
If you love decorating your home, you love the thrill of knowing that you’re going to rework an entire house or room. But designing your space can be a scary process, and if you’re not an expert designer, you could make some major decorating mistakes. Fear not — we’re here to share five secrets for creating the perfect living space just as a designer would. After reading these expert tips and browsing Pinterest, you’ll feel like you can tackle any room head-on. Read on for the five must-know tips to revamp your space just like a designer.
Oversized Comfy Chair: Incorporating key statement pieces will vary by each person’s taste. This can be a favorite oversized chair like shown above or even an eclectic coffee table you picked up at your favorite thrift store. The right furniture pieces are more important than having an abundance of furniture. (via Something Navy)
Large Coffee Table: The statement piece above is a pure inspiration — it also makes us want to go out and find our own huge wooden coffee table. Be on the lookout for key statement pieces during your travels and at your local flea markets. (via Ideal Interiors)
Statement Couch: You can never go wrong with a great couch as your key statement piece. After all, you and your family spend most of your time in this room. It’s also the placement piece that dictates how all of your other furniture will be styled. (via Best Friends for Frosting)
2. Your Organization Should Be Beautiful + Functional
Organized Bookshelf: Make sure you rid your home of all its clutter. If you don’t love it, donate or toss it. This doesn’t mean your shelves can’t have substance. This inspo above shows us just what it means to use the most of your shelf space. (via Bliss at Home)
Styling Your Coffee Table: Another way to keep your home organized is by displaying it for the world to see. There’s no reason your books have to collect dust in a closet — put them on display on your beautiful coffee table. (via Lemon Stripes)
DIY Printable Labels: This inspiration gives us the warm fuzzies. The best and most popular way to keep your home organized is by using labels to structure everything. Labels aren’t just for the pantry. They’d also be perfect for giving order to your garage and even your bathroom. (via The Creativity Exchange)
3. Use An Updated Color Palette
Colorful Artwork: Use updated color palettes with your home accents and furniture pieces. An excellent way to do this is by adding artwork to your walls and updating your throw blankets. (via Cuckoo 4 Design)
Mixed Throw Pillows: Let’s not forget the pop of color that throw pillows can give a room. This inspiration shows us that you don’t have to choose traditional colors, patterns or textures to have a chic and modern home. (via Jacquelyn Clark)
4. Bring The Outside Indoors
Serving Up Greens: Bring the outside in by adding plants around your home. Use fresh herbs in the kitchen, add a potted plant to finish your living room and put succulents on an outdoor patio table. (via Glitter Guide)
Hanging Planters: Leafy greens will add so much life to your bedroom. Plants are great because they bring a fresh *element* and fuel your space with extra oxygen. (via Jenna Peffley / My Domaine)
5. Add Your Own Personalized Touch
Personalized Favorites: Make sure your home is uniquely curated for you and not just something you saw styled on Pinterest (or even in this post). You want your decor to be a personalized taste of your decor preference. So put your favorite books on display, buy that Kate Spade box you’ve been eyeing and try your hand with fun new DIYs. (via Lemon Stripes)
Mood Board: A fun way to add a personalized touch to your home is by putting a mood board on the wall and displaying it where everyone can see. Pin up your favorite inspirations, quotes and even fun reminders. After all, its purpose is to show off your mood and personality. (via Best Friends for Frosting)
What are your secrets for decorating your space like a designer? Follow us on Pinterest for even more decor inspo like this.
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures