tips

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

BOON SUDS BOTTLE WASHER REVIEW + GIVEAWAY!!!!

We are big Boon fans over here! How can you not be? Modern design, beautiful colors and major functionality are all things that appeal to these two mamas. Boon was kind enough to send us their new SUDS bottle washer for us to try out. It is peeeeeerfect timing since I am cleaning bottles for our little one that is due in just weeks. I was so excited to try it out, even though I already knew it would be a love at first use kind of thing. 
Dishwashers are great, but lets be real….. How many times do you go into the kitchen in the morning and need a bottle or sippy cup for your little, and realize you DID NOT run the dishwasher or you just still have a FULL SINK of dishes. There is nothing I hate more than a sink full of dishes greeting me in the morning. However… it happens! This SUDS friend of ours totally makes it a quick and slightly enjoyable process to clean a bottle quickly for your little. You simply put the bottle face down on the pump, and move it up and down so that the brush gets every inch of the bottle! GENIUS! Even my husband was intrigued!! Ladies…. this might be how we trick them into doing dishes?!
My only wish for this little gem is that you could actually wash the small inner parts of the bottle. It would be great if there was a smaller brush attachment of some sort to actually do the smaller pieces of the bottle that the milk passes through. We use Dr. Brown’s bottles, which contain a couple of smaller pieces that need some scrubbing. However, I just toss those pieces in the bottom tray of the Sudsy, and it makes for a GREAT soaking tray! Sometimes, that may be all you need to get those small pieces clean. 
This is still a product I would highly recommend. Totally worth the $22.99 that it sells for. Especially if you don’t have a dishwasher!! You could easily leave this in your sink full of soapy warm water so that you can just easily clean each bottle throughout the day. Sidenote: this is a great method of cleaning for a wine glass ( or two) that us mommies like to indulge in every night every now and then. 😉






Thank you, Boon! We are forever fans, and we truly love all of your products for us moms and our littles. 
**NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY**
Boon was kind enough to offer a SUDS bottle cleaner to one of our lucky readers!! You MUST Follow Boon on Instagram and us of course!
Tag a friend on our IG, and you are entered!!!
For an additional entry, leave a comment below telling us what you FAVORITE Boon product is after visiting their website HERE. There is just too much pretty to look at!
Happy Entering!!!

MY FIRST TRIMESTER….LOOKING BACK

15 week bump
After the pure joy, excitement and “oh my gosh, are we really having another baby?” moment that my husband and I experienced in the beginning of this pregnancy, all I could think about is how badly I wanted to blink my eyes and be in my second trimester. I mean the first trimester is for the birds…. seriously! I LOVE being pregnant, I embrace all of the little things that come with it, but I am a major sicky in the beginning, and it just sucks.
I was truly worried about how bad it would get. Could I still be a good mom to my 3 year old? Will I drive my husband to hate me? Am I being lazy? I would just tell myself that I need to push through it and deal, but my body shut that down real fast…. I literally couldn’t get out of bed some days. I remember we found out we were pregnant just before we went to Disney in September, and I just kept asking God to keep me feeling good for the trip so I could enjoy it with my family. He did just that! Literally on the flight home, I started feeling that good ole nausea that you know is from a growing human, not a bad piece of meat.
As I reflect, it is really easy to say that the first trimester “wasn’t that bad”. I think God designed it that way so we “forget” and keep having kids. Sigh….. My husband travels for a living (he tours doing music), and even when he is home, he has writing sessions that go late and other commitments. I am so grateful that he was home for the majority of my sickness. SO GRATEFUL! Our moms both work during the day, and we have yet to put Amara in childcare. All that to say, I couldn’t just fully depend on family that I am most comfortable with. However, we made it through! The hardest part for me was just not having an ounce of energy for my daughter. Getting up to brush my teeth ( which I didn’t do most days) was a hardcore chore for me. 
Here are MY tips for making it through the first 3 months ( or longer for some of us 🙂 :
Let people help you!
It is sooooo hard to just let someone take my child for me or come over and be in my house when it is a disaster and I look like I am on my last leg. Trust me…. I get it! However, your friends ( especially other moms who have been there) are such a great tool during this time. If they didn’t want to help…. they wouldn’t offer. Let them bring you those things you need (milk for your other child that can’t be bribed with juice anymore) that you couldn’t pick up at the grocery store because you didn’t have the energy to go.
Listen to your body:
I can’t take prenatal vitamins. They really upset my stomach/system, so I literally take kid gummy vitamins to get my folic acid. I crave coke when I am pregnant…. yes it has caffeine, and probably isn’t the healthiest of things during the beginning, but it settles my stomach like no other. I like fries and everything else salty. My stomach would lose it if I tried to eat a sweet of any kind. I can sleep allllllll day. I get most of my energy ( which was still very little) in the late night hours. It was so important for me to just let my body do its thing. I just kept telling myself that it was just a phase, and all of these hours of tv that Amara was watching wouldn’t ruin her. Right? There were no instagram posts of me eating a health salad or a juice from Whole Foods. You are not out to impress anyone…. just keep yourself alive! Haha! I tried meds to take away the intense nausea, even though I am highly opposed to taking even a headache medicine if it is unnecessary. I was desperate. The meds helped, but gave me a lot of weird side effects that were almost worse than the actual nausea, so I stopped.
Take lots of naps:
A nap a day is essential for me. Even as we are entering the second trimester, I continue to nap when Amara naps in the afternoon. Did I mention how grateful I am that she still naps? 🙂 It just makes the 5-7 o’clock window much more doable. Normally, I am dragging around that time.
Don’t “make more” for yourself:
You guys…. this has been my biggest lesson. There is so much that I was even doing for Amara that I didn’t have to do. Me being in the bed a lot the last 3 months has really forced Amara to be more independent, and it has made me realize that things can still go on without me having my hand in every. little. step of the day. I am still embracing this lesson as my pregnancy goes on. I cannot carry her everywhere and every time she asks, or grab every little toy for her or get her a snack RIGHT when she asks. All of that has been a good lesson for both of us. 
Drink lots of water:
I struggle with this on a daily basis… pregnant or not. However, during this pregnancy, nothing as truly quenched the crazy thirst I will get in the middle of the night like water. I helps me fight dizziness, headaches, and even slight nausea at times. I am really trying to make a conscious effort to increase my intake daily.
Don’t cut bangs if you don’t already have them:
Yeah, just don’t do that.
I have really enjoyed watching other mamas-to-be on Instagram and/or blogs that I follow. So much has changed even in 3 years, so it is fun to see what new products are out there, what they have chosen to differently the second time around, their style and so much more. Here are some of my favs to follow right now:
Naomi over at Love Taza
Brooke from Somewhere, Lately
Sarah Shabacon ( IG name sarahshabacon) from I Wear the Headress
Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful weekend friends!!
-J