Adding a Fireplace

Ready or not it’s winter! The solstice has come and gone. The days may be getting longer but it’s still gonna be cold out for the next two months. What better way to wait out cold winter days than in front of a fireplace? So what if your house doesn’t actually come with a fireplace. You can always get install one. Yes, I just told you to install a fireplace in your already fully built house.

Here’s the thing, we’re deep into the late 2010s. You don’t need to take out part of a wall and build a chimney to get a fireplace if you truly desire one. It’ll definitely cost money, a lot of money… it’s an investment. Think of a fireplace as a slightly risky investment, an investment you can enjoy and could, maybe payoff.   

So, fireplaces are a desirable feature. Almost 40% of homebuyers said they would pay extra for a house with a fireplace. The best way to maximize the payoff of a fireplace is to ensure that the price of the fireplace is proportionate to the overall value of the house. A fireplace isn’t calculated separately in a professional home appraisal a $10,000 fireplace holds its value in a $1 million house because buyers expect this feature in an upscale home but a $10,000 fireplace won’t be such a crucial component of a $100,000 house. The fireplace is not going to be the main draw of a lower scale home… so maybe focus on other stuff, like curb appeal.

Also, put it somewhere it’ll actually be used, like a den, family room, great room, etc. Equip your fireplace with energy-efficient glass doors and an exterior venting system that prevents heated air from being pulled out of rooms. If you want fireplaces for smaller rooms, if you are so inclined, to think about a small gas fireplace that’s easy to maintain.

Firepit Types

Do you love spending time outside? I can’t relate. However, if I must be outside, I must
be comfortable, and nothing quite says outside comfort like a firepit. Especially, if you
must be outside in the winter, when it’s cold outside there’s nothing quite like sitting in
front of a firepit. So, if your thinking about building a firepit here’s a couple of styles you
could get.

Naturalistic Firepits

Rock Firepit: It’s traditional and pretty simple to DIY. You know what I’m talking about.
It’s the circle of rocks that you place the wood in middle and voila, fire pit. If you live
somewhere where you can get decent sized rocks it would be easy to forage them for
yourself and you can, in fact, buy rocks and Home Depot or something like that.

Pond Firepit: Did your property come with a nice, quant little water feature that you’re
completely unwilling to upkeep? Fish are a lot of work for living decoration. Turn that
pre-existing, rock-lined, hole in the ground to a firepit.

Salvaged pit: This kind of pit uses things you find in your own yard. Rocks, stepping
stones from a path you didn’t really want, leftover bricks and stuff from a build or the
construction of the house if you’ve just built. You can use salvaged wood to build
benches or other features.

Constructed Firepits

Tree Ring Firepit: Simple DIY build. If you don’t know, cause I didn’t, there are these
curved brick like fence… thingies that go around trees. They’re super good and
convenient material for building a quick firepit in about an hour. Make two circles, one
inside the other, Use the scalloped ones so they’re easy to stack, bottom facing up,
top facing down. You can use a small grill in the middle if you're super lazy.

Outside space: If you’re really going for it than go for it. Select a good amount of space in your yard, and section it off. At this point, if you’re really going for it, look at google images and Pinterest and get inspiration. Really build out the entire area. Stone floor, brick pit, built-in seating, etc. REALLY GO FOR IT.

See, mostly simple and can kind of be done on a whim. If you’re going to be outside, be warm and comfortable outside. Gathering around a firepit can also be great for parties with friends. If you get no other pleasure from a fire pit at least think about the s’more possibilities, you’ll gain. There’s nothing like a good excuse to make s’mores. Your taste buds and probably your friends will thank you.

Saving Money on Firepits

Do you like firepits? I do… I mean I don’t like being outside but if I’m already out there I might as well be
comfortable and sitting at a firepit. One thing about firepits though, they can be a great big time and
money hole. Seriously while you’re working on the firepit you might as well set your money on fire
while you’re at it. So, how can you get that beautiful firepit without it turning into a money pit?

First, if you’re trying to save money you should probably DIY the entire project. This isn’t the type of
project where at the end you’ll look at your bank account and find out you spent more money than
the quote you got to get it built out for you. Getting a firepit built will almost definitely cost more than
doing it yourself. You can even get firepit kits for around 200 dollars. Go ahead and build out a patio
while you're at it, it’s just an outside floor. I believe in you, watch a YouTube video, you can figure
\ it out.

Second tip, make a wood burning pit and not a gas burning pit. You’ll a thousand percent have to
hire several people to make a gas burning pit work safely (please, don’t burn down your
neighborhood). Also, a gas pit will add on to your utility bills… and why would you want that? If you
must have a gas burning pit make it close to your house. This will cut down on the plumbing bill
of running a gas line to your designated location. The further you get from the house, the more it
will cost.

Finally, keep the customizations down to a minimum. Built in seating will cost you and they cost a lot.
If you don’t mind using chairs then you’re solid. Besides, a lot of built-in seating is
uncomfortable. Also, unless you’re an artist and are making all of your own tiles (which is still
expensive) try to keep the unnecessary customizations down to a minimum. Getting super fancy
with a firepit could very quickly cost you upwards of thousands of dollars.

You’ve been sufficiently warned. Go build a firepit. Go outside (if you must). Have fun.

Letting in More Light for the Winter

Winter is finally here! I don’t know about any of you but between the cold and the dark it’s a struggle for me everyday not to hibernate. One way to counteract this is to brighten up the interior. If you can utilize what little natural light there is it will go a long way to brightening up the interior. Letting in more light will also naturally warm up your space, saving you money on heating as well as helping you fight off winter drowsiness.

One thing you can do is get rid of your window screens. Removing the screens will allow around 30% more light through the windows. Keep them somewhere they won’t get damaged, so you can put them back in the spring.

Update your rooms with light colors. Objects, furniture, walls light colored things bounce light instead of absorbing it like darker colors. The more light you have bouncing around the room the brighter the room will be. For more temporary fixes you could pick up lighter rugs and chair covers.

Another way to bounce more light around the room is to have reflective surfaces. Consider getting things with mirrored or reflective surfaces. You could make a cool gallery wall with mirrors and frames with reflective surfaces.

Consider replacing heavy curtains with a lighter fabric for the winter. While you’ll lose a little insulation and warmth; however with lighter curtains you will gain a significant amount of light. Getting lighter curtains will also open up the room and make it feel larger.

If you have any overhanging tree limbs or shrubbery blocking your windows… well get rid of it. It’s winter, it’s time to cut back any overhanging foliage anyways. You can do as many light enhancing tricks as you like but if sunlight is being literally blocked there’s only so much you can do.

Last tip, clean your windows. Didn’t think about that did you? Dirty windows block out a lot more natural light then you would think. I suggest you do it now before it gets to cold.

Winter Pool Maintenence

Let’s be honest whether or not you live in the south, swimming is or has already come to an end. If you own a pool it’s about to lie completely dormant during the fall and winter months and your pool maintenance is about to become a chore with no tangible pay-off for the next couple of months. You can’t just stop maintaining your pool altogether… I mean you could try that, but it’s not a particularly good idea, so what are you going to do?

The first step is to Winterize your pool. This means doing one final thorough cleaning of your pool, getting rid of any debris and dirt from inside or around it. Make sure your filter and pump are clean and in good condition. Check your pools chemistry, and if you have a cover, clean it off and cover up the pool.  

After this point your maintenance schedule changes a bit. It lessens significantly, so there is that. Still clean the area and check on the pump at least once a month to keep your pool clean and the mechanisms in good working order. The next change in your maintenance is to check your water chemistry once every other week. Stagnant, standing water is a breeding ground for bacteria, mold, algae, and mosquitoes so run the pump for a couple of hours, once a week to keep things from growing.

Use an enzyme product to help break down non-living contamination and prevent a waterline ring from forming. Adding this product will save you from having to scrub your pool tile or finish when opening your pool in the spring.

Upkeeping pool maintenance during the winter may seem tedious and pointless, especially since it’s not currently being used. However, it’ll save you a lot of money and a whole lot of trouble in the long run. Leaving a pool unchecked over the winter months is a good way to let structural damage and filth build up without notice, causing a giant headache come spring when you feel like taking a dip in the lovely pool you paid for that is anything but lovely now. Keep up with your maintenance over the winter, I promise it’ll be worth it.

Winter is Coming: Garden Maintenance PART 1

Winter is coming… which means that it’s time to protect your landscape from the cold before it’s to late. Here are the steps you need to take to see your garden survive through the winter.

First line of defense: bring potted plants indoors, covering outdoor plants that won’t be able
 to stand the cold, and mulch anything you care about.

The type of mulch you choose is basically an aesthetic choice. Mulch is basically anything that holds in moisture that isn’t a rock, so the type doesn’t really matter.  If you’re interested and knowledgeable about the chemistry of soil components, anything you put down as mulch will eventually break down and become a component in your soil, so if that interests you it’s something to think about. Otherwis,e it’s not what you put down, it’s how you do it. 

MULCH SHOULD NOT TOUCH YOUR PLANT! This can encourage disease and is counterintuitive to the entire point of mulching. Make a two inch ring around your plant 

clear of mulch.

MULCH SHOULD BE LAYED IN A THICK LAYER! About two inches thick. I mean it when I give you that measurement. Get a ruler, and measure out two inches of mulch, I’m not joking.

Mulching isn’t a hard thing to do. It may end up being a little tedious but it’s mostly just specific.

If you have bulbs that will survive in the ground through the winter months mulch over the
entirety of the area. This will keep your bulbs protected from the cold and help them survive until the summer.

Delana Cotton servers the northeast Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee.

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