The average American household now has 2.5 TV sets, even when the number of people in that home is only two. Not only is there a TV set in the main living area, but many families have TVs in children’s bedrooms and even kitchens and bathrooms. Television sets can now be mounted on walls, keeping them off furniture, but that leaves households with a new dilemma: how to keep power cables from showing.

Fortunately, there are several options for concealing your cables from view. They each come with their own challenges, with some less expensive than others. Here are three of the most popular options, from most expensive to least.

Move the Power Box

If your cable TV hasn’t yet been installed, the installer should be able to place the cable outlet in the area where you’ll be mounting the TV. If a cable outlet is already in place, consider contacting the cable company to handle it for you. For the power outlet, you’ll likely need to hire an electrician to move the power outlet to its new location, unless you’re comfortable taking on the project yourself. Option 1 is the most expensive option if you choose to bring in a professional to help.

For do-it-yourselfers, read the steps carefully before beginning your power outlet move to avoid injury. You’ll need to turn off the circuit breaker to that outlet before you begin working and decide where you want the outlet to be located before starting your work. You can also move the cable outlet yourself or run a new one if a line isn’t already in place in that room.

Hide Inside the Wall

Instead of moving your outlets, you could run the cables through the wall. This involves cutting a hole in the drywall behind the TV and feeding the cables through, then dropping them toward the floor. If you’re installing the TV on an interior wall without insulation, you’ll be able to easily drop it. Your drop can also be made easier by using fish tape, as demonstrated here.

You’ll need to cut a hole closer to the floor to run the cable through to get power. Unless you’re sure you can make this setup attractive, you may want to have a plan in place to cover up the outlet, such as placing a cabinet or entertainment center below.

Use a Cord Keeper

One of the easiest ways to conceal your cords is to use a cord keeper. Available for less than $20, cord keepers are designed to blend with your wall. While the keeper itself protrudes from the wall, it is far less unsightly than dark cords running from your TV to the power outlet.

If you plan to use a cord keeper, consider hanging your TV on a corner. The protrusion looks less obvious when it runs along a corner, since that area of the room is already recessed anyway. Cord keepers are generally white, so plan to paint them to match the color of your walls.

If you’re one of the many households that choose to hang your TVs, cord management is a must. With a little planning and a do-it-yourself attitude, you can hide your cords without spending a fortune.

Are you wondering what you need to do to give your house the best chance possible of selling quickly? While there are many things you can do to improve the look of your home, you likely don’t want to spend a fortune doing so. Here are some ways you can spruce up your home without emptying your bank account.

Use Some Elbow Grease

It can be tempting to replace everything from windows to shower curtain rods when you’re preparing to sell. However, often a bucket of soapy water and a sponge can make those items brand new. Spend time scrubbing every surface of your house to distinguish what needs to be replaced from those things that are simply dirty. Spend a weekend thoroughly cleaning your appliances, baseboards, and every surface in every room well in advance of putting it on the market.

Invest in a Storage Unit

Professional home stagers will generally first recommend homeowners eliminate clutter. This usually involves removing as many items as possible from each room to provide a clean appearance. If you can’t store items with a relative or friend until your move, shop around for an affordable storage unit large enough to hold your items and start filling it up with items from your home. Look at each room of your house and remove excess furniture, as well as personal items like family pictures and knickknacks. Professional stagers recommend you decrease the possessions in your home by at least 50 percent to be most effective.

Focus on First Impressions

Curb appeal is essential to selling your home. As a buyer browses through photos on real estate listing sites, that first photo determines whether or not he’ll click through to see more. Your real estate agent will probably use the photo of the front of your home as that primary photo, which means it needs to be as compelling as possible. Change out the landscaping at the front of your house to make it pop. You should also paint shutters, trim, and your front door if they need it. Once your house is on the market, be sure you keep your yard maintained on a weekly basis, especially if you’re selling during the time of year when grass grows fairly quickly.

Study the Experts

Professional stagers have a variety of tools they use to spice up a home, but you don’t have to bring in an expert to utilize their expertise. Tricks like moving furniture away from rugs, adding lighting, and grouping objects in odd numbers can make a big difference in the way a room looks. Try to see your home objectively and move items from one room to the next until you find the perfect look for each room of your home.

If you’re thinking about selling your home, staging can make a big difference in how quickly it sells. Study other homes on the market and look around your own house to find ways you can spruce up each room to help your house find a new family.

Imagine a world without mirrors. You would have no way to check your appearance before leaving the house every day. You’d be forced to conduct routine grooming activities without the benefit of a clear reflection. But most importantly, your home would look very different than it does today—especially the bathroom. Through strategic placement, you can use mirrors to open up your rooms and create a more contemporary look. Here are a few ways you can use mirrors throughout your house.

Increase Light

More than ever, homes are being built to enhance lighting in as many rooms as possible. Open floor plans and large windows bring sunlight into major living areas, making spaces feel open and bright. Unfortunately, not all homeowners can afford to buy a new house, finding themselves forced to deal with a home with few windows and walled-off rooms. Even in an open-plan home, there can be dark spots, including in hallways, foyers, and small bedrooms.

With the right placement, mirrors can reflect natural sunlight, making a dark space look much brighter. Simply find a window and place the mirror directly across from it. If the window is on the wrong wall, either a floor mirror or a movable wall mirror can be positioned to reflect the sunlight at an angle. If you’re dealing with a windowless room, place the mirror across from a light-painted wall or lamp to mimic the effect.

Grow a Room

You may not realize it, but mirrors naturally increase the size of a room, creating an optical illusion of extra square footage. Mirrors have become especially popular in the kitchen in recent years, serving as a great way to improve the appearance of backsplashes and cooking areas.

A large mirror is best for adding space to a room, but those can be extremely expensive. You can instead group smaller mirrors together on one wall in a gallery-like fashion. If you’re on a budget, you may find it easier to find small, matching mirrors at a discount at thrift stores and consignment shops.

Gain Visibility

Having your back to the room behind you can be disconcerting. Feng Shui experts find that many people have difficulty concentrating if the door is behind them. However, while you may be able to set up a desk in an office to face the door, there are instances where facing the wall is the only option. A desk may have been built into a wall or a corner may be the only option for office setup. In the kitchen, you probably find that you’re often facing a wall as you cook and wash dishes.

When a room requires a person face the wall, Feng Shui experts recommend placing a mirror that provides visibility at al times. The mirror will help overcome the distraction that comes from not being able to see behind you.

Mirrors are a great addition to every room of the house. Whether you’re dealing with low lighting, small rooms, or unfortunate seating positioning, a mirror can make a big difference in resolving any issues you have.

Nothing can compare to the gratification that comes from successfully completing a home remodeling project yourself. Whether you’re retiling your bathroom or finishing a basement, there are many things you can accomplish yourself with hard work and determination.

However, there are a few things you should avoid trying to do yourself, whether for your own safety, your own sanity, or a combination of both. Here are some instances where you should seriously consider bringing in a professional before tackling a job yourself.

Electrical Wiring

Of all of the home remodeling projects you can turn over to a professional, electrical work is the most important. Attempting to do this work yourself can lead to serious injury and even death, so it’s extremely important to bring in a professional. A skilled electrician will also ensure the job is done correctly, which will reduce the risk of a fire and keep your utility bills low.

Plumbing

When your bathroom or kitchen remodel involves plumbing work, you’ll likely regret it if you try to do it yourself. You may think you can simply follow along with a do-it-yourself video or website article, but in truth, professionals have trained for years to do this kind of work. If your pipes aren’t fitted correctly, you could end up with a slow leak, causing your pipes to freeze in the winter and eventually break. When it’s time to reroute the plumbing during your remodeling project, call in a professional and save yourself future headaches.

Home Additions

If you’re adding a room onto your house, you could get yourself in hot water if you don’t work with a professional contractor. Contractors can handle securing the permits you’ll need to get the work completed and they’ll ensure the work follows local codes. This is important if you ever plan to sell the house, since potential homebuyers will want to see evidence that the work was done properly. It will also keep you in good standing with your homeowners association, if you have one, since they’ll know the work is being done correctly. Most importantly, you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing the construction will hold up over many years of use.

Tree Removal

Homeowners usually remove trees for a couple of reasons. The primary motive for removing a tree is that it has become damaged during a storm. However, trees can also be removed as part of a home remodeling project, especially when a deck or extra room is being added. It can be tempting to get out the chainsaw and cut the tree down yourself. However, this can be dangerous. Professional tree trimmers wear protective gear and use the right equipment to safely take a tree down. When you hire a professional tree-trimming service, you’ll stay safe and you’ll know the job will be done correctly.

The Bottom Line

While there are many home remodeling projects you can handle yourself, there are some jobs you should leave to the professionals. Make sure you thoroughly research local providers before choosing one and get more than one bid to make sure you’re getting the best deal possible.

Buying a house is a huge financial step, and is one you need to take with careful consideration. It’s the quintessential American dream, but can quickly turn into a nightmare if you don’t do your due diligence. Typically, it’s new home buyers that tend to experience the worst nightmares because they simply overlook the fine print.

Understanding the mistakes that can be made during the buying process can help you build financial security without getting sunk into a money pit.

Here are 5 common mistakes new home buyers make that you should be aware of and avoid.

1. Skipping the Mortgage Pre-Approval

One of the first mistakes newbie home buyers do is fail to get pre-approved for a mortgage. First of all, getting pre-approved will give you a ballpark figure of what you can comfortably afford. There’s no sense in pounding the pavement in search of your dream home if you can’t afford the one you decide to buy. You’d be unpleasantly surprised to put an offer in on a house, only to be turned down by the bank because your finances won’t cover the costs of the home.

Not only that, but consider the seller’s point of view in the whole scenario. Let’s say the seller’s got a few bids on the property, and is in a position to sift through and compare them all. How will your offer stack up? If you tell the seller that you’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage, you might be a safer bet. If you don’t, you might be a risky bidder. Some sellers might even refuse to consider your offer at all unless you’ve got a pre-approval document from your lender. Even if the seller picks your offer, you might not be able to get as much financing as you would have hoped when you actually go through the loan application process.

At the end of the day, a pre-approval will paint you in a better picture to a seller. During this process, your lender will verify your finances and credit to see how much the bank is willing to loan you.

2. Foregoing the Home Inspection

When you’re putting up a lot of money to buy a house, you can’t just rely 100% on what the sellers and their realtor tell you about the home. Sure, they’re liable for providing you with a disclosure of everything they know that might be wrong, but even the sellers themselves might be in the dark about problems that are lurking behind the walls.

For this reason, you absolutely need to get the home inspected before you close the deal. If you skip this important step, you leave yourself vulnerable to being stuck with a home with foundation problems, mold, plumbing issues, asbestos, and hoards of other potential issues. As much as you might be attracted to the home, it could turn into a liability when everything is said and done.

Make sure that your offer is conditional upon a home inspection being conducted and passed. Make sure that you agree on what will be checked, which can (and should) include the foundation and structure, plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning, and mold or pest infestation.

You’d be wise to make sure the inspector is licensed and reputable. While the inspector might not necessarily be able to detect every major problem with the home, it’s definitely your first line of defense against getting stuck with a home that will cost you tons of money in repairs.

3. Getting Emotionally Attached to a House

Being in love can be an amazing thing, but it can also be a bad one, especially when your emotions are vested in the wrong thing. If you happen to stumble upon your dream house, you need to use extra caution.

First of all, if you happen to set your eyes on a home that other buyers have on their radar, you may be competing with them. If you find yourself in the middle of a bidding war, you could wind up losing out on the home altogether, or you could be snuffed out by someone else who has more money and all the right criteria that the seller expecting. You’ll be left heartbroken when you don’t walk away with the keys.

On the other hand, you just might be the one to sign on that dotted line of a purchase agreement. There are many times when the house you think is the one for you is actually one you should have walked away from. No matter how many times friends or family warned you about the place, you still might end up going ahead and sinking your teeth into it.

Think about how you’ll feel about the house after the ‘honeymoon’ period has come and gone. You might decide to overlook a property’s quirks now, but there’s a good chance you could suffer buyer’s remorse after the deal is sealed and you’re stuck with a super-small kitchen or no backyard. 

When you’re in the market to buy a house, make sure you do your best to keep a cool head during the entire process so you do the thinking and decision-making with your logic instead of your emotions.

4. Not Thinking About Resale Value

You’re in the market to buy a house, not sell, so why would you even think about selling in the future? Simple. You just never know what the future holds, and don’t want to feel like you’re stuck in your home just because you won’t recoup much money after you sell.

You might get a job transfer, marry someone from the opposite end of the country, or simply can’t afford to keep up with your current mortgage payments. Whatever the case may be, you want to be able to ensure that your house can sell for a decent amount that you can then put towards another home.

This isn’t just a place where you live – it’s an investment. You’d be mistaken not to consider the resale value of the property. Consider the preferences of other home buyers. Maybe this means buying a home that has 3 bedrooms, a decent backyard, or a 2-car garage. It also helps to know if there are loud train tracks close by, or if developers plan on improving the neighborhood in the near future, which could boost the property’s value soon after purchasing.

5. Not Using a Real Estate Agent

If you’re serious about buying a home, do yourself a favor and hire an experienced real estate agent. These experts can give you invaluable advice about buying property, and can keep you from making a huge mistake. They can help steer you in the right direction about where to find the right property, and will use their sharp negotiating skills to help get you the best price possible and ensure you never overpay.

Realtors will help you navigate the complicated waters of purchase agreements, and will make sure you’re fully protected before you sign on the dotted line. All the services they provide come without the price – it’s generally the seller that flips the bill for both the seller and buyer agent.

A lot of first-time home buyers think they’re making all the right moves, but they still aren’t familiar with what can be a complex home buying process. Rather than taking a chance, use your better judgement and get acquainted with a real estate agent who can help you migrate through the buying process and avoid some seriously costly mistakes.