Rug Help!

Bueller? ...Bueller? ... Bueller? 

Anyone still out there?  I'm guessing there aren't many regular readers anymore.  I need some help, though, so I thought I 'd throw this one out on the blog.

If you're in the DFW area, there is a fabulous store in Fort Worth called Simple Things Furniture.   If it's possible to have a crush on a furniture store, well then, it's mine.  I've found myself making excuses to go to Fort Worth (which is quite a haul from my house), just so I can go ogle their store. 

This past weekend after a nice family outing to the Fort Worth Children's Museum (which I also really like and recommend), we stopped by Simple Things and picked up three Turkish carpets/rugs to try out at home.  They were kind enough to let me take the rugs on approval, so I could pick out which one worked best in our home. 

I can't make up my mind, though!  Please comment below or email me at modernmaizy -at- gmail.com to let me know what you think!

Rug #1

 

Rug #2

Rug #3



 

So, if any of you are still out there reading, please let me know what you think!  Sorry these aren't great quality pictures--I took them with my phone.  All of the colors are little more vibrant in person.

Prepping Your Home for Sale

If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably watched hundreds of episodes of shows on HGTV about buying and selling homes.  I know I have.  The advice they give is certainly worthwhile (generic pictures and art, neutral paint, etc.), but there are some other tips that they don’t mention that go a long way toward selling your house.  While I'm certainly no expert, we sold both of our homes really quickly.  I attribute that in large part to the tips listed below.

Here are the things we did before listing (both times) that I think helped us make it happen:

1.     Make a List: Make a really detailed list of every single thing that needs to be done in every single space.  Then prioritize that list and identify who in your house is responsible for completing each item.  If you’re short on time and /or can afford to do so, outsource some of the items.  Hire a lawn service or a painter if you need.  Strike through each item as you complete it, and create an updated copy of your list each day.  Keep updating it until you’ve completed all of your items. 

 

 

2.     De-Clutter: Go rent a storage unit.  A lot of them offer the first month free.  If you sell fast, you may hardly owe anything for it.  Put every single piece of junk or furniture without a “place” in the storage unit.   If a room is small, take out anything that is unnecessary.  I believe that when you’re selling a house, it’s better for a room to look sizable than for it to look beautifully decorated.  Take out the bedside tables if you need to.  You want the house to fell as open as possible.  A POD is a good option, too.  We used both a storage unit and a POD in our last move.  Let me remind you, we had an infant when we were selling.  It’s hard to store and hide the baby gear, but we did it.  It was well worth the sacrifice. 

3.     Empty Your Closets:  Clear out your closets…particularly any that you use for extra storage.  Empty them all out.  Take that stuff to the storage unit you just rented.  Your buyer is going to want to see that you have open storage space…not that you’re out of space.  Most buyers are looking for more space than they had before.  Give it to them. 

 

 

4.     Paint: Touch up any chips in your paint—inside and out.  It simply makes it look like you take really good care of your home when the paint is not chipping or scuffed up. 

5.     Landscape: Put fresh mulch in your flower beds and plant some seasonal flowers.  It takes a little work, but you get a really big bang for your buck.  Your listing photos will look much better, and it makes it look homey and inviting to your potential buyers.  Make it look like a place that they would be proud to bring their friends and family. 

 

 

6.     Hide Your Animals:  Some people love animals.  Other people think they’re dirty.  You need to cater to the non-animal crowd.  Hide your dog toys and beds.  Keep the litter box and water bowls tucked away in the laundry room.  Board your dogs or leave them with a friend if possible—especially for the first weekend since you’ll probably have the most showing then. This makes your home seem much cleaner.  It also helps ensure that Fido doesn’t run out of the front door when strangers are coming in or that he doesn’t leave a little gift of revenge in the playroom floor upstairs (yes, this happened to us…how mortifying). 

7.     Hide the Bad Smells: Go to Target or Bed Bath and Beyond.  Buy the least offensive continuous release air freshener that you can find.  Place them on the low setting throughout your house.  You don’t want to gag buyers with a smell—good or bad.  Vanilla or linen scents are usually good choices.

8.     Clean: The most important thing to do is to clean.  Even if you don’t do anything else on my list, clean your house like you’ve never cleaned it before.  Make it spotless. I strongly suggest having a cleaning service do a deep, thorough clean for you the day before your house is listed.  They’re professionals, and they’ll do a better job than you would.  You want to be able to pass the white glove test.  Starting with a really clean home will also help you keep it clean while it’s on the market.  Put away all of your stuff, too.  You’d think that was a given, but I once went to look at a new house listing that had a beer bottle, underwear and a box of tampons sitting out in the bathroom floor.  No joke.  I was shocked that the homeowners let someone see their house like that.  Don’t be that home.  The purpose of your cabinets is to hide your things.  Use them. 

 

 

Sold!

I know it's been almost a year since I last posted.  I could give a hundred excuses, but it really all comes down to time and priorities.  But, if I can be honest here, I didn't have a lot of extra time, and the blog was not a priority in the time I did have.  It's a new year, though, and I hope to start blogging on at least a semi-regular basis again.  Fingers crossed!

One of the main things keeping me busy last year is that we built a new home.  When we first moved to Texas in 2009, we bought our house knowing that it would be great for us until we a baby, and then we'd have to rethink things.  We didn't have any grass in our back yard.  It was all landscaping and pool--fun for adults, but not ideal for a child. 

Margo stayed in our room until she was 4-months old.  At that point we moved her upstairs to her nursery.  We very quickly decided that running up and down the stairs was not our idea of fun, so we started figuring out what to do.  After doing a little searching, we found that there was a new constuction neighborhood within a large master-planned community that we loved.  It was our ideal area and all schools assigned are rated as exceptional! 

So, we signed a contract to build a new home, and signed another to sell our old home.  About this time last year, we were meeting with real estate agents and finishing projects.  On January 24 of last year, we were listed for sale!

I'll be back in a few days to tell you about the preparation process, dealing with potential buyers and getting to close.  From sign in the yard to closing lasted only 6 weeks.  It was a whirlwind!

Happy 2014! 

Master Bathroom-Before

Just to show you how far we've come, I want to share the before pictures of our master bathroom.  I took these shortly before we remodeled.  When we bought the house, the bathroom was painted a bright gold.  I just couldn't handle it, though.  So even though it didn't really match, I painted the bathroom Pashmina by Benjamin Moore to get us by until we made it to the remodel. 

 

 

 

 

For fun, here is a picture from the original listing~

 

 

 

Master Bathroom Remodel

This post is really a long time coming.  When we bought our house four years ago, we knew then that we planned to remodel the master bathroom.  It wasn't our first priority, though, so after a few years and a lot of saving, we started down this road about a year ago.  I spent weekend after weekend browsing the showrooms at the local tile and stone distributor warehouses and countless hours staring a pictures online.  In late spring we started getting quotes from local contractors.  And, right on track with my third trimester of pregnancy, we moved upstairs to our guest room and the remodeling began.  Six weeks later, Texas Remodelers and Builders finished my dream bathroom.  And, I'm proud to share it with you now~

 

 

I know I've fallen off of the blogging wagon, but I promise to try to be back later this week to show you the before images and share the product list with you.

 

Purple

When we think of the colors of fall, we usually think of bright, deep shades of orange paired with greens and golds.  My favorite fall color though is purple--call it plum if you prefer!  I think it is such a nice compliment to the more traditional fall colors.  It can be a struggle to work purple into your home without it seeming juvenile, though.  Here are a few photos featuring perfect examples of how to bring a beautiful purple into your home and maintain a chic and sophisticated feel to the room.

{All images via decorpad.com}

Baby Margo

I've been MIA for some time now.  More on that later, but I couldn't wait any longer to share our baby girl with all of you. 

Margo Cate joined us on August 7, 2012 weighing in at 7lbs., 4 ozs and 19 3/4 inches long.  She will be 10 weeks old tomorrow and is such a blessing.  She keeps us very busy, and we love every minute of it!

Newborn photos are by Erin Woolsey of EE Photography!

My baby brain seems to finally be going away and my creative juices are starting to flow again.  Hopefully, I'll be back to regular blogging very soon!

The Starting Point and a Sneak Peak

One of my big projects lately is the nursery.  Rather than share it step-by-step, I thought I would wait until it's almost finished before I share.  I wanted to show you the starting point, though.  This is one of our upstairs guest rooms that I really used more for my own personal room.  It held all of my sewing stuff, old college and law school stuff, and just about anything else that didn't have a home anywhere else in our house.  And, as you can obviously see, I never really got around to decorating it~

I wanted to share a sneak peak of what we have going so far, though~

I've tried to break my decorating up into two phases: Phase 1 being furniture and large items, Phase 2 being accessories and the finishing touches.  As of Saturday, our chair is ordered and we're on to Phase 2...but if you read the blog regularly, you know that's where I struggle.  I'm excited about this struggle, though!

I have a few DIY projects planned for the nursery, as well.  I'll share them as I tackle them in the next few weeks!

Backyard Updates

Time seems to be flying by.  I thought I'd recently posted, but then I noticed that it's been almost 3 weeks!  Ooops!

Our first big project of 2012 was our back patio cover.  This is where we started on demo day~

When we first looked at our house (almost 3 years ago), it was one of those moments when we just thought, "Wow!  A covered patio.  Awesome!" and didn't really look at the detail of it.  The first time it rained, though, we realized it leaked all of the way through.  Some choice words may have been uttered at that moment...   

Then we realized it seemed to be done differently than other awnings.  It was basically rigged together by people who didn't really know what they were doing.  Last spring when we had the bad hail damage, we had all of the roofing contractors give us their opinion on it.  It was confirmed.  It was crap.  And it wasn't something we could fix (professionally or DIY).  It would have to be replaced.  New large patio roofs are not cheap. 

Then this became noticable~

Yep.  It was falling in on us.  After we simmered on all of that info for a few months, we started the estimate process and got things going.

Always talk to multiple contractors and get bids when doing a project.  Check sources like the Better Business Bureau website and Angie's List.  We chose the third contractor we interviewed.  The company had great reviews and a great book of work.  It's worth sharing, though, that our first contractor's bid was 100% higher than our end cost and our second contractor's bid was over 50% higher than our end cost.  That's why it's good to get multiple bids, folks!

The old roof came down and the new roof went up in a matter of about 6 hours.  It turned out that those old ugly white prom columns weren't bolted to the ground or the roof.  One big blow to one of them and the whole thing would have caved in...

Here is where we ended up~

Much better!  I'm toying with having them restain it a darker brown.  I think that would look better with our house.  What do you think?

We also still have to have the electric rehung.  I haven't decided if I want lights or fans.  I would love to do some hanging pendant lights, but the wind in Texas is fierce so I'm not sure that would work. 

Next up we had to relandscape the back flower bed...it sort of got fried last summer.  Hopefully, I can get pictures of it up early next week.

Happy Weekend!