Pro Tip: Creating a study space doesn’t have to mean remodeling. But if you want it to, your home loan could actually help cover those costs.

6 Kid-Friendly Study Room Ideas

• Optimize lighting
• Incorporate nature
• Minimize distractions
• Provide comfortable seating options
• Let your kid choose decorations
• Get creative with storage

Optimize lighting

The right lighting doesn’t just look nice—it can actually impact cognitive performance. Warm, natural light has been shown to increase productivity, improve moods, and increase creativity. And for those with sensory issues, harsher lighting can often be overstimulating. So, when setting up your kid’s home study space, aim for a room with windows and adjustable lighting (like lamps vs. overhead fixtures). Just don’t make it too dark, unless you’re looking to turn study time into nap time.

Warm, natural light has been shown to increase productivity, improve moods, and increase creativity.

Incorporate nature

From houseplants to leaf-patterned wallpaper, incorporating elements of nature in any space is a great way to make it more inspiring. Plus, caring for plants offers your kids opportunities to learn responsibility and gain some hands-on science experience. Win-win.

Pro Tip: Looking for beginner-friendly plants? Philodendrons, pothos, and succulents are all good options.

Minimize distractions

In a perfect world, you may be inclined to make your kid’s study room a device-free zone. But realistically, most homework is going to require the use of at least one device. So, minimizing distractions really comes down to the unique needs of your kid. After all, some might find a complete lack of stimulation to be more distracting than anything else.

• Opt for a white noise machine instead of music
• Choose a quiet part of the home to set up shop
• Create an easy-to-maintain organization system
• Make sure the study space has everything your kid needs before they get started

Provide comfortable seating options

A desk and chair are a given when it comes to study room ideas. But, it can also be helpful to give your kid seating options to break up the monotony of studying. That could be a beanbag chair in the corner for reading, a balance ball, or floor cushions for those projects that require more surface area than a desk can offer.

Pro Tip: Explore some of the best desk chair options for kids here before buying.

Let your kid choose decorations

Your kid’s home study space should be an environment they enjoy spending time in. So, as tempting as those Pinterest boards of cleverly themed study rooms may be, opt for decor your kid wants rather than any specific aesthetic. Keep in mind that whatever decor you go with should be budget-friendly and easily replaced to accommodate your kid’s changing interests.

Your kid’s home study space should be an environment they enjoy spending time in.

Get creative with storage

You don’t have to rearrange your whole home to create a great study room. It’s all about making the most of the space you already have. If your study area needs to have multiple functions, consider these space-saving study room ideas.

• Foldable desk
• Desk with built-in storage
• Loft bed with a desk underneath
• Wall mounted storage

Any other study room ideas?

You want to give your kid every advantage in their academics. Luckily, that doesn’t mean you have to stress over the details of their study space. Every student has different needs, and what’s important is to be there for them. Just like any other home project, a more aesthetic finished product isn’t necessarily worth blowing your budget. Whatever ideas you have for your kid’s home study space, make sure they’re involved with the process, too. It’s a fun bonding experience, even if it’s for a room where not-so-fun homework takes place.

Whatever ideas you have for your kid’s home study space, make sure they’re involved with the process, too.

The post Study Room Ideas for The Ultimate Kids’ Home Study Space appeared first on Cardinal Financial.

8 Summer Home Decor Ideas

• Nature-inspired lighting
• Coastal color palettes
• Vibrant patterns
• Colorful tableware
• Lush plants
• Open spaces
• Light-weight pillows and throws
• Bold front doors

1. Nature-inspired lighting

Natural light is always in. But when you can’t always depend on nature to come through, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. String and novelty lights may typically be associated with winter holidays, but neutral, warm-toned versions can work just as well for summer to replicate the light you’d get from fireflies, beach campfires, and sunset picnics. And if you want to reuse those lights when December rolls around, we won’t tell.

2. Coastal color palettes

Nothing says summer like a trip to the beach. When you can’t go to the ocean, bring the ocean indoors with color palettes inspired by the sea. Corals, pale blues, and neutrals are a great way to achieve that coastal cottage feeling. If you’re looking for a more modern take, try teals, bright pinks, and sunny yellows.

3. Vibrant patterns

The warmest season is all about bold choices. When it comes to summer home decor, that includes patterns. Throw pillows, rugs, and accent walls can be a simple way to incorporate this decor trend. When selecting your patterns, think tropical, nature-inspired motifs in lush greens, warm pinks, and saturated blues. For a more coastal theme, you can’t go wrong with nautical stripes.

4. Colorful tableware

Whether you’re actually dining outdoors or just trying to recreate that alfresco feeling, summer is a great time to get more playful with your dinner and drinkware. Melamine plates and acrylic glasses are a must for outdoor dining, but they also make for an easy clean-up anywhere. For glasses, lighter shades of pink and green can brighten up the table without hiding the nice hues of those summer cocktails.

5. Lush plants

Warm weather means prime plant season. From trailing greens to summer blooms, plants are a versatile way to update decor year-round. Plants aren’t just nice to look at either. Some houseplants literally help regulate the temperature indoors. And if you’re looking for a summer home decor idea that’s less of a commitment than houseplants, popular summer flowers include hydrangeas, delphiniums, and knock-out roses.

Pro Tip: Houseplants tend to attract bugs during the warmer months. A layer of sand on top of your houseplant’s soil can reduce the accessible moisture for bugs, discouraging them from burrowing and multiplying.

6. Open spaces

Sometimes, it’s about what you don’t have. The goal of summer decorating is to achieve a bright, breezy retreat from the heat. The simplest way to do this in your interiors is to declutter. Retire some of those blankets and throw pillows until fall, experiment with more spaced-out furniture arrangements, and keep things light (literally, open the blinds).

7. Light-weight pillows and throws

Speaking of throw blankets and pillows, don’t ditch them entirely for the warmer weather. Instead, switch to cooler materials like linen or silk in summery shades and patterns. If you’re looking for more durable outdoor materials, burlap and polypropylene are popular choices.

Pro Tip: Rather than buying a new set of pillows for each season, buy a set of inserts. This way, each season you can simply swap out different pillow covers.

8. Bold front doors

This one might not be for everyone, but a bold paint color on your front door makes a big difference in the seasonal feel of your home. Before you go all in on this trend, make sure your neighborhood HOA doesn’t have any rules or restrictions about what colors are allowed. Popular summer color choices include navy blue, yellow, and greens with blue undertones.

Bonus summer home decor ideas

When you’re decorating for summer, don’t forget about your outdoor space. Fresh throw pillows, wicker furniture, and elevated outdoor dining setups are a great way to embrace the changing seasons without having to refresh your whole home. For homeowners with pools, comfortable poolside seating is always a smart idea. And if your outdoor space is lacking in shade, patio umbrellas are a must for comfortable outdoor lounging. Don’t forget that summer is ultimately a time to slow down and relax—whatever you decide to do with your space shouldn’t be a source of stress. Have fun with it!

Natural light, open spaces, and bright colors are all great ways to usher the summer sun into your home.

The post 8 Simple Summer Home Decor Ideas to Refresh Your Space appeared first on Cardinal Financial.

In 2020, we all had to get creative with how we used our space. (You know what we’re talking about — Pelotons in our living rooms and Zooms in our master baths). Some homeowners made their houses more livable with renovations during the pandemic, while others made minor upgrades to improve their existing space. Here’s a list of eight trends that homeowners adopted over the past year that can give you some inspiration for your next remodel, DIY project, or even your house hunt!

Refinance

1. Dedicated Home Offices

With offices shut down and so many of us working remotely in 2020, it’s no surprise that more homeowners needed a sacred space to get work done. Some chose to partition off common areas, like living rooms and kitchens. Others permanently set up shop in their guest bedrooms, basements, or bonus spaces so that they could buckle down in peace. Many companies are now embracing the benefits of having employees work from home, so it doesn’t look like this trend is going away anytime soon.

2. Better Kitchen Storage Solutions

They say the kitchen is the heart of the home. With families preparing breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks there in 2020, things got a little chaotic. Many homeowners have opted to create better kitchen storage solutions, like built-in appliances, deep pull-out drawers, or a spacious island for seating and food prep. After all, it’s a lot easier to jump on the banana bread bandwagon when you have an organized pantry or substantial counter space.

3. Space for Entertainment

Typical entertainment options like concerts and movie theaters were limited in 2020, so some homeowners figured out ways to bring the fun to them. Home theaters became particularly popular (and not hard to DIY), as did recreational rooms with features like climbing walls and indoor bowling lanes. Hey, if you’ve got the basement space, use it!

Are open floor plans losing their appeal? Some home design experts expect buyers to look for homes with more walls—and fewer shared spaces—in the future.

Purchase

4. Home Gyms

While gyms were closed down or operating at limited capacity in 2020, health became more of a priority than ever. There’s been plenty of demand for in-home fitness equipment over the past year. Many homeowners have renovated a guest bedroom or basement area into a dedicated fitness space. With a little out-of-the-box thinking (say, installing a climbing wall next to the bench press?), some exercise enthusiasts have turned a rarely-used room into a sanctuary to get their sweat on.

5. More Walls, Less Open Concept

Open floor plans have been all the rage in recent years. But many homeowners discovered their spaces felt, well, too open during the pandemic. After all, it can be hard to focus on your video conference when your pets and kids are all up in your business. Creative room partitioning served as a temporary solution during quarantine days. But some home design experts expect buyers to look for homes with more walls—and fewer shared spaces—in the future.

6. Upgraded Outdoor Spaces

With all the time we spent inside our homes in 2020, it was only natural to want to get outside. Creating a comfortable, enjoyable outdoor space has been top of mind for many homeowners. Decks and patios are current popular renovation projects, while buyers focus on finding homes with lots of backyard space.

7. Going Green and Saving Green

Keeping a home energy-efficient is a perk for both the environment and the wallet. Some people invested in “green” initiatives over the past year, like airtight windows, new insulation, or HVAC upgrades. These improvements can help lessen the risk of heated or cooled air leaking outside, resulting in wasted energy and air. Updating the air-conditioning system can also improve a homeowner’s air quality.

8. Spa-like Bathrooms

Believe it or not, the bathroom became a popular escape for many homeowners in 2020. To level up the tranquility, some homeowners invested in soaking tubs, steam showers, built-in Bluetooth speaker systems, and massaging showerheads to create a sanctuary for de-stressing.

Takeaways

Has 2020 changed the way you think about your home space? Whether you’re interested in buying a new home, selling your current one, or upgrading your existing space, these 2020 home trends can add plenty of value.

What were some of the home trends you noticed in 2020? Tell us your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter!

The post 8 home trends from 2020 that are here to stay appeared first on Cardinal Financial.

Why wait until spring to freshen up your home? Welcome the new year with new projects around the house that are easy and simple. Here’s our list of 11 decorating tips for 2017 that won’t leave you with an empty wallet.

1. Your front door sets the tone

Make a great first impression and paint your front door a bright, warm color. Toasty tones like reds, oranges, and yellows are gaining popularity on front doors as their hues can be associated with feelings of joy and hospitality. There are other decorating tips to step up your curb appeal too, like enhancing your address numbers and hanging potted plants.

2. Wall colors should be light and neutral

It’s OK to experiment with dark or bold colors once in a while, but the benefit of light and neutral colors is that they work best with everything. Easily switch out your accessories and still maintain coherence throughout your decor with beige or gray walls. This is especially important on the first floor where you really want to avoid jarring transitions. Pro tip: If you have two small rooms next to each other, paint them the same neutral color to make them appear larger.

3. Let in some sunshine

Winter can be so dark and cloudy. Update your window treatments to let in the maximum amount of natural light. Exchange heavy, outdated curtains for lightweight drapes made of cotton, linen, or silk blends. Window treatments made of these fabrics tend to hang nicely without weighing down the room. You could even layer curtains for added elegance and dimension, like sheer panels under full-length drapes. For rooms that get a lot of sun, select a light-colored fabric that won’t fade in the sunny months.

4. Raise the ceiling using visual tricks

While we’re on the topic, did you know there’s a trick to hanging curtains that makes your room appear taller? Hang your curtains higher than the windows to create the illusion of taller walls and more breathing room. Standard curtain panels usually measure 84–96 inches which allows you to hang them about three inches above the window casing before the length becomes awkwardly short. Any higher than that and you’ll most likely have to order custom drapes. For those who love patterned panels, try vertical lines to visually elongate the walls. Other tricks include painting your ceiling white or leaning a large mirror against a wall.

5. Your sofa should talk to your chairs

This is one of our favorite decorating tips and, it sounds strange, but this concept works. Imagine a hotel lobby where the furniture is arranged in groups that invite conversation. Your home seating area should have the same effect. As you rearrange your living room furniture, aim for a sense of intimacy and balance. People commonly assume that pushing all the furniture against the walls is the “right” way to decorate and make the room look bigger. In reality, this method hinders the intimacy created by closely placed seats. The ideal conversation area is a unit that is either U-shaped (a sofa and two chairs facing each other at opposite ends of a coffee table) or H-shaped (a sofa directly facing two chairs with a coffee table in the middle).

6. Anchor rugs under furniture feet

They say go big or go home and, when it comes to rugs, we agree! The rug should define the seating area, so look for a rug that’s large enough to fit all four legs of the sofa and chairs in your furniture group. That means you could be looking at a rug that’s up to nine by twelve feet! At a minimum, the front two legs of the sofa and chairs should sit on the rug. If your rug size is too small, the room tends to look disproportionate.

7. Mirror, mirror… In every room!

Mirrors are not just for checking your hair. One nifty thing about mirrors is that they bounce light around a room, making space feel brighter. By adding depth and dimension, mirrors can make a small room feel larger. But beware: There is a wrong way to place them. For best results, hang mirrors on walls perpendicular to the windows, not directly across from them. In doing so, you’ll avoid bouncing the natural light right back out the window.

8. Use best practices to hang artwork

Hanging artwork is a tricky business, but it’s best not to think too far into it. Take inventory of your wall art and get really familiar with the available real estate. In a way, let the artwork choose the wall. You might have a long and skinny frame whose shape fits perfectly in a small, narrow hallway—place it there. That same frame will probably appear out of place on a big accent wall. The size of the wall is a crucial factor in hanging artwork. Take advantage of one large wall that has no windows by hanging an oversized canvas or grouping smaller pieces for a tiled effect. For the latter style, it’s best to space items about two to four inches apart. Another general rule of thumb: When placing artwork, the center of the piece should hang at average eye level. Your guests should be able to interact with your home’s art seamlessly.

9. Layer your lighting

Out of all the decorating tips, this one is most easily overlooked by homeowners. Most rooms should have three kinds of lighting: ambient, accent, and task. Ambient lighting gives overall illumination to a room, often by way of ceiling fixtures. Accent lighting is more decorative and spotlight-esque, highlighting specific things, like artwork. Task lighting has the effect of a spotlight but is found in more active areas of the home, like over a kitchen island, a desk, or a bathroom mirror. While basic, down-facing lighting may be sufficient, get creative with uplighting (like a torchière) that illuminates the ceiling—another visual trick to make the room appear taller.

10. Freshen outdated fixtures

For those who love to upcycle furniture, this one’s for you. If your home’s fixtures have seen better days, don’t immediately think you need to replace them. If the fixture is still functional, work with what you’ve got and give it a simple facelift. Outdated kitchen cabinets could benefit from a few fresh coats of paint and new hardware. Old switch plates and outlet covers can be repainted or dressed in decorative paper. There are countless creative ideas around updating your home’s furniture and fixtures without breaking the bank or replacing them entirely.

11. Declutter like a pro!

Most homeowners will agree when we say this: The longer you live in a house, the less you notice the mess. It’s normal to get comfortable in your own clutter, which is why a fresh set of eyes can really help you see your home in a whole new light. Grab a friend and start with a storage closet where you might find some forgotten gold nuggets worth rotating into your home décor. Then move to your bookcases and shelves, removing all of the items and wiping the surfaces clean. Once you’ve also wiped clean your books and knick-knacks, set half of them aside. These will go back into storage and will be replaced by the treasures you found in the closet. Turn back to your bookcase or shelf and arrange the items in a new way: Stack some books horizontally, some vertically, and sprinkle in some decorative objects like vases and tabletop frames. This technique will create a truly dynamic arrangement your guests will admire. And we love decorating tips like this one because it’s absolutely free!

The post 11 Genius Decorating Tips for 2017 appeared first on Cardinal Financial.