How We Sold Our Home in 5 Days!

As you know we recently moved into a new house a couple weeks ago. We've been talking about putting our home on the market for six months and finally decided that it was the right time for us this Spring. This is our third home we've bought together, we've learned a lot of things along with way when it comes to buying and selling a home. When we put our last home on the market it went under contract within 5 days! 

We're not real estate experts but I'd thought I'd share a bit of our experience with you today, and the things we believe helped sell our home in such a short amount of time. 

01// HIRE THE RIGHT TEAM

As I said before we're not real estate experts, so the first thing we did was meet with a knowledgeable real estate expert. We had a meeting and talked through comps and what the best listing price would be for our home. This is where it helps to have someone who knows the area and can list your house at the right price the first time to attract a buyer. We also loved that our real estate team was very helpful and always available to us when we needed them. They laid out a plan for us and let us know upfront everything we needed to know. We worked with the Drefs team here in Phoenix! If you're local in the Phoenix area I highly suggest giving them a call! You can visit their website here. 

02// CLEAN UP & MAKE IT TIDY

I highly suggest having professional photos of your home taken, if you're real estate team doesn't do this time to hire The Drefs team or someone else who does! Since you're going to have photos taken of your home you want to make sure it's clean and well picked up for those photos and for all your showings. Nothing turns me off worse is when I walk into a home and it doesn't look like the photos online. Make your beds, keep the bathrooms clean, and clearing off excess clutter from counters will all make a big difference when buyers are coming through your home. With that in mind, keep your home looking it's best by keeping it clean for all your showings. 

03// MAKE ANY NECESSARY REPAIRS

Is anything broken? Does anything need fixing that you just haven't gotten to yet? Make sure to fix and spruce up any of those things before putting your home on that market. Also if you have light fixtures that aren't staying with the home make sure you replace those with something else before putting it on the market. Buyers want to see the house they are getting not one that is going to have a million changes after they go under contract. 

04// MAKE YOURSELF AVAILABLE FOR SHOWINGS

This might sound like a no brainer but showings can take there tole on you but they are a must if you want to get your home sold! We listed our home on a Friday and had showings all weekend long. We were practically out of our home for the entire day on Saturday, which can be sorta hard with children and pets to keep in mind. We kept it really positive and made an entire day out of it. We knew ahead of time that this would be the case and so we made the most of it and it paid off!

05// SET THE MOOD

Before showings 'set the mood' so to speak. Some of the ways you can do this, is to open the curtains let the light in so that when a potential buyer walks in they see a bright, open and airy space. Not something dark and cold. Play music and have a pleasing scent going through the home. Do NOT leave candles burning, we used an oil diffuser to have a nice scent going through the home while people walked through. 

I can't say enough how implementing these ideas into our selling experience made all the difference! We sold our home within 5 days of it being on the market and got several offers above our asking price! Much of that success goes to hiring the right team like I said before, we had the best selling experience and I hope you do as well! 

If you have any questions you can leave them in the comments below. 

New House Tour Video:: BEFORE Blank & Bare!

HI Friends! Happy Monday, how was your weekend? Today I wanted to share with you our new house tour! I like to call this one 'Blank & Bare.' We are "mostly" unpacked, but we have a long way to go as you'll see in the video! Let's get to it! 

We've already started painting, and I can't wait to show you what the house looks like after we've painted every square inch! Check back soon, I hope to do more of these house video updates over the next several months.

Entertaining in Our New Backyard with Pier 1 Imports

This post is brought to you by Pier 1 Imports, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

A few weeks ago I shared with you our brand new patio makeover we did with Pier 1 Imports, our patio is now summertime ready and we couldn't be more excited about it. We've been spending the evenings outside, sitting and enjoying watching the kids play. It's so nice to have a backyard space we love. 

I loved mixing these red place mats with these galvanized lanterns. The mix of textures and metal gives the table a fresh new look. 

I also loved adding these whimsical stars and stripes touches, like these stars dishes. They are perfect for condiments or small snacks. 

We added these acrylic tumblers and stemless wine glasses to our rotating Summer dish ware. I love that they are plastic, I don't have to worry about them breaking at all. Perfect for backyard parties and entertaining. 

One of my new favorites is this galvanized serving tray. It's the perfect way to round up some s'more supplies and take them into the backyard. 

We're already soaking in lots of outdoor time in our backyard. We can't wait to use this space even more throughout the Summer and the next couple months. I love making our home a place where we want to stay and be. A place where we can have fun and entertain. We've accomplished just that. 

Find what speaks to you. See our Outdoor Living collection in stores or at pier1.com/outdoorliving

Patio Makeover with Pier 1 Imports

This post is sponsored by Pier 1 Imports, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

As you know we recently just moved into a new house, and one of the things that really drew us to this home was the awesome backyard. This backyard was made for entertaining, this is something that we do quite often and we wanted a space where we could do just that. Plus, when you live in Arizona and the weather is nice pretty much year round you want to take advantage of your outdoor space and make it a place where you want to be. 

To give our backyard space a refresh I've teamed up with Pier 1 Imports and their #SummerofEntertaining to make the most of my outdoor space! We started with a pretty basic patio, all that we had already was a patio table we purchased last spring. Other than that, there wasn't any decor, or furniture to make this space pretty. A shopping trip to Pier 1 Imports changed that; for this patio refresh I went with an "Americana" theme, which is pretty fitting for me since I love all things red, white and blue! Have I ever told you once when I was single in my apartment that I had a red, white and blue bathroom? Another story for another day. Moving on. Here's a quick before shot of our patio:

When you think of Americana you might just be thinking "4th of July" and while although that is true it's more of a feeling we're going for here with reds, whites and blues with the mix of galvanized metal pieces added in, and a little hint of stars and stripes. 

The plan for this patio was to add some additional seating for lounging and socializing besides just the table seating we have. I wanted the seating to be fun and comfortable. We also wanted to tie in lighting, I love how simple lighting can transform a space. To do this we're adding twinkle lights above the table, and adding plenty of lanterns and candles to the table and patio. 

And now for the beautiful after;

I really love this seating area, I can already picture many nights sitting out here with my husband after we put the kiddos to sleep. 

Setting a pretty table was easy with the red place mats and acrylic drinking glasses. I added a simple centerpiece of galvanized lanterns and a citronella candle for some added lighting. 

I also really love these battery operated indoor/outdoor candles. As you know we live in Arizona and candles melt within five seconds of you being outside without even lighting them. These are a perfect option for us Arizona people. They also come with a remote so you can set a timer for how long you want them to be "lit." Perfect for me because I too often forget about my candles. 

Our backyard is in perfect shape just in time for all those Summer parties and gatherings I'm already planning. 

Find what speaks to you. See our Outdoor Living collection in stores or at pier1.com/outdoorliving.

Upstairs House Tour 2015

Well, just in time for our move to a new house I'm sharing a upstairs house tour from our current home. I filmed this a few months back, there's a lot about our upstairs that's not finished or fully decorated but I really love seeing the progression of things so here it is in all it's imperfections. 

If there's one thing I've learned in the last 7 years of being a home owner and renter is that it's ok to take your time. Take your time to get it right, the way that you want it. Take your time picking out things you'll love for a long time. Take your time saving for the pieces you want instead of just buying something you are "ok" with having because you want to fill a space. I've done that before and regreted it later.

What's your go to tip for decorating? Tell me in the comments below.