"With the last one in college –we  recognized our house was really looking old and tired. We never did like our living room and felt overwhelmed with how to begin an update. We also had a budget and did not want to make costly mistakes.  We met with Penny and Fredrik and brainstormed options.  They listened; were not judgemental of our current state; had some quick tips and then some longer range ideas.  

We would have never come up with Penny's creative ideas–she advised where to put our $ wisely.  We never thought we could love our living room — now its our favorite room in the house! We highly recommend both Penny and Fredrik." 

Carol & John / Homeowners 

Our first meeting - Before

Carol & John's New Living Room!

Oh what a difference, as you can see! John and Carol were so wonderful to work with, so gracious, appriciative and excited all along the way. They let us come in and tear down the fireplace, pull up the floor …. it was a constuction site for a few days, but everyone is ecstatic with the results!

Fredrik and Brock scraped and plastered the ceilings and then proceeded to pull up the carpet, tear up the underlying original floor, and take out the rock block before moving on to painting and laying new flooring. 

Out with the carpet, flooring and rock block!

When Fredrik and I first met with Carol and John, we listened to them and got a sense of who they were and what they were looking for, even though they had no idea what they were looking for! We discussed budget, furniture, flooring options, lifestyle and so on and came up with a game plan. 

Flooring and Fabric Samples

And while the guys continue to do the work, I get to do the fun! John had seen a painting from a local artist at the Art Walk along Cabrillo that he fell in love with. It was big and it was bright (John is color blind), Carol had some reservations …   

John's Bold Wall Art

We all went down to the artist's, selected something similar (still big, stil very colorful and bold) that would worked perfectly with the safe palette we chose for the rest of the room. 

After presenting drawings and pricing to Carol and John, they selected to have Fredrik custom build the surround and mantle for their new fireplace. This option was the least expensive and custom designed to exactly the look and scale for the room. 

Fireplace Remodel

Fireplace Remodel Underway

When you are building a room, start with the bones; the floor, walls and ceiling, build around a color palette and the overall look, function and feel you're going for. Put it together one step at a time. Building a room is like creating a piece of art. You can do it too! Click here for design tips. 

Rock Fireplace - Before

Beautiful Remodeled Fireplace

I was so excited when I found the perfect tile to showcase the new fireplace! It's a glass tile named "Kiss My Big Fat Glass." Pricey at $52/square foot, but we didn't need much and we sure got our bang for the buck! And we saved Carol and John a little bit in Fredrik's pricing on the mantle and surround. 

Beautiful Glass Tile - "My Big Fat Glass"

I tittled this blog, "Interior Design and Remodel for You,"  because Carol kept telling me that she was so pleased that "regular people" llike she and her husband could afford an interior designer. Like many, she always thought it was a luxury for the rich and famous and she didn't realize the savings she would get working with an interior designer.

How do you save $$ working with an interior designer?  Your designer should have several sources in the furniture, flooring, fabric, window treatment, tile and industry related vendors. Your designer will not be shopping retail, but rather wholesale or a slight margin above wholesale. The designer will pass a % of that savings on to you.  You end up paying less than retail working with a designer.

Here are the final results! We thank Carol and John for openning up their home to us and are looking forward to the next remodel and design with John and Carol; the kitchen remodel! 

Living Room Makeover Reveal

Living Room Makeover Reveal

Until Next Time,

Penny and The DD Team

Only one other US city has passed this type of ordinance. Earlier this month, the City of Austin adopted the first double ban in the nation to stop single-use bag waste and encourage reusable bags instead. 

No More Plastic Bags

FACTS:

* Plastic is the largest source of ocean liter, second is cigarettes.

* San Fransisco was the 1st US city to ban plastc bags in 2007.

* Plastci Bag Usage: US 380 billion per year / World; 500 billion per year.

* Ireland reduced plastic bag consumption by 90% between 2001 – 20011 by imposing a plastic bag tax of 37 cents. 

* Bag ban in China has saved 1 million tons of oil. 

If you support banning paper and plastic bag usage please comment on this blog and share. It's up to us to save our planet and natural resources. 

History of Plastic Bags & The Opposition

Spring is on its way in and the last cold remnants of winter are making their way out. In place of winter's cold colors and textures, we are getting the warm tropical colors of spring. 

Brighter is Better

Brighter is Better

As mentioned above, bright colors are going to be big this year. It goes a lot further than simply throwing a few orange and red items into a room and calling it fashionable. Use each element of the room to pull the bright colors to the forefront. Offset a red sofa piece with muted colors like browns or greys. The key is to juxtapose your bright colors with softer tones that will cause the louder ones to “Pop!”

Bring Nature In

Another of this year's trends is going to be bringing nature inside. This encompasses everything from those tropical colors mentioned above to the fresh flowers you might use as the centerpiece to your dining room table.

Centerpiece with Flowers

The New Rustic

There has been a growing trend and fascination with rustic home décor. This started in the southwest with ranch homes but it has spread to every corner of the country and now anyone can have a rustic “Little House on the Prairie”-style getaway, even if it's in the suburbs. The key is to use wood. 

Rustic Feel

Ryan is a guest blogger who writes about homes for sale Austin Texas, Bastrop Homes for sale and bay window prices to complete your next big remodeling project. 

Stay tuned for more posts on Home Decor Trends!

Penny & The DD Team

Home Staging Re-Design, Westlake Village California 

A little re-design home staging will get your home sold Fast and at Top Dollar! 

So, what does re-design mean? We use the furniture and decor you already have in your home, re-arrange, add some Delicious Decors decor and finishing touches and your home is re-designed and ready for sale! 

Re-design home staging is often used when the home owners are still living in the home. The home owner often has plenty of furniture pieces we can use; it simply needs to be re-positioned, sometimes taken from one room to use in another room and sometimes just a little added decor or furnishings from our inventory is added for that extra punch. 

Let's take a look at this living room before and after…

Living Room Before

Living Room After

We took the homeowners' existing furniture from their family room and repurposed it here in the living room. We created a nice sitting area in front of the fireplace and positioned the chaise to create a cozy reading area in the room. The added mirror now reflects the light from the large front window, which makes the room look larger and brighter. Excellent features when marketing your home. 

We used the furniture that was in the living room and arranged it in the family room. 

Family Room Before

Family Room After

The owners had the perfect furniture to use for the re-design, they just needed a little help from Delicious Decors to re-design. We added some pillows, a new area rug and a little decor and now home buyers can see themselves enjoying a family movie around a cozy fire. 

In the dining room, we started by nuetralizing the wall color. By removing some furniture, adding a mirror and a center peice, we took this room from blah to nice family dining! The space now looks larger, brighter and more up to date.

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After

New bedding is sometimes all it takes to put the WOW factor into the bedrooms. We shop for you, at no cost! We found some fantastic bedding, along with new window treatments and a much needed updated curtain rod to put the pizazz back into this master bedroom. 

Before Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom After

Re-design is a very inexpensive way to get your home market ready. For your FREE re-design quote give us a call at 805.448.9226 or email penny@deliciousdecors.com.

We look forward to working with you to sell your home Fast and at Top Dollar!

Penny & The DD Team

The key word for selling real estate in 2012 is CHALLENGING. No one, including the experts, can predict how the market will fare in the next 12 months. While the health of the economy and regional markets, and location and size of properties are outside the control of agents and sellers, three factors are discretionary and must be expertly managed to ensure a successful sale:

·       PRICE

·       PRESENTATION

·       CONDITION

Increasingly, savvy real estate agents are realizing that having professional home stagers on their teams is the best way to increase their marketing effectiveness and success. When staged listings sell faster and for more than the comps that are not staged, agents and their real estate companies benefit from higher commissions, reduced marketing expenses, increased profitability, increased client satisfaction and increased referrals. Success breeds success.

In addition, collaborating with a home staging expert, who can handle a staging project from consultation through to completion, frees up an agent’s time to focus on what they do best – list and sell properties and find homes for their buyers. For the home seller, agent and real estate company, professional home staging is a win-win-win marketing strategy. Unfortunately, some real estate agents still do not appreciate the value and necessity of professional home staging. But in 2012, staging is no longer optional, according to real estate guru, Barbara Corcoran.

Here’s what real estate agents say about staging - Out vs In.

Join the IN crowd and get your listing sold!

Give us a call at 805.448.9226 or email penny@deliciousdecors for your FREE staging estimate. 

We look forward to working with you,

Penny & The DD Team

When your daughter is getting married and you need a deck to host over 50 people for the wedding reception, what do you do? Call Delicious Decors!

We built this deck on 9 levels to accomodate the slope.  To make sure everything was going to be safe for over 50 people dancing we added more posts and cross braces to the framing.

New Framing has Begun

Adding Footings for Extra Posts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made some changes to the look of the original railing and to the design of bracing the railing, which was very important to the home owners. The old railing moved when leaning against it! The home owners surely wanted to eliminate movement. 

Beautiful Views!

 

After 3 weeks of hard work and over 10,000 screws, the deck was completed. The home owners were thrilled with their new 9 platform deck, safe and sound and ready to be danced on all night long!

New Railing Design

Ready For The Party!

Need a deck? Please give me a call at 805.284.2628 or email fredrikbergstrm@me.com for your FREE estimate.

I Love custom carpentry! Just let me know what your looking for and I'll get started on your project right away!

Fredrik Bergstrom

Which is More Important A Wedding or a House? 

via Bryan Robertson               

Wedding Costs vs. Down Payment for a House

Bryan makes an excellent point here. Perhaps we just need to make sure young couples know the cost of a down payment vs. the cost of their special day. The wisest choices are always made when people have all the information to consider. There are plenty of ways to have a Special Day and the savings for a home. 

I read an interesting article this morning that talked about the cost of weddings and the impact on parents saving for retirement.  Then I looked at the current average cost of a wedding.  Wow!!  Are you kidding me?  Have we really brainwashed couples for so long that the whole wedding racket costs this much.  The obscene overcharging that goes on with anything associated with a wedding is a whole other article.  Guess how much the average wedding costs!  $25,631!  That's the cost for ONE SINGLE DAY.

Now, consider the down payment on a house.  Given the average price of a house in the United States, that $25,000 could be a nice down payment.  How long will the house last?  Homeowners stay in their homes an average of 7 years.  So, which is a better deal, the house or the wedding?  Is one day worth 2555 days?  In today's world where budgets are more important than ever, how about spending less on the wedding and more on the house?   

Home Sweet Home

OK, I know, it's "that special day" and all that.  I'm not cynical.  My first marriage was a blow-out and the cost went WAY beyond that $25K.  When I think back on it all, I don't regret the fun everyone had but I think the money could have been spent better.  My second marriage (and definitely my last) cost about $5K.  It was held at a high-end resort overlooking the ocean.  We had music, a beautful ceremony, flowers, etc but we cut the guest list from 150+ to only 10 – including me and the bride (immediate family only).  The reception was held there as well.  It was very memorable and not as exhausting as the massive wedding.

I guess my point is that couples considering getting married might consider that all the money spent on one day isn't worth the home and life you could get if that money were spent on a house.  Just a thought.

Keeping informed by Delicious Decors!

This is what we did for this Delicious Decors fireplace remodel project …..

First off, we removed the stone "seat" on the right of the fireplace. Get yourself a small jack hammer and you can do it too!

The Fun Begins

Let's turn Your Disaster into a Master

Next, we framed the existing fireplace of stone with 2 x 6 and 2 x 4 lumber. We covered the lumber with drywall at the top and cement board on the bottom and around the opening. 

A Little Fun with Drywall

After the drywall had been "muddied" and sanded, we painted it the same color as the walls. Then we began the construction of the mantel and wood surround. All custom built! 

The Cement Board in Place

We custom designed and built the mantle and fireplace surround from scratch, using crown molding and a mix of pine and MDF. 

The glas tile was the finishing touch and what a wow factor the, "Kiss My Big Fat Glass," tile made! Yep, that's the name. Glass tile, 16 x 4.

We very carefully worked with the designer glass tile, first placing it on the face of the fireplace and then on the hearth. 

A Fireplace Masterpiece

That's It! You're all done! We think it turned out great! 

Delicious Decors / Remodel / Interior Design 805.448.9226

If you need any help with your home improvement projects, please give me a call at:

805. 284.2628   Fredrik Bergstrom  Delicious Decors 

Delicious Decors specializes in Custom Home Staging. The realtor was having trouble getting clients to walk into this room! She asked us to make it a playful media room for the entire family and this is what we came up with. We addded some popular movie star artwork to help set the stage, along with some old fashioned coca-colas and movie candy. 

We bumbed into a "talking Mike Myers" at a local shop and added him next to the sofa. The listing agent just loved the Austin Powers prop! Said she'd walk right over to it, the "Yeah Baby" would go off and everyone laughed and came over to see where that came from! Perfect for drawing home buyers over to the window with the coastal view. That's Custom Staging at work!

On a budget? These home owners were on a tight budget and needed up to transform their contemporary townhouse to get it market ready. With some artwork, new bedding, lamps and a chai, we were able to turn their master bedroom from bland to WOW!  A little redesign goes a long way! 

From cold and vacant to warm and inviting, that's what staging can do for your home. A professional home stager is 100% more effective than your decorator friend. Your friend means well, but please do yourself a favor and get a referral from your realtor for a professional home stager. There are lots of "tricks to the trade, " to get your home sold. 

This high-end contemporary sitting on the eighth hole at Birnam Woods, was a fun one to stage. The homeowner's had some wonderful black and whites of old time famous movie stars, the home was contemporary … so we put the two together to turn this home into Hollywood Glam! Home staging is the # marketing tool used today by top real estate agents nationwide.

Contact Delicious Decors today for your FREE staging estimate! 805.448.9226 penny@deliciousdecors.com

We look forward to working with you!

Penny & The DD Team