Author Archives kathyregini

Style is not eternal. I was having a really fun conversation with a fellow designer the other day, and we were deciding which bad home design ideas over the years made our Top Ten Most Ugly list! Interestingly, most came from the 70’s and 80’s. Here is what we came up with:

1. Pastel Colors
2. Upholstery with Large Floral Prints
3. Valences and Balloon Shades
4. Wallpaper Borders
5. Brass anything
6. Paneling
7. Faux Finishes for walls and ceilings
8. Traditional Recliners
9. Matching Oak Bedroom Sets
10. Vertical blinds

I see still see some of these when I walk through a house for a staging consult. Lucky me, I get to tell the homeowner that its “gotta go” if they want to sell the house!

Give your deck a big style update by replacing wooden railing with wrought iron or stainless steel cable.

I’ve been recommending porcelain tile for kitchen & bath remodeling a lot lately. I like the new varieties that really look like stone. The bonus is that porcelain is not porous (won’t stain) and much more durable than natural stone, not to mention less expensive. Now imagine a porcelain surface as big as a slab of granite, only much thinner and lightweight so it can be used vertically as well as horizontally. It’s really beautiful and comes on many varieties that mimic marble, granite and other natural stone. It’s called MAXXtile. For those of you that are local, they have it at Capco Tile & Stone.  Very cool.

Are you not loving your house and having a difficult time deciding whether to move or just do a little remodeling? You might compare the cost of moving to remodeling. Moving is more expensive than you might think. Usually it involves a 6% commission on the sale of your house, plus another 2-5% for closing, movers, and related costs such as staging. If you really like your current neighborhood, and you think 10% of your home’s value would cover the renovations you would want- you might decide to stay. First, it’s important to get a cost estimate from a contractor (then add 10%), and find out if the improvements will add to the home’s value (will you get that money back if you eventually sell). With this approach, you probably won’t run the risk of over improving your property.  You do have the remodeling hassle to deal with, but moving is no picnic either.

If you want to really enjoy your basement, finish it with similar materials, colors, lighting and style as the upstairs. It should feel like a continuation of the home, not the poor, distant cousin. Don’t have it be your catchall space for leftover, mismatched furniture and old, odd pieces.

If you aren’t quite ready to repaint, but maybe some wall areas have a few marks or scuffs, there is one product I would recommend you run out and buy: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. it’s an amazing product! I can’t tell you how many of my staging clients did not need to paint because of it, and were able to save hundreds of dollars. Works like a sponge… the marks just come right off.

With the increasing trend of integrating indoor living space with the great outdoors, a new generation of patio doors has emerged and I think they are amazing! These doors use a track system and open super wide…basically removing your wall to the outside. This is TRUE indoor/outdoor living! 

I like this outdoor room, It’s peaceful, relaxing, private & beautiful. And it’s not big…you could create this in a small area.

Put an unusual twist on a familiar form. Modern art acts as a playful contrast to more serious pieces. It becomes a unique mix of old and new.

Paint color is a low cost, great way of show casing your home, and one of the best returns on investment if you are selling.

Anyone who knows me knows grey is my personal favorite neutral. But it’s not for everyone because it’s a little cool. Over the past few years, a new neutral was born: greige. It’s a mix of grey and beige tones…gorgeous and sophisticated, and seems to magically go with everything. It works with modern, works with traditional. Blending the warmth of beige to the cool of grey creates a calming backdrop for any pop of color, too.

Benjamin Moore has several good grieges:

Edgecomb grey, Bleeker Beige, Senora grey, Clay beige to name a few. What do you think?