Burlingame home staging, San Mateo home staging, San Francisco home staging

It’s that time again:  New Year’s resolutions can be fun to make but difficult to keep.  Why not make your resolutions around a central theme so they are easy to stick to — like home-keeping?

For example, an easy to clean home is an easy to stage home.  Here are some organizing solutions that will keep your home tidy and clutter free all year round, and help you keep any resolutions that you made related to housekeeping:

This inexpensive faux leather storage ottoman is a perfect dual purpose piece of furniture.  It can be used as a coffee table and footrest, and when in a hurry to get your home ready for guests or home buyers, is a nice place to store away personal items such as toys or photographs.

Baskets are an easy way to add some chic shabby charm to your home.  And a quick way to store away yarn, magazines, books — things that might normally be very relaxing for you can be a stressful and very personal for a potential home-buyer.

These dog bookcases are a very unique and interesting way to store or display a few books.  Set these up in your study or your kids rooms, and you have an instant conversation piece AND shelf to stash your books in a hurry.

So — maybe your potential home-buyers or guests won’t peek into your kitchen cabinets.  Or maybe they will.  Either way, you will be ready.  These pan protectors are simple, pretty, and functional; all the things we like when searching for storage solutions.  These can also be used between glass bowls and platters, so as you are putting away all your holiday host dishes — you can rest easy knowing they are safe and sound in storage.

Lastly, this chairside storage table is perfect for all the little personal knick-knacks you may have forgotten to store away.  You can store your keys, toys, pens, paper, bills, etc. very quickly here.  It’s the perfect piece for any staged living room and can save you lots of time looking for lost items when you know exactly where you stored them!

What are some of unique storage solutions that you have? Feel free to share in the comment section below!

Although Small Business Saturday was nearly 1 month ago, why not make everyday small business day?

This week’s post holiday gift guide includes a handful of gifts from Etsy!

This artist prints beautiful illustrations on antique dictionary pages.  You can buy several for a unique arrangement or just one for your favorite collector.  Either way, we like the recycled dictionary pages for a vintage look! This is also a great way to add artwork into your space by adding a simple black frame.

The holiday season can be very stressful! This Organic Stress Reliefcandle made from soy and essential oils would be a great gift for yourself, as a reminder to slow down and take time to relax to avoid post holiday burnout, or a nice eco-friendly gift for friends or family.

Gotten lots of great jewelry this holiday season? Mustache related items are super in right now. How about a mustache themed jewelry rack to hold your new pieces? It can serve as a whimsical display in your home.

Need some new decor after the holidays? Vinyl wall decal to the rescue! These are some great pieces to add themes to your spaces without permanent commitments. If you grow tired of the decal, you can simply remove it and use another theme!

Okay — so Ecojoe isn’t listed on Etsy, but real estate listing activities will be starting up again soon after we started the New Year.  St. Joseph would make a great gift for any real estate agents or home sellers, conversation piece, or extra blessing for any home at any time.  Not only it is eco-friendly, it also support small business and 1% for the Planet!

Happy shopping!

While you are putting together your resolutions for New Year, make sure to include freshening up your style palette as one of them.  Here are three of 2011’s “Colors of the Year” —  and ideas on how to include them in your decor.

Vintage Wine looks just like it sounds, a deep hue that speaks to your best sense of style.  Use this magnificent color to adorn your body or your living room and get the same effect — classic and rich.

Honeysuckle is daring, trendy, and young.  Bold without being intrusive — splashes of this color brighten up both your outlook and your inner look.

Citrus yellow is the hue that can can bring together your room. It symbolizes a free spirit and positive energy and can uplift even the lowest low into high spirited optimism.  When staging your home for sale, this is the type of energy you want to pass along to your potential home buyers.

As you make those New Year’s resolutions, make sure you remember to update your decor with fresh and trendy colors to better stage your home!

Image Sources:  Redbookmag, SeChic, SophieHoneySuckle, HGTV, Decorologist

Less than a week to Christmas!   No doubt life is getting crazy as you start to feel more pressure to get everything ready for the holidays.  In the event that you are selling your home, you can add the daunting task of keeping your home readying for showing, staged, and picture perfect.

If you are selling your home during this especially busy season, here are some simple rules to remember:

Do: Put up a nice & welcoming wreath on your door.

Don’t: Deck out the home with Santa Clauses, menorahs or other religious symbols.

Do: Subtle (or almost none) holiday cheers decoration.

Don’t: Go big on the holiday decor (you are selling home, not holiday decorations!)

Do: Apply the general rules of staging as you would rest of the year, such as refraining yourself from over-decorating.  Be mindful of making buyers feel like they are intruding into your personal space.  For example, refrain from displaying your personal holiday styles, and resist decking your mantel out with your personal photos.

Do: De-clutter and donate to charities. Goodwill & Salvation Army are good places to start. They also come to your home to pick up your unused and unneeded items. The rejected pile can be taken cared of by many services offered in your local area.

Do: When in doubt, hire a professional. Sometimes it’s just worth so much more to pay someone else to do the dirty work and have peace of mind. Need to hire a professional? Read our previous post on 5 Tips on How to Hire a Stager

Photo credit: Leo, Green Parlour, Home Goods, and Best Home Gallery.

Note: Staged4more is an eco-friendly company and we believe in recycling everything, including blogposts. This post is part of a weekly series of refreshed posts we’re calling “Restyled” from our earlier blogging years. This post was originally written in December, 2006 and has been “Restyled” for your reading pleasure. Let us know what you think!

Tis’ the season for holiday get togethers and gifting.  Plan ahead so you won’t be caught empty handed when arriving at your favorite host’s home — check out these eco-friendly gifts for the home:

These bambu nesting bowls are multi-purpose and can be used anywhere around the home.  Filled with fruit, candy or bread — these would make great gifts for your holiday host.

Made from the bottom half of “rescued” Bordeaux bottles, these pretty recycled glasses complete any holiday table.  Paired with a bottle of wine, your host will appreciate this gift all year round.

This unique piece is sure to be a conversation starter — one of our favorites. Hand painted, and each one of a kind, these recycled vases made from fire extinguishers are rich in color and complement any home decor.

This puzzle serving tray is made from sustainably grown plantation teak — use as four separate serving trays or as one large tray.  Gift with a collection of cheese and crackers for your holiday host.

Need a smaller host gift for easy transport? These ceramic eggs are filled with organic soil and ready-to-sprout seeds for wild strawberry, mint and petunia.  After the plants root, they can be replanted outdoors, complete with the biodegradable shell!