Staging: Under-cabinet Lighting

Whether you are trying to brighten up your kitchen for resale or just need some task lighting, these little guys are a great alternative to hard wired under-cabinet lighting. They are less expensive, easier to install, and quite frankly just as bright. 

We all know that dark kitchens aren't great for selling homes--or for chopping vegetables or reading recipes!!! Painting cabinets is a great way to lighten a dark room, but if you don't have the time or the budget (2 of these lights cost $15 which is about half the cost of a can of chalk paint) or just don't want to paint, adding a few of these under the cabinets and making sure they are on for showings can have a huge impact. You will need a drill to install them properly, but otherwise no special skill is required. They come in various styles so you can pick the one that fits your house the best. They are also great for closets or dark corners in garages and sheds.

Another quick tip: if you have a dark backsplash, set a few light colored, reflective objects in front of it, especially in dark corners. A white pitcher or a simple white plate on a stand can reflect a lot of light and really brighten a space.

Staging: Trim Colors that Update Pink Brick

Ah, little pink houses for you and me....or not....
So you are getting ready to sell your pink brick house (or maybe you just bought one) and you are struggling with what colors to paint the trim and front door to really make it stand out--in a good way? Pink brick can be tricky, but it also looks amazing when you get the accent colors right. The key to this is paint chips--lots, and lots of paint chips--and following the warm with warm, cool with cool colors rule from my last post.
First you want to decide if you want your house to stand out from the neighbors or to blend in. Either one can be the right goal depending if your home currently sticks out like a sore thumb or gets lost in the crowd. Lighter colors will create a more blended and subtle scheme, darker colors will make a bold statement, and if you can't choose, split the difference and choose a medium value color. Bolder or subtler highlights can be added with plants, wreaths, patio accessories, etc.
Once you've decided on a general color, go to your paint store and get between 5 and 20 chips of that color in various values, etc. [If you choose a color like green or gray, you'll have many paint chips to choose from, but maybe only 4 or 5 in a navy.] Tape them all to your brick. Eliminate the ones that make you go "ick" immediately. There is almost always a clear winner in the remaining chips. 

TRADITIONAL LOOK: navy, gray, green, and white are sure fire winners.
COOL PINK: that sort of baby pink brick with grayish undertones or maybe even flecks of gray in it. Trim: bright white or light cool grays
Doors: Cool navy, cool gray, and cool greens. A navy with a hint of purple such as blackberry, steel gray, a grayish lilac, bottle green, or a sage green are good places to start. 
WARM PINK: These bricks have a peachy hue.
Trim: cream or off white trim will feel warm and welcoming.
Doors: a warm navy, warm gray or taupe, or greens in shades of olive, loden, or oregano.

But let's say you DON'T want a traditional look, you want your house to stand out and feel more MODERN
A MONOCHROME palette is a bit of a stand out without being too far afield. Choose a red that is the same hue as your brick for the front door (an orange red for a peachy brick, a cool or "blue" red for a cool pink brick). Again, you'll likely need several paint chips to find the right one. Go dark, or go bright, but don't chicken out and choose anything faded. Then add a white or off white trim depending. White, red, and pink can strike the perfect balance between classic and modern.
COOL PINK: an unexpected choice is a bright yellow door. Getting the exact right yellow is key, but start with colors that make you think of rubber duckies or daffodils and you'll be on your way. Cool pink brick can also be paired with aqua or lime doors for a bold, modern look, just bring home loads of paint chips to make sure you get exactly the right one.
WARM PINK: can look extremely modern when paired with a coral door and cream trim. To tone things down, olive or loden trim can be striking.

Finally, a note for someone who bought a pink brick house because they love pink. Go ahead, paint your front door pink too. I suggest a color that is the same pink as your brick, but a few shades darker or lighter. Then paint your trim gray to elevate the look to something grown up and elegant.
With so many options, I think the only real struggle of deciding what accessory colors to put with your pink brick is figuring out which one you will like the best--or which one potential buyers will!

Staging: Color Theory Applied

One of my favorite classes, both to take and to teach was color theory. The reason is likely how applicable the information was to real life, and how it took the guess work out of a lot of design and staging issues I've faced over the years.
So quickly a few definitions (not totally textbook) so you are on the same page with me:

HUE: the pigment or color of a color (red, blue, yellow, etc.)
VALUE: how dark or light a color is
SATURATION: how intense a color is
TONE: how pure a color is (clear, muddy, grayish, etc.)
WARM: generally colors that are redder or yellower in nature
COOL: generally colors that are bluer in nature

I get a lot of questions about updating exterior paint colors before listing a house. Usually these involve doors and trim on brick homes that the owners either don't want to or can't afford to paint--and let's face it, painting brick can lead to some bad things down the road anyway. In future posts, I'll try to discuss some specific brick colors and how to update them with new trim and door colors. For now, I want to talk about a basic rule from Color Theory that I haven't seen successfully broken to date.
When choosing a color scheme, keep warm colors with warm colors and cool colors with cool colors.
Let's say you want to mix metals in your home decor. Brass, copper, and bronze look great together, but throw in some stainless and it's like hitting the wrong chord in the choir. The same applies to exteriors. If you have a warm colored brick, warm trim colors are going to look best. Go for creams and off whites instead of bright white. Greens like loden or olive that are yellowish or brownish in nature will look better than a pine green which is heavier in blue. If you have a cool colored brick, bright white or cool grey is great on your trim. Truer greens like bottle green or blues will make good front door choices.
Warm colors and cool colors almost always wind up clashing and looking just not quite right. It's one of the things that drives me craziest about my current home. It's red brick--warm, red brick. The previous owners painted the trim a warm white that is lovely, but they also painted the siding bits in a cool, bluish gray that is not glaringly horrible, but is also not quite right. Unfortunately, the paint is new and in great shape, so until it needs painted for real, it will stay slightly not perfect. I did repaint my front door in a warm gray that is really lovely with the brick and I have a slightly lighter warm gray called Baby Elephant all picked out for the day when I can unbreak this cardinal rule of color theory.

Staging: Fighting Odors Safely

We all know that the wrong smells can kill a sale: cigarette smoke, cat pee, old people (sorry I know that last one isn't PC, but it did come in 3rd in a recent survey of home buyers.) On the flip side, the right smell can help seal the deal with buyers, but many of the tips and tricks people turn to can be downright dangerous. Baking cookies before a showing is fine--as long as you remember to turn off the oven. Candles should never be left burning, and even the plug in air fresheners can pose a fire hazard. And, you certainly can't turn to these methods if you are listing a home that you have already moved out of. So here is my favorite tip for fighting stale, empty house smell or just making you home smell more appealing to buyers:  COFFEE

Ok, to start with, your house MUST smell clean. To achieve this, I am a huge fan of white vinegar. The acid in vinegar will cut right through many of the worst smells, including cigarettes and cat pee. It also has the added bonus of removing hard water stains and cutting through soap scum like a champ. Once your house is nice and clean smelling, I suggest introducing pretty containers of fresh coffee grounds throughout the house. This glass container was a buck at my local dollar store. The fake succulent was on sale for 50 cents. I like to put glass containers of coffee on window sills that get sunlight. The light heats the coffee and causes the smell to waft around the house like magic, no fire hazard required. A small vase with some fake flowers tucked into the coffee also looks pretty.

I also like to buy pretty bowls from the dollar store or yard sales and fill them with coffee topped in decorative items. If you live near the beach, you can use sea shells (just make sure they are also clean) or you can pick up pine cones, pretty rocks, whatever. This project should be as close to free and cheap as you want to make it as you may be leaving these objects behind for the next owners if you are staging an empty house. I try to put one of these bowls or vases in every room. The bowls look particularly nice on bathroom counters, while I generally use a larger, tall vase with flowers or branches for kitchens, but mix it up!
You can also make sachets using coffee grounds and cotton or mesh gift bags to hang in closets or near litter boxes.
Don't like the smell of coffee you say? Try cinnamon, cloves, or nutmeg. Spices can be expensive, but cinnamon is often available in fairly large containers at--you guessed it--the dollar store. These spices also have the added benefit of acting as an insect deterrent, and bundles of cinnamon sticks make attractive displays.
On a final note, coffee is also great for absorbing existing odors. I once used half a can of coffee to exorcise the smell of running shoes from an entrance coat closet that a tenant has used as a sports locker.