Be at war with your voices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man.– Benjamin Franklin

Reflecting on 2010

As year-end comes around, it’s a time to look back and assess the year’s activities. The idea is to evaluate and make adjustments to improve in the new year.

I found that I spent 2010 busy being busy. Constantly on the go: going to meetings, going to events; going to presentations – you get the picture. I spent more than 60 % of my time going to meetings and participating in marketing events, and the balance of my time actually Staging; making telephone calls, working on non-profit organizations' activities; trade shows/expos and financial planning/meetings.

A restless night came to an end at 5:09 a.m. by the realization that it may be time for me to reassess not only where I’m spending my time, but also what profitability actually means.

Of course, there is the monetary profitability we all automatically defer to when the word profit is used. What about personal profitability? What is it that makes us feel good and contented? Maybe all the social interaction with others actually triggers more creativity in us. And could it be that others inspire us to do better and be better in many phases of our lives? And maybe, I realized, the enjoyment I get spending time in the company of others -- whether doing a presentation or listening to one -- is invaluable. This is my reward, i.e., profit, for spending time with others.

And, what about the bigger picture? You know, the one beyond our P&L and desires to grow our business.

Maybe it’s just because it’s Christmastime, but as I was laying in the darkness this morning tossing around all of these questions, I could not help but think of Jimmy Stewart’s character in “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Well, actually it was this movie combined with a recent Mastering Performance luncheon I attended. In the luncheon, our instructor shared with us the reality that 75% of our world as we know it is filled with stuff that we don’t know – and we simply don’t know what we don’t know. Are we making a positive impact somehow, someway, on someone or some thing that we don’t even realize?

And all through this process I hear a voice that says, “you’re doing fine.” My company is less than two years old and intellectually I know that as the business grows, the time paradigm will shift accordingly.

But this morning I resolved to stop worrying so much about making more money and to stop focusing solely on monetary profit. I realized that God is in control of my life and I’m only a small part of His big plan. I must trust and believe that these things that keep me up at night will all work out. Perhaps it is the Christmas season -- and all that it is about -- that is now speaking softly to me in a very big voice.

Merry Christmas.

www.ballantynehomestaging.com | 980.322.5825 | carol@ballantynehomestaging.com

Partnership with the Power of 2 Brokers

Ballantyne Home Staging is excited to announce a partnership with Keller Williams Ballantyne Realtors® Jim McGuire & Eileen Simms "Power of 2 Brokers"! Ballantyne Home Staging offers a proven track record and will Stage® your home to make an excellent first impression and invite offers!

Eileen Simms & Jim McGuire PowerOf2Brokers
http://www.powerof2brokers.com/
Contact Eileen & Jim:
Phone: 704-497-2224
Cell: 704-608-7863
Fax: 704-717-5772
3430 Toringdon Way, Suite 101
Charlotte, NC 28277

www.ballantynehomestaging.com | 980.322.5825 | carol@ballantynehomestaging.com

We want to see THAT house. The importance of online pictures.

How many home buyers start their home search on the Internet?

 

 

I’ve seen statistics ranging from 82% to more than 90%. So just for fun, I conducted my own non-scientific survey of those looking at houses and asked them:

 

1. “What are you looking for while viewing all the different homes for sale online photos?

 

2. “What makes you stop and spend more time looking at a particular house online?”

Here are the most common/similar replies:

• Empty rooms don’t show me anything (except what color the walls are painted.)
• If the house looked like a mess, we skipped it.
• If the pictures were too dark, I skipped right over them.
• If the pictures were hazy or blurred, I skipped past them.
• It’s hard for me to see how large the rooms are when they’re empty.
• I can’t tell if our furniture will fit or not.
• If the furniture is worn & out of date, it makes me think the house is worn and out of date, too.
• Houses that look nice and clean go to the top of our list.
• Houses that look nice on the outside and inside catch our attention because they seem to be well maintained.
• Nicely decorated houses are attractive, plus we can see how big the rooms are more so than when looking at empty rooms.

None of the answers surprise me, but does make me continue to wonder why so many home sellers do not seek the assistance of a professional Home Stager prior to listing their houses. Home Staging makes such a huge impact and should be done prior to any photographs being taken.

Professionally Staged Home + Professional Photography + Properly Priced Listing = SOLD.

www.ballantynehomestaging.com | 980.322.5825 | carol@ballantynehomestaging.com

Feng Shui 101

Feng Shui is the system for arranging your surroundings in harmony and balance with the natural world. Feng Shui means “wind and water,” in Chinese and give us a practical and easy to follow set of guidelines for decorating.


There are three Power Principles of Feng Shui: Chi – energy; The Five Elements – Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood; and the Baqua – the chart used to map influential areas of a house, room, or even the lot a house will be or is built on.
There are a variety of tools available for those who would like to incorporate Feng Shui into their lives:

Color – which adds emotion. The Five Elements are represented by colors, shapes & materials

Art – used to enhance Chi and create balance in spaces

Living plants & flowers – used to connect us with nature. Live plants can also absorb moisture in areas such as the kitchen and bathroom.  The best plants to use in these two rooms are upright growing.

Water features – used for calming effect and to attract Chi

Wind Chimes – used to attract Chi

Mirrors and crystals – used to attract, or slow down and redirect Chi. Be careful to no place a mirror incorrectly as this will have the opposite effect of attracting negative energy to an inappropriate place.

Feng Shui is a great set of guiding principles for home stagers and interior decorators – and at Ballantyne Home Staging we use elements of Feng Shui with each client


www.ballantynehomestaging.com | 980.322.5825 | carol@ballantynehomestaging.com

Space Planning Tips for Large Rooms

The great challenges with these spaces are simply defining areas and creating some sense of intimacy in the place. For these reasons, it is extremely important to create separate areas in these rooms where furniture is not spread too far apart, somewhat like a room within a room. The goal is to create social settings where people can interact. Multiple seating areas in large spaces are much more practical than having to scream across the bowling alley to have a conversation, so here are big space tips to help you out.


1. Place area rugs to anchor a space. These can be angled to add visual interest.

2. Use larger scale furniture – oversized, overstuffed, and higher backs

3. Use larger scale artwork and accessories

4. Mix textures in the flooring, furnishings, accessories, and draperies to warm up the room.

5. Use warmer colors on the walls, as deeper hues tend to bring the walls in a bit.

6. Don’t forget the ceilings! In large rooms with soaring ceilings, consider painting the ceiling one shade darker than the walls to visually lower it a bit. This will also help to create a more intimate space.


www.ballantynehomestaging.com | 980.322.5825 | carol@ballantynehomestaging.com

Space Planning tips for Small Rooms

I recently conducted a survey of REALTORSÒ to find out what they were most interested in learning from Home StagersÒ.  The #1 answer, with 83.3% of all responses, was Space Planning.  With such a large number of REALTORSÒ identifying space planning as a topic of interest, we'll do a series to cover the topic, starting with this particular blog on small spaces.

The first thing to do is consider what it takes to open up the space.  This means that you can eliminate any piece of furniture or accessory that does not have a purpose, which might mean someone has to get rid of a sentimental sea shell from Spring Break '89, but it must be done.  In small spaces, it is best to remove and avoid heavy draperies, going instead for simple window treatments such as roman shades or sheers hung high near the ceiling and touch the floor, creating a light, flowing feel. 

In small homes or apartments, a smooth flow of energy from room to room can be accomplished simply by using the same color in various shades throughout. It's also wise to keep the trim work painted the same throughout for continuity.  When selecting furnishings for small spaces, remember that a monochromatic approach makes a room look larger.  Splashes of color can be brought in with rugs, wall art and accessories.  



Of course, the use of mirrors to reflect light is a nice visual enhancement in small spaces.  But a poorly placed mirror will do you no good at all. In small rooms, good places to hang a mirror are above a table lamp to reflect light, or across from a window to bring the outside in.  This only works if you have clean windows and a nice view. So, if you're overlooking the stockyard and/or haven't cleaned the windows in 2 or more years, do not hang a mirror across from the window.

Multi-Functional Furniture:  In small spaces, it's important to minimize furniture scale & also consider multi-functional pieces. For example, if planning a small 1-bedroom apartment, consider a sleeper sofa no more than 72” wide or even a sleeper loveseat, with a small storage ottoman and end tables that have drawers for additional storage. Bedroom nightstands should always have drawers, and small closets should be augmented with over-the-door shoe hangers, a small two- or three-drawer dresser inside the closet, and several pegs on the side walls inside the closet for belts, ties, hand bags, etc. 

Glass top tables -- whether cocktail table, end table, night stand, or dinette -- keep a space feeling open and airy.  Solid surface table tops block both space and precious light in small places.  For this same reason, in small kitchens and galley kitchens, the use of glass fronts in the cabinets is a good way to open up the space.  This can easily be done by removing the cabinet doors and inside panels, then replacing the panels with glass. 

And if you're trying to sell a small house that has dark wood molding and cabinets, it's a good idea to have these painted to brighten up the space. 

Look Up:  Did you know that recessed lighting draws the eyes upward?  By taking the eyes upward, these little lights can create a feeling of the ceilings being higher than they actually are in older homes.

Look Down:  If possible, use only one style of flooring in small houses because different flooring in a small house makes the space feel disjointed. Remember the goal is to have seamless flow from room to room.  Sometimes it's not practical, of course, because you don't want carpeting in the kitchen and bathroom; however, it is best to leave the flooring surfaces in small houses to only two if possible.

http://www.ballantynehomestaging.com/ | 980.322.5825 | carol@ballantynehomestaging.com