Time to brighten your interior space?
January 10, 2009 – 11:09 am
Stained glass can add the color without having to paint
The ABC’s of Staging your home. A do-it-yourself guide.
Getting the paper this morning I couldn’t help but notice all of the ads for furniture, linens, and interior décor items on sale. If you’re like me, you probably have too much stuff already but the drabness of the outdoors seems to create a desire to brighten up the indoors. As a Realtor I help clients do this before listing their house. The process of staging before listing your home is very simple:
- Clean
- Un-clutter
- Minimize accessories
- De-personalize
- Neutralize
- Enhance the architectural features
But how do you proceed when you don’t want to sell? Or after you buy? The process is not that different.
- Clean
- Un-clutter
- Functionalize
- Choose the most pleasing accessories that go with the space
- Personalize
- Enhance your favorite features of the space
- Add Wow
Although this sounds easy, it can be daunting, especially if you and your significant other differ on styles. So here’s a tip from the staging and design experts. After you get the cleaning and un-cluttering out of the way, remove everything that doesn’t have a specific function for that room.
In other words, take the office supplies out of the kitchen. Move magazines to the reading areas. Have one area for each function. (I had a bad habit of keeping tools in the garage and on the porch and then in a drawer. Now, I have one place for all tools. When I need one, I always know where it is and consider going to the garage as exercise.)
Next, personalize with caution. This is where couples get into trouble. His golf trophies and her scrapbooking projects in the same corner of the room. Consider his and her space to break it up. Then, group likes together for better impact.
Enhancing your favorite features does not mean cluttering. It means accessorizing with items that lend to the overall functionality of the room. For example, the media room (formerly called the den) is a great space to hang movie posters and memorabilia. Children’s art can become high scale decorating if it’s well framed. Decorative cookie cutters make great kitchen wall art.
When it comes to adding Wow, proceed with caution. Sometimes, just cleaning and un-cluttering will do it for you. The room will suddenly seem bigger and more open. If it still needs something, consider adding color.
There are thousands of ways to use color to make or break a room. But I’ll save those for another day.
