4 Fall Re-Style Tips for HOME

Mornings are a bit cooler, the kids are back to school, and you look at your calendar and there are only 124 days till Christmas!  Summer takes its toll on your home interiors.  Perhaps you have piles of papers in the dining room, a spooky dust covered living room, and the family room’s pillows have been over loved by both the kids and your dog.

A fall home decorating refresher is the perfect remedy for your home’s style malaise.  It’s time to add a new furniture arrangement, an accessory shake-up, and some strategic power shopping to put a bit of zing into your home spaces.

So where to start? I offer 4 tips in this post to remedy your home’s neglected look. 

#1  Assess your Stuff.  Take a hard look at your stuff.  Move room to room and look at your furnishings, lamps, accessories and art.  Could some of these pieces be swapped to another room, be reinvented, repurposed or removed? 

• In our example, a large painting from the living room was swapped. The scale, colors and style looked great over the couch.

#2 A New Position. As the seasons change, so should your room's arrangements. Fireplaces in the summer - who cares; but as the cooler weather creeps in, you'll want to soon be curled up next to your fireplace with a cup of hot coffee and a cozy throw.  A mantle refresher will give new life to your fireplace and a new furniture arrangement will give you a fresh perspective and a new view whether your room's emphasis is a fireplace, TV or just to create a new seating for conversation.

• In our example, a new position for the chair, and an added ottoman from another room creates a new arrangement for the space. The brown ottoman pulls the color down from the paneled ceiling and provides a place to put up your feet.

#3 Tactile Textiles. Nothing give a space a new style than textiles. A pop of a new color in new drapery panels, pillows, or a throw will instantly up a room's WOW rating.

• In our example, we did some strategic power shopping at Tuesday Morning  and added colorful drapery panels and just in for fall, seasonal hued pillows to give the space an update.

#4 Accent with Accessories. Whether you shop your own home, or pick up something new, accessories will refine and finish a space.  

• In our example we added a new rug to add that cozy layer for cooler days.  The fun ombre indoor/outdoor rug  from RugStudio was selected on-line. The vintage vases, tray and books were shopped from other areas of the home, and finish the room's new look.

If you don’t have the time, talent or energy, our team at Reinventing Space will be happy to inject a bit of decorating Botox into your tired home with our FALL HOME MAKEOVER SPECIAL. Call 708-448-7500.

Do Home Stagers Only Stage Vacant Homes?

You'd think so from all the HGTV shows and magazine spreads wouldn't you? A vacant home shows real drama when transformed from empty to full with furniture and accessories when on film or in print. Right?  The reality is though, that almost homes that are getting ready to go on market have people living inside of them. 

And that is where we come into play. At Reinventing Space we are happy to transform an occupied property into that awesome home desired by today's picky buyers.  Our secret weapon is that we are experts in re-styling what you own and stepping up your space with stylish and trend forward rental or purchased. It's a winning combination.  

Our process is simple, we'll setup a date to conduct our Home Staging Evaluation.  Notes and suggested enhancement procedures are made (which you'll need to complete before we sweep back to style your home). While you are working on your home, we're putting together a proposal to finalize the home staging process.  We select, coordinate and then style your home so it looks its very best.  Here's a recent example - Take a look:

So now you are informed - Home Staging isn't just for vacant homes.  Aren't you excited that you too can have your home staged and styled and move it to 1st in line when it goes on the market?  Shoot us an email, we'd be delighted to work with you.

Sunday Reading - Business Launch Tips

Sunday Reading - Business Launch Tips

It’s Sunday. I read on Sundays.  I Just got done with a great feature in Better Homes & Gardens - ‘Finding Your Calling.’ Even as a business owner of 17 years, the article was chocked full of fabulous tips and advie on launching yourself into the entrepreneurial universe. 
 

Here are a few take away tips from the article.

Brand Aid

Naming your business is the single most important task.

1. HI MY NAME IS... Consider your name. No one has it but you.

2. Brain Storm.  How will customers receive your name? How do you want them to see it?

3. Is it Searchable and Tweet-able? Too long, too short, easy to remember?  Is it already being used? (You can check on-line.)

4. Let’s Get Visual. Logo-up. Color is key. Color has personality.

6 Things I Wish I Knew Then

Hindsight is 20/20.

1. It Gets Lonely.  Just not working by yourself, but making all the decisions too. 

2. You Wear lots of Hats. From accounting to PR, you are the boss.  Get help in your not too gifted areas.

3. Don’t Compare. Every business is different and so are you.

4. Hire Slow, Fire Fast. Your hires are your brand, so make sure they are a good fit.

5. Be Patient. Overnight sensations are rare.

6. Pivot and Problem Solve. When something doesn’t work, adjust and work it out.

Stress Free Holiday Home Decorating Ideas

Well it’s that time of year again, we head to our attics, basements or garages and haul out oodles of bins and boxes filled to the brim with holiday décor and trimming.  We unpack and reveal years, if not decades of the stuff - Super excited to begin the annual ritual of decking the halls.  As an interior stylist, it’s my job to give my clients new ideas on how to use their old stuff, shop wisely, and celebrate their home in style.  Here are some tips and techniques to shake up your view of how to make your home festive for the Holidays. This is the year be a stress free decorator!

1.)    Inventory what you have before your start any decorating. To get a fresh perspective of your goods, you need to take a step back and look at what you have. 

a.      Can it be re-purposed, reinvented, spray painted or need to go?

b.      Sort your product into category, rather than room.

2.)    Shop your home for “Good Bone" accessory basics that you already have.  I love these standard décor pieces because they can be used in so many ways, can be reused in ever season and most of us already have them.

a.      Tall Hurricane, cylinder or apothecary vases. These can hold a host of holiday décor and too can be used to set a buffet or service food.

b.      Cake Stands.  A great anchors or bases for a wonderful display – Perfect to elevate florals, décor, showcase candles or create height.

Cake stands can become a lift to elevate a display.  Making it a table focal point.  (Photo: Source.)

c.      Silver.  From silver trays, coffee pots to champagne buckets – Silver makes everything more festive and rich.

Aunt June's old silver can be r-purposed into a fabulous seasonal door wreath (Photo: Source)

3.)    Showcase family heirlooms.  Although I’m sure we all have treasured holiday items, don’t overlook what’s already in our cabinets and closets. From Grandma’s China, to your own old ice skates to family photos of loved ones passed – Celebrating our family and what we love is the heart of celebrating this season.  Think of ways to infuse these things into your decorating.  They’ll create conversation and be a gentle reminder of special memories.

Celebrate your family history by displaying heirloom treasures. (Photo: Source)

4.)    Create a theme for your décor. It could be as simple as a color, or inspired by a place. Whatever it is, this is the building block of your decorating.  This theme will be carried from décor to entertaining.

a.      Resist the urge to different theme each room in your home - instead keep a common thread throughout the home.

b.      Spread the decorating to every room of your home.

c.      Set your holiday table in style using the same common theme.

5.)    Move your Furniture.  Holidays bring hoards of people into your home and are meant for great visiting, eating and celebrating.  Remove, shift, move your furnishings so they are conducive to conversations, not TV watching, be aware of traffic patterns so people move freely through your home.

6.)    Entertain in style.  From setting the foyer as the bar or dessert and coffee area, to setting a show stopping buffet, make use of what you already have, making sure your whole home is enjoyed and most of all being a stress free will make your holidays happy.

Spread your hosting around your home. (Photo: Source)

Cheers! - Julea.

How Staging & Styling Gives Homes Substance

This is why staging works. This very 'Brady' split level got a major makeover.  But the work wasn't done till the staging was installed.  If this home hadn't been staged, it would have showcased like any other rehab for sale.  Instead of just another empty home, the home now has substance.

The home had sat on the market for 2 months empty with no interest with another Realtor. 

Now styled and staged, (and price raised by 5%) the home has gained personality and married the  kept 1969 details with all the newly added updates for the targeted buyer .

The home hit the market last week, had immediate interest,  a super successful Sunday Open House with lots of staging praise, lots of serious lookers and hopefully a contract shortly.

(Post note: The home had a contract in 11 days!) 

Why Empty Homes Don't Sell

Every morning on my Chicago area social media feed, I see acres and acres of empty rooms posted by Realtors. So many empty dining rooms, breakfast rooms, kitchens, living and bedrooms.  Do I stop and click on the photo, intrigued to have a look at the room, the house, the property? No, I just scroll on by...  Do I read the eloquently written description?  Do I appreciate the professional photography?  No, I just scroll on by...  Why?  It's that they all look the same; devoid of any senses,  any flavor, any style. 

WHY?

#1. An empty home leaves an empty canvas to paint negative thoughts on – Prospective buyers will find imperfections and not interested or wanted features. An empty home amplifies negative thoughts. 

#2. Empty homes lack a vision of its layout (What is this room?)  A Staged homes explain how the home flows and how each space can be used.

#3.  An empty home is void of imagination and feeling.  People buy homes on emotion.  An empty property is just a HOUSE, a staged property becomes a HOME.  Home Staging creates the emotion that your prospective buyers envisioned.

#4. The National Association of REALTORS 2015 Profile on Home Staging found that 81% of buyers find it is easier to visualize a property as a future home when it's Staged. 

“A staged home may seem like it has furniture that’s fixed in place; but what is going on in the buyer’s mind is a very kinetic process. With a home that is staged, they see a family - celebrating home.”

— Julea Joseph