Let’s face it — nobody REALLY loves to do laundry. But with a laundry room as organized as this one, it’s easier to face.

We worked together with California Closets to create a functional and atrractive room, complete with a broom cabinet, cubbies for each child’s own laundry basket, covered cabinets, a washsink, granite countertops, tile floors, and tall wainscoating topped with peg hooks for drying clothes.

I have to admit, my favorite part of this room is the wainscoating because it’s “country chic”, and makes use of an otherwise useless wall. It also doesn’t encroach into the walking area of this galley-style laundry room. This idea could also apply to drop zones, kids rooms, & pantries with odd-angled walls.

Want some tips for making laundry easier? Check out some of my other blog posts: Laundry-schmaundry – tips for making laundry painless & Laundry Tips.

For those of you with small children who are always looking for economical and readily available ways to cull kids toys, check out these tips from Housekeeping.org…

Business or personal email….it doesn’t matter; there’s always just too much of it. Short of hiring a personal assistant, what can you do? Try these tips to keep you from drowning in email and wasting time bogged down trying to manage your inbox…

1. Get a Spam filter. Lots of companies like MacAffee, Barracuda Networks, and these companies offer software that blocks unwanted emails to leave you with a streamlined inbox.

2. Set up email rules. Emily Parks, owner of Organize for Success recommends putting your email software to work for you by setting up filtering “rules” that allow you to sort by person, subject, importance, keywords and move incoming emails directly into the trash or email subfolders so they avoid hitting your inbox altogether. Here are some instructions on how to set up email rules:

For PC users using Outlook: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000781.htm
For PC users using Google/Gmail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtaniuBpF6g
For Mac users:
http://www.hosting.com/support/email/create-email-filters-in-mac-os-x-mail–
http://think.stedwards.edu/computerhelp/macmailrulesandfiltering

3. Use an email filtering service. There are companies out there like Sanebox.com and AwayFind.com who, for a nominal fee, will filter, sort, and aggregate your emails so your inbox only receives the truly important ones. They claim you could save about 100 hours a year, and one of my business clients had this to say:

“Sanebox is well worth the low monthly price. I’ve got both my business and personal email accounts on it for about $7/mo. It has been very helpful in cutting down my email clutter so I can focus on the important/urgent ones and get back to the others later. Definitely worth recommending for most casual to medium volume email users. The “aggregation and prioritization” being done for me automatically is extremely productive and Sanebox has been worth it so far.

The only downside is that Sanebox ONLY prioritizes based on sender’s email address… so once you delegate an email from someone as not urgent/not important, it will ALWAYS file any emails from that sender that way. There is no way to prioritize or separate based on subject or any other factors other than sender’s address.

AwayFind.com appears to be much more advanced…and is also a bit pricier.”

Selling your home requires a fresh look at your home, some elbow grease, and a few creative tips to catch a buyer’s attention. HSH.com contacted Little Virgo to get some of these outside-the-box ideas…

http://library.hsh.com/articles/homeowners-repeat-buyers/5-outside-the-box-secrets-to-help-sell-your-home.html

This was sent to me by a friend and I thought they were so helpful & clever I had to share them…thanks to thechive.com for the original article.

Use a comb to hold a nail in place
without hammering your fingers.

Yup, we did it again! With a good purge, some sorting, creating a work table, and adding some slat wall & shelving for tools and storage, another happy client can now enjoy their garage and focus on what’s important (like yardwork!) instead of wasting time trying to find their equipment. We even created a trash/recycling center and a play area for darts.

A big thanks to my organizing crew and the guys from A Custom Closet who did the shelving & slat wall installation as well as built a custom work bench!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Garages are fun spaces to organize for my clients and I find most people ask for the same things: showroom-ish looks (that don’t break the budget) with a focus on functionality for an active family. Here’s one we did that was the best of both worlds…

BEFORE: the garage was dark, had too much stuff, the workbench was disfunctional, and the storage shelving was inadequate.

AFTER: We created a functional and showy garage by: organizing their belongings by sorting like items into labeled bins and purging unused items epoxied the floor removed the old workbench and installed a Closetmaid Workbench system designed & installed Closetmaid adjustable shelves installed slat wall & hooks for sporting goods and garden tools painted the walls & cinder block foundation in contrasting shades of gray added white finishing trim above the cinder blocks upgraded the lighting

Putting your house on the market? I find that the most difficult but important part of Home Staging isn’t about decor — it’s helping the buyers understand that once their house goes on the market, it’s no longer their home full of their memories of their family, but more like a product on a store shelf that needs to be merchandised for the masses. When sellers can emotionally detach themselves and see their space with fresh eyes, we can make great progess in staging their home.

Part of a Stager’s goal is to strike a balance between making rooms look spacious and decluttered without being sterile. And we need to appeal to all 5 senses to evoke an emotional connection in potential home buyers so they feel that your house is the only one they want. So here are a few tips to help you sell quickly!

• Invite them in. As realtors are unlocking the front door, potential buyers have ample time to check out the state of your entry. Make a good first impressing by decluttering a porch, putting fresh paint on the front door & trim, and adding a welcome mat & a seasonal wreath.

• Deodorize. The first thing buyers notice when they walk in isn’t what they see, it’s what they smell. Open windows as often and as long as possible to air out any stale smells in your home. If you have pets, keep them and their paraphenelia (litter boxes, crates, toys, feeding bowls, etc.) hidden away during a showing. Eliminate pet odors with this “reci-pee.” Spray an air freshener lightly just before a showing, or bake some homemade bread or cookie dough 20 minutes before a showing. Buyers will have a tasty snack and they’ll instantly feel at home from the smell.

• Declutter. Pack up or purge all the excess clutter & furniture from every room. Counter should be completely clear or have no more than 2 major appliances on them in a kitchen. My favorite trick is to clear a room’s furniture out (except the essentials needed to indicate to a buyer what the room’s purpose is) until the room fees too “empty.” Then bring back in 2 items which will make it feel more lived in, but spacious. Place the large furniture items first and fill in any holes with side chairs, tables or bookcases, plants, or artowrk. Purge non-essential items, or pack & move them to an attic or rent a storage unit while your home is on the market.

• Depersonalize. Buyers can’t picture themselves living in your home if photos of your family are everywhere. Remove personal items and photos from tables & walls, and if art is needed on a long wall, replace it with a neutral print, a black & white photo, or create your own art to match the space by framing fabric or wrapping paper in the same color scheme.

• Create focal points for each room. This is important to show off a room’s assests while detracting from its flaws. In every room, decide what the best feature is and manoever the furnture and accessories around it to draw the eye to it like a runway. For example, if you have a fireplace, remove or shift the placement of any furniture that blocks its view from the room’s entry and line up a sofa and side chairs perpendicular to it on the left & right. If it’s a bedroom, make the bed the focus with attractive bedding or a padded headboard that matches the bedding. Don’t have a focal point? Create one with interesting artwork, or paint one wall a darker shade than the rest of the room to draw attention to it. This works particularly well for that tiny or boring bedroom that’s being used as a storage space or Home Office.

• Neutralize the color palette. Bold colors may be great to live in, but no everyone likes them, so to appeal to the widest audience, choose neutal or earth tome paint colors. Here is a list of my favorite paint colors & tips. Try to use no more than 2 or 3 colors in a space. (My favorite color scheme is to use 2 shades of the same color (like a taupe on the walls and dark brown furniture) then let my 3rd color be more bold, like a red, teal, or green pops of color in the fabrics & artwork. And if you have mismatched furniture & accessories, make them look more coherent by painting them all the same shade of dark brown, black, or cream. Spraypaint has come a long way — Rust-o-leum has new shades that cost about $7 can, have a spray trigger for easy use, and don’t require sanding or priming.

• Clean. Make sure your entire home is spotless. I’m talking “toothbrush” clean in the kitchen & bathrooms — every corner & crevice should sparkle. Got a stubborn shower stain? Read my article on how to get it clean and keep it clean. Hire a professional cleaning service if you need help and pay attention to the details like cleaning blinds, fans & baseboards. Have the windows professional washed inside & out, and if your home is natually dark, consider removing blinds & curtains completely while it’s on the market to let the most light in. Powerwashing the outside of your home is also worth the money.

• Add a special touch. Paint a picture for buyers of how much fun it is to live in your home and appeal to their 5 senses by creating little vignettes that make rooms look like you were there just moments ago, lounging or enjoying the space right before they walked in. In the rooms used for relaxation like the living room and master bedroom, cozy up a space with something buyers want to taste and touch, like a breakfast tray with a danish and cup of tea on it, or an open book that’s turned face down on a coffee table, edge of the bed, or nightstand. Toss fluffy pillows and a down throw on a bed so buyers yearn to dive in and snuggle up for a nap. Add fresh flowers for buyers to smell in any space. Show off a gourmet kitchen by making it look like you were just there baking homemade goodies — toss flour on the counter, and set a rolling pin beside a rolled out pie crust or slab of cookie dough that’s half cut-out. Leave a plate of cookies and some cider on a counter with a note to buyers that reads, “Welcome Home!” In smaller eat-in kitchens or sunrooms, a cup of coffee next to a folded newspaper evokes a picture of quiet mornings. For playrooms, set up a board game or pause the Wii and drop two controllers where buyers might be tempted to play a round. Liven up a space with music — we don’t want noise and chaos, just a little soft background music; try soft spa music near an entryway or in a master bathroom suite, and something more upbeat and festive for an outdoor patio where grilling and parties take place. In a sunroom, deck or patio area, set out a pitcher of margaritas, lemonade or iced tea on a table, or set a tub of iced beers next to a grill. It’ll make your home seem like a cozy place to relax and have fun and will get buyers’ juices flowing thinking of all the down time they can have because your home is move-in ready!

With just a little cash and a lot of elbow grease, you can help your home stand out and create a space that buyers can’t wait to move into!

Enter a password in the text box to have the Password Checker help determine its strength as you type.

Here are some tips for creating strong passwords:

• Use 8 characters or more; 14 is ideal.
• Combine both upper and lowercase letters with numbers and symbols such as a period, @, #, and $
• Pick letters from a phrase that’s meaningful to you to create a “pass phrase.” (“Do you know the way to San Jose?” could be D!Y!KtwTSJ?)
• Select a unique password and not one that you are using for some other purpose, such as your PIN at the bank or your password to another system.
• Change your passwords every 72 days or less.
• Avoid sequences or repeated characters like “12345678,” “222222,” “abcdefg.”
• Avoid sending your password over email.
• Test the strength of your passwords with a password checker lke the one above.

Too busy to clean? 2 minutes is all you need. Doing any one of the following steps will make a room appear cleaner, but doing all three will really do the trick and won’t take time away from the fun stuff.

Get started using a trash bag, a box or tote bag, and some all purpose cleaning wipes.

1. Eliminate Trash & Gather Clutter. Make a pass through the room starting at the door and working left to right. As you move around the room, put all trash in the trash bag, and gather any items that don’t belong in this room into a box or bag that can be stashed until later or toted to the room(s) where they really live.

 

2. Wipe surfaces. Now that the trash and clutter are gone, focus on the major flat surfaces. Use an all purpose cleaning wipe like Pledge Multi Surface Everyday cleaner, Lysol wipes, or your favorite cleaner on a damp cloth, and quickly wipe the surfaces. The cleaning wipes will leave a fresh scent and any dust and crumbs will be nabbed. When the major surfaces are clean, use the same cloth to spot clean the floor.

 

3. “Froof.” This is my word for gussying up a space. Straighten any knick-knacks & decor, fluff pillows, etc.

In just minutes, you’ll have a fresh, livable space again!