The Best Time to Sell Your Home
Continue ReadingWhen it is finally time to sell your house, conventional wisdom states that putting it up for sale during the peak season, beginning in spring and lasting through the summer, is the best option to take. However, what if you want to wait until the offseason break? Even though this might be a good move, would you be leaving your money on the table?
Winterizing Your Home to Save Money On Your Energy Bill
Continue ReadingThe first freeze over here is a sign that winter is definitely coming. ‘Tis now the season to crank up your thermostat. Unfortunately, this might even cost you more than normal. This year, Americans will supposedly pay 15% more for their heating expenses than the last year. Here is our guide to help you winterize your home for the season.
The Best DIY Halloween Decorating Ideas
Continue ReadingIt is finally here – Halloween is almost upon us, my dear spooky friends!
Whether you catch the DIY Halloween bug from designing homemade costumes for your children, putting together funky home decor pumpkins, or getting crafty for the first time, the following Halloween decorating ideas make it simple to inexpensively trick out your house for the holidays without looking tacky.
Boo Bottles
You can make cute glass bottles in four easy steps: first, use empty bottles after removing labels and caps (I use Perrier ones). After that, spray-paint them white, and draw ghost faces on them with black marker. Lastly, to add more gloss to this inexpensive Halloween home decor, throw in colorful straws for artful centerpieces.
What you will need: Spray-paint ($4), colorful straws ($3)
Cobweb Coasters
Cups will look creepy when sitting on your eerie cobweb coasters. To make this DIY Halloween decoration, attach five bobby pins onto a small flat metal washer, and then, enfold twine around and string through each bobby pin. Also, spray-paint everything white for a ghoulish look, and disperse small toy spiders around the table. It is a fantastic idea to have fun crafting with the family without breaking the bank.
What you will need: bobby pins ($4), Spray-paint ($4), small Halloween spiders ($2 for 10)
Vampire Napkin Rings
A make-believe chomper will make your dining table look scary yet cute. Therefore, splash red Kool-Aid on white cloth napkins, arrange a white twist tie through a set of fake vampire teeth, and secure a twist tie around the center of the napkin.
What you will need: plastic vampire teeth ($1), Kool-Aid ($0.50)
Creepy Wall Hangings
The Graphics Fairy makes decorating for Halloween simple with three free printable items and easy technique to transfer images directly onto fabric through your regular printer. (Make sure your black cartridge is high on ink). You can use wooden embroidery hoops to hang the printed fabric. However, if fabric-hanging home decorating idea does not resonate with you, put pictures into the frames and hang them up around your home.
What you will need: Wooden embroidery hoops ($2)
Decorate Lanterns
It is got to be the most straightforward DIY Halloween home decor concept: all you need to do is to cut cute faces out of a black paper and glue them onto a strand of white lights with paper lanterns.
What you will need: lanterns ($11), black paper ($3)
Festoon a Pumpkin
You can add a touch of sweet in the mirage of all things spooky by adding freshly cut blooms to a blazing pink squash. It is permissible to snip stems about two inches from buds, drill tiny holes in the painted rind, and stick in the buds. You can keep the centerpiece fresh for the guests by periodically spraying water on it.
What you will need: pink spray paint ($8)
Dish Out the Punch
Convert a hollowed-out pumpkin into an organic punch bowl by filling it with cider. It is a fantastic idea to greet your guests with a punch, oozing with the spirit of the holidays. Moreover, it is one less dish to wash after it is all said and done.
What you will need: ladle ($10), pumpkin scoop ($10)
Dress the Windows
Another smashing Halloween home decor idea is smartly putting candles in the corners to create dark shadows. Moreover, putting ghostly white tapers in a candelabra from a yard sale can alleviate the creepiness of flying bats and cobwebs.
What you will need: candelabra ($40), candles ($10 for a pack of 10)
Forever Pumpkins
For budgeted jack-o-lantern, DIY Halloween decorations that will last past the holidays cover empty jars with orange tissue paper or construction paper. After that add features with black construction paper and place in a tea candle—with flames, or battery-operated—and see your pumpkin glow.
What you will need: Construction paper ($4), tealight candles ($1)
Bloody Table Runner
No Halloween home decor is complete without a bloodily festive dining table. Your materials are red acrylic paint, gauze, and a paintbrush. Swab your paintbrush into the paint and intermittently brush along the gauze runner. Also, for a genuinely Dexter-inspired look, pinch some red paint onto Mason jars for candle votives and on plastic cups. Lastly, add a couple of handprints for really gruesome look.
What you will need: red acrylic paint ($9), paintbrush ($1)
10 Cost-Effective Steps to Winterizing Your Home On a Budget
Continue ReadingAt LystHouse, we LOVE saving you money. And you can save a lot of it, all while staying cozy and warm throughout this winter, if you act now and take these 10 simple and cost-effective steps to winterizing your home before the cold arrives.