Sandy at Sterling Property Services

The Lady of Shalott and Me

2012-02-09T15:20:00.000-05:00

When I look up from my computer monitor, I see a poster of this fabulous painting of the Lady of Shalott by William Holman Hunt. It's one of my favorite things.

The Story
The painting was inspired by the poem of the same name by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, written in 1857. It tells the sad story of a lady imprisoned in a tower under a curse. We don't know exactly who she is, or how she came to be in this terrible predicament, but we sense she's done something very wrong.

From the poem we learn that the Lady is under a spell, forced to weave into a tapestry the life of the world outside her window, as reflected in her mirror. The yarn is going everywhere, as unruly and wild as her hair. The Lady is a (fiber) artist who can never be part of the world, never even look directly out the tower windows, or she will die. Who knows how long the weaving went on, but one day Sir Lancelot came riding by (you can see him in the painting), and you can guess what happened. The Lady was so overcome that she broke the spell and defied the curse by looking directly at him. Then the mirror cracked, the curse came upon her and she died. Somehow, the poem doesn't say, she wound up in a boat floating down to Camelot where Lancelot sees her, says she has a lovely face and says a prayer. Not a happy ending, but certainly in keeping with the Victorian conscience and its harsh judgments of women.

Interpreting the Painting
When you look at the painting, you can almost feel the tension. There's the struggle between life (sort of) and death, between an artificial world and the real world, between the Lady's artistic detachment as she works on the tapestry, and her longing for emotional involvement. There's quite a lot going on in this picture, and the more you examine it, the more interesting it becomes. Some say it's an allegory of a fallen woman who was lead astray and met a fate worse than death - to see the world, but not be part of it. Others say she represents the artist, or the place of women in society. What do I think? I think the painting is beautiful. I love its complexity and colors, and all its associations with people, stories and ideas. I don't need to pick any particular interpretation.

Other Versions of the Painting

Moxon Tennyson - 1857

There are some things I know about Hunt's Lady, and other things that I want to sort out someday. He drew this sketch of her for the Moxon edition of Tennyson's poems that was published in 1857. He also may have painted more detailed versions in oil over the ensuing 50 years, with different symbolism in the background. The best known version is the one above with Greek symbolic figures. It was completed in 1905 when Hunt was 83, and so rickety that he needed help from Edward Robert Hughes. Somewhere there may be a Lady with medieval figures instead of Greeks, or Hunt may have painted over them. Apparently he worked on this painting off and on for decades. There's a tremendous difference between this first, much simpler Lady and the richly detailed final one.

Back to the Poem
Although Tennyson's poem isn't considered to be a literary masterpiece, it's been a powerful source of inspiration to painters and singers ever since it was published. The Lady has been painted many, many times, including three beautiful versions by John William Waterhouse, but Hunt's Lady is by far my favorite. In fact I love it so much, that about fifteen years ago I made a special trip to Hartford, CT where it hangs in the Wadsworth Atheneum, of all places, because it had such a hold on my imagination that I had to see it in person. I wasn't disappointed. The painting is HUGE - 74 x 57 inches, and just magnificent. I bought the poster at the gift shop and later had it framed.

The poem is a long one, but well worth reading, or even more fun, listening to. The celestial Loreena McKennitt set it to music several years ago, and Roger and I have had the good fortune to see and hear her perform it in concert - twice. Just remembering those nights gives me chills. Here she is to sing it for you.

Winter Citrus Adventures

2012-02-08T10:45:00.000-05:00

Winter isn't my favorite season, but one of the things I do appreciate is the availability of citrus fruits that either I don't see at other times, or that are priced so high in the rare places that carry them, that I don't buy them. My list of readily available favorites includes Nagami kumquats, which I added to my repertoire fairly recently, Cara Cara oranges, Meyer lemons (which I used to grow and really miss), Moro blood oranges, Minneola tangelos, Satsuma mandarins and Algerian clementines. Although these varieties aren't new, they're still a treat and I enjoy dreaming up ways to use them. I zest and juice some while they're plentiful, then freeze them in small batches to await my next brain storm.

The taste of some varieties isn't the citrus experience most of us are used to. I was chatting about this by email with my friend Bonnie in San Francisco, and she said while she, "loves the Moro's flesh, my one reservation is that the taste is not consistent. I peel each wondering if it will have that taste I can best describe as dusty and not-at-all citrus-like. It's 'that borderline taste'. I have tried to find connections among the skin color, the flesh color and the varying taste, but am not, so far, successful." I know what she's talking about, but it doesn't diminish my enjoyment of dramatic and beautiful Moro's. As for my latest taste test, I tried a Chandler pummelo the other day and didn't appreciate having to excavate through a deep, deep layer of pith to get to the small amount of fruit that wasn't tasty enough to be worth the effort. Maybe it was a bad example, but I'm going to look for the new 'Valentine' hybrid next time.

I wanted to learn more about advances in citrus, and after some rooting around, I found this link to a very helpful report from the University of California at Davis about the standard kinds of citrus vs. the new varieties to locate and try.

Buddah's Hand

Citrus: Tried and True or Something New?

I'm looking forward to more adventures in citrus, so if you see anything exciting in your travels, please tell me about it. High on my wish list is the citron, "Buddah's Hand". It's so ugly it's beautiful and you can't eat it, but it's supposed to have a wonderful fragrance. I'd love to have one on the kitchen counter.

The Right Color in the Right Place - Exterior

2012-02-06T11:33:00.000-05:00

My approach to working with paint colors is simple:

Where you put color is just as important as finding colors that work.

An Easy Fix With Color

Far too many exterior painting projects turn out to be unattractive and disappointing, sometimes because the colors are unsuitable or lack harmony, and sometimes because the wrong things were accented.

Misguided accenting

Creates undesirable focal points.
Distorts proportion and scale
Results in an overall impression of bits and pieces, instead of a unified whole.

The house in this picture illustrates what I mean.If we'd done the painting, the owners would have received a free color and design consultation. I would have recommended several color and cosmetic fixes, including the following:

Paint the large garage door in the wall color instead of white so that it doesn't detract from the entryway and make the house look lopsided.
Paint the Palladian window above the front door in the wall color. The window may be an attractive detail when viewed from the inside, but from the exterior its shape and multiple panes conflict with the front door below it, which also has multiple panes. Painting the window in the wall color would reduce the busy look and negative impact.
Paint the downspouts and banding boards in the wall color to simplify the look of the facade and eliminate the "bits and pieces" problem, which is more noticeable in person than in the picture.
Paint the front door, including the grid, in a single accent color to create a strong focal point that adds pizzazz and provides a warm welcome to visitors.

Once the painting was done, I would have suggested other cosmetic fixes, like adding a trellis to fill the large, awkward space above the garage, using one style of light instead of four and replacing the three lights over the garage with two slightly larger lights. The landscaping also needs a little help, including new foundation plants of varying heights, shapes and textures, and a vine, perhaps a clematis, to grow across the new trellis. Don't forget to factor in the color(s) of flowering plants when choosing exterior paint colors!

Better color placement alone would have made a significant difference in the curb appeal of this house and wouldn't have cost one cent more than the misguided color decisions you see. The other fixes could be done as time and the budget permitted.

What You Should Accent
I believe that you should accent only those things that truly deserve the attention, and that you should consider scale and proportion when you decide what to do. Don't automatically accent something because it's there. Garage doors like the ones in this picture are a prime example of a detail that's usually accented, when they should be painted with the wall color instead. Think about it. Why would you want to draw the eye to where your cars live, instead of making your front door the focal point?

Deciding what to hide is simple. Camouflage everything that's strictly utilitarian or that doesn't contribute to a simple, harmonious impression. Paint it the color of the surface on which it sits, or that it adjoins. Here are some examples:

Exterior Details to Hide, When Possible

Construction banding boards (They are there as joinery, not as decoration!)
Garage doors, if they can be painted. Read your door warranty.
Utility boxes, wires and pipes
Downspouts
Gutters, if they can be painted, and the colors don't work with the roof or the paint colors
Deck undercarriages and support posts, in some situations
Roof jacks and vents
Foundations
Small vents in gables
Small scale trim pieces used to create outlines

I can't help it! I have to get up on my soapbox now to rail against the unfortunate common practice of accenting banding boards. Seldom, if ever, is it desirable to create the impression that a building is an assemblage of segments, rather than a unified whole. Accenting banding boards creates visual confusion and detracts from the architecture. Drive around and look at examples in your neighborhood, then picture how much better those houses would look if those boards blended with the wall.

How in the world do these mistakes keep happening? I'll tell you. Unfortunately, most painting contractors, builders and homeowners aren't trained in color and design, so they go on automatic pilot and accent everything that's not a wall, or don't even think to hide those distracting pre-finished items, when it's possible.

I'm very proud to say that Roger and I are different. We combine knowledge and skill based on formal training and over twenty-five years experience as professional painting contractors, with color expertise and a concern for aesthetics.

If you're planning an exterior painting project, remember the house in this example and the power of color placement to change an ordinary outcome into one that adds beauty and value.

Call me at 828-692-4355 to talk about what you'd like to accomplish, and to schedule an estimate. If we do the work for you, a color and design consultation is a free part of our service, a value-added approach you'll really appreciate when you see the results.

Sandy's Favorite Italian Tomato Soup

2012-02-02T16:21:00.001-05:00

Yesterday when I was leaving the grocery store I got to talking with the woman parked next to me, and before I knew it the conversation had worked its way around to a recipe I'd invented for Italian tomato soup. (This soup has become so essential to my happiness that I get uneasy if there's none in the freezer, and I serve it to nearly everyone who shows up for lunch during the winter.) I started to tell her how I made the soup, but a parking lot isn't the best place to share a detailed recipe, so I gave her my card and promised to write it down for her if she'd send me her email address.

Today she wrote to me, and then I realized that if I was going to take the time to transfer something from my mind to the written word, I should share it with you, too.

SANDY's ITALIAN TOMATO SOUP

1. In a very large stock pot, saute the following together until translucent:

1 cup Bella Sun Luci oil packed, sun dried tomatoes with Italian herbs (from Costco), drained and rinsed to remove excess oil
2 medium or 1 large onion, medium dice
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2-3 carrots, medium dice
1/2 to 1 tsp red pepper flakes, or more to taste
1 tsp Italian herbs, salt and pepper to taste

2. Add

1 35 oz can Nina San Marzano tomatoes (also from Costco)
1-2 roasted red bell peppers, peeled, seeded and chopped (I prepare them in advance and keep batches in the freezer)
Cover with chicken stock (about 3 boxes of 32oz Costco Organic Chicken Stock )

3. Cook over medium low heat about 30 minutes, or until all vegetables are completely cooked, then stir in 3-4 tbsp pesto, or to taste.

4. Cool off the heat for at least fifteen minutes.

5. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

6. Add more chicken stock to thin the soup to the consistency you like, and adjust the seasoning with more salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, pesto, etc.

I probably should call this my Costco Italian Tomato soup, but although the Costco products are delicious and well-priced, they're not essential. Equivalents will work just as well.

Carol, thank you for giving me the nudge to do this. I hope you in particular enjoy the soup. Please let me know what you think!

Our Nandina Nightmare

2012-01-30T11:12:00.002-05:00

I've always had a great fondness for members of the Nandina family because they're evergreen and colorful, with delicate, feathery foliage. However, after a discovery I made this weekend, I'm worried about my plan to grow more of them as low-maintenance foundation plants.

Some of the Casualties

Saturday we were in the garden enjoying a beautiful, sunny afternoon, Roger running the chipper while I snipped and tidied. I came to a favorite pair of Harbor Dwarf which had been in the ground about three years, and had grown to nearly four feet. One looked normal, but the other one was leaning, and when I tried to straighten it, it came out of the ground, rootless. Voles had been dining, and both plants had only a few very tiny roots left. None of the other plants in the immediate vicinity had been eaten, just the poor Nandinas. That realization prompted me to check the other Nandinas on that side of the house, and I discovered that they'd been eaten too. The casualties included three 'Firepower' and four 'Harbor Dwarf', all of which were established plants that had no rodentia problems before. Happily, the Nandinas planted elsewhere are intact, at least so far...

Roger to the Rescue

All the nibbled Nandinas still look beautiful, and when I examined what was left of the roots, I felt there was enough remaining to at least try to save them. Roger put them in containers with planting mix, and watered them well. At the moment they're in the emergency hospital (the driveway, close to the garage), where we can keep a close eye on them and hope for the best. If any survive, I won't put them in harm's way again. They're going to become container plants and live a cushy life on the deck and porch.

Now I know that if I'm going to have Nandinas in the garden, it can't be in that danger zone. And I'm seriously considering digging up the survivors in other parts of the garden and putting hardware cloth around the root ball of every one. (I haven't mentioned this little project to Roger yet, so please don't tell him...)

Nandina Emergency Hospital

This is our first experience gardening in vole country, and we've had a few problems before, but not on this scale. I usually have a live and let live wildlife policy, but when it comes to these destructive little creatures and the many chipmunks who also live on our property, I don't interfere when one of the cats goes hunting and catches one, as long as he or she doesn't eat it under the dining room table. So far they haven't made enough of a dent in the rodentia population to suit me, especially after this experience. I'm just glad the rabbits haven't done anything worse than chew the mondo grass down to stumps this winter. I would have had to shear it in a couple of months anyway, and they've saved me the trouble....

PS:

Baci is a very smart cat. She must have been reading this over my shoulder, because when I went outside just now, I discovered that she'd left a present for me by the steps to the kitchen door...

Who's Afraid of Metamerism?

2012-01-20T11:12:00.000-05:00

I often say that color is a moving target, because it plays tricks on us by changing its appearance as its surroundings and circumstances change, and depending on who's looking at it. Color is never static.

Metamerism, or metameric failure, is one of those color tricks, or better yet, phenomenon, you may have encountered, without realizing that it was a common occurrence with a name and scientific explanation. It's a technical topic, but think of it simply as the tendency of color to look different in different situations.

Have you ever chosen a paint color that was perfect during the day under natural light, but all wrong at night under artificial light? That's a metameric failure, and it happens a lot...

There are several types of metameric failure:

LIGHTING: Two colors appear to match under one light source but don't match under another.

OBSERVER: We all see color differently because of our physical characteristics, and because color is light, not the property of an object.

GEOMETRIC: The same color viewed from one angle doesn't match when viewed from another angle. Attributes like texture and gloss can contribute to the problem.

FIELD: Colors that appear to match when used in small areas don't match when used in large ones.

Take this ceiling, for example. The paint on the ceiling came from the same can as the paint on the wall, yet it looks like a different color. It's an example of geometric metamerism.

Is there any way to avoid these metameric failures? The answer is yes and no. To me, one of the most challenging things about working with color is that the effect of color is cumulative, and it's also specific to the context in which it's used. In other words, no one really knows how well colors will work until all the paint is applied. And don't plan on avoiding the problem by copying someone else's colors, even if you love them. They'll look completely different in your house, and may not work.

Having said that, there are things you can do to decrease the likelihood of metameric surprises:

Always make large paint color samples, at least 2 x 3 feet.
View the samples in the room where they'll be used. Study them throughout the day as the natural light changes, and at night under artificial light.
Always view paint samples in the orientation in which they'll be applied, because the color will change!
Be alert to the effect of other colors in the room, particularly on large areas. Hardwood floors, for example, often have a yellow cast that's reflected on the ceiling and walls. (Maybe the friend with colors you love has wall to wall carpeting, not hardwood...)
Color applied to a large area will appear darker than it will when used in a small area. You may want to sample a color that's a shade lighter.
Bright colors will look even brighter when applied to large areas. Resist the impulse to choose the bright orange that's on trend right now, and sample an orange that's a little "earthier".

Now add the human factor to all these variables. Let's say that you love purple. You want to paint the dining room a sophisticated eggplant, but your spouse has an emotional response to the word "purple" that prevents seeing any member of the purple family in a favorable way... That's SPOUSAL METAMERISM...and no, I don't have an answer for that one...

Roger's Favorite Breakfast

2012-01-18T14:38:00.003-05:00

Roger's Hot Cereal

One of my most important domestic responsibilities is to keep Roger well supplied with his favorite breakfast, a custom hot cereal blend that I created a few years ago from inexpensive ingredients. The faux "Grape Nuts" is the star because it tastes good and the chewy little nuggets improve the texture of the cereal. Because of the nuggets and the large flakes of grain, this mix doesn't turn into gritty lumps or cement, like many finely ground hot cereals.

Roger looks forward to this breakfast because it tastes great and he knows it's a healthy meal. It's become his secret weapon for keeping his energy level high until lunch time. What I like is that once I've created the mixture, Roger can make his own breakfast in no time. He just fills a bowl with the amount of cereal and other ingredients he wants, adds water to cover and sticks the bowl in the microwave for about two minutes, depending on how full it is.

It's so easy to add variety to the basic mix with fresh or dried fruit, nuts, sugars, fruit butters, jams or syrups, that Roger doesn't feel that he's having the same old thing every day. He tops the cereal with almond milk, and sometimes adds protein powder when he knows there's a challenging day ahead. My lower calorie version uses just a little stevia and almond milk, and it's still delicious and very filling.

Roger's Hot Cereal

1 package generic 100% whole grain old fashioned rolled oats ( 2lb, 10oz size)
1 package generic "Grape Nuts" (1lb, 8oz size)
3 pounds "Six Grain Blend" (flakes of white wheat, red wheat, barley, sunflower, rye and rolled oats) $1.98/lb at ingles
cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to taste

Other possibilities include soy grits, corn grits, or flax seed. Create your own blend with the ingredients you prefer, and tell me about it!

Because of the large volume of cereal the basic recipe makes, I don't have a bowl that's large enough to mix it all at once, so I split the ingredients in half and do it in two batches. One recipe fills this large canister and keeps Roger going strong for weeks.

Roger's Hot Cereal is delicious, inexpensive, healthy and easily tweaked for variety. What's not to love?

Syroco, Any One?

2012-01-17T10:32:00.000-05:00

If you've ever rooted around in an antique shop or flea market, you've probably seen, and maybe been amused (or even horrified) by home decor pieces of Syroco, perhaps without knowing exactly what they were. Syroco is short for the Syracuse Ornamental Company, founded in Syracuse, NY by Adolph Holstein, a wood carver who came from Warsaw in 1889. As the business grew, he employed immigrant carvers from Italy and Austria who worked in walnut, mahogany and other fine woods, creating decorative pieces for late Victorian homes.

To help meet increasing demand, Holstein developed a new material madeof wood pulp with flour as a binder, plus other ingredients for strength. It looked and felt like wood, but multiplescould be created through a molding process. The new, lightweight material, whichcould be painted or finished to look like wood, was called SyrocoWood. Many of the pieces I've seen have a painted gold finish, like the dogwood branches below.

Syroco came in literally thousands of designs, includingmirrors, brackets, vases, clocks, shelves, sconces, moldings, figurines andmuch, much more, in numerous traditional styles, including Baroque,Heppelwhite, Queen Anne, Louis XIV, Renaissance. You name it. The variety ofSyroco items is staggering. Google “Syroco images” and you’ll see what I mean.

Even though some might say that Syroco is tacky, I like it because it's inexpensive and the creative possibilities are endless. The character of even the most over the top, elaborate pieces can becompletely altered by paint, making them work as an accent or counterpoint inrooms of all sorts, from the simplest or most modern, to rustic ortraditional. There's something for nearly everybody.

When you’re decorating on a budget, start with a Syroco shape youlike and just add color(s). Black paint, for example, turns Syroco into wrought iron. The ubiquitous gold finish looks much different (and far more subtle) with a verdigris patina. Or, as in the case of this mirror, use a bright color. Imagine Syroco pieces in varying shades of white in a shabby chic room...

The Syracuse Ornamental Company remained in the Holsteinfamily for several generations, and at one point was the world’s largestproducer of decorative wall accessories. It passed through several owners until2004, when it was bought by Vassallo Industries of Puerto Rico. The companyclosed the plant in 2007 after increased material and operating costs made thebusiness too unprofitable to continue. Although the company may be gone, Syroco lives on in countlesshomes, including ours. Maybe a Syroco piece can find a place in your home, too.

A Revolutionary Approach to Interior Paint Colors

2012-01-11T13:51:00.000-05:00

Color Stories Fan Deck

If you're planning an interior painting project, or if you're inspired by luscious colors, there's exciting news from Benjamin Moore:

Beautiful Full Spectrum Paints Are Now Main Stream

Customized Mustards

2012-01-03T10:08:00.000-05:00

Roger always takes his lunch to the job, along with a snackor two to keep his energy level high. Sometimes there’s a remnant of our dinner the night before that makes agood lunch, but most of the time he has a sandwich. One of the things I do tomake his sandwiches more enjoyable, and to decrease the amount of mayonnaise that he otherwise would like slathered on both pieces ofbread, is to create special mustards.

I admit to being “frugal”, so I start with inexpensive storebrand mustards and modify them. Once you start customizing mustards, you’ll seehow easy it is to create your own versions, and how limitless the creative possibilities are. Thesemustards also make a perfect base for quick, easy and delicious salad dressings and sauces.

Here are some of Roger’s favorites. For all but one of them, no cooking is required. I add salt and pepper to taste.

Sundried Tomato Mustard

1 plastic bottle Dijon mustard

½ cup sundried tomatoes (drain and rinse if packed in oil)

½ tsp red pepper flakes, or more to taste

1 tsp dried minced onions

¼ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp Italian herbs

Combine all theingredients and refrigerate in a container with a tight lid. For variety I sometimesadd chopped fresh parsley, roasted red Bell pepper and/or grated Italian cheese.

Caramelized Onion Mustard (cooking required)

1 plastic bottle whole grain mustard

2 onions, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced fine

1 tbsp butter

1 pinch sugar

1 tsp fresh thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the choppedonions, garlic and thyme in the butter over very low heat, adding the pinch ofsugar to help them brown, along with the salt and pepper. Once the onions arecaramelized, blend in a food processor or a blender. Refrigerate in a container with a tight lid.

Pear Mustard

1 plastic bottle of spicy brown mustard

½ cup pear preserves

2 tbsp ginger preserves

Raspberry Mustard

1 plastic bottle of Dijon mustard

cup of seedless raspberry jam

1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Cranberry Mustard

1 plastic bottle of Dijon mustard

½ cup dried cranberries

1tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Southwest Mustard

1 plastic bottle of spicy brown mustard

Taco seasoning and/or very well-drained salsa to taste

Asian Mustard

1 plastic bottle of Dijon mustard

¼ cup hoisin sauce or plum sauce

½ tsp soy sauce

½ tsp sesame oil

You could also create delicious versions with apple butter, roasted Bell peppers, pumpkin puree, crushed pineapple, etc. If you have a flavor inspiration, please share!

This Apple Isn't Red

2012-01-02T16:38:00.000-05:00

Many people think of color as the property of an object, but color really is a characteristic of visible light, part of the electromagnetic spectrum, as perceived by the eye and brain.

We all, meaning man and beast, see color differently, and some of us don't see color at all, or we see only certain colors. Perception is the heart of the matter. I see a red apple, and perhaps you do too, but we should keep in mind that this apple isn't really red. It just as easily could be seen as blue, or another color. The personal nature of color perception might explain some of those color decisions that otherwise are difficult to appreciate!

Sparkly and Shiny Bits for Crows and Magpies

2011-12-23T16:38:00.001-05:00

As much I love using natural greenery, this time of year my inner crow and magpie tendencies take over for a while, and I indulge in holiday sparkle. Over the years I've acquired enough stuff, mostly hand-me-downs and souvenirs from my travels, plus odd bits and cheap thrills from junk shops and after Christmas sales, to fill the house and add considerable cheer. These "creations" would make me shudder at other times, but in the winter I enjoy the way they light up dark corners and add energy to otherwise dull spots, like a hallway. Some things are especially meaningful as a way to be connected with my absent family. At the moment there are a couple of Aunt Joanne's mismatched candlesticks on the coffee table and my grandmother's rhinestone snowflake pins on a cushion on the bed, to accompany the crow and magpie-favored sparkly and shiny bits scattered here and there...

Roger goes along with all this in his usual good-natured way, and sometime even says that he likes my crazy ideas. This time of year some of what works for me is admittedly over the top, but after the Christmas and New Year celebrations are over, I'm equally happy, even relieved, to put it all away.

Here are some pictures for those of you who also appreciate a little seasonal excess. As I looked at them I wished I'd done a better job with the arrangements, but I was in a hurry to transition from Autumn to Winter, and things got jammed in vases, instead of being artfully arranged. Oh well... In person the individual shortcomings aren't as apparent, and it's possible to enjoy the cumulative effect.

Great Room Mantle

Dining Room

Master Bath 1

Master Bath 2

A Dark Corner

Family Room

Great Room Coffee Table

Family Room

Great Room

Downstairs Hallway

Kitchen Island with Baci in the Window

Powder Room

My grandmother's snowflakes

The Two One-Eyed Cats - A Christmas Story

2011-12-21T13:50:00.000-05:00

Four years ago Roger and I decided that our Christmaspresent to each other would be to adopt a kitten from All Creatures Great andSmall, which was in the process of closing. When we went there we found Baci, avery tiny feral ginger kitten, who came home and joined the family, to ourcontinuing delight.

I also met Milky and Caramel, two one-eyed brothers who, asI was told, had injured each other during a fight. They both were so charming andaffectionate that I didn’t see how the story could possibly be true, but therethey were with their rakish pirate charm, and little chance of being adoptedtogether, which was required because of their strong bond of devotion.

With so many healthy single animals there needing homes, thechance of someone taking on two special needs cats was very small. Somethinghad to be done to help them, so I told the staff that I would give a $100adoption bonus to the person who would take them both. Someone on the staff ofAll Creatures told the Times-News about the bonus, and I was asked to come backto the shelter for an interview and picture with the boys. About a week after thestory ran, no one had claimed the reward so I called All Creatures and was toldthat the kittens had been adopted, but they couldn’t be located for the routinefollow-up the Human Society was conducting. Fearing Milky and Caramel weredead, or worse, I blamed myself for calling attention to them, and for the nextfew months, whenever I thought about them I was deeply sad.

One day I went to the Post Office and found a letterwith a return address that said only, “Milky and Carmel”. They were alive! I wasso stunned and relieved I burst into tears in the middle of the parking lot. WhenI pulled myself together and opened the envelope, I found a note from the boys sayinghow happy they were, and several pictures to prove it. A few more times sincethen I’ve had cards and pictures of “Kumal and Sangha”, as they now are called,but the kind and still anonymous person who took them in has never asked forthe bonus money.

Today I received a Christmas card that said, “My how we’vegrown! Four years old, still together and enjoying life. Haven’t forgotten yourkindness…” Inside the card was a fuzzy picture of them looking very well-fed and content, the latest chapter in theirremarkable story which I’m happy to share with you.

Green Bouquets

2011-12-20T09:11:00.000-05:00

One of the rewards for all our hard work in the garden is the ability to create green bouquets in winter by clipping the evergreen shrubs here and there. Most of the year these conifers and broad leaf evergreens like pyrancatha, loropetalum, nandina, privet and various members of the holly family sit quietly in the background, but now their true value comes to light.

These unassuming plants are really stars in waiting who offer beautiful colors ranging from purples, reds and golds to numerous shades of green. They come in a variety of forms from narrow and upright to bushy or trailing, and many also have berries in shades of red, yellow, white and orange. Clippings from our evergreens provided all I needed to create long-lasting, simple arrangements for the mantle in the family room, and they were free...

Take A Picture

2011-12-15T11:31:00.000-05:00

One of my tried and true design tools is a photograph of the project I've just completed, whether it's a room, a Christmas tree or a flower arrangement. Try as I do to achieve balance, when I've worked to create something I don't see it objectively right away because I'm too close to it. Taking a picture gives me a chance to see my work with a fresh viewpoint and recognize what works, and what doesn't.

Take this Christmas tree, for example. I thought I'd done a reasonably good job of spacing the ornaments, but when I saw the picture I noticed there were clusters and gaps, and the tree needed a little tweaking.

Now I grant you that I may be a bit fussier about these things than most, but I always want to improve and I appreciate tools, like a picture, that help me make my work better. Try it for yourself and see what I mean.

Winter Decor - Needlepoint Cushions

2011-12-14T15:40:00.000-05:00

The Christmas Rose

Over the weekend I began the transition from Autumn to Winter decor by switching out the Elizabeth Bradley needlepoint cushions. These are the ones I use to help create a warm holiday atmosphere here, even when it's cold and dreary outside.

My Elizabeth Bradley collection was years in the making. I often worked on a cushion while watching tv at night, and when I traveled, needlepoint helped pass the time on long flights.

Paisley

Until now I'd never photographed the cushions, but I'm glad to start creating a record of them that I can visit any time, as each seasonal group is stored away nine months of the year.

Geometric with Ivy Border

Leaves and Berries

A Wreath of Oak Leaves

Christmas Wreath

Cyclamen

Where I Found My Right Brain

2011-10-26T11:10:00.000-04:00

Years ago I had the good fortune to study color and decorative painting with one of the top professionals in the field, Joanne C. Day of the Day Studio-Workshop in San Francisco. I had recently left a career in insurance to start a business with my new husband Roger, who had just completed five years training in a union apprenticeship program and gotten his painting contractor's license. I knew I could contribute my business skills to our new company, but I also wanted to supplement Roger's painting expertise by learning about design and color so that we could offer services to our clients far beyond what they were used to, and set ourselves apart from the competition.

I researched the options for professional training and discovered that one of the best schools in the country, the Day Studio-Workshop, was a short ride away across the Golden Gate Bridge, and I wasted no time enrolling. Thrilled and inspired by what I was learning, I took one class after another, including Stone and Marble, Glazing and Gilding, Historical and Complex Stenciling, Color, etc. I also studied Casein and Color with one of Joanne's colleagues, Gale Laurence. Those classes changed the way I see the world, and changed my life because I went from using mostly my left brain (logical, analytical, objective) to discovering that I also had a right brain (intuitive, thoughtful, subjective), and beginning to develop it. We learned about asymmetrical balance, the "oval eye track", how to be inspired by shapes in the natural world, how to mix paints and work with color, and much, much more.

This part of my history came to mind the other day because I happened to think of some of the phrases Joanne frequently used, especially in the Stone and Marble class, where she taught us how to layer paints and translucent glazes to create incredibly beautiful and realistic-looking faux marbles and semi-precious stones, as well as many other special finishes. As we practiced Joanne would invoke our right brains by saying things like, "Avoid geometry and the alphabet.", "Create continental-shaped drifts."or "Contrast is the enemy.".

I know these expressions don't make sense out of context, but for example, the left side of our brain would take over when we began to learn how to create veining patterns, and they often looked like "x's" and "v's" (the dreaded alphabet). Eventually we were able to relax and use our right brain, letting inspiration from samples of veins in real marble guide our work. The comment about contrast had to do with making our faux marble samples with subtle contrast and depth like the real thing so that they looked as it they'd been created in layers over millions of years, instead like globs of paint sitting on top of a sample board.

At the time I had no idea of the long-term impact the training would have, but today I intuitively use the right side of my brain that I discovered at the Day Studio in just about every aspect of my personal and business life.

Exterior Painting - Color and Details Matter

2011-10-17T10:20:00.001-04:00

When you're painting the outside of your house, one of the decisions to make is what to accent and what to hide. It's a decision every bit as important as choosing the right colors to flatter the permanent elements in the house, such as the roof or stonework. Here's a look at one of our projects that will show you what I mean.

On the right you see a house where just about everything had been accented.The list includes all, and I do mean all, the banding boards, the shingles in the peaks of the garage, the garage doors, the downspouts and many small details. Instead of looking unified and harmonious, the house appears to be an assemblage of bits and pieces, not only because of all the accenting, but also because of the high contrast between the dark gray wall color and the white trim.

Here's the house after Roger painted it a medium taupe and accenting was limited to the door and window casings, certain secondary doors and the fascias. He also painted the foundation, the deck posts and the lattice under the front porch in the wall color so they would like more like part of the structure, and less like distracting (or overlooked) details.

In the entryway every banding board originally was accented, as were the mounting boards for the light fixtures and the tiny strips of molding in the corners between the sections of wall, detracting from the beauty of the porch and front door.

When Roger painted the house, he made all these details "disappear" by painting them in the wall color. In addition he refinished the front door, the bead board ceiling and the porch.

Along with the peaks in the gables, the large garage doors were originally painted white. They dominated the area and unfortunately were the first things that greeted visitors. The front door is down a path to the right.

Today the garage doors, peaks, banding boards and downspouts are painted the wall color. An arbor has been added at the beginning of the path to welcome visitors and direct them to the front door. It's the first step in renovating the landscaping in this area, with more planting to come.

As you can see, choosing attractive colors is just the first step. Equally important is making the correct decisions about what to accent and what to hide so that the result flatters the architecture of the house and looks cohesive . When you hire us to paint the exterior of your house, a color consultation and recommendations about how to treat the details are a free part of our service.

Working together, Roger and I made a significant difference in the curb appeal and value of this house, and we can do the same for yours. To schedule an estimate, call me at 828-685-0560.

The Folly of Listing Prematurely

2011-10-12T14:18:00.000-04:00

Many sellers don't understand that it's a mistake to put the house on MLS until it's completely prepared for sale and ready to be photographed. They erroneously think that if they go ahead and list it "as is", they can do the work at their leisure while it's being shown, and not lose the opportunity to make a sale.

Listing prematurely is a strategic error in any market, but even more so in today's competitive climate. Here are some of the reasons why:

A house can't be priced at the top of its range unless it's in excellent condition and looks its best, so sellers needlessly forfeit some of their hard-earned equity at the outset.
If they do start at a higher price, they sell the competition which will represent a much better value for the money.
The house won't photograph well, and there will be little, if any, interest in seeing it. Bad pictures are devastating because over 90% of buyers see a house first on line and decide from the pictures whether or not to visit. Any buyers who come anyway will be looking for a deal.
They will squander opportunities for a sale during the first 30-45 days when interest is greatest. If the work is done later, few will know or care.
The house will sit and their listing will go stale. If and when it finally does sell, it will be at a much lower price than they could have gotten.

I really hate to see sellers make mistakes that cost them dearly, and listing before the house is ready is one of them.

Paint Costing More? Blame Titanium Dioxide.

2011-10-04T10:22:00.005-04:00

If you've done any painting lately, you'll have noticed that the cost of paint keeps increasing. The reasons include supply and demand and higher fuel costs, but another, even more significant reason is the increased cost of raw materials, specifically titanium dioxide.

Titanium dioxide is the most widely used white powder pigment, added to paints because of its brightness and very high refractive index. It doesn't take much titanium dioxide to create an opaque white coating that 's resistant to discoloration under ultraviolet light in exposed conditions. Many colors start as a white paint to which other colorants are added, so titanium dioxide plays an important role, whether or not you're aware of its presence. Using this high quality material adds to the cost of paint, but it's a worthwhile investment. Budget grade paints are known to use a mixture of titanium dioxide with other inert pigments, but they lack the brilliance and tinting strength of professional grade color, and they don't perform as well.

Dow Chemical is developing a new polymer that's expected to reduce titanium dioxide use in paint by 10-20%, but it isn't here yet. In the meantime, keep in mind that with paint you get what you pay for. Whether you're painting it yourself or hiring a professional, it's wise to use the best paint you can afford to make the work last as long as possible."

What Color Should You Paint the Garage Door?

2011-09-27T14:52:00.002-04:00

Because of its size, a garage door painted in an accent color commands a disproportionate amount of attention and, depending on its location, can detract from the entryway which should be the focal point of the front of your house. After all, the garage door is only the entrance to where your cars live, it’s not where you welcome visitors.

The solution is simple: paint your garage door** the same color as the walls of your house, and choose a special accent color with a dash of pizzazz for your front door, a color that’s used nowhere else. You’ll be amazed at the difference this simple change will make.

**Some garage doors can't be painted. Read the warranty.

Paint-Primer Hybrids-Do They Work?

2011-09-19T15:07:00.000-04:00

The new paint/primer hybrids being marketed today are very popular with consumers who hope to reduce the work of painting, but do these products perform as advertised? The answer is perhaps they will in some situations, and definitely not in others. In spite of the marketing hype, these hybrids aren’t always the right choice, so it pays to get expert advice about your specific project.

The primer you need depends on:

What you’re priming (wood, drywall, plastic or metal)
Whether you’re working inside or outside
What you want to accomplish.

The primer to use on a rusted metal railing outdoors is different from the primer to use on a water-stained ceiling.

The right primer will:

Improve adhesion, or the ability of the finish coat of paint to stick to the surface.
Fill imperfections to create a smooth surface and make the finish coat more attractive and durable.
Marry two different types of paint, such when you want to use a latex paint over a surface previously painted in an oil base paint.
Enable you to make a significant color change. (For maximum coverage, tint the primer to the color of the finish paint.)
Reduce absorbtion of moisture to protect the item being painted, especially wood.
Retard the development of rust.
Block tannin, grease, wax crayon, water damage, rust or smoke stains, etc. from bleeding through the finish paint.
Retard odors from nicotine, fire damage, etc.
Evenly seal the drywall paper and taped areas so that paints with a sheen will have a more uniform, attractive appearance.

Finish paints are designed to be:

Attractive
Durable
Cleanable to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the type of paint and the sheen

Paints aren’t formulated to do the same work as primers, and when you combine the two, it’s arguable that the resulting hybrid is a less effective version of both. In addition, because primers cost considerably less than finish paints, using the right primer followed by a good quality finish paint will reduce the overall cost of your project, and give you more attractive, long-lasting results. If all this has your head spinning, remember that one of the many benefits of hiring a professional is product knowledge.

Your Baseboards and Crown Molding - Should They Disappear?

2011-09-13T16:07:00.000-04:00

When painting the inside of your house, you not only have to choose attractive wall and trim colors, you have to decide where to put them. One important decision is whether or not the baseboards, crown molding and other details should be accented.

I firmly believe that you should accent only the details that are:

attractive
suitable to the design of the house, and
in the proper scale with the room

Many of today's houses have narrow, utilitarian baseboards and crown molding that don't deserve special attention, but people go on automatic pilot and paint them in the trim color, usually a white. This creates awkward, skimpy white lines at the floor and ceiling that draw the eye, and when the wall is a rich color, the high contrast makes their shortcomings even more obvious.

Don't worry, I'm not suggesting that you replace your trim! There are two simple solutions. You can either make it disappear, or you can enhance it.

To make trim "disappear", paint it in the wall color so it becomes texture. The ceilings will look taller and the room more unified and spacious.
To enhance the trim, use masking tape and trim paint to redefine it, as was done in this example from one of our projects. Notice how small the wood section of the crown is, and how much larger and more attractive it looks after Roger enlarged and painted it in a golden bronze metallic I chose to complement the blue walls, gold ceiling and the mirror frame.

If you want to enhance your trim, you don't have to have a fancy look and metallic paint. The technique works just as well in less formal rooms.

Our two hour color and detailing consultation ($150) includes suggestions on how to make the most of the details of your house. If you hire us to do the painting, the consultation is free as part of our services. To schedule a consultation or a painting estimate, call me at 828-685-0560.

Where Are Your Window Treatments?

2011-09-09T14:43:00.002-04:00

Roger started a new interior painting project today, and last week I visited the homeowners to help them choose colors, a free service for our clients. While I was there the conversation drifted, as it often does, to other design issues.

One of my recommendations was that they bring more light into the house by re-hanging their window treatments at the top of the wall, instead of at the top of the window, and that the panels come to the outside edge of the window casing, instead of hanging over the window. If you have a valence over blinds, the bottom of the valence should hide the stack - but that's all. Moving the window treatments will make the room look larger and brighter, and it won't cost our clients a cent. Look at the impact of this simple change. The windows are the same size, but the one on the right looks much larger and has a lot more pizzazz.

Between the window treatment rehab and the spiffy new paint colors, this lovely house will look even better, and be a more cheerful, enjoyable place to live.

This Isn't the Time To Relax!

2011-09-08T14:09:00.002-04:00

If your house has been on the market for a while, you're probably feeling a little battle fatigue from having to keep it in showing condition at all times, especially if you haven't had many showings. With the beginning of Fall a couple of weeks away, you may be tempted to relax and let things slide, but that would be a mistake.

From the "Smart Selling" column archives, here are some ideas on how to prepare for the Fall buyers who'll be coming to visit. :)

Selling Strategies For Fall

If your house hasn't generated the interest you'd hoped for, it isn't too late. Get a staging consultation for an objective analysis and and recommendations, with emphasis on solutions that won't break the bank. Call me for an appointment at 828-685-0560.

Renting Furniture to Stage Your House - Is It Money Well Spent?

2011-08-02T15:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had a call from a local REALTOR asking if I had furniture to rent. She had a client with a vacant house, and she thought that adding furniture would make it more appealing. I told her that although I had a few things, I didn't think that renting furniture was a good idea, so I usually recommend against it. (I think she was surprised to hear me say that).

In my experience, the furniture that's available for rental is often unsuitable for a particular house because of its quality, size, color, design or condition. If you stage a house with odds bits of furniture here and there, or with the wrong furniture, it looks a lot worse than no furniture. Having some furniture definitely is not better than having none.

Renting furniture is also expensive. In addition to rental fees, sellers have to pay to have the furniture transported and installed, and to have the rooms staged. They probably will also have to pay one or more months rental in advance, and may not be able to pro-rate the fees if the house sells during the rental term. Then they have to pay to have the furniture removed. This money is usually collected in advance too. In addition, if the furniture is damaged or stolen, sellers are responsible for repairs or replacement. You can see how the costs add up, which is why some stagers are really in the furniture rental business. They love the months of passive income, and who can blame them!

My preference is for sellers to use their budget to do things that add value, create more appeal (both in pictures and in person) and convey with the house, such as painting. The key is to use the right colors, because attractive colors will add a "wow" factor and help to furnish a vacant house, along with a few well-chosen accessories in the right places.

Instead of renting furniture, sellers should invest in a consultation with a professional stager who can recommend smart solutions that pay off, such as new paint colors, and upgrades of flooring, lighting and other fixtures that would enhance the value of the house and make it more marketable.

Choosing Exterior Colors? Use This Questionnaire.

2011-07-25T15:18:00.000-04:00

Many people find it difficult to choose paint colors because they don't know how to begin or what factors they should consider. To help guide you to a color plan that will make your house look its best, I've developed the following questionnaire.

THE SITE

How large is the site?

The larger the site, the more color latitude you have.

What is the relationship of the house to the site?

The more secluded the site, the more color latitude you have.

How close and visible are your neighbors?

Do their color decisions affect yours?

If your neighbors are visible, what colors have they used?

Your house should look harmonious, but different.

What is the distance from the house to the curb?

Is the front yard very deep or shallow? Color can adjust how it looks.

Does your subdivision, neighborhood association or historic district have strict rules about color?

New colors may require formal approval.

THE HOUSE

What is the architectural style of the house?

Rustic, contemporary, colonial, bungalow, ranch, etc.

Does the architecture suggest a color palette?

• Regional colors (tropical, urban, mountains, desert)
• Historic colors (Colonial, Craftsman, Victorian, etc.)

Does the house have pleasing portions?

You may be able to make adjustments by how and where color is used, or by adding trim or other decoration.

Are there different siding materials?

Don’t automatically accent them. The result could look busy or choppy.

Are there horizontal or vertical banding boards?

Banding boards are usually utilitarian, not decorative. If they're accented, the house often looks busy and chopped up.

What are the dominant colors in the permanent elements, such as the roof, stonework, walkways, etc.?

Are the undertones warm (yellow), cool (blue) or neutral (white)?

Is the entryway a naturally attractive focal point, or is the garage door the first thing you see?

Paint the garage door with the wall color to minimize its impact.
(All doors aren’t paintable. Check the warranty first.)

Is the entryway recessed and dark, even in daylight, or shallow and bright?

If it's dark, consider a light or vibrant color for the front door.

Is the front door painted or stained?

• If the door can be painted, choose a unique color for pizzazz, and to create a focal point. Coordinate with the other colors and the permanent elements.
• If the door is stained and in need of refinishing, coordinate the stain color with the paint color(s) and the permanent elements.

Is there a separate storm or screen door?

• Is the style compatible with the front door? Storm and screen doors often hide the features of the front door, or clash with it.
• Can the storm or screen door be painted the front door color?

Are any doors and windows pre-finished, with parts that are inaccessible, or can they be painted?

If they can’t be painted, consider them permanent elements and incorporate the color in your overall plan.

Are there attractive, paintable details to highlight, such as windows, doors, shutters or trim?

Don’t automatically accent every detail! Consider its role and the effect on the house as a whole. Banding boards are a perfect example of a detail that usually shouldn't be accented, particularly in high contrast colors.

Is the foundation visible?

Paint the foundation in the wall color, or a coordinated one of similar value, to create unity with the house.

Are functional items visible, such as downspouts, cable or utility boxes, wiring?

Make them “disappear” by painting them in the wall color.

What colors dominate the permanent landscaping?

Consider the color(s) of foliage, flowers, fruit and bark. Are the undertones warm (yellow, orange, red), or cool (blue, green, violet) or neutral (white). Paint and landscaping colors that clash is a common problem.

YOUR PREFERENCES

What colors do you like?

Light, dark, neutrals, historic…

What overall impression do you want to create?

Elegant, modern, rustic, cottage, grand, sophisticated, dramatic, subtle …

FOR YOUR HOUSE TO LOOK ITS BEST...

Pick colors that work with the permanent elements.
Plan how to make corrections with color where needed.
Choose the right things to accent.
Camouflage the rest.

Details Add Up and Make A Difference…

Getting Started

Answer the questions in the survey.

Determine what will be accented and what will be painted in the wall color.

Decide what paint you want to use, then gather brochures to get ideas for color combinations.

Choose two or three candidates for the wall color and buy the smallest amount of paint you can to create sample boards. View the samples under varying conditions and choose a color.

Be sure you really do like the color by painting a small wall before buying all the paint you'll need.

Choose candidates for the trim and front door colors. Create sample boards. For trim, cut the board into strips and place around a door or window to show how the color would look in proportion to the wall.
Analyze the effect of the wall and trim colors, then choose the front door color.

Choose paint colors that work well together and flatter the permanent elements in your house and landscaping, in all seasons.

Painting Vinyl Siding

2011-07-05T16:38:00.000-04:00

Last week I did a staging consultation for a couple whose house has been on the market for six months, to no avail. The house has vinyl siding with a great deal of dirt and mildew, and the paint on the trim and shutters is in poor condition, so cleaning and painting were among my top recommendations. The sellers had been afraid to pressure-wash for fear of damaging the windows, and they thought the vinyl siding couldn't be painted.

I understand their concerns about pressure-washing because all too often the person doing it is an amateur who uses too much pressure and causes damage. The answer is to use the right cleaner (and the right person) for the job, and to let the cleaner, not high pressure, do the work. As for being unable to paint vinyl siding, it's a common misconception.

Vinyl siding can be painted, if it's done the right way. Vinyl is a non-porous material that expands with heat and can buckle, making paint adhesion and elasticity key concerns. Look at your siding to see if it's already buckling because applying paint could aggravate the problem. Read the warranty on your siding if you're tempted to paint newer vinyl, just for a color change. You could void it.

Here are some other things you need to know:

Before you paint, thoroughly clean the siding to remove dirt, mold and any chalking caused by the deterioration of the vinyl.
Use a high quality latex paint with a blend of urethane and acrylic resins. It's easy to apply, has superior adhesion and is more likely to withstand the movement of the vinyl as temperatures change.
Talk with the experts at your local paint store and ask them to recommend a product. Describe the condition of your house to determine if priming is needed.
Avoid dark colors. The rule of thumb is for the new color to be no darker than the existing one. White vinyl can be painted, if you pick a light color.
For the paint to cure properly, don't apply it in direct sunlight, or on a hot day, or when rain threatens!

The marketing hype is that vinyl siding will last forever and be virtually maintenance-free, but unfortunately vinyl does deteriorate and the color will fade over time. If your vinyl siding isn't looking its best, consider painting it, but do your homework first.

Don't Ask (Or Expect) Your REALTOR To Give Staging Advice

2011-06-27T16:53:00.001-04:00

I'm usually frustrated when I look at pictures of houses for sale because 99% of the time the pictures are terrible. Either the house is so filled with stuff that you can't see its features, or it's so poorly presented, bland or dated that it has no appeal. Either the REALTORs didn't understand the importance of cosmetic appeal and communicate this to their sellers, or the parties tried to "stage" the house themselves after watching a few shows on HGTV. The seller is the big loser because those bad pictures will cost them money and time.

Don't ask or expect your REALTOR to give staging advice. Here's why:

Very few REALTORs have in-depth training and experience in the application of design principles to real estate marketing. At best some have taken a two day staging class, or they've read staging articles on the internet. It's not nearly enough!
Even if the REALTOR has some training, most are reluctant to tell sellers all the things they really need to hear for fear of offending them, straining the relationship or even losing their business.

Just as you wouldn't expect your REALTOR to do the pre-listing home inspection, you shouldn't expect her to give staging advice. There's a lot more to it than getting rid of clutter.

An unstaged or poorly staged house results in bad pictures and little buyer interest. Don't let that happen to you. Before you list, have a consultation with a professional home stager with the training and experience to transform your home into a competitive product that will photograph well and motivate buyers to visit in person. Contrary to what you might think, staging is not expensive. A two hour informal staging consultation with me is only $150, and I look at everything on the inside and outside of your property, starting at the curb. Compare that to the typical, first price reduction when your house hasn't sold.

Let REALTORs concentrate on the things they do best, the things you really need them for. The list doesn't include staging!

Vision Henderson County Alumni Breakfast

2011-06-21T10:46:00.000-04:00

This morning a group of graduates from the Vision Henderson County leadership program got together for breakfast at Mike's on Main. It was a pleasure to see people whose paths don't cross mine nearly often enough, along with people I see more often, but seldom get a chance to talk with beyond a quick hello.

Jeff Miller introduced McCray Benson from the Community Foundation whose inspiring message about working together to make our community a better place left me with much to think about. He left each of us with something else: a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that I've tucked it in my wallet as a reminder.

Steve Jobs' Recent Commencement Speech at Stanford

2011-04-12T14:07:00.000-04:00

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it.. No big deal.
Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it.. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much."
__._,_.___
__,_._,___

"How To Create Curb Appeal"

2011-04-07T14:05:00.000-04:00

When I do a staging consultation there are lots of questions about how to make the front of the house more attractive, so I thought it would be a good idea to develop a course on the essentials of curb appeal.

My areas of expertise don't cover the entire topic, so I'm very fortunate that two noted local experts, landscape architect Ed Lastein and Mickey Lively of Garden Gate Nursery have agreed to work with me. Our new course, "How To Create Curb Appeal", is coming to Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock beginning May 19, 2011, and to Isothermal Community College in Columbus beginning June 9, 2011. The material is being designed for people who are building, renovating or selling - in short, just about everybody, whether you plan to do most or all of the work yourself, or hire professionals.

I hope those of you who come to the class find it as enjoyable and informative as I'm finding the process of working with Ed and Mickey to put it together.

Thank You, Polk County!

2011-03-17T08:49:00.004-04:00

Thank you so much for helping to make the first session of "How To Be A Smart Home Seller" such a success. On the way home, Mary and I couldn't stop talking about the support and warm welcome we received.

Special thanks are due to:

Kate Barkschat, Director of the Polk Campus of Isothermal Community College and Shane Ramsey for expert technical support.

Kathy Toomey, President of the Tryon/Polk County Board of REALTORs

Janet Sciacca, Executive Director of the Carolina Foothills Chamber of Commerce

Samantha Hurst, Editor of the Tryon Daily Bulletin

Most of all we appreciate the participants, a lively crowd of home sellers, REALTORs and business people. Thank you for your great comments and questions. This course is for you, so keep 'em coming!

The phrase, "it takes a village", was brought home to us yesterday. Thank you, everyone.

Mary and I look forward to next Wednesday when we present the second session, "How To Prepare Your House For Sale".

Refrigerator Carton Spray Booth

2011-03-11T10:41:00.006-05:00

When our new refrigerator was delivered we decided to keep the large carton it came in to use as a spray booth, and it's come in handy already.

Our laundry room had one of those terrible flush mounted "breast" light fixtures that you see everywhere, and it was really getting to me. I found an inexpensive tin light fixture that had a simple, attractive design, and Roger used the spray booth to transform it into wrought iron, with a 99 cent can of flat black spray paint. He just suspended a board with a cup hook across the top of the carton and hung the light while he painted it. The spray booth will also come in handy when he refurbishes our outdoor furniture and accessories, especially if he wants to paint them when it's too wet or cold to do it outside.

When we're not using the spray booth, we collapse it flat to store along a wall in the garage, behind the old refrigerator which now lives there in disgrace for causing our huge water damage loss last Fall.

Enhancing Architectural Details With Paint

2011-01-03T15:22:00.005-05:00

Problem: The crown molding in our dining room was too skimpy for the nine foot ceilings.

Solution: Instead of replacing the crown, we used paint to make it look larger and to add a little pizazz. The walls are a dusky blue and the ceiling is antique gold, so Roger painted the crown and a one inch strip just below it in a matte antique gold metallic paint. It worked beautifully and the cost was negligible.

Paint is an easy, inexpensive way to correct the proportions of certain architectural details, like skimpy crown molding. Try it!

Planning to Sell in 2011?

2010-12-31T09:03:00.002-05:00

If you plan to sell your house in 2011, don’t be dismayed by market conditions! Take charge of the selling process and apply these Smart Selling ideas to improve your prospects for a successful outcome:

Preparing To Sell

Enlist the support of the entire family and make a full commitment to selling.
Prepare to compete by looking at houses on the market in your anticipated price range. How does your house compare?
Have a pre-listing home inspection and make any recommended repairs.
Consult with a professional stager about ways to make your house appeal to most buyers. Implement basic recommendations yourself and get help as needed.
Have the stager return for final staging, including placement of furniture and accessories. (Don’t be tempted to skip this step!)

Involving the REALTOR^®

Contact REALTOR^®s after your house is completely prepared for sale and ready to be photographed.
Your REALTOR^® will research houses comparable with yours, including current listings, recent sales and withdrawn listings. Use this knowledge for a reality check to determine your pricing strategy.
Price your house realistically from day one. Listen to your REALTOR^®’s pricing advice.
Participate in picture-taking and carefully compose every shot to show key features at their best.
Make the most of the first 30 days on the market. This is your best chance to sell at or near your initial listing price.

Marketing

Discuss the feedback your REALTOR^® is getting and be willing to make changes.
Use the power of the internet and social media. In addition to your REALTOR^®’s web site and her company’s web site, be sure your house is listed on other real estate sites, including REALTOR.com^®, Trulia, craigslist.com, etc. Create a facebook page for your house.
Continue to monitor the competition and be prepared to adapt your strategy.
Update the list of comparable properties and consider a price reduction if there is little activity after 30-45 days.
Have your accessories reflect the season and keep your house looking fresh.
Make the house available for showings when requested – even if inconvenient.
Create a showing checklist to be certain the house is ready for visitors and give everyone a job.
Maintain the inside and outside of the house in showing condition.
Have a flexible attitude and a sense of humor.

Smart Selling Tip: Take charge of the selling process and apply Smart Selling ideas to improve your prospects for a successful outcome in any market.

Fireplace Fundamentals for Sellers

2010-12-28T10:53:00.009-05:00

A fireplace ranks high on the list of amenities that most buyers want, so if you have one, make the most of it.

Condition

Be sure the fireplace is in sound condition before you list, especially if you have an older home. If your fireplace has a chimney, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends that it be cleaned and inspected annually, and requires an inspection before real property is transferred. In North Carolina, regulations are less strict than the NFPA guidelines, but the inspection is still a good idea. Indications that your fireplace needs attention include dirty glass doors, sooty fireplace logs, difficulty starting a fire, and/or flames that drop out.

Typically, home inspectors aren’t trained as chimney inspectors, so have your chimney cleaned and then inspected by a certified chimney specialist to be certain it’s operating correctly and is properly ventilated. Cleaning fees vary, depending on the condition of the fireplace. The cost of an inspection with a video camera is about $150, depending on what is needed. Flues from a gas or oil furnace or a gas water heater also vent potentially lethal gases, so have those flues inspected too. Being pro-active can help keep repair costs down. The inspector will be able to provide the details about the fireplace that you need for the MLS listing.

If you have a hearth product fueled by gas, call PSNC and have a licensed technician verify that the gas line and connections have been properly installed and are operating correctly. Because of the potential exposure to lethal gases, place a carbon monoxide detector on every level of the house and outside every sleeping area. Although this is a crucial precaution in houses with an unvented fireplace, most houses need at least one carbon monoxide detector.

Marketing

A fireplace is a natural focal point and plays a key role in marketing pictures. Simple, properly scaled decorative accessories photograph best. They should suit the architecture and décor and be appropriate all year. The MLS sheet should specify if the fireplace is vented or unvented, and whether it burns wood, natural gas or propane. Include the inspection report and the invoices for cleaning and repairs in the marketing binder, as well as the operating manual(s) for all fireplace equipment.

Smart Selling Tip: Have your fireplace cleaned, inspected and repaired, if needed, before you list. Prepare the fireplace to star in pictures.

Window Treatments: Friend or Foe?

2010-12-23T15:28:00.000-05:00

Window treatments can make a powerful decorating statement that adds to your family’s enjoyment of your house, but they also can be a drawback when you sell. If the design, color and materials aren’t popular today, or if they’re suitable only to a specific décor, or if they’re not positioned correctly, your house won’t photograph or show well. However, attractive (not necessarily expensive) window treatments with broad appeal, can add value and style to your house.

Before you list, evaluate the window treatments in each room.

· Are there expensive, custom window treatments that you plan to leave? Be certain the design, color and pattern are sufficiently neutral to appeal to nearly everyone. If so, describe them in detail for your marketing binder. If they’re too specific or dated, make changes.

· Selling is different from living in your house. If you chose opulent drapes, they might overwhelm the room and distract buyers. Focus attention on the house, not your décor. Change or edit window treatments, as needed.

· Is there more than one layer of window treatment, such as blinds, a shade or sheers, plus heavier fabric drapes? Remove any layer that is more decorative than functional for a simpler look.

· Are some window treatments coordinated with paint colors in rooms that are now being repainted? If so, remove or change them.

· If you remove any hardware, be sure to fill the holes and repaint.

· Some window treatments serve an important function such as privacy, security, screening an unattractive view, or energy efficiency. If that’s the case, but they aren’t attractive, replace existing window treatments with functional, simple, color-coordinated ones.

· Are the window treatments clean and in good condition?

· Are the window treatments hung correctly to:

§ make ceilings look higher and rooms look more spacious?

§ allow maximum light to reach the interior?

§ showcase the window?

§ correct the proportions of the window in relation to the wall?

If you’re not sure how well your window treatments are working, call a professional stager.

Sometimes the answer is simple and cost-free, like repositioning a drapery rod. Your stager can help you evaluate the window treatments in your house and suggest ways to make the most of your budget.

Smart Selling Tip:

Evaluate the window treatments in your house before you list. If you need help, get advice from a professional stager.

Selling Property With A Well

2010-12-10T09:53:00.004-05:00

When you’re selling property with a well, be aware that many buyers have no experience with wells and may be prejudiced against having one. To create buyer confidence about living with a well, be certain that the water from your well meets quality standards and provide detailed information about the well and its equipment.

Well water should be tested every one to three years for the presence of bacteria and nitrates. Annual testing is best because even if a well is properly sited, constructed and maintained, groundwater travels and may pick up pollutants elsewhere that can reach the water supply. You can have your water tested by your County Environmental Health Department, a private laboratory or by a home inspector. Obtain a list of certified labs from the Cooperative Extension Service. If you have a water filter, remove it before you test the water. After the test, install a new filter.

Before putting your house on the market, have a home inspection that includes the basic operation of your well and its equipment, such as the pressure tank, filter and water softener. The inspector will turn on the water taps and note any concerns about water pressure and flow. If there are problems, consult a well drilling company or a plumber and resolve any issues. If it’s above ground, detail the well head and change the insulation so it looks clean and presentable. If your well needs repair or you want to close an abandoned well, a County permit may be required.

Marketing Materials

To make buyers more comfortable with the well, provide information about water quality, how the system operates and how to maintain it. Mark the location of the well on your property so that buyers can find it easily and become familiar with it.

Create a section in your marketing binder for detailed information about your well and equipment, including the original permit and other records, if available. Include the following:

Home inspection.
Water quality test results.
Maintenance receipts.
Property survey noting the location of the well and the well equipment.
Well equipment manuals.

Resources

North Carolina Cooperation Extension Service

www.soil.ncsu.edu/assist/homeassist/water/

NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources www.deh.enr.state.nc.us/osww_new/new1/privwells.htm

Smart Selling Tip:

When selling property with a well, test the water quality before you list. Provide details about the well and its equipment, and include maintenance information in your marketing materials.

Selling An Older House - Part Two

2010-12-03T09:48:00.003-05:00

Marketing

Whether you’re selling an historic house, or one that’s simply “older”, a key part of your marketing strategy is to create buyer confidence that the house is in sound condition and reduce concern about surprises. Have a seller’s home inspection and implement the recommendations. Prepare a marketing binder that includes the inspection report and copies of any repair bills. Provide a survey and research the deed to be certain it’s free of encumberances. Describe updates you’ve made and details of energy-efficient features. Include utility bills for the past year. Furnish a list of tradespeople who’ve worked on the house. Provide a home warranty for the buyer’s peace of mind. Your house will compete more effectively against newer ones and encourage buyers to consider preserving our architectural heritage.

If you’re selling a truly historic house, there’s a special story to tell. Prepare a separate binder with pictures and stories, if available. Provide the name of the architect and describe the style of the house, including any unique elements, so visitors will appreciate their significance. Describe features that have made the house enjoyable for your family. Effective pictures are crucial to on-line marketing. Edit your belongings and carefully compose each picture to highlight the best features of the house, including close-ups of significant details. Before you take pictures, replace any items that won’t convey, like a chandelier, with something attractive, properly scaled and suitable to the house.

Pricing

Pricing an older house, especially an historic one, presents special challenges because of the lack of truly comparable properties, either recent sales or current listings, whether priced realistically, or not. Pricing older or historic homes is a blend of art and science, but a current appraisal is an essential starting point. To establish a range of recommended listing prices, your REALTOR^®will look at a number of factors, including the appraisal, the current tax value, the location of your house, sales of similar houses in your neighborhood and in a wider radius during the past year (if any), the condition and cosmetic appeal of your house and the competition. The knowledge and experience of your REALTOR^®in evaluating each of these factors is invaluable.

Smart Selling Tip:

The marketing plan for an older house should create buyer confidence in its condition and showcase its unique charm. Rely on the expertise of your REALTOR^®to evaluate the factors that determine a suitable listing price.

Selling An Older House - Part One

2010-11-26T09:44:00.000-05:00

Many buyers prefer the charm and character of older houses, but they have understandable concerns about the condition of the property. These include the possibility of large, unexpected expenses if a major component or system should fail, or the need to invest a significant amount of money to bring the house up to date. Fortunately, there are many steps sellers can take when preparing an older house for sale, to create buyer confidence and make the house more appealing.

Creating Confidence

Sellers must prove that the house is in good condition, so the first step is to have a home inspection. If the inspector finds any problems, have the repairs made before the house is listed. Never plan to sell “as is”. Include the inspection report and repair receipts in your marketing materials. Provide a one year home warranty to reduce concerns about unexpected expenses. Other issues that can affect buyer confidence include the presence of radon, lead-based paint, or materials that contain asbestos. If you’re aware of these hazards, you must disclose them, but remember that these hazards can be mitigated.

It’s essential to have no signs of deferred maintenance, inside or outside. Landscaping and hardscaping should be well-designed and in good condition. Trees and shrubs should not be so overgrown they’re no longer in scale with the house, or block light from entering the interior. If you don’t know how to create better curb appeal, have a consultation with a landscape professional. If you have a septic system or a well, you need to prove that they’ve been maintained and are in good condition.

Creating Appeal

Even when your budget doesn’t allow major updates, there are many things you can do to make your house more appealing and photogenic. A good first step is to edit your belongings down to the essentials so that you can see if the paint looks tired, or if cosmetic repairs are needed. With fewer belongings, buyers can see the features that make older houses so appealing. If you don’t know where to begin, consulting a professional stager is inexpensive and will generate creative ideas to set priorities and make the best use of your budget.

Smart Selling Tip:

Prepare an older home for sale by taking steps to create buyer confidence that the house is in sound condition. Consult with a professional stager for guidance on creating cosmetic appeal within your budget.

How Price Ranges Affect Potential Buyers

2010-11-19T16:40:00.000-05:00

Setting the listing price for your house is a strategic decision with many nuances. One of them is positioning the house in the correct price range. The price range for each house is based on factors such as size, age and location, condition and cosmetic appeal, recent sales of comparable properties, and the competition. Price ranges move with the market. Sellers should monitor activity in their chosen price range to remain positioned correctly to compete. Today, this realistic approach is vital, especially for motivated sellers, and includes being willing to make price adjustments, as needed.

Although some sellers hope to test the market and begin with a listing price outside the REALTOR^®’s recommended range, this could be counter-productive for several reasons, including:

Sellers could unknowingly force the house into competition with superior properties.
Buyers who shop on line, and today that’s over 90%, learn to determine if a house is priced correctly. They won’t consider those that don’t measure up.
REALTOR^®s are reluctant to show an improperly priced house.
Sellers lose the benefit of prime selling time in the first thirty days when interest is greatest.
The number of buyers who can qualify for a loan decreases as the price increases, so the pool of buyers is smaller.
Even if an offer is received, the house might not appraise at or near the purchase price, and the deal will collapse.

Buyers use price ranges when they look for a house, whether they shop on line, or ask a REALTOR^® to select properties to visit. They usually test ranges in increments of $25,000 because, until they look at properties, buyers don’t know what their money will buy. Their preferred price point usually falls near the middle of their range, but since buyers want the largest possible pool of houses from which to choose, they view houses priced a bit lower or higher. If a listing is priced above the high end of their range, it falls into another “search category”. Those buyers won’t see it unless they change their range of acceptable prices, and in most cases they won’t because of the large inventory of properties in their range.

Smart Selling Tip:

When setting your initial listing price, consider the effect that price ranges have on buyers. Be certain the price reflects its current value so it can compete with other properties in that range.

Move Management

2010-11-15T13:43:00.005-05:00

Most of us dread the prospect of moving. There’s a lot of work to do, and you need to make hundreds of decisions, some more difficult than others. You also must begin dealing with your belongings while the house is being prepared for sale, making that project even more complex. Imagine that you’re a busy executive with a family and a demanding job, or you’re an older couple making a move with no family nearby to help. Daily life is already challenging and now you’re faced with selling your house and moving. Where can you get the help you need? The answer for many families is to rely on the services of a move manager.

What is Move Management?
Move managers are specialists who assist with the practical and emotional aspects of relocation. Generally move managers work on an hourly rate and offer an array of services designed to reduce the stress of moving, produce quality results and ensure a smooth transition to your new home. Move managers will offer the following services – and more:

* Develop an overall strategy, based on your goals and timetable.
* Help you determine what things will go with you.
* Arrange to dispose of the rest, according to your wishes, by donation, consignment, gift, estate sale, on-line sale, etc.
* Have your house prepared for sale using the services of a home inspector, professional stager and tradespeople, as needed.
* Assist in hiring a REALTOR®.
* Hire and supervise packers, cleaners and movers.
* Customize the furniture plan for your new home.
* Unpack and arrange your belongings.
* Disconnect and transfer utilities.
* Disconnect and set up electronic equipment, including televisions and computers.
* Provide “age in place” services for those who wish to remain at home.

Skilled move managers are much more than project management specialists. They’re caring and empathic, atuned to the emotional challenges their clients are facing, and dedicated to helping them through a difficult period. Check qualifications and references before hiring a move manager. You’ll have a very close working relationship, so be certain that you’re comfortable with her style and have a clear understanding of how she charges for her services.

Smart Selling Tip:
Move management services are the answer for those who aren’t able to handle a move by themselves, or for members of the family who want to help, but can’t be there.

Staging Diary: Highland Lake #2

2010-11-08T12:40:00.010-05:00

Sometimes small color changes can make a big difference, and in this house it's been very true. The first time I walked inside, I was greeted by a pair of bright white closet doors directly opposite the front door. Because of the high contrast with the wall color, they distracted my eye from seeing how large and attractive the living room is. The solution: repaint them in the wall color so that the visitor's eye will flow into the room and not stop at the closet. The solution worked so well we're going to use it on some other closet doors and create a simplified, more attractive and less "chopped up" impression.

Another example is the railing and brackets on the stairs to the second floor. Initially the railing was painted white with the rest of the trim, and the brackets were a standard "gold tone". Now the brackets are flat black and look like wrought iron, the railing is painted in black semi-gloss enamel and the baseboards and vents are painted in the wall color. A ho-hum necessity has become an attractive feature, a utilitarian detail has "disappeared" and the distracting baseboards that drew the eye and lowered the ceilings now look unified. Best of all, the cost was minimal.

Correcting with color also produces dramatic results on the exterior. Roger is painting the vertical banding boards that originally were painted white, in the wall color. The result will be more beautiful, harmonious and photogenic, a strategic necessity when you're selling.

A Wonderful Compliment for Roger

2010-11-04T17:11:00.004-04:00

Today we received a very special thank you note from Lita and Daryl Stum. Roger hasn't seen it yet, and I can't wait to show it to him. In the meantime, I'm happy to share it with you:

"Roger, thank you so very much for your excellent work. It is a rare pleasure to be able to work with a craftsman like you. We enjoy our home even more because of your work: you took what we loved and made it even better. You are meticulous, quiet and unobtrusive (even when working in plain sight!), and always pleasant. It was truly our pleasure to have you in our home, and we look forward to completing more projects with you in the future. If you ever need a reference, we would be most pleased to recommend you. Thank you again, Roger. Sending you our best,

Lita and Daryl Stum

Flat Rock

Words Worth

2010-10-26T16:39:00.006-04:00

The late John Horlivy was a teacher who was married to my friend Jean for a time. He and Jean moved to Milwaukee, so I didn't have a chance to get to know him very well, and I didn't hear much of him after the divorce.

The other day I learned of John's death on October 17th through an email that directed me to a memorial website where there was a link to John's blog, called Words Worth. It turns out that John loved words, especially the ones he found "curious, odd or puzzling", and he shared what he learned about them on his blog.

Visiting the memorial website and reading the blog made me wish that I had known him.

http://wordsworthonline.blogspot.com/

Staging Diary: Highland Lake

2010-10-25T15:39:00.012-04:00

There's a lovely Victorian house at Highland Lake in Flat Rock that will be listed next Spring, and this is the first in a series of posts about the work that is being done to get the house ready for market.

Sterling Property Services entered the picture when I was asked to do a staging consultation, and one of my first recommendations was to get a seller's home inspection to determine if there were any condition issues that needed to be addressed. Dale Hansen of Advantage Inspection did the inspection, and fortunately he found no serious problems. (His report will make an excellent marketing tool.)

However, Dale noted that some of the exterior trim does need to be repaired or replaced. I suggested that the whole exterior be repainted as the dark red siding has faded significantly, and the wrong things (like downspouts, banding boards and the lattic below the porch) have been painted in the white trim color, causing the exterior to look "choppy" instead of harmonious. In addition, the front door and porch colors aren't flattering to the red, so it's time for a new color plan. With repairs and fresh paint in dynamic colors, this Victorian lady is going to be fabulous.

Roger was chosen to do the repairs to the trim, and all the painting and other cosmetic work, inside and outside. So far he's pressure-washed the house and started caulking cracks in the siding and trim. Using a combination of epoxy wood patch and a wood consolidant, he's also begun repairing the trim, and so far he doesn't think it will be necessary to replace any boards. Exterior painting will proceed as the weather permits, and when it's rainy like today, he'll be working on interior projects. They're a whole other story, and the details follow.

Water World - Day 38

2010-10-19T15:11:00.003-04:00

Here we are on day 38 or so of our water damage event. The house is torn apart and a lot of our stuff is in cartons, especially things from the kitchen, family room, living room and dining room. There's damage downstairs too, but thankfully most areas are intact, including my office.

Once we have approval of the major repair estimates by our insurance adjuster, a preliminary check will be issued, payable to us and our lender. We can't keep the money and use it to pay for the repairs. That's too easy. The check must be sent to the lender's property claims department in California so they can set up an account and give us bits of money now and then as repairs progress. They will be inspecting every step of the way, and must approve the result before the final amount is released.

When we have the first payment, I can schedule the work which will begin with ripping out the kitchen down to the walls (cabinets, island, appliances, countertops, sink, etc.) so the floor can be ripped up, the kitchen tented off and the subfloor treated for mold. All the baseboards on the main level that Roger painstakingly refinished last winter will have to removed with tweezers, labeled and stored. With luck the pieces will come out intact so they can be re-installed. Then the new floor can go in. After that, the kitchen cabinets can be reinstalled, assuming they don't have hidden damage, as well as the appliances and sink, then a new countertop will go in. (The old Corian one will be destroyed when it's removed.)

There's a lot more to it than I've told you, and I don't know if I'm eager to start or dreading the mitigation and repair process. Luckily for him, Roger gets to be at work most of the time when things are happening. Just don't ask how our three cats are taking all this. As for me, the experience has refreshed my empathy for all our clients who have to put up with temporary inconveniences when we're there working, especially when we're doing interior painting projects that take time.

Roger and I are making the best of our situation because we're well aware of being luckier than people in Haiti or New Orleans who lost everything. At least we have insurance and we can stay in our home.

Water, Water Everywhere - Part 1

2010-09-23T12:04:00.006-04:00

It's been nearly two weeks since the water line to the icemaker in our refrigerator failed in the middle of the night. Before we found the problem, water flowed for hours, ruining the hardwood floors on about 75% of the main level of our house. The water (which is still trapped between the floor and subfloor) also went to the lower level. When it reached the workshop it soaked Roger's computer, printer, monitor, etc., and his desk. So far we know that it also soaked the ceiling and a wall in the office bathroom and closet, plus the ceiling and a wall in the adjoining room. We still don't know the full extent of the problem, but we're getting closer to finding out.

The first restoration company I called was a nightmare to deal with. From the beginning I was under serious pressure to sign a blank document that they described as a "word order, not a contract". However, it called for me to pay them for their unknown, unpriced work within a specified period, or pay 1.5% per month interest. I think that if something looks like a contract, smells like a contract and someone intends to hold you to it, it WAS a contract.

I refused to sign it until the adjuster came and looked at the extensive damage, especially since I didn't know if I had insurance coverage. The restoration people didn't like this one bit, and the story goes on from there. They failed to drain one of their massive dehumidifiers before bringing it in the house, so it dumped dirty water on a carpet in the entryway. Then their truck took out a one foot section of a very nice stone retaining wall along our driveway, which fortunately Roger noticed right away. They've promised to pay for the repairs and I've sent them an estimate, but we'll see.

I'm now in the expert, professional hands of the people from Servpro who've been responsive, helpful and kind. My project manager Josh Hughey is the best, and he's been here for hours every day to make sure things go smoothly. Today a huge portion of our house is in the process of being emptied, including everything in the kitchen (cabinets, sink, appliance, island, etc.) so that the hardwood floors can be torn up and mitigation can begin. Then new floors have to be installed. Significant work also has to be done downstairs, and we're finding more problems every day.

It's all a big mess, but Roger and I are getting used to our little disaster zone. We're living in the bedroom, with a temporary kitchen in the laundry room, and for the moment I can still use my office.

Stay tuned...

Carriages in Hendersonville

2010-09-01T17:38:00.002-04:00

Reading in today's paper about the possible opening of a carriage business in Hendersonville brought back memories of a similar venture in San Francisco. My dear friend Bonnie, who is known to my Four Seasons Rotary friends from her visits to our meeting, used to be the owner of the City Carriage Company, along with her equally petite business partner, Carol.

The two of them bought a restored 18th century English brougham, complete with a vase to hold fresh flowers, and two white Holstein mares named Karen and Crumholtz who were stubborn, lazy and cunning. Bonnie and Carol dressed themselves in top hats and equestrienne gear and offered rides all over San Francisco from Golden Gate Park to North Beach. The horses cooperated when they felt like it, and caring for them was a lot of work.

I was so proud of Bonnie and Carol because I saw what it took to run that business, and they did it well, and with style. My only contribution was to find insurance for the company, and while that was no small chore, insurance was the least of their challenges. Bonnie also had a stressful full time job at Safeway, and Carol coped with her three children. Eventually it all got to be too much and they sold the business, but the City Carriage Company carried on.

Maybe something similar can work in Hendersonville. It's an intriguing thought. Now I want to search for a special picture of Bonnie in her top hat with my grandmother after she gave Nana a memorable ride in Golden Gate Park one Christmas Day.

Staging Props from the Garden

2010-08-20T15:42:00.006-04:00

I'm always looking for free or inexpensive props to use for staging, and this time of year my garden is a great resource. I use Design Master metallic spray paints on dried flowers, seed heads, panicles and beautifully-shaped branches, then mix them with seasonal silk flowers to create arrangements that are beautiful, versatile and very long-lasting.

There's a vase of dried switch grass (Panicum 'Rotstrahlbusch') and one of Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) on my desk. I sprayed both grasses with Antique Gold years ago, and they still look pretty good... The panicum is well-behaved in the garden, but I have to harvest the Sea Oats in self-defense before the seeds can travel.

Inspiring Metallic Paints

2010-08-13T16:38:00.006-04:00

I'm a big fan of metallic paints, both as an opaque coating for furniture, walls, accessories and architectural details, and as a glaze over a base coat. Many of today's metallics are beautiful, subtle and easy to use, and come in a wide variety of colors beyond the usual gold, silver and copper. They're well worth considering.

http://www.sterlingpropertyservice.com/painting-staining/inspiring-metallic-paints

Martha Stewart Paint Line at Home Depot

2010-07-20T10:11:00.009-04:00

At last, after weeks of trying, I got an answer to my question about the meaning of the symbols in the upper right corner of the paint color sample cards for the new Martha Stewart paint line. (OK, OK. I realize that I'm probably more interested in this subject than most people.)

According to Suzie Wall of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in New York, paint is just the first in a vast line of home improvement and decorating products that Martha Stewart will be selling at Home Depot. The symbols are intended to make it easy for customers to choose carpet, flooring, window treatments and accessories that coordinate, but we're not supposed to notice them just yet, because the new products and the design concept behind each symbol are still being developed. So I promised to forget about them - for now.

Turns out that Suzie lived in Flat Rock in the mid-1960's in the shadow of Glassy Mountain. Small world...

Martha Stewart Paint Update

2010-07-14T11:46:00.003-04:00

No, Martha didn't call me herself, but I've had a great response from Home Depot to my request for information about the new Martha Stewart paint line. I now have the LRV numbers for every paint color, and thanks to Matt Reams, my excellent local rep for Azko-Nobel, the paint manufacturer, I also have samples of every type of interior and exterior paint. I'm looking forward to working with them.

Higher Ceilings, Larger Windows, Bigger Rooms

2010-07-01T16:26:00.004-04:00

Today I did a color consultation with clients who are settling into a condominium with eight foot ceilings that Roger will be painting next month. Once we decided on wall colors, we talked about the trim and I suggested that the baseboards be painted in the wall color in each room, instead of being accented in white again. There was no crown molding, but if there had been, in this case I would have wanted to paint it with the wall color too, because of the low ceilings.

I also suggested that they rehang all the window valences at the top of the wall so they cover just the header on the blinds and don't block any light. These simple fixes, along with the beautiful new paint colors, will make the ceilings seem higher, the windows seem larger and the rooms feel more expansive and cheerful.

Working with our clients to help them find the right paint colors, and making suggestions about details that can transform the look of a room is one of the most enjoyable things I do.

Martha Stewart's New Paints

2010-06-24T15:59:00.006-04:00

I'm studying the new line of interior and exterior paints from Martha Stewart that are manufactured by AkzoNobel, and sold under her label at the Home Depot. The colors are exquisite, especially the neutrals, and it's clear that her design team put a lot of thought into developing them.

For people who aren't color experts, the paint color sample cards have two helpful features:

Each color sample has a suggested ceiling and trim color on the back.

In the upper right corner of the card is a symbol for the color family. Colors with the same symbol are likely to work well together, although other combinations are possible. Unfortunately the color families and symbols aren't explained anywhere, and most people aren't likely to notice them, much less use the information.

The only other issue that I've found so far is that the color cards don't give the LRV number, and for me that's an essential tool, so today I wrote to Martha herself about my concerns. I'll let you know if she answers me.

Light Reflectance Values

2010-06-17T12:20:00.005-04:00

Many people haven't heard of Light Reflectance Values (LRV) and don't know how this information can help when you're choosing paint colors. I use LRV numbers all the time to determine precisely how dark or light a particular color is, and then compare it with other colors I'm considering.

Here's a short introduction to LRV numbers:

http://www.sterlingpropertyservice.com/painting-staining/choosing-interior-paint-colors-working-with-light

Roger's Winter Project

2009-12-22T11:10:00.003-05:00

Lately Roger has used most of his spare time to work on the large project of refinishing all the natural wood in our house, including doors and casings, windows and casings, fireplace mantles, stairs, baseboards, cabinets, etc. The house is only ten years old and very well-built, but as happens so often, the finishing work wasn't done properly. We found many areas that had stain, but no varnish, and drips, sags and missed sections in other places. The beautiful wood didn't look nearly as good as it could, so Roger decided to refinish it, all of it...

My contribution has been to keep him well supplied with soup and encouragement, and to make sure our three cats aren't being too helpful. Because of the cold weather, Roger can't do anything that has to be opened, like the exterior doors and the window sills, but what he's finished so far looks wonderful.

I often consult with people who are coping with poor quality finishing work in their home. The most common problems are boring or clashing colors, accenting the wrong things or failing to accent the right ones, little or no cosmetic preparation and improper application of materials. Often the work is so bad that even the nicest houses look a little shabby and poorly constructed. That's bad for property values and makes living there much less enjoyable.

I know how lucky I am that Roger is so skilled, and that he wants to take on the job of making our home look its best. Although he can only work on the project sporadically as our business and the weather allow, he's made a great start. I owe him a batch of cookies.

Our New Course at BRCC

2009-11-13T17:39:00.003-05:00

Today my Smart Selling co-writer Mary Stephens and I signed up to teach a three week course for home sellers at the Flat Rock Campus of Blue Ridge Community College next March, "Why Your House Isn't Selling and What You Can Do".

Each class is an hour and a half, and you can choose the Tuesday afternoon section that runs from 2-3:30 pm beginning March 2, 2010, or the section on Thursday evening from 7-8:30pm that begins March 4, 2010.

Details to follow...

2009-11-05T10:17:00.003-05:00

We're thinking about doing a painted finish on the backsplash in our kitchen, a faux subway tile. Using automotive masking tape to create a 1/4 inch grout line, Roger carefully created a sample board of tiles that are 3x5 inches, so I could test paint colors and texture. I worked with five colors of Modern Masters metallic paints, including teal, copper, green, pale gold and taupe, and applied them in a random strie so that every tile is different. After they dried, I overglazed half the sample board with taupe, wanting to keep the overall effect very subtle. I like the results, but I'm not sold on the color of the overglaze, so the project has stalled while I decide what to try next.

2009-10-30T08:44:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I walked through our garden to visit the Japanese maples. Most of the leaves are gone, brown or the colors are muted, but there were a few that were beautiful. I gathered some of the best and brought them inside to flatten in a phonebook over night. Just now I peeked at them: Maiku Jaku, Koto No Ito, Waterfall, Red Select, Villa Tarranto, Orangeola, Osakazuki and more. The colors of the leaves, their beautiful and very different shapes always amaze and delight me.

We lost nearly twenty maples in a late Spring freeze a couple of years ago. Last Spring a freeze caused the branches on the Maiku Jaku to grow inward toward the trunk, and I'm still not sure why it happened or what to do about it. I worry about our maples as we go in to Winter. The mountain climate is much harder on them than I expected, and our efforts to protect them haven't made a difference.

2009-10-27T15:32:00.000-04:00

Earlier this afternoon I went to a client's house to install some plants and accessories. The house is vacant, and even with new carpet and fresh paint in a spiffy color scheme, it lacked "life". Then I put a fall flower arrangement on the mantle and added plants in a few other places. Suddenly this lonesome house looked much more cheerful. Even without furniture, it looked like a home.

This house has been on the market for nearly two years, but has just now been revamped and staged. It's never too late for staging to help, but I wish the call had come sooner - for the sake of the sellers. Just think of the opportunities that were lost...