Just wanted to let you know that if you need a referral to contractors or repair personnel in the Bay Area, we're happy to help you out. With the management company we have a gambit of people we work with regularly and can recommend……cleaners, retrofit windows, bath/kitchen contractors, tile/floor installers, electricians, etc. Feel free to email us and ask if you are planning to do some home remodeling. No strings attached!

The last our economical seller tips series:

Curb appeal

Curb appeal is a buyer's first impression. Especially this time of year, this is an achievable task with use of colorful annuals and shrubbery. Florals along walkways, container gardens at the entry way, neatly trimmed hedges and lawns all add to the home’s exterior. Shredded bark added to the bare spots or flower bed walkways will tidy up and cover potential mud or dirt areas. Fertilize your lawn a few weeks before listing your home. Remember to keep your lawn neatly clipped and green, pathways swept, and weeds out of flower beds. Use weed killer to eliminate sprouts in driveway and walkway cracks and crevices.

Aside from landscaping, other factors that improve your curb appeal include:

· Pressure washing the driveway to remove dirt and stains
· Refinishing wood porches and decks
· Clean, straight gutters and downspouts
· Storing yard tools and garbage receptacles behind the fence
· Installing hose reels or storage boxes where you have hoses

OK, I'll finish my interior paint speel today:

Remember the red-base vs. blue-base when selecting your interior colors. And, you want to use color but not close in or darken the room, try a light wall base color with a decorative wallpaper border at chairrail height, then finish with a bolder color on the bottom portion of the wall. Your furniture will cover a good portion of the bottom color anyway, so it will add color and eliminate drab, but keep the room still bright and homey.

There are also many paint finishes to choose from. Most people use a gloss or oil base for trim, base, and casings with a flat or eggshell finish for the walls. My painter friend told me to use a high-gloss white on ceilings. Always. The ceiling then reflects more light and you can get away with more color in the room. And use a satin or semi-gloss on the walls to add light.

Since we’re focusing on homeowners and sellers, this is my recommendation to add some color to your home for your own enjoyment and resale value. If you have really different color ideas (aka, hot pink bedroom), they may work for you but not 99% of buyers. Remember to think “Resale Value.”

The good thing about paint is it’s easy to do over. Even if the next owner doesn’t have burgundy curtains for the living room and just can’t deal with burgundy walls, they can repaint and start their own color.

Notes to the buyer: The down side of this coin is if you ever paint over a gloss or oil paint with anything other than gloss or oil, you will have to first prep it with Kiltz, then paint, or it will peel. And, if you have Venician Plaster or Bellagio in the house, consider keeping it the way it is. The texturing on the wall has been changed. So you will always have a “plaster” or “bumpy” look to the wall unless you sand and retexture before repainting. Texture comes in cans, but it’s expensive to redo large areas.

Whew! OK, enough of painting for now!

My house was white on white when I bought it. Albeit, it looked larger until I moved furniture in, but it was like living in a hospital. I started repainting slowly but surely, after getting situated with the furnishings, linens, and window coverings.

The kitchen had new whitewashed birch cabinets with neutral counters. The upstairs is a great room so the kitchen, dining, and living room are all open and together. So to redo my white-white house into the neutral light beige wall with white trim, I had to find a neutral that worked in the neutral kitchen. After five trips to the paint store and pondering all the options of flat tones and faux paint, I determined no neutral would work for all four walls. Randomly holding up the Venetian Plaster swatch book to the cabinets and counters, I was surprised when a burgundy-wine tone stood out as “the one.” It went with everything: the neutral counters, neutral cabinets, neutral carpet, neutral floor, and planned color for neutral walls. So I painted the two adjoining walls of the kitchen and dining area with burgundy Venetian Plaster, then bought sheer burgundy curtains and scarves for the windows in the neutral-toned area. Wow, what a difference from white. And you know, the one thing guests remember is that kitchen. It’s got the cheapest cabinets and counters known to man, but with the burgundy red walls and antique copper cabinet handles and faucet, I think we gained a few equity dollars there. That’s what you want. A buyer to walk in and say “WOW, This is comfortable/stunning/light/beautiful and I could put my sofa here and it would go with…..”

Trying to wrap up my last week's topic on paint, not sure if today I'll succeed!

Here’s where my opinion is really going to vary from the “norm.” So with this disclaimer, I’ll proceed.

Stagers recommend neutral interior tones such as a “bone” wall color and a “white” trim—basically a bright white trim with a wall base that has a touch of tan in it. We use this paint scheme for most rental property interiors, and it is a good choice for the majority.

One thing that I’ve seen over the years–maybe it’s just a coincidence–but when we have listed homes with decorator interior paint schemes, they’ve sold quickly and usually with multiple offers. Overall, I would recommend keeping to the light and bright theme as much as possible, but there is something to be said about use of dramatic color to provide accents. Taking one small wall in a dining room, family room, or bedroom and painting a bold, darker color to accent furnishing colors or drapery colors can bring a room to life.

Faux paint is another great way for the creative-brained do-it-yourselfers to add life to “ordinary” rooms. There’s many options I call “faux paint.” There’s your true faux paint done with sponging or ragging two to three colors in layers. There area also other products like Bellagio and Venician Plaster (these two I’ve used in several rooms) that are textured products that can be done alone or with multiple colors.

More tomorrow….