Tanya’s Tips

Staging tips!

Whether you’re looking to enhance your home for your own enjoyment or make it more
attractive to prospective buyers, you may be surprised how just a few inexpensive, and
quick, home fixes can improve the mood and the value of your home. I’m here to offer
you several home improvement ideas that you can complete in less than a day and on a
limited budget.

Color Tip:

A gallon of fresh pain will do wonders for any room. Neutral, warm earth-tone colors
such as leafy greens, sky blues, and creams and warm browns will all add a clean,
serene touch. Additionally, a fresh coat of paint makes a dramatic difference in
appearance and will help solve another problem – stubborn room odors. New paint on
dingy doors and chipped paint around window frames and boarders makes a huge
difference. White boarders makes most wall colors pop! Or if you want the walls to
appear taller then pain the walls and the boarders the same color!

You can also paint ONE accent wall to brighten up a bland room lacking in architectural
details. Make this a fun color that makes you happy!

Scent Tip:

Another great (and easy) way to tackle odors, that is chemical free is to use essential
oils on light bulbs! Put a few drops of your favorite scent on a few light bulbs and the
heat releases the scent of the oil! Essential oil diffusers are wonderful, and boiling
cinnamon or baking cinnamon on a tray adds a delicious scent especially around the
holidays. Bake cookies or a pie and create that home away from home feel! They’re
all inexpensive ways to revive any space and make it welcoming to both your family and
potential home buyers.
PLEASE NOTE: Once your house is CLEAN and odors TACKLED then using essential
oils go a long way.

Texture Tip:

Along with scents, the life of a room can fade over time. There are easy ways to revive
the feel of your home. Try incorporating texture and flare into your home. New candles,
curtains made with inexpensive sheets (puddle the drapes to add style) and uplights (to
highlight main features) add flare, and area rugs, throw pillows which include natural
fibers that add texture to your home. Bamboo mats, and blinds are a nice clean touch
and can make your home more appealing.
Always make sure your bedding is new! Purchase inexpensive sheets and use your old comforter and make your bed “SELL THIS HOUSE STYLE”.

Potential props: textured throw pillows, rugs/mats that are textured (look for natural
fibers and bamboo),
You can also take your favorite material, wrap it around a wood board and hang it on the
wall unframed to add texture!
Its always fun to show how you can make bed sheets into beautiful curtains with two
sheets, Curtain rod and rings…..or show how to make a bed STH style or at least how
to convert your old drab comforter into a new accent piece for the bed. (We do it all the
time on the show and can show you what I mean)

Accessories Tip:

Updating accessories and adding subtle accents can enhance almost any home.
Pottery, live plants, vases or baskets filled with fresh flowers, fresh fruit in bowls or
staged cut fruit on a chopping board and placed in the kitchen looks and smells great!
Delicate fountains all can give your home positive energy, making it more comfortable
for you and more attractive to buyers.
Another fun idea is to paint miss matched chairs furniature and accessories all the same
color to make it more hip, less personal and clean.

SOME BASIC STAGING TIPS that I talk about all the time are:

Depersonalize – You have to no longer see your house as YOUR house but rather a
PRODUCT you are selling. People dont feel comfortable in a home that they cant see
themselves in because it feels like someone’s PERSONAL SPACE and not theirs. Take
down personal photos, collectables, bold and strange items etc…….

Declutter – Get rid of trinkets, personal toiletries, clear counter space, pack up things
you’re not using everyday, and get rid of the junk! It can be distracting and potential
buyers will be more interested in your photos and trinkets and strange things than they
will the house! When yo don’t de clutter, potential buyers judge and investigate on how
people live rather than the actual HOUSE itself!

Clean your house!! – That means from head to toe!! Under furniture, beds, couches,
every piece of furniture and piece of art on the walls! Clean your fridge, microwave, and
everything in sight!! This might seem obvious but this is the one thing people MOST
overlook! cleaning affects the way a house smells and feels!

Remove excess furniture – you are selling square footage, so you have to show off the
space not the things you have in it! Show odd fire places, windows and cool details
of the house rather than hide them with furniture. Only use NECESSARY pieces of
furniture and store the rest for the next house. What you might think is the coolest thing….like a stuffed hoarse or an old jute box, others might think is offensive or just a
big distraction……they wont even notice the SIZE of the room when there are too many
things in it!

Highlight the architectural details of the house – This can be dime with paint, moving
furniture out from in front of them ie: fire place, cool window, doorway etc…… and placing
it in a way that draws you TO the feature. Draw the attention to the cool details the
house has to offer by highlighting it!!

Take attention away from flaws and towards the main selling features. – If the floor
has bad floors, cover them with a throw rug and use splashes of color in the design so
people notice the fun things and not the bad weaknesses of the house. If the only couch
you have is old and shabby, cover it with an inexpensive slip cover or a flat sheet for 15
bucks – tucking and more tucking goes a long way. If the ceilings are in bad shape use a
cool paint color on the walls and fun accents like pillows and floral arrangements to draw
attention away from the ceiling. etc……

Tanya’s Tips To Simplify Life AT HOME

Simplifying you life at home can mean something different for everyone. Some find it more challenging than others so go at your own pace and don’t take it too seriously. What might seem like a big overhaul at first, will leave you with more time, happiness, and freedom and a in the end a SIMPLER LIFE! There are three main categories you can tackle. DE CLUTTER, REORGANIZE, OR SURRENDER!

REORGANIZE for a simple stress free ATMOSPHERE:

This is my favorite step to creating a Simpler life at home. There are many clever ways to keep things organized! Here are some fun tips:

Take complete sheet sets and organize them by placing the complete set inside one of the pillow cases the the set! No more searching through mismatched sheet sets!
Reuse wet wipe containers and store your plastic bags in them! The actually come out one at a time if you do it right!
Use less paper in the kitchen, which means less clutter! Designate a section of a wall or side of a cupboard and paint it with chalk board paint! Frame it easily with a picture frame to create a clean hip writing tablet for the kitchen! The family will love it!
OR take an 8×10 picture frame, paint the cardboard inside it with chalk paint and stand the new chalk board on the counter or island with a beautiful picture stand and use to write fun notes with!
(this is also great to do in the kids bedrooms to worry less about them using other walls as a coloring book)
If you can’t afford to buy new window dressing, you can use bed sheets with a plain curtain rod and curtain rings! They come in a million fun patterns and they are already have a hem!
*Another way to create a fun window dressing is to use wallpaper, fold it like an accordion from top to bottom. String some thin rope through holes in either side and pull the rope to let the light in or block it out. There are many fun styles and easy to make!
Use velcro to store stuffed animals! you can have fun with this by hanging a wall of stuffed animals with velcro!
I love book shelves and baskets! They look great and create more storage space! Place baskets on your book shelves to hides any trinkets. remote controls, DVD’s or anything that would otherwise be lying around and in the way.
Easy to maintain plants in the house! Potted plants, succulents or cactus take very little effort. There are very beautiful cactus that flower, potted plants are less expensive and they last longer.
Places like bathrooms and walls behind a stove should be either tiled or painted with an oil based paint. Makes it much easier to clean! Worry free!
To make your house smell clean and fresh, take essential oils of your choice. (I love lavender) place two drops on a light bulb and turn on the light! THis is the simplest way to add toxic free fragrance, and there is nothing to clean up afterwards. Some oils are believed to calm and relax the mind.
LIGHTING is very important! I LOVE dimmers! They instantly take the edge off, and as a finishing touch, make an organized room look relaxing, welcoming and stress free!
If something in your house really bothers you, take the attention away from it with design. For example if your ceilings are not very high or windows are small. hang the curtains much higher than just above the window. This makes the ceilings look much higher and the windows look taller and bigger! Take the stress out of what bothers you!

DE CLUTTER & CLEAN

Might seem obvious, but this is the most overlooked step and the toughest of them all. Especially for people who love to collect trinkets! You can only submerge yourself into a Simpler Life if you truly LIVE a simpler life. Having clutter in your home creates more stress, more to clean and takes away valuable space.
Here are some TIPS on De Cluttering.

Pack away the trinkets! You might like to look at them or say you collect them, but what they do is create more to clean, take up space that could be used for a much better purpose. Too much stuff is stressful! less is more in this case.
take off as much clutter as you can from the face of your fridge! A few things for the kids to play with or a couple photos here and there are fine…..as long as they are being used and kept to a minimum.
Clear off the counter space in the kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms as much as possible! Especially in the bedrooms and bathrooms. Leaving all of your personal toiletries on display might be convenient for you, but they give the impression that you don’t have space or time to properly put them away.

(I have seen everything from oxygen machines, to every prescription and over the counter medicine you can imagine, sitting on bedside tables and countertops…its stresses me out just looking at them!)

Clean your appliances, behind furniture, under furniture, ceiling fans…..once a year give your home a cleaning overhaul!
Clean old rugs or rip them out and show off the hard woods underneath! – if your kids or family have allergies, make your life simpler by taking out the rugs!
Take out any pieces of furniture that doesn’t have a purpose. The room will feel bigger instead of cramped and dark.

OR YOU CAN OVERHAUL YOUR ENTIRE HOME AND SURRENDER!! THIS OF COURSE HAS THE BIGGEST IMPACT! Take one room at a time and go for it! Get A FRESH NEW PERSPECTIVE on your house by starting with a clean slate!

SURRENDER – the whole shebang!

Every month tackle one or two rooms at a time.
Decide what “the purpose” of each room is in your house.
CLEAR EVERYTHING OUT of the room.
Mend any holes where things were hanging, or screwed into the walls.
Repaint the room a fresh new color you love! Especially if its the same color that was on the walls when you moved in!
Go through all of your furniture, decide what is most important (or that you use the most) and get rid of anything else!
Do the same with the accessories.
Create space – only bring back necessary pieces of furniture. Clean lines and Space are both essential in creating less stress in your life.
TIP: paint mismatched furniture the same color or the same tones to streamline the look, make it more hip and less chaotic!
Wipe down furniture, clean picture frames and anything going back into the room.
TIP: if you have mismatched couches, use slip covers! They’re machine washable so you don’t have to worry about getting them dirty! They hide any stains or rips and they are clean slate to match and create a fun color scheme.
Buy a few new accents, pillows slip covers and things that make you happy.
Only have artwork up that has a purpose, and that is displayed with a purpose. Streamline things on the walls and keep it to a minimum. Only display your absolute favorite pieces.
Show off architectural details such as fire places and big windows. Never place furniture in front of them and block sunlight, or a beautiful fire. These add peace, and create a relaxing atmosphere.