Staging for the Holidays

Selling your home throughout the holidays is often intimidating due to the weather conditions and hectic schedules. However, if staged correctly, the holidays can be a great time to showcase your home. Keeping in mind that one of the most important things while selling a home is to create an emotional connection with the potential buyer and the home, the holiday season can provide the perfect opportunity to do so. Here are some stylicious recommendations to stage your home and ensure the best possible offer throughout the holiday season:

• Colour Scheme – The colour scheme should be simple and classic.  Our rule of thumb is that 80% should be a neutral such as silver, while 20% should be an accent colour such as red. 
• Decorations – Keep all accent pieces tasteful and stylish, while staying religion neutral and avoiding figurines. Be careful not to over decorate or clutter.
• Baking – Just because your house is on the market doesn’t mean that you have to give up on family activities and traditions throughout the holidays. Get the family involved and bake some of your favourite treats before any open houses which will fill the house with a nice aroma. Lay out a tray of the baked goods for the guests to eat while viewing the home.
• Front Entrance – Flank festive urns on either side of the front door in the same colour scheme as your home.  Hang a simple wreath on your front door and be sure to keep all walkways to your home clear of ice and snow.
• Lighting – Exterior and Interior lighting should be all one colour tone and provide good ambiance without being overbearing. 
• Family Activities – Take advantage of the open house schedule to take the kids out for holiday activities and enjoy the holiday spirit.

The holidays can be an excellent time to sell your home since it’s a great time to display your home in a festive way that allows potential buyers to envision future family traditions in years to come. 

How to create a perfect photo collage!

All of us have great family photos and collectibles but are often challenged with how to display them in a stylicious manner.  Consider a wall collage to showcase family getaways, celebratory moments, and the interesting collectibles you have acquired over the years.  Here are some helpful tips to create a stylish collage:

• Colour - The most stylicious collages keep the colour of the frames consistent.  E.g. All white, all black or in similar colours like white and silver
• Style - The style can change granted the colour is the same.  You can combine vintage, modern, large, small, economical and/or expensive.  You can even change the matting to simple matting, detailed matting, or no matting and just having a great picture in a clear glass frame.  Try photo boxes for your artifacts.
• Sizing - The best collages have varying sized frames.
• Placement - They should be geometric overall (with all frames combined) and the best way to create that perfect shape is to lay out the frames you have in mind on the floor, use an A-Framed ladder and take an aerial picture of the potential layout.  Pictures often show the smallest of details that are out of place.  Once you have a layout that you like, you can make simple paper cut-outs of the frames and tape cut-outs (with low tack painters tape) to the wall.  Adjust accordingly.
• Subject: The best collages keep the subject similar and relative.  Use photos with a similar theme like travel photos, family photos, artifacts, etc.  All photos should be in the same colour, black & white, or sepia.

Ultimately, a photo collage is best suited to you when it captures your memories and style.  Be sure to use the same coloured frames & photos.  Be creative on the sizes and shapes of the frames to create a perfect collage to meet your family needs and style!