Featured Before and After Photos

I have recently added a new feature to The Home Stylist's home page. Each month a great before and after photo will be highlighted.

I will also explain a little about what was done and why.

Here is the month of May's:



















Be sure to check out the new The Home Stylist home page each month!

Upgrading to Wood Floors

I have recently been working on the Model homes within the senior community of Fox Run of Orchard Park. The two projects turned out beautiful.

One upgrade that was done to the patio home was to remove the light beige carpeting in the dining room and replace it with a hardwood floor.

Here is the tricky part: The patio homes are one floor with no basement so the carpeting was placed over cement slab. (This is not uncommon because it makes the carpeting easier to maneuver over if you are a wheelchair or walker user). Real wood floors can not easily be installed over cement so my choices were limited to engineered or laminate with the appearance of wood. Not easy! (see photo) but after a lengthy search I found a nice compromise.

The complete before and after photo of the dining room will be featured in The Home Stylist e-newsletter scheduled for May 1. Are you on the subscriber list? Look for the yellow "Join E-mail list" on the left column of this blog.

The case of the GREEN toilet

Not long ago I was doing a Home staging consultation with a lovely couple in a nice upscale neighborhood. The house was built in the late 1980's. The house was large and the kids are now grown so the owners were looking to downsize to a condo.

The conversation went like this:



Me: One of the changes that will benefit you when selling your house is to change out the forest green toilet and sink in this bath.



Homeowner: We just did that last week! The old toilet tank top was cracked so we replaced the whole toliet. We had to special order this color to match the sink.



Me: Hummm, Ohhh. (stumble for words). Usually when you have to special order a color that means it is not a common color people are buying now. My recommendation would have been to replace the toilet and sink with white.






This is not the actual toilet or bathroom. I wanted to protect their identity. I really do (usually) love pro-active clients. When staging your home, you want colors and fixtures that are on-trend and in demand.

New Staging and Decorating Photo Gallery

I have recently added some great Before and After Photos in The Home Stylist Before and After Gallery.

Here is just one example:

Check out all the great new (and some old favorites) in the new gallery:

http://www.thehomestylist.com/gallery/index.php

Also note: I am proudly displaying the "True Portfolio" Logo. This to show that the room transformations on my website are projects I have personally worked on and/or professionally advised. I do not use stock photos.

Historically Correct Paint Colors

In between The Home Stylist client appointments, I volunteer as a docent on the Roycroft Campus in East Aurora, NY. The Roycroft Campus is a turn of the last century arts and crafts campus where beautiful books were printed, mission-style furniture was made, as well as other artisan goods. It was ran by Elbert and Alice Hubbard who perished on the Lusitania in 1915.

A few blocks from the Roycroft Campus sits Hamlin Park. In Hamlin Park is a historic pavilion. It was given to East Aurora by the Roycrofters in 1903. The Roycroft pavilion has seen many speakers, theater productions and even at one day held a roller rink. The Aurora Players now call it home.

If you are lucky enough to live or drive near the park, you can see that some changes are taking place. The Roycroft Pavilion is being added on to. The new part will contain a large lobby (no waiting for tickets in the rain), and large bathrooms (no waiting in lines). I have been working on a team that is decorating this new space while respecting its heritage.

As this project is being worked on, the solution to finding just the right paint colors is easy. Sherwin Williams has a specific line of paint developed for the historical arts and crafts era. You can buy it at any Sherwin Williams paint store. Here are some of the paint names:

Ruskin room green, Hubbard Squash, White Hyacinth, Morris Room Grey, Roycroft Rose, Dard Hunter green, Peristyle brass, Roycroft adobe.
As you can see - perfect paint names for this project!

If you are decorating your own home in the arts and crafts style, you now know where to get the perfect historically correct paint colors.