Homeowners planning on interior painting often struggle over the issue of trim color during the planning process. Often they plan wall colors, on account of what they have seen in a magazine or while visiting a friend’s home. Maybe they have a particular fabric in mind and want to match a color in the fabric for the walls in that room. Anyway, the problem arises with what to do with the trim for that room. Is it possible to use a different trim color than the existing trim being used in other areas of your home?

While there is no absolute rule about trim color, that if broken, would cause you to be arrested by the color scheme patrol, there are some things you should consider.

Home improvement has the exceptional benefit of improving your home’s value. Updating and maintaining your house is also a good way to make it energy efficient and to save money. Not only does home improvement often make financial sense, it can be a great way to pass the time, too. The terrific ideas below can be just the start you need.

If you can, put in actual wood flooring rather than laminate. Laminate looks like real wood but it cannot be refinished. In 10 or so years you or whoever owns the home will be required to get a whole new floor rather than refinishing it.

Many homeowners don’t comprehend this, but there are many rules in place that keep your lender from taking advantage of you, while they are foreclosing on your home. Every day, I hear: My bank just wants to take my home because it’s worth more than the payoff. In some cases, this may be the case, but by law, your mortgage company must sell the home for its fair market value and pay you any proceeds over and above the amount owed. Lenders may try and take advantage of the fact that most borrowers don’t know the laws when it comes to foreclosure, but we’ll help you understand your rights and hopefully get some money back if you’ve lost your home.

The main issue we’ve seen is when lenders accept an offer on the home as quickly as possible, just to pay off the mortgage. After the foreclosure and eviction, mortgage companies seem to forget about following the laws. For example, lets assume your home is worth $300,000, but your total payoff is only $275,000. Your mortgage company has a legal responsibility to sell the home for it’s fair market value, which is $300,000. This would leave $25,000 for you. What usually ends up happening is the bank accepts the first offer they receive of, lets say, $250,000, then they sue the home owner for a $25,000 deficiency judgment.