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Category Archives: Home Staging

More Tweaks to Parkwood

The rainy days we are having will be perfect for growing this new grass.

We knew that the front yard was still an issue with the Parkwood project, but we were having trouble getting a French drain properly installed, so the front still didn’t have sod.

Thank goodness, Carol turned to Oscar, the contractor she had used on some other Austin projects, and he and his team were able to not only put in the sod, but take out the poorly installed drain and replace it so that it will work properly for many years, which the next owners will truly appreciate!

Now we’re just waiting for the tree to leaf back out!

Combined with the spruced-up house next door, the presentation on the outside is as nice as the inside.

We have these nice pictures of the new sod, which Carol has also appended to the listing on the MLS. Feel free to share this post and the link with friends who are interested in moving to Round Rock without breaking the bank.

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, (Re)Move

Somebody should neatly tear down these boxes and store them for their next move.

As part of our home staging business, we moved again recently. We’ve been averaging a move every six months lately. We’ll probably move again soon, though, because this house is getting shown a lot (a realtor brought two people by as we were moving in).

(Reduce) Now, you might think all that moving is unbearably stressful. Actually, with enough practice, one can actually get good at it. And, it turns out, it’s actually good for us, too. Stuff doesn’t have a chance to turn into useless junk when you have to take everything out of its spot in storage, decide where it will go in the new house, pack it up, box it, ship it, unpack it, and set it up in the new place. The burden of this side of “ownership” puts the value of things in a totally new light. If you’re not using it and it has no sentimental value, get rid of it. Sell it, donate it or throw it away.

Hint, hint.

(Reuse) One aspect of moving is, of course, boxes. It really does take lots of boxes to move. We give ourselves 5 days to move fully from one house to another. Once we get fully moved in, the boxes get broken down and put in storage (on or off site) until the next move. One lesson we learned on this last move is to use a different color of marker for each move. You pack stuff in the boxes and then label them with either the contents (and “heavy” or “fragile”) and/or with the name of the room they’re supposed to go into in the new house. The problem for us was that we never marked out the previous moves’ writing on the reused boxes. (Hey, we’re in a hurry! We only have 5 days to completely move in.) We didn’t mark them out this time either, but next time we’ll use red markers so we know which words to believe.

These are great for Move #1. Thank goodness they make other colors!

(Recycle) The activity of moving does take its toll on boxes, and there are always some that aren’t going to be usable again. There are probably going to be some with too much writing on them to be usable, too. Luckily, cardboard is still recyclable, so these get fully broken down and sent off to the blue bins to become something else in their next lives. You’ll also see listings on Craigslist for free boxes. Someone will have moved and won’t be planning to move again. Knowing that everyone else who’s moving is going to need boxes, they’re more than happy to get the usable cardboard off their hands.

(Remember) By the way, if you do pick up someone else’s boxes, take my advice and mark out whatever they have written on them.

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Before and After Parkwood

Carol took a lot of “after” photos of the Parkwood house, so I thought it would be fun to do a before and after post! Enjoy the transformation. We will have more professional ones later, but this is fun!

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Parkwood Sneak Preview

Even at night, you can tell that the new and huge family room window is an immense improvement.

Carol and Ray report that the Parkwood renovation is just about DONE. And the house is truly transformed from a a junk-filled horror to a lovely family home. We’re really proud of the work that our team has done on this project.

Unfortunately, it’s been raining like crazy the last few days, which makes it hard to get good pictures. It’s very squishy out at Parkwood, as it is everywhere in this vicinity. In fact, Lee and Mandi are hesitating to drive in to the Cameron office, since the Walker’s Creek bridge on our road is almost to flood stage, as is our ranch house driveway dam.

Lucky for us, Ray made it to Parkwood night before last and he has shared a few of the photos he took, so we can at least give you a sneak preview of the kitchen and family room all cleaned up and pretty. We can’t wait for photos in the daylight!

It’s not totally cleaned up yet, but you can see a very nice kitchen is emerging.

Carol will be staging this week (assuming she can get there) so the house can go on the market this weekend. We still need bathroom mirrors and a few little touches.

Of course, if you are in the area and are interested in buying this 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house before it goes on the market, just call Carol at 512-807-8777, and talk price/make an offer!

We think this house, with its new roof, new energy-eficient windows, new kitchen and baths, new floors and HUGE back yard, all in a spot that’s easy for commuting, will sell FAST!

The open shelving in the eat-in kitchen area is going to add so much storage and provide many decorative options.

We’re looking forward to the first sunny day of 2019. Stay warm and dry friends, and dream of easy remodeling jobs!

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Ideas for Vacation Houses, Part 2

Even the hallway fits with the theme.

Last time we talked about how important location can be for a vacation rental property, both from a proximity to the owner viewpoint, and from a proximity to relevant areas of interest. Today I’ll share some ideas for making the properties enjoyable by the tenants, and still easy on the owners.

Decor

The great room could use a fireplace but is otherwise cozy.

People seem to like houses with a theme. At least I do. And one thing that drew me to Casa Santa Fe was its southwestern US decor. And let me tell you, these folks were consistent when they decorated this space. I can’t count the Navajo-style blankets in the space, and on top of that there are a lot of tile surfaces (also easy to clean!), southwestern art, and things that look like animal skins.

Open shelving and many southwestern decor items.

The rustic furnishings are quite sturdy, which leads to low maintenance, vital for profit and convenience for the property owners. The open shelving in the kitchen displays even more southwestern decor, plus makes it easy for renter to find the plates and glasses. Smart.

The beds look great with lots of pillows and blankets that match the theme and are sturdy as well.

Touches

All the little boots in a bedroom.

The decorator went all out in the bedrooms, too. The one where Anita is staying has the cutest collection of tiny cowboy boots in it, while my bedroom has lovely blankets stored on the wall (and a creepy dude painting). The big bedroom where our kids will go has crosses, including a cool tin one that lights up.

None of the things they chose were expensive or precious, so they don’t have to worry about renters messing up antiques or anything. The rugs are from India, not Indians, and the posters are cool to look at, but not really old.

Practical things

One of my favorite rustic things is in, of all things, the toilet room. They use a barn-door with great character to hide the closet with all the cleaning supplies. Not having a door that swings open maximizes the use of all available space. Easy for the maid service, attractive for renters, which are both very important factors in a holiday rental.

I like these symbolic controls.

Also in the bathroom, don’t laugh at me, but I loved the shower control. It doesn’t have H and C for hot and cold; instead it has a sun and a snowflake. That is sweet. And not biased toward English speakers.

There is a stackable washer and dryer, which makes clean-up easy (and is convenient for guests that stay a while, like us). And all the sheets, blankets, and towels are dark gray. That makes them less likely to get all stained up, but also looks good with the decor. I’m keeping THAT trick in mind, for sure.

Lee’s favorite thing in the whole house is the horn vases. Poor bull.

The dishes are brightly colored but do not all match. That makes dealing with breakage a lot easier. They can just get more colorful items in with similar shapes and sizes and they are good to go. Same with the glassware. Cheerful, but not all the same. I really like this, because I’ve been at places where everything matched, and there was obviously some stuff mssing.

With the dishes and such, I was thinking that all white would be another option, or for a mid-century house, mixed cheerful patterns from that era (easy to find in thrift shops), and for older houses like ours, mixed old-fashioned china, perhaps all with flowers, or all with some other theme.

My brain just keeps going and going as I think of more and more ideas. Lee’s started a list.

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