Seven Ways to Work with a Decorator on a Budget

Most anyone who enjoys decorating their home would enjoy working with interior decorator in their own home.  Years back, only the rich and famous worked with interior designers.  Nowadays, just about anyone can, especially with the addition of Interior Redesign.

Here seven ways you can work with a decorator on a budget:

7.  Go to a local design center.  Let’s say you’re in the market for a new sofa, flooring, counter-top….  Go and talk to the in store designer.  Some will visit your home, some won’t, but they will  give you some free advice.

6.  Search the Internet.  It may take some time to find what you’re looking for, but it’s out there. Budget decorating tips. Decorating rules

5.  Find an interior designer, decorator or redesigner who is happy to do in-home consultations and charges by the hour.  I find most design consultations take 1-2 hours.  You can get a lot of good information and ideas in a consultation. Hopefully, ideas that you’ll be able to do yourself.

When they arrive, give the designer a tour of your home, pointing out the things that you love and the things that you don’t.

Be prepared for the consultation.  Look through books and magazines and flag pictures that you love.  Whether it’s the color on the walls, the sofa, the accessories … or even if you don’t know why you like it.  Flag it!  This will give your designer a quick understanding of how you would like your home/room to look.

Share your wants and needs (in designer terms, that’s your style and function).  “I want a warm and comfortable room”  “I need to comfortablly seat 8 people in this room”.  “I don’t like _______”….

4.  Hire an Interior Redesigner to do an Interior Redesign in one or all of the rooms in your home.   I find, it typically takes 2-3 hours to redesign one room.  Most Interior Redesigners offer multiple room discounts.  In just a few hours you’ve got a fresh new look for for less than you’d think.

3. Get a paint color consultation.  Paint is one of the most cost effective and biggest changes you can make to a room.  Especially, if you do the painting yourself.  The hard part is selecting the right color, so hire professional and get the job done right.  On average, a color consultation takes 1-2 hours.

2. If you’re on a really tight budget, some designers will offer an electronic consultation. You send a photo or two of the room/area in question.  Give a brief description of the problem and or goal. The designer will email their suggestions.   This kind of consultation typically in about half the cost of an in-home consultation.  Most to do not advertise this type of service, you’ll have to ask.

1. If you’re really really on a tight budget, or just have a simple question, take advantage of blogs like this one.  On this website, click on the tag called “Decorating Dilemma“, enter your question and wait for some free advise.

Contra Costa County Real Estate Stats – September 2007

 

They’re finally here!  Contra Costa Real Estate Stats – September 2007

Courtesy of Bay East and the Contra Costa Association of Realtors

When do you think the housing market will turn around?

All you have to do is look at the history of the housing market in the Bay Area to see a pattern.  (Up, peak, level, down, up, peak, level, down….) The hard part is predicting when it will go up – when it has reached the peak – and when it will come down…. 

Some people prefer to buy in a buyer’s market, because they like to take their time and really think things through, before making an offer on a home.  For those people, buying during a seller’s market when homes are receiving multiple offers for OVER the asking price is just not a game they want to play. Some people are drawn into the excitement of a seller’s market.  They see home prices going up and up and up and want buy a home now and start earning equity right away.    If you’re looking to move up, down size or relocate, the key is finding and buying the right house, at the right time for you.

C.A.R. (California Association of Cealtors) market forcast for 2008.

Always the optimist, I hope to see things starting to turn around Spring of 08. The good news is, prices should start to stabilize, and a stabilized market is more comfortable for buyers and sellers.  No buying frenzy, no falling prices, just what’s fair.  Ahhhhhhhh, doesn’t that sound wonderful? 

What’s your opinion?

How well do you know your colors?

I recently found a fun color wheel test on-line at livelygrey.com.  There are 9 color tests. As you progress through the series, each one gets a little harder. Do it for fun and see how well you understand color.  These tests may be simple for some and difficult for others, so just have fun with it

Decorating and dog crates

I am a dog owner.  I love my dog.  She loves her crate ~ it’s her den.  I hate the crate, because it’s ugly.  One day it hit me, there has got to be a better way, and here’s what I found:

I found this one on-line at Pet Street Mall:

I found this one on-line at Hardwood Hideaway and at Costco:

This is what it looks like when not being used in a photo shoot:

Pets are an extension of our families and Americans spend billions of dollars each year on their pets.  It’s great to see that someone has created good looking dog crates.  They function and they look good!

If you’ve found some other decorative dog crates … please share your info!

Thanks!

The Writing’s on the Wall

Most people who are into decorating their homes are always on the lookout for something that will stand out, make their home uniquely theirs.  A custom element, without a custom price.

I love adding an artist’s touch; however, this can be very expensive unless you have a few tricks up your sleeve.

Try adding a personal touch and a custom look with words.

For more information click on any of the photos to go to the websites for Wall Words, Uppercase Living or Wise Decor.

Jill Denton ~ Changing Spaces

Is your home’s decor dated?

 

Think of your home as yourself.  Over the years you’ve surely purchased new up to date clothing, gotten a new hairstyle, but if you’re still wearing that blue eye shadow, you’re out dated! Same goes for your home.  If you put in some updates… but you still have that old flooring, out dated furniture, trendy decor or color from years gone by – your home probably looks dated!

YIKES!

If your home is dated and you’re ready to update it, I think it’s a good idea to start with some classic elements.  Paint is the most affordable and can make a huge impact on updating your space.  If you have some money to spend, try updating from that old shag carpet or update your 80’s style couch for a classic sofa that’s been around and will most likely still be in style for years to come.   If you choose what’s “In-style” today – it may look great now, but I promise you, when a new trend comes in (and it will) your home will shriek “70’s” “80’s” “90’s”, etc.   If you’re the kind of person who redesigns your space every few years, it’s probably not that big of a deal, but most people keep major purchases (like a sofa) for about 10 years!  Don’t get caught in that trap, buy some classic major elements and add more interchangeable trendy items to make it uniquely yours. Take a weekend and do a little updating. It’s easy and affordable to update a room with paint, change out pillows, some art and accessories to completely update or change a room.

As seen on Oprah: NATE BURKUS’S FIVE WAYS TO GIVE YOUR HOME AN INSTANT UPDATE

Time Warp 1: Busy patterned rugs underneath busy patterned sofas
Update: Patterned rugs and patterned sofas make for a cluttered look. Update the old sofa with a simple slipcover, and replace patterned rugs. “A simple rug—cotton, wool,” Nate says.

Time Warp 2: Ruffled throw pillows
Update: Replace ruffled pillows with modern linen, cotton or velvet ones. “You can find these absolutely everywhere,” he says.

Time Warp 3: Dried flower arrangements
Update: Get rid of those dried flowers. Try replacing them with an elegant, live orchid. “It really does make a huge difference,” Nate says.

Time Warp 4: Ruffled curtains
Update: When you ditch those frilly curtains—which you really should do—Nate has a trick to make your windows look bigger. Above the top of the window, hang an inexpensive bamboo shade and add simple cotton or linen draperies.

Time Warp 5: Multiple photos in a single frame with matte cutouts
Update: While photos are an important, personal decoration in any home, Nate says the multiple-photo frames actually make those photos seem less important. “You don’t have to throw anything away, but just frame them individually,” he says.

Real Estate Terms of the Week

Home Market Analysis  
The Home Market Analysis presents an opportunity to review and evaluate the facts before you decide the price you will ask for your home. It also helps you look at your home from a buyer’s perspective. This process will establish a realistic listing price and increase the percentage of qualified buyers who look at your property.

REALTOR®  
An active member of a local board of realtors. Local boards are affiliated with the National Association of REALTORS®.

 PITI  
Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance – the four elements of a monthly mortgage payment; payments of principal and interest go directly towards repaying the loan while the portion that covers taxes and insurance (homeowner’s and mortgage, if applicable) goes into an escrow account to cover the fees when they are due.

Source: GMAC Real Estate

Staging In A Buyer’s Market

Staging is the act of preparing your home for sale.  Whether you are currently living in your home or if it is vacant.  Staging works in a sellers market and a buyers market.  In a buyer’s market there are a lot of homes to choose from.  In order to make a good impression on potenial buyer’s you need to have your home professionally staged.

At the very least hire a Stager for a consultation.  The Stager will walk through your home and make suggestions on things to fix, pack up, minimize and DE-CLUTTER, DE-CLUTTER, DE-CLUTTER.  Once you have that list you can do the rest, if  you want to do the work yourself, or you can hire the Stager to take care of the staging details for you.  Vacant or lived in, a Stager will make your home look it best to the general public.  Whether they use what you already own or if they bring in furniture and or accessories. Neutralizing where possible, so anyone who walk in your home could say, “My dining room table would fit nicely in that big dining room,  this would be a great place for my _____, I think our _____ would like fantastic here, etc.”  If there are too many distractions (clutter, collections, extreme colors and even too many family photos) people tend to look at the distractions instead of the home. 

Before and after decluttering and then bringing in some staging furniture.

Before and after a little paint, furniture placement and bookcase design.

Some Stagers will tell you to remove all of your photos.  I don’t think that is necessary.  A few family photos showing happy people makes people feel good and think “look how happy they look in this house”.  However, if you have a hallway, stairway or wall of photos … MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE!  When there are too many photos people feel like they are intruding in your personal space, and they will spend less time in your home and that’s not the goal!  We want them to feel comfortable, take there time so they can imagine themselves in your home, and then want to make an offer.

Here’s a list of some more things that should be done:

Keep your kitchen and bathrooms CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN.

Keep your personal bathroom items out of site and keep wastebasket empty.

Declutterand pack up your knickknacks, trophies, souvenirs, collections, political and religious items.

Clean out and organize ALL of your cabinets. (People will open them and look inside.)

Remove all unhealthly plants.

Remove worn throw pillows and replace with fresh, updated ones.

Remove/Organize clothes, shoes, purses etc) from your closet so that garments are not touching each other.  

Too many books looks like clutter, so minimize your books.  (Look through some magazines to get ideas on how to arrange your bookcases in a decorative way.) 

If you have painted any unusual or bold colors (inside or out), consider painting a neutral color. Potential buyers won’t necessarily have the same taste as you, and we want them to be able to imagine living there.

I hope this answered at least some of your questions.  Do you have any questions?  What did I miss?

Jill Denton ~ Changing Spaces, serving the san Francisco Bay Area

What Color is Your Ceiling?

Ceilings are just another wall or opportunity to add color and or character to your home.  White ceilings are very safe, and if that works for you – great.  But I prefer to make a statement! Mild or bold, color on ceilings can be beaituful!

In the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s you would find tin ceilings in farm house and old victorians.

To add a little drama, you can find wall paper on ceilings,

travel to Morocco and you’ll find hand painted decorative ceilings… 

or even material draped across the ceiling,

in Asia you’ll find beautifully decorated ceilings,

travel to Paris and you’ll find materpieces on ceilings,

and in Italy you’ll find elaborate ceilings

and in America, you’ll typically find plain white ceilings.

What is up with that?  I think it’s time we decorate our ceilings! 

When I do color consultations for people, most are afraid of painting a color on the ceiling, and I’ve found that if I can get them to paint at least one ceiling a color – they love it!  If you’re afraid, start small and simple.  Try painting the ceiling of a bathroom, kitchen or laundry room. I don’t typically like the same color on the walls and ceiling (can either be too much of a good thing or boring) unless it’s a vibrant color in a small space (like a bathroom, kitchen or laundry room).  Another reason it’s a good place to start is size, if you don’t like it or choose the wrong color, it’s easy to repaint.

A pale blue will make the ceiling recede (great for low ceilings) and pale yellow will give the illusion of sunlight (can help to brighten up a space).  You can also create more definition in a ceiling by painting the ceiling as if it was a tray ceiling.  In other words, leave a foot or two of white ceiling around the border and paint the center the color you select.  This home had extremely high ceilings in every room but this one.  Although these were 10 foot ceilings, compared to the rest of the house it looked very low, so we added a pale blue to help make the ceiling recede. 

So what do you think?  Are you ready to decorate your ceiling? Call me to schedule a Color Consultaiton.  http://www.jilldenton.com/contactus.html

Jill Denton ~ Changing Spaces

http://www.jilldenton.com/contactus.html