Need a quick snack recipe and I mean quick? Plus it is yummy!!

I made these for my Christmas plates but they would be fabulous for a New Year’s Party, Super Bowl Party or anytime during the year.

Cinnamon Pretzels!

It is such a nice surprise when you think you are biting into a regular pretzel and then find the taste of cinnamon and sugar! Delicious.

Put them in a Decorative Tin and they would make a wonderful Hostess Gift as well.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 pound package small pretzel twists

Directions:

1. In a large roasting pan stir together oil, sugar and cinnamon. Add pretzels; toss well to combine. Bake, uncovered in a 300 degree F oven for 30 minutes, stirring twice. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in an airtight container. Makes 12 cups.

Microwave Directions:

2. In a very large bowl stir together oil, sugar and cinnamon. Add pretzels; toss well to combine. Place half of the pretzel mixture in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on 100 percent power (high) for 3 minutes, stirring after every minute. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Repeat with remaining pretzel mixture.

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In reading the reviews of this recipe a couple complaints were that the sugar wasn’t sticking to the pretzel. To make sure the pretzels were well coated this is what I did. (I used the oven, not the microwave).

A couple hints of what I did:

1) I used Rold Gold Mini Pretzels as they are a little fatter. (I made one batch with the thinner ones and not as good).

2) I doubled the oil, sugar and cinnamon for 1 pound of pretzels to make the coating thicker.

3) I put the coating in a bowl, poured in 1/2 the pretzels and stirred them until well coated. I used tongs to place them on the pan. Then I repeated the process. Any additional coating remaining in the bowl I poured over the pretzels in the pan. I also set the timer at 10 minute intervals to stir them thoroughly to keep them coated. I had no problems and the thicker coating was the best!!

I cannot stress enough how easy this recipe is and how good they are!! I hope you make them for yourself if nothing else. Enjoy!

www.roomswithstyle.com

952-567-1124

Do You Need A Silent Night?

My life has been nuts lately….what about yours?

Business as usual, shopping, wrapping, baking, blogging, year end planning, marketing, business planning for 2012, and on and on and on.

So maybe you need a Silent Night too.

Let the words and music of Amy Grant give you that….at least for a few minutes.

What do you love to do? Can you do what you love and bless others at the same time?

I love to read, knit and bake. I take the love of knitting and make prayer shawls for those in the hospitals, nursing homes or just someone needing a pick me up gift.

I take my love of baking and turn it into a blessing for others during the holiday season by providing plates of cookies during Christmas Caroling to those that are shut-in. After being sung to, each person is handed a plate of homemade cookies.

Let’s follow my day recently:

Bright and early in the morning with my pastry chef outfit and my cup of coffee, I am ready to go with my very clean kitchen island and heavy duty mixer. (don’t I look just like Vanna White??).

A couple hours later…..look what my friend Patty has done to my clean kitchen!!

When I started doing this about ten years ago I was asked for about 8 – 10 plates of cookies. Then it was 12- 15, etc.  This year was the biggest need ever with many elderly men losing their wives and many very sick people. I was asked for 30 plates of cookies so 30 it was.

Assembly day looked something like this:

We made about 18 different things and every year I just have to try a few new recipes. Last year it was ‘Sea Salt and Pink Peppercorn Caramels’. This year it was ‘Spicy Peanut Brittle’ and ‘Christmas Mice’.

Can you fine my little Christmas Church Mouse peeking out on the plate? Complete with ears and a tail?

Oh….and of course the empty Tupperware containers after the assembly process was quite the sight!!

So what do you love to do? Can you bless others with it? How about making that a goal for 2012??

Wishing you a very blessed Christmas Season and a wonderful 2012!

www.roomswithstyle.com

952-567-1124

Sold in 17 Days! Woo Hoo!! Home Staging Minnetonka MN

Now that’s what I’m talking about. Love to get those emails saying a property I staged sold so quickly.

I was hired to stage this vacant home because it had a really tough living room layout. I even stood and scratched my head when I was in the home taking measurements. I normally know immediately the layout I will use or at least have a pretty good idea. This one. Nothing.

If I was struggling and I do this for a living what do you think the potential buyer thought??

Long narrow room, fireplace on one end, traffic pattern down one entire side, patio doors to get access on the other. Yikes!

A sofa was too long to put crosswise facing the fireplace, and if I put it perpendicular to the fireplace you couldn’t walk behind it to get out the patio door or into the dining room.

So here is what I came up with:

Even a few colorful things on the counter-tops help the white kitchen.

The small dining room with a strangely placed light fixture were also enhanced with home staging.

The Master Bedroom was not only a little blah, it looked very small. I think this helped:

Don’t leave the buyer standing in the middle of a room baffled and wondering what they would do with their furniture…..show them! Call a Professional Home Stager and let your house be the one the buyer wants!

Rooms With Style Home Staging and Redesign MN

952-567-1124

www.roomswithstyle.com

Inexpensive Kitchen Updates for Low End Homes – Home Staging Minneapolis MN

Yesterday I wrote a post “Is Home Staging A Good Investment for Low End Homes?”. My focus was a home that was going to be listed for $80,000 including a brand new garage just being built. That price is well below the median price of a home in the Minneapolis Metro area.

So, is home staging a good return on the investment for low end homes?

Yesterday’s post showed the living room and dining room as well as the selling results. Today I wanted to show you the difference specifically in the kitchen.

Remember this fact….”KITCHENS SELL HOMES”.

That statement isn’t qualified by “unless the home is under $200K” or whatever number you set. It applies to ALL homes regardless of price.

So in this tiny low end home in a tough area of Minneapolis, it has a further detriment in that it’s front door opens right smack into the kitchen. See the front door on the right? Awkward? Aahhh….yes.

So, what do you need to do? Make the buyer’s jaw drop and not have them thinking about the awkwardness.

I met with the investor and here were my suggestions:

1) Modernize – Replace the kitchen cabinet hardware with oil rubbed bronze hardware available at big box stores for 10 for $14.99. Install a ready-made composite wood blind on the window again from a big box store.

2) Create Drama – Find clearanced-out or discontinued Mosaic tile at a tile shop or big box store and install a back splash. Sheets of 12″x12″ tile can sometimes be found for a couple bucks.

3) Get Rid of Wasted Space – There is a huge dance floor in the middle of this kitchen which is lacking counter space. My advice, pick up a portable island creating more counter space as well as a modern look. The black and stainless steel island shown below was found at Big Lots for $119,

4) Fun – Add a little fun for very little money by putting a glass pendant light above the sink again found at big box stores for under $20.

THE RESULTS:

Note: no new appliances, no new cabinets.

Do you have a low end investment property, home or listing and think it’s not worth putting in a little money or sweat equity? I would think again.

Take a look at the living room and dining room pictures on my Previous Post. This home sold in Four Days.

For professional advice on all price level homes call a Professional Certified Home Stager.

Is Home Staging A Good Investment for Low End Homes? Home Staging Minneapolis, MN

That is a question I get a lot. “This isn’t a high end home, will home staging provide a good return on the investment?”

The investment in home staging can vary of course with the smallest investment being a Home Staging Consultation. The next level for cost is what I call ‘Hands on Staging’ or ‘Owner Occupied Staging’ and the third and usually the most costly is ‘Vacant Home Staging’.

I was called by an investor to give her a bid to stage a vacant low-end home in shall I politely say ‘not the best area’ of Minneapolis.

The list price was going to be approximately $80,000 and that was to include a brand new garage yet to be built. So you can see…..the home was well below the median home price.

This home was TINY! Apartment tiny. Two bedrooms, one bath, a super tiny living room, almost a non-existent dining room. No upstairs, no basement (unusual for MN) and a very strange layout.

The front door opened smack dab into the center of the kitchen. YUP right into the middle of the kitchen, see the front door there on the right?

(Watch for my next post for suggestions on how to update a kitchen in a VERY low end home).

YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE DIFFERENCE MADE TO THIS KITCHEN!!

You can see almost the entire house from one spot. I am standing in the kitchen taking the picture above, you can see one bedroom straight ahead and there is another to the right of it and the bathroom/laundry together.

That’s it. Tiny. Bad part of town as you can see by the side door. Worth Staging???

The investor was very worried. “This home has such a strange layout and it is so small”.

“Don’t worry”, I said. “It is going to be really cute.”

I helped her pick out flooring and gave her some other inexpensive improvement ideas…mostly in the kitchen….just wait till you see it in my next post!

The investor stopped by as I was finishing up the staging and her comment was: “Oh my gosh, it is so cute! It looks like a doll house!! I want to live here. Of all the home stagers listed on the Internet I sure am glad I picked you”.

It was listed on a Thursday, had showings Saturday and Sunday, and an accepted offer on Monday.

Sold in Four Days!

So….does Home Staging Pay for Low End Homes? This investor thinks so.

For investors it is all about selling quickly.

Time is money and they want to get on to their next project. The cost of staging was rewarded with a quick sale which is money in an investors pocket.

Need assistance getting your investment property sold? A professional home stager understands your goals.

Watch for my next post to see the “After” pictures of that Entryway…I mean Kitchen. I know I have teased you enough but it is really cute. LOL

Don’t Forget to Stage the Office!

Home Offices are important square footage. Most buyers want a  home office as many now telecommute or have their own businesses that are run from their homes.

If it is important to a buyer it should be important to you! Set the stage, show them how great the space can be!

This??

Or This??

Many new construction homes or homes built within the last decade have the office right inside the front door. Even MORE important for Home Staging.

Sometimes the office is self explanatory with built in desks and shelving but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be staged. Here is a perfect example of a high end rehabbed home we staged for an investor. If you walk in, take your shoes off and see this it may not leave much of an impression.

But this might:

When it comes to staging your home for sale don’t forget the office. It is space wanted by the buyer and that means money to you!

Your home is  your biggest asset. Make all the square footage count by calling a Professional Certified Home Stager.

Rooms With Style Home Staging and Redesign Minneapolis/St Paul MN

www.roomswithstyle.com

952-567-1124

Do you have any idea what the dollar value is of a buyer’s first impression?

Home Stagers talk about first impressions all the time. We talk until we are blue in the face and sometimes we are still dismissed with “it’s not that important, I have a great kitchen.”

That may be true but the first gut reaction never goes away. I heard Real Estate Agent and Mogul Barbara Corcoran put an actual dollar value on first impressions and I sat up straight in my chair. I had never heard it expressed in actual $$$ before.

If you are not aware of who Barbara Corcoran is, she is a Real Estate Contributor on NBC’s Today show, part of ABC’s reality hit Shark Tank, as well as a frequent guess on one of my favorite shows “The Nate Berkus Show”.

It was on Nate’s program that I heard this discussion*. A young couple had their home for sale for six months with almost 100 showings and without receiving a single offer.

Nate asked Barbara if Home Staging is really needed and worth it in this depressed economy and Real Estate Market. Barbara’s reply and I paraphrase:

“Home Staging is no longer an option. It makes a difference of a house selling or not. Homeowners do the heavy work of upgrading kitchens and baths but Home Staging makes the biggest difference on first impressions. People walk in and feel like ‘I want to live here. It feels like I could see myself living here’.”

With Designer Nate Berkus’s expertise they assisted this couple with their living room, the first room the buyer walked into. They took down blinds, painted the dated brick, rearranged the furniture which was pushed against the walls, deleted bulky over-sized furniture and a wall unit blocking the view of the fireplace and added some new items.

Do you know what Barbara said was the dollar value to the bottom line for this change?

5% – 7% of the value of what the home is worth!!

Now do you understand how important a first impression is?

With a $400,000 listing that is $20,000 – $28,000.

If you think you can’t afford Home Staging you may want to think again. You may be leaving money on the table.

If you don’t want to leave money on the table call a certified Home Staging Professional at 952-567-1124.

www.roomswithstyle.com

*Watch the complete segment of the Nate Berkus Show by clicking on This Link.

Really? This is November in Minnesota?

I went out Sunday with my husband to cut back our perennials for the season and was shocked at what I saw.

Some of my annual pots were still in full bloom!

Good for them. They’re Not Giving Up Yet!!

Stop and Smell the Flowers…..Even in  November!