One of life’s simplest pleasures is being outdoors.  Whether you are at the beach with sand between your toes, listening to the waves or riding up a ski lift with the biting cold air hitting your face hearing the crash of branches in the distance — there is just something about being outdoors that brings out the solitude and peace of God’s beautiful landscape.

Since we live in Shreveport, Louisiana, we don’t have a beach or snow-covered mountains, but we do have lush landscapes and we love to spend time outdoors.  Many of our customers do, too.  So, it is with great pride that we show you our latest outdoor living area.  This beautiful exterior garden area was a collaboration between Penn Homes and Hoogland’s Landscape.  The owner wanted an outdoor living space that was inviting, relaxing and interesting.  We think she made the right choice in choosing Penn Homes and one of our subcontractors to create this living space.

View of the outdoor living space nestled between two zero lot line homes.

Reminiscent of the Italian-styled pergola, this structure defines the outdoor space while creating inviting ambiance and shade. Just what we need to relax and rest!

Irrigation drip system was added to all containers for ease in watering. An option that should be considered in any irrigation project.

Don't forget the hanging plants! We added the irrigation system to these plants on the front porch, too.

The possibilities are endless!  You can create a living space, a dining area, outdoor fireplace, a kitchen/den area —  use your imagination…blend it with your lifestyle and give us a call!  We’d love to design an area for you, built for your lifestyle.

It’s been about a year since our daughter purchased a home in another city.  After we completed shopping for her home, the closing process and unpacking her boxes, we realized there was a missing component to her home buying process.  What do you do after your settled?  It’s not time to put up your feet and relax just yet!

Below is a list of things every homeowner should do shortly after moving into their new home.  At Penn Homes, we want your home to be a safe and healthy place to build lifelong memories in.  

1.  Create a home maintenance checklist.

To make sure your home stays safe and healthy for you and your family, you should regularly check, clean and/or test a wide variety of interior and exterior systems and structures. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a Home Maintenance Checklist that you can download from their website www.hud.gov. It provides basic guidelines for keeping your home dry, clean, well-ventilated, free from contaminants, pest-free, safe and well-maintained.

2.  Make sure you have enough insurance coverage.

At a minimum, you need to purchase a homeowners insurance policy to cover the house and all of your family’s belongings inside. To determine how much insurance you need, find out how much it would cost to rebuild your house today on your existing lot. Your personal property coverage should then be anywhere from 55 to 75 percent of that amount.

Damage caused by natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes and hurricanes are not covered by regular home owner’s policies, so depending on where you live, you may want to consider additional coverage. Your insurance agent can help you figure out the right amount of coverage and suggest upgrades or additional policies that would be appropriate for your specific situation.

3.  Protect your home from break-ins.

If you bought an existing home, you should rekey the locks right away. You never know who the previous owners gave keys to. The National Crime Prevention Council recommends that every exterior door should have a dead-bolt lock with a one-inch throw. They should be at least 1 3/4 inch metal or hard wood with the hinges on the inside.

Install a peephole or wide-angle viewer—not a chain—in all entry doors so you can see who is outside without opening the door. Sliding glass doors can be secured by placing a long piece of wood at least one inch thick in the track. Keep all entrances and doors well-lit, and prune shrubs so they don’t provide hiding space for someone who wants to break in.

4.  Prepare an emergency kit.

In the event of a disaster, local officials and relief workers may not be able to reach your home immediately, so you should have an emergency kit on hand.

Basic services such as electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment, and telephones may be cut off for days, or even weeks, so you should be prepared. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends stockpiling at least three days’ worth of food and water for your family. Their website www.ready.gov offers a list of items to include in a basic emergency preparedness kit, as well as guidelines on food and water storage and protecting yourself from airborne contaminants.

5.  Improve your home’s energy efficiency.

Even if you’ve purchased a brand new home with the latest energy-efficient building materials and techniques, there are still some improvements you can make to save even more money on utility bills. For example:

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with longer-lasting CFL or LED bulbs.
• Install a programmable thermostat that can be set to automatically adjust the heat or air when the home is most or least used.
• Increase the insulation in your attic, on exposed water pipes and around your water heater.

The U.S. Department of Energy has an online Home Energy Saver™ tool for home owners at www.hes.lbl.gov that recommends energy-saving upgrades that are appropriate for the home, the climate and local energy prices.

Even if you haven’t just moved, these suggestions will help you protect your family and maintain your investment for years to come.  If you have any suggestions that you feel would be beneficial to a new homeowner, please comment below.  We’d love to hear your tips for moving into a new home.

At this point, I’m sure you are wondering what I mean by “wide open spaces.”  I’m talking about “wide, open floor plans.” Like most families, we lead a pretty busy life and when we are home — we like to be connected.  So, an open floor plan is the perfect way for me to cook dinner, the kids to do their homework and dad to catch up on the evening news…all within earshot of each other.

Kitchen opens to Breakfast Room with added cabinet storage and a window seat.

Since this series is primarily talking about remodeling and renovating homes, let’s talk a few minutes about your kitchen.  When Mike is consulting on a remodel, he is often asked about knocking down walls and taking several of the smaller rooms and opening things up.  Many of the older homes he looks at have a “galley style” kitchen, and owners want more room.  Let’s be realistic – we don’t just “cook” in out kitchens anymore…kitchens are where we live and entertain!

So, what are your options:

• take down some walls, maybe add some columns to create more space
• new cabinets or at least put new doors and cabinet knobs on existing cabinets (if they are in good shape)
• countertops – make sure you research this one…lots of options!
• how about new appliances —
• lighting is very important – both task lighting and ambiance lighting
• need space for your computer and printer? include a home tech area right next to the kitchen…monitor the kids computer activity while preparing dinner
• add an island – creates more storage and gives more  counter space

If I’ve learned one thing from working at Penn Homes, it is to think out of the box when remodeling your kitchen.  If you are going to gut your kitchen and do a total remodel, look at the space as a blank canvas.  Don’t limit yourself on where the refrigerator “used to be” or where the stove “has always been.”  Remodeling your kitchen is probably the most expensive project you will do – it’s also #1 in popularity and has the most impact on resale.  So, here’s my 1-2-3 on wide open spaces:

• Take time planning.
• Look for affordable alternatives.
• Hire a licensed contractor.

Mike Penn finds that families want to spend time together – they want to reconnect after a day of work and school.  If you are looking to remodel your home, we’d love to help with your project…or…if you are interested in new home plans, we have a large selection of floor plans that feature an open floor plan.  At Penn Homes, we want you to have a pleasant experience and love your kitchen…your new “wide open spaces.”

Now that we’ve been ‘invited’ to your home…we are happy to accept the invitation.  When giving someone directions to your home, you always describe your house.  ”Take a right on Oak Street, we live in the second block, third house on the right…our house is the one with ____________.”  So, what does one see when looking at your house?  What is the descriptive trademark of your home?  What’s the ‘curb appeal’ of your home?

This is one area that could be an inexpensive project for your home and would have an immediate impact.  It could be as simple as a new coat of paint, a new front door and maybe some shutters, or it could be an exterior project with an interior impact.

First, the simple project.  Many times we are asked if we would do something as simple as replace a front door and some rotten wood.   The answer is “Yes!  We’d love to help.”  We’d take a good look at the exterior of your home and make suggestions.  Are the columns in good shape?  What about the shutters – do they need painting, are they the right size shutters for your windows, does the shutter fit the style of your home?  Are the flower beds or shrubs compromising the integrity of the foundation?

"Before" - the owner wanted a new look for her bungalow

Next, let’s take a look at an exterior project with an interior impact.  ”Recently, I was asked to consult on a project where the owner wanted to update her exterior, but she had an interior problem.  She didn’t have enough closet space” said Mike Penn. After measuring and sketching, Mike had the following solution.  ”We were in luck, the Master Bedroom faced the front of the house.  It was a pretty easy fix — she had enough room between the front door and an existing window to extend the front porch which allowed for a nice sized closet addition into the Master Bedroom. Then, the front of the house could be re-faced with stonework, shutters and a new front door.”

Penn Homes Sketch

Mike recommended a combination of products to create a focal point that added historic strength to the home.   The use of cultured stone and cedar beams from an old sugar mill gave a distinct look that was also durable and weather resistant.  Additionally, he recommended adding a Bevolo gas fixture for ambiance and additional lighting.  The owner had a great looking house with fantastic curb appeal while solving her interior problem of inadequate closet space.  A simple solution the owner could afford yet couldn’t visualize without the help of a professional builder like Mike Penn.

These are the type things Penn Homes has to offer.  We’d look at your project – then make recommendations based on what you were interested in investing in your home.  Mike Penn would break them down into the things necessary and those things which are optional, yet would add value to your home.  We would help you determine the cost of the project and work out a construction schedule to suit your family’s needs.

Curb appeal is what makes someone want to see the inside of your home and we’d love to help.  Can’t wait to hear from you.

Our children in the Courtyard. Justin Penn, center, is a Project Manager at Penn Homes.

At  Penn Homes, we consider it an honor and privilege to be invited into your home.   What do I mean by ‘invited’ into your home?  You know…’invited.’ Invited to come and look at your home to discuss remodeling, renovation or a home addition.  I get an adrenaline rush when I walk in the front door — endless possibilities.  I love it!  Mike is the more analytical one who can turn the dream into reality, but I love the creative side.

For the first 15 years of our marriage, Mike and I lived in two new homes built by Penn Homes.  I loved them both, but I was interested in the challenge of taking an older home and customizing it for my family’s specific needs.  As I type this blog, I’m sitting at my kitchen table (the hub of every home) looking out a beautiful window into a koi and goldfish-filled pond.  The pond is situated in a beautiful courtyard with mondo grass nestled between blue stone pavers.  The iron fence and gate surrounding the courtyard were re-claimed from an estate down the street.  It’s the quiet place you’ll find us most afternoons after a long day at the office.  Simply beautiful…

I’ve often been asked how did we decide what to do.  What can you do to a home that gives  the most return on your investment?  What is the most value-added enhancement to a home?  How did we have the vision?  Over the next few weeks, I’ll blog about the renovation of our home and different remodeling and home addition projects for others that have been crafted by Penn Homes.  I’ll have comments from some of our remodel customers about the projects…and, hopefully, you’ll be inspired and see the potential in your home and ‘invite’ us over.

It can be an office with the large desk in the middle of the room and bookshelves behind. It can be a tool bench in the garage with outlines of every hanging tool on the pegboard maintaining the inventory. It can be a basement decked out with a bar, flat screen TVs, movie style high back rocker chairs, retractable arm rest, cup holders, all stadium seating, all digital – DTS & Dolby Sound system. Or it can be an old plaid couch and wagon wheel coffee table the wife tried to get to the curb when you moved in together. It’s the space a man carves out of the territory and marks as his own. It’s the MAN CAVE.

Men do need their own space to relax and decompress after a long day hunting and gathering at work and there is nothing better for some than sitting near the glow of a large TV or bank of computer screens while blowing up tanks.

Women also receive benefits from the Man Cave. If your man is insistent upon keeping certain items that you would prefer not to have on display in the more traditional rooms of your home, the man cave is the perfect place to use those items. Also by allowing a man spaces to decompress and do “nothing” it recharges him mentally and emotionally to better engage with the rest of the family.

A tip for the women: never complain when your man comes out of his cave. Greet him happily and he will be glad he came out. Greet him grumpy and he will wonder why he came out.

A tip for the men: let your woman know you are heading into the cave and when you expect to come back out and she will be much more understanding of your needs.

Gardening with Native Plants is a joy that more people should pursue. There are many reasons why you should give native gardening a try:

1.  Native plants are acclimated to your climate and conditions so they are almost care free.

2.  Native plants do not require commercial fertilizer or pesticides.

3.  Native plants provide food for wildlife and attract birds, butterflies and other helpful insects.

4.  By using native plants, shrubs and trees you are doing something positive for the environment.

5.  Many of the blooms on our native plants rival their imported cousins in beauty.

As Henry David Thoreau wrote in his book, Wild Fruits:

“Famous fruits imported from the East or South and sold in our markets … do not concern me so much as many an unnoticed wild berry whose beauty annually lends a new charm to some wild walk or which I have found to be palatable to an outdoor taste. We cultivate imported shrubs in our front yards for the beauty of their berries, while at least equally beautiful berries grow unregarded by us in the surrounding fields.”

Many homeowners are surprised to learn that the equity in their home comprises a larger portion of their net wealth than the holdings in their stock market or retirement funds. Compared to conventional financial investments that rise and fall with regular frequency, housing has proven to be a relatively stable and sound investment that keeps up with inflation in most years and outpaces it in others.

Although few of us purchase a home strictly for its investment value, in practical terms it represents an asset that can pay high returns when it comes time to either refinance the mortgage or sell your home outright. Of course, a home that is well-maintained and offers up-to-date systems and amenities will have a higher value than a comparable home that is poorly maintained or lacking the conveniences and extra living space that today’s buyers want. Remodeling, then, becomes the key to protecting and enhancing the investment value of your home, not to mention its many other benefits.

“What improvements will add the most value to my home?” To answer that question, it is important to understand that remodeling – and your home for that matter – is different from other investments that are primarily financial in nature. What’s unique about housing is that the “investor” or owner receives the immediate benefit of being able to occupy and enjoy their investment; i.e., live in it, all the while it is growing in value. Stocks and bonds don’t deliver on this aspect.

The longer you intend to stay in your home and will enjoy the new family room or whatever improvement you make, the more weight this factor contributes to your overall return on investment.

The other part of your investment return is the increase in resale value that the remodel adds to your home. Ultimately it is a professional real estate appraiser who will decide the financial return of any remodeling you do through the price he or she assigns to your home when you decide to refinance your mortgage or sell your home. The cold hard truth, however, is that real estate appraisals are more an art than an exacting science.

The price of your home will largely depend on the prices that comparable homes recently sold for in your neighborhood. The value assigned to the improvements you made to your home depends on a number of variables but depend heavily on the location of your home as well as its overall condition. Some remodeling projects lift the value of a home by the entire cost of the remodel and sometimes by even more.

Despite the limitations of the appraisal process in allotting what you might consider fair value for all the improvements that you proudly made to your home since first moving in, there are certain rules that you should consider to increase the dollars you get back from your remodeling investment.

• Maintaining your home in good repair is the most critical of all investments that you can make to your home. The shape it’s in matters as much if not more than what other attributes your home may have.

• The quality of the work you have done on your home is another factor that can’t be ignored, if you are looking to make a good investment. Shoddy workmanship, low-grade materials and inferior products will wipe out any value the remodeling might have added to your home.

• Remodel for yourself and your own family, not the next owner. It is a gamble to predict what the likes and dislikes of the next owner might be. Keep in mind, however, the more your tastes stray from the norm of most of your neighbors, the less likely you are to get maximum return from your improvements. Stay with styles, colors and features that have broad appeal.

• Kitchens and bath remodels are the two most popular remodeling projects year-in and year-out, no matter where you live. Minor kitchen remodels tend to recoup more of their costs than major kitchen remodels. Bathroom remodels also vary on how much they add to resale value, depending on the extent of the makeover. These two rooms carry the most weight when it comes time to sell your home. Attractive kitchens and baths fully outfitted with popular features will not only help sell your home faster, they also can drive the price a buyer is willing to pay for your home.

• Extra space in the right place offers a high rate of return since existing homes tend to lack the roominess of new homes. New family rooms, larger master bedroom suites and eat-in kitchens are all examples of spaces that most buyers value highly.

Although it is difficult to put an exact price on the resale value of a particular remodeling project, for most of us the real value of remodeling is the comfort and pleasure it adds to the years we spend living in our home.

That’s right. We’re on foursquare now too! Come on by, we’d love to meet you! Penn Homes