FSBO Jane

Fashion experts have named turquoise the shade of the new decade. So whether you’re shopping for clothes, furniture or bed sheets, chances are you’re going to notice shades of turquoise. As a lover of the bright blue hue that reminds me of the ocean or a cloudless summer day, I’m a huge fan of incorporating the newest trend into my décor!

That isn’t to say that you should cover every wall with turquoise wallpaper, every cabinet and countertop with turquoise paint and every floor with turquoise carpeting. Think of it more as an accent color that beautifully corresponds with neutral colors that you already display. Tans, grays, browns, whites and blacks all agree with turquoise. If you match it with light shades of beige or cream, turquoise creates a calm, tranquil atmosphere. Matched with dark grays or browns, turquoise will really pop and create a bold statement. There are also numerous hues of turquoise itself, such as a grayed version that looks sophisticated and historical, or a bright lagoon hue that is full of energy and vibrancy.

Turquoise also holds many different meanings around the world. In some cultures, turquoise is believed to be a protective lucky charm, while other cultures see it as a color of deep compassion, healing, faith or inspiration. You can choose what turquoise means to you and work from there. In the bedroom, it can bring balance, harmony and calmness. In the kitchen, it can bring energy and entertainment.

For wall colors, decorating experts recommend combining turquoise with warm, rich colors, such as olive, amber or coral, or with bright colors, such as light greens, bright yellows or cobalt blues. You can paint one wall a solid hue of turquoise, blend turquoise with other colors in a designer wall pattern, paint moldings turquoise, or even paint the ceiling turquoise, like the sky.

Aside from painting, accessorizing with turquoise offers endless possibilities! In the dining room, you could set the table with turquoise dishware, table settings, napkins or a flower vase. In the kitchen, find turquoise appliances, which are readily available right now, such as coffee pots and toasters. In any room, add patterned curtains, throw rugs, pillows, blankets or artwork that incorporate the color turquoise. Accessories can be added or replaced at any time, so get creative!

If you’ve already experimented with turquoise, the color for 2010, let us know what you’ve done with it!

When I’m surfing the Internet, I tend to look up what popular items people are buying at that time. It’s not because I want to have what everyone else has. I support individuality. It’s mostly to make sure that an amazing item doesn’t blow over without me knowing about it! I’ve found some of my favorite decorating accessories by checking out what’s popular at a certain time.

So while doing my weekly browse, I found that on AOL.com, one of the most popular items that people were buying one day was this item: a Sag Harbor brick gazebo canopy. It’s a nice item. But the beauty of checking out popular items is that you can gain decorating ideas without promising yourself to a specific brand. There are a plethora of portable gazebos available out there in a wide variety of prices, styles, sizes and colors. Now that you know that gazebos might be popping up in your neighbors yards, get a head start on finding the best deals!

Portable gazebos are great for lovers of nature who don’t have the means for incorporating a permanent deck, patio or lanai in their backyard. You can place these sturdy gazebos over a patio for added shade, or you can add them anywhere in your yard for a simple, private backyard oasis. Not too shabby of an idea! Also, as one more perk I must add for home sellers, you could either bring a portable gazebo with you during a move or you could add it in with your home’s sale to increase buyer interest!

As much as I despise cleaning snow off my car in the wee hours of the morning, there’s something calming about the winter months. Sipping on a mug of tea while curled up in front of the TV isn’t too stressful. As summer approaches, however, my to-do list gets longer along with the hours of daylight. My goal, starting now, is to find to ways to relieve stress while I’m at home, so that even when I’m not curled up in front of the TV, I still feel calm and collected. Join me in this goal, won’t you?

These are quick, minor ways to strip away stress in the home. Incorporate one at a time into your lifestyle, perhaps one per week, and see if it helps:

• Lay plush throw rugs by your kitchen sink, your bathroom sink, your vanity, below your computer chair or anywhere that you stand or sit often. This will relieve your feet of extra stress, which will relieve your whole body of poor posture and stressful joints.
• Ditch the home exercise equipment that looks bulky, out of place or just plain in the way. Opt for exercise videos, such as dance or yoga videos, which either get your blood flowing or strengthen your muscles using your body weight.
• Create a view to enjoy. You don’t have to visit a spa or an ocean-view hotel room to score a premium view. In your own house, plant flowers or trees right outside your windows and keep the blinds open. Inside, plant herbs for the windowsills, and buy stalks of bamboo that are nearly impossible to kill.
• Keep bath salts and bubble baths in your bathroom for a rainy day. We don’t have much time in our lives, but why not have the ingredients around for when you have a second to spare in the bathtub? For busy days, use lavender-scented body wash to calm your nerves.
• Play soft meditation music while you pay bills or while you savor a meal. It will automatically calm you down and relieve tension. While you clean dishes or dust, turn on upbeat music that’ll get your body moving.

Cleaning the house, working out and showering don’t seem like daily chores if you add these stress-free qualities to them! And when you decide to host that open house, potential home buyers will take notice at how clean your house is and how calm you are.

I apologize in advance for those of you who do not celebrate Easter. I planned on writing a blog about decorating for spring, but those are so overdone, and the ones I found offer much better advice than I can provide. If you are looking for ideas on how to decorate for spring, I suggest reading the blog recently posted at the Buy Owner Blog. Not only does this blog mention numerous ideas you could use in your spring decorating any year, but it also provides specific trends to look for this year.

As far as decorating for Easter, it happens to be my favorite holiday and my favorite time to decorate. The winter blues officially end, the access of blankets and Snuggies can be stored away and bright colors reappear! I love the bright colors and the whole theme of rebirth. Even if you don’t celebrate Easter, I still recommend you add bright colors, flowers and plants to your home. And more important than any other piece of advice, open your blinds! Look at the grass, gardens and the tree buds coming back to life.

I’m rambling. Back to the topic of conversation, here are some of my personal ideas on how to decorate for Easter. These will especially come in handy for those of you hosting dinner parties for family or friends! However, if you are in the midst of trying to sell your house, keep the décor to a minimum. You wouldn’t want to steer away potential homebuyers with religious views different from yours.

Easter decorating ideas:

• Purchase a brown or white wicker basket to place as a centerpiece or on a coffee table or end table. Fill the bottom of the basket with artificial green grass and place colorful eggs on top, whether they are real, plastic or porcelain. For an extra flare, place a fake, furry chick in the midst of the eggs.
• Inside a brightly colored bowl placed near the front entry, provide guests or family members with an assortment of chocolate eggs, jelly beans, marshmallow bunnies and any other candy favorites.
• Add brightly colored flowers, real or artificial, to brightly colored vases. I’m all about the bright colors! Either create bouquets of lots of flowers, or create a more glamorous appearance with one long-stemmed flower in a tall vase.
• Purchase an egg coloring kit and color hardboiled eggs with your family or friends. Get creative! After they dry, leave them out for all to admire. Color a day or two before Easter to prevent the eggs from going bad.
• Aside from finding the eggs that the Easter Bunny hides the morning of Easter, enjoy hiding plastic eggs filled with goodies a week or two before Easter. When people come over, mention that eggs are hidden around the house and that the goodies belong to whoever finds the eggs!
• Decorate the front door with a bouquet of brightly colored flowers, an Easter bunny, a lamb, a portrait of colored eggs, a cross or anything that reminds you of spring. Flank the doorway with pots of flowers or tall grasses.
• Hollow out some eggs and use as decorations! To do this, puncture a raw egg with a needle, creating a hole on each end of the egg. Blow through one hole to empty the egg of material on the other end. Rinse out. Once dry, decorate the egg! One suggestion is to paint the egg, glue on some feathers, draw two eyes and a beak and hang the “birds” from the ceiling or a railing.

You could pretty much incorporate colored eggs, bunnies and bright flowers into any type of decoration, but these were some of my favorite ideas. In spring, everything comes back to life, so it only makes sense for your spirit to come to life by adding nature and bright colors to your interior!

Though real estate can be a frustrating topic, especially during a difficult economic time, sometimes we just need to clear our heads and remind ourselves what is so valuable about having your own place to live in.

Real estate isn’t just buying, selling, investing and making money. It’s choosing a place to call home; it’s modeling a room made of four walls into a personal retreat; it’s standing out from all the other homes around you.

To remind you how inspiring a home can be, check out this home in Portugal. It features a home built in 1974, constructed between four massive boulders. Now, it’s considered one of the top “green” homes, made solely of natural products (stone) and is considered a tourist hotspot. I find this inspiring!

Are there homes that you’ve seen or heard about that you find inspiring? Share them!

With the hype on green, energy-efficient living only increasing, you should know by now that the government offers a tax credit for homeowners who add green improvements to their houses to cut energy usage and carbon emissions. However, you probably don’t know that there is a company out there willing to pay you via Pay Pal for making green changes to your home. Simple as that.

Does this sound too good to be true? Those were my thoughts, too. The Mother Nature Network posted this article explaining how it works. The organization is called My Emissions Exchange (or MyEex) and all you do is sign up on their website and find out your carbon footprint by entering your electric and heat usage for the last year. Then, MyEex will provide you with tips on how you can reduce this usage, and you can begin reducing your carbon emissions by making changes to your house. Each month, you enter your utility usage, and MyEex tells you exactly how much energy and carbon emissions you are saving. As you save, you earn credits, and MyEex awards these credits with earnings that they pay you through Pay Pal.

How much you earn fluctuates, just like the stock exchange. MyEex.com says that you can expect to earn between $10 and $25 per ton. Since I am still rusty on understanding exactly how it works myself, you can read a lot more information on the website.

The article from the Mother Nature Network that discusses this organization discusses how at first, since you type in your own information, you could make up all the information and earn money for pretending to lower your bills. Now, however, MyEex can easily collect data on a particular home once net metering is installed on the home. The article feels positive that this type of promised earnings will cause more people to get involved in making green improvements to their home.

What are your thoughts?

When it comes to home remodeling, there are a few things you should consider:

1. Am I going to sell this house?
2. What are homes selling for in my neighborhood?
3. What are the decorating standards in my neighborhood?

Your answers to these questions will determine how you remodel your property. If you are eventually going to sell your home, and you know the price points and decorating standards of other homes in your area, there are a few updates you should completely avoid. Why? You may not necessarily get the most bang for your buck, and you will most likely not see a return on your investment.

YOUR Dream Kitchen: Black granite countertops, Brazilian Cherrywood cabinets, a brick pizza oven, a sub-zero refrigerator, a self-opening trash can. You may love the Food Network and dream of your very own Kitchen Stadium, but the average buyer may not share the same sentiment. Although these updates may increase the value of your home, some potential buyers may not be interesting in paying an extra $50,000 for a luxury kitchen they may not even use that often. If you’re planning on selling your home, go for updates that increase value, but won’t cost you a big loss in the long run. Try to see how other homes in your area compare and keep up with their trends.

Luxury Master Suite: Although walk-in closets and private master bathrooms are desirable these days, other features might not even matter to a given buyer. Be careful when building that dream closet. Built-in shelving is great, but don’t go overboard with lighting, glass embellishments or anything else that isn’t considered standard in a closet. The same goes for the bathroom. A jetted tub is appealing, but a 10-person shower is not. Only install a fireplace if there is an existing gas line. Although custom features increase the value of your property, no one will buy a $800,000 house in a community where majority of the homes sell for $300,000.

Ultimate Play Room: Lots of parents like to create separate spaces for their kids. For example, you might install built-in shelving that meets them at their level, you may add a small bathroom with teeny amenities to match, and you might decorate the walls with custom Sesame Street murals. Even though you may live in a family-friendly neighborhood, some buyers that come to see your home might not even have kids. And what if they don’t want them? When it comes to selling your abode, you must have a neutral mindset. If you want the ultimate play room for your children, go for it. But don’t install anything that would be difficult to change when it comes time to prepare your home for a showing.

Sometimes making your home look more attractive can be as simple as a few steps, taken before you head out the door or quickly as you pass through a room.

Take the bathroom. Want to dramatically improve its overall look with little effort? Here’s what to do:

1. Move the Hamper.
It may be convenient to keep your dirty clothes container in the bathroom, but it’s not inviting to visitors. Move it out, and you free up space that makes the bathroom look bigger.

2. Declutter.
Move all your toiletries off the countertops, and get the counter space cleaned off and empty.

3. Empty the Trash.
Empty the trash cans on your quick run-through, and replace the liners with fresh ones.

BONUS IDEAS!
*Paint the walls with neutral colors.
*Replace the towels with fresh ones, also in neutral colors.
*Add a lamp, if possible, to the vanity, creating mood lighting.
*Scrub the floors!
*Scrub the shower/tub or shower!

Have you always dreamed about living in a trendy industrial loft? What if you could do that without moving to a big city, without giving up a backyard and without paying a hefty price for your pad? I’m here to show you how to get the look of a loft without making a big move, sacrificing space or spending too much money.

First, consider the location…within your home. If you don’t have an open floor plan, a loft-like living room might look a little awkward next to your country kitchen. Also, at the risk of redoing your entire home, rather than just one room, you may want to choose an unused space like the basement, the attic or the bonus room over the garage. These spaces typically don’t fit with the rest of the house and take on a personality of their own when finished and decorated. By choosing to redecorate one of these low-traffic spaces, you can still pursue your dream while having a functional home that meets your needs and possibly the needs of a new owner should you ever sell the property.

Now, on to the construction…

• Exposed Brick: If you know that brick exists behind the plaster in your finished basement, you need to consider the condition of the bricks and the absence of insulation before you knock down any walls. Cut a small hole in the wall first to test the waters. If you need to install brick, you can do so easily by applying veneers. The process of creating a brick face is similar to that of adhering a backsplash onto the wall of your kitchen.

• Exposed Ductwork: You would most likely deal with exposed ductwork in an unfinished basement. So if your basement is not finished, you may already have a loft-like ceiling! If your home boasts a finished basement with a tile ceiling, you can easily lift up one of the tiles to see the condition of the ductwork. Consult a professional contractor before you knock down a drywalled ceiling.

• Flooring: Hardwood floors are typical of lofts. Feel free to choose any type of wood you want. However, if you want to keep costs low, a Pergo or laminate faux wood floor is the best option. You can always add area rugs for added flair and comfort.

• Painting: Where is your “loft?” And what kind of look do you want? If you constructed this industrial space in an unfinished basement, inexpensive spray paint allow you to create your own custom designs and replicate an urban graffiti style. If you’re working with a finished basement or attic space, paint the drywall yourself. Neutral hues like black, brown, tan and gray are good base tones. A colored accent wall is common in many lofts and may make a smaller room appear larger.

• Artwork: A typical urban loft shows somewhat like a gallery. However, you don’t need to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on an original Monet or DaVinci. Create your own unique works of art by framing personal photos, magazine clippings or travel calendar pictures. You could also use patterned wallpaper.

• Mix & Match Design: Today’s “modern” décor is all about mixing new pieces with old. This look is easily achievable by purchasing a new expensive piece and complementing it with vintage pieces from yard sales or thrift stores. You can also separate your large space into smaller areas using multi-functional dividers like a long dresser, a trunk, lockers, or an island, depending on the look you’re going for and what is available to you.

I am all about DIY (do-it-yourself) projects when it comes to home decorating and renovating. This is one reason why I stay updated with BobVila.com. DIY project instructions are so abundantly available there, you could partake in a new project every week! In fact, I’m always so wrapped up in the projects that I never noticed the Hiring a Pro link that is available until recently. How do you know when to hire a pro?

Basically, my advice on whether to go it alone or to hire a pro is to research the type of project you want to complete. Does it sound like something you can accomplish? Do you have the tools you need to complete it? Have others been able to successfully pull of the project without tons of knowledge on the subject? How much will all the tools and materials cost compared to how much it would cost to hire a professional?

If you end up deciding to use a professional, BobVila.com informs you of where to go for free estimates on how much the project will cost, and you can learn how to find a contractor, how to work with a contractor, how to negotiate contracts and more.

For more information on hiring a professional, visit this site.