Cathie Daly, Design East, Inc. Blog

Exterior Decorating - Creating Curb Appeal

Everyone wants their home to make a really good first impression from the moment someone lays eyes on your property.  This is where knowing that the value of curb appeal is so important when considering selling your home.

Here are some of the basic yet very important exterior design steps with proven success to make your home sell faster!

#1 Clean Up

Cleaning up your entryway and refreshing your total landscape around the perimeter of your yard is always a good place to start improving your curb appeal potential with cost effective improvements such as removing dead limbs.  This will allure that potential buyer to remember your home.

 

Take a new look at your home!  Everything gets dirty, so clean windows, sills, railings and porches and decks.  Use a power washer to clean your home, walkways, shutters, and driveway. 

Clean and power wash gutters.

  

#2 Weeding and Pruning

Next, take a look at your garden.  Manicuring your current landscape and cutting back, attending to bare patches and ultimately adding seasonal plantings no matter what time of year, will give your home additional pop!

#3  Fresh Paint

Update your home by simply painting your front door, shutters, and mailbox, and use the same color paint as your overall home paint color for the garage doors vs a contrast.   Consider repainting your house numbers or just buy new ones.  Look for anything that might be faded and give it a fresh coat of paint to make it warm and inviting.

#4 Lighting

Exterior light fixtures can date a home, so replace any old or broken light fixtures front and back.

#5 Inviting Front Porch

Place an inviting new welcome mat at your front door and consider potted plants if appropriate for the space.

Making these changes will define your home and ultimately give your home the extra sense of integrity that everyone can appreciate.

PRIOR TO SELLING YOUR HOME … “STAGING TO SELL”

No matter how challenging you feel today’s market is, it is imperative to shorten the length of time that your house is up for sale as well as getting the best possible offer.  In order to achieve these goals one must recognize that there are critical steps that need to be taken, with or without a design professional, it is important to walk the interior and exterior of your home from the perspective of the buyer.    

Starting with the exterior…

Look at the home from the buyers’ perspective and create a curb appeal that maximizes good qualities and minimizes the less attractive features.  The goal is to embrace potential buyers before they enter your home.

· Replace dated mail boxes

· Update exterior lighting

· Paint front door and shutters

· Power wash house & decks

· Update landscape- trimming trees and bushes

Now the interior…

The goal here is to minimize accessories and wall décor and to create a more neutral environment.  Simplify.

· Fresh paint and remove wallpaper- suggest bright white trim and ceilings- neutral color pallet on the walls

· Utilize solids, minimize prints

· De-clutter- pack up now vs. later and remove all personal and dated items

· Replace dated light fixtures and purchase new ones that you can use in your new home

· Remove excess furniture that can make a room feel too small- you want potential buyers to walk through the home without obstructions

· Consider purchasing new furniture that will also be taken to your new home

· Replace worn carpet with hardwood or inexpensive cream carpet 

Kitchens & Bathrooms

· The heart and soul of every home- these areas can make or break a sale

· Purchase new counter tops, sinks, stainless appliances, and nickel hardware

· Remove wallpaper

· Replace light fixtures

· Buy new solid neutral shower curtains, rugs, and towels

Bedrooms

· Minimize furniture- most homeowners have way too much furniture- less is more

· Purchase solid comforters

· Remove excess dated artwork

Garages & Basements

· DE-CLUTTER

Before the house goes on the market you may want to have a home inspector come in so you can make repairs now vs. later.

TIPS ON DOWNSIZING by Cathie Daly, Move by Design

MOVING ON…  MOVE BY DESIGN

Downsizing can be a stressful process for anyone, but especially for seniors who find themselves with a endless to-do list  … a lifetime of belongings to sort through ... tough decisions to qualify what to take and what to do with many years worth of treasured possessions.  Adding to the challenge is the fact that today families are more spread out geographically and not always available to help with the moving process.

Making the decision to move is usually the first important step in the moving process!  Planning for the move is just as important as the move itself so you don’t feel rushed!  The following tips and wide range of services provide an element of compassionate objectivity for seniors taking the plunge into a more simplified lifestyle.

#1 Home Staging

Professional design assistance to stage current home maximizing your homes sales potential prior to listing the home is a critical step.  This should be a two step process in order to make it more simplistic. 

 

a)    First step is establish an exterior and interior hit-list by walking the home with client, family member if available, and professional home stager  (approximately 1.5 hrs) providing  client with a thorough documentation of what needs to be done.

b)   Once list has been reviewed, second step is to acquire actual budgets for agreed work to be completed and timelines discussed again prior to listing your home.

#2 Sorting

Start Small-Take time to talk to family members or a downsizing consultant to review all the possibilities. We all tend to keep things we don’t necessarily need or will ever use.  Start qualifying by each room items you will want to keep, second will be things you are going to find a new home for, the third will be things you are going to give family members, and finally the fourth will be things that are ready to be thrown out.  Take a good hard look and be honest.  Why are you keeping it?

 

#3 Photos

Take pictures of the inside of your home as a reference for future home staging notes.  These photos will also help in re-staging items making your new place feel like home.

 

#4 Room Layout

Obtain a room layout of your new home - Establish a proper furniture layout so you can decide proper spacing and what of your furniture will fit and what won’t.

 

#5 Packing

Hire outside help - Sometimes it’s easier to work with an outside professional to expedite the process.

 

#6 Moving Company

In order to be valued conscious, its best to involve the moving company for a quote once you have downsized and have established what is actually going to transfer to your new home.  Coordinating movers for pick up, transfer, unpacking, and restaging services needs to be assigned

 

Recognizing there is a “critical path” for a successful, easier, transition of these activities; make sure you are partnering with qualified PROFESSIONALS that can help guide you with any or all of these responsibilities and eliminate additional emotional stress!