New Design! What Do Ya Think?

Hey y'all,
Yippee! I have a new blog design. It is still in process but I am thrilled!  I feel like it is 'me'.  Hope you like my new look.  Tiffany blue-ish for lux,  green because it says 'fresh', and  the finger print on the header because I put my fingerprint on everything that I do.

Happy Friday, y'all!

Linda

Repurpose Dumpster-Bound Vases into Yard Art

Occasionally, my accessories get broken in transit for houses I stage.  Today, I unpacked some items to restock and found two broken vases.  I set them to the side to be thrown away.

For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of these pieces.  What to do with them?  Maybe I could cleverly disquise the chips with some carefully placed ivy.  No....using something broken is bad Feng Shui (not to mention, tacky). 

Walking out of my studio, I grabbed the long vase by the neck--then it hit me.  Yard art!  I love me some yard art!  I literally ran to my Koi Pond.  There, next to the trunk of Japanese Maple, I buried broken vase #1 up his shoulders.  He became my new 'garden tower'.

Then I scurried to the natural area in the front yard.  Broken vase #2, I nestled, bottom up, under an evergreen bush.  Check out the doppled red glaze against the green needles!

My yard art may look a bit eccentric, but I gotta tell ya, I LOVE 'EM! (BTW, in the far right corner there is something shaped like a Hershey Kiss.  It was a hanging bird feeder (Goodwill)  that I took the chains off and turned upside down.  The glaze has weathered but I still think it is cool!)

'Cowboy' returned from work and simply stated, "I see you have been busy in the yard today."  Poor guy, he never knows what he is going to come home and see.

What do you think of dumpster-bound vases being flipped and used as yard art?

Later!

Linda

Anniversary of My First Staging: August 7, 2003

This date is firmly imbedded in my mind. I had been going door-to-door peddling my staging business to local realtors since May.  In 2003, NOBODY in Raleigh was even familiar with the concept of home staging.  I had no bites until a couple, relocated here from California, (where everybody stages) contacted me they were moving.

Here is the only picture I have from that day.

The staging looks pretty dated and elementary by today's standards. I was so proud of myself for opening up the space and placing the furniture on an angle!  (I don't know what I was thinking hanging that stupid wreath up near the ceiling.)

My then-assistant called me a couple of days before and informed me that the California couple was insistant the house be staged by August 7.  There was a Parade of Homes starting that weekend and California couple wanted their house ready for the hoards of people touring Show Homes in the surrounding neighborhoods.

I was out of town at my father's funeral when I got the call.  The house, "must be staged."  Back when I let the tail-wag-the-dog, I rose above my grief, went home, put on my professional hat, and got the job done.

By the way, nobody viewed their house that week.

The hoards were only interested in seeing the gorgeous new builder homes.


Live and learn,

Linda

The Lorissa Pump - Staging for Your Feet (I guess...)

I like shoes as much as the next girl.  I even wear some pretty funky and fun shoes for a chick of my advanced years.  But, Holy Hannah, these shoes cracked me up!  I just opened HauteLook to check out their daily specials. Behold the Sam Edleman Lorissa Pump:

Pointy spikes! Pointy spikes! Pointy spikes!

I have 'Lucy' tendencies. 

I can't imagine the damage I would do to myself when crossing my legs or getting into a car.  (No driving in the Lorissa Pump, I  presume.) 

My cat is constantly rubbing against me.  She would be injured and half of her coat would be attached to my pointy spikes. (What ya think Sam? A new look for Winter? Fur attached to the back and heel--call it the Linda Pump?)

Can you see me descending my carpeted stairs when suddenly the pointy spikes from the Lorissa Pump catch in the carpet nap?

Please do correct me if you see folly in my rant. 

Would you wear the Lorissa Pump? 

Hurry!  You can get them for a great price today!

Later,

Linda

The Importance of Looking the Part to Convenience Your Audience

I'm consistantly ranting about the importance of staging a house for it to sell.  It's not always what sellers want to hear, but it is what they need to do to get their house market ready.

Actors often undergo radical transformations to sell us on their character in a role.

Photo by Janet Meyers

I'm not asking sellers to do anything as painful or drastic as shaving their head...but in order to appeal to your target audience--the buyer--your house has to look 'the part'.

If you don't recognize her, that is Cynthia Nixon.  Earlier this year, she shaved her head for a Broadway play, Witt, portraying a cancer patient.   Did you recognize her?  Big difference since Sex and the City (oh, how I miss the girls!), huh?

Get your house looking the part so it a can bring in the big bucks.

Later,

Linda

Beds in front of Windows? It doesn't work for selling.

When you house is on the market, you are selling the architecture and the view.   A house needs to show as light, bright and airy. Blocked windows can impede that feeling.

In this beautiful bedroom, we are selling the fireplace, the windows, and the view.  The furniture configuration is not condusive for selling.

Lisa Sherry

High headboards are very on-trend right now. They are a great design look, but please put them on a wall and not in front of windows when you are selling your house.

BH&G

The bed in this picture is simply too big for the tiny space.  It is literally 'eating' square footage as well as blocking the windows.  This room would show better with a day bed.

BH&G

If your room is too small to prevent placing the bed in front of the window, you should rethink the furniture and its placement in the room.  How you live in your house and how you sell your house are two completely different things.

Pinterest

VOTE FOR LISA MENDE

My blogger friend, Lisa Meade of Lisa Meade Designs in Charlotte, was asked to create a design board for Olioboard.  The winner of the challenge gets to be a Style Spotter at the High Point Furniture Market this fall!  This is a highly coveted honor in the design world.  Please vote for her.

http://oliobaord.com/challenges/150

Lisa Mende Design/Aqua Delight

Thanks!

Happy Friday, y'all,

Linda

An Accidental Gallery Wall - Economical Inspiration

I like gallery walls but never have put one up.  Gallery walls are typically too distracting for  staged houses.

All pictures from Pinterest

As mentioned in my last post, I am gathering fabrics and resources for redecorating my living room.  The living room sofa needed pictures for selling on CraigsList.  

Here, a picture with a bed pillow, shows that the sofa is deep enough for sleeping. (I am a hopeless stager.)

This picture shows CraigsList folks it is a brand name piece of furniture. (Former career in Sales and Marketing.)

I was moving a painting behind it to get a better 'full frontal' of the sofa when I happened to scanned the tall cathedral ceiling wall.  Little Linda (inside my head) said, 'that would make a great gallery wall'.  I immediately started hunting and gathering from every room in my house: water colors of the beach, oils of landscapes and flowers and an abstract of a 'blue man', a pencil drawing of a beautiful nude,  and pastels of New England scenery.

I grabbed a ladder, my tool bag and went to work .  No plan, no forethought.  Just nail and go. Up and down. Up and down.  Stand back. Up and down. Stand back. Adjust. Level. Repeat.  (That wall has more holes in it than Bonnie and Clyde post posse shooting.)

This is the best picture I could get. (Skylights are not condusive to great photography.)  I am so delighted over my new gallery wall that I am going to postpone my redecoration for a while.

Hmmmmm..... don't you agree reinventing a space is much more economical! 

Later,

Linda