Hotel-style bathrooms sell homes

When you're selling your home, the bathroom needs to be pristine. Spotlessly clean and tidy.  No toothpaste, no children's toys or potties, no wet towels! Try to add a plant, a few expensive, matching toiletries, fluffy new towels (just put them out for viewings), and put the lights on for photographs. Imagine it's a beautiful hotel bathroom!

Before

After

Shopping...

I've been shopping for this house today - I'm staging it next week. (Don't worry, the homeowners have been working on it since these photos were taken!!)  Looking forward to the challenge!!!

We sort offices too....

I was recently asked if I could adapt my Consultations to suit an office environment - of course the answer was 'yes'!  Exactly the same principals.  Furniture layout, de-clutter, overall appeal to visiting clients, storage solutions, flow etc. 

This consultation was for planning an office move to new premises, but it's the same principles for sorting an existing office - give me a call.

DIY home staging... from one consultation

These homeowners only needed a Consultation to set them off on the right track! They followed my directions, and enjoyed preparing their house for sale, once they knew what was required. 

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Dining Room

                                    

More photos of this house on my next blog entry...

An amazing transformation... from messy rented house into a calm space to buy

This shows a great transformation, from a house being rented out, to one that's been prepared for sale. It shows why trying to sell a house whilst it is still being rented out is not a good idea!!

Hall

Before

After

Living Room (!!)

Before

After

The back garden

Before

After

Before

After

I learn something new every day about clutter...

Over the years, I've met so many people with clutter problems that I thought I knew all the triggers - ie. all the reasons why they have been unable to let certain things go from their lives, and have consequently become surrounded by clutter. For example, bereavement (holding on to everything), loss of confidence (marriage break-up, redundancy), overly-tidy parents (leads to children growing-up rebelling against this), very busy families (no time to tidy up), empty-nesters (as children grow up and leave, parents hold on to everything for them, and buy more things to help fill the gap they have left - new hobbies etc), living through wartime (waste not want not) and spoilt children (used to being surrounded by all their toys but never being taught how to tidy them away!) etc.

Here are some examples:

(See the De-Clutter photo gallery for more examples.)

But this week I was sad to find another trigger for cluttering. Years ago, my client had been in an abusive relationship and was too worried to let anything go because of the consequences of it not being there if it was required. After several happy years with a new partner, my client is finally ready to start letting go, and sorting out, and although there were a few difficult moments during the day, the three of us really managed to make a difference.  Well done to a lovely couple. x

What's causing all the clutter - part 5

My fifth and final new de-clutter client last week had nothing to really worry about.  She isn't a hoarder, she doesn't have terrible clutter problems, she's just had a series of events happen over the last few years that have caused her to be surrounded by "stuff".  Caring for poorly family members has taken a higher priority than sorting the house out, and now that she has time to think about the house again, it will all come together quickly.

Lots of boxes were packed for charity, and lots of treasures were re-discovered during the day - I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Once someone is ready and committed to de-cluttering a space, it isn't a difficult process, and the rewards are incredible.  Emotions often run high, and everyone's energy runs out by late afternoon, but the excitement at seeing the space cleared has a much longer-lasting effect.  Well done L! A great job done.

What's causing all the clutter - part 3

My third de-clutter client this week wasn't really wanting to de-clutter in the true sense of the word - she needs to create space in the house and tidy it up, or her estate agent won't put it on the market!!! She wasn't ready to let anything go, she just planned to store it for use in the next home.  Of course, once she could see just how many boxes of old clothes were being taken to storage, and just how many boxes of old children's toys were being packed, and just how many items from old hobbies were being gathered together, she automatically started to let some of them go to charity.  Well done C.J.!!  We'll sell that home of yours AND save you a fortune on storage!!

What's causing all the clutter - part 2

My second de-clutter client of this week is having a major problem with books, magazines and newspapers.  They are everywhere - in every room, in every cupboard, wardrobe, under every bed, on every surface.  And the worst sign of all is that some of the magazines are still in their clear plastic covers/envelopes, from where magazines on subscriptions arrive and don't even get opened!

Bringing every single book, magazine and newspaper all together into one room is the answer.  This will immediately create lots of storage space in every room for all the other items that haven't previously fit into cupboards, so a room by room tidy-up can now start to happen.  The room with all the books/magazines/newspapers can be tackled when the homeowners are in the right mood for sorting.  They will remove anything no longer wanted, and organise what's left. A designated space then needs to be created for these items - a series of shelving units maybe, and future subscriptions need to be carefully monitored.

What's causing all the clutter -Part one...

Part one - one of five new de-clutter clients this week.

Main cause of clutter - open shelving units for storage.

In the shops they look like this:

In reality they look like this, or worse:

Open shelves are for display items only - not storage!!

The de-clutter drought is over!!

What on earth has happened this week?!! I've only had a handful of de-clutter clients in the last 6 months, everyone's been concentrating on home staging and budget makeovers. BUT, I've got FIVE new de-clutter clients booked for next week! Wow! Looking forward to it.

Show the rooms off to their full potential

This beautiful living room was even more stunning when the toys were tidied away.

Estate Agents want bedrooms

I'm being told more and more by Estate Agents to set all upstairs rooms up as bedrooms when you're selling your home.  I usually examine the local market before deciding whether one of the bedrooms should be shown as a study or not, but I'm happy to take the agents opinion on this - they know their buyers best!

Before - a large bedroom used as a study

After, a simple transformation into a bedroom - made even easier as there was a suitable space downstairs for the study.

SOLD! With two buyers to choose from..

I've just had one of those lovely emails from a client - "WE'VE SOLD!"

Two potential buyers, so they had a choice!  Brilliant.

Here's the full house:    http://www.homemakeoverservice.co.uk/e17.php

Remove old fixtures - tatty bedroom overhead cupboards can really take over a room

 

Before - These old, broken cupboards were all that you noticed when you entered the room

After - We removed them, repaired the wall, and added a headboard

Before - even in a larger property, the overhead cupboards were dated and overpowering

After - wow this room looked huge!!

Don't be scared or reluctant to remove old cupboards like this when you're selling your home.  You have to remove everything from them when you're packing anyway, so why not do it first, and double the appeal of the room.  No-one else will want old, broken units, and they may not realise how easy it is to remove them.  

Put all your clutter on display...

An ex-declutter client of mine has just shown me this link.  A Chinese artist, Song Dong, has put 10,000 of his mother's posessions on display in an exhibition in London - five decades of clutter! 

http://m.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/14/chinese-artist-clutter-london-exhibition?cat=artanddesign&type=article

Don't create storerooms, you're throwing money away

Before - a store room, unused and unloved

After - a useful study with seating area

The homeowners didn't know what to do with this room. Their family had grown up and they didn't need the space themselves, so it became a storeroom. That's fine, until you want to sell the property. Then, your "business head" has to take over. This room accounted for one quarter of the floor space downstairs, so if it didn't have a sellable "use", it would be like throwing money away. There was already a good dining space in the living area, so it wasn't needed as a dining room. The best use in this case was a study. Useful for adults, teenagers, easy to convert to a playroom - instantly it becomes a talking point instead of a waste of space.

House Doctor makeover...

I'm a Senior Consultant and Mentor on the House Doctor Network, and helped Ann Maurice to set up this network several years ago. As part of the training for the new House Doctor consultants, we do a full-house makeover with them.
This springtime, the course is being run in Kegworth, Derbyshire. I will soon be starting the hunt for a suitable property to work on in the area, so please watch this space and contact me if you know of any posibilities. It's not completely free, the homeowners pay for the new furnishings, but all the design and styling work is provided at no cost. More details to follow soon. Thanks.

I'm definitely being set some challenges this week...

                                                                                                                               This is the "Dining Hall" of a property I'm looking forward to staging. How would you improve it?! 

One Day Makeover - more photos

Before

After - what's missing?

Before

After - I removed 2 chairs as they were blocking the "flow!