It usually only takes a few minutes after seeing the 2 pink lines on a pregnancy test before Mom starts dreaming of her next decorating venture: the nursery. Babies’ rooms are so much fun because you really can play out some of your childhood fantasies. However, this season of life often means you will be selling your house in a couple of years as your family continues to grow! Austin’s own Get Babied asked me to do a workshop for all of their expectant clients to help them create a room that will grow with time, and that won’t send a potential buyer running out the front door! Here is what I shared with them:

1. Don’t go crazy on customizing the walls: Here are some of my favorite wall decals from Land of Nod. They are not permanent and can go into the next nursery, playroom, or house! Other great sources for wall decals: Ferm Living, Marimekko, and What is Blik

I LOVE wallpaper, but it is a huge pain for future homebuyers to take down. You literally have to steam off the wallpaper and sometimes even redo drywall! Here is a non toxic wall adhesive recipe that is also semi permanent:

• 1 cup flour (wheat, corn, or rice)
• 3 teaspoons alum
• water
• 10 drops oil of cloves (natural preservative)

Combine the flour and alum in a double boiler. (If you don’t have a double boiler, set a smaller pan inside a bigger one that contains enough water that can be brought to a boil without overflowing). Add enough water to make a consistency of heavy cream; stir until blended. Heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened to a gravy texture. Let cool. Stir in the clove oil. Pour into a glass jar with a screw top. Apply with a glue brush.

Makes 1 cup. Shelf life: 2 weeks refrigerated.

Try to choose a wallpaper that isn’t SO baby, that the room couldn’t be repurposed for a study, or that your soon to be preschooler (they grow quickly!) will still LOVE.  Also, choose to do an accent wall instead of the whole room. Cole and Son is my favorite wall paper manufacturer.  Here are a few selections that would work great in baby’s room but also in a study or preschooler’s room:

Cole and Son Contemporary III Collection

Cole and Son Flower Collection

Cole and Son Flower Collection

Cole and Son Contemporary III Collection

2. Don’t let accessories be last!

When decorating, I start with an accessory that inspires me! Whether I find a must-have pillow, an antique light fixture, or a fabulous home made mobile, I start with a unique object, and then decide on paint color and room direction. Accessorize the crib with pillows that will be on a big girl or big boy bed some day. Choose light fixtures that create unique spaces, and don’t forget about adorable mobiles! Spend your budget on items that you can take with you no matter where you live!

This $85 antique light fixture inspired our daughter's room

Kim of KWillis Design personalized pillows for her new arrival. www.kwillisdesign.com

Hey Now Whoa Now recreated this inspired bird mobile. Make several for a big impact and easily relocate them to a play room when nursery days end! www.heynowwhoanow.com

3. Use furniture Creatively:

Oh please don’t buy a diaper changer!  It may feel like they will always be in diapers, but this too shall pass! This is your chance to customize an antique dresser, use a console table, or even borrow a chest of drawers. Finish the piece off with some cute pulls from Anthroplogie or Hobby Lobby.  When the diaper days are over, you can even move the piece to a different room or into your larger home (after you buy it)!

Can you spot the diaper changer in this nursery? When Berick is poddy trained, his parents can easily use this piece in another room. Thanks, Katie!

4. Toys are Inevitable

I think most parents, before they are actually parents, visit their friends’ home who have kids only to leave saying, “We will never have that many toys for our kids.” You may not have that many, but you will have some!  And you need a cute place to store them! Toys are not what you are thinking about during the nursery decorating stage but they are inevitable. Here are ways to incorporate future storage into the nursery:

• Find an upholstered storage ottoman on Craig’s list and reupholster with a fabulous fabric. If any upholstery project is DIY, it would be an ottoman. Place it at the end of the crib or, if small enough, use in front of your glider as a footrest.
• I love the idea of using clothesline pins to hold baby pics on a metal dress form that will soon hold dress up clothes and art projects. This one from Pier 1 is only $59!
  

  Bows are organized and dress up clothes and tap shoes are easily reached!

I reupholstered this resale store find in a fun houndstooth. The best part? It stores all of those tiny toddler toys!

5. Our Favorite Paint Colors that whisper, don’t scream, Baby

• You probably wonder why I didn’t start with paint colors! Because I first like to decorate around an object that inspires me, I have many paint colors that compliment most objects de vertu. They are from Restoration Hardware’s paint collections. They have all been faithfully tested on Honegger Construction remodeled homes.
  

  Butter Paint Collection

Shore Paint Collection

Silver Sage Paint Collection

3 year old carpet art!

Art is gone!

As our 3 year old approaches 4, nap times are being replaced by “rest times” which has lead to interesting imaginative play time in her room. It has also lead to exploring with crayons- on walls, stuffed animals, and the carpet. She even dressed up a crayon like a princess the other day. I always take the crayons away and, inevitably, a few weeks later, return them in hopes for no disasters. For the most part, it has worked. But we recently hired a chem dry carpet cleaning company to clean up past messes.

We have always used and recommended steam cleaning companies when listing an Austin home for sale. But often steam cleaning means days off the carpet which is an impossibility with kids. Chem-drying, a carpet cleaning alternative, uses carbonation to extract the dirt and grime and doesn’t use as much steam so the carpet dries much faster. Even if you aren’t selling your home any time soon, cleaning your carpets is an affordable way to maintain your home and help it to feel new!

At the end of the day, the artwork is off the carpet and the upholstery! And really, that is all we wanted! If you are listing your Austin home for sale this spring, read more of our tips about how to prepare your Austin home for sale. Give Austin Chem-Dry a call for a free estimate. We found them to be efficient and affordable.

I didn’t know how tomatoes grew into well into my adult life. I lived deep in the mountains of Bolivia for a stint and will never forget the awe and amazement of seeds actually growing into my own food! Joe, coming from the good midwestern family that he did, ate 5 different veggies from their family garden every night! While we have attempted our own gardens almost every year, it hasn’t quite produced like we wanted. So I like to hit up farmer’s markets year round for the homegrown taste! Here are some of my favorites located in neighborhoods all over Austin.

Hope Farmer’s Market: This may be the newest to town. Sundays from 11-3 on 5th and Waller.

Boggy Creek Farm: My favorite way to start a Wednesday is with a fresh cup of coffee at Boggy Creek and my shoulder bag filled with fresh eggs and seasonal produce. The kids love to visit the chickens and see where the food is grown. Truly country in the city. Wednesday and Saturday from 9-1 in East Austin.

Austin Farmer’s Market at the Triangle: This is our spring ritual- meet friends at the triangle on Wednesday for live music, yummy samples, and fun. Grab the organic roasted chicken for dinner on your way out. And don’t forget to let your kids run around in the water area!

Austin Farmer’s Market downtown: Saturdays 9-1

Sunset Valley Farmer’s Market: Saturdays 9-1. Perfect for the south Austin home dweller and there is so much more than just veggies for sale! It is a fun place to take the kids on a slow Saturday morning.

Manor Farmer’s Market: Just 15 minutes east of Austin and many farmers represented.

If you are toying with the idea of planting a spring garden this year, but don’t want to go at it alone,  find a community garden in your own Austin neighborhood. Or start a co-op in your backyard with neighbors- especially if you live in Lost Creek or Rollingwood where the lots lend themselves to large garden plots. If you are selling your Austin home in the Spring, a welcoming garden sends a message to buyers that you care about your home. Happy gardening!

Because we have spent many years remodeling and flipping homes as central Austin realtors, we often get questions this time of year from clients getting ready to sell their homes in the spring. What should they do now to prepare an outdated Austin home to sell in the Spring?  Here are some projects that each cost under $2,000 that will cause a big impact in terms of buyer appeal. And if you do it now, you will actually get to enjoy the projects!

• Are your kitchen cabinets outdated? Reconditioning the cabinets will take out the nicks and scratches that years acquire. Add new hardware (I love the Restoration Hardware Outlet for hardware), and your kitchen will feel much cleaner. Or, paint the cabinets for a whole new look.
• Open up your floorplan. This may be easier said than done or it could be really easy and you didn’t know it! If your kitchen is separate from your family room, taking out even half a wall and adding a breakfast bar or island will modernize the floor plan. I have found some amazing deals on breakfast bars on Craig’s List. Joe and I would love to look at your kitchen to see if this is a feasible option.
• You may have an 80’s bathroom and think you are stuck with a $5,000 bathroom remodel. Actually, regrouting, replacing old faucets, light fixtures, and vanities, will create the feel of a new bathroom for under $500. Add a cute shower curtain (here are some cute ones from Anthropologie), and monogram some towels. Instead of a bath rug, buy a fun rug that covers up the outdated tile from Pottery Barn Teen like this one . These are all things you can take to your new home, but will help sell your current home in the mean time!
• Replace outdated light fixtures. If your house doesn’t have any recessed lighting, consider adding it to the living area and kitchen.
• Replace brass fixtures and door knobs.
• Add an interesting backsplash if your kitchen doesn’t have one. Kitchen backsplashes are fun because it is a smaller surface area that requires less tile so you can be creative and spend less money. I LOVE Ann Sacks tile! We have plenty of samples if you would like to see them in person.

In this economy, spending money when you are unsure about the return feels risky. Contact Joe at JH Residential so that he can provide you with a market analysis on your specific area of town and let you know a wise way to update your home.

The gym has been packed lately. The childcare providers told me that it will be like this for another month and then people start calling to cancel their memberships, realizing their New Year’s resolutions were a little bit ambitious. People are usually great about setting goals for their eating and exercise routines at the beginning of the year. But do they do the same for their homes? Here are some simple, unsexy things you can do this week to shape up your house in 2010:

• Make an appointment to dry clean your carpets. Dry cleaning, as opposed to steam cleaning your rugs, reduces the chance of mold growing under your carpets. It also dries in an hour; whereas, steam cleaning can stay wet for a day which is REALLY difficult with little tikes running around. We have an appointment set with Austin Chem-Dry for February. I can’t wait to show you the before and after photos.
• Clean under your fridge. A tiny toy fell under the fridge the other day and I was DISGUSTED to discover everything else that had piled under the fridge. It is near food. It should be clean!
• Replace rotted siding. This will have to be done if you plan on listing your home for sale, so might as well do it now.
• Get rid of socks that don’t have a mate. This will revolutionize your sock drawer!
• I love these erase pads for the walls! I got mine at the new central Austin Staples, but you can get them everywhere. I admit- the kids drew on the wall a few months ago and I did nothing about it until recently. These erase pads made everything look brand new! It is one of those extremely gratifying cleaning jobs!

I haven’t been the best blogger the last couple of months. I was approached by a couple of people to help them with the interior design of their homes. I look forward to sharing the photos with you! I want to share what I have been learning and doing, so I am back in the blogging saddle. Let me know of YOUR 2010 home shape up goals. I would love to help you conquer them! And of course, if you are thinking of listing your Austin home for sale in the Spring, it isn’t too early to contact JH Residential to help ready your home.

Don’t spend money that you don’t have to improve your home.  But if you do have some reserve money, now is a great time to make your home more energy effecient. If you live in an older central Austin home and are thinking of selling in the next couple of years, then now would be a great time to take advantage of the rebates Austin Energy offers along with the tax credits the federal government is offering.  Here are the top incentives that we recommend:

• Purchase a new central air conditioner and get up to a $1500 tax credit and a $600 rebate.
• Put in attic insulation and get up to a $1500 tax credit and $650 rebate
• Purchase energy-efficient windows and get up to a $1500 tax credit and an average rebate of $164

Visit our Preferred Vendors  page to contact our recommended AC company, QLS (Casey even came to rescue me within a couple of hours when our AC went out last September and I had a new baby). To receive the tax credit , improvements must meet the new tax code requirements.

This photo of our own daugher, by j cota photography, reminds me to have child like faith.

The process of buying and selling your home is wrought with anxiety, sweat, and exhaustion. Rarely have we served a client who has not ended up crying at some point along the way. The emotional process represents our own emotional and spiritual attachments we possess. Our homes are so much more than homes. They are our communities, and they represent our lifestyles, our choices, and our relationships.

Because we used to almost exclusively “flip” houses, we have a certain empathy for homeowners and buyers in the middle of this arduous task. Ultimately, homeowners feel out of control. As realtors, we can provide exceptional pricing analysis, expert advice on home staging, and an extensive marketing plan. As homeowners, you can keep your home immaculate, follow our advice, and present a beautiful story to a potential buyer. But at the end of the day, so much is out of your control. As a friend once said, “There is an art and a science to selling a home.”

During this process (which kept me up so many nights when we used to sell our own flips), I always came to a surrender point when I realized that my own self reliance robbed me of daily Peace. A book on prayer recently reminded me that the essential task in the home buying and home selling process is prayer. “If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life. You’ll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But if, like Jesus, you realize you can’t do life on your own (sell or buy a house on your own) then no matter how busy you are, no matter how tired you are, you will find time to pray.” (A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller)

The world of real estate is a cut throat world than can lead to cynicism. Lately, I have been reminded to have the faith of a child. Ultimately, we believe that God the Father hand picks and hand sells every one of our homes at JHResidential.