China Cabinets and Butler's Pantry Get Fluffed!

A little faux treat I made in my cabinet.
One thing a home stager has is
plenty of faux food!

I think I am really going to enjoy having Jim home more. He is just so happy working out in the yard and he is really overjoyed about closing down our warehouse as he gets all the shelving for his things. He has plans to build a workshop one day and then he'll have plenty of room for his man stuff. Yay! In the meantime he is fixing up an old cottage we have in the back with the shelves and he is excited. In its day it was quite the cute little bunkhouse but now it is on its last leg and ready for a redo. But we are not going there at this point! It will be fine for storage.
Someday I'll have to take you on a guided tour outside on the property. It is a fun place to be.

Jim is such a productive, happy person. He has inspired me to get a lot done this week here at home. We are even having so much fun we canceled our date to the city for tomorrow so we can stay home and keep at it. We (mostly he) have just accomplished so much this week. Spring cleaning is almost done and the stuff in the yard is getting either thrown out or organized after being out there for nearly a year during the construction phase. I feel the burdens lifting as we get things back in order. Yay...I love order. And we have decluttered considerably as well. I got rid of so much junk in my china cabinets.

Honestly, how does it jump in there? I am not kidding I didn't even recognize some of it. Like it reproduces in there or something! I think I'll add some photos of that now that they are all redone. Maybe I'll even give you a peek into my butler's pantry that Jim built for me out of an old coat closet a few years ago.

Here it is. You can barely see it but it
has a glass door on it that is original to the home.
Here you can see our Christmas dishes,
the china we bought when I went back to work
after Laura started school,
and my grandmother's dishes on the bottom.
Click, click for a better view.

This curio cabinet is where we
keep our glasses and stemware.
I love this cabinet because the door is
curved glass.

So they look like this after I purged through them. Yikes. Anyway, at least now they are all dusted and cleaned and orderly again. Because our house is not huge I have to be really careful about keeping things in order or the chaos is crazy making. When it is in order it makes me want to actually have some company over soon. The butler's pantry is very convenient for large gatherings as we don't have to dig through everything to find what we need.

We just don't realize how much stuff can over burden us. I think we all function better with a house of order. I know I can feel the difference, in a physical way, with every little corner than is getting cleaner and refreshed and becoming the way it should be. I never could function in chaos, but the older I get the more I need the order and peace. I love changing the seasons with the decor and just lightening up for the months ahead.

Tomorrow I am attaching the library bookshelves. Ugh, but I know it will look so much better. Why are bookshelves just little junk catchers?

So then, about retirement...I just love the synergy of two~so far, so good~ projecting into the future of twice as much husband and a little less money and all is well ! We have reached that time in life where more time=more wealth in the things money cannot buy. It is a nice place to be, I am liking it a lot already.

Staging An Occupied Home For Sale

This is the home we staged last week. I am just experimenting on making a slide show with SmileBox and you are my Guinea Pigs.


Staging an occupied home presents challenges that a vacant home does not. You have to work with what they have, keep the home livable, and bring in things from the warehouse to enhance it. All this happens after an extensive consultation and "to do" list for the homeowner which includes items for removal, cleaning up, de-cluttering, new purchases, repairs, etc.

In the best of all worlds, they follow my written instructions to the letter and everything goes according to the design plan I have worked up from my photos. Often we come and find things not exactly the way we had hoped and then the order of the day is ~ adjust and smile.

We decorate the entire house in one day. It is hard work but very fun too. I could not do this without the help of my assistants, Emily and Maureen. They are the best! Nor could I do it without the technical assistance of Jim who helps me move all the heavy things to the houses and de-stage it when it is sold.

Once the written report is done I take that and my photos and begin the process of deciding what I have that will work in each room in the house. The tricky part is coordinating a feeling with colors, art work , accessories, floral and plants, linens, dishes, etc. that will pull the house together.

For this house we brought over two very full van loads of accessories from our warehouse. I spent about $50.00 to buy things we didn't have, but that is minimal and normal now that we have a pretty substantial inventory. As it turned out, I didn't even use the items but, that is OK...there is always another house. (Hopefully!)

What made this home more difficult was the colors in the main rooms are so muted. As an example the sofa is a salmon and muted blueish gray, patterned fabric. It is very hard to make that "pop" as the overused term goes. One of the best colors for making a house come alive is red and that just would not work in this house. Also things like wallpaper in the dining room remained in place although removal was recommended. The chandelier, a favorite treasure brought from their larger home was installed here, but is way over-scale for this room. That meant finding dishes in our collection that were the right colors to blend with the living room and somewhat plain, and having a shorter centerpiece than I would normally use so it wasn't nearly touching the light fixture. Every detail has to be considered. So, come on in and take the tour!



Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our objective is to make the house look inviting and spacious and well cared for by the owners. We also try to make it look like real people live here so it does not have the sterile quality of a model home. We want the prospective buyer to think they would just love to live here where everyday is restful and wonderful! We realize they have probably been working like crazy to get their home on the market too, so when they come here we want things to look and feel done! We want them to feel like they would be leisurely stepping up...!

What do you think? Did we do it?

Tips for Downsizing or Clearing a Home

Don't Surprise Your Heirs With This!

Recently an elderly lady in our neighborhood passed away. She had lived in her home for over 30 years and the task of clearing our her possessions has been a huge and daunting task for family and friends left behind. Today I found this article in our local newspaper.

"Whether you are downsizing your own house or clearing the family home, these tips from Julie Hall, author of "Boomer Burden:Dealing with your Parents' Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff, " may help.

• Don't Panic: Anxiety will subside as you take stock, call on others to help, and bring in an appraiser or estate sales agent to evaluate what should be sold.
• Divide Heirlooms: Encourage your parents to divide beloved heirlooms and sentimental keepsakes now. At the very least parents should write down who should get what. Then hold a sibling only meeting to discuss the division of property ahead.
• Clear the House: If you are doing this yourself, designate one room for donations, another for things to keep and a third for sale. The average job requires 30 to 50 cardboard boxes, six rolls of packing tape, and at least 100 large plastic bags and markers for labeling. If possible, work in pairs so one can pull objects and the other can run them to the appropriate room. Take time to share important memories.
• Check for Treasures: As you go, search nooks and crannies for jewelry and cash that may have been hidden beneath floorboards, in rafters, the icebox, sugar canister and inside rolled up socks. Some people hide money in books, or inside picture frames, between the picture and the paper backing. (If you do not hide money and other valuables around your house, tell your heirs in advance of your departure.) This will save them endless hours of searching in vain.
  
• Recycle: If it is plastic or paper recycle it, but shred old checks and financial papers first. Some commercial shredding companies make house calls. Books can be donated to libraries. Send clothes to homeless shelters or other charities.
  
• Spare Your Heirs: Get your affairs in order, organize your paperwork, and declutter your own house. In 1974 the average house measured 1695 square feet, today it is 2500 sqare feet and apparently that is still not big enough. Self-storage facilities have become a $22 billion business."

Thinking about these things as we proceed in our lives is a good idea. I have helped prepare several homes of people in their 80's for sale. It is an horrendous job if they wait until it is time to move to declutter and get organized. One of the nicest things you can leave your children is an organized decluttered home! When they have their grief to deal with they don't need this added burden of weeks of clearing out the house as well.

You Home Can And Should Be Beautiful

I believe a home should be a place a beauty. Beauty can be created on many different levels and incomes..it has less to do with wealth and more to do with desire. In the past several years, as a professional Redesigner and Home Stager and I have been into hundreds of rooms. These rooms have been in multi~million dollars homes and run the gambit down to tiny condos. These are some of the things I have observed.

Organization is the prep work for a beautiful home. A house of order, no matter how humble is a house of beauty.

Disarray and dirt detract from the most beautiful homes. Clean is beautiful. I am not saying be a slave to your home but reasonably clean is invaluable, if you want the beauty to shine through. I use to try to do the whole house in one day..now I have learned to just do a room at a time for the cleaning part and keep it rotating. It takes way less time and works pretty well without being so exhausting.



Where would you rather work? Where are you most likely to find your inspiration?
Cluttered spaces tend to clutter your mind. It actually can block your energy too. In Feng Shui it is called blocking your chi.


By using your creativity you can have a living space that is uniquely designed to meet all the needs of your family. You can make it beautiful! Remember this:

It is not What you have
but
Where you put it
that
Makes all the difference.

Good designing is a combination of science and art. When you become frustrated with not being able to get it just perfect, naturally you will try to think of a remedy. What many people come up with is buying something else to add to the room. This usually doesn't work because it is the placement of your furnishings that make is seem unappealing. Sometimes you just need a fresh perspective. You have great taste so let's just work with what you have and love already.

The most common response I have gotten when revealing a redesigned room to a client is, "Wow! Why didn't I think of that!"

If you need some help with an area of your home, I am willing to work with you via the blog. You can contact me via e-mail at <onedesigningwoman@yahoo.com> I am a certified Redesigner and Professional Home Stager through IRIS.

My fees are reasonable and commensurate with your design needs. I do accept Paypal which makes things so easy and convenient. Let me know if I can help you~no request for help is too trivial or too huge~just let me know and I will quote you a price and get to work for you right away. All I'll need is some photos of your problem areas! Before and After Portfolio Photos available upon request.