Colorado Springs Real EstateThe Real Estate Resource

When you moved out of your parents’ house, did some of their old furniture follow you? Did Great-Aunt Millie’s china cabinet find a place in your Uhaul?

Some of us are “lucky” enough to get hand-me down furniture. Sometimes this is a blessing, sometimes a curse…especially when guilt is thrown in for good measure. How can you turn that piece of furniture from drab to fab?

Side tables:
-Chipped, dented, dinged up from lots of “love”? Take a palm sander to it, and refinish with varnish or primer and a paint color for a fun accent piece.
-Take off handles and replace with something more modern for an updated touch.
-Gather photographs and place on top of the table, find a piece of glass (or have one cut) and place on top of the photos. This will hide the blemishes, and be a photo album for all to see your fun adventures.
-For glass tables with metal legs, sand down the paint on the legs, remove the glass top, and use metal spray paint to give new life to the table.

Hall-way tables:
These tables tend to collect stuff. Keys, mail, coupons, loose odds and ends, etc. How can you jazz them up?
-Following the side-table ideas, you can also find a neat plate or collecting dish for loose change and keys while adding a touch of style.
-Can’t find a “neat plate”? Have a night out at a paint-your-own pottery place and create one yourself!
-Have a basket for your chargers and electronic devices to hang out in.
-Small hooks can be added to either end for umbrellas, light jackets, or keys.

Large pieces of furniture like that huge china cabinet…
-If there are doors on the bottom half of the piece, consider putting on new glass doors, or if it has glass doors, find some trendy fabric and put that in to bring in some color.
-Replace handles with new ones if some are broken, missing, or just horribly outdated and ugly.
-Before doing major rehab, ask your parents about the piece and if it is ok to alter it. If they are ok with it, consider tahing the top half off, and using the bottom half as additional kitchen storage, dining room storage for napkins, placemats, runners, table cloths, candles, candle holders, or decorating pieces. Other storage may include wine, serving plates & bowls, or any other items that are pulled out for special occassions.
-Use the top half as a knick-knack holder, or place on a bar top, install some glass holders and use as a display case for your nice barware. Don’t want the fussiness? You could also display your liquor collection.

Mirrors:
-Sand & repaint
-Paint a funky design and use as an accent piece.
-Add tile around the edges
-Take the frame off and use as a frame for a painting instead.
-Have a new one, but want the aged look? Paint a base color, then crackling paint, then your top color.

FREEDOM! Is that the first word that comes to mind when you open the door to your first place? It was my first word, followed by a tummy-turning acid stomach that felt bad for feeling so good.

This Mini-Series of posts is dedicated to all of you first-timers dying on the vine for ideas to make your first place as comfortable as possible without moving back in with your parents.

Many of us move in our few possessions and wonder where to start. Think about your place and where you think you will spend most of your awake time. For a majority of us, that would be your living/dining area.

In your living room, pick a paint palate (if you are renting, check with your landlord first to avoid paying $$ when you move out) that is neutral to work with most everything you will likely add to it. Mauves, topes, beiges, light sage greens, or light yellows all work. If you can’t paint, there are other wall solutions available, such as hanging blown up photographs, paintings, or other artwork. Think about your walls as a blank canvass and display these pieces like a museum might.

Next look at the flooring. Quick fixes for any problem areas are colorful rugs. Pick a rug that corresponds to your wall color, or if your walls are bright white, choose a colorful rug that has the colors you WOULD like to have in your room.

Peek-a-boo, I see you! If you dont’ want your neighbors to see your every move, window coverings are a must. Shades are typically used, but if you want to bring in more design, choose panels that bring in added color. If you are looking for a comfortable space, choose like colors. If you are looking for more drama, pick contrasting colors.

Finally, where are you going to sit? If you are lucky enough to move in with one, great. If not, consider buying a comfortable futon (can double as a guest bed for those nights you want to have friends stay the night). Or watch for sales at your local furniture store! You might start out on camp chairs, but this will get old fast, so really consider buying a decent piece of furniture. It doesn’t have to last forever, but it should be able to last awhile. If you have some furniture, but it doesn’t match, consider re-upholstering it for a unified look! Don’t know how? That’s ok, there are books and people out there who do it all the time, and chances are it costs less for them to do it than for you to buy new.

Hello All!
From the moment tulips start to push the earth up until the last leaf falls to the ground, it seems the real estate business is buzzing with excitement. But when the snow starts to fly, the business slows down a bit and we get to focus on family times with the holidays rapidly approaching.

Why does this happen you ask? I believe it is for several reasons.
1. If you are looking to move to a more desireable school district, summer is the best time to move. Your kids are out of school, so you are uprooting them in the middle of their lessons.
2. Everything is green. No doubt about it, good curb appeal helps sell a house faster, and when you can visualize what is growing versus what is not, it’s a lot easier to know what you are buying on the outside. If a house has beautifully manicured lawns and gardens, you will instictively feel that the home is just as well taken care of.
3. It is undoubtedly easier to move your possessions from one place to another when it is nice outside. You don’t have to worry about blizzards, below freezing temperatures or ice.
4. If the house doesn’t come with a beautiful lawn, there is still plenty of time to plant and allow the roots to take. When you move in the fall or winter you are stuck with a drabness until the next spring.
5. More inventory to choose from. As a seller, it may be tempting to hold off until the fall to list your house to avoid competing with five other houses on your block. However, if your house has something(s) to offer a buyer that the other houses don’t, you may have a better chance of selling it compared to the other houses. If you know your other neighbors, think about doing a neighborhood garage sale or an open house tour one weekend to encourage many buyers to look at the different houses all at the same time! You may be helping out your neighbor, or you may be the lucky one to get an offer!
6. List in the spring when listings are at a low point before the big surge. You will be able to take advantage of the new green, better weather, and lower competition numbers. Plus, when your house sells, you will have more inventory to shop from!