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Home by Design Tips

Feb. 13, 2021

Valentine's Day Celebrations from Home!

Snuggle Up to Your Valentine at Home This Year

With Covid-19 and winter storms raging throughout the country, you might consider a stay-at-home date night this Valentine’s Day. After all, “home is where the heart is,” right? Let me help you with these ten date night ideas for celebrating Valentine’s night, or any night, in the comfort of your own home.

1. Don’t skip the sitter. If you have kids, go ahead and hire a sitter, even if you’re aren’t actually leaving home. Set the kids and sitter up in one room with some planned activities and some fun food so that you and your spouse can enjoy alone time in another room. Of course, if your date night plans involve some intimacy, you may want to arrange for the kids to go to your sitter’s house instead!

2. Set the scene. It might just be your living room, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it special. Dim the lights and add a few candles or string lights for ambiance. Move the coffee table and set up a bistro table and chairs for an intimate dinner. After dinner, build a pillow palette in front of the fireplace. Don’t have a fireplace? Use some candles or put Netflix’s “A Home Fireplace” on the TV.

3. Make the kitchen off-limits. No cooking, no cleaning (unless that’s what lights your fire!) Order a three-course meal from your favorite restaurant and make sure you have a nice wine or a bottle of champagne on hand.

4. Unplug from your devices. Put your phones and other devices away in another room for the evening. Dedicate your date night to talking with your significant other. If your relationship seems all talked-out, try a conversation-prompting game like Date Deck.

5. How about a little role play? It worked wonders for Claire and Phil Dunphy! Role play can spark intimacy, but it can also be useful for sparking laughter. It is a good way to find new things to talk about, and perhaps learn something new about your partner.

6. Enjoy spa night. How about hiring a masseuse team to come to your house for a couple’s massage? If that isn’t feasible, take turns giving each other a massage, soak in a bubble bath together, or give each other a pedicure.

7. Start a family journal. Take the evening to write down the story of how you met and fell in love. Later, continue adding important family milestones to the journal. It may turn into a great family tradition as your children grow and add their own stories.

8. Plan a future trip. You can plan for a future family vacation, a couple’s getaway, or even an “in our wildest dreams” fantasy trip. Chart your route, research fun places to see and great places to stay.

9. Play games. Not head games– actual games. Relationship counselors often recommend playful activities as a way for couples to become closer, so, as long as one of you isn’t too competitive, enjoy playing a board game, cards, or a video game with your spouse.

10. Start a date night subscription. Keep the dates coming with a monthly date night subscription box. You can choose a subscription that appeals to you and your partner: a romantic date night from a site such as the DateBox Club, something crafty like the Adults & Crafts Crate, make something delicious with EatTiamo, or create an at-home escape club with Finders Seekers. Check out Cratejoy to find the right subscription box for you and your valentine.

Posted in Around The House
Feb. 10, 2021

8 Ways to Make Buyers Fall in Love With Your Home

We all want people to love our home as much as we do, but especially when you are trying to sell it! While it’s impossible to please every buyers’ taste, there are several easy things you can do to make your home more appealing without spending a lot of money. Try some of these tricks and see if your showings cause buyers to swoon.

1. Check your curb appeal. Take an honest look from the curbside. What are buyers seeing first? If your home needs to be painted or pressure washed, consider making that investment. Clean up landscaping by trimming trees and bushes, planting some fresh annuals and laying new mulch. Clean windows, repair sagging soffit, or porch railings, and have any trip hazards on your driveway or front walk repaired. Finally, consider some attractive, yet subtle decorations for your front porch.

2. Create an inviting entryway. When buyers step inside your front door, you want them to feel welcomed. If you have a foyer or front hall, it is easier to make an attractive entryway, but even if your front door opens right into your living room, you can create the feel of an entryway with a couple of simple tricks. Clear the area of clutter things that tend to pile up at the front door, like backpacks, dog leashes, or shoes. Place a small table or bench beside the door with plants, candles, or other simple décor. A small area rug can help define the space as the entryway.

3. Let the light shine in. Take advantage of natural light as much as you can. Trimming any bushes or trees outside your windows can help immensely. Wash your windows inside and out and replace or remove any worn screens. Make sure to open blinds or curtains before all showings.

4. Add some fresh color. Painting is an easy and inexpensive way to make an older home look new and is especially important if your current wall color is dark or outdated. Choose a light neutral color like a warm grey or light beige and use the same color throughout the house. If your home tends to be dark, this will help brighten it up.

5. Let storage spaces speak for themselves. Many sellers make the mistake of waiting until they have a contract to start cleaning out closets. Cleaning out clutter is part of getting ready to show, not just getting ready to move. You want buyers to perceive that there is ample storage in the home, and this doesn’t work if every drawer, cabinet, and closet is stuffed to the gills.

6. Eliminate distractions. Streamline your decorating so your buyers see the house and not your collection of Mexican roosters. Go ahead and pack up collectibles and family photos and keep decorative touches to the minimum. Too many plants, magazines, or toys distract the buyers from seeing the home as their own.

7. Entice them with outdoor space. The back yard shouldn’t be an empty space of infinite possibility, nor should it be a storage area for neglected toys. Get rid of any eyesores you’ve been avoiding dealing with, spruce up your landscaping, repair irrigation or pool issues, and create an entertaining space with a patio set, or a backyard oasis with some potted plants and a hammock.

8. Make it easy for them. Taking care of minor repairs is another step you can take to help buyers see your home as an easy and comfortable move. You want them to be mentally arranging their furniture as they walk through, not making a list of nicked woodwork, torn window screens, and leaky faucets. The less work involved, the easier it is to fall in love.

Posted in Guide: How to Sell
Nov. 11, 2020

Ranch Reimagined

Ranch Reimagined

 

 

Posted in Around The House
Oct. 14, 2020

9 Ways to Celebrate Halloween During COVID

9 Ways to Celebrate Halloween Amid COVID

  • Scavenger Hunt: If you decide not to take your kids out trick or treating this year, plan a scavenger hunt for them with treats hidden around your home. {Click here to download a scavenger hunt worksheet.) 
  • Trunk or Treat: Organize a trunk or treat with your neighborhood. Put your treats in the trunk of your car and let the neighborhood kids pass by, keeping their distance from you, and take a treat from the trunk.
  • Costume Parade: Some neighborhoods are planning to have the children parade in front of homes, 6 feet from one another, in a costume parade. Neighbors could combine their treats and let the kids pick them up at the end of the parade.
  • Reverse Trick or Treat: In this idea, the kids stay in their own yards in costume, and a parent from each home drives by and throws candy from the car.
  • Glow-in-the-dark Eggs: Order glow-in-the-dark eggs from Amazon, fill them with candy, and scatter them in your yard. Kids can pick up an egg without coming too close to anyone.
  • Pick a Cup or Bag: Similarly, put your candy or treats in small cups or paper bags and set them out on your porch or a table in your driveway. You can sit nearby and let the kids take their treat as they pass by.
  • Halloween Piñata: Here’s another idea if your family decides to forgo trick or treating this year. Let your kids take turns whacking a pumpkin piñata until the treats spill out!
  • Ring and Run Treats: This fun family activity is a new take on the old doorbell dash prank. Sneak to your kids friends’ homes and leave a treat on their porch, then ring the doorbell and run! Treats can be Halloween cookies you all bake together.
  • Virtual Costume Party: Let’s face it, what the kids enjoy most is choosing a costume, dressing up, and showing it off to their friends. They can enjoy each-others’ costumes virtually with a Zoom or Facetime party.
Posted in Around The House
Oct. 9, 2020

5 Reasons to List During the Fall

5 Reasons Why Fall is a Good Time to List Your Home

  • There is Less Competition. Typically spring and summer are high season for listing family homes, as people want to move over the summer before the new school year starts, so listings usually decrease in the fall, which means less competition and higher sales prices.
  • Great Weather for Buyers. When the heat of the summer is gone and cool crisp days return, people just want to be out and about more! That may be especially true this year, as we have all spent more time at home during COVID. With precautions put into place, buyers can safely visit your home this fall.
  • Fall Enhances Curb Appeal. Spend the summer taking care of any external repairs that need finishing, then you can celebrate fall by planting some fresh flowers, staging you or front porch with potted mums, pumpkins, and a fall wreath, and carry the theme inside with fall scented candles.
  • Buyers are Serious. Fall and winter buyers tend to be more serious. They may need to move by the end of the year, or they want to get settled before the holiday season. The demographics of buyers may shift towards younger professionals, first-time home buyers, empty nesters, and retired people, who have more flexibility over when they move than people with schoolchildren and are therefore more likely to be serious when they do go looking.
  • Increased Corporate Relocations. Similarly, companies that relocate employees regularly sometimes take advantage of the fall market, knowing they can get better deals on moving expenses. Companies also make tend to make personnel changes in the fall as that often corresponds with their new fiscal year.
Posted in Guide: How to Sell
Sept. 30, 2020

Fall Decorating on a Budget

There is something about decorating for fall that gives me the warm fuzzies! It may be the promise of cool, crisp evenings with brilliant sunsets, or the fact that fall decorating is all about creating a cozy atmosphere in your home. The fun thing about fall decorating is that it’s easy and inexpensive. Here are a few of my favorite fall decorating ideas that are easy to accomplish on a shoestring budget.

  1. Hit your local nursery, grocery store and fabric store for fall color. Place potted chrysanthemums, pansies, croton, purple fountain grass, or flowering kale on your front porch, in your foyer, or around your fireplace to add color. Tuck some mini pumpkins, Indian corn, or gourds around the base of the plants. Instead of spending money on pots, wrap the plant containers in fall print remnants from the fabric store.
  • Scavenge your yard for fresh ornamental cuttings. Put on your gardening gloves, grab your cutting shears and a basket, and head outside for some free décor. Fall leaves, small branches, ivy, ornamental grasses, flower blooms, pinecones, and seed pods make great accents. Arrange cuttings on your mantel or dining table with LED flameless candles and small gourds, or place branches and blooms in a large mason jar or vintage pitcher.
  • Get creative with pumpkins. There are lots of fun things you can do with a pumpkin besides carving a jack-o-lantern. Try painting some pumpkins in fall colors that coordinate with your home’s decor. Or wrap a few large pumpkins in light strands to light up your front porch. Make pumpkin topiaries by stacking three or four on top of a plantar, largest to smallest, and wrap then in garland or light strands.
  • Go antiquing for cheap accessories. Your local antique market or thrift stores can be a treasure trove for great fall finds. An old wagon, a wooden ladder, woven baskets, ceramic jugs, aluminum tubs, antique picture frames, straw hats, and vintage farm tools all have a rustic fall flavor.
  • More ideas for fabrics. You don’t need a sewing machine to make use of fall fabrics. Many fabric stores stock fall prints or have remnant pieces for quilting. Fold a couple of yards of plaid fleece like a throw blanket and drape it over a chair.  Wrap your throw pillows in a yard of a fall print and secure it with craft ribbon or safety pins. Fold the raw edges under and iron to make a simple table runner. Wind strips of fabric around a grapevine wreath or use them to tie big bows around your pumpkin stems.
Posted in Around The House
July 29, 2020

12 Tips for Decorating a Large Wall

12 Tips for Decorating a Large Wall

Have a large wall space that needs some décor but worried it will cost you hundreds of dollars in art? Not necessarily! Here are some ideas for filling a large wall without emptying your bank account.

  1. Take individual pictures of your family members and have large prints made in black and white. Add to the size of each photo by adding a photo mat, then frame them in inexpensive black frames and hang them in a row across the wall.
  2. Let your kids be the artists. Purchase large canvases and let your children paint their masterpieces. Or take artwork they have already done at school or at home and mat and frame them.
  3. Use floating shelves hung at various heights and topped with photos, vases, ornaments, books, candles, or mementos.
  4. Use plants to fill in empty spaces. You can place potted plants or succulents on floating shelves, use planters or hanging baskets made to attach directly to the wall, or make a DIY vertical garden out of an old wooden pallet.
  5. Use mixed media such as large woven or wooden trays, tapestries, or metal sculptures.
  6. Hang a collection of quirky clocks, different sized mirrors, graphic signs, old album covers, vintage prints, painted empty frames, or crosses.
  7. Stencil your wall with a graphic design, a tree, vines, or a floral pattern, or favorite inspirational quote.
  8. Reduce the wall space and soften the room by framing the wall with false drapery panels hung on either end of a sofa or pair of chairs.
  9. Light it up by attaching LED string lights in a pattern or hanging pretty wall sconces at various heights.
  10. Reduce the wall space by placing a potted tree or folding decorative screen in front of part of the wall.
  11. Search antique malls for vintage architectural pieces that can be hung on the wall, such as old window frames, an antique door, intricate fireplace screen.
  12. Create your own graphic by covering large frames or canvases with patterned fabric remnants and hanging them in a row or collage.
Posted in Around The House
May 22, 2020

CREATE THE OFFICE OF YOUR DREAM

  1. CREATE THE HOME OFFICE OF YOUR DREAMS

  2. Whether you work full-time at home or occasionally need to conduct business in the evenings or on the weekends, a home office a great way to utilize an extra room. A dedicated workspace in your home can be designed to increase productivity and comfort. Here are 5 ideas to get you started. 

    1. Invest in a good office chair. Investing in an ergonomic office chair is essential. You may be spending anywhere from 30 to 50 hours a week sitting in it, so your back will thank you. Purchasing one with multiple adjustments is ideal so it fits you just right.
    2. Switch up your lighting. Fluorescent lighting has been proven to be hard on the eyes. Make the switch to LED or halogen light bulbs in your home office and try to let in as much natural light as possible. Also, consider finding a desk lamp to reduce headaches and eye strain.
    3. Keep essentials in reach and organized. Nothing says productivity like a clean, neat workspace. Select a desk with a lot of storage or install creative shelving to keep items like pens, pencils, extra batteries, calculators, notepads, and more stored within arm’s reach.
    4. Decorate bright. Pick a color you love and use it to spice up the room. Use cheery yellow or red or relaxing tones like green and blue, instead of beiges and browns.
    5. Aim for the view. If possible, place your desk so you are facing a window instead of a blank wall. Natural light can do wonders for staying alert and you can give yourself a short mental break when necessary by looking to the outdoors.
Posted in Around The House
May 13, 2019

A Must-Read Guide On How To Sell your House

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