Where am I?

Ballard!! Had to take a moment to photograph this fun building. It is a pleasure to see such playfulness-a reminder to not take oneself too seriously.

A favorite topic of mine

Real Estate photos can often give you a laugh. Hooked on Houses blog has a few here for you.

Cape Cod

Cape Cod Style via Wikipedia

A Cape Cod cottage is a style of house originating in New England in the 17th century. It is traditionally characterized by a low, broad frame building, generally a story and a half high, with a steep, perfectly pitched roof with end gables, a large central chimney and very little ornamentation. Traditional Cape Cod houses were very simple: symmetrically designed with a central front door surrounded by two multi-paned windows on each side. Homes were designed to withstand the stormy, stark weather of the Massachusetts coast. Modern Cape Cod architecture still draws from colonial designs.

Sister Ex recently travelled to Cape Cod and sent me some pics. She knows I would rather see photos of the homes than a photo of her... and I think she's okay with that!

In Washington State the Cape Cod style home would be more commonly found in the San Juan Islands.

Staging Capitol Hill

 

This was a cute kids area on the 4th level. It had a hang-out area with bedrooms on either side.

A wonderful listing by Windermere's Cathy Millan.

My Inspiration

{countryliving}

So fun to run into this photo online. This is the inspiration for painting my dining room table a high gloss light blue, the chairs a high gloss white and the upholstery different on the end chairs. When I went in search of the discontinued Martha Stewart paint color I found out that it is actually a GREEN! So I went in search of my own blue.

Would love to dazzle you even more with professional photographs. But you get the idea. Love that I took a risk-believe me it was scary. If the blue clashes with one of my sets of china then I add a cool heavy upholstery-grade white vinyl table cloth. It creates a modern twist with the ornate-ness of it all.

My dining set was found at auction by Lisa Gleason. It was a 70's stained wood with red crushed velvet upholstery.

Seattle Design Center Sample Sale

We found some fun pieces at the sale:

I call this the Vegan couch. This was such a steal.

Can't tell in the photo but this is a fairly large canvas.

This is already at a staging job. 

Isn't my sister cute? She is always bothered when I am taking photos of her. We got a great deal on rugs.

A tall console which may or may not work. We like to try new things in our staging so what the heck. The price was right. The sale is open to the public so I will give you all the heads up next time so you can do your own shopping. It is especially a good time to find a fab couch for a huge discount.

On the market? First Impressions are a must!

I live in a city neighborhood where homes do not languish on the market. But one home is and I can give you some ideas why.

The home has a For Sale sign out front that is leaning over. That hints to me that it has market fatigue- something must be wrong with it. Next, there is a plastic storage closet near the front door (not a good visual). That tells me there is not enough storage in the home or there is not much of a yard in back for things. And one day, driving by I got a glimpse of the entry as the front door was wide open. The entry has a huge book shelf overstuffed with books. What a visual disaster!

Oh, the power of first impressions...

The sale of your home will most likely be one of the largest transactions of your life. Dig in and commit to getting it on the market with its best foot forward.