Kitchen Home Improvement

By Jon T. Anderson

Kitchens are the heart of our homes. Give your kitchen an update without great expense. Remodeling your kitchen can be the budget buster for your home improvement project. In many cases you can bring life to your house without the extreme expense of completely gutting the kitchen and starting over. You must look at your house and especially your kitchen from a whole new perspective. Are you ready for the mind shift?

Next weekend, drive to three open houses. Walk through the homes with the eye of a buyer. Stick with me here. We are opening your eyes and changing your perspective. As you walk through the homes, think about the nice features and the negative ones. Pay particular focus on the kitchen and adjoining rooms.

Drive home immediately after your tour.

Keep your buyer’s hat on. Walk into your house through your front door. No cheating, use the FRONT DOOR. Look at your house with the same discerning eye that you had when you walked through the open houses. What would you do to make your house more appealing? List 10 items. What makes your house special? List those items.

Now lets get to business. Start with the list of items that make your kitchen special. What can you do to make accentuate those features? Make a list.

Now take a look at the list of 10 items that will make your kitchen more appealing. Rank the items in order of expense and effort. Once complete, rank the same list again in order of the effect the change will have on the feel of your house. Look at the three lists that you have compiled. Do you see any items on the ‘make my kitchen appealing’ list that will contribute to accenting the items that make your house most appealing.

We are looking at building your house’s muscle; strengthening its strengths. In other words, we are creating a clearer and more unified focus on the positive features of your home.

5 inexpensive solutions to update your kitchen:

1. The obvious first choice is paint. This is the weekend warrior’s special. Almost anyone can paint a minor portion of their home over a weekend. Myself included; and this is from the voice of a believer that “if I can do the home improvement project, there must be thousands that can do it better.”

Look as paint as a woman looks at her hair. If you get tired of the look, make a change. In fact, paint is more like a haircut than you may think. As with a bad haircut, a poor choice in paint colors can easily be changed. The wrong paint color can be quite forgiving.

There are some simple rules and ideas to keep in mind when painting. If you need assistance in color selection, go to Home Improvement U’s Design Center for a step by step guide on how to select colors for your remodeling project.

2. Light, Light and More Light. Natural light is the best form. Adding light will alter the feel of your kitchen for the better. Your kitchen will feel larger and more open with the use of natural light.

Adding a solar tube or two is easy and inexpensive. That is if you don’t have another room above your kitchen. If all else fails, add lighting to your kitchen. A thoughtful choice in light fixtures can add the pop you are looking for in your kitchen home improvement project.

3. Cabinet door pulls can give just the right touch to your kitchen. In most cases, affordable door and drawer pulls can be an affordable way to add character to your kitchen.

4. Kitchen faucet is the next item for sprucing up. Not only will a new faucet look good, it will be a functional addition to your kitchen improvement.

5. Appliances can have a big effect on the look and feel of your kitchen. The refrigerator and range are the two most visible appliances. There is no need to worry here. There are tactics to saving on appliances. Visit us at Home Improvement U for Appliance Savings Tips.

With your revised mindset and samples of effective remodeling solutions to improve look of your kitchen at a minimal expense, you are ready to move forward with your budget kitchen remodeling project.

About the Author: With all of these basics in hand, you are ready to start the design process associated with your kitchen remodeling project. And, additional information regarding your home improvement, remodeling, renovation, building and design needs can be found at http://www.HomeImprovementU.com your home for comprehensive training and coaching from building a shed through constructing your own green home for 45k.

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Submitted by: George Greenberg

LIVING TRUST BASICS

A simple revocable living trust is a separate legal entity that is created to avoid probate and to distribute assets to beneficiaries upon death.

A living trust names a person or persons to manage the trust called “Trustees.” It also names those who will benefit from the trust called “Trustors,” a term that is also referred to as Grantors, Settlors, Creators or Donors. In most cases, the Trustors and Trustees are the same people.

The Trustors will name a “Successor Trustees” to take over upon the death of the Trustor or Trustors. It is the duty of the Successor Trustees to take possession of the assets of the trust, pay creditors, taxes, and last illness expenses and then distribute the remainder to the named beneficiaries under the trust.

In order for a trust to be effective, the Trustors must place their assets in the name of the trust. This process of placing assets in the name of the trust is known as “funding the trust.” For example, real property would be deeded into the name of the trust. Bank accounts would be changed into the name of the trust, etc. In the State of Nevada, assets funded into a valid living trust are not required to go through a court procedure called Probate. As a result, your heirs save time and money.

A good trust package should include wills called “pour over wills” to address assets that are outside of the trust. A good trust package should also include living wills and powers of attorney for health care decisions and finances.

In your living trust, you may designate how you want your final arrangements handled. For example you might state whether you wish a burial or cremation. If you are a parent of minor children, you will express a preference as to whom you would prefer as the guardian of your minor children.

If set up properly, a revocable living trust, will greatly simplify the administration of your estate. The trust should also clearly define who your beneficiaries are. In addition to beneficiaries, alternate beneficiaries should be named, as well as alternate successor trustees and, in your wills, alternate executors.

My clients often have difficulty deciding how to distribute their estate. I suggest possible alternatives or various distribution plans. Quite often, I ask my clients to go home and “sleep on it” for a few days before they make their final decisions.

Another advantage of a revocable living trust is that it can easily be changed by an amendment. A living trust is most useful for those persons who have acquired some assets and generally for those between the ages of 35 and 65.

A living trust can however, outlive its usefulness. For example, a surviving spouse who sells all real property and simply wants to leave his assets in equal shares to his children upon death, may want to name his children as beneficiaries directly with the fund holders such as banks or brokerages. There are disadvantages of relying solely upon beneficiary status that I will discuss in another article. A living trust can save time and money for those whom you want remembered.

The author of this article, George D. Greenberg, Esq. has been practicing in the areas of Probate, Trusts, Wills and Estate Planning since 1991. Mr. Greenberg welcomes your questions and can be reached at his website http://www.probateattorneyslasvegas.com or telephone (702) 796 5221.

About the Author: The author of this article, George D. Greenberg, Esq. has been practicing in the areas of Probate, Trusts, Wills and Estate Planning since 1991. Mr. Greenberg welcomes your questions and can be reached at his website

probateattorneyslasvegas.com

or telephone (702) 796 5221.

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