Spring Is In The Air

It’s that wonderful time of year for us here in Central Florida.  The buzz and energy of our spring season has graciously arrived.  The weather is warming up, the birds are chirping and hopefully the last of the cold winter weather is behind us.  This means it’s soccer and baseball season for my boys as well as the time to update my outdoor potted plants from winter to spring. I usually change the planters on either side of my front door 4 time’s a year, at the start of every season.

I have replaced my sad-looking creamy butter-colored poinsettias with some bright plum colored Kalanchoe annuals and added a border of white Impatiens for some contrast.  This blends exceptionally with the exterior colors on my home as well as with the adjoining furniture on my front porch.

Before

After

So for less than $15, I have a welcoming front door that has a fresh new look for a fresh new season!  Happy spring everyone!

A Touch of Valentine's

A Touch of Valentine’s

February is the month of love and I always enjoy adding a touch of Valentine inspired décor in a couple of areas in my home.  Now, I don’t go all out, as I do that for Christmas but I just like to have a few things stand out to make a small visual statement.  Red is my color of choice but you could use pink, mixed with white, silver or gold as well. I like to keep all my red Christmas linens accessible as they come in handy for this season too.

My dining table has been set for two,..just me and my hubby, but I also like to decorate our smaller kitchen table to surprise my kids when they wake up on Valentines Day morning.

Below is a picture of my dining table setting.  I have gone with the red and white color palette. Since I didn’t own any napkin rings, I made a pair out of a toilet paper roll cut in half and wrapped it in some wide wired ribbon that I had left over from Christmas.  I think they turned out pretty good and it was so easy to do.  I could always glue on some silver or gold hearts or something sparkly to make them even fancier.

If you don’t have many things to decorate with, the dollar store is a good place to start especially if you are on a limited budget.  I am fortunate to have a great dollar store in my community where I find a lot of quality decorating items.  The glass candle holders, candles, white plates and white and clear glass pebbles, and red and white polka dot chocolate hearts all came from the dollar store.  

Having flowers on the dining table adds warmth and makes a wonderful statement especially on Valentines Day but you don’t have to spend a fortune on roses to make the table look nice.   Look around to see what you may have growing in your back yard or neighborhood.  I pruned off some branches from my Ligustrum tree, added in some purple Lantana and some fuzzy Dusty Miller and put them in a vase with red hearts on it and there, I have a beautiful arrangement that didn’t cost me a dime.  Now if you live in a cold climate, it may be harder to just pick something from your yard during the winter but evergreen branches mixed with a few carnations or roses from the flower shop would be nice as well.  

I have included 3 variations of my table setting shown in the pictures below.  One has the real flowers from my yard, one is with 3 candles in a row and one with an artificial cherry blossom arrangement.  Which one do you like the best?

Now that the table is set and looking good it’s time to decide what to have for our special Valentines dinner… hmmmm….suggestions anyone?

On the kids table I put out the Valentine's table cloth that I bring out every year and then I went to the Halmark store and bought them each those new love “Bug Em’s”.  They are a little stuffed bug that has a zip up pouch on their back where you can store a couple little goodies in.  One of their hands is a clip that you can attach notes to.  I thought these were pretty cute and I can use them all year long for birthdays, any other special occasions, or just to surprise them with an “I Love You” note every now and then.  So, I went back to my trusty dollar store and found a few candies to fill up their pouch as well as a giant pencil, some colored construction paper (that they were needing for craft projects), and chocolates and displayed them all together on the table.  

I hope they like it and that you find a way to add just “A Touch of Valentines” to your home too!

Does Your Curb Appeal?

 Are you thinking of putting your house up for sale?  Do you want to create a warm and welcoming feeling to the exterior of your home?  Curb appeal is a real estate term used to describe a homes exterior and the attractiveness of the house as viewed from the street.  If you are planning on putting your house on the market, having great curb appeal is absolutely vital to selling a home quickly.  Most home buyers will drive by your home and view your MLS photos on the internet before they ever contact their agent to step into the actual property.  Your home may be crossed off from a buyers “must see” list if it doesn’t have extraordinary curb appeal. So, if your home doesn’t have eye catching curb appeal they may unfortunately just drive on by.  Great first impressions of the exterior are key to enticing prospective buyers into taking the next step and checking out the inside of the home.

There are many things that can be done to enhance your home’s curb appeal.

From fixing everything that is in need of repair, to painting, pressure washing, updating the light fixtures, house numbers and the mailbox, lawn and shrub maintenance, etc,   Adding finishing touches such as flower beds and planters as well as staging a front porch or patio will draw people to emotionally connect with your home and make them want to venture on and see the inside.

Below are some photos of a really nice house but it had some not so nice curb appeal.  It had a great front porch but it wasn't being used to it's full potential.  So with a little painting, and some added touches, it turned out to be that wonderfully welcoming space the homeowners were wanting.

Home BEFORE Curb Appeal Makeover

Two rocking chairs in dire need of some attention.

This was more of a parking spot for bikes and kids cars.

Front porch AFTER curb appeal makeover
A new door mat, and a couple of planters to frame the door makes you feel welcome.

I cleaned up the shrubs and removed the excess garden animals.

These rocking chairs went from sad to happy by painting them a mauve color that compliments the wine color on the front door and shutters.  A nice outdoor rug gives the porch that finished homey feel.

We wanted the kids to feel at home too with their own rocking chair.

Hand painted birdhouses on the beverage cart match the color palette of the chairs and pillows.

I you have any questions or need some curb appeal or home staging advice, please feel free to send an email to kim@bestagedorlando.com You can also include photos of the area to be addressed. I’d love to hear from you!

I also offer an in depth 37 point Customized Curb Appeal Make Over Service for homeowners who are planning on selling or who just want to update the look of their home's exterior in the Greater Central Florida area.

Thanks for looking!

Kim

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