Spring is in full swing and this week we look at ways to spruce up your outdoor living space, easy bike rides around Park City and why you shouldn't lowball on an offer during the pandemic.
Whether youre living in a small apartment or a tiny house with an even smaller outdoor space to match, theres a good chance your place doesnt come with a sprawling backyard thats large enough to fit a pool, garden, outdoor pizza oven, and playground for the kids. Apartment Therapy asked multiple design experts to share their best tips for decorating a small outdoor space. Here are there 7 Design Tricks That Will Make Your Small Outdoor Space Feel So Much Bigger.
1. Take a Seat - No matter how small your outdoor area, youre going to want to create a sitting area or else you wont take full advantage of the space. Choose a petite table and loveseat or chairs that will instantly turn the little space you have into an outdoor retreat.
2. Get Your Green On - when it comes to decorating an outdoor space is to rely on plants to add color and life to the overall design. Make a selection of your favorite flowers, potted plants, and ferns to diversify the space and create that outdoor oasis youve always dreamed of. To create an oasis, try to cover the outdoor area in as much greenery as possible. A surrounding of greenery is not only beautiful but provides a relaxing environment.
3. Gravitational Glow When decorating your small outdoor space, lighting is a very important element. Wall lights are your best option as they create an elegant ambience without taking up space.
4. Bottoms Up - If you plan on entertaining, pick up a bar cart/console table. Its multipurpose and mixed-use, as its a great way to lay out food and drink, but as the night progresses, it can double as a spot for people to set their drinks down before they go inside and/or where you set up a portable music player.
5. Strategic Stackin - When debating deep seating or dining, I tell clients you can eat on a couch, but you cant lie on dining chairs. Tucking a sectional into a corner is the best way to maximize on floor space. Look for furniture with light-colored cushions, skinny frames, and high skirts.
6. Optical Illusion - Make a small outdoor space seem so much bigger by painting it all white. You can even go for a monochromatic color scheme with all-white cushions, a white outdoor rug, and white metal pieces. Add in mirrors and large-scale plants to create the illusion of a larger space.
7. The Right Rug -Use an area rug that fits the entire space to make it feel intentional and like an extension of your interiors.
Now is the time to get outside and biking around Park City is on our list as we get some fresh air. Park City Magazine shares their Biking Guide: 5 Easy Rides for Cruising Park Citys Trails.
The Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail - Length: 28 miles (one way). Roll onto the trail from Old Town via the Poison Creek Trail (and the underpass below Bonanza Drive), or park at the Prospector Trailhead. Enjoy Utahs first nonmotorized trail, designated a state park in 1992, which now travels where rail once carried coal and silver ore across the county. Todays trail runs through wetlands as it meanders through Wanship and Coalville, ending at Echo Reservoir.
McLeod Creek Trail - Length: 4 miles. From Old Town, hop aboard the paved path alongside Highway 224, or start at the McPolin Farm Trailhead. Or reverse the ride and start in Kimball Junction or at the Willow Creek Trailhead. Cruising from town toward Kimball Junction, this wide, initially paved trail rolls alongside its bubbling namesake, past the iconic white barn (McPolin Farm), and then veers right behind Temple Har Shalom onto packed dirt, past an interactive musical sculpture, through a shady, rural stretch, and across Old Ranch Road to Willow Creek Park, where playgrounds, sports fields, and picnic tables make for a family-friendly destination.
Round Valley: PorcUclimb-Downward Dog Loop - Length: 7-mile loop. Park at Quinns Trailhead for Round Valleys 700 acres of sagebrush-scented, preserved open space contains a delightful web of trails, leading to a vast array of rides. This loop starts with a wide, flat trail and gradually adds some slightly narrower trails, with a wee helping of learner-friendly, directional switchbacks thrown into the mix. Begin on Fast Pitch, connect to Ability Way, take a little uphill on Matts Flat to the hilltop at Seventy 101, then switchback up PorcUclimb (uphill only), take a right onto Nowhere Elks at the top, then look for the Downward Dog descent (downhill only) all the way until it intersects with Matts Flat singletrack, and ride back to Ability Way via Matts Access Trail, left on Ability Way Connector to Fast Pitch, then back to Hat Trick.
Trailside Loop - Length: 1-mile loop. Start at Trailside Park, adjacent to the bike park. This is an extremely beginner-friendly loop conveniently located next to the all-levels, skills-honing bike park (see article on Bike Parks). This subtly graded singletrack curves through sagebrush-covered terrain, allowing for ample visibility as newbies get into the dirt-riding groove.
RTS - Length: 2.5 miles. Park at RTS trailhead on Olympic Parkway located on a 316-acre swath of open space just below Utah Olympic Parks ski jumps, RTS is ideal for beginners. Gently sloped switchbackssans loose rocksallow for a pleasant roll through open aspen groves and meadows. RTS is also a great launching point for the progressively more challenging terrain of BLT, OMH, and BYOB, and you can access significantly more advanced riding along conifer-topped loops across Olympic Parkway.
Before you go - Grab a Mountain Trails Foundation (mountaintrails.org) map, available at most sports retailers and coffee shops (or online) to plot your route, or download Trailforks or MTB Project apps for real-time GPS guidance.
Its no secret that COVID-19 has totally upended the U.S. housing market. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors, interest in buying a home has sharply declined. Thats to be expected, as the Labor Department reported that more than 26 million people have filed for unemployment benefits since the middle of March. Apartment Therapy has another great article this week in Heres Why You Shouldnt Lowball an Offer on a House During COVID-19.
When it comes to negotiating, its still all about location, location, location. Since real estate transactions tend to be a result of major life decisions, he says there will still be people who need to either sell or buyor both. If homes in the area are selling for the asking price, a low offer is probably a bad idea. In fact, when buyers start with an insultingly low number, she says the sellers may not respond at alland if they do, the buyers have no negotiation leverage. Crisis does not bring down property values, high interest rates do.
Inventory is low, which works in a sellers favor - Sellers know they have the upper hand. On the other hand, it appears that some buyers are quite enthusiastic.
Mortgage defaults are making sellers less likely to budge- Theres one other reason sellers may not be feeling pressure to lower their asking prices. With banks rolling out mortgage forbearance programs, most sellers are not in immediate danger of losing their home or desperate to accept a lowball offer. The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently announced that after the forbearance is over, homeowners with mortgages backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will not have to make lump sum repayments. Instead those amounts will be added to the end of the loans life.
But dont abandon negotiating altogether - When considering a lowball offer, do your research to see if you or your realtor can discover any details that might motivate the seller to move forward despite the loss of financial gain they originally anticipated. Its always wise to negotiate. It may be possible for a buyer to get an extended closing date in-line with their needs, or a buyer could make a lower offer with a quick close. Another option would be to make a low offer, but take the property as-is, meaning the seller would not have to make repairs that could take time and cost money, especially given many states stay-at-home orders for nonessential employees.
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