Staging is the process of preparing the home to enter the marketplace ready for the buyer to purchase and move into immediately. No repairs, painting, carpet cleaning, window washing or landscaping worries. Potential buyers remember the home that is staged well as it will totally appeal to the buyers needs.

Staging a home for the real estate market takes special skill and basically is designing the home to appeal to wide array of buyers. One must think in these terms to stage their home on their own. Of course there are many professional home stagers that one could call on to get the job done for the seller. As a professional stager I do recommend hiring a professional, especially if you need your home to sell quickly.

Home Stages Designs caters to the seller in that we offer training ebooks in staging your own home. Once a seller learns the techniques that we designers use to prepare a home they can then step out on their own and begin the process.

The Home Staging Professionals
Specializing in Home Staging Training

See our Complete Home Staging Business & Training Kit on CD ROM! Become a professional Home Stager today!!! No previous experience required. We offer complete training in professionally staging homes for the market and step by step instruction in starting your own Home Staging business. Your Success is our Success!


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HOME STAGING ASSISTS LABORING HOUSING MARKET

DIY-HOME IMPROVEMENT IDEAS

By Home Stages Designs

You can improve the value of your home yourself with the cost of materials only and of course your time. Let’s look at some improvements that we can do slowly over a course of time that will add value and improve the look and functionality of your home.

Remove Wallpaper

Most people do not enjoy wallpaper and when it comes to possibly selling a home it should be removed in every room. Gone are the days when each room was papered. Today the trend is paint and paint can have an appearance of wallpaper if you get creative with your painting techniques. Stripes on one wall or painting one focal wall in a room is much more attractive and acceptable than wallpaper. To remove wallpaper score it with a wallpaper scorer, pour fabric softener into a spray bottle and saturate the paper. It should peel off nicely but you will have areas that you will need to reapply the spray. Yes, you can paint over well sealed wallpaper. You must use a quality oil based primer prior to painting.

Replace or Paint Kitchen Hardware

An easy update for a nice kitchen is to spray the hardware for a refreshed look. Of course you can replace but for cost effectiveness why not spray paint them in a new classic color. This trick really does freshen up the entire space. You must use spray paint that is specifically for metal for this project. If you have a white kitchen why not paint out your fixtures in a soft gun metal grey or stainless steel. If you have a dark mahogany or cherry kitchen consider using a slate black. Look at the choices available to you at your local hardware store.

Replace Old Light Fixtures and Door Hardware

Update your lighting inside and outdoors. This will give a great facelift to your entire home. Change out the hardware on both your interior doors and exterior doors. Make sure all are cohesive and in the same paint color. Light fixtures include your ceiling and fan lighting. When you are replacing or upgrading make sure that you never mix-match finishes. Always stay with the same finish on the interior of the home.  You can change the exterior finish on your hardware and light fixtures but they must be cohesive on the entire structure.

Drywall Repairs

If you have dents, scrapes or holes in your walls, including the garage, then take a weekend and fill them with drywall patch. Take a few weekends and consider how you can update your rooms with new paint. Once your patch is done you will need to paint so go for it. Paint is the quickest update one could do for a home. 

Patch Concrete Surfaces

Look around your home and you will find many cracks in your concrete areas. At your local hardware store you will find concrete fillers to match your concrete. Take a weekend and go out to clean out all of the cracks you find in your driveway, sidewalks, garage floor, patio and etc. then fill the cracks. Do not forget to check on your grout in all your brick or flagstone surfaces as well. If you plan on selling your home, trust me, this will be on a buyers list for you to do so why not jump the gun and take care of the problem while you can plan it out on your own schedule.

Now that we have gone through a few areas that we all need done to improve our home let’s get going this spring with our to-do lists.

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Real Estate/ Flipping Homes for Profit
Submitted by: Teri Woods/ CEO Home Stages Designs

Flipping homes for immediate profit has become a trend across the country. A few things to consider when purchasing a home to "flip" is to look for homes in a good marketable area. The neighborhood, job market and schools are your top considerations when you need to sell quickly. Make sure that there are no major repairs. Foundation, wiring and plumbing are all pricey and will suck up your profits fast. Go for the more "stable" homes that only need "cosmetic" fixes in order to reap the highest reward.

When you are finished with the repairs and are ready to list the home a MUST DO is to "Stage" the home to appeal to the emotions of potential buyers. Furnishings, art and proper accessorizing will ensure that the home you are selling is welcoming, giving the potential buyer the desire to want to live in that home. It is true that vacant homes sit on the market much longer than furnished homes. You will want your home to have the same "feel" and appearance as a "model home".

There is a special technique in professionally preparing a home to show for the market. You will find the resources that you need to add the final touches to your investment here at www.Homestages.com. If you go the extra mile in showing the house, you will gain top dollar in your profits. Home Stages Designs offers a complete line of ebooks catering to staging homes. We are here to educate you and show you step by step the process so that you can do the job yourself.

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How to Spruce Up Your Landscaping

By Home Stages Designs

Take a walk around your yard and you will find many areas that need attention. In early spring take on all of your trees and shrubs that need to be pruned and tackle these first. All trees and flowering shrubs need this spruce up in order to bring forth fresh sprouts that need to be disease free. Look at your flower beds and chances are they need fresh mulch. Remove all of the old winter bark and replace with new. Plant any new landscaping now to take advantage of spring rain. Remember where you have planted your fall bulbs so that you do not accidently dig them up in the process. Over-seed your lawns at this time and fertilize. You might consider where you can plant an outside vegetable garden and can prepare the area when the last freeze is over.

Get out the pressure washer and clean your fences, sidewalks and lawn furniture. Your house structure may need a little cleaning as well. Add window washing liquid to clean your windows and screens while you are at it.

Start a compost pile with all of your grass clippings, leaves and peelings from the kitchen. Research what can be included in a compost heap online and reap the benefits of fresh garden soil all summer long. If you have flagstone surfaces in your yard check to see if you are in need of fresh gravel or rock in these spaces. You may want to replace the gravel filler with walkable herbs and if so plant in spring to ensure good root growth in your path areas.

Install a drip system to save on water usage for your potted plants or small flower beds. You can adjust these with a timer to go on and off when you wish.   Check on your sprinkler system while you are at it to see if you have any broken heads or leaks in the pipe systems. Now is a good time to do the fixes. Get out your garden hoses and lawn tools to give a good cleaning for the months of use to come. Clean all standing sprinklers as these become clogged easily while stored through the winter.

You may want to add a fence to your front landscaping or an arbor and now is the time to write up the plans. Stand in front of your house to see what you could do to enhance its appearance. A new flowerbed at the side or a large one around a tree might be on your list.   You might want to enclose an area around the side of your home to store your garbage cans. Have fun with your projects and enjoy the fresh air.

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Understanding The Color Wheel

Color plays such an important role in our lives, our wardrobe, and our home décor. Whether your home feels cozy, warm, and inviting or sophisticated, cool, and professional depends a lot on the colors you choose. Color is very important to your home décor yet choosing color combinations that work together can be a very intimidating process especially if you are new at home decorating. Start by understanding the color wheel.

Once you understand the color wheel you will find it much easier to decorate your home and obtain the look and feel you want. Why do you think the color wheel is the professional interior designer's most used tool? This simple tool, the color wheel, is probably the most important tool of all.

You will find pure colors on the color wheel like bright red, pure violet, and vibrant orange but chances are these are not colors you are going to want to use or if you do, it will be in very limited quantities. But where are those colors you always find in the home décor magazines? Why aren't they on the color wheel? Maybe that is why you have never bothered to use a color wheel.

Once you understand how to use the color wheel you will realize that it is the most powerful tool you have and you will quickly become inseparable because within the color wheel are wonderful harmonious colors. You will quickly learn how to build color schemes from scratch or revamp existing ones.

After the primary colors the color wheel is used for creating secondary colors. You will find these secondary colors located above their corresponding primary color. This is called the subtractive process because the secondary color has absorbed color from the first color. When you mix a primary color with another primary color you get a secondary color which is also called complimentary color. So if you mix red and yellow you get orange which is a complimentary or secondary color. If you mix blue and red you get violet which is a complementary color.

The color wheel consists of yet another ring which is found above the secondary colors and is divided into 12 sections. Here you will find the tertiary colors. These are colors that are created by mixing one secondary and one primary color. So, for example, mixing blue and violet gives you blue-violet which is a tertiary color.

If you want your room to feel strong and solid use solid primary colors. Yellow, blue, or red are great choices. You can use them as a pure color or mix with other hues. You can mix all three, use two, or just choose one. They are perfect for any type of room ? modern, traditional, contemporary, or country.

Secondary colors can be tinted with white or black to make them lighter or darker in variation. So if bold green and orange does not work for you, think about using paler shades such as sage and peach. You can quickly create a triadic scheme by using any three colors that are the same distance from each other on the color wheel.

The tertiary colors when combined can provide a sophisticated look. Blue-green, red-orange, blue-purple, or yellow-green are all tertiary colors.

Of course there are others. Use these when you want to create a professional, sophisticated, and serious room. Monochromatic means one color and it can be awfully bland unless you use a subtle variation with it. So for example orange, peach, and coral offer subtle variations within the same family adding life to your room but still staying with a monochromatic room.

Once you understand how the color wheel works and the role that color plays in your home decor you will be decorating like a pro in no time!

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6 Styling Tips For Your Fresh Cut Flowers!

So your going to bring your grocery store or florist bought flowers home, now what! I have seen many people just plunk them in a vase of water and that's it. At times that will work but here are some simple tips to make you look like you are a pro at it.

1) In a clean vase, take your greens and snip the ends off to the size you want and then start crossing the stems into the vase so that you have stems all around inside the vase. There are two reasons for this. One is because you now have a base for the flower arrangement and two, a criss cross of stems makes it easier for the flowers to remain in position.

2) If you are making a small, low arrangement, slide the flowers into the vase in a criss cross angle so that the stems are laying around the inside of the vase. You should now have a vase with a ring of flowers on the out side rim and stems showing in the middle. (The more stems you have in the vase, the easier it will be for the flowers to stay put!) Each row of flowers will be higher each time you place them into the vase, until you have a nice rounded arrangement.

3) If you are making a tall arrangement, use a tall slim vase. Your flowers will hold up better and will look well proportioned. Wonderful flower choices are gladiola, blue delphinium, lilies, snapdragons etc.

4) A design mistake I have often seen is placing the flowers in a vase where all of the flowers are perfectly even. The reason this does not work is because it appears unnatural. Take a look at any garden and you will see some blooms are barely peeking out, some are tall and stout and then some are almost hidden in small clumps but still contribute to the overall look. Mimic nature and you can not go wrong!

5) A good rule of thumb in any arrangement is to use an odd numbers of flowers. Using, for example, 3 roses, 3 lilies, 5 gladiola's and perhaps 7 Gerber daisies. The use of the "odd number" rule is completely effective in creating a natural yet beautiful centerpiece.

6) The best advice I can give you if you are new at floral design, is to collect pictures of floral arrangements that you love and then try to "mimic" the pictures. Practice makes perfect!