Why everyone should treat their house like a flip

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{photo credit: Fixer Upper} You guys, this renovation is stressFUL. It’s also awesome and it also sometimes kind of sucks. But I signed up for this and really, I’m super excited about the project and doing this ‘flip’. Honestly, it might just be my personal preference, but I’d rather take on a huge fixer upper in a house or building that has boatloads of potential, or has ‘beautiful bones’ that has just been a bit neglected, than a newer property. But that’s just me, and the truth is that you don’t have to take on a huge project in order…

There will be no art hung here

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Since we’ve decided that we are definitely moving out of our current place either at the end of the lease this summer {or sooner}, I’ve been really torn over how much I really want unpack and get settled in. Do I want to unpack books? Do I want to hang art? What do I do with stuff if I don’t want to unpack, am I just supposed to live surrounded by boxes? We’ve unpacked a lot, and negotiated through most of our duplicate items which is a deal in and of itself {do we really still need three carrot peelers??!}…

My Favorite Way to Design a Space… Slowly

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As I’m working on a new interior design project {my last for a while as I’m wrapping this up and making more space to focus on real estate} I’m reminded of my biggest struggle in design… I love the idea of moving to a new place and starting from scratch. Designing the space and being able to buy all new furniture… art… finishes… really making the space you. You can get rid of everything that isn’t you anymore.. {and sometimes that’s everything} and start fresh. Really be in present time. It can be a powerful thing to do, a completely…

The biggest ‘secret’ of selling your house

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In the real estate world it’s already spring, even if mother nature isn’t on board quite yet. And it’s busy. There is a huge demand for listings, but that doesn’t always ensure automatic success as a seller. Today’s post is all about something that I don’t think any agent shares with their sellers, but it really is the essence of how to get what you want out of the sale of your house. Before you even think about thinking about starting to declutter or moving even one piece of furniture to get your house ready to sell, you have to be in…

Hey Hey L.A.!

Categories: architecture · creativity · energy · travel · Uncategorized1 Comment

January isn’t even over yet and I’m totally rocking my ‘non’ resolutions. {Watch out 2017!} I spent this past weekend out in L.A. on a ‘just for fun trip’ and it’s been so. great. I was kind of waffling about whether to go or not when I ended up reconnecting with an old friend from my very first adult job after grad school. I haven’t seen her for almost ten years {also, wow, I’m old}. So I pushed through my weird indecision and hesitation and booked it! Plus I still hadn’t officially done anything to celebrate getting my license so what was I waiting for anyway?!…

My non-resolution resolutions

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Last year I had so many huge life changes and it was amazing. This year I want to take everything I achieved to a new level, and also work on having more of certain things in my life. So I decided this year to do a different kind of resolution… more like non-resolution resolutions. I’m usually not a resolution kind of person. I wasn’t ever really successful, and felt like there was this idea that January was the only time anyone made any big changes… but this year I’m making some less traditional resolutions and I’m loving them. 1. Own Everything: this might…

This is a teardown… or is it

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I looked at this building with one of our clients the other day. In the description of the property there was the phrase “potential teardown”. From the photos it didn’t really look like there was anything obviously wrong with the building, you can see some slight sagging in the center of the facade, but it doesn’t look major – so I was definitely curious. Usually if the pics look fine and someone is saying – don’t bother saving this one – it means one of two things: there are big time problems that you just can’t see yet this is just…

Beware the gut rehab…

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The These days it seems like everyone and their brother is buying and flipping houses. What am I talking about, this has been going on for a while now. I’m pretty sure HGTV is completely responsible for this horrible trend… all that DIY shit everywhere you turn… house hunters, flip this, remake that.. making it look so easy and like you can do an entire renovation in a weekend. Not. True. It is 100% possible to do a spectacular job on a gut renovation/rehab, and there are lots of people who do spectacular work.. but, there are also lots of people who…

Love and affinity -it might just be the biggest deal

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I’ve been thinking a lot about affinity lately.. you’re love for something. And how much of it we have {or not} in our everyday life. Have you ever walked into a space, met someone, or discovered something in life and your whole self kind of falls in love in a whole new way? You feel excited, inspired, different parts of you awaken and you feel like you discover a new level of how much you can love and feel for something? You can’t always explain it or make sense of it, but you know it when you feel it. It’s…

The Beauty of Stillness

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Today is such a beautiful snow day. At least in Chicago. There is a distinct energy and feeling when it snows. Especially in the moments before people have gotten up and rushed outside to start shoveling… or playing. It’s a really profound stillness, a quiet, that emerges. I’m not sure I’ve experienced this specific quality of energy as distinctly any other time than when I’m outside in that white blanket of tranquility. There’s a hush that falls over everything… it’s perfectly quiet… perfectly still… For me there’s an almost intangible beauty, a feeling you can’t quite put words to, when you…