the bad. Here are some things you might learn about yourself.

Learn 1: Jane Lockhart Interior Design, original photo on Houzz

1. You’re more impatient than you thought. Remodeling will — I repeat, will — test your patience. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a dedicated yogi who can sit and meditate for hours at a time or a hobbyist who works late into the night tirelessly assembling detailed ships in bottles. Weather delays, unforeseen problems (wait, there’s mold behind that wall?), busy trade schedules — it’s almost impossible to have a remodeling project without a delay or two. And when it’s your project with the delays, you might just find yourself repeating the mantra of kids stuck in the family car during a road trip, “Are we there yet?” Or more specifically, “Are we done yet?”

Learn 2: Transitional Sunroom, original photo on Houzz

2. You’re adaptable. Bathroom remodels and kitchen remodels are notorious for, well, making bathrooms and kitchens unusable while they’re under construction. At the beginning this might seem like a major inconvenience (truth be told, it is!), but by the end you might be thinking “Who really needs a full kitchen?” After all, there are so many small appliances loved by college students and remodeling survivors alike — toaster ovens, microwaves, slow cookers, camping stoves.

Bathroom remodels can be easy to work around if you have another bath that isn’t under renovation, or a next door neighbor who is fairly generous, or membership in a gym with clean showers. Remember, creativity and adaptability are your friends. So embrace your inner MacGyver.

Learn 3: AMW Design Studio, original photo on Houzz

3. You want in on the action. It starts small: At first, you’re just chatting with your contractor about the status of your project — normal stuff. But as time goes on, you can’t help but ask questions about the more technical side of things. Some people might find details about tile installation eye-rollingly boring, but you’re intrigued.

Suddenly, you find yourself searching for home improvement how-to books and classes on design. You may even start planning your second project (which you’re considering doing yourself) or looking for houses you think you’d like to flip. Watching your own home transform before your very eyes has been an exciting process, no doubt, and now you’re ready to try your hand at it. Don’t be surprised if at first you just want the process to be over, only to find that you never want it to end.

Learn 4: Deville Custom Homes, original photo on Houzz

4. Your relationships can (probably) weather any storm. If the space you’re remodeling is a place that you share with someone else (whether it be your spouse, children or others), it’s likely that you’ll feel a little more stress than if you were just remodeling your own personal space.

Every stress that you feel about the remodel, they probably feel as well. Every worry you have about budgets and schedules and paint colors, they have too. Pour all that stress into a small group of people who live together, and, well … things can get messy.

But when you finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, you realize that all that pressure was worth it, because you and your people have a beautiful new space to use for years to come. It probably took some compromise and communication to get there, but now that you’ve finally made it, you know you’re that much stronger because of it.

Or not. I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but what you might discover about yourself is that you can’t collaborate with the person you’re with. Remodeling is like a stress-test on relationships — for good or ill.

Learn 5: Tiffany McKenzie Interior Design, original photo on Houzz

5. You’re fearless. I’ll tell you this much: It takes a lot of inner strength to not freak out when you see someone you’ve never met come through your front door with a hammer. Remodeling can make some people stronger. Once you see your home demolished before your very eyes by strangers wielding tools and driving heavy construction equipment, your definition of “scary” changes a little.

Obviously, this isn’t an all-encompassing list, nor is it supposed to mean that you will find yourself relating to every point. You may or may not feel the urge to become an amateur remodeler. You might (understandably) still get freaked out at a stranger coming into your home with a hammer. Remodeling is a personal journey, full of personal discoveries and accomplishments and all that good stuff. The only way for you to truly know how it will affect you is for you to experience it yourself. But whatever happens, you will learn more about yourself than you have in a long time.

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