House to Home & Home to House - Which design approach is right for you?

An email arrived today asking for some advice about a new home. The home in question had immediate appeal; which is why made an offer within hours of her first visit. However, the owner is contemplating a sale just six months after moving because it doesn't seem like a good fit for her anymore. She essentially wanted to know how it could be possible to fall out of love so quickly when "there is nothing really wrong with the house."

Without seeing the house I immediately wondered if she had made her house a home. Here is the gist of my reply:

Home to House Design Phase

The Home to House design phase occurs before you put your house on the market. Not planning for this phase may negatively affect your marketing efforts. Home to House Design is normally characterized by the terms neutralizing, staging, show home, model home, and market ready. The space is usually missing family pictures, and custom touches (and by custom I mean any choices having a strong personal appeal that very few will appreciate).

Also missing are shocking colors, anything that will offend the average person, clutter, dirt, and most traces of family life. All the spaces within the house have an obvious function. You may decide to hire a home or real estate staging professional, or a redesign expert to help you with this phase. I don't necessarily recommend looking for an interior designer at this time unless they offer a (lower cost) redesign or staging service. Generally, interior design services are more expensive and normally selected when you want to make a place feel like home. Save the interior design for later. What you want is for people looking at the house to feel like they can turn this stylish model home into their home... which usually brings a quick sale and the new owner now focused on the...

House to Home Design Phase (or, where my caller needs to be today)

Characterized as breathing personality into the space, making yourself at home, and leaving your mark. It also means assessing your space and making changes to suit your personal taste and functional needs. Hiring an interior or creative designer at this stage if you need help is a good move. Also helpful during this phase are organization specialists, painters, faux finishers, closet designers, and artists. But if the Home to House phase looms anywhere on the horizon, I caution you about making extensive and costly changes you'll need to correct later for a quick sale.

Of course, these are only a few general considerations I would use to determine the best approach. (Haven't we have all heard exception stories of a-dog-of-a-home selling quickly simply because it is located in a fabulous area or offered at a great price??)

So - here's hoping that with whatever phase you happen to find yourself in you will...

Be creative.

Lise

Emotional Connections to Things

My studio is not ready for prime time. So I'd hesitate to share a wide-angle view of it on places like Studio Friday. Yet it is the place I retreat to when I am interested in making collages, or when I'm ready to scan illustrations and blog.

When I moved, I rediscovered all types of creative stuff (beads, tools, canvas, paper, craft glue, ribbons, fabric, books, portfolios, etc.). And because I claimed the living room as my designated studio space, the movers dumped every randomly-connected art supply there.

Fast forward a few months, and my art making in that room has slowed considerably, because of too much clutter!

What a fabulous conversation I had with my friend Cheryl Finley today. One of the many topics we discussed was letting go of past stuff. We discussed the emotional connection to things. After our conversation, I realized that I am emotionally connected to creativity. How in the world can I throw anything away - especially when there's nothing wrong with it!?!?? Yet, my studio today feels a little stifling and that is cutting down on the time I spend there to create.

So I'm now in search of a swap situation. I'm offering lots of creative materials, tools, products, books, etc that I've outgrown and are no longer serving me. If you're interested in the possibilities of purging things that don't serve you any longer, please send me an email or enter a comment below. If I have enough interested parties, I will set up a studio stuff swap group to trade useful studio/art/creativity supplies.

Let's put the energy back into our spaces.

Be Creative!

Lise

Plan, Organize & Design your own Creative Project Files

Plan, Organize & Design your own Creative Project Files


I create a project portfolio to hold all of my thoughts, product specifications, and other details in one place. I use it for home and garden design; party planning; art projects; and workshop designs. In fact, I encourage my clients to create their own project portfolio to capture information about the projects we work on together. My early portfolios included only loose sheets of paper which easily grew disorganized. But with better planning and a few hours prep time, my project files have become much more organized. If you're interested in making your own portfolio to document your projects, these basic materials will get you started:

• Push pins
• Graph paper
• 11 x 17 paper
• index cards
• page protectors
• page tabs/dividers
• Cork design board
• Business card pockets
• Vinyl/Plastic zippered pouches
• Drawing/Illustration Pens & Markers (Prismacolor is my favorite brand )
• Two small journals - one lined, one unlined (I like to have a journal that lays flat as well, that way I can use the scanner to save designs in electronic format.)
• A zipped binder, an artist portfolio, or large binder with rings

When you shop for the contents of your project files, try to personalize them in a way that inspires you. I shop in office supply stores, scrapbooking and paper speciality stores, art & craft retailers, home & garden, hardware and housewares stores to mix things up. Of course you're free to assemble your materials in a way that works for you. But this particular selection of materials will allow you to sketch, collect, store, transport and file. I like to use a cork design board that stays on the wall to see multiple things together, like swatches, photos or other inspirational items. If I need to take them on the road, I just pop them into the zippered pouch in my binder and I'm off.

Take some time to document your next creative project. Combine your sketches with idea journaling; take digital photos; save magazine photos clippings; gather paint chips and other materials. Make models, explore and above all...

Be creative!

Lise

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