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Help Your Home Sell Itself When You Take a Vacation

Your home can look inviting even when youre not there.
But you might be attracting trouble, as well as buyers.

When your home is for sale and you want to take a vacation, you’re faced with two kinds of challenges.

The house needs to be secure but not look like a fortress.

And it needs to stay tidy even though no one is home maintaining it.

A gal I know – we’ll call her Janelle -- staged her own home and it looked beautiful. Then she took a week off to cruise the Caribbean.

When she returned she was surprised to find that while she was gone neighborhood kids had been sneaking into her home at night to party. A watchful neighbor noticed the activity and called local police, who insisted that she press charges for breaking and entering.

It’s the kind of thing that can happen to anyone who is away from home for more than a couple days.

You deserve a getaway, so here are the simple things you can do to protect your home, not worry about it, and help it maintain that fluffed up look.

Before You Leave

Keeping your home safe from troublemakers should be a primary concern. Some of these tips are obvious, but are still worth repeating.

Look occupied. Stop the mail. Choose between having a neighbor save it for you, or notifying the postal service to hold it.

Go bright. Put timers on lights. I’m a big fan of timers. I use two kinds. For random lights like lamps in the entryway or bathrooms, I like the ones that go on and off at irregular intervals. For predictable lights, like lamps in a family room or bedroom, I use the ones that you program to come on at believable times, from dusk until 10 or 11p.m.

If you use a weekly timer, you can vary the times from day to day for a more convincing illusion. An analog radio set to come on for an hour in the middle of the night can deter a troublemaker, too. Of course, if you have a security system that is programmed to tinker with your lights, all the better.

Some valuables are safer hiding in plain sight. Devices
like this container are called "diversion safes."
You can buy or make them. Photo: Diversion Safes.

Hide valuables. Thieves, should they find a way to get inside, know where people customarily store things of worth.

The first place they look for small valuables is the master closet. So, think outside the box, and consider places like your cleaning closet or laundry room, using containers that look ordinary and generic.

Hide prescription medicines, jewelry, cash, debit and credit cards, flash drives, and personal information like bank records, school notices, billing statements, and tax returns.

For thirteen different DIY ideas on where to hide articles in your home, visit diyncrafts blog.

Stay low. Don’t announce or post about your trip on social media until you are back home. Remember that the more people know about your absence, the greater the likelihood of a break-in.

Maintain appearances. Make sure the exterior of your home doesn’t look neglected. Hire a lawn service (or neighborhood youngster) to mow the lawn, sweep the steps or driveway, service the pool, or do whatever else will give the appearance that your place is occupied. Someone should pick up deliveries at your door or circulars stuck in mailbox. Encourage neighbors to use your driveway or parking space while you’re gone.

A Home Alone Needs Attention

An untended home can become a problem on its own. A water heater malfunctions. A tree branch falls on the roof. A screen door blows open. A pipe bursts.

Many communities offer police drive-bys for people away from home. Check with your local law enforcement agency, homeowners association, or neighborhood watch group to see what is available. If anything is amiss they should have a contact number for you.

Stay safe. Unplug unnecessary electric appliances, except the ones you put on timers. This could protect your home from an electrical fire or power surge. Pull the plug in the big stuff, like TVs, but also for your toaster, your coffee maker, and other small appliances. Unplug any electric fragrance diffusers, too (another argument for homemade natural fragrances using essential oils).

Although it may seem counter-intuitive, opening
window treatments will give your home more
light and a more convincing occupied appearance.

Grant access. Give your house or condo key to a neighbor or friend. Hopefully, this is the person who will water any houseplants and check to be sure things are as they should be.

Comfort counts. Remember that people can be touring your home with an eye to buying it. Set your temperature where it will be comfortable but not waste energy.

Open curtains. Leave your window treatments open. People on vacation will often pull all draperies closed, but from the outside this isn’t the look of an occupied home. And from the inside, your home looks darker to prospective buyers. Yes, people can look in, but you’ll have already hidden or removed things of value.

Tell some people. Make sure your real estate agent knows you’ll be away from home. Depending on the nature of your relationship and the length of time you’re away, your agent may be the person you ask to do periodic checks of the home to be sure it’s up to snuff. People touring your home should not be told that you are absent.

Find a caretaker. Consider having a housesitter live in your home while you vacation. This plan is especially helpful if you have pets that don’t like kennel boarding or staying with friends. A housesitter can maintain the perfect staged but lived-in appearance if you choose the right one Here are tips on finding a housesitter.

Schedule check-ups. People on home tours sometimes sit on beds, leave closet doors open, turn on lights, and even use toilets. It should be the job of your listing agent, housesitter, or friend to periodically walk through and make sure nothing has been messed up or is malfunctioning.

Stay connected. Although it’s nice to go totally offline when vacationing, you’ll need to be reachable when your home is listed. Questions could arise that only you can answer or problems pop up that only you can solve. When you are staged to sell, that sweet purchase offer might be emailed to you while you are relaxing on the beach!

Help Your Home Sell Itself When You Take a Vacation

Dont Be A TV Diva When You Paint Walls

Fresh paint turns buyers on.

Painting a room is one of the easiest, cheapest ways to get a home ready for selling.

As a professional painter, homeowner and landlady, I’ve painted literally hundreds of rooms.

That’s why it irks me to see people on TV, whether they are hosts of their own design show, DIY remodelers on a reality series, or models in painting commercials, paint the wrong way.

If you follow their lead, if you paint the way TV teaches you, you’re wasting time and money and getting sloppy results.

Here are my seven favorite tips for getting the best painting results with the least effort.

1. Prep is Everything

No one on TV mentions preparing a wall for paint. Even if the room has been painted recently and looks smooth, sanding all the walls with a pole sander knocks down any dust and lumps. Sanding gets the surface ready to accept new paint. Patch and sand and then spot prime as needed.

If you made lots of repairs or are changing color, a primer is a good intermediate step. Talk to the experts at your paint store about covering the old color with the new one you are buying. Careful prep is what makes the difference between a pro job and an amateurish attempt.

2. Get a Handle on It

Once in a while, a television camera catches a glimpse of a professional painter working in the background. Chances are the pro is doing it right. He’ll be using an extension handle on the roller frame. Meanwhile, the shows host starts rolling paint in the middle of a wall, holding the stubby roller handle. Oh, my aching wrist!

Please don’t roll paint onto a wall holding just the paint roller handle. Give your wrist, arm, back, and shoulder a break, and use your whole body to support the work of rolling. Face the wall, stand with feet apart, one foot slightly in front of the other and keep your back straight when rolling.

Even a broom handle screws into a paint roller handle. If youre painting a room so small theres no room for a simple extension stick, it’s okay to hold the roller. Otherwise, stick with a stick.

Once you use a handle, a screen and a 5-gallon
bucket, youll never go back to dinky trays.

3. Keep a Clean Can

I frequently see blogging tutorials and television remodelers dipping a brush into a gallon paint can. Do not paint out of the original paint can.

Work out of a clean, empty 1-gallon can or work bucket. That way, when you’re done painting, you can return the unused paint portion and youll have a clean can with a clean lip and a clean label to store the leftover paint in, clearly indicating the brand, color, finish, and any other specs that will come in handy when it’s touch-up time.

4. The Truth About Tape

I laugh when I see televised rooms trimmed with blue tape all around all the windows and doors. This is usually an unnecessary step. Wake up, people. The 3-M company loves bloggers to endorse these products! Youre wasting your time and money.

Spend your money instead on good quality paint and you won’t be dripping and splattering. Baseboards might be the exception if your paint is likely to drip on them.

A good angled 2-inch paintbrush and a steady hand is faster. Practice painting a straight line in an inconspicuous area. Use long strokes and keep your arm partially extended instead of putting your face up close and dab-dab-dabbing. Cut in the room first, and then roll walls. Make sure you cut in wide enough, especially around the top of the wall, where it meets the ceiling. Get a good 4- or 5-inch band of paint up there, so your roller doesn’t get paint on the ceiling.

5. Way to Roll

Instead of pouring your paint into one of those silly flat trays, pour it into a 5-gallon bucket with a painting grid in it. This is the professional method that saves bending over. And theres less chance of kicking over your paint.

Load your roller generously and remove excess using the grid. Start by rolling the wall in a "W" or "M" motion, then use long, up and down strokes. Do not lift the roller from the wall. Start your first stroke with an upward motion, because if you roll down on the first stroke, the paint can puddle under the roller and run down the wall.

If your roller drips or smears instead of rolling across the surface, you’ve put too much paint on it. If it leaves skips or you have to press to get the paint to apply evenly, you’ve put on too little.

My favorite gloves are breathable, but
palm-protected, like these nitrile-coated ones.

6. Dress for Success

TV stars paint in high heels and cute dresses. You, on the other hand, need to dress right for the work.

Keep an outfit just for painting. I recommend pants with pockets so you can wear all your helpful tools. Consider buying a pair of painters overalls if you do much painting. Keeping tools on your person saves steps and saves time. It’s frustrating to have to stop and hunt for a damp rag or your square of sandpaper. Keep a rag and an old brush for dusting in your back pocket, a 5-in-1 tool in another pocket, and sandpaper in another pocket.

Wear closed-toe, comfortable shoes that will protect your feet and keep them happy all day. Your old sneakers might be a good choice. You’re bound to get some paint on your shoes. You want reliable support and safety, so going barefoot is not an option.

Wear cotton, latex, neoprene, or nutrile gloves that will keep paint off your hands and save cleanup time.

Pole sanding. A dust mask like
this will protect you
from dust, but not from
paint solvent vapors.

7. Dropcloths Matter

Don’t use plastic dropcloths. I know it’s fashionable for DIYers to recycle shower curtains or unroll yards of plastic sheeting, but almost anything is better than plastic for a dropcloth. Why? Because paint doesnt dry quickly on plastic, and you can easily track it around. Instead, use a purchased canvas dropcloth. It doesn’t have to be large. A 4- x 15-foot "hall runner" dropcloth is versatile, economical, washable, and will last for years.

Saving money? Then old rugs or carpet scraps, cardboard, or bed sheets (two or three layers thick) will usually provide all the protection you need. While painting, pay attention to what you are doing, and check your soles before stepping off the drop cloth onto carpeting or flooring.

But wait. There’s More.

Now that I have sounded off on one of my pet peeves – common painting mistakes – I hope I’ve enlightened you about the best way to add new paint to your walls. You are welcome!

If choosing a paint color is difficult for you, I have written posts about paint colors and how to choose them.

Please download my eBook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Fast and for Top Dollar, so I can give you more advice on staging your own home for sale.

Top Photo: Apartment Therapy

Dont Be A TV Diva When You Paint Walls

No Sew Window Treatments Why Stitch When You Can Glue

There’s window treatments, and then there’s window treatments for staging your home. The difference?

Privacy is out the window.
For one thing, curtains for staging need to let in plenty of light, because buyers want big, clean rooms, and light makes rooms look bigger and cleaner. You’re dressing windows for buyers, not necessarily for privacy.

Frugality trumps personality.
Secondly, if you’re selling your home, you don’t want to waste money decorating your home in a style perfect for staging, but a style that may not match your personal preferences.

No-sew is the default method.
Third, window treatments in a staged home don’t need to be constructed to last forever. They’re props, not heirlooms, so shortcuts are okay.

You can look generous.
Fourth, buyers often assume window treatments stay with the property. With thrifty curtains and draperies, you can use window treatments as a negotiating chip, or as an amenity to sweeten the purchase. The right window treatments will help buyers feel warm and fuzzy about you and your home.

Because home stagers and homeowners prepping a home for the market have special requirements for dressing windows, I wanted to write a book on the subject. Ive worked on this book for the past nine months and am delighted to say, its birthday is finally here! You can download it right now.

I want to tell you today what you get in my latest eBook, No-Sew Curtains and Draperies to Stage Your Home.

A Unique Approach to Window Dressing.
Youll learn how to make draperies and curtains especially designed for staging – the tips and tricks you won’t see on decorating and other DIY sites, because most decor magazines, books, and blogs are geared for homeowners who are decorating for themselves, not for prospective buyers.

Two extra-easy ways to get a contemporary look, fast!

Details to Guarantee Success.
Ive written and photographed step by step tutorials that explain how to make 15 different no-sew window treatments. Each tutorial includes variations so you can adapt the style to your home, your needs, and your budget.

I give you the close-ups you need to make the job go smoothly.

Thrifty Tips.Youll discover how to convert frugal fabrics into draperies that look expensive. Ive done for legwork of scouting all the best sources for textiles that dont cost much, but make beautiful window treatments.

Who knew that beach mats and felt could make thrifty window dressings?

The Look for Less.
Yes, you can hack the most chic styles even if you’ve never made window treatments before. Here are the shortcuts, the advice, and the products that deliver a high end look without the expense or the sewing experience.

Can you say duct tape? And fusible webbing? And clip-on drapery rings?

Insider Secrets.
Youll save money by substituting economical -- and I mean really economical -- alternatives to pricey drapery hardware. Often its the rods, brackets, rings and hooks that make draperies look like custom window treatments, and that add big time to the cost. They dont have to break the bank if you know what I know.

Is it plastic or metal? Are they pleater hooks or safety pins?

A Fresh Look at Materials.
Ingenuity is key when you stage your windows to make your home look bigger and better. Ill point you towards unusual supplies that you may not have thought of as ways to upgrade your home’s look. On a shoestring.

Youll shop discount stores and home improvement centers.

Ways to Recycle and Up-cycle.
Now you can use what you already own to make your home buyer-friendly. These clever techniques will help you redecorate on a shoestring. Cheap mini blinds? Old-style tab top curtains? No problem!

What you need may already be in your home.

All the Alternatives to Sewing.
Theres more than just a couple of approaches to make curtains without sewing. Learn the newest products, plus some old tricks to join fabrics, hem fabrics, and to avoid joining and hemming altogether.

The method you use depends on the fabric, and whether youll wash it.

Even if your home is not for sale.
There’s plenty of tips and ideas in this 60-page eBook to help you make beautiful draperies and curtains easily, all with no-sew methods, whether youre planning to sell your home soon or not.

And if your home is on the market, and the windows are bare, or dressed in dark or outdated styles, it’s time for window wardrobe makeover. A well-staged home needs warmth – that friendly, casual, homey vibe that makes a home buyer go weak in the knees. That’s the vibe the right window dressings help create.

Download my new $4.99 no-sew window treatments eBook, and learn how to make the windows in your home add value to your home.

No Sew Window Treatments Why Stitch When You Can Glue

How to Stage a Fireplace When Its Summertime

What better way to show off a fireplace in summer than
filling it with mirrors, the way Eddie Ross has done?

Most home buyers are drawn to a fireplace like moths to a flame.

But in hot weather, a fireplace doesnt have all the magnetism it does on a snowy winter day.

In summertime, all your rooms should feel cool and refreshing.

Feng shui experts say that a fireplace makes a room “hot” because it represents the “fire element,” and that an empty, unused fireplace represents lifeless or drained energy.

Even if you dont know beans about feng shui, you cant deny that there’s nothing appealing about an empty fireplace, no matter what the season.

It’s a black hole in one wall. It looks like something’s missing or not working.

Is there a way to showcase your fireplace without suggesting heat? Yes. Heres how.

Whether youre decorating coastal style or not, you cant go wrong
with an oversized clamshell, either empty or filled
with shells or plants. Ali Wentworth via Completely Coastal.

A mirror in front of the firebox brightens any space, and a round one like
this adds some needed curves to the room. Photo: Porch Light Interiors.

Diane at In My Own Style blog designed this ever-so-sweet decorative, folding screen.
She made it no-sew style, from fabric attached to a pattern cutting board .

My own fireplace looks like this in summer. I bought the fabric fan at a garage sale years ago.
Its the perfect firebox cover-up because of its cool color.

If youre going to keep logs in your fireplace in summer, add some hardware like a
handsome grate or these anchor themed andirons. Photo: Traditional Home.

More How-tos for Hot Weather Fireplace Staging

Keep animal prints packed away during warm months. No furry pillows on
the hearth, please.
In summer, flowers and plants make more sense than candles in the
firebox. Candles represent small fires.
White birch logs or white ceramic logs look cool in the summer
fireplace.
Any props that are beachy, nautical or coastal are perfect for
fireplace staging.
Keep your colors on the cool and pale side of the color palette.
When in doubt, concentrate on white for a refreshing, summertime
color scheme.
Choose colorful and glazed ceramics rather than dark crockery
and earthenware.
Any reminders of water, like seascapes, a fountain, shells, or fish
motifs, make good props for the firebox, hearth, or mantel, because
they balance the fire element.
Make sure your firebox is clean, even if it is covered with a screen.
Buyers will look inside.
Your realtor and your MLS or FSBO listing should indicate that
your fireplace is working if it is a functional fireplace.
Tracy at Comfort and Luxury blog did a marvelous post on out-of-season fireplaces.

Need more ideas for fireplace staging? Check out my Pinterest Board, Fireplaces Out of Season.

And if you download my $4.99 ebook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Fast and For Top Dollar, you can start staging your home for market today. You’ll see how easy it is create the look and feel buyers really want in a home.

How to Stage a Fireplace When Its Summertime

Five Mistakes Home Stagers Cant Make When Choosing Art

Sex and religion: a double whammy!

Home staging has been bashed for stripping a home of personality for the sake of a generic look. To this I say, “What’s wrong with generics if that’s what sells your home?”

There’s no accounting for taste. Or, as my grandfather would say, (rather than say “What the heck was that guy thinking?”)“De gustibus non est disputandum,” which translates from the Latin as, “In matters of taste, there is no logic.”

He loved Latin

You might want the art on your walls to be an expression of your taste, but it better not be too expressive.

One easy way to make your art more generic is to avoid the mistakes common to these subject areas: Sports, vulgarity, politics, religion, and (surprise!) peoples faces.

Sports

Sports loyalties are a big deal all over the globe. Some team rivalries are intense, so the safest route to a purchase offer is to keep your sports preferences a secret. Why alienate someone interested in buying your home? There are so many posters and paintings that are suitable for staging, ones that are easy to DIY or easy to buy, that hanging a NASCAR poster doesn’t make good sense.

One exception might be vintage sports photos or similar archival images (not you in your high school basketball uniform).

Vulgar

Vulgar is a word we dont hear that often. Instead we say, "sexually explicit," or even "politically incorrect."

Like obscenity, you know vulgar when you see it. Nudity is one of those controversial issues. Nude paintings have their place in art history, but to some people even Venus de Milo will be embarrassing.

Always err on the side of caution whenever displaying artworks that include even vaguely sexually suggestive content. If you even think it might raise some eyebrows, then it probably will for some people. Remember that buyers often come from other cultures and other countries. We all have different sensibilities.

So wrong on so many levels.

Political

Maybe you are the precinct chairman of the local GOP.

Maybe you worked on the Al Gore campaign.

Let’s just say you have the posters or photos declaring your political passions. Even if you have a photo of you shaking hands with JFK, Ronald Reagan, or Martin Luther King, now’s the time to pack them into storage. Or cover them up with other, more benign, art for the time being. When your home is on the market is not the time to win votes, convert the undecided, or announce your political persuasions. Sorry.

Religious

I’m going to tread lightly here because I know how important faith is to people. It’s your call if you want to share your belief system with the art in your home when it’s for sale. Buyers will make decisions about the kind of person you are – to your benefit or not. My personal opinion is that the less the buyer knows about you, the seller, the better. It’s a factor of successful negotiating.

Buyers may not want to deal with someone they feel is either condemned forever, or else someone who would judge them negatively for their own personal religious beliefs. Spiritual beliefs run very deep, understandably so because along with our social mores, they form the core of value system and therefore our actions.

Faces

Have you ever driven in traffic and suddenly become aware that the driver in the next car over is looking at you? Yeah, even our peripheral vision is attuned to full front faces. It must be hard-wired in our brains.

Faces command attention, so for this reason, I always suggest that if you are staging your home, you should avoid using artwork that includes faces.

Your job as stager is to keep people noticing the assets of your home, uninterruptedly.

People touring a home want to “own” a room as soon as they enter it, not enter and be confronted with the presence of a stranger. It’s subtle, but that’s what home staging is all about – subtleties.

Does this “rule” apply to pretty watercolor paintings of children playing at the beach? Or etchings of Classical Greek statues? No. I’m referencing pictures like the examples shown here.

You’ll know when a face takes over a room.

My Message

Political opinions are a hot button topic.

Do not fear the generic. It keeps you out of land mine territory.

If making your home a house rather than a home bothers you, remember that it’s only temporary. "Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis," means "Times change, and we change with them." [winking to Grandpa]

I hope your home staging efforts are making your home more beautiful and a pleasure to live in. For more encouragement, tips on cleaning, decluttering, furniture arrangement, window treatments, curb appeal, and everything else that makes a home attractive to buyers, download my $4.99 eBook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Fast and for Top Dollar.

Five Mistakes Home Stagers Cant Make When Choosing Art

Sell Your Home And Then Move Your Plants When You Move!

When you’re a gardener, it’s difficult to relocate, even if you are happy with the sale of your home and the adventures that lie ahead.

I’ve moved often. I’ve moved five times in the past 25 years. And since I love my plants, I have found ways to bring my favorites along with me to my next home.

These are some of my favorite plants, all ones that I have moved from previous homes.

Sometimes, I’ve uprooted the entire plant.

Sometimes, I’ve divided the plant and taken only part.

And sometimes, I’ve snipped a few stems and rooted them to begin a new life with me elsewhere.

You can use any of these methods to carry off parts of your present landscaping. But its important that you not swoop in at the last moment, like the day before closing on the sale of your home, and cannibalize your landscape. Having plants in pots and assorted other containers is one way to let your buyers know that they do not convey with the property.

The 5-foot tall hydrangea in the center of the photo above is about five years old. It hasnt burst into bloom yet this year, but soon it will be covered with fluffy, pink pom poms, the rock star of my Pink Garden. I rooted it from a stem taken from its parent shrub.

I grew the 3 x 3-foot spirea on the left in that picture from a division taken from my former home, and I grew the rose bush on the right from a cutting taken from its parent that I left behind.

You can find instructions for propagating different kinds of plants at this site. My advice is to start with six or more, to be sure that at least one survives and thrives.

Besides these plants pictured, Ive transplanted others -- Hostas, Begonias, Siberian Iris, Clematis, Canna Lilies, Artemesia, Viburnum, Vinca, Liriope, Pacysandra, Asiatic Lilies, herbs, and others. Its fun, and you can do it, too!

This is another plant that is a baby of a shrub rose from a previous home.
The parent of that one, called a Carefree Rose, lived at my daughters home,
and it was easy to propagate. Just a few years ago it was a 4-inch stick!

Mondara is also called Bee Balm because the bees love it.
You can take divisions of any Mondara you are growing.
They will be very forgiving of being transplanted at your new home.

Ivy and other groundcovers are among the easiest plants to multiply
because it is in their nature to produce runners.
My Variegated Ivy is really a houseplant that Ive taken cuttings of, and then
curled them around in cups of soil, and babied them until they develop roots.

This lovely plant is part of my herb garden. Its Sorrel, a sour-flavored herb
that makes an interesting soup.
But mostly, I grow it for the look of its leaves.
I divide the plant in half every time I move.

Chives form the border of my herb bed.
Its easy to bring small clumps with you when you move,
and they root quickly. Youll always have a fresh green garnish ready!

Thyme spreads like crazy.
I like it as a groundcover in my herb garden.
Your homes new owners will never miss some divisions.

Sedum is another plant that is so vigorous its almost invasive.
So, I keep it in pots or plant it only where it wont push out preferred plants.
This Stonecrop Sedum sends up stems of yellow flowers in early summer.
The stems root in water embarrassingly easily

Another of my favorite "passalong plants" is Spiderwort.
Its pretty blue-violet flowers open only in the morning or on rainy days.
I wouldnt think of leaving all of her behind when I relocate.

Crocosmia grow from corms that dont mind being relocated.

To me, they look like a cross between small Gladiolas and Orchids.

Im a fan of plants that are easy to grow, so all plants here will perform for beginner gardeners.

My Paperwhites bloom outdoors in January, just when you need a hit of fragrance outside!
Digging up Paperwhite bulbs can break their dormancy, thus forcing them
to bloom too early or too late the first year, but after that, they are reliably on schedule.

Even though some of them are common varieties, I am devoted to all my orange Daylilies.
Daylilies almost beg to be divided every few years, so youll be doing
your home buyers a favor by thinning a bed of Daylilies and taking some with you.

I bought the granddaddy of this Autumn Fern about 20 years ago,
and I cannot count the number of times I have divided it.
Ferns add a certain elegance to any landscape,
and bronzey Autumn Ferns stay pretty all year.

Propagating plants by division and cuttings is a handy skill any homeowner should learn. Not only will you be able to hold onto plants that have sentimental value, youll also economize when its time to improve the landscape at your next home.

For more tips on making your homes landscape look its best, download my eBook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Fast and For Top Dollar. Youll find the kind of advice that makes staging your own home -- inside and out -- easy and profitable.

This is what it looked like behind my garage as I was preparing
to move from my last house to my present home five years ago.
It was messy, but it let home buyers know that these plants werent staying.

Sell Your Home And Then Move Your Plants When You Move!

When to Go Frameless

The edge of the art canvas is usually framed.

At least, it used to be. But now, Im seeing more and more unframed art.

And Im not talking about art students who dont have the cash to frame what theyve painted.

Im taking about giant canvases hung over drop-dead-gorgeous stone fireplaces in second homes featured in Traditional Home Magazine. So its not about frugality or speed.

Its about style. And I rather fancy it. Its a contemporary look that fits into almost any decor style.

The frameless look certainly makes DIY decorating a bit easier. Happily, it updates a home that looks stuck in an earlier era.

Imagine the room on the left, and how old school and it would look with a old fashioned frame surrounding that painting of loopy circles.

But the edge of an unframed painting still has to look finished. It should be clean and free of paint drips and stains.

If you stretch a piece of decorative fabric that youve purchased around wooden stretchers, then the design will wrap around the stretchers. But generally, a painting ends at the edge of the front surface. A painting that wraps around the stretchers is often a painting was printed in a factory and then stapled onto stretchers. Not exactly one-of-a kind art.

Buying your canvas stretched and ready to go is the simple solution if you want to do your own artwork for staging, but you cant prop up or hang a piece of unframed thin-style canvas board. Your canvas has to have that boxed edge that stretchers provide.

There is an answer to the question, when is it a good idea to skip the frame? The answer is, "Almost anytime!" Most house styles can support this kind of look. Its casual and creates an approachable atmosphere.

Are you working on a redesign of your rooms? Dont leave here without downloading my $4.99 furniture arranging eBook!

When to Go Frameless