Move over place cards!

I needed 10 chairs and I was not willing to pay much so like a lot of people I resorted to kijiji. I found these chairs that looked so good on the photo and they were the perfect colour. I called and agreed over the phone to take them for 20$ each and that included them to be delivered to my door. Great right? well when I got them they looked like a 2 year old had painted them, there was paint all over the black vinyl too. However the chair was solid and I am a crafty type and for 20 bucks I took them anyways, there was just something about them that I liked.

I spent about 1 hour per chair trying to get the oil based paint off the vinyl because recovering was not an option at the moment. I have to say I dont know what kind of vinyl this is but it can probably stand up to a tornado. I used var sol and black sharpie to get spots I could not remove and it worked pretty good.

I kept them like this for over a year and I finally decided to refinish them. I used a black and Decker mouse sander and just went sander happy. I even sanded some spots on the vinyl that still had some traces of paint,it actually took paint off and no damage to the vinyl. Did I say this vinyl is in-destructive?  When I was done with the just sanded look showing some previous paint colours and some bare wood and I loved it so I stopped there.  Looks farm house rustic chic a nice addition to my newly designed kitchen.

So I had to a party last night and in comes one of my friends and says "wow great chairs is that chalk board?" So I look down at my chair and the black vinyl on the back side of the chair really looks like a chalk board.  How did I not see that? Well I just happen to have chalk on hand because if you follow my posts you will know I love chalk board labels on my spice jars and I wrote my name on the back.  How cute is that? My friend Marlene says hey you can write your guests name on backs of chairs instead of place cards. Amazing idea and it just wipes off with damp towel. So Cool I LOVE MY 20$ CHAIRS.

Before

look at all paint drips, it was everywhere

who paints like that? a 2 year old right?

80 grit then 120 and about 1 hour of time per chair

and voila! my cool chalk board chair.

Functional Wall Art

Wall art can be functional as well as pretty.  This tray was purchased at a Winners before Homesense came to Canada many years ago by me and I had it on my wall for some time and then I gave it to my daughter when she purchased her first home about 7 or 8 years ago and it hung in her kitchen all these years.  The other day I went over to visit and I noticed she gave it a new life and I loved it so I want to share it with you. With some simple s hooks and the use of the the trays own wiring she hung up kitchen utensils and its now functional and beautiful.

Fabulous Find

Amazing

 

Amazing After

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I Love This

I picked up a copy of Style At Home Magazine April 2013 issue and as always I was flipping through looking for new ideas and trends, and there is was on page 54-55 "Dressing the stair case". I have always had a fascination for Stairways and Doors, maybe because they always lead somewhere and I like going places. I blogged about my stairs in an earlier post called Refresh and Renew which you can read later and I love the new look even though I got tennis elbow after all the work it took but totally worth the pain BUT it was missing a runner and I didn't want the tradition one piece top to bottom so I patiently was waiting for something to be made just for me. I should have invented this and I kick myself for not thinking of it. 

Windham Stair Tread in "Ebony is this one and I bought it at Home Depot it comes in brown also with another pattern called Garden Gate and one that comes in a neutral beige with no pattern. The best part is they are $3.99 and I did the entire staircase for $52 What a great deal AND its a DIY project. You do need to use 2 way tape or staples to tack it down because they will move. I chose to use a staple gun with 3/8" staples, they disappear in the carpet fibers better on the lighter sections.

Amazing what a little Elbow grease will do!

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Call me if you would your home staged. Most of the time all it needs is de-cluttering, cleaning and maybe some paint.

Word combination Fun

                                    

 Combining words is fun

 

                                    Stage-enomics 

 Staged Home’s Economic Studies:

  Weather the economy is rising or falling you still have to compete with others. There will always be homes on the market as well as more potential buyers. Your home must be showcased to stand out from the rest.

 Statistics have shown that professionally staged homes sell faster and for more money. Studies have shown that 63% of buyers prefer to pay more for a house that is move in ready. Statistics show that the average difference in selling price over list price for a staged home is 6.3% vs. 1.6 for UN-staged homes.

                                       Stage-ology 

 Staging Psychology- Study of the soul or study of the mind. Emotion,Perception,Attention,Motivation etc:

 Home staging is the process of preparing a home so that it appeals to the majority of potentials buyers. Resale homes are competing not only against each other but with Professionally Decorated New Model Homes and Suites. The pictures that home buyers see on line are first and sometimes the only chance to make that good impression. Unappealing photos put homes at a serious competitive disadvantage and lead to the elimination of these properties from buyer’s viewing lists. A potential buyer will compare your home to everything else they see in the market place. A staged home that is well cared for will leave a lasting impression. Some people will make decisions based on the emotions and senses that they feel when entering a space.
 First impressions will be very important especially because this decision will dictate the rest of the tour. A bad first impression may lead buyers to focus on any negative features the home may have and overseeing all the good ones. Buying a home is the biggest investment that most people will make in a lifetime, a positive viewing is one that lets buyers envision their families living in your space.

Refresh and Update Your Stairs

With a little (ok, a lot) of elbow grease, you can update and refresh your staircase. What I did was lightly sand and wash with soap and water entire surface. I mean spindles, risers, handrail, side-rails, steps. Then I applied a coat of high adhesion primer (I used Fresh start by Benjamin Moore) over all surfaces with a paint brush. When that was dry I painted the spindles in a BM White, OC 117 simply white semi-gloss for the spindles, risers, and sides, basically everything vertical and I did 4 coats. Yes, 4 coats, 1 per day. It is a lot of work but only the first coat takes the longest, the rest goes pretty quick. Next is the hard part, the steps, I am pretty good at cutting so I did not use tape, I found that a 1 inch brush did a good job if you have a steady hand if not use tape but you will have to wait for the white paint to dry very thoroughly at least 1 week or more before you put tape on it. Or what I did was do my best and then I applied a 1/2 inch cove trim to the joints in the same white pre-painted to give an extra clean line and more detailed look. I used a satin finish BM and the colour was Space black 2119-10. (note: I did every other step so we could access going up and down) Finally the hand rail in the black, everything horizontal in black. With all the steps and drying time, it took about 3 weeks from start to finish. I only used 3 quarts of paint, 1 white 1 black and the primer. I have left overs of all three. Total cost was approx 80.00 including brushes. I had a quote from a painter to do this job because of the steps and labor it would have cost me 1200-1400 dollars.

I think I did pretty good

Who should Stage their home?

Everyone! What is staging for Sale? Staging is simply the art of improving the chances of selling a property by making the most of the spaces and showing off its best features so it appeals to the majority of potential buyers. Most home buyers begin their search on the internet as an information source. The pictures they see there are the first and sometimes the only chance to make a good impression. Unappealing photos put homes at a serious competitive advantage and lead to the elimination of these properties from the buyers viewing lists. Visionary Spaces stage’s properties to potentially sell faster and maximize selling price in any market. I do my best to showcase your home so it stands out from the rest. B4

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What is Staging to stay? Staging to stay is pretty much the same except you add your personality and personal items to the mix. Basically it is a space that is always neat, clean and ready to welcome you home everyday and offers you a stress free place in which you can relax and enjoy with your family and friends. B4

After

How can an organized space help you? Well for one thing it looks neat and clean. Organizing your space gives the opportunity to get rid of things you no longer need and find things you thought you lost. If you plan to move why not start d-cluttering depersonalizing and packing now. Not only will this make your house look more spacious and tidy you will have a greater advantage when showing your home. Potential buyers are buying the space, not your belongings. It is so important not to create any distractions or emotions from viewers. Besides once you sell, you’re mostly packed. B4

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This particular staging job was done with no renovations, paint or purchases. De-clutter, clean and organize is all you need to do if you dont want to spend any money. Using things from other rooms such as art,fabrics and accessories and moving them into another room gives a new look and life to a tired space. B4

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B4

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