The art of placement or placement of art

 

 

THE ART OF PLACEMENT

Placing art in your home is an art in itself. Where do you start? Framing, lighting and the furniture all play a part in the proper placement and display of artwork. A few rules and some suggestions might help you show off your artwork to maximum advantage.
Art should always be at eye level. If you're hanging a large piece over the sofa, place it about three inches above the back of the sofa. It should not be floating somewhere near the ceiling. And art doesn't necessarily need to be centered. Consider the entire grouping, including the lamps, candlesticks and other parts of the arrangement.
A single small framed piece will look better if hung on a narrow wall, close to a door frame or over a small table or dresser to anchor it. A smaller piece left stranded alone on an otherwise barren expanse of wall will look lost and incidental.
Little framed pieces look nice on the wall below the line of the lampshade. The grouping draws attention and they'll be well lighted too. Lighting adds a finishing touch to artwork, yet illumination is frequently not where it should be. If you're building or remodeling, consider where art will be placed and install lighting accordingly.
Track lighting and recessed eyeball-style fixtures fitted with halogen bulbs are preferred for illuminating artwork. These fixtures bathe the work in just the right amount and right type of light. If possible, avoid the use of lights attached directly to picture frames. Heat and light so close to artwork can damage it.
Choosing the right frame is just as important as deciding where the artwork goes. Frames follow fashion trends. Equally important however to fashion trends is carrying through on the style of your home. Frame your artwork to compliment the general decor of your home.

TOP 10 WAYS TO HAVE A GREEN THANKSGIVING

 

 

TOP 10 WAYS TO HAVE A GREEN THANKSGIVING

If you are looking for ways to green up your Thanksgiving celebration this year, look no further. Here are the top 10 green tips to make your Thanksgiving as eco-friendly as possible.

1- Go organic: An organic Thanksgiving feast is not only healthy and tasty, but can also help the environment. Free-range turkey, fresh vegetables from local farmers, and treats from the organic bakery are just a few choices for your organic cornucopia of food this year.

2- Shop locally: It’s been said that each ingredient in the average Thanksgiving dinner travels 1500 miles to get to our table. Shopping and buying from local farmers means your food travels less distance, using less gas, and in turn produces less carbon dioxide emissions. Plus it is usually fresher!

3- Packaging: When you go to the store, buy things that have the least amount of packaging and try to buy packaging that is environmentally friendly.

4- Use reusable shopping bags: When running around picking up all of your necessities for the big day, make sure you bring along reusable shopping bags.

5- Celebrate Thanksgiving at home: Avoid the extra emissions from traveling by plane or car, and plan your celebration at home this year. You’ll be helping reduce global warming simply by reducing your pollution quotient.

6- Send out homemade Thanksgiving cards: It’s an easy way to say ‘Thank You’ to friends and loved ones, and gives you yet another creative project to keep you (or the kids!) busy on those chilly days before the celebration.

7- Use soy candles to decorate with: Decorating your living and dining space with soy candles is an eco-friendly option, and you’ll find plenty of fragrant pillar candles, votives, and floating candles to complement your look.

8- Pick out natural or organic Thanksgiving décor: From bamboo placemats to homemade napkin rings, make a commitment to go green by decorating with an eco-friendly touch. Making Thanksgiving decorations at home is another way to get the whole family involved in a creative project.

9- Drink the green way: Lift a glass of organic or biodynamic wine, in recycled glasses of course, and give thanks to sustainability. Serve organic wine with “real” corks not plastic or twist off tops. Your eco-friendly Thanksgiving party will be helping preserve the cork industry.

10- Make a commitment to recycle: Make an extra effort to make sure you’re recycling all of the paper, plastic, tin and glass from your Thanksgiving celebration properly.

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8 TIPS FOR ADDING CURB APPEAL AND VALUE TO YOUR HOME

8 TIPS FOR ADDING CURB APPEAL AND VALUE TO YOUR HOME

Appraisers and real estate agents offer advice for adding curb appeal that both preserves value and attracts potential buyers.

Curb appeal has always been important for homesellers. With the vast majority of today's homebuyers starting their search on the Internet, the appearance of your property is more critical than ever. You only have a few seconds to catch their attention as they scroll through listings online to get them to stop and take a closer look.

But the role of curb appeal goes beyond just making a good first impression. The way your house looks from the street can impact its value. It can also shorten the time it takes to sell your house.


We asked real estate agents, appraisers, home stagers, landscape designers, and home inspectors which curb appeal projects offer the most value when your house is on the market, both in terms of its marketability and dollars. Here is what they told us:

1. PAINT THE HOUSE.
Hands down, the most commonly offered curb appeal advice from our real estate pros and appraisers is to give the exterior of your home a good paint job. Buyers will instantly notice it and appraisers will note it on the valuation.

"Paint is probably the number one thing inside and out," says Frank Lucco, managing partner of Houston-based IRR-Residential Appraisers and Consultants. "I'd give additional value for that. If you're under two years remaining life (on the paint job), paint the exterior because it tends to show wear badly."

Just make sure you stay within the range of accepted colors for your market. A house that's painted a wildly different color from its competition will be marked down in value by appraisers.

2. HAVE THE HOUSE WASHED.
Before you make the investment in a paint job, though, take a good look at the house. If it's got mildew or general grunge, just washing the house could make a world of difference, says Valerie Torelli, a California real estate agent with a background in accounting.

Before she puts a house on the market, Torelli often does exterior makeovers on her clients' homes, a service she pays for herself to get higher selling prices. Overall, she says her goal is to spend less than $5,000, with a goal of generating an extra $10,000 to $15,000 on the sale price.

Torelli specifies pressure-washing-a job that should be left to professionals. Pressure washing makes the house look "bright and clean in addition to getting rid of unsightly things like cobwebs, which may not be seen from the yard but will detract from the home's cleanliness when seen up close," she says.

The cost to have a professional cleaning should be a few hundred dollars--a fraction of the cost of having the house painted.

3. TRIM THE SHRUBS AND GREEN UP THE YARD.
California real estate agent Valerie Torelli says she puts a lot of emphasis on landscaping, such as cutting down overgrown bushes and replacing them with leafy plants and annuals mulched with beautiful reddish-brown bark. "It runs me $30 to $50," says Torelli. "Do you get a return on your money? Absolutely. It sucks people in."

You also don't want bare spots. Take the time to fertilize the yard, throw out some grass seed, and if need be, add some sod.

4. ADD A SPLASH OF COLOR.
It could be a flower bed of annuals by the mailbox, a paint job for the front door, or a brightly colored bench or an Adirondack chair. "You can get a cute little bench at Home Depot for $99," Torelli notes. "Spray paint it bright red or blue and set it in the yard or on the front porch."

It's not a bad idea, but don't plan on getting extra points from an appraiser for a red bench, says John Bredemeyer, president of Realcorp in Omaha. "It's difficult to quantify, but it does make a home sell more quickly," Bredemeyer says. "Maybe yours sold a couple weeks faster than the house down the street. That's the best way to look at these things."

5. ADD A FANCY MAILBOX AND HOUSE NUMBERS.
An upscale mail box and architectural house numbers or an address plaque can give your house a distinctive look that stands out from everyone else on the block. Torelli makes them a part of her exterior makeovers "I've gotten those hand-painted mailboxes," she says. "A nice one runs you $40 to $50." Architectural house numbers may run as high as a few hundred dollars.

6. REPAIR OR CLEAN THE ROOF.
Springfield, Va.-based home inspector and former builder Reggie Marston says the roof is one of the first things he looks at in assessing the condition of a home. He'll look at other houses in the neighborhood to see if there are a lot of replaced roofs and see if the subject house has one as well. If not, he'll look for curls in the shingles or missing shingles. "I'm looking at the roof for end-of-life expectancy," he says.

You can pay for roof repairs now, or pay for them later in a lower appraisal; appraisers will mark down the value by the cost of the repair. That could knock thousands of dollars off your appraisal. According to Remodeling Magazine's 2009-2010 Cost vs. Value Report, the average cost of a new asphalt shingle roof is more than $19,000.

"Roofs are issues," Lucco says. "You won't throw money away on that job. You gotta have a decent roof."

Stains and plant matter, such as moss, can be handled with cleaning. It's a job that can often be done in a day for a few hundred dollars, and makes the roof look like new. It's not a DIY project; call a professional with the right tools to clean it without damaging it.

7. PUT UP A FENCE.
A picket fence with a garden gate to frame the yard is an asset. A fence has more impact in a family-oriented neighborhood than an upscale retirement community, Bredemeyer says, but in most instances, appraisers will give extra value for one, as long as it's in good condition. "Day in and day out, a fence is a plus," Bredemeyer says. Expect to pay $2,000 to $3,500 for a professionally installed gated picket fence 3 feet high and 100 feet long.

8. PERFORM ROUTINE MAINTENANCE AND CLEANING.
Nothing sets off subconscious alarms like hanging gutters, missing bricks from the front steps, or lawn tools rusting in the bushes. It makes even the professionals question what else hasn't been taken care of.

"A house is worth less if the maintenance isn't done," Lucco says. "Those little things can add up and be a very big detractor. When people say, 'I'd buy it if it weren't for all the deferred maintenance,' what they're really saying is, 'I'd still buy it if you reduce the price.'"

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