Last week on the furniture blog we discussed storage ideas for small apartment or dorm living in college. This week, we take on areas of your living space that can benefit from organization. Once you have these three areas in check, you can save time and not have to worry about last minute changes of plans, or all night study marathons! 1. The Closet: Arranging clothes and shoes by color is a classic technique, but it is not always practical and even more difficult to maintain. Instead, keep your lifestyle and habits in mind to find an arrangement that works best for you. Organizing clothes by season, by outfit choices that would look good together, or for dedicated occasions (gym, class, dinner date, etc) are all ideas to consider. Refer to our last furniture blog post for storage tips for your closet that can also help you organize. 2. The Desk: Usually, this is where you will be when you are on what we like to call “academic lockdown” – the time when a deadline is near and all coffee shops in the area with wi-fi are closed. The key is to make your desk area clutter free and well lit. Accordion files …
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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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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: The Feng Shui of Home Staging
Outdoor events are one of the great joys of summer. The memories created at a well-planned outdoor event can last a lifetime. With Independence Day on the horizon, we’d like to offer a few planning tips for your next outdoor event. Tip #1: Remember to keep your guests cool in the summer heat. If shade is an option, placing some seating in shaded areas can give your guests a break from the direct sunlight. Ice buckets filled with bottled water placed generously around the seating area can enhance the décor while keeping your guests comfortable. LED lighting from our Luna Lighting collection creates a remarkable ambiance and does not produce additional heat. This July 4th, adorn your outdoor space with LED lights in red, white and blue. Or mix and match from any of our stunning collections. Tip # 2: Wind can be a welcome or unwelcome guest at any outdoor party. If your event venue is typically windy, consider accessories that will help keep things stationary. On the other hand, in venues that have little to no breeze, you may want to add a few well-placed fans. Tip #3: When placing furniture, consider how you want your guests to …
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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Blow Them Away This July 4th: Tips for Outdoor Event Planning
Great first impressions and keeping costs low are essential for startup companies to begin the journey to success. And solving the startup challenge of creating a comfortable visual presentation, combined with cost reductions, all can be accomplished with office furniture rental. Whether your startup becomes the next Groupon or Google or is purely a law firm or a real estate company, minimizing expenditures can free up vital capital for mission-critical operations. As the organization expands, adding office furniture for new employees and new locations can make the business leap a bit easier with minimal effect on the bottom line. Of course, freeing up capital with office furniture rental does not mean the business and employee workspace need to look like the décor came from a yard sale. CORT has the largest selection of furniture rental options in the world. With custom-tailored packages and lease terms, your startup does not need to sacrifice the quality and feel of the office in order to lower expenses. There are other benefits to renting office furniture too. Rather than tying up initial capital and watching as depreciation eats away at the investment, rental furniture may be classified as a deductible business expense. And with …
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Many of you may have caught a glimpse of CORT’s newest line of home staging furniture for offices in last week’s episode of The Celebrity Apprentice. For their most recent challenge, the contestants used our office furniture to stage a television commercial set. While the celebrities worked with minimal room on their set, it had us thinking about how all small office conditions could be best optimized and staged to promote the appearance of a professional and comfortable office environment. As we have mentioned countless times on the furniture blog, eliminating clutter is a crucial first step to maximizing your staging space. File away all loose paper and books on shelves and in cabinets. It is also important to hide all awards and personal accolades, as well as items with the current company branding. Depersonalizing the space will keep eyes from focusing on one particular part of the room. It is important that the office is seen as one continuous when taken in at a glance. Choose lighter, neutral tones for your walls and furniture to complete this home staging look. Keep the office looking as minimalist as possible, however it should still embody humanistic qualities. Neatly display office supplies, such …
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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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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: More Home Staging Tips On The Furniture Blog
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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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Interior Design Tips From The Furniture Blog
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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Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: Furniture Blog: Arrangement Tips
