Whether you are moving in or moving out of a home, the issue of what to do about furniture can be stressful, to be sure. But what is the difference really, between purchasing furniture and furniture rental, and what’s the best choice for you? No Commitment When you are moving into a new home or office space, sometimes you don’t really know how long you’ll be there. No one wants to get stuck with a room full of furniture only to find that they need to move again 6 months down the road. And in the midst of all that change, having the option to change your mind later can bring valuable peace of mind. With furniture rental, you can plan your furniture use on your own terms, with a variety of contract lengths. Fewer Moving Headaches In our 40 years in the office and home furniture rental business, we’ve heard all of the horror stories of moves gone wrong. Broken furniture, lost items, and delivery delays can make moving extremely challenging, not to mention the cost. Furniture rental, on the other hand, can be as easy as browsing a few webpages, selecting your furniture rental pieces, and arranging for …
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The recent uncertainty in global markets has had an impact on all businesses, including the furniture rental industry. During the recession, many people stopped buying and leasing furniture. But recently, as the marketplace experiences a recovery, people’s interest in furniture is not only renewed, but increasing. More people than ever are seeing furniture rental as a smart choice, especially those whose jobs have them transferring from one city to the next. People are flocking to CORT for help with their furniture rental needs, because, for many, it’s just what makes sense. First, many people have reassessed their priorities and are more purposeful in how they spend their money. Rather than invest a lot of money in furniture that will immediately depreciate in value, why not rent furniture for a fraction of the cost? Second, many people like the flexibility of a furniture rental agreement. Rather than get stuck for years with just one look, with furniture rental, you are free to replace your furniture with something that fits the style you are going for. Finally, these days people expect that when they spend their hard-earned money, they will get a high level of service and respect. Our team of experts …
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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Furniture Rental: A Winning Combination
You may have heard the saying, “strategy wins wars.” In the battle for peace of mind in a life that attracts clutter, nowhere is this more relevant than in the home office. Today we are going beyond furnished housing to ask the question, “What is it that makes clutter so challenging in the home office?” Answering this question will also help us create a strategic approach to clutter that will ultimately help you win the war. That’s the focus of this third furniture blog in our series on managing clutter. We bring things with us. If you notice, we tend to carry things absent-mindedly from room to room, and then set them down where they don’t belong. As a result, our rooms collect objects that appear out of place. Unfortunately, no matter how beautifully our homes are furnished, housing uncontained clutter can create an unwelcome and chaotic environment. One approach to resolving this matter is to have a holding-zone for items that don’t belong. A small table near the doorway can serve this purpose. When you are in the office and notice that an object is out of place, move it to the holding zone. When you leave the room, take …
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One of the advantages of renting furnished housing includes the experience and expertise of a highly qualified staff to help you make design choices that best fit your budget and your space. Choosing the right furniture for the space can go a long way in making a living area feel open and inviting. But when it comes to controlling clutter, its up to the homeowner to make choices about how to utilize a space. This article begins a series of blogs on how to manage clutter. This week, we will be focusing on living areas. Home staging experts understand the importance of a living area that is free of clutter. That’s because people who are looking for a home want to imagine themselves living there. In a similar way, keeping your living area free of clutter will also free up sense of imagination and focus, and even your creative energy. So here’s a few tips you can borrow from the home staging experts. Create a place where each item belongs. This may seem like an obvious point, but it’s easy for objects in the home to float around from place to place, adding to clutter. Finding a place for each …
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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Spring is Here! Tips for De-Cluttering Your Living Area
From time to time on our furniture blog, we like to share the tips we’ve learned in the furniture rental business for keeping your furniture looking great. Last week we discussed how to clean fabric furniture. As promised, this week we will focus on how to maintain and clean your wood furniture. Keeping your wood furniture looking beautiful starts with making sure the environmental conditions don’t damage the wood. Keep wood furniture away from bright sunlight and locations near sources of excessive heat that may dry out, shrink and crack the wood. Keep temperatures and humidity levels somewhat moderate and consistent. In general 40% to 45% humidity works well for wood. High humidity can cause warping or the growth of mildew. Furniture in storage should likewise be kept in controlled conditions, and should also be kept covered. From time to time, wood furniture needs cleaning. Proper cleaning techniques depends on the surface of the wood. Most well-sealed clear-finished furniture (shellacked, varnished or lacquered furniture) can be cleaned effectively using the following steps: Remove any metal hardware before polishing them, as these solvents can damage a finish. Use a clean, dry cloth to remove any dust or dirt from the surface …
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Quality home staging goes beyond the placement of furniture. Whether you are an expert home stager or you are simply interested in bringing the secrets of interior design to life in your own home, here are some tips for creating an environment that brings furnished housing to life with the language of love. The best interior designers advise us that a romantic decor appeals to the senses through color, layering and texture. Start with luxurious fabrics such as velvet, raw silk, satin or polished cotton. These fabrics can create a sense of timelessness—an visual escape from the outside world. Layering and textures create tones of warmth, intimacy and intrigue. For example, try layering a fur (or faux fur) throw on a raw silk fabric surface, or pair a pin-tucked bedspread with a diamond quilted velvet. Two different textures in the same or similar colors can also create a beautiful effect. Deep, rich colors can create a lush environment. Aside from the tried and true red hues, colors such plums and purples, chocolate browns, deep blues, and even metallic tones like copper can create a sense of romance as well. Check out our High Glam Pinterest board to see some great …
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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Setting the Stage for Romance
With economists pointing to a buyer’s market in 2012, sellers are scrambling to make their homes more appealing and gain the edge. But you don’t necessarily need to do major renovations to make your home more attractive. In a buyer’s market, home staging can make all the difference in the sale of your home, and you can do home staging yourself by following a few simple guidelines. 1. Clean and depersonalize the space. When preparing your home, be sure to clean more rigorously than you ever cleaned before, including the exterior. Be sure that your grass is cut, trees and bushes are maintained and the overall appearance of your home’s exterior is appealing. On the inside, clean every surface and make sure that the house is impeccable. One way to approach this is to walk through your home and imagine that you are a potential home buyer. This may allow you to see things you did not see before. Remove all of your personal belongings and anything that represents your personal style. The home buyer needs to be able to imagine themselves living in your home. If your personal touch is everywhere, this may be more difficult. Also remove anything …
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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Home Staging in 2012
Are you running out of time for your home staging project? There is so much to do and so little time! And most of all, everything has to be perfect. You may have been told before that there is a fine line between perfectionism and procrastination. It is easy to get overwhelmed by a large project with limited time. If you are paralyzed with thought, take a breath and read on. Hope comes in the form of a little organization. Make a list of every home staging detail that needs to get done before the first showing of the house. Take time to write absolutely everything down. Then, number tasks by varying levels of importance. Label high priority things as 1, and luxuries and details as 3. Create a sliding scale of priority and then approximate how long it will take to do each task. Finally, compare it to the number of hours or days that you have, and set your crunch time schedule! Eliminate tasks that are low priority as you lose time. Don’t do away with low priority tasks altogether. Keep hustling through your to-do list so that you can get to the lower priority stuff when …
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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Home Staging: How To Beat Perfectionism
In past furniture blog posts, we have stressed the importance of creating an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere for guests and potential buyers through home staging and rental furniture selection best practice. When you are dreaming up the perfectly arranged home, it is a natural step to also plan for guest overnight stays. The guest room is a reflection of your hospitality. A well planned arrangement that makes one feel welcome and comfortable is a kindness that does not go unnoticed. This week on a twitter chat based on interior design themes, categorized by the #intdesignerchat hashtag, the topic was focused on guest room accommodations. The conversation stirred a lot creative ideas among furniture blog writers, interior designers, architects, and home stagers. Some great tips were brought to the table. Leslie Fine, of Leslie Fine Interiors, stressed the importance of “know[ing] in advance the schedule of their visit so that all expectations are met”. When the topic of essential amenities was raised, bed comfort was number one. There was a discussion at length about what extra amenities should be provided for guests. Among the “must haves” for ultimate comfort, “a chair, a luggage rack, and a reading light” were some extra special touches Sam Henderson, the …
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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Furniture Blog: Furnishing The Accommodating Guest Room
Feng Shui is an ancient system of Chinese aesthetics that has been popularized in the last few decades, and has become increasingly popular for home staging. The discipline of Feng Shui focuses on the balance and movement of energy throughout a business or home. Feng Shui is a complex, multifaceted discipline that requires years of training to master. In ancient China, Feng Shui was used to determine the orientation of a dwelling to maximize something akin to auspiciousness — meaning favorable, or lending itself to future success. So, an auspicious environment brings forth future success. Today, Western use of Feng Shui is mostly limited to interior decorating. Western practitioners have received criticism for misunderstanding and misusing the complexity of Feng Shui. But the principles of simplicity and energy movement allow for a common-sense approach to decorating and home staging. Two of the Feng Shui concepts that are perhaps the easiest for novices to embrace are the principles of Qi (pronounced “chee” in English) and Polarity. Qi is the energy or “life force” in an environment and how it flows through that environment. The factors affecting the quality and movement of Qi are many. Polarity refers to the male (yang) and …
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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: The Feng Shui of Home Staging
