Simple Ways To Stage A House For Sale On The Cheap

January 29, 2013 By Cori

A few months ago, James and I made a big decision– we decided we would be putting our house up for sale. We love LOVE our neighborhood, our block … our house! So, the decision definitely wasn’t easy and was filled with mixed emotions.

When you are putting your home up for sale, it is exciting – a new chapter…. but it is also stressful. Aside from the sale itself, there is a whole “prepping” process that is involved before the house officially hits the market. This process is called “staging”.

Simple Affordable Ways To Stage A House For Sale

Staging is important because it showcases all of a home’s great features and helps paint a picture for potential buyers. And when staging is done right? Your house will looks so amazing, you will want to rip that “For Sale” sign right out of the ground– which is pretty much where I am. *sigh*

[Tweet “When staging is done right, your home will looks so amazing, youll want to rip that “For Sale” sign right off the lawn!”]

Left to right: |1.| Bird pattern pillow- TJ Maxx 2 for $20 |2.|Lamps (set of 2)- Christmas Tree Shop, $40 |3.|Chevron throw blanket- TJ Maxx, $15 |4.|Green Tree painting- Home Goods $49.99

|5.|Decorative pillow- Christmas Tree Shop, $9.99 |6.|Green lantern, $25.00 |7.| Grey wooden table, Home Goods, $40 |8.|Square canary canvas- Home Goods, $15

1. PURGE.

Invest in large black garbage bags, and maybe even a Bagster (which is a dumpster size bag that is delivered and removed from your driveway).

Separate into piles– donate, sell, throw away.

Purge not just your basement and garage, but your closets as well (potential buyers will be peaking in those!). It is amazing how much we accumulate when living in a space over a given time. Sometimes we end up holding on to things we don’t really need…. and if you forgot you owned it? Most likely, you do not need it.

[Tweet “{ Purging Tip! } If you forgot you owned it, you don’t need it!”]

2. De-clutter.

Potential buyers want to imagine their things in your home, so de-cluttering is key. Try to make as much space in every room and surface top as possible. We even took our Kitchen Aid mixer (that I use almost every day) off the counter and stored it in our pantry.

[Tweet “Potential home buyers was to imagine their things in your home. De-cluttering is key! #RealEstate”]

When it comes to the kids toys, don’t stress too much. It’s ok for the house to look lived in- especially in kid areas. We just tried to organize it a bit by hanging up costumes and maximizing the use of our bins and toy boxes.

Use this staging time to think about packing early. If there is somethings you know you won’t need for a while, pack them away in well labeled boxes. If you can, renting a small storage unit to house some boxes and misc. furniture you aren’t currently using or that crowd the room definitely helps.

3. Re-design On A Dime

Get a fresh perspective from someone not living in your home. Ask a friend to come over and take a look at your rooms to offer some suggestions on the decor.

Small but simple changes to a room can make a world of difference. For years we had our piano off to the side of the room, my friend Tammy came in and suggested putting it by the back window (something that never in 5 years crossed my mind) and it looked perfect!!

Window valences in place of long dark curtains allow a room to have more natural light. We found these hard to find on the cheap, but if you have some in the house- swap em’ out!

I wanted the house to be brighter all around, so I found some cute and inexpensive accents at TJ Maxx, HomeGoods and The Christmas Tree Shop that really brought life to the room– and the best part is, I love them so much I know I will be using them in the new house too.

Here is a peek at our before and after (please excuse the horrible ‘before’ lighting)

I did have some solid cream pillows on the couch too- but still, too bland.

5. A Little Touch Up Paint Goes A Long Way.

We’ve been meaning to touch up the moldings and doors in the house forever. It’s one of those things that just kept getting pushed aside. A little white paint can make a much cleaner, crisper look for your house and it doesn’t take much time at all.

6. Pictures, Candles, and Flowers- oh, my!

We all tend to have LOTS of personal pictures hung all over hour home, proudly displaying our gorgeous friends and family. However, when you are selling your home, it’s recommended you take them down. We left a few up because I loved the frames, but for the most part they are all gone and replaced with scenic pictures from our vacations and inexpensive canvas prints.

The scent of a nice candle can really make a house feel like home. I love candles burning all the time anyway, so staging the house only gave me more of an excuse to get some new jarred candles. Once again, I have to recommend checking out TJ Maxx and Marshalls (I shop there a lot if you haven’t noticed), they have the large Yankee Candles that are usually around $18 for only $10. Citrus and Vanilla candles are most recommended.

I’ve never been much of a flower girl, but flowers definitely make for an inviting home- especially on the kitchen or dining table. Supermarkets usually have bouquets on the cheap. I purchased one for $7 and was able to split it into 2 small arrangements.

More amazing? Those flowers have lasted over a week!! I don’t think I’ve ever kept a PLANT alive that long.

Those are just a few of the ways we got our home ready for showings. I’m sure there are dozens more.

Do you have any great tips for staging a home?

Birthday Party Theme: The Night Owl Pajama Party

September 14, 2012 By Cori

Somehow, another year has gone by and my baby girl is yet another year older.

Four.

Almost a whole hand.

While I’ve accepted that millennial technology has failed to deliver a hoover board in the year 2012… really, is a “freeze time” button too much to ask for?

I don’t know.

But you know what definitely isn’t too much to ask for? Parents who do not let the 1st week of school overshadow planning your birthday party.

It was a week before Laina’s birthday and James and I looked at each other on the couch slightly panicked, “What are we doing for Laina’s Birthday next Saturday?

We had discussed this question before and always seemed to come up empty (you know because a 4 year old’s birthday party is a total do or die type of decision). Now a week out, we knew we had to think fast and plan something. Something “small”, but SOMETHING. I mean, for heavens sake, for Ryan’s 4th birthday we had turned our whole house into a Spiderman city!

Laina had been campaigning hard for a sleepover. So we decided to meet her 1/2 way. A pajama party without the actual sleepover.

Laina’s creature comfort is a paisley plush owl that she named “Ella”. So when I came across the “Night Owl” birthday party post on Hostess With The Mostess, this last minute birthday party officially had a theme.

Here’s the thing about me and parties. More specifically, kids parties. I morph into a party planning-DIY-addict. I can’t help it. Even if we only have a week.

Drives my husband nuts, but you know what? It’s always worth it.

Night Owl Birthday Party

The Invite

Typically, I’d go all out with handmade invitations, but clearly there was no time for that. That being said, Snowy Bliss made cute ones that you can purchase and download from her Etsy shop.

The Decor

I absolutely fell in love with the bed table ideas I saw online, but the actual headboard? Just wasn’t in the cards. I found a white twin headboard on Craigslist, that I could have purchased for $30… but when we are constantly trying to save this house from ending up on an episode of Hoarders, it seemed a bit counter productive to purchase it.

So we decided to use Pillows to give the illusion of a bed.

I found a lot of the table decorations at Home Goods (God, I love that store!).

The king size pink sheet set was on clearance– and that top sheet with the pattern? It is actually a shower curtain (but shh! don’t tell) … also on clearance for … wait for it… $8!

We used the pink pillow cases to cover the end tables. The book ends were ($15) and I decided to purchase as an added decoration because it actually goes perfectly with Laina’s owl themed bedroom {win, win}.

The tissue paper poms were relatively easy to put together. Martha Stewart has a Tissue Paper Pom kit in AC Moore that you can purchase with everything you need, but if you want to purchase it all separately, here is a tutorial for how to make tissue paper poms.

Activities

The Owl Adoption Ceremony

After seeing the pillows SnowyBliss’ made for an OWL Adoption (Um, Cutest idea ever!) It seemed the party would be incomplete without them.

Only problem? This DIY-er doesn’t sew… but she sure as heck knows how to work a glue gun!

I found a template for these no-sew owl pillows that I altered slightly and Following this tutorial for a blanket stitch, I stitched fabric details onto the owl so that they appeared sewn (I’m tricky like that) and carefully hot glued it all together. When the kids saw what I was making, they wanted to help. With 10+ more owls to go, I happily accepted their help!

*If you are planning to make these for a night owl party of your own, stuffing the owls is actually a great activity to incorporate into your party. In our case though we had a handful of kids under 4, so I thought it was best to stuff before hand.

At the party, each child took turns picking an owl (which all had small poems telling a little about them) and took a picture with it. In the thank you notes, I plan on including an official adoption certificate and the child’s picture.

Decorate your own pillowcase

Outdoor Movie showing of The Little Mermaid

We had an outdoor movie projector that my father in law had lent us, but if you are looking to invest in one to do these outdoor movie parties regularly, Discovery Kids also has an outdoor movie projector you can purchase for around $100.

We found movie size candy and popcorn containers at 5 Below. We planned to set up a little concession stand, however it started raining (the kid were under a tent) so the parents and I ended up handing everything out ala baseball game style {Popcorn! Getcha’ popcorn hea!}

The Food

I found this adorable idea for cookies and milk on Pinterest. Each child was greeted with a glass when they arrived.

My mother in law made a bouquet of chocolate covered marshmallow pops that lasted I think 20 minutes before everyone ate them up!

For dinner we went super simple and had the pajama party food of choice: PIZZA.

The Cake

We didn’t go crazy. Mostly because… well.. I was busy making owls! I like making my kids birthday cakes myself though. My mom made my cakes til I got married and I plan to do the same for my kids.

As luck would have it though, while perusing the isles of Home Goods… I also found these cute cupcake toppers and liners.