From the Floors Up

How To Stage Your Home So It’s Ready To Go On The Market, But Not Stay There For Long

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Part 1 – First Impressions

Ready to sell but not exactly ready? Grab a cup of coffee and read this three part guide to staging your home. Check of everything on this to-do list and watch your home go off the market fast!

  • First impressions are everything. Before concerning yourself with the interior ensure the exterior is appealing. Otherwise, people might not even bother to see what’s inside. The trick to a quick exterior improvement is to do things that have the most impact. No one wants to reinvent the front yard, but a few changes will do the trick. Try planting fresh flowers if the season allows for it. Spruce up the grass with a couple of pieces of sod. Add new mulch or a sprinkling of new rocks to worn areas. If you have the funds consider doing any necessary work to the garage door. It frequently accounts for much of the outside visual space seen be a potential buyer.
  • Make a statement when people make an entrance. Beautifying the front door area of your home is a smart and easy fix. Yes, curb appeal will get them out of the car, but you want to build a sense of anticipation when they are waiting for you to open the door. Set out a new welcome mat, hang a wreath, and sweep away dust and cobwebs. If there’s space, add a chair or two, as well as potted plants and flowers. If the door itself has seen better days repaint it or replace it. Don’t forget clean up any glass as well. Nothing says ho-hum like old, dingy glass in a door or entry-way window.
  • Go crazy with cleaning or hire a maid service. There is a big difference between the quick cleanup job we do on the weekends and an actual deep cleaning of the entire home. Pay attention to things like grout, baseboards, doors, etc. Get out the strong cleaning supplies and put in some solid Cinderella time.
  • Create visual space by removing unnecessary furniture. If you can’t store it, try reconfiguring the layout. Experiment and move things around until you find an arrangement that consumes the least usable space.

Next read Part 2 – Simplify

How To Prepare For Guests and Be the Ultimate Hostess Part 2

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Part 2 – Kitchen, Guest Bathroom, Pets

Moving right along let’s continue with more guidelines as to how to be the best possible hostess when guests come to stay in your home. The goal is ensure that they feel appreciated, relaxed, and a little bit at home.

Kitchen

  • Set out everything your guest might need for morning coffee or tea. You’ll get extra points if you arrange it prettily. Fold a napkin, place a spoon on it, and set an empty mug next to it. In the morning set out the cream, sugar, and tea bags.
  • Ensure that your guest is comfortable and well taken care of by also preparing your refrigerator ahead of time. Before their arrival ask what they like to eat. Not just for a formal meal. Ask what they like to snack on. It will be much easier to keep them satisfied and save yourself excessive food prep time if tasty, easy-access food is in the house. Such as fruit, nuts, sandwich ingredients, etc. Plus, nothing says guest of honor like a spread of food that was clearly purchased with your guest in mind. 

Guest Bathroom

  • Prepare the guest bathroom by overstocking it with clean towels. Even if your guest only uses a few of the towels, there is something about extra towels that make a bathroom feel luxurious. Make sure to stock all the necessities of bathing. Even if your guest brings their own, they won’t have to ask for anything they forgot and they’ll realize how thoughtful you are. Things to include are shower gel/soap, razors, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, extra toothbrush, q-tips, cotton balls, and lotion.

Pets

  • If you are allowing pets into your home everyone will have a much better experience if you plan ahead. First, remove or block off anything in the home that absolutely cannot support the presence of an animal. Next, create a space on the floor for the animal’s food and water. By deciding ahead you can avoid the inconvenience of randomly placed pet dishes under foot. Give your guest an extra house key if they will need to leave for a short while to walk the dog when you’re not home. Provide doggy waste bags to ensure your guest doesn’t upset your neighbors. Last, ask you guest to bring along a pet carrier or crate if you aren’t comfortable with the animal running loose in your home when everyone is out for the day or night.

How To Prepare For Guests and Be the Ultimate Hostess

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Part 1 – Guest Bedroom

It seems that in nearly every facet of life society has become less formal. Day-to-day clothing has become more relaxed, our words have become less rigid (the word “jeggings” is now in the dictionary!) and we eat rather than dine, often in the car.

Some people are huge fans of this relaxed way of life, yet others miss the controlled and deliberate way of conducting one’s self. In either case, when guests come to visit your home, you have an excellent opportunity to excel in the area of good manners and conduct.  No matter how kicked-back you are, guests bring out our more formal entertainment skills.  No one wants their guests to wander aimlessly trying to figure things out.

Help your visitors by following this guide to being the most welcoming and thoughtful person with whom your guest has ever stayed. 

Guest Bedroom

  • Wash all bed linens. Even if no one has used the guest bed in a long time, at least rewash the pillow cases. Otherwise the bed may feel or smell dusty and musty. You want your guest’s olfactory experience to be pleasant and relaxing.
  • Speaking of pillows, spend a few bucks and buy new ones if needed. Replace them if the ones on the guest bed are poor quality older pillows that were banished from another bedroom. Pillows can be found at very low cost and a fresh bit of poof will feel lovely under your guest’s head.
  • Add extra blankets at the foot of the bed. People’s bodies operate across a wide scale when it comes to temperature. Even if you feel like you are always hot, a person who usually feels cold will really appreciate those extra blankets.
  • If possible, have a TV and/or white noise machine in the room. Some people fall asleep well while watching television, and others are very sensitive to sound and will sleep better with the hum of a fan or something similar.

Next read Part 2 – Kitchen, Guest Bathroom, Pets

The 60-30-10 Rule

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When you set out to decorate your home it usually begins with a million and one ideas about what colors to use, all of which can overwhelm you and leave you feeling like you have too many to choose from. This can make deciding on your final color scheme seem like an impossible task but there are great tools you can use to narrow down your thoughts and inspiration and channel it into the design you envision.

 

There is a golden rule when it comes to decorating a room and it holds true for any room, no matter what. This is the 60-30-10 rule and this is a great way to begin organizing your ideas and color schemes. What the rule means is this—about 60% of the space you are decorating should be the dominant color. This means that the dominant color in your room will be the walls, and a general rule of thumb is to keep this dominant color a neutral color. This way if you decide to change color palette elsewhere in the room, the walls will always match.

 

The next 30% of your room should be your secondary color. This will account for much of your upholstery on your furniture. You can get a little more creative here, but it is a good idea to not stray too far from the neutral color family for the same reasons you want your walls to be neutral as well. It makes it easier to reinvent your color schemes down the road if you don’t have to repaint your walls or replace your furniture.

 

Finally, the last 10% will be your accent color. This ten percent is where you get to play with your color scheme. Add a pop of color with a bright area rug or a statement piece of art on your wall. Choose a color family and stick with that in your accents throughout the room. The colors do not have to match, but they should go. For instance, you might have artwork hanging that contains varying shades of the red family. You might then use a coral throw pillow on your couch to add another touch of color to your room.

 

This golden rule of interior design is a great rule of thumb for those who are starting from scratch decorating a room. It is a useful and easy to remember concept that helps regulate color schemes and results in a balanced result.

Color Pallet: Zebra Candy – Gray, Lavender, Plumberry, Onyx, Aqua

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We love this look because it accomplishes something that’s quite challenging. It manages to look refined and classy while still being oodles of fun! The trick is balance! With too much of the fun stuff, such as the zebra pattern and the candy colors, the space would feel more like a teenager’s bedroom. With too much of the staid gray and traditional molding, the space would seem stuffy and boring. The lighthearted details would become irrelevant if they there less predominate amidst the gray. 

To help you accomplish this look we are going to break the elements of the room down in sections because it’s often easier to understand them that way. If you happen to be a novice, this approach will make learning our design a breeze! Just read the bullet points for each aspect of the décor and extract what works best for your personal vision.

The color pallet: Lavender, Light Steel Grey, Plumberry, Onyx, Pastel Aqua

What makes the colors work well together?

  • Plumberry and aqua are complimentary because the Plumberry has a red undertone and the aqua has a green under tone (red and green are complimentary.)
  • The lavender also hints at a Triadic color scheme. This is three colors on the color that coordinate nicely because they equally spaced apart on the wheel.
  • The onyx and light steel gray are a perfect base for the candy colors because they are bold and straightforward. Thus they don’t muddy the overall effect.

What makes it classy and refined?

  • Straight lines
  • Geometric shapes
  • Limited use of pattern
  • Simplicity
  • Fresh flowers
  • Traditional molding
  • The light steel gray

What makes the room fun and whimsical?

  • The zebra pattern
  • The spunky floral arrangement
  • The pop of candy colors

What makes the room glamorous?

  • The shiny, onyx furniture
  • The grand gray walls with detailed, traditional molding.

What gives the room some edge?

  • The shiny, onyx furniture with sharp corners

From the Floors Up

From the Floors Up blog was created with the goal of providing a destination for consumers, designers and those interested in the flooring, design, and kitchen and bath industries. Here you’ll find, current, accurate and informative information that is always just a click away!

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