Tips for Warming Your Home Through Decor!

As the temperatures begin to drop, and the days get shorter, we’ll start spending more time indoors.  For those colder days when you’re inside your Elite home in Louisville, your fireplace shouldn’t be the only thing keeping you nice and cozy.  Here are some ways to use warm decor to help take the chill out of winter.

1.     Pops of bright colors (cheery reds, tropical blues, deep pinks, juicy oranges) can help chase the winter blahs away.

2.     Change up your throw pillows & blankets with velvet covers or fuzzy fleece.  Add a fluffy faux fur rug to warm up chilly floors.

3.     Add the impression of warmth with metallics like gold, copper and bronze. Add some light & sparkle with silver mirrors or mercury glass accents.

4.     Think white is a cool color? Not when it’s a creamy winter white. A few hints of this warm neutral suggest snowy days – even if you don’t have any!

5.     Bare windows can seem pretty cold. Lined drapes in a thick material can go a long way to warming up your rooms visually and physically.

6.     Natural materials make any room cozier. Create a centerpiece or a mantle display with interesting twigs, pinecones, seedpods, evergreen branches, etc.

7.     Winter decorating is all about layering. Slipcover your chairs or sofa, and pile them with squishy pillows and snuggly throws. Then burrow in to keep the chill away.

      Lights are the obvious way to counteract the dark days of winter – whether it’s a reading lamp in a cozy reading nook, candles in the windows or dramatic landscaping lights outside.

8

Buying New Furniture for Your New Home!

Nice furniture can be a pretty big investment, but at some point, the sofa that’s been with you through four apartments and one bad-tempered cat has to go. It’s time to go shopping for your new Elite Built home! Here are some tips for saving time and money as you search for new furniture for your home in Louisville.

1.     Know What You’re Buying. Buying furniture is a complex affair. It takes time and patience to figure out what you want and what works in your space. But now, you can go window-shopping from the comfort of your home. Make sure you compare similar products from different stores or websites. Get a feel for what you want, and what you can realistically afford.

3.     Smart Sales. Buying something on sale obviously saves money, but furniture is a little trickier. Prices fluctuate throughout the year, so you have to time your purchase right. New product is debuted twice a year (usually spring & fall), so for 2 to 3 months prior, furniture companies are trying to get rid of inventory by offering good deals. 

 

4.     Look At The Label. Many pieces are made of a mixture of woods or small pieces glued together, and may crack because the wood may be weaker or not constructed properly. Actual solid wood usually lasts longer because it isn't weakened by composition. If you're not enough of an expert to recognize the difference, make sure you get a one-year warranty for both the parts and labor. 

5.     Stick to Neutral Colors for Large Pieces.  You might love orange, but not everyone does, and manufacturers know this. Bolder color palettes mean a higher price because they don’t have mass appeal. Instead, manufacturers produce more neutrals and sell them at a lower price. So, if you want a red, gray and white room, and want to save money, look for sofas and chairs in grey or white, and use red as the accent color on throw pillows, lamps, or the rug.

Louisville Offers a Low Cost of Living & High Quality of Life!

As was recently reported in ProBuilder.com, Louisville, Kentucky, has been ranked by the research website Niche as one ofthe most affordable cities in America! 

Niche, which ranks places to live, K-12 schools, and colleges, analyzed 223 U.S. cities with populations of more than 100,000 to find out which are the most inexpensive to live in relative to income.

They focused on criteria such as the ratio of home value to income, as well as median home values. The cost of other expenses, such as gas and groceries, was also taken into account.

Cities were ranked based on consumer price index and access to affordable housing, which is measured by the ratio of monthly housing cost to income. Louisville came out ranked 13^th out of 223 cities, with an overall grade of A-.

Traditionally, experts say that people should spend no more than about 30% of their income on housing per month, but it’s not uncommon for residents in pricier urban centers such as New York City or San Francisco to spend more than half of their income on housing. In Louisville:  

·      The median monthly household income spent on monthly housing costs is around 20%

·      The median home value is $140,400 vs the national average of $176,700

·      The median monthly housing costs for homeowners is $817

·      60.8 % of people own the property they live in

As far as quality of life goes, Louisville has great schools, and was named as one of Niche’s 2016 Best Cities to Raise a Family, too.  It has a diverse population, an easy commute, and a dynamic array of recreational opportunities available.

Unsurprisingly, Louisville comes out as one of the Best Places to Live in the U.S. – something we here at Elite Homes have known forever!

Tips for Fall Lawn Care!

You’ve spent the summer months in Louisville mowing, watering, weeding and feeding your lawn, and your hard work has really paid off.  Don’t stop now! Fall is your prime opportunity to give your Elite Homes' lawn the boost it needs to weather the winter and come back strong in the spring.

Here are some easy yet vital fall lawn projects that they recommend.

·       Feed your lawn. The difference between an average yard and a beautiful yard next spring is fall feeding. Feeding in early September, and again 6-8 weeks later, helps the lawn begin rebuilding roots that were damaged during the hot, dry summer. Since this is also a great time to kill weeds, you can do two jobs at once by applying a weed and feed.

·       Reseed your lawn. Kids playing on a summer-damaged lawn can actually kill it. Show your lawn some love by reseeding with a quality grass seed mix. After that, just keep the seed and young grass watered with a light misting once or twice a d

ay until the seedlings have reached a mowing height.

·       Mulch your leaves. Contrary to popular belief, fallen tree leaves will not insulate the lawn during winter. In fact, they block the sun and cause your grass to thin. Forget the rake; mulch leaves to dime-sized pieces with your lawn mower, and then apply your fall feeding.

·       Mow your lawn shorter. In late fall, drop the mower down and cut your lawn 1-2 inches shorter than you have been. Continue to mow shorter until the grass stops growing in early winter. Then cut your lawn slightly lower for the last cut. 

·       Clean up your tools. They've served you well, but now it's time to put the tools away. Keep them from rusting by cleaning them before putting them into storage. Also, if you're finished mowing for the year, do your winter mower maintenance.

·       Take good care of your mower. With proper maintenance, your lawnmower can last for many years. Regular mower maintenance will also give you a better-looking lawn and ensure that the machine is ready when you need it. If you don't want to do the work yourself, mower repair shops, garden centers, and hardware stores offer annual maintenance services. They're always busy in the spring, so it's best to take it to the shop in the fall.

Neighborhood Concert Features Louisville Orchestra Musicians

Elite Homes is proud to be a sponsor of The Louisville Orchestra Neighborhood Series and The LG&E Music Without Borders Series! The concert series will continue on Friday, November 11at the Jeffersontown Community Center and Saturday, November 12 at the Ogle Center at IUS with In The Spotlight.  Teddy Abrams conducts the LO in a program of concertos that feature members of the LO as soloists.

In preparing for the Neighborhood series, Louisville Orchestra’s music director, Teddy Abrams, wanted to bring a chamber music concert into the mix.  Abrams said, “For this program, I wanted to take this opportunity to feature some of our amazing Louisville Orchestra musicians as soloists. We at the Louisville Orchestra are so fortunate to have an incredibly talented group of dedicated musicians and this is the perfect program to highlight their musical gifts and share them.  He continues, “I am beyond proud to present this set of concerts with your Louisville Orchestra as we turn the spotlight on our own musicians featuring our extraordinary soloists: Gabriel Lefkowitz, Julia Noone, Robert Simonds, Kimberly Tichenor, Nicholas Finch, Alexander Vvedenskiy, Andrea Levine and Matthew Karr.”   

LO’s new concertmaster, Gabriel Lefkowitz will be in the spotlight when he performs Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins with Jullia Noone, Robert Simonds and Kimberly Tichenor. 

Lefkowitz is looking forward to the performances and noted, “Chamber music of any sort (be it a piano trio, a woodwind quintet, or a concerto for multiple soloists like this Vivaldi) comes with some rewarding challenges. I think the main one is this paradox of maintaining your individual identity and sense of style as an artist while blending with others and giving up enough of your individuality for the greater artistic good of rendering a cohesive musical performance. What's rewarding about this is not only that you give a great performance, but that you also come out on the other side knowing your musical partners a little bit better as artists and people!”

The program also features works by CPE Bach, Richard Strauss, and Vivaldi’s Concerto for Oboe with the LO’s principal oboe, Alexander Vvedenskiy as soloist. 

Program:

Antonio Vivaldi            Concerto for 4 Violins in B Minor, RV 580

                                                     Gabriel Lefkowitz, violin; Julia Noone, violin; Rob Simonds, violin; Kimberly Tichenor, violin

C.P.E. Bach                 Cello Concerto in A Major, H. 439

                                                    Nicholas Finch, cello

Antonio Vivaldi            Concerto for Oboe, RV 454

                                                    Alexander Vvedenskiy, oboe

Richard Strauss            Duet Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon, TrV 293

                                                    Andrea Levine, clarinet; Matthew Karr, bassoon

This program is made possible by the generous support of LG&E and Elite Homes.

2016/17 Louisville Orchestra Neighborhood concerts
+ denotes LG&E Music Without Borders concerts

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

In The Spotlight
+FRI 11 NOV :: Jeffersontown Community Center :: 10416 Watterson Trail

SAT 12 NOV :: Ogle Center at IUS, 4201 Grant Line Rd. :: New Albany

A Classical Symphony

+WED 22 MAR :: Congregation Adath Jeshurun :: 2401 Woodbourne Ave,

+THU 23 MAR :: Valley High School :: 10200 Dixie Hwy

FRI 24 MAR :: Ogle Center at IUS, 4201 Grant Line Rd. :: New Albany

American Composers

+THU 20 APR :: The Temple :: 5101 US-42, 

FRI 21 APR :: Ogle Center at IUS :: 4201 Grant Line Rd., New Albany

All concerts begin at 7:30PM.

All tickets are $20
For Tickets and information visit LouisvilleOrchestra.org
Tickets for Music Without Borders can be purchased by calling 502.584.7777
Tickets for the Ogle Center at IUS can be purchased by calling 812.941.2526