One Two Six Design Diary » Tips http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog Your Equity, Showcased. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:59:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Prep Work http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/05/15/prep/ http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/05/15/prep/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 09:16:42 +0000 onetwosixdesign http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/?p=329 While on the topic of great photography, let’s talk about what a home owner should do in preparation to the all so important photo shoot for the property.

You’d wash your face before applying makeup…
You’d floss your teeth before dentist appointment…
You’d vacuum your car before selling…
You’d spray breath-freshener before a date…
…
…

Okay, you get the point, there are many things should be done before the most expensive (in most people’s cases) piece of possession you own gets its photos taken.  Victor (Victor Lin Photography) put together a handy checklist of things the home owners should do, hope it is helpful…

Prep List:

  • Contain pets in the garage or out of sight
  • Remove all vehicles from driveways and do not park directly in front of the house
  • Move garbage cans out of sight
  • Remove all garden tools including hoses and sprinklers
  • Mow and rake yard
  • Sweep driveways, sidewalks and patios
  • Clear off counter tops in kitchen and bathroom areas
  • Remove photos, notes, and papers from the refrigerator
  • Turn on all interior lights
  • Turn ceiling fans and televisions off
  • Put down all toilet seat covers
  • De-clutter rooms which may be excessively furnished. They do no photograph well.
  • Make all beds and tidy bedrooms. Put away clothes
  • Remove piles of newspaper and magazines
  • Tuck trash cans out of view in a closet or cupboard


    •

    Victor Lin Photography

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]]> http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/05/15/prep/feed/ 1 Curb Appeal on Your Lap http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/05/14/curb-appeal-on-your-lap/ http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/05/14/curb-appeal-on-your-lap/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 04:57:00 +0000 onetwosixdesign http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/?p=301 “Curb Appeal” is a very freely used term in real estate; HGTV, realtors, stagers, landscapers, colleagues, even your plumber might have given you a tip or two on how to improve your curb appeals, it is all about the first impression your house give out to its visitors.

However, keep in mind, doesn’t matter how great your curb appeal is, the first impression doesn’t really start at the curb! Shoooock!! instead, it started miles away, on the monitors of your potential buyers. Especially in a buyers’ market of today, your house need to literally “pop” out of the hundreds of MLS listings so the buyers can be intrigued enough to see and sense the real curb appeal…

curbappeals

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]]> http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/05/14/curb-appeal-on-your-lap/feed/ 0 Paris Hilton to Staging http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/05/11/paris-hilton-to-staging/ http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/05/11/paris-hilton-to-staging/#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 12:00:46 +0000 onetwosixdesign http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/?p=284 What are the similarities between the follow set of photos?

burgerbburgera

dressbdressa

eva-longoria-with-without-makeupjpg

diningbdininga

familybfamilya

Well, each of these 5 sets of photos are really showing the same stuff: burger, gown, celebrity, dining and family room, respectively; the difference is really how the subject was presented.

If the burger company can spend who-knows-how-many-$$$$ for Paris Hilton to sizzle up their burger, shouldn’t you do something to properly showcase your home? Remember, presentation is everything, you are not only selling a home, but a lifestyle!!

De-cluttering, cleaning, painting, staging and photographing, we are here to help!

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]]> http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/05/11/paris-hilton-to-staging/feed/ 2 Stager’s Tip: Cleaning http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/03/19/stagers-tip-cleaning/ http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/03/19/stagers-tip-cleaning/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:03:41 +0000 onetwosixdesign http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/?p=221 I have been publishing various tips on Twitter from time to time, but the 140 character limitation on twitter is just not good enough…

Cleaning Tip: Brillianize

I was first introduced to Brillianize by the guys from Tap Plastics in downtown Mountain View; I was there to order a custom acrylic desk cover for my Pottery Barn Bedford desk in my office, and the sale agent strongly recommended Brillianize to help keep the not-so-cheap acrylic desk cover clean. I was definitely skeptical at first, but soon realized just how wonderful this stuff was!

Not only it does miracles on acrylics and plastics, you can use it on window, glass, chrom, stainless steel, granite, even LCD and TV monitors! Take the Brillianize to your car to help keeping your windshield, wood trims, head/tail light lenses spotless! Spray this stuff on once to clean the surface, and spray it on again to achieve the highly polished look and slippery smooth. The best part is, the treated surfaces are fingerprint resistant!!

This stuff is magic in a bottle!

brillianize

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]]> http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/03/19/stagers-tip-cleaning/feed/ 0 Our Daily Tweets (2009-02-20) http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/20/our-daily-tweets-2009-02-21/ http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/20/our-daily-tweets-2009-02-21/#comments Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:59:00 +0000 onetwosixdesign http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/20/our-daily-tweets-2009-02-21/
  • @cindeelean nope… iPhone doesn’t support Flash… wish it did… :-( in reply to cindeelean #
  • Stager’s Tip: Magic Eraser by Mr. Clean, it does wonders on removing marks/scratches from your wall! #
  • @REBayarea thank you!! They’re wonderful ppl, hope they can find a home soon. They like Atrium style Eichers, I saw 3 in Sunnyvale on MLS. in reply to REBayarea #
  • @REBayarea btw Andreas contacted me. Looking forward to meet him. Thank u very much for the referral!! in reply to REBayarea #
  • Santa Clara county median home price dropped 37% since last yr!! #
  • @StageToSell u poor thing. Give Comcast a try, their biz phone/Internet is only ~$120. Web based control on fwd, vm… Love it in reply to StageToSell #
  • Squeezing one more project in before call it a week. #
  • Running between office and projects in Palo Alto & Redeood City #
  • What a week! Now going to work on getting that yogurt!! #
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    ]]>     http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/20/our-daily-tweets-2009-02-21/feed/ 0     New Inventories & Old Favorites http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/19/new-inventories-old-favorites/ http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/19/new-inventories-old-favorites/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:36:47 +0000 onetwosixdesign http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/?p=141 New Inventories
    The evidence of our latest purchases

    The evidence of our latest purchases

    As mentioned in the previous post, we are constantly out shopping for arts, accessories, bedding, etc. No we are not shopaholics, we simply believe in investing in our inventories, keep our stuff updated and in-trend. We want our clients to get what they’ve paid for, and give the home buyers a fresh feeling when they walk in homes we staged.

    Anyways, here are the packing boxes from our latest purchase pilling in our back parking lot…

     

    Old Favorites

    Trends change over time, besides buying new inventories to update our style, we also creatively revamp our older furnishings: painting the natural wood colored sofa feet to black with a Sharpie can do wonders to the feel of the sofa; Spray painting the older chairs or small tables has worked surprisingly well. As the matter of fact, we had this set of Pottery Barn dining chairs, they have been our designers’ favorites for a long time, love the look, but the color is just not working out anymore… 3 cans of black semi-gloss spray paints, 10 mins later, voila! can’t wait to use them again!
    (I will post the before & after pics of the chairs tomorrow… ;-) )
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    ]]>     http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/19/new-inventories-old-favorites/feed/ 0     Cotton Dilemma http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/08/cotton-dilemma/ http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/08/cotton-dilemma/#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:31:55 +0000 onetwosixdesign http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/?p=118 We have numerous gorgeous looking white sofa sets that we haven’t used in awhile, simply because it is a bit dirty on the arms and cushions due to the moving and handling. Like most of our furniture, these sofas were custom made by Calico Corners and costed us thousands of dollars each, it would be a shame to throw in the towel on them.

    In the effort to give these sofas a new life, I called up numerous upholstery cleaners to see if there is anything they can do to revamp the fabric. I eventually picked Chuck from Ameripro Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning due to his great customer ratings on Yelp. Chuck flat out told us not to waste money on trying to clean the sofas, reason being the fabric were pure cotton, while it looks fabulous and great to the touch, they are very hard to clean. Chuck specifically pointed out the few water stains result of our workers attempts to clean the fabric with off-the-shelf upholstery cleaners, and said that cotton does a great job soaking up the stains, and it would be impossible for him to renew the fabric for our staging purposes.

    Lesson learned here, although we love the look and feel of cotton, we have to keep in mind that it is a material that’s harder to maintain when compared to other fabrics with mixed cotton and synthetic materials or microfiber. For those of you shopping for that perfect family couch, hope what we learned can help you with your purchase decision.

    What’s going to happen to these sofas we have? well, they won’t be used for staging anymore, but we’ll try to find new homes for them by either sell them  or donate them to families in need…

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    ]]>     http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/02/08/cotton-dilemma/feed/ 0     Return on Investment http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/01/08/return-on-investment/ http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/2009/01/08/return-on-investment/#comments Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:04:16 +0000 onetwosixdesign http://onetwosixdesign.com/blog/?p=34 Few years ago, it seems as long as the place has a front door, you can probably sell it. Well, the real estate market is not what it used to be. Nowadays, the house needs to be in top-shape in order to be competitive. Besides having to spend the money to fix-up/remodel the place, you should also remember to “dress it up”! Presentation is everything, a properly staged home is essential to help sell the property fast and at top dollar.

    ROI of Home Remodeling & Staging

    ROI of Home Remodeling & Staging

    The Return on Investment (ROI) number in the chart above might surprise you, but think about this a bit… Brand new electrical wiring or copper plumbing might be highly welcomed upgrades, but they won’t “emotionally capture” the potential buyers. The potential buyers need to emotionally “move-in” as soon as they step in the front door, and be able to picture themselves sitting in front of the fireplace reading a book or hosting parties around the dinning room… 

    Staging transforms a cold, uninviting house into a warm, welcoming home. The ROI of home staging begins way before the first open house… the photos of a well staged home on the internet help attract the home buyers to make the time and find their way to your home, and boost the likelihood for a deal, which translates to a fast sell, less holding cost and perhaps at the best possible price. 
    Hire a professional stager for the job, or DIY, but definitely put in your best effort to present your home in the best possible light, because a lot of equity is at stake!
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