Finding the focal point I’m a space is one of the features of good interior design. Where is the eye naturally drawn and what does the room do to enhance that natural inclination? Here are some ideas for how to find or create a focal point in your most important living spaces.

Architectural Features

First of all, look at your extant architectural features. There may be a pre-existing focal point to work around or enhance. A fireplace can be enhanced with a decorative fire screen and further embellished with mantlepiece ornaments. Windows can be framed by curtains and other styles of window treatments. Antique features or exposed beams can be lit to draw the eye. Look at what you’re working with before you decide what the focal point should be. The room may have something to say about where the eye is naturally drawn.

Artistic Features

Now you can think about art and expression. Do you have artistic friends or family who’ve given you unique pieces that you want to feature in your design? Maybe you have a favorite or meaningful piece of art that you want to use as a focal point in your room. You can coordinate whole rooms around a single art feature, whether it’s through strategic placement, clever lighting or even the colors you use in your furnishings and decor. The focal point should bring the room together, uniting all the various design elements.

Activities

The focal point of your room might be the main activity you do there. Odds are the focal point of your dining room will be the table and the focal point of your living room will, realistically speaking, be the television. Work with that, not against it. Make the function of the space part of its form, and highlight the usefulness by incorporating that into your design.

Living Spaces

It is important to remember is that these spaces are not just for show. These are spaces you love and live in. There will be clutter, especially if you haven’t included adequate storage spaces. There will be people, so think about where the chairs are placed and how they are angled.

Once you’ve found the focal point, your life becomes substantially easier. Mess and clutter that draws attention away from your focal point is a distraction from your design. Either stash it away or get rid of it entirely. Now you can enjoy a harmonious, attractive, well-designed interior

The process of selling a house is long, tiring, and expensive. You have to prepare your house well to attract interested potential buyers. Here are some ways you can do before selling your house:

1. Work with a real estate agent

Working with a real estate agent could actually save you more than trying to sell your house by yourself. Although you might think otherwise considering that you have to pay commission to the listing agent and the buyer’s agent to get the house sold, but in general, working with an agent could save you more than $1000 compared to doing it DIY.

The reason behind this is simple. Most of the time homeowners tend to price their home too low or too high and then drop the price drastically during negotiations in the course of selling. They end up selling their home lower than what they originally planned for. Even lower than working would with an agent would’ve cost in total.

For example: If you try to sell your house and you think its value is $350,000, you would then put it out in the market for $350,000. But if the market analysis tells that your listing price is too high, you would then cut it down little by little until it gets sold. You might even end up getting it sold for $300,000 which is much lower than what you have expected.

But if you work with an agent, your house could likely be sold at $330,000 which is $20,000 lower than your perceived value of your home, but still higher than the price you can sell it for by yourself even with the commission and other expenses already deducted.

2. Improve your curb appeal

The way your house is viewed from the street is the first opportunity to make the best impressions. The exterior of your home should be inviting enough to attract the home viewers and make them want to go inside and see more.

You can make some landscaping, plant colorful flowers and upgrade your porch—add some fluffy and clean throw pillows in your outdoor chairs. Make some pathways, add a trash bin, repaint the front door, and make sure your doorbell is working. You can also add a low fence to give that exclusivity feel in your property.

If you are unsure what else to do, talk to your real estate agent to give you an idea how to improve your curb appeal.

3. Declutter, depersonalize, deep clean, and repair

Sort out your stuff. Box those that are not in use anymore and let go of sentimental things that which you can, and then do a garage sale, or sell them in local thrift shops, online sale platforms like eBay. The rest that you are unable to sell, you can donate to charities, or you can recycle and create DIY artworks.

Remove all personal stuff like bills and family pictures because they are distracting clients from projecting themselves living in your space. Secure them in a box and keep them out of sight. Your home should be like a blank canvas which makes the buyers easily imagine what to do with it. The lesser the things on display, the better.

Deep clean your home and get rid of all of that aged cobwebs on the corners. Dust the windows, the furniture, and all the surfaces. Make it a point that wherever the client may lay a finger one, its dust free.

Hire a handyman to do all the fixes needed because handymen are jack-of-all-trades and hiring one can save you a lot.

4. Replace the wall colors

Repaint the walls and choose neutral tones. If you have bold walls like striking red or playful orange, that might turn off potential buyers who are possibly not into those colors. Choosing neutral colors is the safe way to do it because nobody hates neutral colors. This way, buyers can easily imagine how they would want the walls to get decorated.

5. Do home staging and consider scent 

Reorganize the furniture and make a little decorating of your home. You can hang your DIY artworks from your recycled stuff. Add some flowers, vases, throw pillows, wall arts, and some succulents, clean towels in the toilet, and others that will attract the potential homebuyers more into buying your home.

Do not forget the scent of your home. Good smell, fragrant and clean, can make anyone happy. Make sure your throw pillows and others smell clean and you can also light scented candles during the home viewing. But make sure it is subtle and not overwhelming. There are a few more steps that you can do to sell your house fast Los Angeles. But always remember, don’t overdo it. And if you don’t really have the time and money to take on the task, know that you have another option. Sell it to Candid Property Solutions. They buy houses as-is and can close in days!

One of the prime important factors to attract potential buyers is a wonderful and very welcoming home exterior. The moment a homebuyer steps into your property, how it looks on the outside will set your client’s impression—and first impressions matter the most.

Here are some ways you can take your home’s exterior design to the next level.

1. Put big, bold house numbers. Depending on the font and color of your house number, it echoes the design of your home and creates an impression on how keen you are to the details which makes a great impact for homebuyer inspectors. Like for example, stainless steel sans serif fits a modern home design while aged copper is for a Prairie-style theme, and so on.
2. Make attractive landscaping. Add structure to your front lawn with low stone walls, concrete planters, or new brick paths, and plant beautiful flowers. A brightly colorful flower garden in your front yard will make a great impression to your guests. Here are some plants that are perfect for your front lawn: Boxwood, Nandina, Hydrangea, Azalea, Rose, Hosta, Daylily, Annuals, Deutzia, inkberry hollies, coleus, lantanas, and other annuals and perennials. Don’t forget to dress up your mailbox as well with colorful plants.
3. Level up your front door. A repaint job will do the trick. You can watch YouTube videos for tutorials on how to do it correctly and not mess it up. Do not forget to also repaint your doorknob, hinges, and door knockers. Fresh and brand new looking door, gives your house an expensive feel. If you have a doorbell, make sure it is working. Since you are already on your repainting job, you might as well not miss the garage door and use the remaining paint to recondition it.
4. Give life to your porch. Put outdoor rockers and gliders on your porch, or maybe a tea table for two. Also, add clean, fluffy, and colorful throw pillows. Stick to the motif of your desired design theme. Put some accents or colors that are common from the architecture of the paths, the landscaping, to the porch and until you are inside the house. This gives a feeling that no design element is out of place. Everything should relate with each other.
5. Add a low, minimalist fence. Oh yes! Just like your dream house when you were a kid complete with white fence. Make that dream come true and install a low fence that is just minimalist and not overpowering. A fence gives a feeling of security and sense of detachment from the busy street. It is almost as if when you step on in a property with a fence, you are seemingly in a completely different world from the outside and it becomes your safe haven. Also, a low fence adds depth to your front yard making it look larger.
6. Repaint the exterior walls of your home. That is if the exterior walls of your house are in bad condition, you may want to do some repainting. However, this could take a lot of time and could be a very tiring job, so unless you have the right skills, right tools, and enough time, don’t do it yourself. But if you are determined to do so and save money from paying a professional fee, you can always research the internet for references and watch tutorial videos to do the job decently.
7. Install outdoor lighting. People tend to take little consideration of outdoor lighting in their plans. Lights can greatly improve the curb appeal of your home. Installing some lightings in your porch, in your garden, or garage, not only beautify them and provide classy ambience or drama, but it can also deter intruders. A well-lighted house on the outside when viewed from the street would look and feel very warm and welcoming. This will definitely add value to your house.
8. Repair the roof and gutters. Faulty and damaged shingles and gutters are definitely an eyesore. In the long run, if you choose to disregard them, they may cost a lot when you finally want to fix them. So it’s best that you do repair the moment you notice any damage on your roof.

These are things that you can certainly do by yourself. However, if you are not confident at all, it’s better to hire a handyman before you mess it up and end up spending more fixing the damage. Handymen can do a lot of things and hiring one can save you a lot of money paying fees to different professionals working in your home exterior. Or, better yet sell your house to us. Maintaining a house can be very exhausting, if you want to just get rid of it completely, you have options. Selling to a “we buy homes Los Angeles” company is the best way to go. And Mrs. Property Solutions is your best bet if you ever need a company that can close fast and buy your house as-is!