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One of the most exciting things about owning a home is getting to make it your own. No home is going to be 100% perfect, even if it’s brand new. But getting it there may be easier than anticipated if all a house needs are cosmetic improvements.

Preparing to host open houses in San Diego can often be an overwhelming task, especially if you are trying to do it without the help of an experienced Realtor®. One of the most overlooked factors of open house preparation is home-staging. Not only does your house need to look presentable to its guests, but you need to arrange your home so that visitors can envision themselves living there. Here are a few home-staging tips to consider before hosting an open house:

Add a Fresh Coat of Paint

Nothing adds personality like color. A fresh coat of paint can give a room an instant facelift and help influence the mood of the space. Plus, painting is a bit tedious, but it’s a project that anyone can handle over the weekend.

If you don’t want to take on a full paint job, start with an accent wall. Another spot to consider painting is the front door. Using a bold accent color on the door can brighten up the front entry and add an interesting element.

Update the Light Fixtures

Lighting is an essential element of a home that can either blend in or stand out. The illumination itself can change the look and feel of a room, but the fixtures can also play a role. Lamps, sconces, pendant lights and chandeliers come in every style imaginable. Sometimes all it takes is changing out the lampshades to add a little personality.

Lighting can also affect functionality. For instance, LED lighting in the kitchen can provide more versatility in the multi-functional space. Placement of lights is another consideration that should be made based on what you plan to do in an area.

Add Artwork

All those bare walls are blank canvases just begging to be covered. Every art collection is unique, which makes it an easy way to express your personal style and taste. The way artwork is displayed can also influence how viewers connect with the piece. Here, lighting can play a big role.

Switch Out the Hardware

Another quick fix that can be made in a single afternoon is switching out the hardware around your new home. Small handles and knobs are used on a daily basis, so even though they’re tiny accents they get noticed.

Hardware can easily become outdated, which is why switching it out is a common project for new homeowners. Both the finish and the design of the hardware can influence the overall style of your cabinetry. But keep in mind what type of hardware is around the house so you can make sure things look cohesive.

Install Crown Molding

Crown molding gives a room more dimension and architectural intrigue without a huge price tag. It can even up the value of a home, making it a great investment of your time and money. Homeowners that haven’t tested their woodworking skills can still install crown molding on their own. New polystyrene foam crown molding is making it almost foolproof since the material cuts clean and can be affixed with a joint compound.

Use a Stair Runner and Rugs

You can protect hard floors and infuse a bit of personal style by using a stair runner and rugs around the home. For a couple hundred dollars you can get everything you need for this DIY project.

Pick New Window Treatments

Windows are a focal point in the home that could become an eyesore if the treatments are outdated. Depending on how many windows you have replacing all of the treatments could get expensive. If your remodeling budget is tight, focus first on the window treatments in the shared living spaces. In addition to the style, keep energy efficiency in mind when you’re making a selection.

Refinish the Kitchen Cabinets

The kitchen is the heart of the home, but it’s also one of the most expensive rooms to remodel. An easy and cost effective cosmetic fix is refinishing the cabinets. If your new home has structurally sound wood cabinets that are straight out of another era a coat of paint or stain could be all you need to freshen up the look. But before you paint or stain the cabinets, give them a good cleaning and sand the surface.

Freshen Up the Faucets

Another accent that can quickly age a home is the faucets in the kitchen and bathrooms. With so many interesting styles available today, there’s no reason to settle for faucets that don’t suit your personal style. If you’re allocating your budget start with the faucets in the kitchen and guest bathroom since they’ll get the most use.

Wooden furniture is a timeless classic in any home, but if you have a range of furniture consisting of various types of wood, it can be seriously difficult to know how to decorate properly. Thankfully, we are here to break it all down for you.

From what to do and what not to do, here is everything you need to know about beautifying a home with lots of wooden furniture:

Mix it Up
If you have a lot of the same wood in one space, you may want to take some time to mix things up a bit. For example, if your living room has this style of oak doors, oak wooden floors and oak furniture, it may be seen as a bit much. The best way to tackle this problem is to introduce a variety of wooden finishes into the same room. You could combine interior oak doors with a grey washed coffee table and a dark wooden bookcase for ultimate effect. This mixing of various wooden finishes is a popular trend in modern homes and it looks fabulous.

Choose Fabrics Wisely
Certain fabrics go perfectly well with wooden furniture and others just… don’t. It is important to consider the natural and most dominant colours in the finish of your wooden furniture when choosing what shade of fabric to go for. Textured fabrics work remarkably well with wood. You may also wish to introduce some prints into the room to really capture the natural ambience of wooden floors and tables etc.

Perfect Colours
Choosing what colours to decorate with your wooden furniture is not as difficult as you might think. Dark finishes go well with lighter shades such as yellow, green and blue. The same rule can be said for lighter wood finishes, which stand out best against stronger colours. According to www.bhg.com, choosing colours that contrast with your Amish wood furniture is the best way to approach the decorating process. Soft and light shades go well with medium-tone finishes and if your furniture has a reddish tone to it, try introducing some green to really intensify the natural hue of the wood.

Artwork and Dark Wood
If you have dark wooden furniture such as mahogany, you definitely don’t want to do anything that is going to throw off the rest of the room. Bright artwork on the walls will help to contrast against the dark furniture, hopefully helping to brighten the rest of the room up as a result. You should also make sure that your dark wooden furniture has a clean and contemporary backdrop. This will help it to stand out better and make it look even more striking.

Dare to be different
If you have lighter shades of wooden features and furniture in your home, you may want to bring it out more by decorating with warmer textures and bright walls. This will make the room look fresher and clean. Pale wood also tends to go very well with metallic shades of silver and grey, which will give the room a very modern and sophisticated appeal.

Space, put simply, is a luxury. We’re fickle creatures us humans and somehow, over the years, we form emotional attachments to material items – strange really isn’t it? But with these bits of clutter come memories and we don’t want to throw them away in the chance that we just might need them again, one day. Sadly – this doesn’t help you out when it comes to making space. Here, you’ll find a few ideas on how you can make space without having to drastically get rid of your most treasured clutter.

Move your clutter elsewhere

This doesn’t mean move into a bigger house, although you may need to in the long run. Have you considered moving items that don’t get used into storage? It’s easy to do and relatively inexpensive so definitely worth a look. Sometimes you’ll find you move items into a storage space and lose that emotional attachment so that you can eventually get rid of them entirely! You can even hire a junk removal service to get rid of and recycle your unwanted items.

Up, up and away

Are you guilty of not making enough use of the vertical space in your home? A great way to maximise storage is to build your shelves up higher, in every nook and cranny of your home. They’re excellent spaces for books, toys and even in the kitchen you can build shelves for glasses, plates and general kitchenware.

Reward yourself

Once you’ve decided which belongings you can bear to part with, get them online and make yourself some cash. There are lots of websites perfect for selling such as eBay, Gumtree or Amazon. Also, don’t forget about the great local ‘Buy and Sell’ sites on Facebook that won’t charge you selling fees and usually someone will come and pick up the item so you’ll save loads on postage too.

Convert your furniture into storage

Things like beds, tables, coffee tables and some chairs are all great options for storage. If you don’t have space under your bed for storage then consider getting a divan with drawers. Similarly, an old trunk as a coffee table can hide all manner of junk inside it. You could, of course, also repurpose old items into something new and useful.

Through the looking glass

If you have a small house, have your storage down to a tee and it still looks small, then have you considered creating space by adding windows, mirrors and glass where you can? Things like swapping solid wooden doors for glass doors, putting mirrors up and down hallways and if you can afford it, skylights can make the smallest of bedrooms feel spacious.

Try not to be too bold

Painting walls with dark and bright colours tend to make them feel a bit smaller, if you’re looking to make your house feel more spacious, Elle décor suggest neutral colours and painting the walls and trim the same colour to trick the eye into thinking that the ceilings are taller because there are no breaks in the trim…clever!

The essence of any home is the kitchen. A modern kitchen can be distinguished by its minimalistic aesthetic, structured with clean lines and sharp tailoring which radiates vibrancy and high-fashion. Many people dismiss the idea of incorporating a modern kitchen, perhaps due to the fear of going against the norm or even cost implications. Replacing an entire kitchen is always going to be costly, so if you’re going to do it, why not do it right?

If you have a taste for the exquisite, then this is why fitting a modern kitchen is right for you. You will be able to create a living space that is state-of-the-art, with a sleek design, built with a purpose. No clutter, no mess, just visually satisfying and pleasing to the touch. Authenticity and a sense of the natural are important aspects of modern kitchen architecture.

What comes to mind when you think of what it is to have a modern kitchen? Lustrous handle-free doors with a lustrous, glossy finish or walking into a dark kitchen, clapping twice and Ta-da! the lights have turned on? If that is the type of modern kitchen you want, then that is the modern kitchen you can have. There is a multitude of ways you can go down when designing your modern kitchen, whether you want motion sensor lights or not, if you want crystal cabinets with glossy red handles or if you desired to incorporate dusty blue metal units with an intricately carved and traditional wooden shaker unit, the decision is yours to make. There is no true definition of what it is to be a modern kitchen, it is all centred around innovation and you. The setup of a modern kitchen gains expression and life through an ingenious combination of colours, materials and sophisticated surface feel.

You might think that mass manufacturers such as IKEA can offer modern enough kitchens that come as a whole. That can’t be disputed, however, modern kitchens can be tailored to your specific taste, style and ideas. Choosing from an extravagant range of colours and shades, you can make your modern kitchen showcase your personality and allow a true expression of yourself in small detailing to amount to something truly chic and high-end. By you being in control of every aspect of the kitchen, down to the intricate details, you will be guaranteed a finished kitchen that is perfectly tailored for you.

All it takes is a simple conversation with a Modern Kitchen specialist company and you could be onto creating the kitchen that you have always wanted but struggled to achieve on your own.

Source: StoneHouse Bespoke Kitchens