Luxe Laundry Rooms
Pamper yourself with your own luxe laundry room. Gone are the days of trekking down to the dark, dank basement with your overloaded laundry basket. Today, luxe laundry rooms liven up the drudgery of washing clothes. What better way to improve this monotonous chore than to add some luxury to your home’s laundry room?

What exactly is a luxe laundry room?
A luxe laundry room brings a little lavishness to the arduous job of doing the laundry. Imagine energy-efficient as well as attractive appliances. Cabinetry to hide the detergent. Islands on which to fold laundry. Even ergonomically correct ironing boards. With features like these it’s easy to see why more and more homeowner’s are demanding upscale laundry rooms for their homes.

Take the humble washing machine, for example. Today’s washing machines are not only front-loading, but are much gentler on clothes because they do not have an agitator. Many new machines are energy-efficient, thus saving you money on your utility bill. Clothes come out of the washer practically dry. And oh, the color choices … stainless steel, blue, even red. Forget about the old white clunker that shook your house like an earthquake when you washed a load of jeans. Today’s high-end washing machines take laundry to a whole new level.

How to create one of your own.
Creating your own luxe laundry room can be as expensive as you want it to be. You can make this a do-it-yourself project, or hire an interior designer to make some dramatic changes.

Whether a DIY project or a professional job, there are still some basics to creating a luxe laundry room. First, start with the appliances and build around them. Go to the local home improvement store and peruse the washer/dryer section. Find the washer and dryer with the features you need to clean your clothes, but also the look you want. Choose great cabinetry that can do everything from hiding the detergent and fabric softener to even concealing clothes that need to air dry.

Next, have some fun. Paint the walls an eye-catching color. Choose flooring that is unique – an unusual tile selection, for example. And, don’t forget the lighting. Instead of the standard fluorescent lighting, find some fun fixtures to add pizzazz to your laundry room.

Something else to consider with a luxe laundry room is location. Most laundry rooms today are near the master bedroom, close to the kitchen, or double as a mudroom. An attractive laundry room blends in with the house, especially in those high-traffic areas. If money is no object, consider changing the location of your laundry room or even adding an additional laundry station. (One on the first floor and one on the second, perhaps?) A change like this may be expensive but it can certainly make doing the laundry luxurious.

Creating Personal Space in Your Home
Longing for a spot in your house to call your very own? Here's how to get it, no matter what size home you have. Creating your own personal space to retreat and enjoy favorite activities is important both for mental health and familial harmony. Even if your house includes open-concept living areas or shared bedrooms, a few simple renovations or a little redecorating can help make it possible.

Finding the space
A basement can be the perfect place to create a workshop, craft area or movie room equipped with recliners and a big-screen television. By redecorating in warm colors or installing customized wall paneling, you can transform an unfinished space into a relaxing library or a hideaway for the music lover in your family.

Dividing and conquering
If you don’t have a spare room, today’s modern furnishings and cabinetry options allow you to create individual spaces within your living or family room. Customized consoles, entertainment centers or workstations -- finished in colors and materials to match any décor -- tuck electronics out of sight when not in use, opening up the room for other activities. These stylish units often also include sliding doors to hide clutter in a hurry if visitors stop by.

Remember, flat-screen televisions and skinny computer monitors save space and can be concealed within well-appointed cabinets, bookcases or sliding wall panels. Elegant coffee tables and ottomans often include storage cubbies to stow books or personal items.

You can divide your living room by placing an easy chair or small sofa in a nook or corner, perhaps ensconced behind a sheer curtain or an architectural column. Or install wall-lined bench seating with cushions and storage bins below.

A spare bedroom can also be subdivided with folding screens to make space for more than one family member. This allows the space to easily be restored to adapt to evolving family needs or to suit future prospective home buyers.

Creating kid zones
To provide personal space for siblings sharing a bedroom, use modular desks or add a kid-size loft where a child can have some privacy. Whimsical armoires, fabric canopies, bunk beds or raised beds with storage lockers can also be customized to young tastes.

The trick in creating a personal space for a child is to offer a degree of privacy without completely removing them from the common environment of the house. A few well-placed decorative screens can give a youngster necessary space without cutting them off from the rest of the household.

Outfitting a grown-up escape
To create a relaxing “kid-free zone” for adults, outfit your master bedroom with a daybed sofa or chaise lounge and all the technological trappings you crave. Or turn your en suite bathroom into a private oasis with a soaker tub or whirlpool bath, soft lighting, upscale counters, mirrors and fixtures to simulate the spa experience.

These easy renovations can provide personal space for every member of your family while adding both visual appeal and resale value to your home.

Easy home makeover ideas
Try these ideas for an easy makeover for your home. A home makeover may be just what you need to transform your home into a real showcase. If you’re in a decorating rut a home makeover can do wonders for your house, but you don’t have to move out and let a wrecking crew move in. Instead, try some of these easy home makeover ideas that you can do yourself.

1. Clean and de-clutter. Start your home makeover by cleaning your house. If you REALLY clean and also de-clutter, you’ll be amazed at the difference it can make. Baseboards can be white again, you’ll be able to actually see the countertops, and you may even be able to find a few items that have been missing. Give your home a thorough, deep cleaning as a part of a home makeover. But, more importantly, spend time getting rid of the clutter. Go around your house with a donation box and a few trash bags, and either donate or throw away whatever you can. We all tend to collect too much clutter, and getting rid of some of it can open up your home.

2. Paint. Painting is one of the most economical home makeovers out there. It can also be the most effective way to really change the look of your home. The possibilities with paint are endless. You can paint the walls, the floor, or certain pieces of furniture to create the look you want. Painting is a home makeover that creates a sense of individuality in a home – it sets your house apart from the standard white walls and allows your home to reflect your own personal style. But don’t just paint your favorite color on the walls. Spend some time researching how colors coordinate and compliment each other. Look at the focal point of the room and decide how using paint can highlight it. Pay attention to neighboring rooms to be sure that the wall colors will not clash. Painting is a great home makeover, but you do need to put some thought into it.

3. Faucets and fixtures. Getting a little bored with the look in your bathrooms and kitchen? Changing out the faucets and fixtures is another easy makeover that can really perk up those areas of your home. You can change the faucets on the bathroom and kitchen sinks, as well as the fixtures in those rooms, too. Replacing the faucets for your sinks is a great home makeover, but you need to keep a few points in mind. Be sure that the faucet fits the sink. Faucets are not one size fits all. You’ll need to look at your sink and take measurements to know which faucet will work for you. Buy coordinating fixtures for the bath and kitchen to match your new faucets.

4. Window coverings. Another easy way to makeover your home is to change the window coverings. You have lots of choices here – you can go with curtains, shutters, or blinds depending on your budget. Decide the look that you want for the room, and choose window coverings accordingly. Compliment the color and style of the furniture that you have in the room that you want to makeover. You can dress up your windows so that they’ll be a focal point of the room.

5. Moldings. For this home makeover, you may want to bring in some help. Even so, reworking your home’s molding can still be a very economical makeover that doesn’t take much time. Nothing gives a room a dramatic effect like crown moldings. But keep in mind that installing crown molding is not just a matter of hammering pre-finished trim to the top of the walls. The trim has to be exactly measured and precisely cut. Most walls do not actually meet at 90-degree angles, so that makes fitting crown moldings even more difficult. Unless you are really handy with do-it-yourself projects, you may want to hire a professional for this home makeover.

These simple home makeovers allow you to be creative and have fun while giving your house a fresh new look.

Do-it-yourself home staging
Some color here, some open space there and you're set.Every writer needs an editor, the saying goes. Turns out, so do most homeowners – at least when it comes to staging a home for sale. Fortunately, you can “edit” your home without busting your budget.

Editing a home is all about taking away everything that doesn’t show well when you’re trying to sell a home, says Vicki Dye, who teaches home staging and decorating classes at her company, The Center for Creative Redesign in Minneapolis, Minn.

For some people, it might make sense to hire a professional stager to walk through the house and check off a list of items that should be “edited,” or removed. That budget-friendly alternative gives you expert advice at a fraction of the cost of having the professional stage the home for you.

“The best thing you can do is get rid of all the junk,” Dye says. “Once you get all the clutter out of the house you’re able to see the structure and the architectural details that might need changing.”

If it turns out you need to replace the carpeting – highly recommended if yours is worn or stained – contractor-grade carpeting is a budget-friendly option, Dye says. It looks good, passes the buyer test of lasting at least five years, and costs much less than higher-grade carpeting, she says.

Some other tips from Dye for staging a home on a budget:

• Put all the kitchen countertop appliances away, except the microwave. “You need pops of color, not clutter. Add a bowl of fruit, a plant or some flowers.”

• Make sure the refrigerator is spotless inside and out. People will look inside.

• Pick up everything off the floor that doesn’t belong there. This includes newspapers, magazines and toys.

• Make sure potential buyers can walk all the way around the dining room table. If you have to remove the hutch or other furniture to make that happen, do it.

• Buy new bedding in the master bedroom. You don’t have to buy neutral colors, but the bedding has to be fresh and crisp. Remove all personal items from the nightstands and dressers.

• Buy new decorative towels for the bathroom. Towels from the nearest big-box store are fine. Remove your toiletries, but consider adding a decorative candle or a small pot of greenery if there’s room on the vanity.

Dye also points out some caveats for do-it-yourself budget stagers. Adding a pot of greenery to the front porch can lend some welcome color during gray winter days, but forego the pot or a door wreath if it makes the porch or walkway appear crowded, she says.

In the spring, summer or fall, staging splashes of color in the yard can lend curb appeal, whether they are potted plants or bedding plants. Dye says even just one nice pot of colorful flowers, strategically placed, can make a difference. She also recommends buying a new doormat.

But Dye doesn’t like the popular trend of staging the dining room table for a dinner party. “My question is, who’s coming to dinner?” she says with more than a hint of exasperation in her voice. “It’s way overdone, in my opinion.”

You’re the editor, so the choice is yours.

Staging your own home: What not to do
How to avoid common mistakes, like 'circling the wagons' Home staging has hit the big time, with multiple television shows chronicling homeowners’ attempts to make their homes more attractive to potential buyers. But what if you want to stage your own home without the benefit of an attractive TV host, a crew of experts and their free labor?

Since there are so many experts telling you what to do if you’re staging your home yourself, let’s focus instead on what NOT to do:

Don’t get overly attached to your things
“We buy all our furnishings and accessories because we love them. We have a tendency to think everyone else loves them, too, and that’s just not true,” says Barbara Jennings, author of several home-staging guides including “Home Staging for Yourself.” Look at your furnishings with a critical eye and remove anything that doesn’t complement each room’s best features.

Don’t show an empty house
Buyers have a hard time visualizing themselves living in a vacant home, says Jennings, who also is president of Decorate-Redecorate in Huntington Beach, Calif. Stage a few items to suggest uses for each room – perhaps a cradle and changing table in a small bedroom, or an intimate dinette in the kitchen -- and warm up what would otherwise be a bleak house. Also, she says, use some common sense and repaint.

Don’t arrange all the furniture along the walls
Jennings calls it “perimeter decorating,” or “circling the wagons.” Basically, the walls are lined with furniture and the center of the room is empty. “It’s generally not attractive, and it’s not appealing.”

Instead, she says, design a layout around the room’s focal point, like a bay window or a fireplace. “I don’t care how old the furniture is or how dinged up, I can turn it into a very charming place,” Jennings says.

Don’t make things worse in a problem room
Meghan Robinson, owner of Meghan’s Inspired Interiors in Dallas, recalls a client who tried to minimize the look of outdated ceramic bathroom tile by putting in a neutral rug and towels. It didn’t work.

“I used that color of blue and made it part of the room,” purchasing decorative soaps and a rug to match the blue and some fresh, white towels, she says. The resulting blue-and-white bathroom had a charming retro look instead of an outdated look and turned the negative into a positive.

Don’t forget curb appeal, even at night.
Obviously, the yard should be well-tended and the shrubbery trimmed to show off the house. But Jennings reminds you to leave the porch light on at night so the house looks warm and cozy if prospective buyers drive by in the evening.

Don’t get overly creative with the exterior
Robinson recalls some friends who painted the trim on a brick house blue in a case of attempted curb appeal gone awry. It stood out, she says, and not in a good way, clashing with the other homes in the neighborhood.

“They wanted it to look new and special, and in the end it was a deterrent” to buyers, she says. Your home should fit into its surroundings, she says.

“People get stumped in their own home,” Robinson adds. “A neighbor or friend can usually help.”

Chances are, if you paint the trim blue on a red-brick house, you’ll be hearing from them anyway.

Decorating ideas made easy
Try these cheap and easy decorating ideas.Is your home in need of a new look? There are plenty of cheap and easy decorating ideas that can spruce up the look of your home without the expense of a remodeling project.

Rearrange the furniture
This is a decorating idea that requires no expense at all. Have fun with it. Draw a picture of the room and map out your plans. Try several different layouts until you get the look that you want. You can even bring furniture in from different rooms for a completely new look.

Experiment with paint
Another decorating idea that can change the look of your home is to paint the walls. You can paint the entire room or even just a single wall, called an accent wall, for a dramatic effect. Choose colors that really brighten up your house. Or, try a technique such as faux painting to create a designer look.

Have fun with accessories
There are also several little things that serve as great decorating ideas. Try adding plants to various rooms in your house. If you lack a green thumb, there is nothing wrong with using fake greenery. A new rug is also a great decorating idea. Hang picture or mirrors for decoration. Buy new decorative pillows for your couches and chairs. You can even replace your lamps or lampshades to give a room a whole new look.

Do away with clutter
One thing you should not overlook as you search for decorating ideas is to de-clutter your house. Through day-to-day living, it is too easy to let things accumulate. Eliminate those piles and you’ll be surprised at how different it can make a room look.

Use these simple and inexpensive decorating ideas, and you can give any room a fresh, new look.

Exterior Painting
Exterior painting puts a fresh face on your house and makes it more appealing to potential purchasers Optimal weather conditions

Paint in fair, dry weather with temperatures between 50 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Wait until the morning dew has evaporated and stop painting before evening dampness sets in. Don’t paint when it’s windy or dusty, particularly if you’re using a slow-drying, solvent-based paint.

Preparing the surface
Prepare the surface properly before you paint. Wood surfaces must be clean, dry and in good condition. Repair any damaged boards, trim or shingles and fix any structural damage.

Next:

• Remove dirt and all loose, peeling or blistering paint with a stiff wire brush or paint scraper.

• Remove severely damaged paint down to the bare wood.

• Wash greasy or very dirty wood with a mild detergent, hose it off and let the wood dry before painting.

• Apply a water repellent if moisture is causing paint damage, prime with an oil-based prime coat and cover with two coats of high-quality paint.

• Apply a clear waterproofing sealer to the ends of all wood boards to prevent water penetration and brush a prime coat on bare or new wood. Where heat and humidity cause wood to deteriorate quickly, treat boards with a wood preservative before sealing.

Interior Painting
With the right preparation, painting a room can be easy and fun. Here are a few steps to help make your room look perfect
Select your paint carefully!

Flat latex? Oil-based semi-gloss? When choosing a paint, there are two basic categories to choose from: the kind of paint you want (oil vs. latex), and the finish you want.

Oil vs. latex
Choosing between oil-based and latex paints often depends on the paint job at hand. Latex paint is easy to work with, dries quickly, cleans up with soap and water, and is forgiving of surface irregularities, but it is more sensitive to changing temperatures and less durable for high-traffic areas. Oil-based paint is harder to work with, has a stronger smell, takes longer to dry, and requires a solvent to clean spills, but it is better for sealing stains and in high-traffic areas. Oil-based paint is best used for trim or other specialized projects, while latex is recommended for larger surfaces.

Finish
Finish is determined by how much shine you want. Finishes range from flat or matte to high gloss. A flat paint helps to hide imperfections and calls less attention to color and walls, while a high gloss is easier to clean. If you’re looking for a compromise of shine and usability, satin and semi-gloss are both good choices: they are not too difficult to work with and hold up against frequent cleaning. Paint manufacturers name their finishes differently, but a well-informed salesperson at any home décor store can help you choose the right finish. Bring the dimensions of your room to make sure you buy enough paint.

A perfect match
When choosing colors, consider the impact of the shade with the size of the room – a sunny yellow may brighten up a small kitchen, but be overwhelming in a large living room. If bold colors catch your eye, consider painting one wall as an accent, with the rest of the room a more subdued complementary shade. Also find a complementary color for your trim. For ceilings, it’s best to choose white, but if you have chosen a pale neutral color for the walls – such as ivory, beige or a light pastel – you may consider painting the ceiling in the same shade. Most importantly, choose a color that you will want to live with!

Give your walls some attention
Preparation is key to a successful paint job. A few days before you paint, examine your walls carefully. Remove any nails or other hardware. Apply spackle to any cracks, holes or gouges. Use a low-grit sandpaper to smooth out rough spots on your wall. Sandpaper will also help to reduce the gloss of existing paint, making it easier to paint over. When your walls and trim are fully prepped, wash them thoroughly with Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) to remove grease, rinse and allow them to dry completely.

On your designated painting day, cover all surfaces you won’t be painting with drop cloths and tape off edges with a wide masking tape. Remove light switches, outlets and light fixtures. Cover fixtures that can’t be removed with plastic.

To prime or not to prime?
The decision to prime is based on the quality of the walls or previous paint job. If your walls are in great condition and are well painted, a simple cleaning and sanding to reduce gloss will suffice. If the existing paint is in poor condition, or you have uncoated walls made of a porous material such as wood or drywall, you should consider using a primer or sealer. Also use a primer if you are using a latex paint to paint over oil-based paint. If you are unsure whether the existing paint is oil-based, apply some nail-polish remover to a small surface – if it becomes shiny, the paint is oil-based. One final reason to prime is when you are painting over a bright color with a lighter shade. A primer will help reduce show-through.

Painting in the right order
To achieve the best results, begin with the edges. Use a 3”-4” brush to cut in along ceiling and wall edges, around windows, and in oddly shaped corners where a roller will not fit. Choose your roller according to the surface that you are painting: smooth walls need a smooth roller, while rougher surfaces need a thicker roller.

Paint the ceiling first, working in strips from one end of the room to the other. When painting walls, begin by applying light pressure in W formations. Follow this with horizontal stripes, applying more pressure to the roller, and finish up with careful stripes from floor to ceiling. Allow the first coat to dry completely before applying a second coat. When the paint is dry, remove tape carefully. Tape off trim, and paint it carefully and evenly. With latex paints, use a synthetic bristle brush for trim, and with oil-based paints, use a natural bristle brush.

Clean-up
Clean any spills with warm water (for latex) or paint thinner (for oil-based). Clean brushes and rollers thoroughly and store them for future use. Don’t forget to dispose of your paint cans properly – contact your city to find out about hazardous waste disposal programs in your area. Finally, remove all drop cloths, and enjoy your beautiful room!