A New Year's Resolution: 7 Tips to Help Your House Lose Weight!

A New Year's Resolution for 2010

7 Tips to Help Your HOUSE Lose Weight!

1:  Give it a face lift. Start at the curb and give your home a “face lift”. Nip those bushes and trees back a bit; Tuck some colorful spring bulbs into the edgings of bare soil;  Pull out all the weeds and dead (or dying) foliage around the outside of your house and Enhance those dirt filled plant pots with nary a stick growing out of them with greenery or succulents.

2:  Get Rid of the Junk in the Trunk… or rather your garage.  Can you fit A car into your garage? Do you keep your garage door closed because you’re embarrassed at what the neighbors might say? Can you even open your garage?  Get rid of the JUNK!  If you haven’t used it in the past year, it’s most likely that you probably never will.  What’s worse; you’ve probably bought a NEW thingamajig because you forgot you already own one (or simply can’t find it or get to it).

3:  Take Care of Your Heart  by cleaning out the pantry, refrigerator, kitchen cabinets and drawers in your kitchen: often referred to as “the Heart of the Home.”  Reorganize, consolidate, throw-away and give away!

4:  Exercise More If you’re not going to use that treadmill that was plopped in the middle of the living room as “Last Year’s Resolution” then you might as well gift it to a friend that WILL use it or add it to the donation pile.  DON’T go throw it into the guest bedroom or the garage, even if it does make for a good temporary coathanger...try the closet!

5:  Get Rid of the Skeletons in Your Closets.  Really, clean them out!  Clothing you have not worn in the past 12 months: donate. Shoes that have seen better days: donate. Towels, sheets and blankets that are dingy, stained or torn can be donated to a local animal shelter.

6:  Cosmetic Surgery:  Lifting the eyes with a new trim color on the exterior, enhancing the homes “features” with accents of paint on the interior, softening fine lines with new draperies.  All are minor items that can be considered as “outpatient” (done in a day) procedures.

7:  Spend More Time with Family and Friends:  Isn’t that why you originally bought a house?  Close friends may even be willing to come over and help you tackle some of these more “daunting” (but simple) tasks.  It may even inspire them to do the same, then have a neighborhood garage sale and even make some money off of your home shedding a few pounds.

Note from Conejo Joe: Connie Tebyani is a Professional Home Stager, Interior Design Consultant and Owner of Platinum Home Staging, Inc. She is also the Preferred Interior Designer for Pottery Barn and a member of the Real Estate Staging Association.  Connie has lived in the Conejo Valley for 20 years with her husband and 2 boys.  Visit her website at www.PlatinumHomeStaging.com or 805.553.9952. Click here to see Connie's previous tips.