So last week I did a post about updating a client’s house with a new color and coat of exterior paint. You might remember it looked like this:

I went over for a color consultation and brought three paint decks with me – one from Sherwin Williams and two from Benjamin Moore {more than enough from which to make a choice.}

The first thing I did was to analyze the color of the stone on the lower half of the house. We can all see the warm caramel color that’s present on some of the stones but I was surprised to see there is a purple undertone to many of the stones. The other feature that I looked at was the grout. Many times when selecting a new color for a house, I will use the color of the grout as a unifying color.

This gave me two options to present the clients. The first one was the warm caramel color option. Shelburne Buff (HC-28 from Benjamin Moore) was a great paint color that complimented the warm tones from many of the stones. I put together a quick color rendering of what the house would look like if the white was changed to Shelburne Buff.

I suggested that they remove the metal awnings that were over the two small windows on the right and add black shutters. Even in this color rendering you can see how the paint color acts as an instant facelift taking about 30 years off the appearance of the house.

The other option I suggested was to use a color that closely matched the grout. This is always a great options because you know it will look good if the existing grout looks nice.

That color ended up being Gray Area 7052. This color is a warm brown gray that will add a very sophisticated look and feel to the exterior of the house.

The photo to the left shows what the house would look like using Gray Area. 

Here’s a little designer trick you might not know – both color options I gave my clients are interior colors. That’s right, your local paint professional can mix any interior color with an exterior base to give you a truly custom painted house.

So I’m curious, which option do you like? Which color would you select?

In the past few weeks I have had phone calls from happy home owners telling me that the homes I helped them update and staged have sold to the very first people who walked into the house!

What a way to make my day!

If you are selling your house this spring, you can get the same great results if you properly prepare your home BEFORE you put it up for sale. I think that’s been the key to our success – these home owners have done the work before putting the house on the market.

When I give my home staging workshops, I tell everyone that our homes can be like our children – we can be a bit blind to their flaws and shortcomings. It is very easy to sit in front of the TV while Lisa & Clive are working on a house that you can’t believe the owners thought could sell without making improvements.

The difference, however, is that we have no emotional connection to that house so we can see its flaws and short comings. That’s not exactly how it works with our own homes. In fact, just this week I was at a house helping the home owners figure out why it hadn’t sold in the 11 months it’s been up for sale. Yes, you read correctly, 11 months! The home owner thought she might need some help with paint color and furniture arranging. She knew the house lacked the “WOW” factor. What she did not realize is that the story the house was telling was that it is very expensive when it comes to upkeep and utilities. I pointed out a number a things that, in and of themselves would be no big deal but, when taken together, were working against the home owners.

I won’t even mention the bedrooms of her teenage girls.

It is easy for us to become blind to our own dirt and clutter. We are busy with life . . . but if you want to sell your house, you need to make sure it’s ready for resale. Do the work: Pack the boxes, clear the clutter, tone down the crazy paint colors, replace dated light fixtures, update window treatments and CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN – inside and out. Do these things and your house will sell quickly and for top dollar!

Want more staging ideas? Check out my staging tips in this article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.

Happy Monday! Hope you had a great weekend.  It’s almost April but can you believe we have snow on the ground?? It started snowing last night. The good news is that it’s supposed to be near 60 tomorrow so the snow should disappear for good (we hope!)

I wanted to share some before and after photos of a house I’ve recently finished staging. The  house has been on the market for nearly TWO YEARS! As you can imagine, the home owners are very frustrated. I was called in by their new realtor to see if I could help. The house is on the market for $169,900 and is a mile or so from Lake Erie.

We had an extremely tight budget but the home owners realized changes needed to be made. The house could not continue to stay in its current condition but yeild a  different result. So, creativity and some elbow grease was needed!

This first before photo (above) was taken at the front door.  The dark brick of the fireplace acted like a black hole. The striped valance over the sliding glass door was very nice but the burgundy color scheme created a dated feel with the blue throughout the rest of the house. The huge brass dining room ceiling fan was one of FOUR between the entry/living room/kitchen/dining room. Here are a few more “before” photos:

Because they thought the house would sell quickly,  the owners got rid of all the furniture they wouldn’t be taking with them. That meant we didn’t have much furniture to work with (usually people have too much stuff!)

In these photos you can see we are dealing with all white walls (the owners removed wall paper [a very good thing] but then “neutralized” by painting everything white [NOT a good thing]).  They were not going to paint them again, so we had to work with the white.

STAGING TIP:  WHITE walls DO NOT add value to a home in most cases. They are NOT warm and welcoming. If your realtor tells you to “neutralize” he/she is NOT saying to paint your walls white. You should select warm, neutral colors that cozy up a space! A professional home stager can help you select colors that will ADD VALUE to your home. I create a comprehensive design plan to update rooms for all my clients.  

You can also see we are working with dated window treatments. The blue/hunter green/burgundy color scheme was dated – very 1978. We have lots of oak pieces (I have never seen so much oak as in NE Ohio! I think there was a major sale on it during the 15 years I was out of state!)

Although we did not have a large budget to work with, my sellers were willing and able to do the work. He’s a very handy guy and she’s the little engine that could. They are in their 60s and want to get the house sold so they can retire to Florida.

We had one week to turn things around. I created a design plan for the home owners to implement, I went shopping for them and brought in accessories from my staging inventory. I even picked up a small recliner FOR FREE on Freecycle.com from someone selling their house! Here’s what we did:

I selected paint for the fireplace and had them paint the brick. At first she balked but I told her it was non-negotiable – it HAD to be done.  In this after photo, just look at what a HUGE difference painting the brick fireplace has made! I changed out the dining room ceiling fan for an oil rubbed bronze fixture (we also replaced the entry ceiling fan with a coordinating flush mount fixture.) I had them remove the vertical blinds from the slider and we updated all the window treatments. I found beautiful striped valances in a white, cream, brown and blue at Lowes. I used these in the dining room and kitchen. You can see in the after photos how the valances help to update and lighten up the rooms.

I found a canvas blue, cream, white drape at Wal-Mart and coordinating valances at Garbiel Brothers for just $3.00 each! By using these colors in all our public spaces, I was able to create  visual connection and “flow” to the rooms. The drapes also helped to soften the white walls and added a bit of drama to the room. All the colors reinforced our seaside cottage theme.

I also repositioned the furniture. Some people may think that stagers are just glorifed “furniture movers” but they are sadly mistaken. The power of placement is critical in every room in a house. When you are staging a house, you are selling square footage. Furniture needs to be placed in a way that showcases square footage.

Because I had to work with the existing blue carpet and blue sectional, I selected a color scheme that would create a “seaside cottage” feel to the home which capitalized on their close proximity to Lake Erie. I used striped tab-top drapes in the living room.  I pulled living room furniture away from the walls – the gentle angles invite people into the space. Artwork and accessories that reflect our seaside feel were placed in the spaces.

When we were done, the home owners were amazed at their redesigned and staged rooms.  They told me they wished they would have met me two years earlier because they’re confident we would have better directed their efforts and the money they spent updating and that they’d be happily living in Florida already.

I wish staging in the real world was like it is on TV – do you know how much I could have done with a $2,000 budget and free carpentry labor??? But, this is real life and while there is much more we could do to the house, our budget contraints have limited us to focusing on the most important rooms that are critical to obtaining a sale. Our hope is that the changes will be enough to sell the house in the upcoming weeks as the warmer weather appears and selling season in NE Ohio starts in earnest!

Where can we find beauty in our lives? This is the weekly question the Inspired Room asks.  It was easy for me to find beauty in my week because I was on vacation!

This week I have been enjoying the warmth and the sun of Florida.  It was a girls trip - my cousin, my sister and her two girls (ages four and nine) and me. We took the girls to the Magic Kingdom for what turned out to be quite a magical day.  It was easy to see the beauty – in them, the day and in the memories we were making.

It was sooooo wonderful to get away from the cold of the North Coast. We enjoyed warm sunny days in the 70s and it was terrific to see, feel and smell the change of season. That was another opportunity for finding beauty. The wonderful scent of spring, warm sunshine, flowers.  It . . . was . . . amazing.

The scents reminded me the importance of the sense of smell when it comes to our homes.  Scent is an important, but often overlooked, element of design. Our homes should smell as good as they look.  In my own home, my favorite scent is citrus. I’m not sure why but it always reminds me of warm weather and I love the clean aroma. 

One way I keep the house smelling fresh is by using Italian Citrus Vacuum Beads from The Good Home Company. I pop about 25 in my vaccum bag and they lightly scent the air as I vacuum.  It makes the work much more enjoyable.

These beads can also help you sell your home. There’s an addage in the staging business that goes,  “If you can smell it, you can’t sell it.”  The smell we refer to are odors like tobacco, mold & mildew, the fish you had last night, pets, stinky diapers, in-home hot tubs, etc.

You need to fight these odors on a number of different levels. One weapon in your aresenal can be these fragrant little beads.  They last until your bag is full and needs to be emptied (about 8 uses). There are 12-14 uses in each bottle which runs about $15.00.

So whether you are designing your house to dwell or sell, as we make the transition from winter to spring, infuse a little fresh scent into your decor!

I’ve been invited to be a contributor on the Society of Decorating Professionals blog! Check out my latest post all about staging on The Decorating Voice.

I was recently talking to our painter and she told us we were not storing our paint correctly. She said it should be stored someplace where you have a relatively steady, moderate temperature.  Our paint is in the garage on the shelves the previous owners set it up.

Because our garage isn’t insulated, it gets extremely hot and cold. She said the changes in temperature will breakdown the latex in the paint and ruin it.

Instead of storing paint in the garage, she suggests  storing it in an area like our basement where the temperature stays relatively steady and moderate.

She loved that  my husband put labels on each can which tells us in which room or area of the hose we used it.  This will make it easy for touch ups when needed.

So, take a tip from a pro and store your paint in the right conditions to keep it in perfect paint condition!

Chunky black candlesticks are “must haves” to make a house a home.  Regardless of your personal style, these accessories are a classic, timeless addition to any room in any season.  One of my designer tricks is to always use black in a room. Even if I’m doing an all white design, I’ll have black somewhere in the room to “anchor” it – to visually ground the space. These candlesticks are a terrific way to accomplish this.

Whether they have a polish and shine like these above from Frontgate (BTW, these are ON SALE for just $19.00 for the pair – regularly $69.00!) or are wooden like this pair below, chunky pillar candle sticks  are a MUST on the 100 top accessories to help transform a house into a home.

Chunky black candlesticks are at the top of my list because they’re just so darn versatile!  Of course, you can put pillar candles on them but get creative. In the fall I typically place medium-sized pumpkins atop my candlesticks. During the Christmas season, secure super large bulbs to them using museum putty.  And candles are not just for dining room tables anymore! These look fabulous in book cases, on fireplace mantels, side tables, kitchens, bathrooms, etc.  I like to buy one slightly shorter and one a bit taller which gives you immediate “movement” and dynamic in your design.

Placing your two candlesticks next to each other and then nestling in one other item with them helps to create a wonderful little “vignette” or grouping that helps draw the eye to an area.  Try placing a photo of you and your man with these or a simple vase of flowers!

What’s on YOUR list of must haves for making a house into a home? I want to know.

When you have a few minutes, pop online to read my staging tips in an article featured in today’s Inside & Out section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer! 10 Staging Tips to Sell Your Home!