Waking Up A Tired Bathroom

I had a good day today helping one of my fellow stagers prepare an occupied property that is just about to be listed in Halifax. She asked me if I'd mind showcasing the bathrooms and I responded that I love doing bathrooms. As a matter of fact my daughter, an architect, has dubbed me the 'Bathroom Queen'. She is impressed with the way I transform nondescript bathrooms into spa like retreats without renovating or updating the existing space. I rely on my best friend 'paint' and the many accessories, pieces of wall art, towels and drapery panels turned shower curtains that I am amassing.

In the bathroom above , the stained counter top and chipped sink had to be replaced as did the faucet and taps. There is an alternative now available in Nova Scotia to replacing counter tops and chipped sinks and tubs. Check out the Enviromedic web site. Their process can be used to revive tired ceramic wall and floor tiles as well! Next time, to save labour costs and the mess of replacing sinks and counter tops, I'm going that route.

If you can't afford to renovate a tired bathroom, I'd love to help you wake it up and garner many a Rave Re:view. If you want to start from scratch I'd be more than happy to help you as well!

More Paint Pointers

I just Picked up the latest issue of Style At Home magazine and one of their articles is all about

'The Power of Paint". I feel like everyone will think that I latched on to their idea when truly the timing is coincidental !!

I want to share a few more photos that attest to the power of paint and how it highlights or hides a property's features.

The feel of this powder/laundry room was made more tranquil when the baseboards, the radiator and the transition into the appliance alcove ( once a shower) were painted the wall colour (Cable Knit by Benjamin Moore).

The master bedroom walls were originally mauve. I have no issue with mauve walls and if I was wearing my decorating hat and my clients loved mauve I would create the mauve room of their dreams. But this house was being staged and so out came the can of warm neutral paint ( Cable Knit) and once again paint's power can be seen. Doesn't it look like new wider trim was added to the window frame. Not so! Same trim , same window -new look achieved with a coat of Benjamin Moore's Simply White.

Painting the nondescript basic wooden doors white creates a soothing, cleaner, richer, fresher, new look for the master bedroom.





While I am a fan of rusty red and have left strong coloured accent walls untouched when staging a property, because this room was not going to be furnished, I knew that a calming neutral pallet would be more to the liking of potential buyers than would an in your face red wall that had no furnishings to tame its bold colour. And once again, notice how the painted doors create a look that is more high end than the look that would have greeted buyers had the doors been left in their original state.

Design tip: Paint is a Home Stager's best friend. It can be yours too but if the task of selecting the correct colour is too daunting, please, send me a photo. I'd love to help you garner many a

Rave Re:view.

Paint-A Home Stager's Best Friend

Paint -as I wrote in my last blog entry-has the power to camouflage or embelish. Paint is a Home Stager's best friend. It can transform any room. Take a look at these before and after photos to see what I mean.

Compare the trim on the pre and post painted sliding glass door. See how the painted trim creates a frame around the doors that makes more of a statement. There are those who believe that painting wood is sacreligious. Not I. My decision -to paint or not to paint wood- is dependent upon the look I want to achieve, the features I choose to highlight or hide and the condition of the wood. Look at how clean and refreshing the painted trim looks against the walls with their saturated camel colouring. The darker more saturated camel was chosen to help the kitchen cabinetry pop as well. The white used to paint both the kitchen cabinets and the trim throughout the house is Benjamin Moore's 'Simply White.' The camel colour used elsewhere in the house, a lighter shade, was selected to brighten up the sometimes dark living space.

Radiators- also touched upon in my last blog- can be a major eyesore. A Home Stager's best friend, PAINT, can provide a quick and easy fix. On the wall to the right of the sliding glass door, the radiator was camouflaged by painting it camel. White became the colour of choice as the L shaped radiator wound its way along the base of the breakfast bar. With the radiators blending into the walls, home buyers are better able to focus on the positive features this house has to offer.

Take a look at the white door in the picture above. It's height and whiteness are what attract the eyes' of viewers who as a result hardly notice the unit of cabinets adjacent to it. See how the cabinets become more of a focal point once the door, painted camel, blends in with the walls.

By painting the wooden coat rack/shelf the same colour as the walls, it too fades into the background and allows the cabinets to take centre stage.

When you look at the powder room transformation below, you can see why paint IS one of a Home Stager's best friends!

Design Tip: Think before you paint. Ask yourself what it is you want to highlight in a space and what is it you choose to hide? Not sure? Send me a photo. I'll be happy to help you garner

Rave Re:views.

The Power Of Paint

Let's talk 'paint'. One feature of the home I just staged, that could not be changed due to budgetary constraints, was the camel/indigo blue 'Spanish style' floor tile that began at the front door and ran throughout the hallway, into the kitchen, the powder room and beyond to the mudroom/garage entryway. While I love the colours of the tile, the fact that the tile is no longer current and is the first feature of the house that greets buyers, necessitated a solution that created calm and allowed the tile to feel like it belongs. While the tile stuck out like a sore thumb because of it's strong pattern and outdatedness, this was amplified further by the different paint colours used both on the walls, doors and trim work. Everthing stuck out! Nothing blended in. The result- a very busy, chaotic , unattractive 'fixer up feeling' front foyer.

My challenge- the first of many -How to create an inviting foyer in spite of the busy pattern on the floor tile?

The solution- paint almost everything one colour-trim, doors, radiators and walls included.

My one regret, as I view these pictures now, is that I neglected to have the white trim running up the stairs painted the wall colour. The white baseboard in its brightness breaks the calm and competes with the wooden French doors which are the one architectual detail that make a statement in the foyer. Lesson learned. Take photos as the project progresses. The lens of the camera allows one to observe what the eye does not always notice.

Many people think that trim should always be painted a different colour than the walls and.... that doors should match the trim colour and not be painted the same colour as the walls. If the trim is white then so must the doors and all the woodwork be white.

I beg to differ. Trim, radiator and door colour choices are dependent upon what one wishes to emphasize or camouflage. In the case of the hallway, the busy nature and intensity of the floor required quiet everywhere else. Hence the front doors and trim, the bifold closet doors, the radiators and the inconsequential baseboards were all painted Benjamin Moore's Cable Knit (cc 306).

Baseboards that are nondescript usually fare better when they are painted the same colour as the walls. This adds height to the walls and camouflages the fact that the baseboards lack character.

More paint tips next time.

Design tip: Calm busy flooring by painting the surrounding trim, walls, baseboards, doors and radiators one of the quieter colours in the pattern.

You can count on Rave Re:views when you do so.

It's been a long time since I've written. Sorry for my absence but I'm back. I want my blog and the advice I impart to reflect the work I do. March was a slow month. A slow month results in fewer blog entries.

One project kept me busy for a couple of weeks in April and I would like to share some of the results.

Once again a Home Staging job that was to simply involve the rental and placement of furniture, wall art and accessories in an unoccupied property, became much more involved than was anticipated. It required that I become a full out project manager responsible for finding a contractor, electrician, painter, window and carpet cleaner etc. New fixtures, doorknobs and a bathroom sink, faucet and counter top had to be chosen and purchased. The job kept me hopping and I loved every minute of it.

Visualizing Wall Colour Made Easy

Hope you've been having fun fooling around with mydeco. Along with mydeco and Polyvore ( a site I shared with you in a previous blog that I use to create design/mood boards) I have discovered the benefits of Sherwin Williams' Colour Visualizer. It's a great tool that enables you to view rooms in varying colours. My clients, who are often both excited and nervous about changing the colours in their living spaces, love seeing the finished product before the painting has begun.

One such couple recently hired me for a colour consultation.

The photos below show you the options I presented to them. The furnishings and accessories were already in place when they contacted me. Which do you like best?

Like any tool, the Colour Visualizer needs a bit of practice to master. After uploading a photo, you mask off a space you want to paint. At first I simply used the brush tools and my edges were very uneven. So I started practicing with the tool that masks off complete areas and now have a good sense of how to use it efficiently. There are 2 such tools; one is labeled 'rectangle' and the other 'polygon'. You can paint the walls, ceilings, trim, doors and even furnishings. I have painted over bathroom vanities and window and bed coverings as well.

Have fun with the Colour Visualizer. If you want some colour suggestions or confirmation of your colour choices, just send me a photo. I'd be happy to help you garner Rave Re:views.

Oops! In my haste to pack for Toronto and write my last blog on March 11th close to the midnight hour, I neglected to actually post the entry. It wasn't until the following week when my husband wondered why I hadn't written a blog since early March that I realized my faux pas. Lesson learned: Don't pack and write a blog entry a couple of hours before you have get up early to catch a 6:00 a.m flight!!!

My Deco -Easy to Use Interior Design Floor Planner

I just wanted to introduce you to a site called 'mydeco'. I happened upon it while in search of

an easy online site that I could use to create floor plans. A few years ago I purchased a program when I was designing the interior of my husband's animal hospital. It was called 'Punch-Interior Design'; appropriately named because in attempting to learn how to use it, I wanted to punch my computer over and over and over again!!!! I never did master it. I tried again about a month ago, came close to punching the computer and my husband, then gave up!!!!

Now, I know that I should learn how to use a more sophisticated design program and fully intend to do so, but for the time being 'mydeco' suits me fine. Basically there are items that can be purchased or can just be arranged in a floor plan . The floor plan can be viewed both aerially in 2D or side on 3D. The colours and styles of both the hard and soft furnishings may not be spot on, but I have been able to create facsimiles that help my clients better visualize what their rooms will look like.

I am on the hunt for an easy to use click and drag floor plan/furniture placement program that can be personalized more than can mydeco . I have heard that Icovia and HGTV are two easy to use programs, but reviews suggest otherwise for the HGTV program . The Icovia reviews are hot and cold.

Unlike mydeco which is free, Icovia and the HGTV design program cost money.

Any suggestions???????

So enjoy mydeco . I don't think you'll feel the urge to punch. All you have to do is click and drag. I'm sure your designs will garner Rave Re:views!!

I'm off to Toronto to visit family and friends so I probably won't be posting again until the end of next week. Be careful.... clicking and dragging can become addictive.

Mirrors Are A Reflection Of The World We Live In

I recently read a highly informative posting about the placement of mirrors, written a few years back by one of my Canadian Staging Professional course instructors. Because mirrors reflect the world in which we live, I have always taken into account the reflection produced by mirrors I hang throughout our living space. I have a love affair with interesting looking mirrors and try to incorporate them everywhere. Stylish mirrors can be an inexpensive form of artwork as long as the reflection they produce is pleasing to the eye. That is the essence of the article written by Jackson. If only my pictures looked as professional as do his!!!!

You can't really see the reflection in the mirrors below. I'm sharing them because I love them. I love their uniqueness. I love the fact that each frame has the same brown/black colouring but that each has its own design. I love the fact that the mirror on each frame is a different geometric shape. Maybe I'm drawn to them because I'm a 'rewired' elementary school teacher. Oh! And I love their price-$16.00 each at Winners/ HomeSense. Originally I purchased two but a few days later, the set was made complete when a third called out to me as I wandered the aisles at another Winners' location.

On another note...... I am in heaven! I met a lovely family of 4 who met me through my blog and have hired me for a redesign project. The bright, articulate, song writer to be 13 year old female member of the household and I are working together to create a living space that will meet her needs and tastes.

Wall colour choice-grey. Furniture colours- white and espresso or black. Accent colour-lime green. The room already contains the coolest, vintage- look green patterned swivel chair you can imagine. Should be done by the end of the month since March break is upon us. There will be at least one cool mirror in the room. You can count on that!

Oh and the young lady's name happens to be the same as my daughter's nickname.

Must be -meant to be!!!

Do you want to garner Rave Re:views?

Design Tip : Consider a mirror's reflection before you position it on a wall.

Not sure how high to hang it? Send me a photo. I'll be happy to help you out.

Here's the link to Jackson's posting on Active Rain called Reflecting On Home Staging.