Keeping your house cool in summer, young african american couple standing in front of a shady house

Keeping a cool house on hot days

Question: What are some active and passive ways to keep your house cool in the summer?

As temperatures rise during the summer months, keeping cool becomes a priority. Air conditioning is ideal, but not all homes have it. When my former house was being building in the late 80’s, we added central air with multiple zones and the builder thought we were crazy. Crazy or not, it is a necessity in my life and well worth the investment. In my new house, which is 3 levels with one zone, I’m getting adjusted and finding ways to cool my house. Here a few of my tips followed by shared tips from readers.

Four people cleaning up a yard and deck infront of a house.

Accent the Positive and Focus on What You Love

This Spring Real Estate Market, I find myself repeating the same instructions during pre-listing staging consultations. Homeowners have their own decorating style making every house unique. Besides personal taste, how people live and maintain their house makes a big difference when preparing a house for sale. Read more

Beautiful house with lancaping and inground pool

Landscape with good bones

Attractive landscapes need good bones. Look around your neighborhood to notice what this means. The hardscape of good-looking properties is well designed and developed with natural landscape to enhance it.

Refresh your bedroom, family with dog on the king size bed

Go to your room!

The master bedroom is the most important room of a house and often the most neglected. By the end of this column, I hope you will be inspired to make your bedroom your sanctuary.

Your bedroom should be a relaxing comfortable space. It should not be cluttered or filled with things that cause stress. You may not see the pile of paperwork or laundry but your body picks up on that energy.

Clutter eats equity

Spring is in the air. After every frigid snow event we end up with temperatures in the 50’s. Time to start the spring-cleaning process. Clutter eats equity. An overly cluttered house will look and feel smaller. It may even give you an uneasy, unsettled feeling. In some cases, you may even feel buried alive surrounded by mountains of stuff.

The 2019 Colors of Year

Every paint company announces their color of the year along with Pantone, the global color trend forecaster. Based on trends and color psychology, here are a few color trends for 2019.

Finding inspiration and connections

In October I attended my first conference with the International Association of Staging Professionals held in Charlotte. The Staging industry has becoming a vital marketing component for Real Estate. It takes more than just watching a TV show to become a stager. Look for professionalism and accreditation.

“Our 2018 IAHSP Conference & EXPO was a HUGE success! Not only did we have the largest number of attendees to date, we also had the hottest duo in the Home Staging/Design world – The Scott Brothers! They charmed and educated our attendees and added such great celebrity star power to our event! All attendees earned their Luxury Home Staging (IAHSP-LHS) Designation as well as learned valuable information and insights from top-notch speakers.”

– Jennie Norris, Chairwoman, IAHSP International

Color Choices for Dwelling and Selling

One of the most personal choices to make for a home are the colors we chose to live with on the walls, fixtures and home décor. Color evokes a feeling. A neutral palette can be soothing to some and boring to others. A boldly colored space may bring joy to some yet stress and overwhelm others. Read more

The everlasting patina of the Country Living Fair

The 3-day Country Living Fair in Rhinebeck is filled with antiques, vintage, rustic and handmade items where the pages of Country Living Magazine come to life. The fair is held the first weekend in June.

A stager preps her house for sale

As I sit here wondering what to write about, I think of change and how so many fear change. The one thing that is constant is change. I’ve worked with a few clients over the years that have a hard time with change. One client, during a staging consultation, had an issue with moving a chair away from the fireplace. “It has always been there”, they said. I explained how it was blocking the view to the fireplace and how we are selling the house and its beautiful architectural feature is hidden behind a chair upon entry into the space and in photos. The chair stayed put and the house lingered on the market for a very long period of time. The energy was blocked.