Up For Sale!

Sunset Beach, CA or is it “Dog House, USA!

Moving on from this beautiful Mediterranean Villa he once shared with former wife and actress Sandra Bullock;  Jesse James has put this beachfront home on the market.

Remodeled from the groups up in 2002, the home is set directly on the sands of Sunset Beach.

One can go from the pool, jacuzzi, rock slide straight on to the Sands.

Panoramic views of the Pacific, Long Beach skyline, and breathtaking sunsets abound from almost every angle.

This home features a lavish entryway with lush landscaping and custom fountain…

A Spacious “Great Room” with unique Canterra Stone floors, crown molding, and coved-grid ceilings.

Gourmet Kitchen with slab granite counters, custom solid-raised panel maple cabinetry and Viking stainless appliances.

This 2-story, 4 Bedroom with in-suite baths,  powder room, large media room/den and more comes in at about  3,626 sq ft of living space  is now for sale for $4,995,000.

Hope you enjoyed having a “in-side view” of the home that Sandra once shared with her Bad Boy Jesse James!

We all can’t have a large beautiful home like this, but we can make the one we have

Have a GREAT week,

Cathy C

XOXOXO

This blog will completely change your view point on “Coffee Filters”…

25 different uses for Paper Coffee Filters:

Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in microwave. (no splatter)

Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome…  Coffee filters are lint-free so they’ll leave windows sparkling.

Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish

If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.  (Great tip if you are a wine drinker)

Protect a cast-iron skillet.  Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

Apply shoe polish.   Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

Recycle frying oil.  After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

Weigh chopped foods.  Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

Hold Tacos.  Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

Stop soil from leaking out of a plant pot.  Line a plant pot with a filter to prevent the soil from going through the drain holes.

Prevent a Popsicle from dripping.  Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows?    Use strips of coffee filters.

Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French Fries, chicken fingers, etc on them..  It soaks out all the grease.

Keep in the bathroom.  They make great “razor nick fixers”.

As a sewing backing.  Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.

Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.

Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.

Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.

Use a coffee filter as a spoon rest while cooking.

Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or cutting a piece of fruit or veggies. (Saves on having extra bowls to wash)

Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

Use to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.  (I needed this one last month!)

Use to sprout seeds.  Dampen the filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.

Use filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Put the flowers between 2 filters and put the filters in a phone book or family bible.

Use as a disposable “snack bowl” for popcorn, chips, nuts,  candy, etc.

And, by the way – They are GREAT to use in Coffee Makers!

Hope you enjoyed this week’s blog.

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

Cathy C

The Trendy Home

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…

Sometimes I Love when Guest are coming, or we are having a get-together,  It’s the only time my “Honey Do” List gets done completely!   It is a great motivator for home improvements,  or maybe it’s just a little sprucing up.

Is it time to declutter your home?

From that to this?

Don’t get me wrong,  A home needs to look and feel comfortable and lived in but too much “lived in” can be a little over whelming for your house guest.

In decorating your guest bedroom, keep it simple.  I guest room can be very comfortable and accommodating without being over done.

If you have only one guest room choose twin beds over a double or queen;  that way children, friends, or couples can occupy the room comfortably.    A shared, center table serves both beds as a place for a personal items and alarm clock or radio.

Another way to make your house guest comfortable is by installing a TV.   We all know the purpose of a house guest is to visit with the host,  but we all need some “down time”, this can come late at night when one goes to bed, or first thing in the morning with their first cup of coffee.

Make space for your guest with drawer space and closet space.    If you are like me, my guest room closet is full of winter coats – move them if you can or at least move them to the side and make it known that this open space is for them.  Make sure they have hangers available and a nice house/bath robe is a nice touch that your guests would surly appreciate.  At The Trendy Bed we have Bamboo Robes and 100% Organic Cotton House Robes made by Pure Fiber.

Please  make sure your guest have comfortable bedding.   You don’t have to have the best, but the one thing you do need is clean, comfortable, well fitted sheets.

At The Trendy Bed let us help you in this area, we have Sheet Sets from 300 thread count to 1500 thread count;   Satin Sheets,  100% Bamboo,  or Bamboo / Egyptian Cotton Blend.   Our 300 thread count – Beyond Bliss is heavenly, and affordable with matching Duvet Covers, Bed Skirts, and Shams.

Guest Rooms are one topic I enjoy writing on, it’s so nice to be spoiled;   and it’s even nicer to spoil someone we love!

I hope I’ve given you some ideas to help you to turn your home into….

Cathy C

XOXOXO

SWVCPRQK54XN

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

The American Flag

This Monday is Memorial Day, originally called “Decoration Day”,  it is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.

The Trendy Bed would like to take this time to thank all of those who have given their life for their Country – U.S.A.

Memorial Day

Don’t forget to fly the flag on Monday, May 31, 2010.  Proudly display your patriotism with an American Flag.

It’s appropriate to display the flag everyday (as long as it flies in accordance with the rules of the U.S. Flag Code).

However, it’s particularly important to fly the flag on the following days:

• New Year’s Day,  January 1
• Inauguration Day, January 20
• Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday,  third Monday in January
• Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12
• Washington’s Birthday, third Monday in February
• East Sunday
• Mother’s Day, Second Sunday in May
• Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May
• Memorial Day (half-staff until noon), last Monday in May
• Flag Day,   June 14
• Independence Day, July 4
• Labor Day, first Monday in September
• Constitution Day, September 17
• Columbus Day, second Monday in October
• Navy Day,  October 27
• Veterans Day,  November 11
• Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November
• Christmas Day, December 25
• and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States;  the birthdays of  States (date of admission); and on State holidays.

One Nation Under God

Peace be with us all.

Cathy C

Today’s challenge #1: Do you have too much jewelry?  Or is it you just don’t have enough room in your jewelry box, does it look like this?

Today’s solution #1:    Turn your tangled jewelry into artwork.   Use shadow boxes or frames to group pieces of your jewelry together to create great works of art, and when you want to wear it you open up the shadow box and put it on!

Not only will your bed room walls sparkle with color, but you may find out that you actually wear your unique pieces more often because you see them on a regular basis.     Doing this will free up your jewelry box for your  “better” jewelry to be placed in a safe place.

Today’s challenge #2: No Towel Rack

Today’s solution #2:   In this picture they are using a wine rack to place rolled towels on,  not only are the towels easy to reach, but they are an instant decoration.

Another look is a big decorative basket full of colorful towels.

What I personally use is a Comforter Rack and I hang our bath towels and our hand towels, makes for a perfect towel rack when you don’t want to drill holes in the wall paper.

Today’s challenge #3: No Focal point in the room.

Today’s Solution #3:    If your room is lacking a built in focal point such as a fireplace,  or built in entertainment center one needs to be created.

In this picture they hung a large size mirror on the wall, and paired it up with two wall mounted swing arm lamps and a table below to create a point of interest on the far wall.    This gives a place  for the eyes to focus on first when you first walk into the room, and it also added height and definition to this room.

Another great decorating tip is in hanging a mirror in a smaller room will always make the room appear larger, and with mounting the two lamps on the wall will give the room light without taking up floor space.

I hope you enjoyed today’s challenges having to do with your Bed, Bath, and Home;   I hope I have helped you in making your home….

Cathy C

Today we will be looking at Living Rooms and how to make intimate groupings that encourage conversation.

Living Room #1

This is a large beautiful Living room but is the furniture spread too far apart?  Can you reach the coffee table sitting on the sofa or chair?

Living Room #2

In this Large Living room they actually made two intimate groupings,  two identical sofa’s are lined up back to back with a sofa table between them to add height and separation between the two groupings.

Living Room #3

In this living room you get a nice  close and Personal feeling,   nobody likes a wallflower, especially when it comes to furniture.

Living Room #4

Moving the furniture away from the wall and making an intimate grouping will actually make your room seem larger.

Living Room #5

In the United States, sometimes the living room is reserved for more formal and quiet entertaining while a separate recreation room or family room is used for more casual activities.

Living Room #6

In most of these groupings they have something in common, two matching sofa’s facing each other with a coffee table in between to support the beverage and light snacks.

Living Room #7

This last picture is a living room in a  Condominium or Townhouse where the rooms are not as large or defined as in your standard house,  but as you see they have created a very nice, intimate area for two people to enjoy a conversation and the ambiance of the fireplace.

I hope you enjoyed today’s challenge of creating a more personal,  intimate space in the Living Room and have helped you in making your home….

Bland Built In

To be honest with you this is an example of beautiful workmanship -  I sincerely hope this picture was posted before they were done, but for this blog this is a sample of a bland built in.

Add texture and Color

Add punch to a window seat or built in by adding texture and color.   Add your cushion and decorative pillows to give you your texture and comfort and top it off by a colorful throw.

Bedroom Window Seat

What color do I choose for my throw?

Window Seat

Look for a predominant color on the dust jackets or spines of the books in your shelving and repeat it in your throw.

Window Seat

As attractive as window seats are, only a few older homes with deep dormers seem to have them.

Kitchen Window Seat

As we have seen in these pictures by adding texture and color the space demands attention, and is a beautiful addition to any room in your home.

Show house Window Seat

If you have a beautiful window seat,  built-in,  or just a boring corner in your home add a touch of color to splash it up.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog today and I hope I have helped you in making your home…..

Cathy C

I can across some really cool tips for almost every room in your home, most of them are very inexpensive decorating tips that can generate a complete new mood to any room.

Thank you Better Homes and Garden for all your great ideals.

You have low ceilings in your home and you would like to generate a little height in your room.

Low Ceilings

Solution:  Make a room seem taller by installing the curtain rod ABOVE the window frame.  Draperies should graze the bottom of the window sill OR on the floor like the next picture.

Create elegance with length

You can also create Height and Elegance with length – in this picture they hung the decorative curtain rod above the window to take your eyes up,  and then down with the long drapes to the floor giving the room a high ceiling effect.

Cornice Box

If you do not necessary like that look but you want to create height to your room you can make a Cornice Box to conceal your window hardware and give it a much needed face lift.   These cornice box’s can be made out of plywood and crown molding like the one above, or just plywood and be covered by matching fabric.  This little tip can be used in every room in your home.

Elegant Cornice Top

In this Dinning Room they covered the Cornice Box’s with matching drapery fabric and fringe to create a very Formal and Elegant look;   they also installed  chair rail and wainscoting in this room that will also keep your eyes busy giving the room a much larger feel.

Hope this gave you an idea or two for the windows in your home, stay tuned for our Challenge #2

Thank you for taking the time in reading my blog and I hope they help you make your Home…

Cathy C