8 Budget Decorating Ideas:Recession Chic

When times are tough, it doesn’t mean that style and beautiful decor is out of the question. You can have home of your dreams on your budget. Follow these 8 easy ideas for decorating on a budget.

1.Get Creative: Make the most of your budget and still achieve luxury for less. See beyond the ordinary. Garb 3 plain screened canvases from your local art store. Pick 3 colors of paint. Lay the canvases side by side. Paint in a pattern that goes from canvas #1 to canvas #3. When dry, hang on the wall side by side. Learn to approach your decor with fresh eyes.
2.Light It Up: Don’t underestimate the importance of good lighting! The wrong lighting can exaggerate flaws, visually change colors of any decor item, or worse yet make a perfectly beautiful room look terrible. For a safe bet, make sure that each corner of the room has some sort of lighting accessory. It will liven up any dark corner, giving the room the illusion of grandeur.
3.Paint. Painting is a very easy and cost effective way to update your interior. A fresh coat of paint can drastically impact the look of your home. Used correctly paint can create an optical illusion and make you room look larger or cozier. You can create the illusion of high ceilings or bring the ceiling down visually, by simply using paint.
4.Re-Arrange: So easy and possible to do in an afternoon. This is another way to get maximum impact without putting a dent in your wallet. Try configuring your furniture layout until you are pleased. Sometimes you really don’t need new furniture you just need to place it correctly to make it look like you did buy new furniture.
5.Re-Evaluate: Take the time to inventory your decor. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much you really do have! Once you know what you have you can decide what to do with it. If you have a Wingback chair in your bedroom collecting old clothes and dust, then re-evaluate it! Maybe you need to move that chair to complete a perfect conversation area in your living room.
6.Re-Move: If you don’t use it or will have no use for it, then remove it! Donate it to your favorite charity, ask a friend if they can put it to good use or if it is a total loss, toss it! Don’t crowd your home and life with “dead” pieces, it will only cause you grief and frustration.
7.Re-Finish: If you have pieces that are in good condition and still functional then give it a face-lift. Re-upholster that old tired sofa or strip the paint on that chest of drawers and either stain it or paint it to make it new again!
8.Re-cycle: Before you throw anything away, think about how it can be given a second life. We all have clothes in our closets that we have put there to be forgotten. Well think about using that old bridesmaids or prom dress as fabric for your fabulous new pillows. Again learn to approach the ordinary items in your home with fresh eyes and you’ll find that decorating on a budget is easier than you thought!

Home Staging Aids Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

Foreclosure is an unpleasant topic. But with the economy spiraling downward and the current crisis in the mortgage industry, it is a topic that some of us will have to deal with.

According to home staging expert Debra Gould, the key to avoiding foreclosure is to be proactive. “If you know that you will have difficulty making your mortgage payments in the near future, contact your lender immediately,” Gould states. “Explain your situation politely and clearly, and ask if you can negotiate a modified mortgage payment plan. Don’t be embarrassed to take this important step. Lenders are much more likely to work with you if you have contacted them before the foreclosure process has begun.”

Many people facing the prospect of foreclosure will decide that the best solution is to sell their houses. If this is the only viable option for you, then you have a particularly strong incentive to sell your home as quickly as possible and for the best possible price.

This means hiring the best agent for your area. Your agent should have an intimate knowledge of your neighborhood, be able to identify comparable home sales and make this information available to you. Additionally, he or she should disclose the current market conditions and have extensive networking abilities as well as solid negotiation skills.

If you have decided that selling your home is your best option, you will need to prep your home for showings. Hiring a professional home stager is the single best way to outshine your competition. It might seem counterintuitive to hire a professional stager when you’ve tightened your budget and are facing the sale of your home to avoid foreclosure; however, it has been proven time and time again that staged homes sell faster and for a higher price than homes that are sold “as is.”

The real estate market will likely see a great number of homes going on the market in the months ahead, and your home will need to stand out among the rest. You want your home to be the one that people fall in love with the moment they enter, and a home stager helps make that happen.

When hiring a home stager, remember that home staging is not a regulated field. Anyone can claim to be accredited or certified, and many present portfolios of their work that they bought as part of a course. When hiring a home stager, ask questions about any before and after photos you are shown, look for a demonstrated understanding of the local real estate market and don’t make a decision based solely on price. You often get what you pay for, and in a serious situation like the sale of your home, you need the very best professional advice available. Hiring the right real estate stager can mean an extra $10,000 to $70,000 in the selling price of your home.

When you are facing foreclosure and must sell your home quickly, pricing your home correctly and marketing it effectively are not always enough to get a quick sale in this market. You must go above and beyond other homes for sale in your neighborhood to catch the eye of potential buyers. By using the services of a professional home stager, your house is much more likely to be one that sells.
Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with over 1000 Graduates worldwide. Gould is the author of two home staging guides and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. To learn more, visit www.stagingdivadirectoryofhomestagers.com
Written by internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®, www.stagingdiva.com. © 2008, Six Elements Inc. Used with permission.