Staging the House to Sell {in less than one week}

We sold our house in 3 days after putting it on the market.  Betcha didn't even know we were putting our house on the market.  Neither did I!

I would love to pretend all my hard work cleaning and painting the house is what got it under contract so quickly;  but God gets all the glory on this one.  It is nothing short of a miracle!

I pulled 3 all-nighters painting and cleaning (while my husband was out of town) to get the house ready.  We decided on a Tuesday we were going to list it... it was up and running by Saturday evening!

Our realtor gave us some great tips for staging the house and I'd love to share some of them with you here.  Some of the tips are his and some are my own.

White everywhere.

wall color:  Benjamin Moore Ashley Gray

This part of it was easy.  We have white slipcovers and a white duvet cover on the bed.  It really gives the "illusion of clean" as I like to call it.  Even the walls in most of the rooms are a version of white.  We have Sherwin Williams Antique White in the Kitchen and Kilim Beige in most of the rest of the house.

For $3 a piece I picked up some white bath towels at Target.  The hand towels were $3 for two.  I also found a white shower curtain on clearance at Home Goods!

I took some grossgrain ribbon from Dollar Tree and hot glued it into a loop to give the towels a little decorative touch.

I also rolled up some white washcloths and placed them in a basket

The washcloths were $3 for eight.  *Secret:  I bunched some old rags in the bottom of the basket.  The rolled ones were placed on top, so it looks full!

I painted the cabinet white and the walls a light blue-green color to create a "spa-like" feeling in the bathroom.

I chose Sherwin Williams' color "Watery".  Combined with the white towels, I think it does the trick!  I wish I had some "before" pics... just know this bath used to be chocolate brown with giant pink polka-dots.  I'm serious.  It was cute for my daughter, but I can't imagine too many people would be into that look.

In the downstairs bathroom, I spray painted this thing white (it used to be stained in a dark cherry)

I also placed out some loofahs and river rocks in a glass bowl on the bathroom counter.

and displayed some soaps that we had

Another big one:  Clean off your counter tops.

This means everything!  I don't even get to use my Keurig, so I pull my little coffee press out of the cupboard each morning.

The counter thing goes for your toothbrush and hand soap in the bathroom too.

We also got a storage unit to store any unnecessary clutter.  It was so worth the $30 a month!

Paint your woodwork (all trim and doors)!!!  I cannot emphasize this one enough.  It is time-consuming but so worth it.  Old trim can quickly make a house look so grimy, whereas freshly painted trim gives off a clean and crisp vibe.  As I was looking for our next house I noticed how the trim in the house influenced how I felt about the overall cleanliness.  And I'm usually a fixer-upper kinda person who can see the potential in a place!

 I really splurged here with Sherwin Williams Pro Classic paint.  It costs almost twice as much as some of their other paint, but it goes on so nicely and covers in one coat.  Time was of the essence here so I went for it.


Make it smell good.  I have a terrible sense of smell, but I do know no one likes a stinky house.  I don't know how people sold houses before Febreeze and reed diffusers.  Some of them smell kind of chemically, but I really am impressed with this one from Target.

Again, when we went looking for our next house I couldn't believe some of the smells in the houses.  A lot of them reeked!  There were quite a few that caused my 2 year old to ask, "what's that smell Mommy?" the second we walked in the door.  And this is a girl who will walk around in a poopy diaper, unphased.

*********

We still have to get through the appraisal on our house so this isn't a done deal yet.  My God is bigger than any of the obstacles we need to overcome!  If it is in His will for us to move, I believe it will happen.

Prayer has been the number one factor in selling this house.  Praying for my own energy to get through all the work.  Praying for a buyer.  Praying for His will to be done in our lives.  We put calls out to all our close friends to join us in prayer and I believe it works.

So to sum it up:

*White stuff everywhere (towels, slipcovers, duvets, shower curtains, etc)
*Make the bathroom "spa like" (Sherwin Williams "watery" color on walls)
*Everything off the counters (kitchen and bath) 
*Store any stuff that is cluttering your home
*Paint your trim.  Paint your trim.  Paint your trim.
*Pray!

I also did a little chalk drawing on the blackboard wall in the kitchen...

Is this laying it on a little thick?  Maybe.  But I thought it was worth a shot ;o)  I was inspired by Dana Tanamachi's drawings.  I know it pales in comparison to her work, but it was my nod to her.

I'm really hoping to get back to blogging regularly... between the kids, work, and all the house stuff it has been nearly impossible.  Thanks for sticking with me through it!  I'll be sure to keep you updated when we hear anything.

Blessings,
Jamie

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Nasty Sofa? Slipcover It!

Take a look...

This was the before...

White slipcovers brightened the entire room!  I know I know, I have a one year old and a three year old and white slips might not seem like the sanest solution to dressing up my furniture.  But they are!  I have washed the covers numerous times now and they are holding up beautifully.

Some of the stains that have washed out of the slipcovers:

• marker
• crayon
• oatmeal
• juice
• mystery brown goo
• blood

Here is the blood.  I stuck myself with a pin when I was sewing the slipcovers.  And the stain came out!  Oxy Clean is amazing stuff, especially on blood.

I am not going to pretend like this project was easy.  It was totally doable, but very labor and time intensive.  The payoff was HUGE, so all the blood, sweat and tears were worth it.

Before I go any further, I have to say that I never ever ever could have even attempted this without an awesome ebook:

The Lazy Girls Guide to Custom Slipcovers

And here is her blog:

Pink and Polka Dot

This ebook was made for me.  Kristi wrote it in a way that gave me confidence but didn't lose me in all the details or rules.  She totally encouraged me and somehow made me believe that I could do this.  I think her passion is seeing the world slipcovered... she is so sweet and helpful and loves posting pics of the final products on her blog.  If you are going to attempt this, you will be spending some $$ on the fabric.  Do yourself a favor and make a small investment in the ebook!

I also slipped a chair.  Here it is in progress:

Here it is finished:

I actually started with the chair (to give me the confidence I needed to tackle that crazy sectional).  Kristi instructs in her ebook to pin the fabric inside-out when making your slipcover.  Only problem with the sectional?  It isn't symmetrical, so that won't work.  I hemmed and hawwed and sighed and complained when trying to figure out how to get a clean look on the arms of the sectional.  And then it hit me:  Pin the arm of the sectional slipcover on the chair!  The chair and sectional are from the same line of furniture, so it worked out beautifully.

 So this arm on the sectional

was shaped by pinning inside-out to this arm on the chair

And it worked!  You need to understand that I have very limited sewing skills.  I love problem solving and muddling my way through new experiences, so I would say a small amount of knowledge + the ebook + the right attitude can get you some new slipcovers too.  And I love the word custom.  They are just for me and my furniture; not from some kit I bought at Target (although I do have one of those slipcovers on a chair upstairs).

Here is one more look, because I'm so dang proud

Thanks for visiting!  I love comments so let me know what you think and if you're going to try this at home!

Blessings,

Jamie
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