Southwest Austin | Dripping Springs - July 2022

GUIDE

Local businesses oer home improvement tips

2022 REAL ESTATE EDITION

HOME IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE

ASK A DESIGNER

As many people juggle returning to the oce or hybrid work, Community Impact Newspaper asked an interior designer how to decorate your space. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP TIPS FOR AN HOME OFFICE?

COMPILED BY KAITLYN WILKES & CHLOE YOUNG

Colors are very big indicators for us of happiness and help us get to a certain feeling. I like to incorporate parts of those colors in folders, could be a vase on my desk, could be a lamp. The other one I would say is to make sure you have good lighting, either natural light, or even lamps tend to work in the evening. WHAT CAN RENTERS DO? [Removable wallpapers] come in so many styles and so many colors [and are] a way to inuence your rental without making any major changes. Command Strips are great. You can’t change the ooring; you’re not really going to be able to change backsplash or countertops; but you can use the walls kind of as your creative outlet. So removable wallpaper, art hung with command strips, rugs, and then you can also nd some really great fun throw pillows to add more color and texture.

ASK A HOME MAINTENANCE EXPERT

You denitely want to nd a place in the home that can be your work area, so when you go to it, you kind of go into that mindset of it’s time to work. I would recommend something that has the most natural light. Our brain sees that kind of as cues on how to be productive. ... The other thing most people don’t think about is where you want to place your desk and your chair. Our subconscious does not like there being a door behind us and not being able to see it. That never allows us to fully relax. So pointing your chair toward the door or an easy angle to see the door will help you relax more. WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR RETURNING TO THE OFFICE? Choose colors that make you happy.

For Central Texas residents who already own a home, this hot real estate market may keep them in their residence longer. As homes age, Dylan Rooney with Papasan Home Services explained how to maintain them.

exterior shell, that would be the easy answer there. WHAT IS THE MOST COMMON ISSUE THAT YOU SEE WITH OLDER HOMES? One big one would be insulation. Insulation is the real big ones. Foundation issues could be one just because of settling, but they’re usually not issues. It’s just natural. I think home eciency would probably be the biggest one, so the insulation, newer, tighter windows and doors.

WHAT IS THE NO. 1 MAINTENANCE TIP YOU WOULD RECOMMEND FOR PEOPLE WITH AN AGING HOME? Starting top down, the roof is a huge one. I would say the exterior shell of the home would be the biggest one because we keep the weather out, the inside stays way better there—then you’re keeping insects and bugs out as well. It could be the roof; it can be the paint, could be the ceiling or the sealant. It could also be vegetation around the home and not having a habitat for critters around the house too. Just the

Dylan Rooney Director of operations and sales Papasan Home Services 1801 S. MoPac, Ste. 100, Austin 512-535-5839 www.papasanhomes.com

Lynae Wood Owner Redene Designs Co. 512-200-4255 www.redenedesignsco.com

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COURTESY REDEFINE DESIGNS CO.

TIPS FROM A POOL SELLER

John Luebbe, Tri-County Pools co-owner, shares his advice for potential pool owners. Luebbe serves Hays, Travis and Williamson Counties. ON SPACE NEEDED FOR A POOL:

ON INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE COST: Everything’s gone up. With that said, right now you’re looking at a pool between $73,000 and $80,000 for a pool only. Then we can add another $2,330 for a spa, [and for] decking, $3,000. Again, there’s a lot of variables in regard to it. I tell people between $35 and $50 a month is a good average, if you will, [for] chemicals, water, and so forth. In the winter months, it’s considerably down. In the summer months like this last month, roughly record- breaking 100-degree weather for June, the pool gets a lot more use, so the chemical demand is a little higher.

OTHER ADVICE: The city of Austin has required now third-party inspections, and it’s not an option. It needs to be done, and there are people building right now without those third-party inspections. It might have dire consequences, and they might have to take the pool out.

It’s about what you’re going to use the pool for, so it’s designed accordingly. With that said there is, in the city of Austin anyhow, impervious cover issues. While the pool does not count as impervious cover, the decking does, the slab the equipment sits on does. So some people are limited as far as how much pool they can put in because of the impervious cover. Sometimes people want to put this pool right next to their house, then you start talking about getting an engineer involved ... They should start with a wish list as far as what they want to accomplish, and then, in an initial meeting, we evaluate these things.

John Luebbe Co-owner Tri-County Pools 512-990-9252 www.tricountypoolsinc.com

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WE’RE ON THE ROADS AGAIN! Austin Public Works is improving hundreds of streets this summer. Visit austintexas.gov/streetmaintenance to see if your street is scheduled to be resurfaced and to fill out our street maintenance survey.

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Eric Natenstedt 512-417-6447 eric@birddogrealtor.com

Call me today for a comparative market analysis! I’d love to answer any questions you have.

SOUTHWEST AUSTIN DRIPPING SPRINGS EDITION • JULY 2022