Before: Sunroom before staging. Although a sunroom isn’t viewed as a key room to stage, re-arranging furniture and editing the room can go a long way. Think of it as another living room or family room. Make sure the room is as bright as possible and always remember to sell your view. To achieve this remove the curtains and clean the windows. Even if your windows don’t look dirty, clean them regardless, you will be happy with the results.

After: The room feels much brighter with less furniture in the room. Check out the other before & after shots from this home: – Kitchen – Dining Room – Office – Bathroom

Before: Dining room before staging. When staging a dining room, remember less is more. You don’t to display every piece of the set. Make sure everything is neat and organized. Get creative with centerpieces – sometimes you’ll need to pull something from another room or arrangement. Check out the other before & after shots from this home: – Kitchen – Sunroom – Office – Bathroom

After: By angling the table and chairs, you can now see more of the beautiful flooring.

How do you know where your neighbour’s yard ends and yours begins? For most of us that divider is our fence. If not kept up with proper maintenance, your fence can look quite shabby within 3-5 years. But what if it’s been more than 5 years with no repair? It may be time to consider replacing your fence.

So what’s the first step? Chat with your neighbours and get their opinions. They may be willing to help you either build the new fence or split the cost to hire someone to build the new fence. However, be very diplomatic when discussing this with them, although you may be financially and emotionally prepared to replace your fence, they may not be. If they’re not prepared to help out, you may be stuck with the workload and/or the bill. The City of Calgary does not settle disputes on maintenance or building costs between neighbours.

Another point worth mentioning about neighbours, you will get really close with them once your old fence is torn down. This can be a really good thing, or a really bad thing.

Now it’s time to figure out which design you like and how much you are willing to spend. Check your local home improvement flyers for both designs and prices (to get a rough idea). Always make sure to get a quote from your local home improvement store or local fencing company though as flyers never add in the cost of nails, labour or equiptment rentals (if required). If you’re handy or have family or friends that are handy, take on the project yourself, if not, you should consider hiring someone. If you do hire someone, make sure they are insured. If they get hurt and are not insured – you are responsible.

Make sure to pick a date to build your fence that isn’t too hot or rainy and build away. You’ll notice instantly how much your yard has improved after the first section is built. Before you start building, I strongly recommend you read up on your local bylaws. If you live in Calgary, here is a brochure on fences developed by the City of Calgary.

Before: Original door 2 years ago. I’m going to get a little personal today as I write about my home’s curb appeal makeover, which has been upgraded over the last couple of years. As you can see, the original door had been previously replaced. Birds loved to nest at the top of the pillars and make lovely messes for me to clean up weekly. The siding was quite dirty, the lawn was quite dead and the front step had many cracks and chips. I needed to add some curb appeal to this area and since it is almost summer, the timing was perfect. Step 1 (2 day project). Fix the bird problem. Although I love hearing the birds chirping throughout the day, I don’t like cleaning up after them and worrying if they will dive bomb me when I walk into my front entrance.

Before: Front entrance before curb appeal makeover. I am lucky enough to know a handyman who was able to alter the space above the pillars so no little critters can get in. Step 2 (2 day project). Clean the siding. I used a power washer, a mop and some elbow grease and cleaned away. Step 3 (4-7 day project depending on timing and weather). Patch the cracks and dints in the front step. After everything was patched up, I sanded them down with a power sander. Then I finished off the front step off with Rustoleum’s 3 Part Stone Finishing System Don’t let the 3 part system fool you, it’s actually a 5 step process when you do 2 coats of rocks and 2 coats of sealer. You also need to take into account the drying time inbetween steps. For the last step you need 24 hours of good weather.

After: This front entrance is now welcoming. Step 4 (1/2 day project). Add some colour. I chose to use an analogous-complementary colour scheme by incorporating the yellow flowers in my hanging baskets with the yellow-orange and orange marigolds in addition to violet pansies in the flower pots. I also gave the lawn a good rake and watering.