Restyling on a budget

Creative Surrounds was recently featured in an article in the property section of the Northern District Times and Hornsby Advocate. The premise of the editorial was about styling your home for sale on a budget and I wanted to summarise a few of the points here;

1) Decluttering is key! A realestate.com.au survey showed that 56% of house hunters are turned off by clutter.
2) Think about your potential buyer. If you have a small apartment, it's possibly going to be young professional couples looking so set up a table/chairs on the balcony where they can envisage having a morning coffee. If you have a 3/4 bedroom house, it's probably going to be families looking to purchase so ensure you have lots of open space and don't fill up storage areas.
3) Flooring. If your carpet is tired looking, investigate if you have floorboards underneath. It's a minimal investment which you will benefit from at sale time.
4) Don't forget curb appeal! This is people's first impression. Mow the lawn, trim back the trees and shrubs. Plant some colourful flowers.

For the full article, go to the News page at the Creative Surrounds website at http://www.creativesurrounds.com.au/

Bye bye baby stuff

I have a little one who recently turned 3 years old. He's now outgrown a lot of clothes and toys and I had the dilema of what to do with this 'stuff'. I realise I can't keep it forever as I need to live in the 'now' and not get stuck in the memories of the baby days (or daze... as some of it was). I decided to sort the items into 4 categories;

1) Items to sell - anything that was brand-name and in great condition. Luckily I have a wonderful second-hand kids clothing store near me.

2) Items to give to friends - I have a friend who is now pregnant so anything unisex I can give to her and in my mothers group there are a couple of women who had second children (boys) and as their firsts were girls, they're grateful for any cute little things.

3) Donate to charity - Any items that are in good condition but not sentimental at all.

4) Keepers - I have allowed a small box of special 'treasures' for keepsakes. I am completely ruthless though, so not much ends up here. I realise the memories are in my heart and some wonderful photos and I'd much prefer someone else's baby enjoying the lovely items than being held captive in a dusty box somewhere.