I am Now a DCC!! And of Course I Had to Reward Myself!

Yes….I just completed my training and received my DCC certification.

No, not Doctor of Chiropractic, that is a DC.

This is much better! Dewey Color Consultant!! How Fun Is That!

Yes, I went throught the two day class to learn now to put together 25,000 color combinations and make no mistakes. I learned so much.

“We Make Color Easy”!

Undertones. Blends. Neutral blends. Split Compliments. Triadic Color Schemes. Achromatic Color Schemes.

What if my client wants a triadic color scheme with a neutral blend? Is that okay??

Now I know with certainty! My clients don’t need to know those terms, I just need to help them decide what colors they love and how to put them together.

Better yet, if a husband and wife have totally opposite tastes in color I now know how to find some common ground. I now have the tools to do so.

OH…AND OF COURSE I HAD TO REWARD MYSELF AFTER COMPLETING THE CLASS.

What better way than with a new bag. AND WHAT A BAG!!

It holds my ‘Dewey Color Coordinator’ and ‘Embrace Hue You Are’ Books perfectly plus my note pad.

Isn’t it fun? Oh…and what color scheme is it?? LOL

Are you looking for assistance with color in your home but are afraid of color? Don’t know where to start or what colors to put together?

As a Certified Dewey Color Consultant Shar Sitter from Rooms With Style can give you the confidence to pick the right paint and fabric colors for one or multiple rooms.

Home Staging is So Much More Than De-Cluttering and Moving Furniture – Part 1

Home Staging Minneapolis, MN

Yes, Home Staging is about de-cluttering, yes it is about moving furniture for the best traffic flow and focal point. But it is so much more.

In this Four Part Series I will show one home with suggestions made to each room.

This is the Family Room. The paint was the main issue. Although blue is an ‘in’ color right now, it depends on the shade and tone of blue and the room it is used in.

This blue wasn’t doing much for the room, it didn’t show off the beautiful wood floor or the hand crafted white entertainment center.

I suggested a dark paint color…..yes much darker than most people would think a home stager would suggest.

The homeowner even emailed me and said “Shar, this is dark”.

“Trust me…it will be okay”

I received this email three days later: “The paint color is fabulous!! It makes the room look so modern and it isn’t too dark”.

The difference it made in enhancing the details of this room are amazing.

The paint color isn’t too dark because the room has southern exposure with a huge double french door and three other windows.

The homeowner also took my suggestion and had Rooms With Style bring in modern furnishings.

When staging your home for sale it isn’t just about de-cluttering. It is so much more so hire a trained professional home stager to give you the best advice to to get your home ready for sale.

Call Rooms With Style to gain the best advantage in this competitive market.

952-567-1124

www.roomswithstyle.com

More Before and After Photos

Lonny Magazine has released its list of the Top Five Design Trends for Your Home for 2011.

You’ve seen some of these in the stores or you may have a few. I started using  a few of these last year myself. Now it is the must have for 2011. Remember…..this does not mean you have to re-do your entire house, use pieces of these here and there. Design trends for the home are not like fashion, here today and gone tomorrow. They last many years.

#5: Mirrored Accessories and Accents

This can be an actual mirror, a mirrored  tray (love these), or if you have room a mirrored furniture piece (really love these!). A mirrored table would make a fabulous night stand, entry way table or hall table.

#4 – Typography Art

They are modern, cool and fun. You can even make them with your own picture.

#3 – Storage Art

You’ve seen them….all the beautiful boxes to store your things. The storage piece is almost a work of art in and of itself. Bring your things out of the drawer and display them. Clear acrylic jewelry boxes holding vintage pins would be beautiful on your dresser.

#2 – Mid-Century Lamps

It doesn’t matter what style home you have, you can put one of these lamps anywhere and with anything. Mix your styles…it’s okay.

#1 – Rust

From deep rust to bright orange. No need to go overboard and paint an entire room orange but pops of this color to freshen up a room would be great. Throw pillows, an upholstered chair, a lamp are just a few ideas.

It’s a new year, have some fun and be daring.  Add a mirrored accessory, a mid-century lamp and a pop of orange and you’ll be right in style when you do!

If you would like assistance incorporating any of these new trends into your home give us a call at 952-567-1124 or visit our website at: www.roomswithstyle.com

To learn more about Lonny Magazine visit: www.lonnymag.com

I just got home from a tiring day; running all over the metro to take “before” photos, appointments, tax forms to pick up, post office, and all of it in bad traffic and slick roads due to a nuisance snow fall. I hadn’t had time to check my Blackberry so when I opened my email I was thrilled to find the following testimonial:

“Our family decided to turn our unfinished basement into a family room.  We didn’t really have a vision for the room – nor did we know how to break up the space,  We thought about getting an architectural designer in – but that was going to cost us $2500 just to hear his thoughts.

 That’s when we hired Shar – and we are so glad we did!  She sat with us and heard our ideas.  She worked with the company doing the remodel and was our ally in discussions.  She was incredibly creative with the space – not to mention coming up with wonderful ideas for furniture, heating and lighting.

 Not only do we think Shar saved us literally thousands of dollars – but the process was fun!  She was never condescending (even when she knew she was right!).  She always provided us with options, and then more options.  She worked with our young daughter to design the bathroom, and let her create a space that made her feel like she was really designing her own space.

 We couldn’t say more about Shar.  We will never even think about remodeling anything in our house (or office) without contacting her.”

So how’s that for an end to my day!!

Attract More Tenants – First Impressions are key. If you are a property manager of an apartment complex the most important thing is keeping the apartments full. 100% occupancy is your goal.

What if your property is in a very young and hip area but what the potential tenant sees upon entry is this:

A tired and worn out entry may not set the tone of who your target market is for the area which is young professionals. The first impression is important so this may attract more tenants to your property:

Here are more before and after pictures of the apartment entryway and sitting area:

Rooms With Style can assist you in updating any office, common area or property. Set the tone from the minute the potential tenant enters the front door.

Yup, I’m at it again. A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog tooting my horn about being selected into the Top 20 MyKirkland’s Designers in the Nation. (See previous blog below)

I went through at 30 minute interview with the corporate headquarters of Kirklands last week and I just found out that I made it to the Top 10! Yeah……I am so thrilled and so honored.

The next step is up to America. Voting starts August 3rd and runs for a couple weeks. I will let all my friends know when voting begins and how to vote. I would really appreciate your votes.

So……I hope I get to Toot one more time, when I am one of the Five Top Designers chosen.

Is it okay to toot my own horn? I feel a little weird about it but if I don’t…who will?

I found out yesterday that I have been selected as a Semi-Finalist to be one of the next Top MyKirkland’s Designers! Yeah!! How cool is that!!

After all the applications they have narrowed it down to 20. Now I have to go through a 30 minute interview with the corporate office in Nashville. The top 10 will be selected and then America will be able to vote online with Five Designers being Selected. I’m counting on my friends to vote. But only if you are voting for me of course. LOL

I hope I make it to the top 10. I hope I am selected to be one of the Top Designers. If I only make it to the top 20 I will still take it as an honor.

Here are the design before and after photos I submitted with my application.

A little side note about this project. I did EVERY room in the house. LR, DR, FR, TOY ROOM, MB and bedrooms for 6 kids. It was all new paint colors (of which they loved dark), every piece of furniture was new down to lamps, artwork, accessories, drapes, drapery rods, bedding, sheets, bed pillows, and rugs. Only one TV was keep.

I had 10 days to complete the project top to bottom, including all the shopping, coordinating and design day. Out of that 10 days I had only 1 1/2 days to pull it all together with furniture delivery at 9:00 one morning and the big reveal at 3:00 the next day. Not a whole crew, just a team of two. Whew.

Click on the top link above to see more photos of this project.

People are always looking to create a certain feel in a room. They may want energy in a workout room or calm in a bedroom. Many people do not know how to create that feel so let me help by giving you a little Color Knowledge.

Here is a list of colors and the emotion it will generate. The depth of the color as well as the hue and underlying tones will definitely play a factor in the degree of emotion created.  

A bright orange wall versus a soft pastel tangerine, while both being energetic colors in the orange family, will bring a different level of intensity, drama and feeling into a room.

 PINK: Gentles, acquiesces, promotes intimacy and affection.

ORANGE: Cheers, expands, promotes informality and activity. Declassifies.

BLUE: Relaxes, refreshes and cools. Supports tranquility and trust.

YELLOW: Expands, warms, promotes communication and anticipation.

RED: Empowers, stimulates, dramatizes, impulsive, increases appetite.

GREEN: Rests, balances, normalizes, encourages emotional growth.

WHITE: Lights, purifies, cleans unifies, enlivens other colors.

BROWN: Stabilizes and supports. Secures. Is friendly and receptive.

BLACK: Strengthens, authorizes. Denotes status. Elegance. Ominous.

PURPLE: Creates mystery. Enlivens imagination. Spiritualizes.

Choosing a paint color is not the easiest task. There are underlying tones in every color and not everyone can see that color clearly. I recently did a Home Staging consultation and commented that the kitchen and dining room should be painted. The response from the client was “we just did”. Ugh, not the response I would want to hear. The color was very pink. The client thought they were selecting a basic tan; there is no such thing in my opinion. This tan had a definite pink undertone which became even more apparent with their lighting. A pink kitchen and dining room is not a Home Staging “Do”, it’s a Home Staging “Don’t”.

Suggestions when choosing paint color:

1)     Look at the paint colors on the entire card from the paint store. Some of the other colors on the card may give you a clearer idea of what that underlying tone really is.

2)   The color you see in the paint store is not what you will see in your home. All lighting is different with the types of bulbs used and even the time of day. Check the paint in YOUR lighting.

3)   As I stated above, the paint will look different during different times of the day, you need to look at it in ALL lighting. ALWAYS, ALWAYS pick two to three colors and paint them on your walls in various spots. In a dark corner, near the woodwork, next to the carpet or sofa. Then look at them for a couple days in different lighting. Sunny, cloudy, evening, etc. This makes a HUGE difference. If you don’t want to mess up your walls just yet, paint large pieces of tag board and tack them to your walls.

4)   Hire a professional. If you are nervous or just want a second opinion, it is always nice to bring in a professional who may see tones that you do not see, or have ideas that you may not have thought about.

Do what I say, not what I do, ha. I learned my lesson on this subject years ago when I was painting my home. I was swamped and I described to my painter that I wanted a deep sage green for my living room. He bought a sample and painted it on different areas of my walls just as I recommend. However, I came home when it was dark, and woke up and left for an appointment when it was dark (one of those short winter days) and told the painter to go ahead, I loved the color. Oops, didn’t take my own advice. I woke up the morning after the painting was done on a bright sunny Saturday morning and walked down to a living room so green I thought I was a pimento inside of an olive! Thus, the repainting began.

Take the advice of a professional that learned the hard way. Choose two to three colors, apply them on the wall, and look at them for a few days in ALL lighting.

“A family room addition returns an average of 65% of its cost at resale, as long as the improvement is in line with other homes in the neighborhood” says houselogic.com, a website giving ample advice on making improvements to your home.  That rate of return may be even less for those of us in the midwest, more for homeowners on the west coast. HouseLogic is a site provide by the National Association of Realtors. A lot of helpful information is provided on any addition you may be thinking of making to your home, even a second story!

To see more on this article go  to: http://www.houselogic.com/articles/family-room-addition-return-investment/