The One-Weekend Room Rescue: Six Fixes That Cost Almost Nothing

I think I started when I was about eight or nine when I painted my bedroom wall gold. A gold metallic paint. Which, by the way, in the fifties was not easy to find. I could not go to Amazon. I could not go on the internet and find it. I had to really search and get somebody to take me to a hardware store. And everyone thought I was very strange.

I was actually probably eleven or twelve. I did it when my mother did not know. I had the paint and everything, and I painted a little bit at a time. She came in my room, and I would distract her. Let me tell you something: it is not easy to cover gold metallic paint. When somebody moves in and you sell, it is not easy.

I always had that, and I still do. When I go into somebody’s home, I sit there and I think of ways to change it. If I go into a hotel room, I like to change it. It is something in my mind that I cannot stop.

You do not need to paint a wall gold. You do need to look at the room as though you have never seen it before. Most rooms that feel wrong can be improved by changing the light, the furniture placement, the amount of clutter, and the few things the eye notices first.

Start with the way the room feels

I like bright. I like natural light. That is a must. My mood changes when I am in a dark space. Now, when I say dark space, if I am in a cute little quaint pub, a restaurant that has great chandeliers and candles, I am fine with that. But I like lots of windows, lots of light. I do not want to be in a space that does not seem bright.

I would say eclectic. I like a mix. Right now I am looking for a cool vintage piece that could be something from the sixties or seventies. I want a table for the living room to go between those two blue chairs. I want something that is more of a conversation piece. I want to add more warmth to that little area.

I am not a beige girl. Now, if you are beige and you have fantastic artwork and fantastic accessories, then that is a whole different thing. That is a clean look, and I am talking amazing artwork and a major theme, introducing some black and whites and fresh flowers with color. I am fine with that, but it has got to be done in the right way.

Stand in the doorway in daylight and again after dark. Is the room bright enough? Is there one clear place for the eye to rest? Can people sit and talk without shouting across an empty center?

Saturday morning: move before you buy

Pull the sofa a few inches away from the wall. Bring the chairs close enough for conversation. Make sure a table can be reached from each seat. If the room has a rug, place at least the front legs of the major seating on it so the furniture reads as one group.

Do not buy a matching set simply because it solves the room in one delivery. A mix of wood, fabric, metal, old, and new gives the room a history.

When somebody owns a house and has been there twenty-five years, and they have done nothing in twenty-five years, you are selling as is. It is a gut job, unless somebody has the same exact taste that you had twenty-five years ago.

When you own a house, if you are buying something with the intent of not staying there forever, try to keep it in mind, but be happy. In your color choices, do what you want to do. In your kitchen or whatever, you can stick with the white cabinets, and you do your backsplash. Do what you want to do to be happy.

Saturday afternoon: clear every surface

When you are getting ready to show your place, make sure everything is minimal. Clean your counters up. Do not be stacking your appliances. We do not need to see every appliance that you own on top of your cupboard, because it is too confusing. Hide everything. Put it in storage, whatever, but anything you do not need, keep it clean. When somebody comes in and sees clutter, the buyer gets turned off.

Take everything off the coffee table, console, dresser, and kitchen counter. Put back only what is useful, beautiful, or personal enough to matter. The rest needs a drawer, basket, cabinet, donation box, or a place outside the room.

Sunday morning: fix the light and the visible problems

Use more than one light source. Move a lamp from another room before buying a new one. Keep the bulbs in a room close in color so one blue-white bulb does not fight three warm ones.

Then do the same walk-through I do before a listing.

If something is visibly broken, or there is a crack in the wall, before I take a listing I personally go through the place and say, okay, this needs to be fixed, this needs to be addressed. Let us get a handyman in here. It is worth it. You want to sell and there are things here that are jumping out. As a realtor, you have to give your client advice.

Look at handles that are loose on your cupboards or a refrigerator, just simple things that your eye catches. If there is a broken chair, or a shower that is disgustingly dirty, or your bathtub is dirty, walk through every room. Write down everything that should be addressed and either hire somebody to address it, a housekeeper or handyman or whatever. I do not care if you are paying three to five hundred dollars. In the long run, you are going to get your price.

Sunday afternoon: finish with life, not more stuff

Before kitchen photographs, keep it uncluttered and clean. Uncluttered and inviting. Put out a fresh bowl of fruit, a fresh bowl of lemons, something happy. Have flowers.

Do not have personal photos. People’s eyes go to that instead of what they should be looking at. No distractions. You can even play some very soft classical music. Make it inviting, so when they leave they say, wow, that was so nice. People remember the little touches.

Fresh flowers, a bowl of lemons, a book you are actually reading, or one vintage piece can finish a room better than a cart full of generic accessories.

Everything has got to be in place. Fresh flowers, candles burning with nice scents. For me, having people over, you do the best you can, whether you are having dinner or drinks. Have nice serving glasses, nice serving pieces.

You are bringing them to your home, and you want them to feel good. I want them to enjoy their evening, like they are in a nice restaurant or a nice cozy club.

If the room is empty, show what it could become

In the old days, I used to show seven properties. It is too much. You have got to limit your time because it gets confusing. If you do show that many properties, print out a listing sheet. Have the buyers take notes, or take notes for them, so they know what they saw. Otherwise, it becomes a blur, especially with condos. It is very easy to show a lot of condos because you are in buildings.

If a house is vacant, you can stage it in the online photographs as long as you say it has been staged. Take those photos to the showing. Then you can stand in the room and say, see how this could look? Visualize the sofa here. Are you bringing furniture or buying new furniture? Let them visualize what that room could be.

People do not use rented staging furniture as often anymore because it costs money to deliver and rent. And what if they stage it modern or contemporary and the buyer says, I hate that furniture? That is what the buyer is going to remember. You have got to improvise. The before-and-after photographs can look great, and it is easy.

That same idea helps at home. Take a photograph before you begin and another when the weekend is over. A photograph makes spacing, clutter, crooked artwork, and weak lighting easier to see.

The rescue order

The point is not a perfect photograph. It is a room that works on an ordinary day. Spend the weekend understanding the room before spending money on it.