Holiday Planning is Upon Us!

Thirty days to Christmas - which is the winter celebration I take part in... There are so many celebrations - it is such a wonderful time of the year! It is also one of the busiest times of the year, especially if you are hosting any events, having family and friends stay with you, are on any boards or are part of any organizations, and so on. Between my husband and I, we have 5 different holiday events to attend, not counting the time split with both sides of the family. We have been spending most of our spare time making homemade perogies, meat pies, spiced nuts and baking for our friends and family. The decorating is next - my husband always knows it is the "decorating night" when he walks in the door to hear Barbra Streisand's original Christmas album, smells cinnamon and dusty boxes of ornaments... I love it, everything about it, making our home shimmer with holiday items, having hints of red, green and gold light up each room, the smell of fresh greenery and warm baking...
Luckily, my career lends itself for making time for such things. This reminds me of the many people who simply don't have the time for these details, yet love the look and feel of a home decorated for the holidays. Isn't it nice that there are now services that can be called on to do just that? RSDR is only one of many companies that offer decorating services for holidays and special events of any kind. If you are one of the busy people that just wants to come home and fall in love with the look of it, maybe you should give yourself the present of a decorating service this holiday season!

Inspiration

The other day I found myself working for 13 hours straight on designs - I never even noticed I had not eaten until about 8 hours in...I was inspired! It didn't even feel like work - it felt like fun. I couldn't wait to finish my leftovers, in order to get back to it - I had to warm up my coffee 4 times before I finally finished the cup! One of my friends and even my husband wondered how that was possible? But anyone in a creative field will be able to relate to this experience!

I love designing!!! When someone calls to work on a new project - I can't wait to hear what it will be...maybe a kitchen, maybe an ensuite, maybe a boudoir, maybe a nursery, maybe an office/den, maybe a whole colour scheme for a home...whatever it is, I can't wait to get started! Inspiration follows. It can come from anywhere and strike at any time, and when it does...an idea comes to paper and then paper comes to life.

The inspiration is the part that makes it all happen and drives me on. It can come from a magazine, a piece of art, a sunset, the bubble that arises when I'm washing dishes, a piece of furniture, an old piece of clothing, the colour the spices created in the dish I'm cooking...absolutely anywhere! If you're looking for inspiration to get you through a situation or create a direction to follow in a project, all you have to do is open your mind to it. Don't "look" for it directly, just relax and start to notice the things around you. All of a sudden, something will catch your eye, your thoughts will start to form and you are on your way! Inpsiration - coming soon to the world around you...

Back to School/Work

We all know someone that always seems to have it together - the house is perfect, they find time for all the activities, they have the best recipes, they always look fantastic - yes, we all know a "Martha Stewart wannabe"...

Not everyone is a natural organizer, and even if you hold a job where organizing of some sort is a part of it, it may not always translate into your personal life. There is no need to beat yourself up about this! Balancing work, home, kids, pets, etc. is hard enough! Hire someone to organize everything for you - there is no shame in it!!

With our lives getting back into routine with school, work, after-school activities, sports, music lessons, business trips, new clients, and so on...it is the perfect time to get your household and office under control!

"A place for everything and everything in its place." This could be the description of your home and/or workplace with a little help from a professional organizer. Most of us don't have the time it takes to design a new way of organizing a kitchen/office/closet/family room/etc. to make it more efficient and user-friendly. That's why these services were created! Even if you don't work outside of the home, you end up getting by with status quo, because you are still run off your feet with everything you need to get done in a day! Wouldn't it be nice if your day wasn't interrupted with "Where are the car keys?" "Where did that permission slip go?" "I know I had those peanut-free bars for lunches here somewhere!" "I was sure I picked up the dry-cleaning..." "I put that phone number in my briefcase - or did I leave it on my desk?"

A professional organizer and de-clutterer ( such as the staff of RSDR) can create systems for you and your home to better manage all you need to manage in a day! Let it look like Martha Stewart came to visit... People don't need to know it was someone a little more local...

Do-It-Yourself

I, like so many of you out there, love the decorating and renovating shows on TV! I especially like the ones where they are on a strict budget! It reminds me of the times when I wanted to overhaul the look of my own places before I was in a position to afford what I really wanted... I was lucky to have enough vision and creativity to do something I could feel comfortable with though, and thanks to books and courses was able to complete almost all the projects completely on my own...

A lot of people are in a tight financial situation due to the economy the last few years. Renovations have been pushed to the bottom of the "to do" list. And people are just "putting up" with some things until they can better afford it. I understand the frustration of not being able to afford what you want to do, and I have found that if I have something to look forward to - it is a lot easier to get through! I used to, and still do, develop "dream boards" of what I want to do next in my place. People create dream boards for a multitude of reasons - their personal goals, their financial situation, things they would like to have, places they would like to be. Renovation "dream boards" are great! They are like a little road map of what your home will eventually look like. But what if you lack the vision? Not everything you see on TV translates well for your own space...

In order to get a personalized vision for a certain space, several people have hired me to develop these renovation "dream boards" for them - (they are listed as the DIY Package service on my website). The boards include a full design mock-up of the room or area - everything from placement and type of furniture to colour schemes, flooring, lighting, decorative touches, as well as a complete break-down of what everything will cost, where to find it, etc. This way the client can do the room bit-by-bit as the budget allows!

The best part for me is getting that call or e-mail inviting me back to see the finished project!!! To those in the process now - have fun! Looking forward to hearing from you in the future!

Wood - to paint or not to paint...

Sorry for the last blog everyone - just couldn't shut-up!!! This one will be far quicker...

I have come across this for years - clients who are absolutely appalled at the idea of painting wood accents, be they furniture, cabinets or trim. I find the trend, like all trends, goes in waves and have noticed painted wood popping up regularly through design magazines and books every couple of years. (This season it is white and light grey that seems to be the most focused on.) But the question remains - should it be painted or are we ruining the integrity of the wood by splashing paint on it?

As a lover of nature and a stong believer in incorporating green items and functions in a home, I love the look and concept of wood in interiors. As a designer, my opinion is very straight-forward - if the colour or shade of wood doesn't work in the space, you need to change it. You could try to change everything around it to make it work, and sometimes this is a beautiful alternative. But in other cases, it still stands out as the one thing that is outdated. To save your precious wood, you could buy completely new items, and keep the wood you currently have in storage for the time that it will be "in" again (don't worry, it's not usually a long time). This can mean quite the 'load off' your chequing account, so I would like you to consider a couple of things first...

(Polite response) Re-staining wood is sometimes a wonderful compromise, as the grain of the wood is still displayed and the strength of the wood is upheld. This will also ensure that your wood furniture/accents are getting the moisture they need over the years to keep looking beautiful.

(Less polite response) Unless you have a cut tree in your home, with sap sticking to your floors, your wood is not "natural" anyway... It has been sliced, diced, shaped, shaved, primed and stained already...

(Least polite response) You can stop worrying about "protecting the integrity of your wood". Your wood doesn't care what you do to it - once it was chopped, it was all downhill from there...

The best reason for staining or painting wood for decor purposes is this - that piece of furniture, those cabinets, that trim is being maintained, re-cycled, re-used. If everyone could sustain the life of their furniture through a few inventive methods of updating them, there may be less trees chopped down as a whole.

So, if it suits you, paint away - it may just be a good thing!!!

Organization/De-cluttering

Clutter - we all have it - whether it is one kitchen drawer that seems to attract bits of everything, or a closet that has too many sizes saved for the eventual diet-downsize, or a garage that we can no longer park in because we're storing too many things we may not actually need... It is a common thing and very few people are exempt from the clutter-collecting habit (some just may be better at hiding it)!

I am writing this blog from my home office - the area of my home that is the biggest catch-all area for my family. There is a hefty breeze coming through my window, cooling my face and distributing papers everywhere across the room! Why are they all over the room? Because they're not filed... I am reminded that nobody is perfect and even I, who work with clients on a regular basis to de-clutter their homes, have areas that need to be tended to.

Clutter on a smaller level is usually just the result of being too busy, not caring very much about those particular items or that particular area of your home. It is not affecting your everyday life. Once a month or twice a year you finally get to cleaning that small area that is an eyesore and all is right with the world again.

Clutter on a large scale is another thing altogether. It can have massive and destructive effects on people's lives and needs to be addressed! It can be caused by several things and rarely is it just laziness... From my experience, saving items for potential future use (or hoarding) can come from a mentality of scarcity/lack, or it can come from too many things happening in life at one time and that person or family becoming overwhelmed and feeling like they have lost some (or all) control.

The first was clearly demonstrated in my family. My grandparents, great aunts and uncles were famous for it - cleaning, flattening and folding pieces of tin foil, wax paper, paper bags; cleaning and stacking ice cream tubs, margarine, sour cream, yogurt containers; folding and stacking used wrapping paper, tissue paper, bows, ribbons; having several boxes of buttons, elastics, popsicle sticks, bottle caps, paper clips, twist ties, plastic bags, and other sizes of boxes; even saving gifts of clothing for the future event of the clothes on their backs literally falling off of them... These people lived through The Depression. They either grew up or raised their children during a time when you couldn't buy sugar, had to raise your own livestock/hunt, grow your own vegetables and sew your own clothes if you were lucky enough to have land and an income of some sort to afford the necessary supplies to do this. Even when our economy changed, jobs were readily available on every corner, opportunities to educate oneself through internet and correspondence programs existed, and government incentive programs/grants/loans were offered, you could not convince them that even if they lived another 100 years they would never be able to re-use all the containers, bits of paper, foil, ribbon and elastics that they had filled every nook and cranny of their home with! You cannot get across that if you have Tupperware or the equivalent of, there is no need to save the DISPOSABLE containers that you are given from fast food restaurants/take-out places/deli counters. And they would never throw away "perfectly good" shirts/socks/pants, etc. even when you could see through them because they were so worn, or were "air-conditioned"... Some people may have inherited these habits - to these people I want to stress that you can break the cycle and be free of clutter!

Most of us today though, suffer from hoarding habits due to becoming overwhelmed and stressed. In the days of dual incomes, working parents, blended families, and being introduced to the "latest and greatest" objects every day, we are victims of feeling less in control of our day-to-day lives than ever before. This is translating into how we cope with our spaces, and before long our spaces start to reflect the chaos that we feel. "I'll get to that later" never has a finish date on it... "That's not a priority "right now" turns into "ever"... And soon, you don't recognize the space you once loved... Or you may start collections as coping mechanisms. In your mind you might be praising yourself for preparing for future events. You may not have the "equipment" to deal with your marriage's demise, the unexpected pregnancy, the down-sizing of your company, or the bad diagnosis, but you do have...the popsicle sticks for the future kids' birdcage project; the 10 different sets of plates and serving dishes in case everyone you knew came over at once, or you decided to become a caterer; the sushi sets for when you learn how to/find time to make it; the 6 George Foreman grills because you got them at a fraction of their cost at a Boxing Day sale and now you'll have a spare if one breaks down or they stop making them altogether; the 8 different sets of towels for when you decide to re-model; the extra closet full of tiny clothes for when you lose the 30-80lbs you've gained over the years; the drawer of mismatched socks because you'll "find them one day"; the garage/basement/storage unit full of furniture that doesn't fit/suit your current space but because it is solid wood/good quality/an antique, it is worth something and cannot be discarded; and boxes or shelves full of items reserved for when you have that eventual garage sale.

(One thing that helps a lot of people truly "let go" is reminding them of the benefit donating some of these objects has on other people's lives. The single parent trying to make ends meet, the struggling student just starting out, the young couple with a new baby... Helping others, helps you.)

Too much clutter, clutters your mind. Chaos breeds chaos. You need to find the root of why you are creating clutter and deal with it. A professional de-clutterer/organizer can help with physically removing the clutter and the better ones can even explain to the client why having consuming amounts of clutter is unhealthy (physically/mentally/emotionally). If a de-cluttering process is truly successful, the client usually experiences several emotions while going through it. This is normal, as you remove layers of clutter, you are removing safeguards... Things may be felt that have been "pushed down" or repressed, panic may happen because the things you have avoided thinking about or were fearful of are now surfacing again, any emotions relating to detachment issues may surface, etc... A de-clutterer's job is to help the client break these attachments, thereby giving the client back their personal strength by making/supporting hard decisions of letting go, and create freedom through creating space. Once more, energy will flow properly through the space and any hard feelings will give way to hopefulness, inspiration and calm.

I will add that unless the client is willing to embrace this process, it is futile. They will continue to "just get by" instead of really living. They won't be able to clearly see the path they once wanted for themselves, through all the crap they've stored in the way...

They say you can get a true sense of someone, by what they would take with them if their house was burning down. What would you grab in that last second? Would you be able to find it???

Staging Vacant Homes

My latest project involved getting a home ready for sale that was totally vacant, had been "unloved" by its last tenants and the owners were on an extremely tight budget, of not only money but time - we had 5 days before the first open house! There was no extra money for furniture, artwork, rugs, or accessories to 'pretty it up' and replacement flooring for certain rooms of carpet was not an option as payment from the former tenants for damages to it had not been received. It was a predicament!

The home had great bones though! A custom-built 3,000 square foot house with vaulted cedar ceilings, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, a large office, huge family room with reclaimed brick-faced fireplace, 2 other wood-burning fireplaces, an unfinished 1,700 square foot basement with 10' ceilings, and an area that could be closed off from the rest of the house for separate quarters for a nanny, in-laws or guests that had a bedroom, bath, and it's own outdoor entrance. The kitchen and family room led onto a 2-tiered deck and concrete patio that had beautiful views of trees (some flowering), shrubs, and field - 3 acres in total, all nestled in a beautiful bay-shaped subdivision.

I needed to make a plan that involved very little money and time, made the unique architectural details stand out, and updated the decor slightly. It occurred to me that many people may be in a similar situation, so I thought I would write about what I did in this case, to hopefully offer tips/suggestions that others may benefit from.

The main things to consider in a vacant home are the lighting, the paint colours, and an overall uniformity in style (inside and out), so that the home feels comfortable to potential buyers and not overwhelming. With this project, neutral colours were chosen for almost every room (I personally love a shade of red on a wall in a dining area, if it suits the space)... Paint has to be one of the cheapest ways to completely transform the look and feel of a space! I am a big believer in the effects that colour can have on us - and take this into consideration before making any changes! Walls are always the first thing that people assume when hearing painting, but in this case there was more of a need to paint all the trim, railings and doors to create a uniform and brightening effect on the home. The original colours were 3 different shades of stained wood - cherry, basic cedar, dark brown - depending on which room you were in. As much as I love natural materials, I found myself picking out a bright white paint to cover it all... The effect was amazing! A more modern feel emerged and allowed the cedar ceilings to be showcased rather than seem old, dated and "more wood". The garage doors were changed from worn-out, faded cedar to a dark brown to match the rest of the trim on the exterior, certain lighting fixtures were changed to work with the new look, the insides of the wood-burning fireplaces were cleaned and spray-painted black with a high-heat form of paint, white now covered the dark-brown brick that faced a living room fireplace that had unremovable splatters on it from former paint jobs, and voila, ready for new people to fall in love with it again!

No offers yet, but the open house was a great success with comments like "so light and bright", "beautiful high ceilings - you just don't see details like this anymore", "so many possibilities - so much space", and my favorite - "I have to talk to my husband - we weren't planning on moving out here, but after seeing this, we may just have to!"

Photos will be added to my website soon...

Summertime and Work...

As I sit at my desk, with the sun streaming through my window and a cool breeze playing with the papers scattered around me, I have an overwhelming urge to go for a walk, cut my lawn, weed my gardens, anything to be outside... As soon as I have completed these preliminary drawings for a client I think I will grab my cell and get out in the sunshine! Filing, accounting, general office paperwork be damned - these gorgeous days are too few for us Winnipeggers and should be enjoyed to the full extent!

Drawings are finished and I am getting on my shoes. How fortunate I am to have a career that allows me to just take off in the middle of the day to baske in the sun! I am reminded of all the people I know (my husband included) that have only the view from their office window, or worse yet, a radio program to let them know what the weather is like! And even though there are some week-ends and evenings that have to be sacrificed for my work, moments like this make it all worthwhile!

I think it is absolutely necessary for us to take some time to appreciate the beauty of summer - it helps us get through the long, cold winters! So, here's to the afternoon golf games, drinks on the patio, walks in the park and the feeling of warm sun on our skin! Let these moments re-charge us, inspire us and help us keep smiling!

RSDR - Real estate Staging & Decor Re-design