Kates Home Staging Interior Design Blog for Rockland County NY & Bergen County NJ: New York

Will work with all Buyer's Agents to sell this home.  This home is a must see and comes with all appliances. Home was renovated in 2010.

Asking Price: $399,000

Address: 11 Woodland Drive, Suffern, NY 10901

Call owner at (845) 213-8522 for showing and questions.

Sq. Footage: 1,600

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 2

Extremely well maintained home with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, formal dining room, eat-in kitchen, finished basement, fireplace, central air, detached garage/workshp with electric, large deck for entertaining, wood floors, new 3 zone gas baseboard heat, central station security system, all appliances included (most come with warranties), parking for 6 cars, and more.

Will work with all Buyer's Agents to sell this home.  This home is a must see and has been completely renovated.  Asking Price: $209,900, comes with a Home Warranty.

MLS: 508516
Square Footage: 787

Everything is new, septic and roof are only three years old, cement patio was just redone, all windows replaced, heating system (natural gas) was upgraded, 200 amp electrical, all wood floors and cermic tile, level fenced yard, detached garage and workshop, master bedroom was enlarged, bathroom was completely renovated and has a large tub and linen closet, custom molding, high ceilings, all window treatments will stay, parking for 6+ cars, covered mahogony front porch, granite countertops, detached garage with workshop, and lake rights. 

Please call Kathryn at 845-538-3623 to view this home

Address: 6 Elm Street, Greenwood Lake, NY 10925

Take a virtual tour of this home:

Paint is a very inexpensive way to modernize a room.  Paint is a decorator's best kept secret.

By choosing more modern paint colors, a room can be transformed.

Here is a picture of a dining room before it was repainted.

Here is an after picture of the same room:

The new wall colors are also accented in the area rug.  Adding the chair rail gave this formal Dining Room a more sophisticated look.

Kate

Kate's Home Staging and Redesign serves Rockland County, New York and BergenCounty, New Jersey.  We offer Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams color consulations and home decorating services. Call Kate at 845-538-3623 to setup your design consultation.

In today's real estate market, it is imperative that your online home pictures really WOW any potential buyers.  A certified home stager can help any home seller or Realtor sell their home quickly and for the highest dollar amount.

The latest HomeGain 2009 survey states that home staging services have a 586% return on your investment.  Home staging may also be tax deductable since it falls under marketing and advertising for the sale of your home.

Here is an example of a bedroom before home staging:

Here is an example of the same room after home staging:

What a difference some fresh paint and carpeting made.  We simple rotated the bed and added some fresh linens.

Kate's Home Staging and Redesign, we specialize in home staging, vacant home staging, color consultations, and interior designs.  We cover the Rockland County, Orange County, Bergen County and Passaic County areas.  Call us at 845-538-3623 to setup an appointment.

After living in your home for several years, it becomes increasingly more difficult to notice those everyday items that need to be updated and your bathroom is no exception.  Depending on the size of your bathroom, it could be quite costly to renovate.  Why renovate when you can completely transform your bathroom by simply updating key aspects?

Here are a Few Quick Tips to Freshen Up Your Bathroom:

1.   Replace all your outdated or worn out towels, with new, plush towels in a more bolder color.

2.   Upgrade your cabinet hardware to create a more streamlined look.

3.   Replace that old medicine cabinet, with an oval, ornate mirror.  This will really set off the look of your bathroom.

4.  Update your old bathroom vanity, with a new pedestal sink.  A small pedestal sink can be purchased for under $200 and can really open up the space in a small bathroom.

5.  Replace your existing towel and toilet holders with more modern replacements in a pewter finish.  Anything in a brass finish should really be replaced as this dates your home.

6.  Update your bathroom faucet with a more modern looking one.  Here again, pewter is a great choice.

7.  Switch out your plastic shower curtain with a white fabric curtain that has a slight pattern on it.  This will give your bathroom some more texture.

8.  Paint your bathroom walls a warm color such as a medium brown or pale green.  Paint is a great way to transform a room and is very cost effective.

9.  To create further architectural interest in your bathroom, wainscoting and chair rail molding can also be used.

10.  Add the finishing touches to your bathroom, such as silk flowers to the back of the toilet tank to draw your eye up or towels rolled in a basket under a pedestal sink.

If you need some home decorating help and live in the Rockland County, NY or Orange County, NY area please contact Kate's Home Staging and Redesign to schedule a design consultation by calling 845-538-3623 or visit www.kateshomestaging.com . We specialize in interior redesign and transforming your space is our specialty.

Home Staging is the process of highlighting a home's strengths while downplaying it's weaknesses, through techniques such as depersonalization, de-cluttering, cleaning, addressing maintenance issues, and implementing interior design principles. A typical home staging consultation will last about two hours and will have your home headed in the right direction for a quick real estate sale.

Here are a Few Home Staging Secrets and Tips to Help Sell Your Home:

• Remove any furniture from your home that is broken or very worn out and that does not serve a needed purpose.  For example, do you really need several extra chairs in your Living Room when you already have a couch?
• Replace any light bulb that is older that 1 year.  Replace the light bulbs with GE Reveal light bulbs, this type of bulb will give off a clear white light and your home will look lighter and brighter if you use it.
• All clutter needs to be removed from all your counters, dressers, tables, and sinks. If you have not used something is over six months, now is the time to pack it away in a moving box.
• Never place furniture up against a wall; there should be at least a 6-8 inch gap behind every piece of furniture.
• Every room should only have one purpose; your Dining Room needs to be turned back into a Dining Room - it should not be your kid's craft room!
• Heavy, dark window treatments should always be removed.  When you are selling your home, you want to use sheers and silk window treatments on your windows to allow natural sunlight to beam into every room.
• Light your home appropriately.  According to HGTV, aim for 100 watts of light for every 50 square feet in your home.
• Bring greenery in the form of real of faux plants into every room.
• To freshen up the appearance of any room, use paint in a neutral color.
• The best accent colors to use are red and black, these colors give your room a rich and luxurious look.
• External curb appeal is very important, if a potential buyer is turned off by your home's front yard it is unlikely they will want to enter inside your home.

If you are planning on selling your home, the best time to consult a professional home stager if before you place your home on the real estate market for sale.  In this economy, you only get one shot to make the right first impression.  A professional home stager can help you design each room of your room to ensure you attract the largest potential buyer audience.

Kate's Home Staging and Redesign works with home sellers and local Realtors to ready home for sale. Contact Kate to schedule your home staging consultation by calling 845-538-3623 or visit www.kateshomestaging.com for more information.

Interior redesign is a type of decorating that incorporates the home owner's unique personality and the room's function by trying to keep the design costs low by first utilizing what the home owner already owns.  An initial interior redesign interview and questionnaire is provided to all my design clients to ensure, Kate's Home Staging and Redesign has a thorough understanding on your design needs and your likes and dislikes, in regards to color schemes, fabric textures, lighting schemes, room styles, and more.  Every interior redesign consultation includes a complementary color consultation to ensure your room will look fantastic. An initialinterior redesign consultation will take at least one hour per room to ensure all areas of the design are addressed appropriately.  All interior redesign consultations will incorporate all the interior design elements such as balance, harmony, proportion, focus, and space to ensure your room "feels right" the moment you enter into it.

After we measure the entire space and decide on some color schemes for your space, an Interior Redesign Proposal will be produced that will outline everything your space may need.  A typical Interior Redesign Proposal will include:

• Furniture Suggestions
• Benjamin Moore Paint Color Suggestions
• Lighting - Table Lamps, Floor Lamps, and Ceiling Lamps may be suggested
• Accessory Color Schemes and examples of Accessories to be Purchased
• Artwork Suggestion and which Vendor to Use
• Carpet Suggestions
• Window Coverings are Suggested and fabric samples are brought to the second design consultation
• A Floor plan will be provided
• A Design Board is Provided
• Samples of the Benjamin Moore Paint is Provided

Once the Interior Redesign Proposal for your home has been completed, Kate's Home Staging and Redesign will return to your home to go over your room new layout and all the suggested furniture and accessory purchases required to complete your room. Kate's Home Staging and Redesign also offers some basic handyman services such as the installation of crown molding, chair rail molding, hanging pictures, hanging mirrors, and the installation of all the window coverings that we sell.  If the home owner is happy with the Interior Redesign Proposal, the next step usually is to schedule an additional measuring session to be able to estimate what type of molding will be installed in your room and to double check the dimensions for your window coverings. A molding and window covering proposal will take a few days to put together for the home owner and will then be emailed.

Kate's Home Staging and Redesign also has an exclusive vendor partnership list, in other words we only work with vendors that we feel are the best.  We work with only one painting company to ensure all your projects run smoothly and he guarantees his work for two years. When you contact us for a room redesign, we will ensure your project runs smoothly from the beginning to the very end.  Kate's Home Staging and Redesign is also able to offer our clients up to 12% off at certain retail furniture stores, which is a dramatic savings if you are furnishing an entire room.

If you are uncertain about how to decorate a room or just want to spruce up your home, please consider Kate's Home Staging and Redesign.  We pride ourselves on exceeding our clients expectations and transforming ordinary room into extraordinary masterpieces.

Kate Case, Kate's Home Staging and Redesign, serving Rockland County and Orange County, New York and Passaic County and Bergen County, New Jersey.  Contact Kate to schedule your design consultation at 845-538-3623 or visit www.kateshomestaging.com .

Installing crown molding is an architectural upgrade that can give a plain wall interest, depth, and formality. The choices of crown molding could be staggering for the typical home owner and can be purchased in a variety of material from plaster, pine, mahogany, to primed mdf. The size of the molding depends on the details of your home from ceiling height to design style of your home. Crown molding is typically placed along the seam where the celing and wall meets; it can also be used in fireplace mantels to create further architectural interest. If you have over a 9 foot ceiling height, you will need to go with at least a 7 inch crown molding or else it will be lost. Another tip when using crown molding is that you can always leave a small space to add lighting behind the molding; soft lighting that reflects off the ceiling always sets a great mood.

Chair rail molding is another great way to add architectural interest to a dining room or living room.  This molding is a horizontal molding usually added 36 inches to 42 inches from the floor.  It can be installed when a two tone paint scheme is being used in a room, over wainscoting, with shadow boxes, or even by itself. Most chair rail molding is under $2 a foot, for the primed mdf, and it will have a dramatic impact on a room. My preference is a 3 inch chair rail with many curves for visual interest.

If you have added crown molding and chair rail molding, it is important to also update your baseboard molding.  If you selected a 3 inch chair rail molding you will need to go with a 5 inch baseboard molding; this will provide the balance you are looking for.

As mentioned before, wainscoting is a great way to cover the lower part of any wall that could be damaged and works well with chair rail molding. Wainscoting works well in bathrooms that have pedestals sinks, it will create a more sophisticated look but is a rather inexpensive addition. It also works well in country-style homes.

Molding can come in a variety of types and sizes. The more ornate moldings add a sense of grandeur and sophistication to any home and it will stand out against the competitions.

If you are not sure what type of architectural accents to add to your home, please contact a local home stager.  We are trained in interior design principles and will be able to point you in the right direction. Home staging - the inexpensive interior designer.

Kate, Kate's Home Staging and Redesign, specializing in home staging, interior design, home decorating, color consultations, home decor discounts, semi-custom window coverings, and custom wood signs.  Call Kate for your design consultation at 845-538-3623 or visit www.kateshomestaging.com

The five Chinese Feng Shui elements ~ wood, fire, earth, metal, and water ~ can define five different traits of chi or energy.  These five elements are also referred to as the "five transformations" due to the fact that each element can define a specific kind of energy to change the chi of that space. As discussed in a previous blog, each of the Feng Shui elements is associated with a specific object type, color, and shape.  By manipulating the balance of these five elements in a specific space, the balance of chi is also adjusted.  The addition of more red in a space (which is the Fireelement), such as red candles, red curtains, or red pillows the chi energy will be more energized.  While the addition of browns and beiges (which is the Earth element), such as ceramics will help you feel more secure. The Water element, whether through the use of fountains or a picture of the ocean, tends to increase communication. Adding metallic objects or shapes (the Metal element) will help your ability to focus.  Through the addition of greenery or even the color green (the Wood element) will help you launch new projects.

The decorating in each room should contain all of the five elements; the Feng Shui elements do not need to be represented equally. A small grouping of the 5 elements can be used to balance a room.

Some objects combine several different energies together. For example, a white candle with a vine pattern represents a Fire object with a Wood shape and a Metal color.  The candle represents three elements. To make the candle represent all 5 elements it could be set on a blue (Water element) ceramic object (Earth element). If a green plant (Wood element) was placed in a blue (Water element) ceramic planter (Earthelement), three of the elements are already implemented and then all you need to complete your room's Feng Shui balance would be a white candle (Fire element) on a silver tray (Metal Element). 

How the Energy Interacts -

N/A - there is no interaction that will affect the elements.

N - the elements support and are nourished by each other.

D - the elements interactions are destructive to each other.  Metal is destructive to wood.

WI - the elements are weakened, when another element is increased. For example, you increase wood, the water chi will be weakened in the space.

DS - the elements are destroyed.

Based on this chart, metal is destroyed by fire, wood is destroyed by metal, water is destroyed by earth, fire is destroyed by water, and earth is destroyed wood. Metal nourishes water, water nourishes wood, wood nourishes fire, fire nourishes earth, and earth nourished metal.

If you add a Water element object, at the same time you are strengthening the Wood energy and weaking the the Metal chi.

Adding the five Feng Shui elements to every room will help you create balance and harmony within the room.  By understanding the 5 elements and how each element interacts with the others, will help you understand how to create an appropriate home decor scheme. To determine which areas to focus your Feng Shui knowledge on, use your Baqua Map to locate which of the eight areas to prioritize.

Kate

Kate's Home Staging and Redesign, serves the New York and New Jersey area, we specialize in home staging, interior design, home decorating, color consultations, home decor discounts, and sell semi-custom window coverings.  Call Kate to schedule you design consultation at 845-538-3623 or visit www.kateshomestaging.com

From recycled glass tile, bamboo flooring, textiles, low VOC paints, cleaning products, to home design products, the trend towards green design seems to be growing due to consumer's heightened consciousness of the importance of using items that are good for our environment. Using recycled items is also gaining interest among interior design clients.

There are varying degrees of "green," also called eco-friendly design, but in general a product must be made from a renewable material that was grown organically with minimally impact to the environment; the manufacturing process must not cause pollution.  Green products may be recyclable, hypoallergenic, and biodegradable, and some may even save energy (such as energy star appliances and energy efficient light bulbs).

If you were to ask the average person what going green means, they may picture lines of solar panels angled on their roof line. While solar panels are a great way to save money on your energy bill and definitely fall under the going green umbrella - the expense of installing them can be very steep; simple changes can have a positive impact in our lives as well. If you need to upgrade your flooring, going with a bamboo or cork is a would be an environmentally friendly option.  When selecting a wall paint, it is always healthier to select a low or no-VOC paint, since it uses water as an ingredient and is less hazardous to the environment.

Eco friendly interior decoration avoids using toxin-introducing materials in your home. Synthetic fragrances and air fresheners may release  volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can irritate the respiratory system. Candles made before 2003 were made with lead-core wicks and are now banned, according to the National Candle Association.  Organic soy and beeswax are green options that are better frangrance choices for your home; these choices are safe for pregnant woman and people with asthma.

When selecting cleaning products, it is always a better option to select a green product.  Synthetic cleaners pollute our environment and can affect our lungs.  Using water and steaming your ceramic tile is a great way to clean your kitchen floor.  Products such as Cleaning the Green, are all natural and are great glass and surface cleaners.  Also, Pet Pure Ayre Odor Eliminator is all natural and safe for your pets and will eliminate all your pet's odors.  Vinegar and water is also a great all natural cleaner for your kitchen and bathroom.  Believe me, you will start to feel better when you use all natural cleaners in your home.

Keep in mind that "greening" your entire home does not happen overnight, it is an ongoing process that can lead up to an large environmental impact overtime that will also affect your health positively. Adding plants are an excellent green option and design element to add to any room.

Kate

Kate's Home Staging and Redesign, specializes in home staging, interior design, home decorating, vacant staging, color consultations, and more.  Contact Kate at 845-538-3623 to schedule your design consultation, www.kateshomestaging.com