Southwest Montana Real Estate Blog - home improvement

5 Tips To Prepare Your Montana Home For Winter

We may have seen a late fall and warm October, but the Bozeman area has already had its first dusting of snow. This gets one thinking about all the things they need to do around the house to get ready before the cold weather settles in. Even if we get another dose of warmer weather before Bridger Bowl opens, you'll benefit from preparing for the winter weather that is right around the corner.

1. Clean Out the Gutters

All the leaves and grime that you neglected while you were out fishing the Gallatin, hiking the Tobacco Roots, or riding your bicycle this summer have built up in your gutters. If left full of debris, clogged gutters and drains can form ice dams that prevent your drainage systems from working properly. This can lead to water…

3264 Views, 0 Comments

7 Smart Kitchen Remodeling Decisions

We see lots of kitchen trends, and unless you're going for "Montana rustic", it’s easy to get swept along with what’s in vogue, only to get bummed out by your faddish design choices a few years later. Thank you — Pinterest.

But chances are you’re only going to remodel your current kitchen once. After all, a complete kitchen renovation has a national median cost of $60,000, according to the “2015 Remodeling Impact Report” from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. With that much on the line, you want to make all the right moves. If you do, you could recover about 67% of your investment if you decide to sell.

So we’re here to future-proof you from angst by naming the seven definitive kitchen features that will retain their beauty, marketability, and…

1236 Views, 0 Comments

Ten Tips for caring for your wood furnishings

Life in Montana has its own “feel”.  For many, it’s the reason we choose to be here.  Quite often obtaining this feeling within your home means furnishings that are appropriate to “rustic” or complement what it means to be “Montanan”.  If this means wood furnishings or components in your home, these tips are for you.

Quality wood furniture can last a lifetime and is often a treasured heirloom, passed down through multiple generations. Still, even the highest quality wood is susceptible to scratches and abrasions if not properly cared for.

When purchasing furniture, it’s always a good idea to ask for specific cleaning and care instructions. For furnishings already in your home, here are 10 tips to keep the wood looking its best for many generations…

1236 Views, 0 Comments

Five Spring home improvements you can complete for under $1000

Montana 406 can get you top dollar for your cherished home, but any improvements made will assist in the process. Springtime in Bozeman is not only the best time of year to give your home a good cleaning, it’s also the best time of year to take on several home improvement projects. Spring projects like these can improve your home’s looks and performance, and rarely cost more than $1,000, so you can easily take care of these issues before they have a chance to lead to bigger problems down the road.

Siding Repair

 Montana weather can really do a number on your siding. Painted wood siding frequently needs to have sections replaced that have been subjected to moisture over the cold, wet months. In most cases, repairing a section of siding can help…

1213 Views, 0 Comments

Four Tips to Avoid DIY mistakes in Your Montana Home

Think 10 Steps Ahead

When one of our clients updated a tiny kitchen in one of his Bozeman rentals, he installed a brand-new, expensive refrigerator — and then built a peninsula countertop extension.

Sounds like the greatest idea, right?  But adding the peninsula narrowed the space in front of the refrigerator, making it impossible to remove the refrigerator without lifting it entirely up and over the extension. (Ever tried to lift a fridge?)

DIY Lesson: Measure once, measure twice, measure again, and think through every possible scenario before changing a room’s layout.

Don’t Go with the Least Expensive Option

Speaking of kitchen appliances: our client above was looking for an island range hood, which can be extra-expensive because it needs to be…

1196 Views, 0 Comments

Entryway Storage Hacks for Your Busy Family…

It’s so easy (and so unfair) how quickly your entryway can go from clean to chaos — and that chaos makes trying to get out the door brutal….especially here in Bozeman, in the winter! Think of all that time wasted hunting for your keys and umbrella, or digging through a pile of coats in a desperate attempt to find your buried purse.  Five minutes spent riffling through your endless piles of stuff each morning becomes 35 minutes a week, or more than 30 hours a year!

Breathe easy. You’re not alone. And you can reclaim that crucial time.

“Most everyone that I’ve worked with has basically the same kinds of problems,” says professional organizer Yve Irish.

Corralling your clutter can feel overwhelming, but with the right mindset and a few clever hacks,…

1997 Views, 0 Comments

Set-Up Your Kitchen Like a Professional Chef…

Recently I was thinking about how we could embrace our “cozy kitchen” and not have to go into full remodel mode – this, of course comes after the holidays when my wife goes into “kitchen exile” for a few weeks.

Also, when your living is brokering and selling homes, you become fascinated with what other people see in certain parts of homes and what it is they are drawn to, over and over again as home buyers.

So…. How do chefs organize their home kitchens? Smartly, thank you — and not as lavishly as you might think.

For homeowners who love to cook, the kitchen is a sacred space. It needs an inviting ambiance and a practical workflow more than shiny new appliances or endless counter space. In fact, many professional chefs say they don’t need a…

1643 Views, 0 Comments

Six to-do tasks for your new home...

Six “To-Do” Tasks for Your New Home…

Moving into your first home is exciting! But it also means you’ve got work to do.

When we bought our first house (even though it wasn’t in Bozeman), our timing couldn’t have been better: The house closing was two weeks before the lease was up on our current house. That meant we could take our time packing and moving, and we could get to know the new place before moving in.

We recruited friends to help move (in exchange for a beer-and-pizza picnic on the floor) and, as a bonus, we got to pick their brains about what first-time homeowners should know. 

Their help was one of the best housewarming presents we could have gotten. And thanks to their expertise and a little research, here’s what I learned about what…

1435 Views, 0 Comments

Three Snow Shoveling Hacks to make it Easier....

Don’t break your back shoveling snow. Try these tips to make winter less of a burden.

If you’re a Montana homeowner, chances are good you rue the winter: All that snow has to go somewhere, and it’s not getting there itself. 

Cue the snow shovel.

Barring a move to a snow-free state or barricading your family inside all winter, there’s no way to avoid the endless task of shoveling snow.  There are, however, ways to make the process much easier.  Here are three simple hacks to make the morning after a snowfall much less stressful.

1.  Spray Your Shovel with Cooking Oil

Snow sticking to your shovel makes an already arduous task even more obnoxious. Avoid it with this hack: Lightly coat your shovel with non-stick cooking oil to make snow…

1761 Views, 0 Comments

Five Things to do at Home as Fall Arrives…

You probably give your home a deep clean in the spring – especially if you are considering listing your home for sale…and you should also show your home some love at the beginning of fall. Here's where to start:

1. Perform a pantry audit.

First, remove all the cans and boxes from the shelves, and vacuum away any lingering dust or crumbs – you might be amazed at what can build up in just a few months. Then, inspect each item before putting it back in its place, tossing anything that is expired or past its prime. Consult a shelf-life chart as a helpful guide.

 2. Test and clean your smoke detectors.

You already know to put fresh batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors (doing this on the days you change the clocks for…

1298 Views, 0 Comments