Photo from The Black Workshop.

After yesterday’s pallet being used as a beautiful book shelf, take a look at this one transformed into a porch swing.

Photo by the Frugal Homemaker.

How many times do you see old pallets lying around destined for a landfill?  Look behind your local grocery, big box, or hardware store to find them.  While I believe you might need a big house – or at least a big wall – to make this work, but here’s a great use for an old throwaway pallet.  From Amanda Carver Designs,

If you are a fan of new television show “Once Upon a Time,” then you might enjoy some of the storybook houses shown on WebEcoist.

There’s no greater modern-day fairytale village than Carmel-by-the-Sea in California. This community features a number of charming homes built in the 1920s by Hugh Comstock. It all began when the architect’s wife asked him to build her a doll house as a show room for the rag dolls she sold, and the result was ‘Hansel’, above.

Go take a look at all the adorable architectural designs for these cute cottages!

Whether a counter top is granite or Formica or the appliances are stainless steel or off-white could well determine whether you can an offer or not.  Many memories are made in the kitchen – from a strong sense of smell when cookies come out of the oven to learning how to prepare chicken & dumplings – so it can make or break a home sale.

This is true no matter what part of the country you’re in, no matter if you’re a house flipper or first-time home buyer. From Realty Times,

Kitchens, however, can be one of the most expensive rooms to renovate. These projects can also be the most labor and time intensive of all home renovations. It’s not just a new layer of paint.  

Instead you find a complicated array of flooring, tiling, cabinets, and counters. This means buyers may want a home with an up-to-date kitchen but they aren’t willing to tackle this problem themselves. Most buyers want a kitchen that is ready to use the day they move in.

If you’re ready to sell, pay careful attention to the kitchen!

So you have bought a new house and now you need some help on how to redecorate or redesign a room.  Help is available at a great website called Houzz.  One person just posted a photo of their new bedroom and asked what in the world they could do to decorate it. The answers are quite helpful! For example,

I am in complete agreement with making the upper area of this a sitting area and placing your bed on the wall opposite to the bathroom opening. It appears the walls and the ceiling are the same color so you might want to consider changing one or the other to create some further visual interest.

I think this is a great space and I know many of my clients who are buying older homes which they had this kind of room to “figure out”

Houzz is a wonderful web resource.

Decorating + Me = DISASTER

Except for the curtains I picked up for the living room and one chair, I have stepped aside when it comes to making decorating decisions at my house.  I am not talented.  Just not.  However, some projects may work even for simpletons like me!  From Apartment Therapy,

Katie had a vision that many of us might not have been so inspired to see and we’re so glad she’s shared this project with us! With a drill and a hand saw, this old table went from ho hum to holy smokes! It had detail added to the sides and a fresh coat of paint and we’re pretty sure we’ve never been so inspired by a $69 table before.

Click through to see the whole transformation!

Photo by matsutake.

Staging homes is a lot more easier said than done.  However, some things should be obvious.  Apartment Therapy brings us one look that I would suggest you skip if you’re trying to sell,

They might not necessarily be dark in nature (think skulls or taxidermy bats), but some collections are down right freaky, either way. Old baby dolls with those beady eyes — yeah I’m looking at you.

Agreed. A collection of baby doll heads in a jar just doesn’t seem quite right.

What could be worse?  The doll head planter is pretty bad too, if you ask me!

Happy Labor Day… a special treat is a coffee table decoration. Would you put this in your house?  It would definitely be a conversation piece!

Photo by Brian Biggs.