Category Archives: Home Improvement

How Bathrooms Can Improve the Look of Your Home

The highlights of today’s bathrooms are not white, sterile looking fixtures. The bathrooms of today are more like personal retreats, furnished for comfort and decorated with as much grandeur as some formal dining rooms!

Take tubs for example. These days, instead of soaking in a traditional rectangular tub, home owners retreat from the world in oversized, multi-jet spa tubs in a myriad of styles and shapes. Sinks and vanities, too, come in all shapes, sizes and finishes and are designed with elegance in mind. Go with a wood color and sink vanity to match your tub surround. Add character to your bathroom with an unusual sink made from materials such as marble, granite, stone, glass, china, stainless steel or copper.

For the ultimate in luxury bathroom accessories, consider a sparkling crystal chandelier or a set of retro-style wall sconces.

Finally, don’t forget to spoil yourself with a few practical luxuries. How about a heated towel rack, a fogless mirror, ultra-plush rugs and a comfortable chair with a side table? Turn your bath time into a formal affair!

How Mouldings Can Add Character to Your House

South Florida area Real Estate in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Aventure, Hialeah, Coral GablesMost often, the mouldings in a home go unnoticed, quietly framing walls, ceilings, floors, doors, and windows. But for those who appreciate fine details, moulding accents are valuable elements for creating elegant, beautiful rooms.

Mouldings come in a multitude of designs and materials. If you have plain baseboards, why not add character with a wide, decorative one. Instead of settling for a plain door casing, select one with ornate ridges accented with a stand-out corner piece. Add an elaborate crown moulding to your ceiling that echoes the bends and turns of your walls. Or, use it to create a great fireplace surround.

Break up a long wall by positioning a chair rail moulding about one-third of the way up the wall from the floor or set the top portion off with a picture rail moulding. In turn, you’ve created two distinct wall sections that can be decorated using paint.

You don’t have to replace your existing mouldings to change your decor. You could add a moulding element to the outside edges of your current casings or change the color of your existing trim with paint.

Six Simple Steps to a Great Home Staging

Here are some techniques we can use to improve the marketability of your home by having every buyer get that “I want it now!” feeling.

1. Know that our physical senses respond to a home’s design. What we feel relates to our senses: sight, smell, touch, hearing, and even taste. What we want to do is adjust certain aspects of your home to make it more appealing to these senses. The more senses you can activate in a positive way, the more in love the buyer becomes with your home.

2. Know that psychologically, a buyer wants a home that fills their needs. People buy homes that they feel happy in. People want to feel proud of their home, to the point of showing it off to their friends and family. Choosing the right colors, patterns, furnishings, and taking care of the little details will greatly influence the prospective buyer’s feelings.

3. Don’t fall into the “white wall trap”. The advantages of white is that is a “safe” color, it looks clean, and is generally preferable to a very extreme color. However, it doesn’t create any sort of cheerful feeling and it doesn’t make people feel good. In short, it doesn’t give that “I want it now!” feeling we want in buyers. Studies have been done on color and mood and they have shown that:

  • Homes in a high price range: Use complex muted colors.
  • Homes in a low price range: Use pure primary or pastel colors.
  • Selling in the fall or winter: Use warm color accents.
  • Selling in the spring or summer: Use cool color accents.

4. Furnishings are very different depending on climate. For those of us in the South Florida area, fewer furnishings is generally more desirable due to our hot and steamy days. If in cooler weather, having many “cozy” furnishings is desirable.

5. Some important details to add are extras such as:

  • Paintings – They add depth and give a feeling that the room is bigger.
  • Flowers/Plants – Always use the right colors for the season.
  • Mirrors – They add depth and most importantly, the buyer literally “sees themselves in the home”. This is a very important tip because it makes the buyer feel like the home is part of their lives already. Buyers will become emotionally ready to live in the home.

6. Know that the cost of a few minor touch-ups is usually relatively small. A great place to find building supplies is ReStore, which is part of Habitat for Humanity. ReStore sells donated building materials, tools, and appliances to the public at discounted prices. These profits then help finance Habitat for Humanity’s housing building efforts. These are the South Florida ReStore locations (open Tuesday to Saturday):

HFH ReStore of South Miami
19100 Sw 106th Ave, #18
Miami, FL 33157
(305) 259-2891

HFH ReStore of North Miami
3800 Nw 22nd Ave
Miami, FL 33142
(305) 637-4913

Fort Lauderdale – Habitat ReStore of Broward County
513 W Broward Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312-1743
(954) 763-7771

I encourage you to give these techniques a try. There’s no reason why a buyer shouldn’t fall head-over-heels over your home. As long as you take the time beforehand to make your home as inviting as possible your home will be in very high demand.