SixElements.com

Debra Gould

Ditch the clutter and use art when staging a home office

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home office before staging by six elementsIf you have a functioning home office in your house, the chances are it’s quite cluttered with papers, binders, “to do” piles, stacks on the floor under your desk and general chaos.

This might be how you work (no judgments here, I work that way myself), but it’s no way to sell your home. Besides, do you want a bunch of strangers looking at your real work, or potentially walking off with an important file?

For security sake, make sure you hide all important papers, clear your desk, shut down your computer and if it’s a laptop, take it with you!

home office after staging by Six Elements
Clutter was removed from surfaces and the floor. Here a large painting provides a stunning focal point for the end wall, pulls in the otherwise bright wall color and emphasizes the generous size of the room.

And for the sake of trying to sell your home, make sure you office looks bright, efficient and clutter free. Even it it’s a little less functional while your home is on the real estate market, the goal now is to sell your home as quickly as possible.

You want buyers to walk in and think, “What a great home office. I can totally see myself working in here!”

To accomplish this, it’s also a good idea to remove all personal diplomas, which distract buyers, and memo boards, which inevitably look cluttered no matter what’s on them. Replace these with a nice piece of art that ties in the wall color and provides a focal point. Make sure the size of the piece is proportional to the wall itself.

Need help with your home office?

If you’re need help redesigning your home office or staging any room in your home, contact us.

If you’re outside the Toronto area, I can still help you personally by phone working from photos you email me. Learn more about this virtual staging service.

Debra Gould, President Six Elements Inc.

Home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements Inc. She has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate, including seven of her own homes. Debra has gained international recognition and has been featured in major media in the US and Canada including: HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, GlobalTV, CityTV, The Wall Street Journal, Woman’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Old wallpaper no barrier to inexpensive makeover

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Many of us live in older homes that have layers of wallpaper that have been there for years. The thought of removing it becomes a roadblock to redecorating because we’re afraid of all the plastering work that will be needed if we take it down.

This is particularly true when you live in a home with plaster and lath construction, which was popular through to the 1950s when drywall was introduced in the US and Canada. If you’re not sure what type of walls you have, try hanging a picture. The nail will go smoothly into drywall, not so with plaster and lath that will crumble with age sometimes turning what was supposed to be a tiny nail hole into a quarter inch diameter mess!

If you’ve run into this problem just hanging pictures, it’s not hard to scare yourself out of removing layers of old wallpaper that may indeed be holding those old walls together. This doesn’t have to stop you from radically changing the look of your room with a new color of paint.

With proper priming you can paint over wallpaper!

Granted, this isn’t considered the “right” way to do things, but does it really matter if the alternative is living in a depressing space that you hate, or losing money trying to sell a lack-luster home?

bedroom before color makeover

bedroom after color makeover



Given this older home’s plaster and lath construction, removing multiple layers of 20+ year old wallpaper could have turned into a 5 day messy and expensive re-plastering project. Instead this transformation was achieved over a weekend.

After priming, Debra Gould chose a deep caramel color that was painted right over the ugly wallpaper. New and more colorful bedding, and a properly proportioned night stand and lamp that she selected, completed the redecoration of this master bedroom.

Need help with your decorating or color project?

With a minimum two hour consultation in your home, we will tell you everything that needs to be done in your home (room by room and outside too). Contact us to learn more or arrange an appointment.

> Read more about our color consulting, interior redesign and home staging services.

Feel free to add your comments to this story. Have you ever tried to take down wallpaper before painting?

Debra Gould, President Six Elements Inc.

Home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements Inc. She has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate, including seven of her own homes. Debra has gained international recognition and has been featured in major media in the US and Canada including: HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, GlobalTV, CityTV, The Wall Street Journal, Woman’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Too Much Clutter Hides Room’s Purpose

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family room before stagingNot everyone lives in a home the way they would like others to see it when it’s time to sell. My clients realize that in order to sell their homes more quickly and for more money they have to turn it into a product that will appeal to potential buyers.

In this house the family room had become a dumping ground for clutter that ranged from video games to kid’s toys and a myriad of family photos of all shapes and sizes crowding the fireplace mantel. Fine for living but not for selling!

[Read more…] about Too Much Clutter Hides Room’s Purpose

Designing With Spirituality: The Creative Touch

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Designing with SpiritualityDesigning With Spirituality:
The Creative Touch
 by Carol Soucek King

Hardcover: 160 pages
ISBN: 0866366911

Designing With Spirituality: The Creative Touch explores the link between good design and its spiritual reflection. Beautiful photographs of 30 residences in the US, Italy, Mexico, Japan, Bali, and Brazil illustrate how color, form, texture, light and proportion are used to express the idea of home as a place which can truly feed one’s soul. I loved the wide spectrum of materials, techniques and styles shown in this book.

In the US, learn more and order – Designing With Spirituality

In Canada, learn more and order – Designing with Spirituality

How to Avoid an Expensive Kitchen Renovation

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Kitchen redesigned by Debra Gould
I redesigned this kitchen with paint and accessories instead of ripping out cabinets and putting in new counters. It was even featured in Woman's Day Magazine! Runner on the counter is from the Debra Gould Home Collection

Many families don’t have tens of thousands to spend on a new kitchen, or they don’t want to live through the significant inconvenience of ripping out this critical room and waiting for it to be rebuilt from scratch.

I did it once on my second property and it was a nightmare. The day after I moved in with my toddler I had the kitchen ripped out so that I’d have better cupboard space and a spot for a dishwasher. It took over two months to complete and in the meantime we lived in a construction zone with all the dust, noise and danger that entails.

[Read more…] about How to Avoid an Expensive Kitchen Renovation

Colors for Your Every Mood

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Colors for Every MoodColors for Your Every Mood:
Discover Your True Decorating Colors
by Leatrice Eiseman

Paperback – 176 pages
ISBN: 189212338X

In Colors for Your Every Mood, sumptuous photographs of different rooms, in a wide variety of decorating styles, are accompanied by color wheel basics and an in depth look at how different colors inspire different moods and reactions in people.

The goal is to help you determine how you want yourself, your family and guests to feel as they enter and settle in each room in your home.

You’ll learn which color combinations create calm and soothing moods… which demand drama and excitement… which make a place seem whimsical and carefree. You will discover which colors can change a room from formal to romantic, from classic to exotic, and more. There’s even a quiz to help you discover your own reactions to color.

US orders – Colors For Your Every Mood: Discover Your True Decorating Colors

Canadian orders – Colors for Your Every Mood: Discover Your True Decorating Colors

Builders and Renovators: Don’t Leave Money on the Table

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bedroom after staging by Debra Gould
The house sold in days for $30,000 over asking. Three other houses on the street were available for sale before this home came on the market, and they were still for sale weeks after this one sold. Not providing the finishing touches leaves a significant amount of money on the table when it's time to sell. Everything in this photo was added during a Home Staging by Six Elements Inc.

Attention Builders, Renovators and home owners with empty rooms! Home Staging can easily increase the selling price of your empty home by $20,000 to $50,000 with minimal investment.

Decorating your house to sell, also called Home Staging, House Staging, Real Estate Staging or House Fluffing, will help you sell more quickly and as a builder or renovator, you know time is money!

[Read more…] about Builders and Renovators: Don’t Leave Money on the Table

Tricia Guild on Color

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Tricia Guild on ColorTricia Guild on Color:
Decoration, Furnishing, Display
by Tricia Guild

Paperback.
ISBN: 0847818772

While Color Palettes is serene, Tricia Guild on Color is bold. Based in England, designer Tricia Guild is famous for her ability to mix color and pattern. Her company produces fabric, wallpaper and home furnishings.

In 200 color photographs she inspires us to go beyond safe, but often dreary, color choices. Her glorious palettes explore the fuller potential of color to lend energy and warmth to an interior. She explores ways of combining and contrasting shades and shows how light, scale and proportion can affect color values. The incredible pictures alone are worth the price of this book!

US orders – Tricia Guild on Color

Canadian orders – Tricia Guild on Color

7 Ways Clutter Eats Up Your Home Equity

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cluttered basement
This is a typical unfinished basement before staging by Debra Gould of Six Elements. See the transformation below!

Clutter is one of the biggest distractions for potential real estate buyers and will literally eat up the equity you have in your home. When a room is cluttered instead of staged, here’s what happens:

  • the first impression is a crowded disorganized one, it’s hard to change that, or for potential buyers to see past the clutter and see the home’s potential
  • buyers can’t take in the room itself because their eyes jump around to all the little bits and pieces
  • rooms look more crowded than they need to, a problem with buyers who are craving more space than they have now
  • home buyers worry that if they buy your home they’ll end up living like you are there
  • home buyers assume there isn’t enough storage space and put that in their mental negative column as they tour your home
  • home buyers feel overwhelmed by your junk and how you live which does not put them in a buying mood
  • home buyers don’t aspire to live there or live like you, so they won’t make an offer
basement after house staging
This house gained an extra room in the mind of the buyer when Six Elements moved the clutter to off-site storage and arranged the exercise equipment that was already hiding under the piles of junk. Now this unfinished basement becomes a laundry room/work out room in a buyer's mind.

So as much as you may be accustomed to living with your own clutter, realize that it must go before you put your home on the real estate market.

Your clutter is costing your money because your house will take longer to sell and it won’t sell for as much money.

Why? Because potential buyers won’t be as excited as they should be about the possibility of living there. If there’s no buyer excitement, there’s no offer! Or there’s only a very low-ball offer.

Home staging will make all the difference in how long your house takes to sell and for how much. Learn more about how we can help decorate your house to sell on the real estate market, whether you are in Toronto or anywhere else!

Debra Gould, President Six Elements Inc.

Debra Gould, President Six Elements Inc.

Home staging expert Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate. Most homes are cluttered when she gets there, but by the time the house is staged, excess items have disappeared to off-site storage. Contact us to learn more about how Debra can help you.