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TEN STAGING TIPS FOR SELLING YOUR HOME

Happy Friday friends!! Gosh, I am so happy to have this week behind me. We put our house on the market about two weeks ago. Since then, we have been hustling around to accommodate showings and open houses. Truly one of the most exhausting things to do with kids. Live perfectly, and get your house to look like a magazine throughout the day so people will want to buy it???? yeah. umm. ok….
I am overjoyed to share that our house is SOLD! Now that things have slowed down for us (temporarily), I wanted to share my top 10 tips on staging your home to SELL. I stress the “sell” part because it is important to remember that you are not staging your home for yourself and your family. You have to think about those coming to see your home. It was very hard for me to get into that mindset.
So, here goes…
STAGING TIPS:
1. Depersonalize
Take down or change out all photos of you, your family or friends. I took quite a few frames off of the walls and off of tables/counters/dressers and went ahead and boxed them up. Don’t be afraid of empty walls. That is a good thing for a buyer to see so that they can visualize their own photos instead. My larger frames that made up my gallery walls like the one above stayed in place. I just opened the frames, and inverted the existing photo. Then, I simply added free printables, wallpaper, etc. It will make going into your new home and rehanging everything a breeze.
2. Declutter
 Decluttering was the best thing that ever happened to our home. Ha! I am NOT a hoarder. In fact… a purger by nature. However, there is always something that needs to go. We followed the “rule of 3”. No more than 3 items on each shelf or table. It really opens up your space!
3. Kids’ toys
Have your kids pick their “favorite” toys. Keep it to just enough to fill a bin in their room or playroom. This made it easy for our daughter to throw her toys in their designated bin when we got a call for a showing appointment. It also keeps everything looking tidy. We had toys hidden in ottomans too! 🙂
4. Remove everything from closet floors
This will make your closets not look or feel cluttered. You can even move items on the floor to the top if you have room. Just make it look neat. You want the buyer to open the door and see space. Walk-in closets – line your clothes from light to dark. Lighter clothing pieces being closest to the entry. If you want to go the extra mile (we did not), get matching hangers. 
5. Define spaces
The way that your furniture is set up for your family may not create the best “flow” for potential buyers. Be sure and create defined spaces. For example… we have an open living floor plan. It was important for us to make it feel like there were three separate rooms in one large space. Dining room, kitchen and living room. We ended up moving our sectional sofa up to separate
the dining room and also to create a walk way from our front door to our kitchen. Walking into the room and not having to walk AROUND something to get to the other side of the room was key to making each space feel larger and more open. It is all about “shifting weight”. Don’t have too much on one side of the room. Even things out. Make sense?
^ These frames anchored the entry way, so I decided to keep them up. However, I switched out photos of my daughter with free printables that I found online.^
6.  Put valuables in a safe place/file away personal files
 You have people walking through your home! Strangers!! I had necklaces hanging on hooks in my closet. I removed those, and packed up most of my jewelry. I figured I could live with my every day dainty pieces for a couple of weeks. We also have a coin machine (we kept it in our coat closet) to just dump extra change in, then we save the rolls in a jar until it is worth going to cash them in. We took that out as well! Better to be safe. We had our calendar hanging on our fridge, and my desk was full of business mailings. I made sure to put all of that stuff away as well. Nobody needs to know where you will be on what day at what time, ya know? 
7. Remove signs of animals
We love our sweet dog, but not everyone is an animal lover. Nor do they want to see their dirty food bowls. We simply took dog food out to the garage.
8. Curb Appeal 
 Remove weeds, trim back hedges, maybe even add fresh mulch. Touch up paint (if you have the exterior color available) around doors.
9. Let the light in 
Open all of your blinds/curtains and turn on all of the lights. Let the natural light shine into your home. It creates an airy feeling, and of course makes each space feel larger.
10. Get a laundry basket
 At any given time, you WILL have random things out on the counter or on the floor when you get the call to show your home. With kids, I didn’t always have the time to do a perfect cleaning sweep. Lots of things when into drawers, cabinets, under beds. However, when I would come home I would forget where I placed things. Simply keep a laundry basket handy and just throw everything into that, and throw the basket into your car so you can get out of there quickly. It seems crazy, but it is soooo much easier.
Just remember that you are still living in your home. People get that! I put a lot of pressure on myself to make my house look like a model home each time. It is IMPOSSIBLE! 
Our buyers left us a sweet note during one of their visits to our home, and my family and I couldn’t be happier about the people coming into this home to love on it as much as we have. We have spent the majority of our married life here, brought both of our babies home to his house, and shared countless memories and holidays here. I sure am going to miss it. So, knowing that another family is ready to love on this place is heartwarming to me. 
Good luck selling your house!! 
-J

DIAPER CAKE TUTORIAL

At every baby shower we throw, there’s always a diaper cake centerpiece (scroll down for more of our cakes)! Not only is it visually super fun, but it’s also the perfect gift for a new mama. We try to embellish the tiers and topper to match the theme of the party, and this one pictured above was from Jenni’s hip hop/concert themed baby shower we threw last weekend… working on that post… promise! Jenni’s always talked about getting baby Nike Dunks for her baby boy way before she even had Amara, so I knew the topper had to be these little kicks.
I’ve made all the mistakes for you and come up with my fail-safe way to make a 4-tiered spectacular diaper cake!
I’ve found TARGET BRAND diapers to be the best!! First of all, they’re great diapers. When I had Ari I insisted on Pampers swaddlers (they are super soft after all) but when Max was born, I just went to Target brand and they’re just as good and way cheaper. Aesthetically for a diaper cake, they’re the best, because they are plain white and nice and flat. Pampers are a little puffier and look messy on a cake. Still works though- scroll down to see previous diaper cakes.
I bought one small pack each of newborn, size one, and size two. It’s nice to give the mom a variety and it also looks really nice on the cake to have the tiers be different heights.
 My secret to the perfect shaped diaper cake is…. an oatmeal can inside! Yep, that’s how I get that nice round shape, it fills in the middle nicely, and it keeps all the tiers sturdy.
WHAT YOU NEED:
1 Oatmeal Can
LARGE Rubberbands
String (anything will do!)
About 75 diapers 
(see anatomy picture above for size variety)
Embellishment for tiers and topper
Cake Platter (mine is about 13″)
INSTRUCTIONS:
*Tip- make sure each diaper for each tier is facing in the same direction
4th TIER
Start with the largest size diaper for the bottom tier.
Place a large rubberband around the can and start sticking diapers in, layering about 2-3 inches. You want to overlap them evenly all around. Soon your rubberband will get super tight and break in your face and your diapers will fly everywhere and you’ll say a non-baby-shower-appropriate-word and you’ll need to reinforce this layer with a piece of string. (See, told you I’ve made all the mistakes for you!) Just tie loosely around this layer in a bow so that you can adjust the length as you add more diapers.
As you layer the diapers all the way around, tuck the last diaper underneath the first so that it looks continuous and clean. Tie TWO pieces of string around this layer, one on the top and one on the bottom of the tier. This keeps the shape.
This bottom tier (4th tier) will have TWO rounds of layers. So just start layering again on top of the first round of diapers, this time with a string to hold this layer unless you have a huge rubberband! Can’t tell you how many times I thought a rubberband was big enough and -snap-! Tie two pieces of string around the layer, one near the top and one near the bottom. You’ll cover these up with embellishment at the end.
3rd TIER
This is one layer of diapers all around, about 17 diapers in size 1. Tie two pieces of string around the layer, one near the top and one near the bottom.
2nd TIER
If you’re using the same size diapers and oatmeal can that I did, you’ll notice that there’s only about 2-3 inches of space left on the oatmeal can for the next tier. That’s not going to be sturdy enough to keep the clean, round shape of the tier. You’ll need to take 3 diapers and simply fold them each in half, stack them, and wrap 2 rubberbands around them. Place on the top of the oatmeal can, and now you’ll keep that 2nd tier more sturdy and not falling in on itself.
Wrap only 8 or so diapers around and spread the layers a little wider than before. This keeps the tier thinner than the previous tier. Tie two pieces of string around the layer, one near the top and one near the bottom.
1st TIER
Roll 4 newborn size diapers up and individually wrap with a rubber band. Bring these 4 together and wrap all 4 up with a rubberband. This is the center of the top tier which will keep the shape since you’ve run out of room on the oatmeal can. Put another large rubberband around these 4 and start tucking in your diaper layers. Wrap about 8 diapers around, tucking the last one behind the first for that continuous look. Tie two pieces of string around the layer, one near the top and one near the bottom.
 You can see each tier has the string tied around the top and bottom which keeps that nice straight shape.
Voila! You’re ready to decorate!
Lauren of Rock Paper Scissors printed these patterned strips of paper to match the invitations she designed. You could use thick ribbon or any type of paper (taped together into strips) to cover the strings and rubberbands.
 Don’t forget your cake topper!
Here are some of our earlier cakes to give you decoration ideas: 
Modern mint an neutral baby shower HERE.
 This was from Jenni’s baby shower for Amara almost 4 years ago! (HERE) This was one of my first diaper cakes, so I used colorful diapers, but I think it still turned out okay not being all white.
Lori’s stork-themed baby shower (HERE) These were Pampers diapers- see a little too puffy and not uniform enough for OCD me. For embellishment, I taped strips of kraft paper together, wrapped around each tier, and glued feathers on top.
Lauren’s Winter White Baby Shower (HERE). I loved this one! I used white silk ribbon so that everything was white…. can’t tell you how many people thought this was a real cake. They were super disappointed.
Please let me know if you have any questions on construction! It can be a little confusing! If you’re in Nashville, we can totally make this for you! Convo us on our Etsy shop or email us 🙂
XO
-L

PREPARING A GUEST ROOM

Is there really anything better than walking into a hotel room ( or whatever kind of accommodations you have made) when on vacation or a business trip of some sort? Clean sheets, fresh towels, beautiful flowers….. I die for them all! A hotel room, with a beach cottage feel, is exactly what my husband and I wanted our guest room to feel like for friends and family that come to stay with us. Whether it be for a night or a couple of days, I still prep the same.
Our dear friends, who are also newlyweds, came to stay with us for a night after a party we all attended  near our home this past weekend. The sole reason we have a house with more rooms than we need is to be able to open our home up to people. It is a passion of ours to be able to bless people that way. When they ask, we say “yes!” I took some time to shoot the room to show how I set up for these occasions. 
Everything in this room ( excluding the duvet cover and sheet set) has either been handmade, or purchased at an extreme discount!! You can completely make a beautiful space on a dime. 

We tend to call this room our “California room”. California is a special place to us because it is where my husband is from, and also where we were married. I found “vintage” San Francisco prints at Goodwill and framed them with clearanced Target frames that I spray painted white. The wooden San Diego print was a gift from my husband. Also, the chair was a thrift find that I spray painted and covered in fabric during our first year of marriage….. 7 years ago.
I love keeping a pen and pad by the bed. Most of my thoughts come to me at night, so I assume the same for my guests I suppose. Ha! Lamp, table and golden crab were clearance finds from Target.
Sconces were handmade by my dad. Love them!
We made our headboard using a drop cloth from Lowe’s.
The navy and ivory Pottery Barn pillows were given to us along with a couch that was given to us when we first moved into this house by some super sweet friends. We have held on to them and I added the duvet, sheet set and ikat pillows (clearance find) from Target.
I handmade a little monogram tag and attached it to a fresh bottle of water for our guests when they arrived. Saves them from making a trip downstairs, especially in the middle of the night if they get thirsty. My husband handmade this console table with hairpin legs from hairpinlegs.com and a piece of wood from Lowe’s.

A little gold dish for jewelry, coins or any other pocket items…

 End table was a $30 clearance find at a furniture store several years ago.
 Magazines are always a good thing to have stacked up!
 Shell from Target (clearance)

Curtains are old ( and quite short for my taste) clearance finds from West Elm, but they still work for now, and I have always loved the subtle pattern on them.
Hope this inspires you to create a little oasis for yourself or your guests somewhere in your home.
Sweet Dreams!
-J

BUNNY TAILS AND CARROT STICKS

Easter is a very special holiday to my little family, not to mention all of the kids’ stuff that Target puts out every year is always so much fun to hang in Amara’s room. Amara has fun decorating her little tree (which we bought more decorations for this year) and hanging a wreath on her door. We just make a big deal out of it and she tells me how pretty it all is…. it is a win win really! I wasn’t super crazy about any of the garlands I came across, so I just decided to make my own. I wanted a more playful one since it was for a little girl’s room, ya know? I settled on bunny tails and carrot sticks. I simply used the items I already had on hand, which made it free… which makes it awesome!
Items you will need: I freehanded these little guys, so feel free to do the same or you can trace my kindergarten drawing HERE, one sheet of orange felt, 2 sheets of cream felt, two cotton balls, green yarn, and twine of some sort! Here is a great tutorial for making poms carrot tops if you don’t already know how to do it. Simply trace and cut, make your poms, break apart your little pieces of cotton and roll them into balls and go to town with your hot glue gun!
I bought this wreath and tree from Target! I probably could have saved some money and made this wreath by myself! Twine, yarn and a wreath form??? I went a little “crazy shopper lady” and snagged it off the shelf since it was the last one. I wasn’t thinking clearly people. 

I will certainly make my attempt to explain what Easter is really all about to Amara, and I anxiously await the day when she “gets it”. In the meantime, it is a lot of fun to just put up pretty things!!
What are some of your favorite Easter traditions / things to do with you kiddos? Any suggestions on how to teach a toddler?
-J

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