Tag Archives: Knoxville homes

Creative Fixes for Challenging Spaces

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Natural light brightens any room

Most homes have some sort of design challenge, like a small room, or a room that doesn’t get enough natural light. When listing your Knoxville home, it’s important to tackle these design challenges and make the most of the space.

Here are some design tips to improve common problems:

For a small room, furniture placement, paint color, and lighting are important.

Home staging experts suggest to scale the size of the furniture to the size of the room. This means that in a small room, large bulky sofas or chairs should be avoided. Also, furniture should never block walking pathways. Placing the furniture against the wall allows visitors a clear visual into the next room, which also helps to make a room look larger. If you don’t like the all the furniture against the wall, try placing it at an angle. This creates a diagonal line, which seems longer, thus creating the illusion of a larger space. For table suggestions in a small space, try a glass tabletop. This provides an open feeling to the space.

Natural lighting really opens up a space. Make full use of light from windows to make a small space appear larger. Sheer curtains or pulling back the drapes will bring the outside view into the room, which will make the room look more spacious. If the view is less than desirable, a hanging plant will divert the attention.

Natural light and a plant opens up this space

A common misconception is that small rooms must be painted white to appear larger. Some design experts suggest bold colors for a small space. However, if staging a home to sell, a sunny or warm shade may be the right choice.

For rooms that seem dark and cave-like, paint color should be selected wisely. Contrary to popular belief, pale paint colors do not necessarily brighten a dark room. Design experts suggest mid-tones which are the colors located on the middle of the paint sample. To brighten up dark rooms, light and neutral-colored furniture and accessories will also help. For example, if it’s a bedroom, light linens will bring pizzazz to the space.

For more tips on how to sell your Knoxville home, contact an experienced Realtor like Judi Starliper and the J-Star Team. The website offers many Buyer/Seller Tips.

Necessary Repairs to Sell Your Home

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In this Knoxville home market, buyers are expecting the property to be “move in” ready. In order to sell your house in this competitive market, these repairs should be made before you list your Knoxville home for sale.

Repair and clean the gutters. Loose or hanging gutters are a huge red flag that the property hasn’t been maintained.

Fix cabinet doors that are askew. Make sure all cabinet doors can open and close easily.  Cabinet pulls and hardware should be updated and installed properly.

Replace chipped tile and re-seal grout. A cracked or chipped tile will stick out like a sore thumb to potential buyers. It leaves an impression that the home will require a lot of work before moving in.

Repair leaky or dripping faucets. You might not notice a drippy faucet, but a potential buyer will.

Patch nail holes. A little putty and paint and potential buyers will never know where pictures or posters used to hang.

Eliminate odors. Candles or potpourri can’t mask powerful kitchen odors or the smell of smokers living in the home. Cleaning can usually eliminate most kitchen smells, but certain deep fried cooking aromas can permeate the cabinets, ceiling, and walls. A more thorough, deep scrubbing might be necessary. For smokers, cleaning might not be enough. Removing carpet and painting the walls may be the only way to eliminate the smell of smoke.

Clean the baseboards. Dust and grime accumulate along the baseboards and in corners where the vacuum and mop can’t reach. Spend some extra time getting those hard to reach places.

Remove peeling wallpaper. Outdated, peeling wallpaper represents a headache to a potential buyer. Remove the wallpaper and go with a neutral paint color.

Making all these necessary repairs will give you an advantage when trying to sell your Knoxville home. If you have any questions about listing your house, then contact an experienced Realtor, like Judi Starliper and the J-Star Team.

Tips for Outdoor Holiday Decorating

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Decorating the exterior of your home can be a festive way to celebrate the Christmas season. The first priority should be safety and the next objective should be decorating in a manner that suits your home and family.

For decorating safety, following the manufacturer’s guidelines is a must. Always check lights for fraying and toss any lights that appear damaged. When putting lights up, use hooks to hold them in place. It is not recommended to staple or tack the lights.

When using a ladder to put up lights or decorations, be cautious about position of the ladder. Avoid areas next to power lines and check the sturdiness of the ladder position before climbing up.

Dressing up your home’s exterior can bring joy to your family and to the neighborhood. Whether you like the look of wreathes in every window or the fun and festive feeling of multiple inflatables, the key is the have a cohesive theme.

Every neighborhood has that one house at Christmas that has a mix of everything and the result is usually, um, well, tacky. They have some lights that look like they were put in the bushes by an angry squirrel. While the lights on house are a multitude of colors with some blinking and some not. They’ve got a yard full of inflatables that during the day look like a bouncy house exploded on their lawn. It’s fun and festive, but can be an eyesore, especially if they leave the decorations up well into the New Year.

It is possible for homeowners to enjoy a whimsical spirit at Christmas and still keep it tasteful. Homeowners can accomplish this by choosing a theme, like candy canes. Try lining a walkway with candy canes for a fun, seasonal outdoor decorating idea. If you like snowman, try one inflatable and an assortment of light-up snowmen for a fun display.

Other homeowners go for a more elegant look when decorating their home’s exterior for Christmas. For example matching wreathes on the windows with greenery on the mailbox is a nice way to show the holiday spirit. White lights on outdoor trees and bushes can be elegant and festive if you have the right coverage and consistency.

No matter how you decorate for Christmas, one of the season’s favorite activities is driving through neighborhoods that embrace the holiday spirit.

Buying and Selling Real Estate in the Winter

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Everyone knows that the prime season to buy or sell a Knoxville home is during the late Spring to Summer months. However, buying and selling real estate in the Winter offers some advantages too.

As in all business transactions, supply and demand drives the market. Many Knoxville home sellers decide to take their house off the market during the holidays, so  when list your home during the winter months, your house will be competing with fewer properties.

Another benefit to selling your Knoxville house during the winter is that your Knoxville Realtor will be showing it only to interested buyers. With the scheduling demands the holidays bring, fewer “lookers” will be scheduling showings or attending open houses.

Many relocation clients use their holiday vacation time to find their new home. Also, visitors come to the Knoxville area to see relatives during the holiday season. Many would like to relocate or move back to the area to be close to their extended family. If they fall in love with a new home and can get it at the right price, it might be the motivating factor to take the plunge.

For those who are considering selling their Knoxville home, the holidays may be the perfect time to get their home ready to list on the real estate market. Many sellers use vacation time to make any home repairs and to take care of the necessary de-cluttering. An experienced Knoxville Realtor can offer staging suggestions and advise which repairs to tackle before the home is placed on the market.

During the holidays, home sellers can appeal to all the senses of potential buyers. Christmas decorations add visual interest and sparkle to the home. For selling during the holidays, home staging plays an important role. So that potential home buyers can easily tour the home, it might be necessary to only put out decorations that enhance the space. Consider placing the Christmas tree in a corner, rather than in the middle of a space. Also, you might not have enough room to display the entire Christmas Village that you have collected. Instead, select a few special pieces that can be tastefully displayed on a shelf or mantle.

For showings and open houses during the Christmas holidays, sellers can use the sounds of the seasons to set the stage. Instrumental Christmas carols playing softly in the background can enhance the potential buyer’s experience throughout their home tour.

Holiday baking can envelope the home with enticing aromas. For showings or open houses, some sellers set out cookies and a decanter of hot chocolate which is always a thoughtful touch that can put a potential buyer is a favorable mood.

Keeping the home clutter-free can be a challenge during the hectic holiday season. Keeping decorative baskets handy to stash things is a useful way to deal with unexpected showings.

While selling your home during the busy holiday time can be stressful, it can be manageable with some careful planning. An experienced Knoxville Realtor can offer suggestions to keep the process as less stressful as possible.

Thanks-Giving

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On the surface, this seems like all other Thanksgivings.  The schools are beginning to do Thanksgiving programs.  Pumpkins and mums are everywhere!  The leaves are turning making our mountains a canopy of beautiful colors.  Everyone is planning their Thanksgiving dinners.  Thanks to Southern Living, I may even try something new this year.  But I think of Thanksgiving as Thanks-Giving.  I want to give thanks this year for all that’s right with my life, my family’s lives and with the world.  Then I want to give back to my community as well as my family.  For the first time in my lifetime, I’m scared.  I’m scared about what kind of world we are leaving for our children.  I’m scared about what is going to happen among the countries, the possibility of one world currency and the potential demise of the America I know.  This is not like every other Thanksgiving.  The world is changing and the America I grew up loving is changing.  When I say I am giving thanks this year, I mean more than just thanking all those who came to this colony and fought to be free and independent from England.  I mean more than being thankful for having food on the table.  This year, I’m giving thanks for the good people who are working to keep us free, independent and maintain the spirit of America that our forefathers intended.

“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

WE THE PEOPLE is how the preamble begins. WE are each responsible to do our part to maintain and secure the blessings of liberty for OUR country.  So I say, “thank you” to each of you who believe in our country and who will continue to help make it a better place for our children.  I say “thank you” to all who protect us and to all who work to keep us free.  I want to give back and help all who are helping us. No, this isn’t a typical Thanksgiving. It’s a special Thanksgiving.  Join me in Thanks-Giving this year.  When you sit at the table on Thursday, November 24th, say a special prayer for all the loved ones that are missing from around your table and remember how they made your world better.  As of this year, Steve and I have no parents to share this day with at our table, but we have their memories and a special son, daughter-in-law and two precious grandsons along with a lifetime of good friends that we will hold dear on this day.

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours and to all to believe in our AMERICA.