Bringing the outdoors inside is not a new concept in interior design, but the recent resurgence of this beautiful trend has brought with it some stunningly lovely, creative, and even quirky innovations on this earthy classic. In this week’s furniture blog, we’re focusing on classic examples and new twists on incorporating the outdoors into your home staging, furniture rental and interior design. Photos While photos of outdoor scenes can be inspiring, home stagers and interior designers are playing with close-ups to make the outdoor experience more present in a room. Photos of natural patterns or shapes such as bark, moss, or leaf macros, framed simply, can add both earthiness and contemporary simplicity to a decor. Going Overboard Rather than accent your furniture rental pieces with a few plants here and there, try turning your living room or sunroom into a garden, with many hanging and potted plants. With a little planning, this can make a bold and artistic statement. Decorating with Non-Traditional Plants While potted plants are a household standard, people with a more contemporary style are finding grass, cacti, bamboo, or moss to be a nice alternative to the status quo. These can be potted or incorporated into wall …
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CORT Furniture has a vast collection of used furniture that is available for sale at clearance furniture locations across the United States. We have everything from living room furniture sets to art for your wall. If you are looking for items to make your living room feel more comfortable or functional, we may have just what you need. The inventory changes as we get new pieces in, so drop in often to scout for hidden treasures that are in great condition. Here are some ideas that can help you use accent pieces to tie together decor themes in your living room: Choose pieces in one accent color or pattern – Keeping the colors displayed in the living room consistent will help give the appearance of order. It will also provide structure for your clearance furniture shopping. Remember to contrast accent colors with a neutral or dark, solid tone. Make use of the multi-purpose ottoman – They aren’t just for your tired feet! Ottomans can double as a coffee table. Arrange magazines and the remote controls on this plushy island. More fabric texture will make your living room appear more comfortable. We have many clearance furniture options for over-sized, multi-purpose ottomans! Hang mirrors and art …
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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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Last week on the furniture blog, we shared home staging furniture tips from our Twitter followers. Well friends, today we are sharing more tips with you today from our Facebook fans! Michael Miles, of Michael Miles Photography, stressed the importance of de-cluttering your home and moving as much as possible into a storage unit. Keeping the rooms free from clutter does not only add to the aesthetic quality of your staged home, but also provides the illusion of more space. As we’ve mentioned on the furniture blog before, in addition to eliminating clutter, it is also important to de-personalize your home. Shana Sagat of Shawnee, Kansas stated: “You want it to look lived in, yet not lived in by you.” This means that all accolades and items that reflect your personal interests and hobbies should be hidden or taken down. You want the rooms to be a blank canvas for a potential buyer so that they are able to envision how their future life would look inside of your featured home. Keeping the idea of a de-personalized home in mind should continue all the way through the remodeling process as well, especially if you are featuring an older home. Judy Colburn is a home stager in …
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We’re back this week with more great do-it-yourself home staging tips on the furniture blog. Even if hiring a professional stager is not an option in your budget, there are plenty of techniques you can and should take care of on your own. You don’t need to have a brilliant eye for design to handle these basics of staging a home to sell. Don’t underestimate the power of a clean, de-cluttered, de-personalized home that looks streamlined and modern to potential buyers. There are no do-overs when it comes to first impressions, so make it count by showcasing your home’s best features and potential. CORT is lucky to be considered a friend of professional home stagers, because they count on us for great home staging furniture. This relationship means we enjoy access to expert tips and information. We recently invited our stager friends on Twitter to share some cool home staging tips for us to share on the furniture blog. We’ll share a couple of those today, and want to remind readers that we’re still accepting submissions! Tell us your favorite staging idea or about a recent success story, and you may see your tale featured in a future furniture blog …
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It’s no secret that CORT and our furniture blog team love the home staging industry. Top stagers nationwide depend on rental furniture from CORT to help make clients’ homes as modern and appealing as possible. So we’re of the opinion that when you want to sell your home quickly and for the best price, you should seek the expertise of a professional home stager to whip your property into shape. Call us biased, but we’ve seen major results from these efforts— stagers are closely familiar with current market conditions and interior decorating trends. That being said, if your budget is too tight to hire a stager, there are several easy, inexpensive techniques you can do yourself with an investment of time and effort. Staged homes spend 89 percent less time on the market, so follow some of these proven strategies even if you can’t go all out by hiring a professional or getting lots of home staging furniture. Kate Hart, an expert stager with the Real Estate Staging Association, compared it to getting your home ready for a blind date. You’ve only got one first impression, so make the most of it by showcasing the property’s best selling features. Start …
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Last week, the goal of our furniture blog post was to inspire you to consider making small changes in home decorating and furniture arrangement. Trying something different can do wonders for the look and feel of your space, whether you’ve moved into a new home or you’re just hoping to refresh a long lived-in abode. It starts with learning as much as you can about how to position furniture in a visually and mentally pleasing way. Think about creating a healthy relationship between different items in a room, from clearance furniture to accessories and artwork. Consider the day-to-day function of a room before choosing which type of balance you want to achieve within it. With symmetrical balance, there’s two of everything. It’s a very restful strategy that works well in bedrooms (like placing identical night stands at either side of the bed). Meanwhile, add exciting visual motion and interest with an asymmetrical approach. Two flower vases of slightly different sizes placed next to each other on a countertop is its own worthy form of balance. Our next bit of furniture blog advice is to customize your furniture arrangement based on the shape of the space you have to work with. …
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Perhaps you’ve just moved into a new home or apartment, and don’t know where to start when it comes to arranging furniture. The CORT furniture blog is here to help, even if you haven’t actually moved, and you’re just getting bored with the interior layout and design of your space. Especially if you haven’t rearranged things in a while, it can be really tough to visualize your furniture in any alternative setup. On top of that, furniture arrangement comes with its own bevy of challenges. Sometimes a small or oddly shaped room will have major limitations in terms of how all of the elements fit within it. Even in a larger room with many possibilities, it can be tough to decide which arrangement is best. So we’ve been doing our homework here at the furniture blog. From our friends at HGTV, we picked up some good general guidelines and tips for maximizing the look and feel of every room in your home. It’s remarkable how much furniture arrangement affects the energy of your home. When life feels overwhelming or disorganized, de-cluttering and rearranging the setup of your living space can make a significant improvement on mental health. So let’s get …
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As many of our furniture blog readers know, we at CORT are big fans of the home staging industry. A couple weeks ago we mentioned CORT would claim the top VIP sponsor slot at the Real Estate Staging Association international conference in Las Vegas this year. Well, the big event took place earlier this week (beginning Sunday Jan. 23 through Tuesday Jan. 25), and it was a great success. Home stagers from all over converged at the Treasure Island resort for three days of learning and networking with industry leaders. A panel of expert guest speakers enlightened the attendees on a variety of topics. Notable presenters included Dan Eason, Alice T. Chan and Jackson West, with a keynote speech by none other than Matthew Finlason of HGTV show The Stagers. Home staging topics ranged from inventory management, sales influence and growing your business, to creative discussions of color trends and use of accessories to make any home pop. There were ample opportunities to network at the conference, which was a learning experience in and of itself for attendees. Of course, CORT had a major presence at the event. Our home staging furniture is a fantastic, convenient option for stagers across …
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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Furniture Blog Coverage: RESA Conference 2011
