We have had an AMAZING response to the Pick Your Pirate school supply drive for our teachers in Pike County. We still have a few teachers left to sponsor and or we are taking gift cards and we will go shop for the few remaining teachers. Thank you to company sponsors who took several teachers, some as many as 8 teachers. Lindsey Orthodontics in Griffin, Brent Scarbrough in Fayetteville, First Bank of Pike, Moody Daniel Funeral Home, Hey Jo’s on the Square, Southern Digital, Lloyd May, appraiser.
Thank you again for everything, we could never have imagined the out pouring of love and support we have seen. Can’t wait for next year!
These ideas will transform your outdoor space into an oasis you may never want to leave.
When your mom told you to turn off the TV and play outdoors already, she knew what she was talking about. Hanging outside is good for our mental and physical well-being.
As adults, having an outdoor retreat adds an economic component: Upwards of 80% of homebuyers said patios and front porches are “essential” or “desirable,” according to the “What Buyers Really Want” survey from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
So how come when we move into our dream home, we hardly ever use our decks, porches, and patios?
An anthropological UCLA study, described in the book “Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century,” blames our fascination with digital devices — tablets, computers, televisions, games — for keeping us cooped up. The UCLA research participants spent less than half an hour each week in their outdoor space. And these were Californians.
So this summer let’s make a pledge to pay more than lip service to outdoor living so we can be happier, create lasting memories, and generally take advantage of what home has to offer.
1. Go Overboard on Comfy
Image: Liz Foreman for HouseLogic
When you step into your outdoor space, your first sensation should be ‘ahhhh’. If you’re not feeling it, then your space is likely lacking the comfy factor. Comfy is easy to achieve and can be as low cost as you want. Start simple with a cushion or two or even a throw. Some other simple strategies:
Make sure your outdoor seating is as cushy as your indoor furniture. Today’s outdoor cushions aren’t the plastic-y, sweat-inducing pillows of the past. Plus, they can handle a downpour and spring back once they dry.
Lay down outdoor rugs so you’re just as comfortable barefoot as you are inside.
Give yourself some privacy. Create natural screens with shrubs, bushes, or even bamboo reeds. Or install prefab screens from your local home improvement store.
2. Create a Broadband Paradise
Our devices and electronics have conspired to keep us on lock down. Since we’re not about to chuck our digital toys, boot up your outdoor space so you can keep texting, posting to Instagram, and watching cat videos.
Wireless outdoor Wi-Fi antennas provide an extra boost so you can stay connected.
A solar USB charging station keeps your gizmos powered.
Wireless speakers make it easy to bring your music outdoors, and mask a noisy neighborhood.
An all-weather outdoor TV lets you stay outside for the big game.
3. Blur the Line Between Indoors and Out
Creating a seamless transition between your home’s interior and exterior isn’t as simple or low cost as adding comfort, but it’s the most dramatic and effective way to enhance your enjoyment of the space. Plus, it can increase your home’s value.
The most straightforward, cost-effective solution: Replace a standard door opening with sliding or glass French doors.
Use the same weatherproof flooring, such as stone tile or scored concrete, outside as well as in the room leading to your backyard oasis.
4. Light the Way
Image: Liz Foreman for HouseLogic
When the sun goes down, don’t be left groping for your wine glass. Outdoor lighting dresses up your home’s marketability and appeal (exterior lighting is buyers’ most wanted outdoor feature, according to the NAHB study), makes it safer, and lets you spend more time outside.
Use uplighting to highlight trees, architectural details, or other focal points.
Add sconces or pendant lights to make evening entertaining, grilling, and reading easier.
Illuminate walkways, rails, and steps with landscape solar lights.
Hang fairy or string lights to set an enchanting tone.
Your outdoor space will magnetically draw family and friends if it has features they find appealing.
A fire pit is a proven winner. Food and fire have brought humans together since the dawn of time.
Give wee ones the gift of magical thinking with an outdoor playhouse.
Add whimsy with a chalkboard fence that both kids and fun-loving adults will enjoy.
Add a doggie window in your fence to entertain Spot. Installing a dog run may even boost your home’s value. FYI: It’s been said that pets are one of the top reasons why people buy houses.
Hot sun, rain, wind gusts, and bugs are the archenemy of good times. Here are tips and strategies to help you throw shade on Mother Nature:
Install an awning, canopy, or pergola. It’ll make it easier to read your Kindle or iPad and keep you dry during a summer shower. Look for products with polycarbonate panels, which block UV rays, too.
Rig glass fence windscreens to the keep your BBQ fires burning.
Screen in your porch or deck against bugs. But screening will be for naught if you forget the slats between wood planks. Cover the floor with outdoor carpet or staple screening to the underside of floorboards.
It’s hard to believe it’s time for school to start back, as it feels like we were just posting graduation and award ceremony pictures. Now we are getting back into the routine of bedtimes, homework and school activities.
Kids today are busier than ever with school, sports and social activities, and even their at-home time often comes with a heavy load of homework. That’s why it’s important to set up an organized study space at home that students can use to do homework or prepare for tests. Whether it’s a designated area or a special nook in a smaller home, making study time a priority will help your child achieve academic success.
A Quiet Corner
Photo Credit Thinkstock
While anyone can sit their child at a kitchen table or in the living room to do homework, those high traffic locations often provide too many distractions for serious study. Even a child’s bedroom isn’t always an ideal location for homework. A comfortable workspace is key, but short of giving a child an entire home office, what’s the best option for families who live in close quarters? For those forced to set up a study area in a high traffic area of the home, guidelines may need to be implemented to keep other family members from distracting the student while he or she is doing homework. Families who have an extra bedroom in their home could consider making it into a study zone. Either way, the homework area should be cell phone-free, and there’s no way a TV should be within earshot.Related: Back To School Study Tips For Teens
A Smooth Workspace
Photo Credit Thinkstock
If there’s room for a desk or small table in the study space, your student will be able to spread homework materials out. Since that’s not always possible, another option is to purchase a portable lap desk. If a child must work at a public area like the dining room table, at least make sure the area is clutter-free. For larger areas, modular workspaces are a great option because you can add to them as kids grow older and their needs change.
Let There Be Light!
Photo Credit Thinkstock
Good lighting is one of the most crucial components of an at-home study station. Since homework assignments for older kids often go into the evening hours, it is important that a homework space has sufficient lighting. Invest in a really good desk lamp or overhead lighting to help your child see the light of day when it comes to schoolwork. It’s imperative to steer clear of florescent lighting (you know, like the kind they have at school) and go for more natural light.
True Colors
Photo Credit Thinkstock
Did you know that certain colors are conducive to learning? Psychological color studies have shownthat children in elementary school grades benefit from the stimulation of warm colors (think yellow-orange and peach), while older children concentrate better when surrounded by cooler hues, like light blue, green or violet. If your child’s study space is located in an area that you can enhance with paint, consider painting the walls a cool shade to give him or her an edge with studying.Related: Must-Have Back To School Supplies
Supplies on Demand
Photo Credit Thinkstock
A study space has to be organized, and that means there should be a running list of supplies in stock. One of the most important things to do is to load up on the essentials, such as pens, pencils, paper, staplers and calculators. In addition, if your child needs access to a computer for homework, a laptop (or even a desktop if you have a dedicated desk in the workspace) is a must-have. Make sure you have plenty of printer ink cartridges on hand, because nothing is worse than attempting to print out a book report or an essay the night before it’s due, only to find that the ink is out. Your child’s teacher will equate that excuse to “The dog ate my homework,” so plan ahead when it comes to study supplies.
Home Staging Ideas for the Kitchen to Make Buyers Bite
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If you’re selling your house, staging—the mysterious practice by which you prep and prettify your home before its debut—can make a huge difference in catching the attention of buyers and ultimately reeling in an offer. And the room you’ll really want to focus on here is the kitchen: After all, it’s the crown jewel that buyers ooh and ahh over—except when the counters are packed with stacks of mail, near-empty boxes of Froot Loops, and a hulking Cuisinart you rarely use.
To make sure this critical area is perfectly poised to woo buyers, try these home staging ideas for your kitchen and get some offers cooking.
Clear off counters
Put it away—put it all away. We’re looking at you, coffee maker, blender, knife block, standing mixer, and toaster oven. “And don’t forget the top of the refrigerator,” says Amy Bell, a home staging expert at Red Chair Home Interiors in Cary, NC. Home staging in this room is all about making your kitchen look bigger, cleaner, and more streamlined. “Homeowners are so accustomed to their own clutter that it almost becomes invisible to them,” she warns.
And while you’re in purge mode, remove every bit of paper and those souvenir magnets from the refrigerator and cabinets. The only thing you should keep on the counter is a pop of color, such as a pretty bowl of bright green apples or lemons, says Katie McCann, an organizing coach at Maeve’s Method.
Well, no one’s actually logging the time spent, but cleanliness is critical here, says D. Sam Halpin, a real estate broker with My Home Group in Scottsdale, AZ. “Not only must you clean the countertops, but the grout, faucet, and grimy drain rim, too,” she says.
Try CLR (calcium, lime, and rust remover) on the faucet to make sure water flows through it smoothly. Clean cabinet fronts to remove dust and grime, and scrub greasy spatters on the stove and backsplash with a vinegar-water solution.
“And if you have a stovetop with burns or food rings, remove them with a soft soap product and a razor blade—it’ll look almost like new,” she adds.
Let as much natural light into the space as you can, by either opening heavy drapes or replacing them with sheer panels. Have a kitchen that looks out to a patio or deck through glass doors? These must sparkle in order to illuminate the space. “And if you don’t have under-cabinet lights—get them,” recommends Halpin. You can purchase battery-powered puck-shaped lights for very little money and stick them under the cabinets (it adds that extra glow that every cook covets).
Jack Menashe, a designer and home stager at Menashe Design in New York City, likes minimal window treatments (like just a valance along the top) when showcasing a kitchen as natural light makes the space feel bigger. “A patterned valance invites the buyer to see the window and allows me a chance to add color,” he says.
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Organize the insides
Potential buyers are going to open the fridge and pantry, so don’t neglect these spots when you’re staging the kitchen. “People who are looking for a new home will imagine how their pots, pans, and food items might fit into your cabinets,” explains McCann.
“Sometimes I stack cookbooks and display clear storage containers because these elements speak to the kitchen’s function, and clear containers take up less space visually,” says Menashe.
Some experts recommend setting the table with colorful plates and napkins to give the kitchen a homey feel.
“I may present a picture of daily life by having a unique planter on the countertop with blooming flowers alongside a carafe of orange juice for color and a rolled-up newspaper,” says Menashe. Or, place a simple runner down the middle of the table for a bit of coverage and texture.
http://www.gamls.com/secure/search/propertyDetail.cfm?TYP=SD&LN=8039595Home in great shape, needs carpet cleaning, some painting, the water heater and microwave is missing.
Check out the full listing at MLS #8039595
Contact Angi at McLeRoy Realty 770.567.3030 | 770.468.3549
It’s time to gear up for the new school year. This upcoming weekend is Tax Free Shopping in Georgia, which includes the following items:
Clothing and Footwear < $100: Clothing and footwear, no sales tax unless item is over $100.
Computers and Computer related items < $1000: Computers, computer components, and prewritten computer software purchased for noncommercial home or personal use with a price $1,000 or less.
School supplies > $20: School supplies, school art supplies, school computer supplies, and school instructional materials purchased for noncommercial use costing $20 or less.
Here is some information for back to school plans around our area:
Lamar County Schools: Open House will be July 27 2-6. The first day of school is August 29.
Pike County Schools: Middle and High Open House Aug 17 3:00-6:00 P.M., Pre-K, Primary, Elementary, 9th Grade Open House Aug 18 3:00-6:00 P.M. First Day of School Aug 22
nd Footwear < $100: Clothing and footwear, no sales tax unless item is over $100. 
