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Energy efficiency isn’t just for the inside of your home. What you plant outside can affect the bottom line inside. Choosing the right trees, grasses, and shrubs can help.

Location, location, location

Well placed trees can help to reduce your heating and cooling bills. Trees can keep your home cooler in the summer and protected and insulated in the winter. Determine where to plant the saplings so that when they mature, they shade your roof and upper rooms. Plant leafy deciduous trees to the East, West, or South sides of your home so that the shadows fall on your house. Eventually, they’ll keep you shaded in the blistering summer months. In the winter, those trees will lose their leaves allowing warmth from the sun to reach your windows through the bare branches.

When planting trees on the north or northwest side of your house, utilize evergreens as a windbreak. They’ll reduce the amount of frigid air that hits your house in the winter. Strategically planted rows can create a windbreak for an entire side of your home. Cypress, fir, or low-branch pines create great windbreaks. Be sure to account for growth when you choose a planting location, 10 to 15 feet between each tree is a good place to start.

Efficiency

If you have central air conditioning, use shrubs and bushes to shade your condensing unit. Experts estimate that a protected A/C can boost efficiency by ten percent or more. Keep your plants and shrubs about three feet away from your condensing unit so that it has proper airflow. Trim trailing vines or branches that grow close to the equipment or ventilation.

Groundcover

Replace grass with stones or a concrete slab that reflects light and heat toward your home. That will keep your home warmer in the winter months. Dark wood chips, mulch, or green groundcover help to absorb daytime heat that is then slowly released throughout the evening and overnight. This process works to keep your home cooler during the day but adds warmth to outdoor entertainment spaces in the evening.

If you’re searching for the perfect new house, let your real estate professional know about your desire for energy efficiency. They can help you find the ideal home to put your ideas into action.

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Photo by SHOP SLO® on Unsplash

The Pantone Color Institute has a certain knack. The design company gets a feel for the mood of the year to come, and shapes design trends to match it.

It takes cues from new kinds of materials we use. It considers our social media platforms, upcoming sports events and the sights and sounds that receive international attention. Pantone has selected a color each year for more than 20 years.

For the Start of a New Decade, Pantone Picked Classic Blue

Classic Blue has a timeless and universal appeal. It's a shade of azure that brings to mind a calm, expansive marine horizon or an afternoon sky. Or perhaps bright tiles, crafted by artisans of Mediterranean and semi-tropical climes.

Classic Blue is a primary color with an approachable feel. It has a reassuring presence. That's exactly what Pantone was going for in 2020.

The 2020 Color of the Year Is Refreshing Yet Traditional

Beautiful interior touches in Classic Blue evoke calm and connection, and a sense of the enduring as we pass the 2020 milestone. 

Silver and white accents make blue feel clean and attractive, simple yet elegant. Blue brings a sense of peace, clarity and tranquility to a home, fostering relaxed interactions.

No matter whether you avoid or embrace smart home technology, your can create space in your home for the "true blue" we trust.

Especially If You're Selling in 2020, Classic Blue Is Perfect for Adding Timely Flair   

Think gentle off-white for bathroom wall sconces or a sink or tub, framed by blue-and-white mosaic tiles.

Imagine a blue wall setting off a bright, polished-nickel kitchen faucet. Kitchen border tiles or mosaic tile flooring in blues, whites and golds evoke the long sunny days of a youthful summer. 

You Don't Need to Spend a Lot on Renovations 

Classic Blue makes for striking accents even in small touches. It might inspire your choice of bowls to place atop a crisp, white kitchen shelf. Use blue ceramic coasters on a white, black or gold table. Or paint the door in Classic Blue, adding bright contrast to the entryway against a white exterior.

In an era of conflicting ideas and rapid changes, blue brings a sense of dependability that naturally pleases guests and puts home buyers at ease.

Choose Classic Hues to Sell Your Home This Year

When Pantone chooses its annual Color of the Year, a variety of industries showcase that hue: interior decorating, travel, filmmaking, manufacturing, marketing, packaging and graphic design. Tap into the mood of today when thinking about accents and updates.

Ready to get your home looking great for selling this year? Contact us for more tips!

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