Refresh & Revive: Spring 2020

It’s your garden girl, Allison, here. A few weeks ago, I got to sit down with one of our colleagues, Jackie Nicoll, to discuss easy, inexpensive ways to refresh and revive your home for spring 2020 during COVID-19 self-quarantine. Jackie is a real estate agent for Long & Foster, and I gave her my top 6 tips for all of you homeowners looking to sell your house or liven up your space during this time.

If you’ve been itching to get some home improvement projects rolling but don’t know where to start, this list of Poppy Production spring tips is for you! We love helping YOU feel good about the space you decide to live in.

Without further ado, here are my top 6 interior design and home staging tips for spring 2020…

1. Declutter.

In this day and age, nearly everyone is shopping for homes online (even without a wide sweeping pandemic,) and everything gets picked up by the camera. If you have too much stuff in a space, the camera will reveal the clutter, and buyers will get distracted! Our decluttering rule of thumb is: get rid of 1/3 of your junk in a space. Some people may need to get rid of wayyy more than that, but 1/3 is a good place to start. If you are moving, you’ll be ahead of the game! You can pack and declutter simultaneously.

Decluttering is great because it helps you stay busy and productive while providing a sense of accomplishment each time you get rid of something. If decluttering sounds overwhelming to you, start small; begin with a medicine cabinet or spice drawer, and celebrate your progress along the way! One of my friends and I recently compared the expiration dates of our oldest spices in our spice drawers…maybe having a competition with a friend is your first step to decluttering your home this spring!

2. Improve your layout.

Ask yourself – when families come to tour my house and inevitably gather in one room, will they have space to function? The flow and functionality of your home MATTER. Sometimes big, chunky pieces need to go! If you simply can’t part with an old, chunky piece, consider relocating it to your garage or basement. Anything that looks tired or tattered immediately screams, “I’m not taking care of my house!” Of course, you very well do care about your house, but buyers are quick to make snap judgments. If you aren’t taking care of your furniture, they reason, then have you been taking care of the furnace or the roof?

If you absolutely love an old piece and can’t bear to part with it, consider giving it a refresher! Sometimes all an old piece needs is a fresh coat of paint or a slip cover. Adding little touches like new throw pillows or a rug can make a lot of impact on a room. Our favorite place to shop for things like these is Homegoods (when it opens back up,) but you can find nice, reasonably priced items online at Wayfair, Amazon or Target.

3. Neutralize through paint.

You want a buyer to be able to envision themselves in your home, and that’s hard to do if you’ve chosen a very personal color to grace your walls. A new coat of fresh, neutral paint often makes a room look bigger. If you are a seller, paint is one of your power tools—it’s inexpensive, has a high ROI, and makes your home look well loved and cared for. Some of our favorite neutral colors are Sherwin William’s Origami, Windfresh White, and Heron Plume. All of these colors look great against white trim. As Jackie likes to say, “Dress your house for success!” What better way to dress your house than a fresh coat of paint? If you’re looking for a new project while at home, paint is a fun, easy way to make your house more attractive to buyers.

4. Paint your front door.

Your front door is often the first thing buyers see when checking out your home— whether in person or online, so make it stand out! Painting your front door is a fun, easy way to update the look of your house while drawing in your buyer. We LOVE color, and this is an area where you can add a bright red such as Sherwin Williams Radish or a gorgeous blue like Magnolia's It Is Well. You can even use Sherwin Williams Daisy for a pretty pop of yellow.

5. WEED!

Doing a little bit of yard work can show your buyer that you truly care about your property. Weeding and edging gardens are free, and you can even enlist your children to help you out during recess or “PE.” Although you can’t get mulch right now, you can still prep for when it will be available, so add that to your list too if you’re feeling excited about getting down and dirty. One other area to note is your bushes! Many sellers neglect to trim bushes underneath windows, and, believe me, it shows. Rooms appear darker and the yard looks messy when bushes are not trimmed. Make sure you take care of precarious tree branches near driveways as well. At the end of the day, all your buyers want is a well-kept house and yard. Give ‘em what they want!

6. Fill a couple of pots.

As your flower loving, garden girl, I get the most joy out of this tip. Flowers can do wonders to brighten up photos and evoke a positive feeling from your buyers. If you can, flank your front door with flowers, or stagger a few pots on your front stoop. Get creative and enjoy this trademark of spring!

That’s all for today, folks! I hope you found a few tips you can have fun with while in self-quarantine. We love helping you all make changes that have a positive impact. We are offering virtual services in an effort to continue helping people with all of their home needs, so if you’re interested, please reach out below!

Happy Spring, everyone! Stay safe.

Allison