Seasonal Decorating

In addition to a complete makeover, your home can be "seasonally adjusted" for various holidays throughout the year. With Valentines Day approaching, you can
plan a Valentines Day party and create the right ambience.

With red being the predominant colour for Valentines Day, you can use accents with
red and black, red and pink or red and white colour combinatios. Accent the space with balloons, ribbons, decor items or red roses.

Spacing several vases of roses around the room can add to the occaision. Best of all
share photographs of you and that special someone by making a photo board or collage showing your most joyeous occaisions.

Party stores have other wall decorations that can help liven up the room.

Enjoy your holidays with seasonal decorating and get together with friends and family.

Home Decorating for the Holidays

Decorating Your Home for the Holidays

The holiday season is a great time to give your home a festive look both inside and
out. There are many decorations and decorating tips from the large display of
Christmas villages to the small knick-knacks that complete your holiday look.

Hanging a wreath over a door or in windows can be done inexpensively to create instant holiday cheer. Garlands complete the look.

Christmas decorations can also be collectables. Whether it is a nutcracker collection or Christmas bulbs and ornaments or a particular type of decoration,
giving your holiday decor a theme based on your interests and what you collect is
also a way to tie a look together.

If you have your home for sale, you can still decorate as you like but keep walkways
clear and limit some decorations that may increase clutter. If your home still has not sold when the holidays have ended, be certain to put all decorations away before the showings begin again in January. Replace any furniture that needed to be moved
to accommodate your holiday decor.

Candles are a tradition at Christmas too, but keep in mind the potential fire hazard that unattended candles can pose. Do not place any candles near presents, draperies or other flammable items. Extinguish candles on the dinner table once the meal has ended.

Enjoy your holidays this year. Divine Home Staging and Decor wishes everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year 2011!

Home Staging Oakville

Home Staging Oakville Ontario

With a softer real estate market, home sellers need to consider all options before listing a home. When a home sits on the market for a long time because the listing agent and homeowner are experimenting with the home decor and layout, the listing can become stale. This means buyers are asking themselves, "why is this home on the market for so long?".

At worst a stale home will sell for a reduced price because buyers factor in for contingencies they may not be aware of, but that may have been spotted by other potential buyers who passed on the home, evident by the longer time on the market.

Calling a home staging professional in Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga Ontario can help get the home selling process off to the right start by showing the home in its best possible light. A good home stager can immediately provide actionable suggestions on improving the desirability of a home, help select colours for rooms that need repainting, help with furniture positioning, decluttering and other necessary preparations when listing your home.

When you are ready to list, your home will appeal to the widest variety of local home buyers. This helps you sell your home faster, and for top dollar. The wise investment when selling is to hire a professional home stager to help you get your home ready for market.

Real estate agents also use home stagers they can rely on to set the stage for a quicker sale. For home staging Oakville , Mississauga and Burlington, contact Divinehome.ca.

Home Staging Mississauga Burlington Oakville Ontario

Home Staging Mississauga

Home staging can help sell a home sooner and also for a higher price. The idea behind home staging is to remove personal items and allow a potential home buyer to feel as if they are already living in the home. Uncluttered spaces look bigger. A touch of paint can help a tired room. Get a professional home stager's opinion and sell your home faster.

Home staging in Mississauga, Burlington and Oakville Ontario is also available for real estate agents who want to prepare homes for their clients to sell faster. Less time on the market means less inconvenience and ultimately less expense when selling a home. Divine Home Staging and Decor is your Mississauga Home Stager!

Interior Decorating Oakville - Microfiber Sheets Tips

Microfiber Sheets

Lately there has been alot of discussion about Microfiber Sheets which are soft and light weight.

Microfiber sheets, "the fabric of the future", contain synthetic fibres (mostly polyester and polyamide) that are very very small and are combined to form yarns which are knitted or woven into a variety of products.

Advantages of microfiber sheets aside from the luxurious, soft feeling is include being wrinkle resistant, machine washable, lighter, non-allergenic, breathable, impermeable, stain-resistant and durable. Easy care and a comfortable feeling have created this sheet style which can even be lower in cost than standard cotton sheets.

Since fibers are extremely small, allergens such as dust mites, pollen grains etc.. cannot get trapped within.

Some disadvantages of microfiber sheets could be static cling during drying

A large point of contention and confusion is related to sheet thread count and how manufacturers of sheets may be skeewing their information. Evidently some maintain that there can really only be 350 or so quality fibers per square inch and to suggest a greater density may put the quality of the fabric into question. Discussions revolve around the idea that not all microfiber is the same. Inferior materials may feel dull or "plastic-like" and do not wash well in a washing machine.

Make sure any sheets you get are machine washable. Some sheets are actually made for industrial and hotel use and wash in most any temperature without bleaching. A great tip we found is to not mix washing sheets with towels and other lint producing laundry, perhaps washing the sheets by themselves.

Bed sheets that cover the mattress are available in flat or fitted. Flat sheets are rectangular and fitted sheets have the four corners that tuck in under the mattress and sometimes with elastic.

The fitted bottom sheet is used to prevent it from sliding off of the mattress. The "top sheet" is used as the first cover. So you will need to buy a sheet set with both fitted and top sheet in microfiber. Other materials available for sheets include cotton, poly-cotton blend, silk, rayon and satin.

You can even get double-sided microfiber sheets and matching pillow cases, so if you are looking for a simple, elegant and comfortable "wow factor" solution to your bedding, then consider microfiber sheets.

Interior home decorating Ontario Canada.

Home Staging for Sale

Selling a home will be easier if you optimize the home's appeal by decluttering and staging the home to sell. Home staging for sale means to follow a checklist of home improving items as suggested by a professional home interior decorator and stager so that the home will appeal to the broadest audience when placing it on the market.

Some insider tips on preparing a home for sale include:

• Removing excess furniture from rooms


• Decluttering (always important)


• Removing clutter from bookcases and stacking some books vertically with decorative elements placed on top of the stack of books. Removing and parsing through the book collection to allow for space on the shelves.


• Keeping closets half empty will also improve the closet appeal when potential home buyers sneak a peak at the closets.


• Organizing the insides of drawers can help keep a continuous appearance of neatness and in turn, helps the new homeowner imagine themselves living in the new residence.

Staging a home for sale involves experience, a keen eye for detail and knowledge of current real estate trends and home decorating looks.

Staging to Sell – The key to a quick sale at a great price

Although it is currently a seller’s market in Oakville, Mississauga, Toronto and the greater GTA, you are still competing with other homes on the market.

You want your home to sell quickly and at a great price. The key is having your home professionally staged before you list. Most real estate agents will recommend staging to sell your home.

Pricing Your Home

While it’s ultimately your decision, your agent will help you set an asking price for your home. It is important to know that several factors affect the value of your property:

• Supply and demand
  


• Mortgage rates
  


• Economic conditions
  


• Time of year
  


• Property tax rates and local services
  


• Neighborhood characteristics

Real Estate agents review recent sales of comparable properties in your area and analyze square footage, features, finishes, and other details to help them arrive at a recommended asking price. While you might have a price in mind, remember that the local market ultimately dictates the value of your home.

Overpricing is more likely to scare prospective buyers away than to result in more money in your pocket. Appropriately priced homes sell quickly, reducing stress and helping you settle in at the new location sooner.

Showing Your Home

Many buyers have a hard time imagining what a vacant home will look like when it’s furnished. With today’s busy lifestyles, few buyers have the time or inclination to take on a “fixer-upper”. Your home should shine, inside and out. Your stager will offer suggestions on sprucing up your home. Don’t take this personally; view it as objective marketing advice.

A professional home stager can transform your home into a neutral space that potential buyers will love. Home stagers know how to best create the sense of flow, space and utility in a home. They help with furniture placement or even furniture rentals. Staging professionals can provide you with a list of improvements and changes you will need to get top dollar for your home, and can have most of the work done for you – if you prefer not to do it yourself. From interior to exterior, de-cluttering to repairs, stagers will help you make the necessary changes before your home hits the market.

Great Value
Even though it costs money to stage a home, most homeowners find it a very worthwhile investment. The returns on getting a higher price and a quicker sale are well worth the money and effort that goes into staging. Some real estate agents will even cover the cost of a home stager for their listing clients, since they know the home will be an easier sell at a higher price.

Many homeowners are so happy with the way their house looks when they list that they wish they had staged it much sooner. They often bring a stager back to work in their newly purchased home to get maximum enjoyment right from the beginning. If you are planning to list your home in the Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga or Greater Toronto Area, call Divine Homes at (905) 466-2503 for a professional home staging. Visit www.DivineHome.ca to read testimonials about homeowners who are sold on ‘ staging to sell ’.