Since creating the “to be continued” blog, I’ve been closing each post with the words “dwell in possibilities.” I must confess that I borrowed this phrase from the great poet, Emily Dickinson. I saw her quote and realized that it summed up what I am doing as a professional home stager and interior designer.

I am most grateful to Ms. Dickinson for her insightful and inspiring phrase.

Regardless of the size or price range of a house, my objective is to find the possibilities in that house. I am looking for those unique features of that house and finding possible ways to accentuate them for the potential buyer. I am analyzing those unusual spaces that buyers find difficult to understand upon first glance and finding possible functional uses for those spaces.

In the end, my mission is to help the potential buyer see how they could dwell in the possibilities of this house!


Friday, August 12, 2011

FRIDAY TREAT – Review of 101 Things I Hate About Your House

He had me at the title.  James Swan’s 101 Things I Hate About Your House is a premier Beverly Hills designer’s “room-by-room tour to transform your home from faux pas to fabulous”.  This was a book I had to read.  Who knows, maybe you will too.   

The goal of 101 Things I Hate About Your House is to 

Provide you with the basic principles you need to create a beautiful and gracious home.  A gracious home, while not always trumpeted in the glossy magazines, is one filled with collected objects of beauty comingled with the voices of friends, the laughter of family and the relaxed acknowledgment of contentment.  A gracious and beautiful home considers the needs of its occupants and consistently rises to the occasion. 

This book is chocked full of ideas about what to do with specific aspects of each and every room of a house.  You can get a taste of the depth and range from this sample of chapter titles. 

Entry Way – You Had Me at Hello

Living Room – Go On, Live a Little

Dining Room – The Way to a Man’s (or Woman’s) Heart

Library – I Read Therefore I Am

Guest Bedroom and Bath – “Guests Are Like Fish . . .“ 

Like its title, this book has an edge that at times can be refreshing and at other times can be a bit much.  But, Swan does say what many of us think - like his take on an overlooked but never forgotten aspect of the Entry Way.  

Besides the “look” of a house, a host or hostess should consider another layer of impression with which to astonish and astound unwitting guests.  Breathe with me.  Take a deep breath and try not to choke on the aroma of musty wet dogs, acrid cat boxes, marinating gym clothes and damp, moldy laundry.  To put it succinctly, buy a candle. 

If you like his style and perspectives, you may want to check out the James Swan blog, Design Quotient, at http://www.jamesswanco.com/interior-designer-Beverly-Hills/ . 

I love houses and use my expertise and experience to accentuate what I love and expect others will too.  James Swan’s take on houses did not change that love but he did open me up to thinking about other possibilities. 

Dwell in possibilities 

Cindy


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