Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

  Information is brought to you by Hope Leitner Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties Signs That Your House Has an HVAC Problem You rely on the HVAC system to keep your house at a comfortable temperature year-round. It can be easy to take it for granted until a problem arises, and you come home to a freezing house in the winter or a sweltering house in the summer. Knowing common signs of an HVAC problem and when to call a professional can help you avoid extreme temperatures and astronomical utility bills. Strange Smells You might notice an unusual odor. If you turned on the heat or air conditioning after it had been off for several months, there could be a slight burning smell. That is normal and should disappear within a day. If the odor lingers longer than that, there could be a problem with the system that needs to be diagnosed and repaired by an HVAC technician. If your home has gas heat and you smell rotten eggs, there could be a natural gas leak. Turn off the HVAC

  Information is brought to you by Hope Leitner Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties Wood Floor Alternatives Worth a Second Look Wood floors are a top choice for modern homeowners. Proponents believe they offer warmth as well as elegance, but they do require care to maintain their luster and are costly. Fortunately, say flooring exerts, technology makes it easy to achieve the look and feel of wood flooring without the need for special care—and at a far lower cost. Check out the look and feel of these alternatives at local flooring or big box stores. (If you don’t plan to do it yourself, factor in $30 to $45 an hour for professional installation): Bamboo Bamboo flooring is an eco-friendly alternative to hardwood that is easy to clean, shrugs off wear and tear, and results in a similar look. Available in vertical, horizontal or strand-woven varieties, it will cost $2 to $5 per square foot. Engineered Wood Designed to handle moisture and wear, engineered wood flooring is

   Information is brought to you by Hope Leitner Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties Studies have shown that looking at certain colors can impact your mood, so if you’re looking to brighten your days, look at the walls. Orange This color boosts social connection, so paint a wall in your living room or kitchen a vivid orange and enjoy deeper, longer, joyous conversations. Yellow This sunny color is one of the most obvious mood brighteners, and there are many shades of yellow soft enough for an entire room. Green This earthy tone is a stress reliever. Roll it onto the wall across from your bed and smile your way into sleep. Violet This royal hue fosters creativity and intuition. Add it to your home office for more satisfaction in your work life. Fuchsia While this color is a tad bright for most rooms, fuchsia accent walls can still splash around enough of the color to make an impact.

  Information is brought to you by Hope Leitner Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties Curtain Alternatives to Dress Your Windows Looking to dress your windows with something other than curtains? The following ideas are fun, great for creative expression and relatively inexpensive. Screens.  These thin, partially transparent screens can be pulled down when you need them and still let some light through. Bright frames.  Don’t want any type of coverage but looking for a color pop? Paint bright wooden frames (think pictures frames) and fit them around your window for flare. Canopies.  Instead of hanging curtains on a rod, fix two long sheaths of fabric from a bed crown hung above the window and then draw them back like curtains. This looks particularly lovely behind a bed. Beads.  Grab a funky beaded curtain, available in all shapes and sizes—a great addition to a kid’s bedroom or playroom. Frosted glass.  If you’re looking at a room with windows that always need covering—l

  Information is brought to you by Hope Leitner Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 5 Ways to Pick the Perfect Color Scheme If you’re revamping your interior design scheme, you may be considering a new color palette. Should you go with earthy hues? Vibrant jewel tones? Cool blues and grays? Below are five ways to pick a color scheme that will work for you. Choose from what you have.  If you’re not revamping with an entirely new furniture set, then you may want to pick a color from what you already have. A boldly patterned sofa or floor rug can serve as a jumping off point. Start with three . If you’re feeling overwhelmed with options, choose three colors you love and keep it to there, with one as your main color, another as your secondary and a third for accents. (Four if you count white, which is more of a neutral). Base with black . If you can tie black into your color scheme, you’ll always have something easy (and versatile) to return to. No need to get macabre—thi

  Information is brought to you by Hope Leitner Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties How to Choose the Right Kitchen Sink In the wide world of kitchen décor, the sink is rarely a star. Sandwiched between the granite countertops and the kitchen backsplash, it is perhaps the last thing homeowners think about. But considering how often we use it, and the different chores we use it for, the sink deserves a considered choice. Kitchen design consultants at HGTV provide kitchen sink basics to think about: Size and Shape   Classic Farmhouse A large, single-basin sink, this classic design works well if you plan to use it for multiple chores beyond washing dishes, such as cleaning over-sized pots, pans and baking sheets, or bathing dogs or babies. More common is the double farmhouse sink, with two basins of equal size.   Traditional Double Sink With two basins of different size, these allow the user to prep in the smaller size and clean up in the larger one, or separately wash s

  Information brought to you by Hope Leitner Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties Changing Up the Flooring? How to Remove Carpet Glue If you’ve recently moved into a new home, you might decide to change out the carpets in the house either to expose the wood flooring underneath or to add in a newer rug or carpet design. The challenge is, once you start ripping out the carpet, you’ll notice glue marks that are stuck due to years of working to keep the carpet in place. These problematic remnants are often more challenging to get rid of than the actual carpet itself. Thankfully, some elbow grease combined with the following basic DIY instructions will help. Are you an expert on glue? Probably not, which is why you need to figure out the type of glue you are dealing with before you begin. You see, there’s a bunch of different carpet glues and removing the various kinds requires different solutions and steps. In the simplest terms, tar-based adhesives are dark brown or tan,