How Should I Decorate My House?

Whenever I sell and stage a home or think about making changes in my own home, I wonder what kind of furnishings I should use. It's sometimes hard to know just what to use, what will look good or if I'm really confident that I'm making a good choice. I think I've just discovered a solution that can help me or help my clients. There is a new design service available that will let you "try on" furniture before you buy it. Modsy was created after Shanna Tellerman and her husband moved into a new home three years ago. She found many ideas on Pinterest of things she liked and rooms she like but was uncertain how to go about creating the rooms and the feelings that she liked. So she created Modsy. It's a virtual design service that provides 3D visualizations of a fully decorated room in your home that is created according to your taste. Each furniture piece and decor item has been sourced from several hundred retailers and is scaled to your room. You just take a style quiz and upload a photo of your room and several days later you get two virtually styled versions of your room You have options to change furnishings or decor and then make your purchase knowing what it's going to look like in your room.

This is such an interesting idea and I'd love to try it out or talk with folks who have used it and learn what they think. If you want to read more about it and see examples of how it works, you can read more about it here. Decorating with Modsy

Seattle Real Estate Market Update

The Seattle real estate market has been in the news for the past year. Prices have been escalating and we've had bidding wars that have been reported in the media for their sheer volume. It's not unusual to hear tales of homes selling for more than $100,000 over their listed price. Finally we're starting to see a bit of a change in the pace. Homes are still selling quickly if they are priced right but we are not seeing as many multiple offers on homes. Now there are only one or two offers instead of 10 or 12 or even more. I talked to one agent who had over 30 offers on a starter home priced in the high $300's.

Every month Windermere summarizes these trends and provides them for us to use in an easy to share format. Here is what they say about the month of August for both the residential and the condominium market.

If you're thinking about buying or selling a home and would like more information, please feel free to contact me.

Art Installation and Ice Cubes

Art can take all forms and shapes and what we consider art can certainly be a personal preference.

I've just read about a new art installation of a giant ice cube! Did you know that the shape of an ice cube can impact how quickly it melts?

"ICE CUBE is a 10-ton sculpture designed by Seattle architecture firm Olson Kundig and assembled from 64 smaller blocks of ice delivered to the park.

It's time to go to Occidental Park and watch ice melt. Ice Cube Melting In Occidental Park

Mood Ring House

                                          photo credit - Suzanne De Vita

I remember having a mood ring. How I loved the fact that it changed color with the temperature of my hands. That part wasn't in the notes however, it simply said that the color reflected your mood.

Well now the mood ring feature has progressed to a mood ring house. This a pretty cool idea. The house has been fitted with LED lamps that represent the owners disposition at night.

This particular home in Fayetteville, Ark.  was conceived by SILO AR+D as an “exploration of how architecture can have different day and night presences with distinct experiential and spatial qualities.”

At night the colors are determined by the temperature of the house as well as what the owners choose. It also sounds like this is not the only color changing house on the block. 

What do you think? Would you like to live in a color changing "mood ring" house?

Honey for my honey

As a child I loved it when my mother served us honey. As an adult I'm learning more about honey and like what I see and really appreciate the fact that you increase many vitamins and minerals when you add honey to your diet. According to the USDA Agricultural Research Service, one tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories, 17 grams of carbohydrates, plus trace amounts of vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, iron, zinc and selenium. It's also a benefit to the plants because the bees pollinate the plants when they collect nectar from the flowers.

Raw honey can contain pollen which may not be good for folks with pollen allergies but when honey is processed a team of researchers from Utah found that in the processing, nutrients were not removed from the honey but it actually increased the mineral content and the antioxidant qualities of the honey. 

Now honey can have a regional flavor and that flavor will depend on the flowers that have been used for the nectar collection. It never occurred to me however that honey is an animal product and is not considered vegan. 

I think I'm going to buy some different types of honey the next time I venture out to the local farmers market. I wonder which one will be my favorite kind? If you have a favorite, let me know and I'll try to find it also.