Just Because

I feel like someone out there needs to know this today. You are beautiful to God and you are loved. Whatever you are going through or have been through, whatever you have done in your life, nothing can ever change the way He feels about you. Know that the trials that come to each of us are used to refine our character into the character of God. He allows it because He loves us and wants His very best for us.
May you be blessed today and may you know how beautiful you are to Him,
right now, just as you are.

Staging part 3

Lets continue our staging series today by cleaning up.
Cleaning out closets and cupboards so they are well organized and not stuffed is a great palce to start. Consider actually putting part of your clothing and other items in storage if your closets are stuffed to the brim. Not only will you feel better, the closets will feel more spacious. A definite plus when selling your home. Take time to clean out and declutter bathroom and kitchen drawers too. Don't forget to scub all drawers and cupboards on the inside and out.
To create a home that appeals to many different buyers, a sense of detachment needs to take place. While we want to surround ourselves with the things we love, buyers may not be able to see our home through our "stuff". A Stager can wander through objectively and tell you things that you need to pack away and what can stay. You'll be packing soon anyway, so think of this as a head start. A Stager is not attached to you stuff. She can take the emotion out of the stuff and focus on what is best to create a space a potential buyer will love. For example a collection of coffee mugs on every nook, niche or cranny, may not be a good use of the space or a great selling point for your spaces. She would suggest packing them up. She may even suggest packing up some of the furniture to make a room feel larger as well. Remember that how you live in your home and how you sell your house are two entirely different things. The goal here is to create a "show home" of sorts.
Can you do this yourself ? Most of us can't
One reason is this. We don't see our home the way an outsider might. Let me give you an example. When we first moved into our home many years ago, I wandered through it with a very critcal eye. Places where the texture was too heavy, or the carpet could have been seemed better, etc. really bothered me. Do you know I never see those things now. We become blind to
many things like that in living our lives each day. We may not see the things that need "fixing" the way a stager might.
To be continued...

Baby Nursery paint project

We had a great weekend with Tiffany and Ryan.
The nursery is painted and the furniture is assembled in anticipation of Grandbaby number one in April.
Although we still have some decorating to do, The painting is done!!
What a project that was. TIffany wanted to do a tone on tone stripe sort of thing. This sounded great in theroy but to actually do it caused a lot of laughs and a few late nights. Not to mention a bit of frustration for these two perfectionist women. The stipes of course had to be even all around the room, so measuring to precision was of the utmost importance ugh!!
I must say it turned out beautifully. Would I stripe a room again hmm... maybe after a lot of time goes by.







Linking up to:

Mother Daughter Time

Off for a few days out of town to help our daughter Tiffany paint the nursery for our first grandchild due in April
I'll take some pictures to share and I will continue the staging series next week.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Staging series part 2

Welcome back to my series on staging your home to sell (or to stay in if you choose.)
The first thing you may wonder is "why do I need to hire a stager, I can do this myself". While it may be true that some of us can do it ourselves, most of us are way too attached to our homes to see them with an objective eye. Enter Home Stager: She starts the process of "packaging" your home properly to get the most earning potential.
The first thing she may do is go through room by room and assess what needs to be done. Do the carpets need cleaning? windows need washin? Does the home need painting? Do light fixtures need updated?. These are things that you can do to start the process of preparing to sell or just give a fresh look to the home you live in. The stager is available and will give you suggestions on paint color and lighting options to give your home optimum selling power.
We will be talking more in the days to come about the staging process and what to do next to get your home SOLD!

On a different note:
I have been told by several that my blog is not updating in their readers or blog rolls. I get a "parsing error" and have tried several things to try to fix it as far as I can tell it is still not working. I am kind of techno challenged so I am open to any suggestions or help to get this fixed.

Staging it to sell!

So... You're thinking of putting your house on the market. What do you do first? Hire a home stager of course.
Home staging is big in the Real Estate world. It's what will set your home apart and help fetch top $ for you. Home staging is not decorating. Although decorating is a small part of it, it is so much more. I am going to do a small series over the next several posts, with staging ins and outs and tips on how a home stager will benefit you as you prepare to sell your home.
Even if you are not selling your home, my hope is that you will find some tips to help you rearrange, declutter and simplify your home. Stay tuned, more to come...

Decorating Dilemma

I am linking up to Amandas Decorating Dilemma Party! This is a spot for bloggers to link up a post detailing a design problem area OR to share a Solution they are proud of.
I am using a home of a friend that I am needing to work on. It is a bit challenging in that there are two focal points. A lovely fireplace should be the focal point alone but right across from it is a huge entertainment unit. I have several ideas on what could work but would appreciate feedback from all of you as well. Keep in mind that the entertainment centeris exact opposite the fireplace wall. Also both chairs in the room have matching pairs that are in other rooms that we can pull out.
The horns are already on the way out and I have also suggested an area rug, amongst other things. It will be fun to see if we are all on the same page to help this struggling room.
NOTE: The space right in front of the entertainment unit is the path way into the kitchen eating area so it makes it difficult to center furniture near it.

A Great Day!

Today was a delightful day. I got to meet in person, a gal I have been blogging friends with for a while. Elizabeth has a blog called
inside me She is a very creative scrapbook artist and designs for several companies. Her blog is a great mix of scrapbooking and personal. I love the personal side. She is so honest and real and loves the Lord and is every bit the same way in person. We started talking about getting together a few months back when we both realized we only lived about 100 miles from each other. Elizabeth recently purchased some new furniture and wants to paint the walls in her room so, since this is right up my alley we decided to meet and pick out paint and come up with a few ideas for her very homey home! We hit it off as if we have known each other always and I can see a lifelong friendship in the works here. I would encourage you to go check out her blog, you will be glad you did. When she gets her room painted I will share pictures with you of the before and after (with her permission of course).
If you have been toying with the idea of meeting up with a blogger friend, I highly recommend it. While blogging is great fun, nothing takes the place of face to face visiting time.

Me and Elizabeth

Some Valentine Love

In honor of Valentine's Day, I am offering 20% off your purchase at lovethedecor.com. This is to thank you for your kindness and support in this, my first year of blogging.
Many items will be discontinued at the end of the month so if you have had your eye on something, this is the perfect time to spoil yourself!!
Just enter code: Blog Love
Hurry sale ends Feb 15th

Are you feeling Blue?

Have you noticed it? Blue is making a comeback. It is everywhere in home decor. From vases to wall art, in fabrics to furniture, from paint to tile, from damask to denim
There are so many shades of blue out there, that even if "blue" is not your color, you might find one shade you could learn to like.The March issue of House Beautiful has some wonderful displays in blue. Even Pottery Barn is getting in on the blue action.
Thought I would share just a few of my favorite blue things with you.

Nicaragua Adventure

Many of you have emailed me wanting to know about the trip. I find it hard to sum it all up in a few short paragraphs but I will try to share without going on and on.
My decision to go to the jungles of Nicaragua was not born out of some Godly call or noble action on my part. My reason from the beginning was to go to see what my husband's passion was all about. You see, he led a team last year and came home a changed man. He has been back 3 times now and would come home sharing and I would think.."that's nice honey" but I just didn't get it. So I decided that this time, with this team of 29 people I would go see if I could "get It".
When we landed in the country, and left the city by bus, it became clear right away that "we were not in Kansas any more". It is extremely hot and humid and very dry and dusty. Needless to say it was hard to stay clean. As we arrived at the village we were to serve in, people ran out of their "homes" to wave at this bus filled with Americans. We stayed in a school compound in tents and our showers consisted of buckets of water and a scoop. Bathrooms were of course outhouses laden with an occasional bug or spider. The spiders are big here. Often we were surrounded by chickens and mini pigs as we went about our work. It was not unusual to see cattle being hearded on the same roads we used for walking on. Did I mention the spiders are big here? There was a team brought in to do all of our cooking for us and they did an awesome job. We had bottled water and great food. There was never a worry of getting sick from the food or water. (okay barely a worry) The pineapple here is beyond any sweetness you can imagine. The coffee was amazing and a blessing each morning and evening.
The reason we went first and foremost was to build a church building. In these villages there are believers and they need a place to congregate. The church building not only provides a place of worship but acts as a community center as well. The fact that Americans come from so far a way to do this for them is a draw in and of itself. We also provided a medical clinic and a children's program. The kids club started with around 60 and ended with aprox 120 children by the end of the week. Our daughter even provided a day of haircuts to the locals. At our church services each evening there was an alter call and several came forward to accept the Lord into their lives. All week as I looked around and observed the people my thoughts were something like this... They are dressed nicely, relatively clean and healthy, happy, so why are we here? For one, there is no extra money in this economy to erect a building. My aha and "get it" moment came on the last night in the village after we finished our part of the building (yes, I worked on the construction team, never have I been so dirty in all of my life :). We had a church dedication service. All of the visiting and local pastors were inside the structure praying and dedicating it to the Lord, We were watching through the window opens at these men of God praising Him with tears streaming down their faces in thankfulness. I looked next to me and there was a sweet little Nicaraguan women standing in the doorway, tears streaming down her face hands raised praising and thanking God for this new place to worship. It brought tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat to see her. She hugged me and said in Spanish something like gracias! until we meet in heaven, as she pointed up. In that moment I knew why we were there and I think I finally "get it"
There were so many things that happened and so much to share but I will leave it at this for now. I do however welcome your questions. I will close with a few more pictures. Enjoy!

We're Back

Just a quick note to let you know we made it home safely. The trip was ah-maz-ing. I will share more as soon as I get caught up on a few things. I appreciate the prayers of all of you. There were many decisions for the Lord among the local people of Nicaraugua. No one in our group was injured or sick and we made all of our flights and security checks without incident. I am leaving you with a few pictures but promise to be back in a few days with stories and many more photos.