Nancy

Living room

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6. Which neighborhoods do you primarily work in? If the agent typically works in areas far from your home, it may mean that he or she is not as familiar with the market in your area.7. How many homes have you sold in my neighborhood? Good word of mouth tends to spread within neighborhoods, so if your real estate agent has had a lot of home sales in your area, that’s probably a good sign. Familiarity with your neighborhood can only help your agent sell your home.

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9. Check bathrooms for moisture, mildew and mold. It can be hard to give bathrooms enough ventilation when the house is closed up tight for winter. Unfortunately, that buildup of moisture can lead to mildew or even harmful mold. Give the bathroom a thorough cleaning, paying special attention to grout, the ceiling and any other areas showing signs of excess moisture.How to Get Rid of Household Mold

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7. Refresh your movie-watching zone. Winter is a good time to catch up on movies you missed in the theater or to binge-watch your favorite shows. So why not make your movie-watching zone as comfy and cozy as possible? Start by vacuuming the floors and upholstery (using a vacuum attachment) and by clearing away clutter. Next, assess your collection of movies and games, donating extras to charity. Finally, make sure there are plenty of comfortable pillows and throws and lighting that can be dimmed.How to Install a Dimmer Switch

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Tackle These Tasks Over a Weekend5. Cook to stock up your freezer. A few hours of cooking on a weekend can produce major dividends if you focus your efforts on big-batch suppers that can be frozen and reheated later. Knowing that you have homemade soup, stew, chili or casseroles in the freezer makes facing weeknight dinners much less stressful. Just add crusty bread and a simple salad and dinner will be ready in no time.

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4. Keep sidewalks and entryways free of ice and snow (even while you’re away). Ice and snow can make walkways dangerous for visitors. Aim to shovel snow promptly, and sprinkle gravel, straw or wood chips to provide traction. Frequent, light shoveling is better than letting the snow build up. And if you plan to be out of town during an expected winter storm, hire someone to clear the sidewalk and front steps of your home while you’re away. Your neighbors and mail carrier will thank you.Take a Winter Walk on the Safe Side

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For traditional or transitional spaces, try an unrectified ceramic tile, which means the edges are a bit uneven in a beautifully imperfect way. This gives a sense of texture because the adjacent tiles don’t quite line up, creating a subtle rippling effect that feels touchable and stylish.

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Textured tiles can be used all over, but often they look best when used as an accent, especially as a backsplash in a kitchen or behind a vanity.Notice how this bathroom uses a vertical band of subtly textural tiles just in the sink area, with a more plain ceramic tile on the adjacent walls. The overall effect is subdued but gives the room a sense of designer polish, and it plays beautifully against the dramatic black accents. Again, the color palette is simple, but the room feels richly detailed, and that brings a sense of luxury.

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9. Toy with textured tiles. Tile doesn’t have to be brightly colored to have a dramatic impact. If you like the idea of an interesting tile but also want to keep your kitchen or bathroom bright white and breezy, consider an embossed or shaped tile with a textural face. These can add a sense of richness to your surfaces without breaking up a minimalist color palette.

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5. Add wall stripes. A stripe of intricate statement tiles, often just two to three tiles wide, can bring a lot of drama to a space without overwhelming it with a busy pattern. This is a great way to introduce a little European flair into your bathroom through an exotic or antique tile pattern without it looking like a “theme room.”

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You can use an area of contrast tile inset amid a more plain tile like the previous project, or take inspiration from this photo and use a tile border to give subtle structure to an all-over pattern.Combine this look with in-floor heating and you’ll feel like you’re standing on a cozy rug.

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4. Try a rug-like inset or borders. A rug in the bathroom can be beautiful, but for some it feels too impractical. A rug-like tile composition gives you the look of an area rug in the same hard-wearing finish as a standard floor tile.

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3. Tile the island. By coincidence, this home uses the same tile as the previous example, but in a different location: the kitchen island.Often we think of the island as being just more cabinetry, but it can actually receive more wear and tear than standard wall cabinets due to bumping stools and kicking feet.

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