Designed To Sell - Model Home Makeovers

For many people, choosing colors for their homes is a very scary process. Think about how many people’s homes that you’ve visited and the walls are still “Builder Beige” because they’ve been afraid to make a wrong decision. Do you live a beige lifestyle, or is your life full of color and excitement? Or would you like it to be? It’s been proven that color has a direct effect on our moods, so adding a little to your life might make a world of difference.

Here are some tips to start you in the right direction to find the perfect hue:

1. Ask Sherwin Williams or an expert at your local paint or home improvement store. Color is their life so they can help steer you in the right direction. I personally love Sherwin Williams because of their color palettes that they put together that give me fool-proof coordinates in a family of colors. Be sure to check out their new Concepts in Color - great fresh new colors with brochures that show the colors in an actual room.
2. Be inspired by your surroundings. When I lived in Arizona I fell in love with the desert colors so when I was ready to paint my family room I took my swatches outside to match up the colors that I had fallen in love with in nature. Technology is a wonderful thing (sometimes!) and many stores now have a machine that can match up teh color of almost anything that you can bring into them.
3. Start Small. Before you paint an entire room in a color pin some paint swatches up on a wall in the room and see how the lighting in the room affects them during different times of the day. The perfect blue in the store may become the imperfect violet with your lighting on your walls. When you’ve narrowed down the choices, buy a pint of a sample of the colors you’ve chosen, paint a 2ft by 2 ft section of wall if possible and take a day or two to live with the results. Many times I’ve thought I wanted to go light, but when I see the color up and view how it playes with the colors in my carpets or furniture I decide to go a shade or two richer.

Keep in mind as well that you don’t have to paint an entire room - sometimes an accent wall is all that it takes to give you the look that you’ve been wanting. Paint is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to remodel your home and your life, and can add thousands of dollars of value if you are selling to a potential buyer who is as afraid as you were of color.

One of my favorite builders of all that I’ve worked with in the United States is @Home Builders in Rochester, NY. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been working with builder David Riedman for over 10 years! Time flies, but when looking back at some of the model homes that I have merchandised for him in the past I realized that one of the reasons this builder continues to be so successful is because he understands timeless design and style, and builds homes that will never looked dated or “trendy”.

When designing your home whether it’s a model home or your personal home it’s important to really think through decisions you make that will become investments -kitchen cabinets and appliances, large furniture items, bath fixtures, and other materials that are expensive or difficult to change out. Bedding, accessories, wall colors and area rugs are places you can have some fun with current trends but change things out when your tastes or needs change.

The great news about deciding to build a new home these days is that you have options and choices like never before.

Current technology has made it possible to build “Factory Built” housing that not only meets the quality that site built housing offers, but in many cases can exceed the quality and value that is available.

For the next few weeks I’m going to go more in-depth about the different choices, and how they compare. The building types that I’m going to review are the following:

Trailers
Mobile Homes
Manufactured Homes
Park Models
Double Wides
Modular Homes
PreFab Homes
Panelized Kit Homes
SIPS Homes (Structural Insulated Panels)

Please let me know if you have interest in other building processes and I’ll be happy to do the research and share it here.

It’s hard to believe that Katrina roared thru all of our lives over two years ago. Living in Dallas, you may not have thought this would affect me as much as many living on the Gulf Coast, but when your parents have found their calling in doing disaster relief and you received a call from them in their Salvation Army canteen outside New Orleans and the Super Dome it gets personal. They were focused on feeding people in need and I was focused on the images that were floating across my television screen showing how life threatening the situation was. I couldn’t be more proud of my parents and the work that they do, and after spending a few days when I can volunteering with them, I don’t know where they find the energy and strength.

My parents have always been great role models, and if there is one thing I know about and have a passion for, it’s housing. My mother can cook for 2,000 as easily as she can cook for 2 - a gift I wish I inherited, but instead my passions tend towards making a house a home.

When someone loses their home, and in a lot of ways their identities - how do you move forward? Katrina not only swept away people homes, she also stole their memories, and in some cases their futures.

Rebuilding Mississippi and the Gulf Coast has gotten personal for me. From having the opportunity to visit Biloxi, Gulfport, and other areas that were ravaged by the storms, I’ve been able to hear the life-changing stories first hand and to see how these determined homeowners can’t be kept from the communities that they love.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my Job? As a Lifestylist I spend a lot of time researching trends and ways that I can help consumers enhance their quality of life, so researching foodies and food trends is a large part of what I do. Last week I attended the Texas Restaurant Association's Southwest Foodservice Expo, and as luck would have it Duff Goldman, The Rock Star host of Ace Of Cakes was one of the speakers! People have asked me if I go everywhere with a photographer - as a matter of fact I do any chance I get attend events with Lisa Stewart of Lisa Stewart Photography so I can capture images to share with you all. Thanks to her I was not only able to get some wonderful shots of Duff, I was also able to go behind the scenes and see what he's like without an audience in front of him.It's wonderful to now know that Duff is not only fun to watch on his Food Network show Ace of Cakes, he also has an amazing amount of experience and credentials to back up the fact that he's one of the most talented cake designers today. His loyalty to his employees - most were friends before they joined the business - talent as a true artist as well as the gift to not take himself too seriously has moved him to the top of my favorite chef list. As we all know, Food Network has been moving towards having personalities instead of chefs hosting their shows, but with Duff's background of attending the CIA Greystone (and not as a weekend course like others we know) and working at the celebrated French Laundry, this chef is more than fluff.I'm also in love with this man because so many times when you attend an event like this the speaker does their thing then disappears, but not Duff. He not only walked the aisles meeting everyone and being very gracious about it, but he also interacted with the various vendors and was extremely approachable.Duff is the perfect example of what the Food Network needs more of - great role models for the future of the food industry. I'm looking forward to watching the new season of his show which starts in a few weeks!

It seems like one of the favorite stories publications are writing about right now (besides Paris Hilton going to jail) is the alleged housing slump. The power that the press has to determine housing prices is amazing.

The part that seems to be missing from all of the stories though is that simply put, housing should be based on supply and demand - shelter is a basic need and there is only so much all of us can or afford.

I've been working with one of my favorite builders in Tucson this week and their market has been hot particularly hard by the housing slow down. National builders came in to make a killing in a hot market and have left just as quickly.

A great home is a great home and for many people is a life long decision. Buyers need to remember that they aren't buying something they can walk away from in six months if they change their minds - a partnership needs to be developed between the builder and the buyer.

Canoa has done a tremendous job with this. They are a smaller builder, but have been building in this market thru the good and bad times and consistently build a home anyone (including myself) would be thrilled to own. There sales team takes the time to get to know the new families and help them choose the perfect home for their lifestyle, and design their homes around the lifestyles that suit their homes and their communities.

The next time a builder starts "throwing money" at you to buy one of their homes, think about if you are making your long term decision because of short term incentives, or because it is the home of your dreams.

It’s amazing sometimes how kids “get it” more than most adults do. This weekend I spent time with my favorite Lifestylist® - Jenna. She understands how rooms should be designed around the interests and Lifestyle of the client and her room is the perfect example.

With Jenna, it’s all about pink and ponies. If it’s a pink pony, even better. She has taken a personal interest in designing her room and has done a remarkable job. Her Mom let her choose her own furniture, bedding and lighting and it’s ideal for what she needed. A bunkbed with bookcases houses her growing book collection and the top bunk has become the “stable” for her ponies. Wall shelves allow her to organize her other collections in a neat manner.

Kids rooms should be about kids. A place where they can dream, learn, grow, and above all, a room that’s all about them.