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In case you are considering staging your home to help it sell quicker, here a a three before & after shots to show you what a dramatic difference it can make!

My favorite interior design book right now is Remodelista by Julia Carlson

In a nut shell: classic pieces trump trendy and transient design. Well edited spaces, never cluttered. This book is written like a manual, and it’s for all budgets!

You know this mantra. Simply put, it means identical homes can increase or decrease in value due to location. Better to buy the worst home in a good neighborhood than the best house on the block in an iffy neighborhood. Why? Because you can change structures, layouts and finishes of a home, but you can’t (usually!) move the house to a better place.

It cracks me up when I’m watching House Hunters, an HGTV show about people looking for homes to buy. I’m always amazed how quickly a house can be disregarded because of bad paint, wall paper and dated brass light fixtures. That’s all cosmetic and can be fixed so easily. But most people can’t see beyond ugly details. That’s why I stage homes!

If the house is in a good neighborhood and fits your budget, most anything else can be changed. Of course if you need to totally remodel the kitchen and baths, or make structural upgrades, you will need to see if it is still, in fact, in your “budget”. But most anything can be changed with the right amount of money!

When staging a home to sell, I try to float the furniture away from the walls whenever possible, repositioning sofas and chairs into cozy conversational groups. It opens up the room and makes it feel larger.

This time of year we put away the holiday decor and we usually want to shed a few pounds. Many of us also want to get rid of stuff around the house and make a fresh start to go with the new year. Martha Stewart has a great article on how & why to go about it. Read it.

www.marthastewart.com/271892/100–reasons-to-get–rid-of-it‎

Test

1. Eliminate any potential objections that might keep the buyer from making a fair offer. People are always looking for a reason to offer you less money for your home, so fix anything that doesn’t work, paint, and replace anything that is worn out or outdated. If your home is competitively priced and it’s condition exceeds a buyer’s expectations, you’ll get a good offer.
2. Clean the house, top to bottom, and have it professionally staged. Buyer’s want to see an HGTV home, not your junk and clutter everywhere
3. Invite a couple of agents to create a comparative marketing analysis. Don’t just hire whoever sold you your house. See what each person is willing to do to get it sold-which marketing plan will work best for you. They might have differing ideas of how much the house is worth, and may even have a buyer in mind for a quick sale.

I’m so excited…Pantone announced the new color of the year 2014  and it’s a color I just LOVE!

RADIANT ORCHID

One of my mantras is that every room in your home should be used daily. The days of holding your living room hostage for company are over. –Jeffrey Alan Marks, The Meaning of Home

The key to creating a successful white holiday look is to layer shades of white and cream along with a mix of natural textures,  metallic finishes, and patterns. Adding natural elements such as burlap, branches, pinecones, candles, etc gives warmth.