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TwoMoveYou Realtors, Victoria Carter and Kirk Rickman, Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage in Northumberland have lists of homes available. They also protect their buyers by offering a guarantee that if you don’t love your home within 24 months of owning it, they will buy it back from you!
1099 Whites Road in Brighton is for sale with TwoMoveYou Guaranteed Real Estate, Century 21 Realtors from Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage, Victoria Carter & Kirk Rickman.1099 Whites Road is Smithfield’s former school house built in 1882, which has since been completely transformed into a 5+ bedroom masterpiece on just over an acre in Brighton Township.
This home offers something for everyone! Graduate to this stunning, openconcept, bright and light filled home with updated windows, skylights, open concept kitchen. A massive 10+ car garage is sure to impress any car enthusiast! There are options and opportunities to have a main floor primary bedroom complete with a walkout, 5piece ensuite, and living space; or transform a section of the house into an accessory apartment; or keep a family room that leads out to multiple directions.
It’s fun! It’s unique! It’s quirky! A beautiful propane stove with a feature wall backdrop warms thelivingroom… this historical community gathering space from the late 1880’s still shows off the original maple flooring, where decades of memories and stories have been shared. It is filled with great spirit. The gleaming white open concept kitchen with builtin applian ces, and oversized eat in breakfast area is a main focal point of the house. The current oversized laundry room offers so much space for you to dream up more ideas… like adding another washroom! The impressive 2nd floor features 4+ bedrooms. A cozy nook could easily transform back into a 5th upstairs bedroom.
The backyard is surrounded by trees and trails. Feel like you have escaped from your busy lifestyle and spend your time on your back deck with gazebo listening to the birds, breathing in theclean, country air, and allowing time to virtually stand still. This property sits on just over an acre. It has even more potential to make it even more private than it is.
There is only one neighbour on the west side, where if you wanted complete seclusion, you could easily add more trees to hibernate yourself from everyone! Don’t let this one get away! Give Victoria Carter and Kirk Rickman, Brighton Realtors from Century 21 Percy Fulton a call at 647-697-7413. Remember, that TwoMoveYou Guaranteed Real Estate GUARANTEES that if you don’t LOVE the home you buy, that Kirk and Victoria will buy it back! www.TwoMoveYou.com
This article is shared with you, compliments of Victoria Carter, Broker, Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage in Brighton, Ontario
Victoria Carter, GUARANTEES the you will LOVE your home, or she will buy it back!
Call 647-697-7413, or visit her website at www.TwoMoveYou.com
Written by Anyssa Roberts
Find out how to make your own
With so many working from home now and for the foreseeable future, people have been getting creative with their work spaces. Couches, kitchen tables and even closets became pseudo offices. And so did cloffices.
If you’ve been looking for ways to add an office to your home but are low on space, here are tips and ideas for you to create your own cloffice.
What Is a Cloffice?
A cloffice is an office space created from a closet. (Clever, huh?) And there are lots of benefits to having one in your home.
“It’s quiet—perfect for Zoom calls. And, it’s separated from the main areas, where we know it can get loud sometimes,” said Suzana Natola, a digital creator who’s passionate about interior design and decor. “It’s also great for kids to use as a homework station.”
Natola created her own dedicated cloffice space in a guest bedroom closet in her home.
“With a little bit of creativity and the right tools and materials, we completely transformed the space,” she said.
How to Turn a Closet Into an Office
A cloffice can be as unique as you are. These tips will help you draw out your unique expressions for your cloffice while maintaining maximum functionality.
1. Decide How You’ll Use Your Cloffice
When it comes to creating a cloffice space, start with deciding what you’ll use the space for. That will help you determine what exactly you need to put in it, said Andrea Vowels, a kindergarten teacher and home decor enthusiast with a large Instagram following.
2. Measure Your Closet
After Vowels determined what was needed in the space, she got to work measuring for the perfect fit. “Measuring is key to being able to close the space when it’s not in use,” Vowels said.
Measuring your closet also helps you find the right sized furniture for your space. “I did not have to make changes to the closet and we got a desk that fit in the space perfectly,” she said.
3. Add Your Personality to Your Cloffice
Natola started her cloffice by adding an accent wall. “I wanted something fun yet calming that could translate a little bit of my personality,” she said.
Since you’d be spending hours in this area, it’s important to have the right vibe as well as the right furniture for your cloffice.
What to Put in Your Cloffice to Be Productive
When Vowels was planning her cloffice makeover she knew she needed a few work essentials for her space, including a desk, lamp and storage bins where she could store paper and school supplies for her teaching job.
Natola built a floating desk and shelves in her space. “I chose a pink office chair to go with the “cloffice” theme,” she said.
These things gave them optimal productivity while working from home. But what about you? Think back to when you were deciding how you’d use your space and list what you need to make it the most productive. Here are some ideas on what to put in your cloffice.
Last year, she had to work from home for about five months. She and her partner didn’t have an extra room in their three-bedroom house, so they decided to turn the guest room closet into a cloffice.
Desk: Your work surface can make or break your productivity. Choose what works for you, whether it’s a traditional desk or even a standing desk.
Ergonomic Chair: While a desk can break your productivity, the wrong chair could cause a lot of back pain—and we doubt you’d be getting much work done after that. Choose a chair that cushions your buns, while giving you the most lumbar and back support.
Lighting: Most closets don’t have the right kind of built-in lighting or windows, but you don’t have to work in the dark. The appropriate lamp or pendant light can help you focus on (and see) the task at hand.
Computer and Electronics: The right computer accessories can take your productivity to the next level. Keyboards, mouses or noise cancelling headphones can help you cultivate a more ergonomic and focused workspace. And don’t forget about printers or scanners. You may consider adding those, too.
Storage Solutions: You don’t have to stick with the standard, stuffy file cabinet for storage. Get creative with cubby storage or floating shelves. It’ll make a big difference in your productivity to have items within reach.
Plugs and Outlets: If your closet doesn’t have plugs or outlets in it, figure out how you’ll power your electronics. You may need to run an extension cord from the closest outlet available to your cloffice. You can also hide unsightly cords with cable concealers.
The cloffice trend isn’t going anywhere, and you can add one to your home using these simple tips. It doesn’t have to cost a lot or take a long time, either. Pick out some furniture, choose a weekend and have some fun making your own cloffice space.
Kirk Rickman and Victoria Carter TwoMoveYou Guaranteed Real Estate Systems Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage
If you are interested in working with Realtors who go above and beyond in the selling and purchasing of your next home, then consider working with us! http://www.TwoMoveYou.com
TwoMoveYou, Kirk Rickman and Victoria Carter of Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd are two realtors who move you in Durham Region and Northumberland.
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This article is shared with you, compliments of Victoria Carter, Broker, Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage in Brighton, Ontario
Victoria Carter, GUARANTEES the you will LOVE your home, or she will buy it back!
Call 647-697-7413, or visit her website at www.TwoMoveYou.com
Written by Marisa Donnelly
Simples changes can make a big difference
Does your workspace give you anxiety? To be honest with you, that’s not how it should be. Of course, your cubicle—no matter how decorated or ‘homey’ it feels—isn’t going to be as comfortable as your couch. And sure, even your most personalized work-from-home desk won’t always give you the warm and fuzzies. But sitting down to work shouldn’t feel so stressful that you can’t focus on your tasks.
Here are five reasons why your workspace is actually stressing you the heck out (whether you consciously realize it or not) and five things you can do about it.
1. Your Space Isn’t Conducive to Work
Whether you have stacks of paper littered across every open surface (guilty) or your shelves and walls are so decorated with plants and pictures that you can’t actually focus, this can create an atmosphere that isn’t conducive to work.
If you’re continually getting distracted by what’s around you, it’s time to make a change.
Focus on ways to remove or intentionally organize the clutter. Rearrange your to-do piles in a way that leaves space for you to write, type, or take notes. And be purposeful about the design of the area so that you can prioritize your most meaningful tasks first.
2. You’re Not Comfortable in the Space
Take it from someone who spends a good amount of time on a screen each day, sometimes I find myself hunching over or sitting in weird positions because I’m not thinking about what my body physically needs. That’s the thing about our workspaces—we get focused (or we try to focus) on our tasks so much that we often neglect ourselves in the process.
Perhaps your workspace gives you anxiety because you’re spending a good amount of time in an uncomfortable position: wrists reaching for the keys, back slouched, eyes squinting at the screen… the list goes on.
The next time you sit down to work, take inventory of your body: Are you sitting with good posture? Are your legs crossed or flat on the ground? Are your eyes strained?
These are just a few simple questions, but they can help you reset. You can also actively stretch before sitting down, do a mid-task walk, stand every thirty minutes/hour, or even invest in a movable desk where you can arrange the height to stand or sit. The key thing is recognizing what your body needs and making sure that you’re not creating more stress by ignoring your warning signs.
3. You’re Overwhelming Yourself With Long-Terms Instead of Short-Terms
One of the biggest stressors is looking at long-term to-dos instead of what is happening right in front of you. And again, I share this from experience. It’s easy, especially when you’re a career-driven person, to think about all of the things you want or need to accomplish. But if you’re not careful, you’ll obsess over these things… which actually prevents you from moving forward.
If you find yourself feeling ‘stuck’ or so overwhelmed that you don’t know where to start, it may be because you’re stressing yourself out over the future instead of focusing on the present. And unfortunately, your workspace has become a constant reminder of that.
Try to shift your focus by creating more intentional and short-term task lists. Sure, you may have a giant project coming up but you don’t have to write every single step on that daily to-do. Perhaps you can break the tasks into smaller pieces and tackle three steps at a time.
By focusing on the smaller chunks, you’ll actually feel more energized by the rate you’re able to finish them, and this will push you forward.
4. You’re Feeling the Pressure to ‘Keep up’ or Compare
The comparison trap. We’re all guilty of this. But maybe your workspace gives you anxiety because you’re constantly feeling this self-imposed pressure to prove.
As hard as it is, try to focus less on what you think you ‘should’ be doing and more on what feels right for you. There will always be someone who appears to have it more together or looks further along than you in their career.
But the thing you have to keep in mind is that you are not that person. And that’s okay.
Stop thinking that you have to do or be a certain way in order to be successful. Success, really, is individually defined. Let your workspace be something that motivates you to be you and follow your unique path.
5. You Haven’t Truly Designated a ‘You’ Space
Sometimes it’s hard to separate work from play. And as more and more people shift to remote positions or working from home, finding those ‘you’ spaces becomes even more of a challenge.
One of the reasons your workspace gives you anxiety may be because you don’t truly have a space to call your own.. Perhaps you share an office space with a loved one or roommate. Maybe your workspace doubles as a garage or laundry room (yup, that’s me), or maybe you have kids and you’re constantly interrupted during work so your ‘office’ doesn’t truly feel like a place of work.
Whatever your experience, first understand that you’re human and it’s okay that your work-from-home situation (or even your desk in your office building) doesn’t always feel as ‘professional’ or ‘legitimate’ as it should. That doesn’t mean you can’t get work done.
But… it’s important to create a space where you feel empowered and confident, or a space where you can truly pull away and be alone.
While I’m not advocating for completely redoing the interior of your house or kicking your kids outside when you need to buckle down and get something done (ha!), what I am suggesting is that you take time to figure out places and times where you feel the most aligned. For me, that was working early morning hours or hanging a sign on my ‘office’ door when I’m on a call or podcast. While I’m never *alone* during my workday, I can still create spaces that are mine (and that has helped tremendously).
Remember: it’s important to have a balance and even if it’s hard, strive to create those healthy boundaries. You (and everyone else in your life) will benefit.
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Kirk Rickman and Victoria Carter TwoMoveYou Guaranteed Real Estate Systems Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage
This article is shared with you, compliments of Victoria Carter, Broker, Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage in Brighton, Ontario
Victoria Carter, GUARANTEES the you will LOVE your home, or she will buy it back!
Call 647-697-7413, or visit her website at www.TwoMoveYou.com
Written by Lisa Hallett Taylor
Rooms inside a house are pretty straightforward: a dining room is used for dining, a bedroom for sleeping, a bathroom for bathing, and so on. How you approach designing your outdoor space is an entirely personal decision, but there are some basic rules to follow. Among them:
Focal point: Establishing a focal point is an essential part of smart design for an outdoor room. Focal points help guide the eye to a favorable part of the room and away from a less favorable area. They can also act as points of interest.
Vertical space: If your outdoor room has a wall or two, or even a suggested wall, take advantage of the space by using urns or vases with tall ornamental grasses or patio trees, climbing vines or espaliered shrubs. Also think about using hanging outdoor lights, chandeliers, wind chimes, pedestals, and raised planters.
Style or design: If you have no clue how to decorate, consider the architectural style of your house along with its proportions and the exterior materials that are used. Also, look at the house for patterns and details you can replicate in your outdoor room.
Forgetting It’s Outdoors, Not Indoors
Some enthusiastic decorators get so carried away that they forget they are furnishing an outdoor room. Maybe you’ve seen someone’s patio that looks like they pushed the living room sofa, lounger, coffee table, and even fake plants outside. Or, they’ve relegated the old sofa from the den to the patio or backyard. Don’t even think about it.
It’s always good to reach for a seamless transition between your interior and exterior, but using the same furniture (or something very similar) is taking it too far.
Too Much or Not Enough Furniture
You’re thrilled to finally have a designated outdoor room. Inside those three-or-so outdoor walls, you have amassed your favorite patio furniture—that Brown Jordan Tamiami set you scored from an estate sale last year, along with Grandma’s porch glider, your husband’s beloved couch from the deck of his former frat house, and the kids’ plastic dining set. No wonder it looks more like a patio furniture yard sale rather than a cohesive, carefully curated and arranged outdoor room.
Tying It All Together
The furniture pieces don’t have to match, but something should tie them together—materials, color, height, scale, era, etc. Too much of anything crammed into one space is probably not the look you’re after, nor is it functional or liveable. Select items from your collection that look good (alone and together with other pieces), are comfortable and will hold up outdoors.
If you’re starting from scratch, either buy new or used items in good shape that go together—again, through materials (wood, aluminum, sling) and design (shape, style, era, if old).
Minimalism and Nonexistent
In our cluttered worlds, many people prefer the KonMari method or the simplicity of minimalism. This can be lovely, just don’t forget to add a hint of personality, like adding a piece of pottery, a plant, maybe a pillow.
Then there are those who are either indecisive or procrastinate when it comes to furnishing any room, and leave it empty. This is space you could be enjoying. Do something!
Under Accessorizing or No Decor
Picture this: you go to a store to purchase one of those comfortable deep-seating outdoor sets with two connecting sofas and matching ottomans. Maybe you buy a table or two with a frame that matches the set. This type of set is usually all tan, beige, taupe, fawn, off-white, or greige.
After coming home, you set it up in your outdoor room, take a few steps back, and wonder what’s missing.
Accessories. And by that, we mean outdoor accessories, not something you move from your living room to the outdoor room. Outdoor accessories should be waterproof and able to withstand the elements, although you will wisely bring them inside or under cover during the offseason or weather events, like tornadoes, hurricanes, storms, etc.
Outdoor décor and accessories include:
Garden statues
Pottery, containers, urns
Wind chimes
Hanging ornaments
Outdoor wall art
Pillows and cushions
Candles
Lighting fixtures
Of course, you can have an outdoor room with too many accessories, which becomes busy, excessive, confusing, and overstated.
No Plants
In planning an outdoor room, you thought that you had included all of the components: a nice deep-seating set, a few occasional tables, and a container or two. Hmmm—what seems to be missing? How about the green stuff, as in potted plants, patio trees, a dish garden, or even a vase of cut roses from nearby bushes?
Plants can help soften an outdoor room. If chosen wisely, you can even add a sweet – smelling plumeria or gardenia into the mix, for a pleasant experience when light winds kick up the scent in the evening.
Poor Furniture Arrangement
Think about seating arrangement and creating conversation areas when you design a patio or outdoor room. The settee or chairs should be close enough to carry on a conversation without shouting, leaving enough space to move around. Chairs should be gathered around a low table for drinks or plates.
If you line up patio furniture against the walls of your outdoor room—sort of a “firing squad” design approach that doesn’t always work indoors or out—you’ll have a nice big bare spot in the middle of the room. Which is great if you plan on using the space for dancing or a little after-dinner karaoke.
Color Issues
Mistakes with color design occur when either too little color is used or the wrong colors are used together. Much of the outdoor furniture available comes with cushions in neutral tones, like white, tan, beige, or gray. Neutrals provide a subtle background for colorful pillows and accessories in a few well-chosen or favorite colors. It looks bland or incomplete if the set is left alone, with no accents—like it was pulled out of the box and then you got distracted.
On the other hand, using too much color can be a bit loud, but if they complement one another, the effect can be lively and vibrant.
Some suggestions:
Primary colors: As a refresher, primary colors are red, blue and yellow. These can work outdoors by allowing one color to take a dominant role while the others are used more sparingly. For example, the same hue of blue is repeated throughout the outdoor room and surrounding landscape, followed by a smaller amount of yellow. Red is used as an occasional accent.
Earth tones: This would include browns, tans, greys, etc. Punch it up a bit with a bright orange or royal blue pillow and pottery.
Analogous: Three colors side-by-side on the color wheel, like yellow, yellow-orange and orange.
Favorite colors: You know what these are. Hopefully, no mauve or dusty rose.
Colors in the garden: Echo colors from the garden, like those purple irises, orange calendula, a blue similar to the pool water, or even green—there should be plenty of that.
Proportion and Scale
Let’s take the space of your outdoor room—say it’s a 12 x 12-foot gazebo. Now gather all of the elements that go into that room—outdoor furniture, accessories, and plants—and fill it up. If you have, say, one tall bistro table with a couple of matching chairs and an 8-inch pot of calla lilies left over from Mother’s Day, your outdoor room might look kind of bare. Minimalism is nice, but neglected or not well-thought-out is another thing entirely.
Overcrowding
On the other end of the, umm, scale, let’s say you have an overabundance of patio furnishings, and you can’t wait to crowd them all into your new outdoor room. There might be no space to walk, not to mention everything looks like you’re holding a garage sale under a tent.
In a well-proportioned outdoor room, the space should be designed for your favorite activity. This might include dining, relaxing, or entertaining. How about an impromptu game of badminton? Good luck with that. Choose furniture that is attractive, functional, and that fits the space. Add accessories sparingly at first, with smaller objects placed in front of larger ones, whether they are potted plants, statuary or other types of garden decor.
Kirk Rickman and Victoria Carter TwoMoveYou Guaranteed Real Estate Systems Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage
