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Staging your home for youself !

Staging is not just for selling your house. We live in our homes and because its our own space we tend to let things go without even noticing. Its unintended, it just happens and the fact is when you walk by a crack in the wall or a pile of shoes at the door, clothes on the floor, eventually you don't even see it anymore. The problem is odors start building up, your space start to shrink and you feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed in your own home.

We do so much work in preparing our homes for sale on the market so potential buyers will fall in love with our spaces, why not do it for ourselves. How great a feeling it is to firstly have a great curb appeal to welcome us home from work or a holiday. Having a clean and decluttered entryway when you enter will keep you in the same serene frame of mind that you had when you drove up to your house. Perhaps your first stop will be the kitchen and upon entering you find you counters neat and clean, perhaps you set the table before you left and there are fresh flowers that you purchased on put on the table as a special treat. I believe this will give you that extra bit of energy after a long days work to prepare a meal for you and your mate and or family. There is nothing more depressing than having to do dishes and clean up before preparing your meal.

At the end of a long day there is nothing better than entering you bedroom and it makes you feel like your in a hotel room. You know that feeling when you get to your holiday destination and you open the hotel room and see the bed made up and it looks so inviting, we can have that same thing in our homes. Hotel sheets or good quality sheets can be purchased almost anywhere and for a small investment its so worth it to treat yourself with that little bit of luxury every night, you deserve it. You should make your bed every day and spend a few minutes to always tidy up before you go. These few moments you spend will be so rewarding because your mind will never think about the mess you left behind and all the things that need done, this will make you agitated, instead your thoughts will be more like how you cant wait to get home and relax and enjoy yourself.

Having things already in their places also helps in easier daily clean ups. Organization is so important as it has a domino effect that we carry to all other areas of our homes, cars, workplaces etc. Teaching our small children will also prepare them in the same type of lifestyle for their future.

So I say DO IT FOR YOU! The other good thing is your always ready to welcome guests and if you decide to sell, you already prepared and there is no pressure put on yourself in doing all that work in a rushed amount of time.

You can hire a professional home stager to help you, even if your not moving. Professional stagers are experts and will help you get your home in the shape you deserve.

Visit my website for more information or call for an appointment if your in York Region area of Ontario and I will be happy to help.

Rose Arangio



Visionary Spaces

How to give your closets and shelves the "WOW"factor

  Most people use their closets as a place to store anything and everything, which creates that really messy and cluttered place that you don't want anyone to see. Most often we cant even find what we are looking for through all that stuff.

  Creating a closet with wow is easier than you think, de-cluttering, a little paint, re-organization, a few cool storage boxes and viola! you will want to keep the door open and show it off.

  Weather you using your closet for clothes, home office, kids desk or linens you can make it look terrific.  Firstly remove everything and assess you space, then make up some rough drawings and notes according to what your needs are you can decide how to divide up the space with the use of shelves, dividers and or table.

  Now the fun part, choose a great wall paper or complementary paint colour that will go with the room that the closet is in. You can go bold and dramatic or soft subtle.   Next place your shelves and or bars.

  Begin to place your things back in, in an orderly and neat manor. Use coordinating colour baskets to store things in, this will keep things looking neat, add colour and keep you organized. There are so many great storage ideas in specialty storage stores, I like to go to Solutions in Canada, its an organized living solutions store that has great everything you could possibly need to address your needs. Its good just to go and get ideas before you decide to take on the task. There web site is  solution-stores.ca  

  Whatever you do don't put back things you don't use, need or haven't used in a year, donate or recycle.

You will be proud of your new space and probably want to show it off.

Get rid of inside boredom winter blues...

   Its very easy to feel bored and tired of being inside while we wait for our harsh Canadian winters to end, especially those of us that are not winter activity inclined.

   My remedy for that is to do a major overhaul in our closets.  Why wait for nice weather, get it done now!
It will not only shed closet pounds, it will give you something to do and its a real pick me up.

   Most storage solution sales are found in stores starting in the new year so it makes sense to do it now while you can pick up some great storage baskets and organizing tools. Getting all the boring chores out of the way now will free up your time when the weather starts getting warmer. If you a shopper it will also create new room for new spring and summer clothes.

   Donate your gently used clothing and shoes. The general rule is....if you haven't worn it in a year, pass it along to someone else who will greatly appreciate.
 
If you need any ideas, let me know!

Hope to hear your comments :)

Does your home decor style mimic your fashion style?

I have taken some time lately to examine the similarity of a persons fashion style and compare it to their Interior decor style and sense.

  My first subject was myself, that's how this all began. Although I love colour and helping others choose the perfect colours for their homes, I myself took a look in my closet and saw mostly black, some white, creams and greys and not much else. I then looked at my accessories (scarves, jewelery, shoes) and thats where the colour was. Reds, golds, greens, yellows, blues, silvers and animal prints. It was also pretty organized and clean. For as long as I can remember my first choice in clothing was always black, I have always been drawn to it. Mysterious, dramatic and elegance is what I see in black. My hair and makeup must be always done. Having said that I always added some small accessory (maybe just red lipstick did the trick) that was bold and colorful that made a statement.
  I then stood back and looked at my own interior space and I saw the same thing it was amazing actually. Every time I shopped for my personal space it didn't really matter what I bought always seemed to work in my decor.  Let me explain why. I love neutrals so I chose a beautiful colour by Benjamin Moore called Edgecomb gray for all my walls, some think that might be boring but I love it. It seems to take on a different shade at different times of the day, and also depending on which exposure direction the natural light is coming from affects it as well. My furniture is mostly black, glass or dark wood which leaves me to add my pops of colour in my accessories and moods with lighting. I love trend and new colours that go with it, Like my dressing I love to play with colour in small but effective amounts. Buying pillows, throws and accessories doesn't really break the budget, and I can do it a few times in year. Since my backdrop is neutral I can have 1 or more different colours per room.
  Don't throw anything when you change things up, store them and reuse them again as the colour will come back or better still play around with your accessories and move them to another room and give that room an updated look.


  I looked next at some of my friends, family and clients. where as before I would concentrate on their spaces and their needs and wants when doing a consultation, I also took attention to look at how they dress and accessorized and it made more sense.  Most people looked the same as their decor. sounds funny but its true.


Give it a try and let me know your thoughts.

Update, Refresh, Renew Your Staircase

With a little (ok, a lot) of elbow grease, you can update and refresh your staircase. What I did was lightly sand and wash with soap and water entire surface. I mean spindles, risers, handrail, side-rails, steps.
Then I applied a coat of high adhesion primer (I used Fresh start by Benjamin Moore) over all surfaces with a paint brush.

When that was dry I painted the spindles in a BM White, OC 117 simply white semi-gloss for the spindles, risers, and sides, basically everything vertical and I did 4 coats. Yes, 4 coats, 1 per day. It is a lot of work but only the first coat takes the longest, the rest goes pretty quick.

Next is the hard part, the steps, I am pretty good at cutting so I did not use tape, I found that a 1 inch brush did a good job if you have a steady hand if not use tape but you will have to wait for the white paint to dry very thoroughly at least 1 week or more before you put tape on it. Or what I did was do my best and then I applied a 1/2 inch cove trim to the joints in the same white pre-painted to give an extra clean line and more detailed look. I used a satin finish BM and the colour was Space black 2119-10.
(note: I did every other step so we could access going up and down)

Finally the hand rail in the black, everything horizontal in black.



With all the steps and drying time, it took about 3 weeks from start to finish. I only used 3 quarts of paint, 1 white 1 black and the primer. I have left overs of all three. Total cost was approx 80.00 including brushes. I had a quote from a painter to do this job because of the steps and labor it would have cost me 1200-1400 dollars.

I think I did pretty good

Move, Stay or Renovate?

Move Or Stay and Renovate?

I chose to stay and renovate. After considering all my options renovation was the better fit for us. The house was a good size and in a good neighborhood, area had everything we needed, commute was good, schools very close, people were nice, kids didn't really want to leave. So we thought a little reno aggravation was better then moving and besides moving doesn't always get everything you want anyway.

4 months total it took but if you read my previous blogs you will understand why it wasn't so bad for me. The blogs I wrote are real events and things that happen to me and how I dealt with it.

Planning first and doing research is important, you must have a budget in mind and then go out there and dont be afraid to ask for things at a better price, Remember you are in control of the trades and as far as I am concerned they are coming to you for the job so be firm about what you want and expect from them. Dont give your money away freely, the person that wants the job and is honest will give you a proper contact and will not take huge deposits before doing anything.

Ask for referrals before hiring anyone.Everyone wants to make a good buck but know your prices and get several quotes from reputable business. If you dont know what your style is, cut out some pictures from magazines or books of rooms you love and perhaps the hire of a designer will be worth the time and money you can save making costly mistakes.

If you love your home, make it into the space of your dreams and stay. It may take a few years to get there, one room at a time, but for me it was well worth it. I love my new kitchen and am now planning the next reno event. I look at it as a  regular upkeep, upgrade or maintenance as you will which is needed anyway.

Rose Arangio