110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - magazine_08 - Index

ABODE I STAGING
I had no idea what the word “stager” meant. I shadowed
the person to find out what she was doing
and suddenly came to an unexpected surmise: “I
could do this.”
I decided to take a course and become certified
in the business. So since 2006 I’ve been Casa Linda
Home Staging Services.
I love the title of my business because it reflects
the mixed ethnicity of my background, plus I think
the words have a lilting quality. As most people
know, “casa” is the Spanish word for “home.”
Fewer people know that “linda” is the Spanish
word for “lovely.”
So translated into English my business name
becomes “Home Lovely Home Staging Services,”
which I think would be a great title in any language
for what I do.
I’ve become a resource to others about sources
for property improvement. I have contact information
for excellent and/or reasonably priced painters,
landscapers, yard service people, floor specialists,
window cleaners, electricians, and carpenters.
STAGING YOUR OWN HOME
Homeowners must often experience a little regret
in selling their house when they see how easily a
professional stager can make their property look
with an investment of only a few hundred dollars
and a couple of day’s work.
I can imagine them looking at the place in their
rear view mirror and wondering, “Why didn’t we
keep our home looking this nice while we were still
living in it?”
The regret must become especially poignant
because of how easy the improvements were
to make.
With just a little attention you can keep your
house looking attractive and pleasing all the time.
Why wait to sell before bringing your home up to a
standard that a good Realtor would demand of a
property going on the market?
Feel free to fall in love with your home all over
again! Usually, with just a little TLC you can once
56 www.110mag.com January/February 2008
“SOME FLOWERS WILL LAST THROUGH
SEVERAL SEASONS. GERANIUMS, FOR
EXAMPLE ARE HARDY PLANTS THAT BLOOM
UNTIL THE FIRST FROST.”
again give your property a brilliant quality, making
it a desirable place in which to live.
Here are five relatively simple steps you can take
to spruce up your property and bring your home
back to life:
1. SPRUCE UP THE
FRONT ENTRANCE
The door to your home is like a smile on your face.
It’s what people might notice first. So freshen up
your front door every year or two. A coat of fresh
paint or clear varnish will make the entrance way
stand out with gleaming freshness.
Many people feel they need to replace a warn or
fading door, but a stager wouldn’t go to that
expense, so why should you? A fresh coat of varnish
or paint works wonders and makes the entrance
bright and appealing.
Feel free to change the color of the paint occasionally
to bring attention to your front door and
make it stand out. Do this every few years — whenever
it begins to get tired or pick up some scrapes.
Clean out the entrance-way light. Every month or
so scrub the porch light and make sure it’s sparkling
clean. Keep the threshold, moldings, and lintel
around the door painted as well, if necessary.
Keep your porch and entryway clean of spider
webs. Dust it off.
Paint your cement walkway, if it is fading. If the
walkway is stone, rake it and keep it free of debris.
Keep any vegetation trimmed and everything
clear of weeds.
2. IMPROVE CURB APPEAL
If your front and backyards are looking a little sad,
spruce them up by simply adding some color. Paint
any fence you might have.
Go to your local home improvement store or
nursery and purchase flowering plants in season.
This will liven up your home and make it look fresh.
Don’t develop any attachment to the flowers if a
hard freeze comes along, just replant them when
the next warm spell arrives.
Some flowers will last through several seasons.
Geraniums, for example are hardy plants that bloom
until the first frost. Roses can bloom from year-toyear
and season-to-season. Hibiscus will last
throughout the entire growing season, at least as
long as this global warming effect keeps up. They
sometimes even bloom past the first frost.
One trick that no stager would use is to plant
bulbs in the early spring and then above them
plant some spring flowers. The spring flowers will
fade just about the time that the bulbs begin to
bloom. Check with your local nursery for varieties
and planting times.
Citrus trees provide color into the winter with
their fruit. They never lose their leaves.
There are a few other things you can do about
color during the winter months. For one thing
you can maintain potted plants that you simply
bring into the house or into a heated garage
during freezing times.
During the winter months sometimes the best
thing you can do is simply to keep things trimmed
and raked up. Sometimes you have to just settle for
neat, but the absence of dead leaves and overgrowth
will keep your yard attractive.
Freshen up your bark areas from time-to-time.
Bark fades after a while, so simply add another coat.
You’ll be surprised at the difference that will make.
Or replace bark with lava rock, which is much
cheaper than river stones and will go for years without
blemishing or fading.
3. DE-CLUTTER
If you’ve been in your home for a few years you
might want to get rid of extraneous things you have
accumulated that add neither quality nor interest to
your decor. Be ruthless!
Walk through the rooms of your house and look
at each of them as though you were considering
buying the property. Fix anything you find that you
don’t like.
If you don’t know where to begin, simply take
the house one room at a time, one day at a time. By