Spring Curb Appeal

Hi folks!

Whew...it's been a little bit since I've had the chance to post here, but I'm happy to report that I have been very busy restyling homes!

I thought I'd jump back in by sharing one of my staging techniques that has worked really well, left my clients happy and made for great listing photos- using color to enhance curb appeal.  Here are my top 5 ways to add color and enhance your curb appeal.  You can do this whether you are restyling to sell or restyling to enjoy your current home.

1.  Paint the front door!
Now, I know if you live in a HOA restricted area like me, you can't get too creative with your door color, but for those who can- look at the some of these great examples.
I recently met another local Stager/Redesigner and in checking out her blog, became envious of her GREAT asparagus green door color!

 

source:  Holly's Front Door

 

 

I've also seen a trend using gorgeous shades of blue/turquoise on front doors lately like this one.  I would absolutely choose this color for my own home if I could.

 

 

source:  Linda Holt Interiors

 

 

2.  Place a beautiful pot (or a few) of flowers on the front porch. 

 The photos above show great examples of this.  A few white pots with yellow flowers make a big impact with that turquoise front door, but even if the door were simply white, brown or black, the flowers give the front of the home that added fun pop of color. Use colorful pots for your flowers too! Because I can't have that turquoise door, I use a nice turquoise planter on my front porch, It's a great way to draw the attention of potential buyers or to just add some color for Spring.

 

If you don't have space for potted flowers on the front porch, consider adding flower boxes.  This is a great DIY version from one of my favorite blogs Young House Love

 

 

 

3.  Paint your exterior light fixtures.

When was the last time you took a look at your exterior light fixtures?  As long as they are working, we are usually happy, right?   But....what about trying to spruce them up with a new color?  As I mentioned, with the restrictions in my 'hood. I can't do much, but the formerly terracotta colored fixtures turned an awful shade of pink in the Texas sun, so I cleaned the glass and gave them a fresh coat of copper paint and they look so much nicer!  I forgot to take a before photo of the pink, so....SHHHHHH.....don't tell my neighbor that I took a photo of hers since they turned the same pink shade.  Here's the neighbor's before and my after.

 

BEFORE





 





AFTER Painting 







  

 4. Add a bench/chairs and colorful pillows

For those of you that have space, adding seating and colorful pillows will make you or your potential buyer want to sit and stay a while.  I try to bring one of the most predominant colors in the home out to the front porch/yard so that there is a nice flow from the front to the interior of the home once you enter. Here are some great examples.

 

source:  Home Depot

 

 

source:  The Idea Room

 

 

 

source:   Colors Mixed Together

 

 

5.  Add Something Unique

 Show your personality!  Maybe you've found a great colorful garden stool that would make a great accent to your front porch.  Add a colorful doormat or outdoor rug to your seating area to a great conversation spot or give a quick coat of spray paint to a metal wall hanging and hang in in the entry. 

 



 

 

 



 

I know we're all ready to ditch this cold weather (yes, it's even cold again in TX this week),  so I hope these tips will help inspire you to start planning for some beautiful Spring weather and enjoying your outdoor spaces again! 

 

Xo,

Jeanne

 

 

 



Guest Room DIY headboard

Happy Friday!  We're kicking off a three day weekend here in Austin as school was cancelled due to a possible ice day.  There's no sign of ice yet, and being from Chicago originally, I have a hard time not laughing at the many delays or cancellations we've had this year, but I won't complain about the extra time with my sweet kiddo!  Note....when I say "extra" time, I mean he's in the other room playing Minecraft while I'm blogging. :) 

Anyway, I thought I'd follow up yesterdays post with a post about the DIY headboard I created for our guest room.  It's an easy way for you to get an upholstered headboard for less.  First, let's look at the headboard that inspired mine.

 West Elm Nailhead Upholstered Headboard

My version

We still need to hang it on the wall, so it will sit a bit higher on the bed, but I am already in LOVE with it and the total cost was $60 versus $499 for the West Elm headboard. 

To give credit where it is due, I followed the tutorial from http://freckleschick.blogspot.com/ to make my headboard.  Here's the details:  DIY Nailhead headboard

I'm not a bad copy cat, right???  

If you're really feeling creative, she also made another gorgeous curvy one here:  DIY nailhead trim headboard- the sequel.  Have fun with your choice of fabric and even try one of these shapes: Headboard shapes.

Do you think you'll give this one a try?  If you've created your own version, leave me a link to it in the comments,  I would LOVE to check it out!!

Have a GREAT weekend and stay warm! LOL

Xo,

Jeanne

DIY- Fake Headboard

Happy Thursday! It's been a VERY productive week for my business, continuing the great start to 2014!
I did a staging consultation on Saturday and I'm excited to be staging the home in a few weeks when the homeowner is finished with their projects.  I'll of course, share the before and after shots.
The homeowner was able to purchase a new home without selling the existing one and they'll be taking most of the furnishings with them, so I'll be staging a fairly vacant home.  I'm very excited to show you how I'll be staging this home using only my inventory and some pieces that will be left in the home for me to use.  I LOVE the challenge!
 One of the bedrooms is currently being used as an office and will need to be turned back into a bedroom.  I will be "faking" a bed by dressing a twin sized Aerobed in this room and needed something to give the illusion of a headboard so that it truly looks like a regular bed.  I grabbed a few items that I had around the house and DIY'd this twin "headboard" in about 30 minutes. It is super light weight and easy to transport for staging.

The supplies:

• One piece of foam board
• One piece of foam sheet
• Fabric
• Glue gun or spray glue
• Roll of nailhead trim

The Process:

• Use a piece of foam board that works for your bed size.  For a Twin, use a piece around 39 in. wide, Full- 54in., Queen- 60 in.  The piece I used is only 30 in. wide because that is what I had lying around and I am only creating the illusion of a headboard for staging, not concerned about a perfect fit.
• Cut a piece of foam to fit the board.  I left a one inch gap on each side to add nailhead trim.
• Use spray glue to attach foam to the board

• Layout your fabric with the design side down (again choose fabric yardage according to bed/foam board size), position your board on top, wrap fabric around and use spray glue or hot glue to attach it to the board.  I saw another tutorial recently that used making tape to hold the fabric on so that they could easily change the fabric to stage different rooms.

•  Be sure to check that the fabric is pulled tight and lays flat from the front as you are wrapping and attaching it to the board. Glue all four sides to the board leaving the corners for last.
• I failed to take a picture of how I finished the corners, but I used the tutorial that Jenny from the blog Little Green Notebook wrote for her upholstered bench corners.  http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-upholster-bench-corners.html?m=1
• You can leave the headboard as is or add nailhead trim.  I had some trim left over from the roll I purchased to make a headboard for my guest bedroom, so I used it here. If you've never used nailhead trim before, it comes in a roll where you only need to nail in every fifth nail and gives you a nice, straight line.  So much easier than nailing in each individual nailhead.

The finished headboard ready to hang



I'll show you how it looks with the bed when the staging is complete, but hope this helps give you an idea of how easy it is to DIY an upholstered headboard.  Come back tomorrow to see the DIY upholstered Queen headboard I made for my guest room. 

Xo,
Jeanne