Your Home - Star of the Show

Tue, 3 Oct 2006 15:26:11 GMT

When staging your home the idea is to make your home the star. There really is no goal other than that. Staging is not about being clean or even primping the home but rather about arranging the home so that there is a flow to the home.

For all my real estate listings I work with a professional design consultant who uses the principles of feng shui and energy when staging the home. He only works with one other real estate company in Austin and I have found his work to be very effective. Many of the home staging companies that exist arrange the furniture to look nice in the room but do not necessarily take into account the flow of the buyer's eyes through the room. Good home staging not only takes into account how to maximize the best features of a room, it also helps 'point' the buyers the direction you want them to move.

With that in mind, here are a few ideas I've picked up when you are looking to stage your home:

> Consider sightlines. When the buyers walk in your front door do they have any obstructions in their sightline? Try to remove tall or large objects from this initial view and keep a clear 'pathway' so that the buyer feels drawn in. Tall or large pieces in the way of this initial sightline can have the effect of 'pushing' the buyers back out. Having this sightline clear can also lend an impression of more space.

> Straighten the kitchen - The kitchen is a major player in the home buyer's thought process. You don't have to do a kitchen remodel in order to improve the appeal of this space for a buyer. Once again the goal is space - specifically, open space. Clear off the counter as much as possible to create better visual lines. This includes most, if not all, of your appliances as well as towels, cooking utensil caddies and cookbooks. A very select use of decorative items may be used, but the focus is on 'very select'. You might try fresh fruit in a bowl if it fits well into the space. Clean off the refrigerator and remove items from window sills. Buyers will look in your cabinets so be sure to keep those clean as well with at least some sightline to the back of the cabinet.

> Pay attention to the 'earth' elements in your house - In Texas there is not a lot of opportunity to use a fireplace and yet a good percentage of homes in Austin have a fireplace. It is also true that many people ignore the fireplace when arranging their furniture. Rather humorously (and I was guilty of this myself), the furniture tends to be arranged toward the television and the television tends to be on whatever wall you find the cable outlet. Arrange your furniture toward the fireplace. Create a setting - a 'warm' place for gathering and, if need be, move the cable outlet. However if you are staging your home for sale consider just going without.

> Throw rugs - Throw rugs - I mean literally, throw them! Actually rolling them up and putting them away will be just fine. In most situations throw rugs make a space seem smaller. The first place to remove them is usually the bathroom which, typically, is one of the smallest rooms in the home already. Pull them from your kitchen as well. In fact the general rule seems to be if they are not there to specifically define a space they probably need to go. An example of this is a living and dining room with no other separation designated in the wall or floor features. Even then it seems it is risky to use a rug if the area is carpeted as the rugs show their best on wood floors.

> Closets and other spaces that go dark - Do not stuff these areas. Rather, be sure that the floors of the closet are clean and remove whatever you don't absolutely need and start packing it. This goes for most cabinets and other storage type rooms or areas. Buyers will feel the space in question does not have enough storage room if the cannot see the back wall.

> Garage - It seems the garage has become the keep-all in today's society. If you have nowhere else to go with these items put everything you can in boxes and stack them UP rather than out. The best is to have your garage show as its intended purpose - to house the amount of cars its designed for as well as see the walls of the garage. The 'good' is to clear enough space to fit the cars and stack and arrange everything vertically up the walls.

Additionally, don't be afraid to pick up recent magazine on home decorating and copy ideas from the pages. Don't go overboard, but if you see a way to create a space in your home based on similar space in the magazine, don't be afraid to try to arrange your room that way. Many people suggest that furniture and decorations should match. I personally don't think that is as important as the items in the room 'going' together. Matching isn't as important as style. If the style is identifiable and cohesive then you are probably in good shape. If it is more of a hodge-podge mix and match situation then you should probably look at taking the room one direction.

No dim bulbs! Make sure the light bulbs all lighting fixtures are working.

You might like your wallpaper but more and more home buyers view it as dated, regardless of when you installed it.

Your pets are your friends, but that doesn't mean the home buyers will like them. Keep them out of the way. If possible, keep as much evidence that they even exist (food bowl, litter boxes, crates) out of sight.

Use fresh! Fresh flowers, fresh fruit. Avoid plastic fruits and silk flowers. The impression you leave with each is subtle but lasting.

Keep it clean. Not only the floors and counters, it's time to get detailed. Fan blades, light fixures, air vents, window sills - whatever collects dust or dirt, keep it out.

Leave a light on. Keep your front porch light on. It's an invitation to home buyers.

When you are all done walk out of your home, walk to the street and then walk back in and view the home - not as the seller of the home but rather as a buyer. Try to see the home with buyer eyes rather than seller eyes. Feel how the home moves you - what directions you feel you should walk. How does the home look to you? Don't make excuses or reasons for the faults, don't grant yourself, as the home seller, the benefit of the doubt - the buyer won't. Remove all the possible negatives you can identify, starting at the beginning. Remember, the buyer is there looking for a reason to rule out the home - don't give them a reason!

Grow Green - Native & Adapted Landscape Plants

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:06:12 GMT

If you ever tried to grow plants in Texas, you know it can be a challenge to get a colorful yet hardy group going without some background knowledge. One of the best places to start is the Grow Green book called "Native and Adapted Landscape Plants: an earthwise guide for Central Texas". This fantastic reference guide is available for free within the City of Austin and should have a maximum price of $1 outside of Austin.

Quoting the Grow Green website, "Grow Green is a comprehensive landscaping program that provides Austin area homeowners with earth-wise solutions to their yard care problems. It offers more than 20 fact sheets on general landscaping tips, native and adapted plants, and pest and disease problems. Fact sheets can be found on this site or at one of more than 50 participating nurseries in or near Austin"

I highly recommend this guide for use anytime you are thinking about undertaking a gardening or landscaping project in Central Texas. I have found it invaluable with my own yard projects, and it tends to make it really look like I know what I am doing since my plants are thriving. Fortunately for me, the wonderful thing about these plants being native is that they can, almost, survive without me or, in some cases, in spite of me! Additionally, they reduce the amount of water I need to use for my yard so it really is a win-win deal.

The website for Grow Green has a searchable database, with photos, that you can access if you cannot lay your hands on the book.

Grow Green

BrinkTank

Your Home - Star of the Show

Grow Green - Native & Adapted Landscape Plants