Help clients see the design potential in a living space instantly. Change the dining room color from lemon yellow to plum purple — before painting. Rearrange new furniture — before moving day. Get staging tips, watch design videos, and add curb appeal with these four iPhone apps.

Home Interior Layout Designer – Mark On Call

M.O.C. Interior Designer, LLC

$2.99

Customize the layout of a kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, and more with the Home Interior Layout Designer app. Created by interior designer Mark Lewison, “Mark On Call,” and based on his book, “What Would You Do With This Room,” this app even lets you take pictures of actual décor and architectural finishes, such as carpet, flooring, rugs, etc., and add them as a “skin” to a surface in your virtual design plan. Use the pallet of colors, patters, fabrics, furnishings, wood, and stone options to explore the design potential of a room. The app also offers a measuring tool, design advice, sharing of designs between app users, and the ability to make a shopping list for all your customized home purchases.

HGTV’s Staging and Property

Scripps Networks, LLC

Free

This app offers the “best of” from HGTV, including real estate videos, pictures, tips, and advice. Watch clips of HGTV shows “Curb Appeal,” “Designed to Sell,” and more. Getting ready for an open house? Look up tips and tutorials on staging and design for better buyer appeal. And see before and after photo slideshows of room transformations.

ColorChange

Indivigital

$2.99

Take a picture of a room, a wall, or the exterior of a home, then upload it to the ColorChange app to try out different colors on any surface in the image. Did your client wonder aloud what the bedroom would look like in a shade of green? Give them a visualization of that color in seconds. The app also comes with editing tools to alter the brightness, saturation, even zoom-in or erase. Save images in a photo gallery to compare the same room in different paint colors.

Eden Garden Designer

Herbaceous Software, Inc.

$0.99

When a home is for sale during the winter or spring, it might be hard for a buyer to picture what the yard or garden will look like in the warmer months. Now you can show them with Eden Garden Designer. This app lets you create and share a virtual garden. Either snap a picture of the yard/garden, or use one of the preloaded images that best suits the home. Maybe you want to add new plants or landscaping – try as many plant and landscape combinations as you like. If you know what’s already in the garden, select and arrange those plants and flowers to  see how the garden will look in any season.

Every day I learn something new from the folks I follow on Twitter. Today I learned that Nov. 15 is National Declutter Day. Who knew?

The occasion, which was started last year by Kijiji.com (@KijijiUS), eBay’s free online classifieds site, is a great way to get sellers motivated to prepare their home for showings.

Plus, we could all use a little decluttering in our lives, couldn’t we?

In honor of the occasion, I’ve scoured the Internet for some resources you can pass on to your clients. What I’ve come up with are three handy Web sites and one clutter-busting San Carlos, Calif.-based business that can clear out a room in minutes. Intrigued? Read on.

Unclutterer.com

This Web site is all about organization, plain and simple. Organizing your life; organizing your home; organizing your office. The Washington, D.C.–based author Erin Doland is a recovering pack-rat who once “held on to objects like her third grade math assignments and every note she passed in high school.” Her book Unclutter Your Life in One Week, which went on sale this week, is a testament to her reformed, uncluttered lifestyle, and a helpful tool for anyone looking to declutter their home.

Jdorganizer.blogspot.com

Jeri Dansky of Half Moon Bay, Calif., has been a professional organizer for seven years and her blog is filled with fun, whimsical, and aesthetically pleasing ideas that are also all about decluttering. If you are looking for great storage ideas, book recommendations, and organizing trends you’ve never thought of, check out her site.

Zenhabits.net

Zen Habits is a site that takes decluttering to the next level. Author Leo Babauta describes it as “finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives.” Some of the best nuggets of advice I found on this site are the 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life and 18 Five-Minute Decluttering Tips to Start Conquering Your Mess. But all the posts were inspiring with the mantra that less is not only more, less is also healthy.

Junk King

Childhood friends, Mike Andreacchi and Brian Reardon met on the soccer field at the age of 9. Little did they know that roughly 20 years later they’d be starting a business together. In 2005, Andreacchi and Reardon founded Junk King in the San Francisco Bay area. The basic premise is this: You have stuff you don’t want, and they can take care of it for you.

Junk King will collect and either recycle or dispose of basically all non-hazardous “junk” from homes and businesses. We’re talking stuff like furniture, wood, appliances, concrete, construction and building materials, yard refuse, and plain old garbage. No paints or solvents allowed, though.

“We help prepare the home to put back on the market,” Reardon says, tackling jobs like attics, kitchen cabinets, garages, and yards. “And if the owners or the REALTOR® can’t afford to pay for our service up front, we’ll wait to collect after the property has gone through escrow. It’s a win-win.”

Junk King prices by volume, and takes jobs that range from one item up to multiple truckloads. Special rates are offered to real estate practitioners.

What started out as one truck out of their garage has grown into a fleet of six trucks with 15 employees, which saves many items from ending up in a landfill, says Andreacchi.

Junk King Recycling Facts:

• Junk King recycles up to 60 percent of the materials it picks up, and estimates that more than 908 tons have been saved from landfills.
• Since January 2009, Junk King has recycled approximately 450,000 pounds, or 225 tons, of scrap metal.
• In total, Junk King has collected 2,450,000 pounds of copper, aluminum, wiring, and other metals; 840,000 pounds of plastic, paper, and recyclables; 590,000 pounds of computer equipment; and 685,000 pounds of miscellaneous junk.

Andreacchi and Reardon are beginning to franchise their business, which now consists of three corporate-owned locations and nine franchisee-owned covering the San Francisco Bay area and, starting in January, Atlanta. Looking to the future, Andreacchi and Reardon hope to see Junk King grow into a nationwide service.

“We want to be the Coca-Cola of the junk business,” Reardon says.

Let me start out by telling you that our home was the recipient of this quick and easy facelift.  My husband and I bought our home as a fixer-upper. It’s taking longer than expected to finish because little things such as life, time, and money seem to get in the way. When it came time to update the bathroom, we had a decision to make. Do we totally renovate it, or spend the money on a new patio instead?

Since both of us love the outdoors, the patio won out. Here’s what I’ve done with the bathroom temporarily and something you can pass along as an inexpensive fix for those selling their homes.

You’ll see that the cupboards looked tired and were starting to peel. The previous home owner painted them before listing, but he either didn’t clean them thoroughly, or he used the wrong paint.

In the second photo, you’ll notice that the hinges were painted over also. Word of advice, don’t do that as a quick fix when selling your property.  Prospective buyers will be put off by the amount of work involved to remove the hinges.  Believe me: I know this first hand since I had to chisel each one out. It took hours!

Before painting, make sure the cupboards are thoroughly cleaned with TSP to remove any dirt or grime. In the past, I’ve used melamine paint for cupboards, but it wasn’t available in chocolate brown. Instead, I went with Benjamin Moore’s Aura paint line and it hasn’t disappointed so far. The cupboards still look as good as the day they were painted.

Once you are finished, you may want to replace the knobs if the current ones are worn or outdated.

Total cost of this project: Paint: $35 + Hinges: $36 for a grand total of $71.

It just shows what a difference you can make without breaking the bank. Of course, a little staging with accessories also kicked up the transformation a notch.

I’ve passed this idea along to some of my clients; you may want to do the same.

Charlene Storozuk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Charlene Storozuk is the owner of Dezigner Digz, a professional home staging and interior decorating company based in Burlington, Ontario.  Her work is featured in the book FabJob Guide To Become A Home Stager, 2009 edition. She serves as regional vice-president, Canada for the Real Estate Staging Association and is a past recipient of the North American Leadership Award for her work as founder and president of the Halton & Hamilton-Wentworth RESA Chapter.

They show us how they turned a home’s eyesore into a room that buyers will love. See what they did to transform these less-than-perfect rooms, and get ideas for your own listing!

Living Room Transformation / Photo Credit: Martin R. Delossantos

Before Christmas, a prominent developer contacted me to stage her model unit.  She was thrilled that her building was finally over the long, tedious hump-that is, the zoning board for permits and inspections.  Now she was ready to sell some condos!

I met with her contractor to see the unit and devise a design.  My first impression of the unit was how narrow the place was.  I was told it was 605-square-feet and is known as a unit called a “railroad.” It’s called that because the rooms run through each other on a straight line.

These type of apartments were popular during the turn of the century because they provided a solution to urban overcrowding.  Two of these units fit side-by-side on each floor with a hallway and staircase.

This particular building had a good layout and with a good décor hopefully it could generate interest so we could get these units sold. But, in general, railroad apartments are not in high demand due to the obvious flaw … NO privacy!

The Transformation

Best features: The positive points were the sunny exposure.  A great Hoboken location and being able to walk to the Path station, restaurants, and bars in just short minutes.  It had a historical exterior Schell with all new interior construction.  The unit had shiny honey colored oak floors with matching kitchen cabinets.  The refrigerator was small at 24 inches wide, but it was stainless steel and fit in the space.  The bathroom was in the hallway and the hallway was narrow so sliding pocket doors created an illusion of openness.

Problem areas: However, my problem was how I was going to make this space look roomy, yet cozy.  Hoboken attracts young professionals, and most of these people are males that love to watch sports on big HDTVs.  I needed to make it feel spacious so even a large guy could feel at home. This space was not for a couple with a child; it was ideal for a single person or just a couple.

Photo Credit: Martin R. Delossantos

What I did: I dressed the living space with a large chocolate leather couch, and a deep armchair.  I felt with these two pieces a man could feel he could spread out comfortably to watch a large screen TV.  Even with friends.

I used a narrow coffee table and no end tables for the couch. Instead I just used floor lamps, and a tree for ceiling height, and color.

One wall without furniture, I used for a large colorful painting to indicate a large flat screen TV, and I used a large dark area rug to create depth and separation.  I did not want the rooms flowing into each other so I tried to create separate sections.

Photo Credit: Martin R. Delossantos

There was no room for a dining table so a breakfast/dining bar worked. The kitchen was compact and useful as a bar, cooking, dining social space.

Photo Credit: Martin R. Delossantos

The bathroom had big stone clay tiles so adding plants, and candles gave it a spa effect.

The hallway was the connection to the bedroom and living room.  Adding sconces along the hallway helped connect the rooms together.

Photo Credit: Martin R. Delossantos

The bedroom was small so I used a full-not a queen bed. I used a narrow table for a desk, which could hold a computer.  I was also able to fit a dresser.  I used light colored furniture to avoid heaviness.  Using light earthy colored paint made the apartment inviting, and warm.

Result: Buyers warmly received the railroad units at the open houses. In fact, all units were sold, or in contract, within just two months.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Martin R. Delossantos holds a real estate license in New Jersey and in 2001 founded a design company, Mdesign Studio LLC, in Hoboken, N.J., where he offers interior design for homes and commercial spaces, as well as staging for real estate. He worked for a decade as an art director for home design catalogs in New York City and holds a BFA in design from The School of Visual Arts. In 2005, he decorated the sets for an award-winning independent film, MUNECA. Contact: mdesignstudiollc@gmail.com or 201-952-1088.

Photo by Martin R. Delossantos

A local film company calls: The condo unit I was representing was being considered to rent for actress Mischa Barton to stay in while she filmed in Jersey City. Unfortunately for me, the developer whose condo I represented decided he did not want Barton, or anyone with pets—and Barton did not want anything without her two little doggies.

To the developer, it was not about short-term money for potential long term headaches.  It was about his need to SELL this unit in his building because he actually renovated it himself and did not want to spend any more time or money to restore the unit if those sweet little pooches chewed and scratched his gorgeous cherry soaked oak floors and moldings.

The Transformation

Problem areas: The unit was unusually laid out, which was keeping buyers at bay. The biggest problem was the main room; the space had no definition.

Was it a kitchen? Living room?  Dining room?  Also, the unit had a dead fireplace.  The developer created too much kitchen by installing too many cabinets—albeit beautiful hardwood cherry—with glossy dark granite counters and sleek stainless steel appliances.  (I suppose he was banking on a discerning chef, but that can limit your buyer pool.)  If the main room was left empty, all you would notice is a big kitchen.

The space needed to be kept generic and balanced to attract the most amount of prospects. The buyers then could decide where the emphasis of their lifestyle would be.

Adding to problem spots, there was only one bathroom so a small family might not consider this property, as well.

While the unit did have a small cement porch, it was off one of the bedrooms and it opened out to a garden that belonged to the ground-level apartment (Great if you get along with the downstairs neighbors!). And remember, wooden floors can be heard even if you are not a heavy walker.

Best features: The key points were good-sized bedrooms off the hallway, beautiful hard wood floors and moldings, hard wood cabinets, granite, stainless steel appliances, a roomy outdoor porch, and a southern exposure producing a sunny unit.

What I did: My approach was to deemphasize the kitchen and play up a sitting area. I took into account that the Hoboken, N.J., area appeals to young professionals with busy lives who enjoy dining out or ordering in.  That said, their priority is likely a large flat screen TV and a comfy couch.  I also felt the unit needed modern furniture to create a sophisticated environment.

The porch was too harsh and urban. Using real plants and retro patio seating imparted warmth and a relaxed atmosphere to sit and gaze at the stars with a mellow glass of wine.  Also, if a couple purchased the unit the room, they can turn the place where the porch opens into a den/office, which then opens the porch up to guests.

With these simple design choices, I was able to show buyers how the space could function.

Result: The empty unit had been on the market for six long months. After I staged, it sold in two months within the price range the developer wanted, and it didn’t even take a Hollywood starlet to intervene.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Martin R. Delossantos holds a real estate license in New Jersey and in 2001 founded a design company, Mdesign Studio LLC, in Hoboken, N.J., where he offers interior design for homes and commercial spaces, as well as staging for real estate. He worked for a decade as an art director for home design catalogs in New York City and holds a BFA in design from The School of Visual Arts. In 2005, he decorated the sets for an award-winning independent film, MUNECA. Contact: mdesignstudiollc@gmail.com or 201-952-1088.

Send in your before and after room photos, along with the following information:

• Room featured in your makeover:
• What was wrong with the room:
• What you did to improve it:
• Name:
• Company:
• City/state:
• Your Web site:
• Please attach before and after photos. Also, please include a photo of yourself.

We’ll be selecting submissions to feature in an upcoming slide show at REALTOR® magazine online.

Please e-mail the above information to Melissa Tracey at REALTOR® Magazine: mtracey@realtors.org.

Skilled staging is essential in this unpredictable market with so much property for sale. A buyer needs to see and feel your property.

In my real estate and staging experience, I’ve discovered that it is always simpler to stage a unit when it’s bare, which allows the unit to become a clean canvas. When cleverly decorated, it can de-emphasize the lack of good space planning or it can highlight prime features in new or older construction.

MY STAGING CHALLENGE

Last year one of my clients tried to sell his condo. It was on the market for nearly a year.  First, he tried to sell it on his own. Next, he used a non-local REALTOR® that was not familiar with the building. He was beyond frustrated so he finally pulled the listing. A top-producing real estate agent stepped in and asked for the listing. The REALTOR® then brought me in to resolve the interior dilemma.

Problem areas: The condo was dated in style. It shrieked 1980’s with mirrored walls, grey marble floors, large wall vents, white Formica cabinets in the bathrooms, and old white appliances in the kitchen. A gaudy Lucite ceiling fan hung in the dining area with warm purple, puffy valences. In the living room was a wooden, sea captain spindled stair case rail with carpeted stairs leading to the bedrooms upstairs. The fireplace was back-splashed in cemetery green marble.

The best features: The home’s top assets were the living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows, and its balcony with panoramic views of New York City and marina views. The kitchen also had gorgeous custom cherry cabinetry.

What I did:

• I removed the puffy valences to open the vista.
• I had the place painted white to modernize walls and bring in the marina since the mirrored walls reflected the light.
• The place was cleaned thoroughly.
• I placed real plants inside and on the balcony.
• I chose all modern furniture and artwork.
• Splashes of color finished the look.

The result: The unit sold in four months.

Take a look at the slide show of images to see more of the transformation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Martin R. Delossantos holds a real estate license in New Jersey and in 2001 founded a design company, Mdesign Studio LLC, in Hoboken, N.J., where he offers interior design for homes and commercial spaces, as well as staging for real estate. He worked for a decade as an art director for home design catalogs in New York City and holds a BFA in design from The School of Visual Arts. In 2005, he decorated the sets for an award-winning independent film, MUNECA. Contact: mdesignstudiollc@gmail.com or 201-952-1088.