The Trendy Home | Home Interior Design Ideas & Decorating Tips

Staging Your Home to Sale…

In today’s market many home sellers are hiring professional “Stagers“  to assist them in selling their home.   By professionally staging your home you may increase the odds of attracting a qualified buyer.   Here are some tips and tricks that the pros use to sell your home quickly,  making it  look more inviting and the best value all in one.

Remove the Clutter.

Remove the clutter: Making your home look organized and de-cluttered is rule #1.    Having a clean and organized home from top to bottom is the number one golden rule of staging a home.   Your home must look inviting,   cleaner and less cluttered than ever before to meet today’s demands.   To get ready to sell your home one needs to have a yard sale or rent a space to move your “clutter”.  Remove seasonal clothing out of the closets (makes your home look like you have a lot of closet space),  move your Christmas Decorations out of the garage to a rental space. (Makes your garage look larger)

Spring Cleaning In August

Clean your home: Hire a professional to come in a clean your home,  it’s Spring Cleaning in August!   Top to Bottom;  move the furniture, wash the windows,  wash your window treatment, take down the screens and wash them.

Curb Appeal

Crank Up The Curb Appeal: It’s the first thing that prospective buyer sees when they come to look at your home!    Spruce it up!  Good home and yard maintenance is a must if you want someone to even think about purchasing your home.   Paint the front door, place fresh, colorful plants on the porch.   Step back and look at your home from the buyers perspective, not yours!

Walk Through and Inspect Each Room

Do a Walk-Though: Stand back and look at your home!  Stand in the doorway of each room and look at it as if you’d never seen it before.    Does it look too cluttered? Look up,  Look Down.   Does the ceiling need painted?  Does the baseboards need cleaning?  Ceiling fan blades need cleaning?   What can be removed to make the room look bigger?    What can you do to make the room look more inviting?   Is it warm and inviting, or too cold?   How the lighting?  No one likes a dark, drab home.  Open the drapes and let the light come through.

Upgrade your Bedding

Does your hardware need upgraded?  Switch plates need cleaned or replaced?  Wall paper coming loose?  Take it down and paint.   Kitchen cabinets need a uplift with new hardware?   Would the bathroom look newer and larger with a new vanity?    Replace the old floral bedspread with something more neutral to make the room look more inviting and sophisticated?   Visit The Trendy Bed for all your bedding needs.

First Impressions In The Home

Focus on First Impressions – In The Home: When a prospective buyer enters your home it’s usually by the Front Door, here’s your second chance to make that impression. (First was your curb appeal)     Apply fresh paint, replace worn out throw rug,  upgrade light fixture or upgrade light switches if needed.   Clean out that coat closet again so that it looks more spacious.   Would adding a mirror make the Foyer look larger?  Mirrors are a big trick decorators use to make a room look larger.    Are your silk flowers looking a little worn?  Remove and or Replace.    This is the place you want to WOW any prospective buyer coming in your home!   If your first impression didn’t measure up to their liking, here is your last chance to get their interest to make them want to look at your home.

Versatility

Versatility: The more versatile your home, the more buyers will be able to see themselves living there.  Turn your sewing room into a more general – use guest room with a desk, table, and room to sew.   (Hide away the project materials for now while getting your home ready to show)  Paint gender-specific rooms in more generic colors, and reduce the “kids rooms”  effect by storing large collections, posters, trophies, musical instruments, and personal items while you are trying to sell your home.

Visual Effects

The Visual Effects: What does your room say visually?   Dark walls can make your room look smaller,   creating logical conversational groupings make the room seem larger.   Professional stagers suggest that rugs stop a foot or two from walls.  A rug that is too big can visually “shrink” a room;  if it’s too small it just looks awkward.   If your dining room is modest in size, take the extra leaves out of your table and limit the chairs to four.

These are some great decorating tips and tricks to make your home seem larger and more inviting.  All of these tips and tricks are from Better Homes and Gardens – my best friend!

I hope I’ve given you some great ideas and inspired you to turn your home into…

The 21st Century Mud Room

Before we look at today’s mud room, lets look at the history of the Mud Room.   Farm and manor houses had a back room or porch where farmers would deposit their soiled clothes and boots and wash up at a pump before entering the main house.

Farm House Rear Mud Room

This is a perfect example of a farm house with the mud room attached to the back of the home.

In the late 1970′s, the laundry room moved up from the basement and the mud room/laundry room combination became the logical transition from the outside into the home.

Combination Mud Room/Laundry Room

The disadvantage to this arrangement was the obvious conflict between outside dirt and the need for cleanliness with the wash.  Today, the laundry rooms are usually separated from the mudroom and are built closer to the bedrooms.   This ideal has been well received by homeowners especially in two story or split-level  homes, or even in the larger single story home.

Family Mud Room

Ideally, today’s mudroom should serve as an entrance to the house from both the garage (if attached) and the rear of the house.   A well-designed mudroom serves as a great place for backpacks,  sports equipment,  purse,  car keys,  jackets, umbrella’s, brief cases,  boots, sneakers, beach bag, and more.

Mud Room and Family Pet

This keeps the clutter out of the kitchen and helps keep busy families better organized.  This is also a great place to hang a bulletin board with game schedules, or a chalk board to write short reminders to other family members.

Family Mud Room

Mudrooms can accommodate such things as hooks, hangers, storage cabinets, walk in closets, locker size cubbyholes, shoe racks, umbrella stand,  and built in desks.

Keeping Family Organized

Mudrooms may even serve as a dog kennel when the family is away from the home.

Better Homes and Garden Mub Room

The mudroom should be where the FAMILY entrance to the home is, not at your front door where you receive your guest.

Front Entrance

Where mudrooms are for the family and located at the back of the home, it’s a smart idea to have some accommodations at your front entrance as well.   This entry features a cozy recessed niche that offers a place for you or your guest to drop off a bag, purse, or briefcase and ample room for coats.

Mud Room Addition

If your entry space is in short supply and you’re tired of entry turmoil, consider a mudroom addition to accommodate your family’s needs.  Here an addition provides just enough space for a mudroom to serve a full house.  Hooks hold purses, coats, and hats while a storage bench conceals winter-weather accessories. Reliable tile flooring makes cleanup easy.

Let us help you turn your home…

Cathy C