WARNING:  This Post Contains Graphic Images.  Viewer Discretion is Advised.

For those of you who haven't visited my blog lately, my husband and I will be putting our house on the market in the spring.  I've tried to prepare him, but he still doesn't seem to grasp the fact that we're actually going to move.  While he comes to grips with the situation, I am busy updating the house.  If you need to catch up, here are previous posts on the subject:

• Please Don't Tell My Husband, But We're Moving
• Decorating, Updating and Staging:  What's the Difference?
• Dated Bathrooms?  Show Me the Money!
• Updating Gold Mirrors and Hardware

Today we are focusing on the master bath.  Yes, this is where the "disturbing images" come in.  At this time, please remove all young children and pets from your computer screen's viewing area.  Ready?  Here are a few "before" shots:

What was I thinking?????  Believe it or not, at one time (some 15-20 years ago) this wallpaper was quite lovely!  Okay, so don't believe me.  I have a hard time believing it myself.  I've really been wanting to get rid of it for years, but never quite got around to it.  But being the professional home stager that I am, it has occurred to me that there are probably a few buyers out there who won't be impressed with my choice of wallpaper, not to mention all the gold fixtures and bird cage, so I set out to make some changes.  If you are thinking of updating your bathroom, let me share with you a few questions you need to be prepared to answer before undertaking this task:

1. What size tile do you want to use?
2. What color tile do you want to use?
3. In what pattern do you want it laid?
4. What color grout do you want to use?  (The chart contains about 30 selections.)
5. What size tile in the shower?
6. How do you want it laid?
7. How far do you want the tile walls to extend?
8. Do you want a feature strip?  Which one?  (1,2,3,4 or 5?)
9. What sort of fixtures do you want?
10. What finish?
11. What kind of shower door?
12. What surface do you want for the vanity?
13. What color?
14. Do you want an undermount sink?
15. What color?
16. What kind of light fixtures?
17. Etc, etc, etc.........

Do you see why you need a trained professional to help you make these decisions?  One day when I was in the middle of answering yet another string of questions, I asked the shower door guy, "Did you ever watch Seinfeld?"  He replied, "Yes."  "Do you remember the episode where Jerry was having a cabinet guy build out his kitchen?  He finally got fed up answering all the questions associated with the project and yelled, 'No more questions!!!!  Just do it!!!'"  We both had a good laugh, seeing ourselves in the episode.

Okay, before I show you the "afters," here's a nice transition shot I think you'll enjoy:

There's nothing quite like a toilet in the jetted tub to class up your photos!  Okay, now for the "afters":

Undertaking a master bath remodeling project is not for the faint of heart, but it is well worth the effort!  Now I'm convinced that many buyers will find this space appealing.  Today's tip?  Hire a home stager to guide you through this process.  You could make costly mistakes.  Stage, Show & Sell is here to help you will all your updating and remodeling needs.  Call today!

Updating Gold Mirrors and Hardware

I am in the process of updating my own home to put it on the market in the spring.  When going through the process, remember the little things DO make a difference.  It's all in the details.

The powder room is a place you don't want to put much money into updating, nor should you have to.  I have outlined for you here what I did to bring mine into the 21st century:

1. Got rid of the (busy) wallpaper and painted the walls a neutral color.
2. Updated all fixtures from gold to bronze.
3. Replaced the gold light fixture with bronze.
4. Added updated accessories.
5. PAINTED the gold mirror.

I would upload a before & after shot, but my one and only before shot is not very good.  Here is the after:

What I want you to notice is the mirror.  It has been painted with Rust-oleum metallic "oil rubbed bronze" paint (see below).  I love this stuff!  It completely transformed my ugly, gold, dated mirror to something that looks current and works beautifully with the other bronze fixtures.

 In addition, I also discovered a spray paint which will allow you to give most any finish an updated look.  This paint comes in several different colors.  Shown below are "hammered bronze" and "satin nickel."

I spray painted several large brass planters with the hammered bronze paint.  They look great!  I also used the hammered bronze on a downrod for the new master bedroom ceiling fan when I had a hard time finding one to fit the new fan in the correct diameter.  What I like most about this paint is that it is textured.  Either of the spray paints can be used on any type hardware or a multitude of surfaces.

Today's tip:  rather than replace gold hardware and accessories, you can paint them.  Yes, this can be a little labor intensive, but it can save you lots of money. 

If you live in the Atlanta, GA area and need help updating your home, call Stage, Show & Sell today!  Don't make costly mistakes.  Let us help you do it right the first time.

A couple of weeks ago this Atlanta, GA home stager began a series on updating my own home.  If you need to catch up, here are the two previous posts:

1. Please Don't Tell My Husband, But We're Moving
2. Decorating, Updating and Staging, What's the Difference?

Today we're going to focus on dated bathrooms and I'm going to show you some pretty tacky pictures.  Although other stagers may not be willing to show you how they live at home, I have no shame and am going to toss it out there for all the world to see.  Are you ready?  Here is the before shot of my son's basement bathroom:

Is this frightening, or what?  (This photo was taken two years ago and for some reason I didn't see the need to "tidy up" before taking it.)  The lovely paisley wallpaper was actually the ORIGINAL paper we had hung when the house was built 19 years ago.  The blue shower curtain may be the original as well.  So what needed to be done if we weren't willing to strike a match?  First, get rid of the EXTREMELY DATED paper and paint the room a neutral color.  Next, update the brass light fixture and hardware.  Then, reaccessorize with something that might actually be appealing to buyers.  Here is the after:

 Better?  Okay, I think someone might actually go for this.  Now, for the discriminating viewers I have a question.  Why do you sometimes see home stagers leave the shower curtains partially opened?  The first and most logical reason is that it makes the room look so much bigger!  Notice the difference in the photo above with the shower curtain closed and the one to the right with it left open.  We have just picked up 3 feet of space!  (Of course, using a wide-angle lens helps, too.)

Now, what might be the second reason for leaving the shower curtain open?  (Hint - refer to the title of this post.)  We all know that the bathrooms and kitchen are the most important rooms of the home when it comes to selling, right?  Why is that?  Because that's where all the money is!  While the other rooms in the house are just sheetrock, the kitchen and bathrooms contain all the bells and whistles.  So, another reason for leaving the shower curtain open is to expose the bath fixtures -- especially if they are newly updated.  You can't see them in this photo, but you certainly could if you were in the room.

Ready for another set of photos?  Here are before & after shots of my upstairs hall bath:

Can you tell I like red?  I went through a phase where I was into toile wallpaper.  I had it in this bathroom as well as the powder room downstairs.  As you can see, it's got to go.  Also, here again, we have brass hardware and a dated faucet.  Not shown is a brass light fixture.  Once again, we needed to strip the paper, paint, replace fixtures and reaccessorize.  Now, here's the "after" shot:

Today's tip:  a can of paint is still the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to updating your home.  Updating bathrooms can get expensive when you need new fixtures, hardware, tile and countertops.  If you only have a small amount of money to spend, strip the wallpaper and paint.  The two bathrooms you see here were actually in pretty good condition; they mainly needed to be neutralized.  Yes, we could've retiled and added granite counters, but it really wasn't necessary here.  We did make those more drastic changes in the master bath, which will be more important to buyers than secondary bathrooms.  You will see those photos in a later post.

While updating bathrooms can get very expensive, just a can of paint can make a HUGE difference.

Trying to sell you home?  Need help with your updates?  Call Stage, Show & Sell Home Staging Company  where it pays to stage!

Decorating, Updating & Staging:  What's the Difference?

A week or so ago I wrote a post titled "Please Don't Tell My Husband, But We're Moving."  In short form, it speaks of the fact that we began updating our home in December of 2008 to put it on the market in the spring of 2011 (only I'm still keeping this a secret from my husband, so don't tell).  In case you missed tip #1, here it is again:  START EARLY!  This is actually the 2nd in that series and is specifically regarding the dining room, but I'm also using it as an opportunity to discuss the differences in decorating, updating and staging. 

First, please take a look at my "former" dining room:

As you can see, this room is not quite ready for prime time.  (No, it isn't normally this junky, but the photo was taken whiile we were doing work elsewhere in the house.)  While it was decorated to my liking, it is in need of updating.  I still enjoy the fabric I chose for the window treatments and the floral arrangement, but they are not ideal for selling.  In other words, these things were placed in the home because they suited my tastes.  That's fine while I'm living there, but when we put the home on the market, they have to go.  This pinpoints the basic difference between decorating and staging.  A living space is decorated (customized) to suit the homeowner's tastes.  A selling space is staged (neutralized) to give it a wide appeal to the general public.  But in addition to this space needing staging, the immediate need is for updating.  While I loved the red when it was first painted, today it is too strong and is "so yesterday."  Also, nothing screams "dated" like a bound glass light fixture.  It had to go.  And while we are at it, why not rip up the carpet and put down hardwoods -- a great selling feature!  Here is a photo of the same room once it was updated:

Here's what we did:

• painted
• replaced the chandelier w/ a bronze & crystal fixture
• removed a leaf from the table to create more space
• spray painted the (formerly) brass planters
• replaced the carpet with hardwoods

While this room has now been nicely updated, it is still not staged.  Please note that updating and staging are not the same thing.  Updating is certainly part of the staging process, but not the end result.  One thing that needs to be done for staging is to remove the greenery.  See below:

What a difference removing the corner trees makes!  I will call this room "semi-staged."  Here is what must be done to complete the process:

• Remove the window treatments.  They are much too custom and many people will not like them.
• Remove the additional greenery from atop the china cabinet.
• Remove the floral arrangement and replace it with something calmer.
• Remove the rug.

Did you happen to notice the word "remove" listed four times above?  Yes, staging is much more about removing furniture and decorative items from the room than it is about adding them.  With the window treatments down and the rug gone, the dining room will look twice the size it does now.  This room is actually open to the living room which also has a busy rug.  I like the look for living, but it won't work for staging. 

Today's tip:  always remember that rugs take up a lot of visual space.  Use them sparingly.

So, to reiterate, decorating is personalizing a space for living, updating is bringing a room up to current standards, and staging is neutralizing and streamlining for mass appeal.  Any questions?  Call Stage, Show & Sell. 

Please Don't Tell My Husband, But We're Moving

It all started about 3 years ago when our son graduated from high school and left home, college bound.  I came to the realization that it was time for us to move.  It wasn't so much that we needed to downsize, as we both have home offices and require additional space, but we needed a rearrangement of space.  (Helpful hint:  if both husband and wife work out of the home and you want to have a successful marriage, make sure your home offices are on separate floors.  You can always text each other mid-morning and meet in the kitchen for a coffee break.)  The main thing I wanted to accomplish with the move was to buy a home with the master on the main.  After all, we're not getting any younger and the steps in a 2 story with a finished basement will be a problem at some point.  All very logical, right?

Not quite.  "Hubby" was not the least bit interested in moving.  Have I mentioned that he and I are very different?  I get bored very easily and absolutely love change.  He hates change.  Of course, we've been in our home for 19 years now, so it's not like we haven't put in our time here, but he sees no reason to move.  ("Honey, when I can't navigate the steps, I'll sleep on the sofa in the family room.  Don't worry about not having a full bath down there.  I can wash in the sink.  When I get sick and can no longer get out of bed, we'll just set up a hospital bed in the dining room.  Not a problem."  Get the idea?

I was drowning very quickly and needed to change my strategy.  I had it!  "Honey, you know we really should start updating our home.  We need to make changes whether we move or stay, so let's begin making home improvements so that when we are ready to move, the house will be in great shape."  It worked.  In December of 2008 we began updating our home.

We had the deck refinished and stained, had hardwoods installed on the main floor, and replaced our ugly white laminate with granite counters in the kitchen.  We were on our way!  The only problem was that when we stopped to take a breather, my husband couldn't get over how much better the house looked and how great it would be to remain in it a long, long time while we enjoyed the updates.  Uh, oh.

(This is getting too long so I need to move the story along.  Back to updating our home.)

Since I am a home stager in Atlanta, I take it as a personal challenge to do everything right and make all the necessary changes so that when our home goes on the market it will sell quickly.  If I can't do this for my own home, then I need to get out of the home staging business.  We have made many changes since December of 2008 and I'll write several posts in a series on "Updating My Own Home."  This is the first. 

In the meantime, I have an important tip to pass along to those preparing to sell their homes:  START EARLY!!!  There are always surprises along the way to slow you down.  Here was our first:

One day I noticed that there was buckling of the front door frame at the floor board.  When I investigated, I saw that I could move the wall beside the door by 2-3 inches with my own hand.  (No, I'm not a bodybuilder.)  Long story short, we had to have the front door, door frame and rotten wood replaced.  Surprise!  This was not in our budget.  I'm guessing there will be more surprises to come.

For now, just know that this Atlanta home stager and her husband are updating our home for the spring market, but please don't tell him.

Do any of you have a shelf in your storage area or garage that looks similar to this?

Yep, it's full of leftover paint.  (BTW, you can breathe a sigh of relief.  The gas can is empty!)

We are in the process of updating our home to put it on the market.  (I'll be writing more about that in the weeks to come.  Lots of material there.)  Currently, Bill, the handyman (who has done everything for us over the years from painting inside to painting outside to redoing our deck to building cabinets and shelving to...   well, you get the picture) is doing some inside painting.  We started with the bathrooms, stripping wallpaper, priming, then painting, and have since moved on to the foyer, LR, DR, breakfast, family room, and another bathroom.  Whew!  So, needless to say, we have LOTS of new cans of paint that I want to hang on to for touch-up jobs.  So how do we get rid of the leftover cans of paint in the "old" colors?

Kitty litter to the rescue!  (Actually, it's an off-brand 'cause I'm cheap.) 

Here's what I learned from Bill, the handyman.  Take a cup or two of cat litter, pour it into the can of leftover paint, let it sit for a day or two and the cat litter will absorb the paint.  When all the paint is absorbed, you can toss it.

Today is the day that I'll be removing the old cans of leftover paint and replacing them with new cans of leftover paint.  Isn't it exciting?  I hope I've got enough cat litter. 

Stay tuned for more helpful household tips.  In the meantime, I'd love to hear some of yours!