Decorating Your Elite Home for Halloween

Here in Louisville, ghosts, goblins and witches have officially started emerging from attics and storage of the Elite Built Homes. As eerie and spook-tacular as the Halloween holiday is meant to be, some decorations are better off staying packed away. Instead, check out these fun craft ideas that will make tastefully decorating your home for Halloween as easy as (pumpkin) pie!

Pumpkin Decorations

Swap out your carving tools for a paintbrush and scissors! Try something new with your pumpkins this year by adding glitter, paint or greenery.  Create a pumpkin vase for flowers, a base for candles or a canvas for a leafy fall scene. These classy pumpkin decorations are just as fun to create with the family, but add a touch of creativity and sophistication to your home.

Creepy Crawlers

Having a dinner party? Get some inexpensive white plates, and with black ceramic paint, draw on some tiny crawlers. Add a couple store bought plastic spiders to each place setting to create the illusion that they’re crawling off your plate on onto your silverware!

Mummy Piñatas

Become the coolest house on the block by giving your trick-or-treaters these mini mummy piñatas! Start saving those toilet paper rolls now because once wrapped in a little white tape or gauze with space for two googley eyes, you’ve got a little homemade mummy! Before covering both ends of the roll, stuff the inside with some candy, so the kids get to unwrap their mummy to enjoy their treats!

Mad Scientist’s Concoctions
A couple of lidded jars filled with water, food coloring and your choice of foliage or props are the perfect mantel decorations or centerpieces. Tint the water with orange, red and other colors of the season, while choosing your favorite flowers, dried leaves or even plastic insects to create your unique, unnerving concoctions.

Mason Jar Luminaries
As an amusing decoration with little effort, these mason jars are a great craft for the kids. Buy some Halloween-themed stencils (pumpkins, bats, ghosts, etc.) and tape them to the front of a glass mason jar. Paint over the stencil and on the remaining parts of the jar in your favorite seasonal color. Once dry, remove the stencil and fill the jar with a glow stick or candle. Watch the light shine throw and illuminate your fun Halloween shapes!

A couple of these DIY Halloween decorations are an easy way to create a fun, spooky ambience in your home! Your kids will love the look of their very own Haunted House, while friends and neighbors appreciate the sophistication of your Halloween décor!

Top Tips for New Homeowners at Elite Homes

Here at Elite Built Homes in Louisville, Kentucky, we make sure that the building process is easy for our buyers, but we want to help you throughout the entire process - inducing after the move! You’ll need things to help get settled. Here are some tips to help make the transition a little easier.

·       Tools / Around the House items. If you’re moving from an apartment or other rental, chances are you may not have some of these items. Now that you’re a homeowner, you should get them as soon as possible.

o   Tool set including a hammer, Phillips and flat head screwdrivers, and a mix of nails, hooks and other hardware.

o   First aid kit

o   Fire extinguisher

o   Toilet / sink plunger

o   Flashlights and batteries

·       Cleaning closet supplies. Another often forgotten set of items for a new home is cleaning supplies. For the ones that will be used through the entire house, you may need to buy multiples.

o   Toilet brush and toilet bowl cleaner

o   Rubber gloves

o   All purpose cleaner, safe to use on glass and wood

o   Stove cleaner

o   Bucket with mop

o   Broom and dust pan

·       Plenty of essential paper supplies. You do not want to be digging through boxes looking for toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues.

·       An overnight bag. No matter how well organized your move is, chances are the house will be a little disorganized for a while. Pack an overnight bag with extra changes of clothing (include sleepwear and underwear), and toiletries (soap, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant), plus towels and washcloths for cleaning up. 

·       Rudimentary pantry supplies. Cleaning and unpacking is hard work, and going out for take-out isn’t always possible. Make sure you have snacks like fruit, nuts, and granola bars since they require no refrigeration, no preparation, and no utensils. Don’t forget drinks - bottled water, juices, tea bags, instant coffee. And for meals, stick to basics like pasta and sauce, cereal and milk, bread and peanut butter, canned soup, etc.

·       A personal treat or two. If you always end the night with a glass of wine, bring a bottle to reward yourself at the end of your long first day. (Don’t forget the wine opener and a wineglass.) If you’re an avid reader, bring a book you’ve been dying to read to help you fall asleep at night. You’re going to be working hard when you first move in, so make sure you also allow yourself a bit of fun to make the transition as easy as possible.

Best Apps for Your Home

We’ve all heard the saying, “there’s an app for that,” because today, there really is an app for everything. Technology has made communicating, traveling, working, and even living in your Elite Homes home in Louisville, easier than ever.  So check out our list of the best apps to help simplify and improve your life in your home. 

SavingStar

This E-coupon app gives you kickbacks for the stuff you want and need on a usual basis. You simply pay the normal price for things like food and household supplies, and the savings from the coupons add up in the app.  Once you reach $5 in savings, you can choose to add it to your bank account, redeem as an Amazon gift card or donate to a charity.  What a great way to manage your spare change!

WeMo 

Imagine if everything you had to plug into the wall at home became a smart device… your microwave, curing iron, coffee maker. With WeMo, they can be.  You won’t have to worry about forgetting to turn anything off ever again now that you can switch it off from anywhere on your smart phone! Program certain appliances or equipment on a schedule, so your coffee could be ready and waiting for you when you wake up. 

ZipList 

Love to cook?  Ziplist helps you digitize your shopping list with ingredients from recipes of your choosing.  With over 300,000 recipes stored from popular sites like Martha Stewart and Food.com, you can pull your favorites and send the ingredients directly to your shopping list, or email them to family and friends. Finally, grocery shopping made easy!

Houzz 

Everything you could possibly need to know about design and improvement is all within the social network of Houzz. Browse an extensive collection of articles, photos and discussions from dedicated home design enthusiast and experts, while connecting with them for consultation on your own DIY projects. Whether you simply need some inspiration or are looking for a local professional, everything you need is right here!

Handy 

Sometimes a DIY guide just isn’t going to cut it for the home improvement project at hand.  If you don’t have the time or skills to get the job done, Handy is here to help. This app allows you to browse specialized (background-checked) professionals. You can book and pay securely within the app for any home improvements from AC installation, leaky pipes, electric and more.

Alarm.com 

This app works with your choice of an Alarm.com-enabled system to give you full control over your home. In addition to normal remote-monitoring capabilities such as activating your home security from another location, the app’s integrated GPS system knows when you’re home, or out, in order to adjust temperature and lights. Push notifications can tell you when your kids arrive home, or when things are left on or open.

Apps have not only made it easy to find help and guidance for improvements inside the home, but have also made it possible to protect our homes from anywhere!  Whether you’re tackling a new home project or planning for an upcoming vacation, check out which of these best apps can help you!