So I have been looking through everything we own and getting rid of A LOT of things. Last time I gave some things to a friend Sarah said, "Mom where are all my toys going?" I felt a little bad, but seriously it has felt GREAT getting rid of a lot of stuff! I have a garbage bag, 5 grocery bags and a box ready to go to Salvation Army...and this is only the BEGINNING!
My friend (who is an interior decorator) was over the other day and I asked her what I should do to spruce up the house...she looked around and got a sheepish grin on and said, "where should I begin" She started by choosing some colors for paint (and said she would help me with carpet selection). she said that was the bare minimum for the house and de-clutering. She said extra perks would be changing all the light covers adding a few plants (2 huge palm trees which I bought at Giant for $12 really give life to the room!) adding a few rugs and changing the light fixtures. She said that my gold chandelier should be spray painted black...interesting. Also she said that the wood trim (banister and rails) could be painted white...interesting. I didn't know that gold was out and black and silver was in. I will be hard pressed to get the essentials done, but we will see how it goes. I already took down the curtain rods and have a plant, but I will take a before and after pictures and show you the final result.
13 comments:
Nice. I love getting rid of stuff I don't need.
And yes, I have to heartily agree with your friend about the gold fixtures. Replace or repaint for sure. I am in love with brushed nickel at the moment. We're replaced most of our light fixtures, but I can't wait to get all our gold doorknobs replaced as well. But if you're repainting, black is easy.
I'm glad you have someone helping you decide those things. It could be overwhelming by yourself.
Sounds fun! I can't wait to see the results.
Yes, I found out the hard way that gold is out and black is in. And I agree with brushed nickel. Gold is the other choice in that price range, and I have found that almost everyone prefers brushed nickel of the two. The other fixtures (bronzish black) are quite a bit more expensive and you kind of have to have all of the furniture and coordinating stuff to go with that look.
If you're going with black (chandelier etc.) tan paint really would look good with it. I have a friend who spray painted all of her picture frames black to go on the tan walls, and they look great. She said it cost her about $10 to really redo the look of her house with the black picture frames.
Good luck and have fun. I love dejunking too! We are trying to do a big D.I. project this month as well, and it is slow going but fun.
Oh, also, gold isn't totally out. There is a black over gold look that is really in. Just the bright, bright gold stuff.
Also, I think that in some places it really doesn't matter that much. In our Yakima house, we had white paint and gold frames in our house, and it looked fine. In that area, people weren't into trendy looks as much, and I never felt like it was that important there. I feel a little more pressure here where everyone has really nice stuff and changes everything out for every season and holiday. I try hard not to feel too much pressure to keep up and just do a little at a time.
It's different when you're trying to sell though. That is when it is probably worth it to change out your fixtures and replace paint and carpet.
Okay, here are my two cents, if you care ;): Depending on how big your gold chandelier is, it could look a little gothic painted black. This happened to a friend of mine, so she repainted the "brushed nickel" color. With a small chandelier, black would look great. Also, tans, reds and black are all in style right now. You know Grandma Hunt's 5 p's for a room: paint, pillows, plants, paper and pictures. She's really on to something. Some new throw pillows on a couch work wonders, and fresh paint always makes everything seem new. Even consider painting some furniture. It's cheap and makes a huge difference. I re-painted/glazed my kitchen cabinets and put in a tiled backsplash all for about $300. It's a TON of work, but the payoff is amazing. For light fixtures, I would consider can lights.
One thing I learned while selling two houses in Denver is to always keep the counters de-cluttered and appliance-free. When someone comes for an unexpected viewing, throw everything in the dishwasher (papers, etc.)If you have a ton of clutter/boxes in one room that you can't hide under the bed, see if you can store it somewhere else, or stack it cleanly in the garage. You just want to make everything seem bigger than it really is, so getting rid of clutter, toyboxes, etc. really help. The End. ;)
I can't tell you how many times in the past few months I've thought how nice it would be to be moving and have to get rid of stuff. I've tried to declutter a little anyway but its just not the same as actually prepping to move. Good luck with all the renovating stuff. I love the nickel and black fixtures too but since we wouldn't get anything out of changing it-the gold cheapie stays for us.
Jacqui what are can lights? also what did people say when they looked in your dishwasher? haha!
I think I am going to paint most of my picture frames black. also I think I am going to paint my dresser and nightstand black if I can. the top of my dresser is chipping and it is pressed board underneath...do you think I can sand pressed board...I have some black paint and we virtually got the dresser for free so I wouldn't be losing anything.
we did get the things to change to white receptical covers and we got antique white paint. I don't think I will be doing much more since we are just trying to sell and not live. I think I will be asking more questions when I move in and have to do this all over again!
You can buy wood filler for your dresser. I'd put the wood filler in the chips, lightly sand by hand, spray (or hand paint) the whole thing with a primer (if it's the shiny fake wood...if it's already painted, you may not need the primer) and then paint it black.
OH, and I'd only do can lights if you can do recessed lighting.
Here are can lights. Scroll down to the picture and the can lights are the ones sunk up into the ceiling.
why would I need a primer if it is the shiny fake wood (which it is)?
The paint will just peel off of it otherwise. The primer makes it tacky so the actual paint will adhere to it.
Celia is right. That is exactly what I was going to say. Prime anything, even the fake stuff, and then paint it. You won't need to prime your picture frames, though, if they don't get touched much. It is amazing what a total difference a coat of paint can make to furniture or a room in general. I'd do exactly what Celia said. Good luck!! It'll hopefully help you house sell quicker.
Can't wait to see you this summer here in UT!
As for my dishwasher...I don't know! ;) I just know that I got my stuff off the counter. I usually threw my dishrags in there and if there were papers, I covered them with dishes, if I had a sec. Maybe throwing them in a lower, obscure cabinet would be better. Haha! :)
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