Chances are the decor in your home is a lot like most people’s wardrobes: There are a few items that went out of style a decade ago, but they’re so comfortable that it’s impossible to see them go. “We grow accustomed to our space, and we stop seeing it,” says Melissa Birdsong, vice president of trend, design, and brand for Lowe’s, the home improvement giant. “People tend to become blind to their own things.” But everything needs updating eventually. Birdsong suggests home owners cast a fresh eye on their living space, pretending that they’ve just moved in and are assessing […]

Landscape designer Michael Glassman has cooked up a recipe for guaranteed curb appeal. 1. Add splashes of color. With every changing season, a landscape should provide a new display of colors, textures, and fragrances. “It’s best to use one or two and repeat them,” Glassman says. Example: white iceberg roses that bloom in spring, summer, and fall as a backdrop; in front, a contrasting punch of purple salvia or lavender that will flower at the same time; and as an accent, a crape myrtle tree that provides changing leaf colors in fall and interesting branches come winter. 2. Size trees and […]

Size does matter when it comes to the perception of space in a home. That’s why it’s important to make sure you show off every square foot of your listing so that buyers can visualize enough room for all of their belongings. However, home owners often crowd spaces with oversized furniture, bulky accessories, and piles of clutter that wind up making a room look much smaller than what it really is, says staging pro Jennie Norris, president of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. So how can you show off that space in your listings? Besides the obvious of removing […]

How does your home smell? It might be worth an extra sniff because buyers certainly will take notice. Sensory research shows that the smell of a home can affect a person’s mood, according to Terry Molnar, executive director of The Sense of Smell Institute, a New York–based organization that focuses on the importance of smell to human psychology, behavior, and quality of life. A light floral fragrance can put people in a more pleasant mood, while citrus scents, such as lemon and grapefruit, tend to have an energizing effect, he says. “Vanilla is one scent that’s universal around the globe,” […]

So you are selling your home and you are at a loss for what to do. You’ve heard of Home Staging – but not sure of how to prepare for it. Following are some basic rules – for clearing up and out – before you sell and certainly before a Home Stager comes in to work their magic. 1. Get a bin: rent a bin for a couple hundred dollars – you can ‘thin’ out at an alarming pace when you’ve got a bin to toss to. Bins are great for old furniture, bikes, garden furniture, odds and sods that […]

When someone comes to look at your home, you have very little time to make a good first impression. It’s said that, within the first minute of entering your home, most buyers may have already made a decision not to buy based on some things that seem trivial in the larger scheme of things. In this article, we’ll look at five cheap fixes that will help you get them past that critical first minute and closer to buying your home. Focus on the Approach Potential buyers need to walk up to your house before they see the inside, so the […]

Sometimes it seems as if what constitutes good design is purely subjective. One person rejects any home with French Provincial furniture. Another will look only at ultramodern interiors. And then there’s the guy with the Leg Lamp. But if taste sometimes seems arbitrary and fast-changing, there are core principles of all good interior design that are timeless, says Attila Lawrence, head of the interior architecture program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Keep these three basic design principles, plus functionality, in mind as you view homes, and you’ll be able to help sellers optimize their home’s appeal and help […]