Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Life

Tag: decorating

  • Decorating Tips for Couples Moving in Together

    Congratulations! You and your special someone have decided to move into a place to call your own. It’s an exciting time, but one of the biggest challenges can be deciding whose style will prevail for the interior design of your new home. If you both have drastically different tastes in interiors, there’s no need to panic. There should always be an elegant combination of style and textures within every interior. It’s just a matter of pairing them eloquently—and with these decorating tips, you can blend both of your lives perfectly into one.

    Decorating Tips for Couples Moving in Together - bhgrelife.com1. Establish an in-between style

    Before you move in together, it’s important to take a look at each other’s belongings and determine what you plan on utilizing in your soon-to-be home. Since drawing a line down the center of each room to separate his style from hers is highly unlikely, you’ll need to establish an in-between style with which you’re both comfortable. Find a happy medium and run with it.

  • Top 10 Decorating Tips for Your Home

    Whether you’re planning on decorating for a little pick-me-up within your interior design, or you just moved into a new home and want to make it match your style, you may need to get your hands on some interior design tricks. Whatever your reason, everything you need is right here. With minimal effort and cost, you just can’t go wrong with these 10 decorating tips for your home:

    Top 10 Decorating Tips for Your Home – bhgrelife.com1. Paint, Paint, Paint

    It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for the interior of your home – and exterior if you want to expand your project outdoors. There are some simple tricks that can make a huge difference without having to paint your entire house: focus on smaller rooms within your home and paint them in soft, lighter colors to instantly make them appear larger. Or, for a fun and fresh pop of color, paint an accent wall, bookcase or even the front door.

  • How to Prepare Your House For Sale

    by Karlton Utter

    Curb Appeal Tips:

    First, try really hard to look at your house through an outsider’s eyes. Go for a walk outside, long enough to clear your mind and senses. Come back to your house, pretending you’ve never seen it before. Take notes on what looks “off” and needs repairing, replacing or cleaning. You might see something you’ve never noticed before, like a broken shutter or a missing piece of fence.

    Start by taking a good look at your front door. This is the first thing everyone looks at. Is the paint chipping? If so add some pizzazz to your home’s front entrance by painting your door a pretty hue that coordinates with your home’s color. Make sure there is a contrast between the front door and the facade of the home. Then look at your door’s hardware. Make sure your deadbolt, knob, knocker and foot plate are of the same finish. This shows your attention to small details.

    Light up your landscape. Give your walkway an edge with solar light fixtures, which are affordable and easy to install and you can place them where they highlight your home’s best attributes. If you want a bit more of a dramatic effect, add spotlights. Up lighting provided by spotlights accentuates the texture of tree trunks and creates a pleasing glow on foliage.

    And always remember that your home needs to be visible from the curb in order to have curb appeal. So cut overgrown bushes and trees. And remove branches that block walkways, windows, the driveway and views of the home from the street. People need to see the front of the house to appreciate it.

    Prepping and Staging the Indoors:

    Starting at your front door, walk through the house, open doors, closets, and pay attention to the first scent that you smell. You may be surprised to see some great aspects as well as how things you might be comfortable living with might not be so impressive to a buyer.

    Next, de-clutter. Leave some shelves and drawers nearly empty throughout your house- even in the pantry! You’re going to pack it all up at some point, so why not start early. Donate, sell, or put items in storage.

    Personal artwork, collections, or highly unique objects attract too much attention from buyers when you’d rather them look at the whole house. It’s better to remove those items to create a more neutral look throughout the entire home.

    Fill empty spaces with poufs or storage cubes for an easy additional seating option and also to balance out the room. Also, have an appropriately sized coffee table. If the table is too large, the roof will feel cramped. If it is too small, the room will seem too cavernous.

    Bedrooms should have a neatly made bend and one or two nightstands, a lamp, and a chair if there is room. Place extra dressers in storage because you want to see a lot of floor space in each room.

    Follow these tips to make a lasting first impression to passersby and prospective buyers!

  • Ask a Pro Q&A: Are Lobelia Plants Poisonous?

    The blue flowering plant looks beautiful, but could it be poisonous? On this week’s installment of Ask a Pro, Dream Team member and Outdoor Design expert Carson Arthur talks about the controversial Lobelia plant and if it’s safe to have in your home.

    Ask a Pro Q&A: Are Lobelia Plants Poisonous? - bhgrelife.com

    Q: I bought some plants at the store today. I later found out it is a Lobelia flowering plant. It’s a beautiful blue color and I am excited to have it, but is it a poisonous plant?

    -Carlene T.

    A: Lobelia is one of those plants that has the experts split. It seems that some varieties are toxic to cats and dogs vs. other ones which have no issues at all. To be safe, plant them only out of reach of pets.

    -Carson A.

  • Add Color to Your Living Room for Summer

    Summer is the perfect time to rework your living room. Who wants to look at those dark earthy neutrals or sit on heavy fabrics when it’s hot outside?

    For new living room color ideas for summer, think about a change of pace to represent the changing of the seasons. Even if you’re not repainting every wall or replacing all your furniture, here are our tips to brighten things up for summer.

    by Jennifer Adams

    Add Color to Your Living Room for Summer - bhgrelife.com

     

    Use color throughout — from the floor to the furniture – to move your eye around the room. Keep your walls and carpets neutral or light colored.

    Swap your area rug for a brighter, inexpensive one with a large open pattern and a light background. Summer is a great time to get your rugs cleaned anyway!

     

  • Ask a Pro Q&A: Staging Small Bedrooms for Sale

    Welcome to another installment of Ask a Pro! Today Dream Team member and interior design expert Jennifer Adams shares her staging tips and tricks for making small bedrooms appear larger.

    Ask a Pro Q&A: Staging Small Bedrooms for Sale - bhgrelife.com

    Q: My niece is selling her home. Buyer feedback is, the bedrooms are small. There are four bedrooms. Two are empty. The other 2 have minimal furniture. How can she make them look larger to make them look larger? Do you have any suggestions? The paint colors are neutral, should we put some furniture in the empty ones to warm them up? Perhaps make one an office or reading room? Any help & suggestions would be appreciated.

    -Cindy R.

    A: Many potential buyers have a hard time visualizing their own furniture in another house or how the house will suit their lifestyle. And, unfortunately, it’s even harder to get a sense of scale for furniture if the rooms are empty, just as much as if the rooms were full of clutter. The entire home staging industry is based on this!

    You should most definitely put furniture in the bedrooms. If your niece can’t afford a professional home stager or a decorator to suggest some furniture arrangements, help her do it on her own. It doesn’t need to be expensive but it does need to look comfortable and inviting.

    Furnish the largest bedroom as a master. Imagine a lovely guest room with everything you need, but no clutter. A queen size bed, neatly made up and with a nice headboard and no footboard will feel luxurious without taking up a lot of space. Make sure someone can access both sides of the bed. Save more space with mismatched nightstands, one can be tiny if you mount sconce lights to the wall.

    One of the bedrooms could be furnished for a small child and another for a baby, complete with a cozy chair and light for reading to suggest a healthy family environment. Set up the last bedroom as a charming home office. Showing how someone can have to all the function of a three-bedroom house plus an office makes the four small rooms a positive, not a negative.

    Another nice touch would be to offer a gift certificate for closet organizing systems for all the bedrooms! You could also include an estimate from a contractor of how two of the bedrooms could be combined to create a nicer master with larger closets to help buyers see the potential of a little creativity. Good luck!

    -Jennifer A.

  • Ask a Pro Q&A: Turning a Basement into an Entertainment Room

    Welcome to another installment of Ask a Pro! Today Dream Team member and interior design pro Jennifer Adams discusses how to turn a basement room into an entertaining space that can be enjoyed by the whole family!

    Ask a pro: how to turn basement into a sport room

    Q: I have a family room in the basement that measures 13ft x 22ft. I would like ideas on making it into an upgraded sports /family room.

    -Richard B.

    A: It’s great that you’re thinking of new ways to use the existing rooms in your house. This could potentially save you a lot of money in extensive renovations or even moving! Your goals for the room’s purpose should help you decide how much space to dedicate to each use and help you set a budget.

    Is this room where your family usually watches TV together, or is it a room you’re calling a family room, but really, no one spends much time in? By “sports” do you mean a workout room with gym equipment or a game room with a poker table, pool table, and a ping-pong table?

    Any of these activities would be a great use of an out-of-the-way basement room, but keep in mind the “sports” use could be noisy and might interrupt someone else’s TV viewing. But if this room is a secondary TV room, it won’t matter as much. A TV would be nice while you’re working out or playing cards, and for movie watching and family nights could be in another room in your house.

    A low ceiling height, which is typical of a lot of basements, might affect your sports equipment choices. A tall weight machine, vertical space for a jump rope, or even upright yoga and stretching poses might not be possible! If you have budget, some basements could be renovated by lowering the floor. This could be an opportunity to add or improve plumbing fixtures such as a sink or even another bathroom. Talk with some licensed contractors and designers or architects to find out if this is possible at your house, and how much it might cost.

    Insulation in the walls and ceiling and rubber gym flooring will help absorb the sound of machines and people jumping around. Better lighting and a sound system for music will make the atmosphere more inviting. Sturdy shelves and storage for equipment will help keep the room clutter free. You may need to have electrical outlets installed if you’re planning machines such as a treadmill, rowing machine or elliptical trainer.

    A very important step no matter what you want to use your basement for is a radon test and mitigation, if necessary. Radon is a naturally occurring cancer-causing gas that you can’t see or smell, and it’s present in a lot of houses throughout the country. Most hardware stores sell initial tests you can do yourself. Ventilation systems that reduce radon levels aren’t generally hugely expensive, but are very worthwhile if you have high levels of the gas. Check out the EPA’s website for more information.

    Good luck with this project, and let us know how it goes!

    -Jennifer A.

  • Ask a Pro Q&A: Furniture Arrangement in a High-Traffic Room

    Welcome to another installment of Ask a Pro! Today Dream Team member and interior design pro Jennifer Adams advises a reader on how to arrange furniture in a high-traffic room.

    Q: My question is about how to arrange furniture in a room where people have to walk through the middle to get to other rooms.

    The room is a rectangle, 16 x 20, with 2 entryways on one of the smaller (16-foot) sides and a big entryway at the end of one bigger sides (20-foot).

    I can’t figure out a good furniture arrangement where the traffic flow goes AROUND the furniture, not through it.

    -Mary Ann L.

     

    A: This one is a challenge! Your room is big enough that you think you’d have enough space for a good arrangement, but, as I’m sure you’ve discovered, it fills up fast!

    I’m assuming this is a living room, but I’ll share a trick that will help with a dining room, too, or even a bedroom! With your imagination, divide the room diagonally, from corner to corner. This will help organize the room.

    Put most of the furniture in an “L” shape inside the triangle without traffic, and reinforce the arrangement with an area rug, so when you walk through the room, you won’t really walk on the area rug at all. It’s OK if the furniture extends into the “traffic” side a little.

    You can create an “L” shape with a sofa and two arm chairs or a big sectional. Place the “L” along the long wall, closer to the far corner than in the middle. A coffee table, end tables and lamps will help fill the space and provide a place for people to set down drinks.

    Lastly, an area rug that isn’t too big will help define the arrangement and reinforce the traffic pattern! A nice armoire or bookcases on the other long wall will balance the seating arrangement and add interest. This could also be the best place for a TV if this is the only room you have for TV watching. Good luck!

    -Jennifer A.

  • Five Party Themes for Fall

    Fall is a great time to throw a party. The weather is a comfortable cool. There are still a few months before it’s all snow and cold! If you’re planning a party, here are few suggestions for the best fall-themed party ever!

    Rustic

    rusticRustic is a great fall party theme for those who prefer a restrained and minimalist approach to party decoration. Small twigs and fallen branches are not hard to come by this season. Collect them in a tall vase and arrange some dried leaves to create the focal point of your party table. Be sure to gather enough leaves in varying shades of red and yellow to add excitement to your arrangement.


  • How To Enjoy Your Own Party

    You’ve double-checked the invites, tried out the recipes, rearranged the decoration, and recounted the gift bags. Yet it seems you might have overlooked something. With all the planning, cooking, and hosting, it’s easy to forget to have fun and enjoy the festivities you have worked so hard to bring about. These practical tips will save you time and headache so you can focus on having a good time your own party.

    1. Get the date into the books early. This is the busiest time of the year for EVERYTHING—so lock it in. Send out a quick email reminder, followed by an evite.

    Save_the_Date