Home staging is the proven way to sell your house quicker and at a better price…even in today’s poor market. Home staging makes your house more competitive by presenting the house as “ready-to-move-in” to prospective buyer’s. And; home staging can be a way to get more organized and de-cluttered. This applies to both inside and out of the home.

Staging can be simple or more work and could require the help of a professional home stager. But; in some cases you can do it yourself if it is a simple project.

The first step is to look around each room. Bring a note pad with you if you are serious about doing this. Make notes about any problem items; such as broken doors, light switches. Yes; the ‘honey do’ type list, but it gets much more detailed as you go.

Now look inside the closets. Yes; buyers look in closets to see if there is enough room. Mark in your pad whether the closet is neat or packed and needs some thinning out.

Bathroom is the next stop. Any broken tiles, dripping faucets, etc? Also is there any areas that need to really be cleaned? Look at this as though you were buying.

The kitchen is an important area. Is it cluttered with items all over the counters? Are the cabinets messy and over flowing? Clear out the items you don’t use on a regular basis. Store them where you can get to them; but not clutter a cabinet in doing so.

Look around the living and dining rooms. Clean up as much clutter and items you don’t use daily. Clean out he display case of any items that are not “display casable”.

The garage is another place that gets cluttered very quickly. If you get a hold on it before it gets too cluttered you will be ahead of the game. If you are beyond that you may want to do a little at a time to make it easier on yourself. A cluttered garage can create an issue for buyers. You want to have the garage clear so they can determine what vehicle(s) will fit and how much room they have for their belongings.

Curb appeal is just as it sounds. An appeal of your house from the curb view. What do you see when you look at your house from the curb? Peeling pain, a broken mailbox, dead plants, etc? You will be surprised at how different the house will look once you make the effort to clean up the yard. Take a drive past your house and see what needs to be changed or repaired. And; don’t forget the back yard. This is a particular area where buyer’s like to see how they will use it – especially if they have children. So this area needs a special cleaning.

Staging is just making your home more presentable to yourself and/or prospective buyers. To make it easier on yourself; just make a list of the items that need to be fixed, repaired or cleaned and do it a little at a time.

Ask yourself this question: Would you buy a house that needed a lot of work; unless you were a handyman?

Terrazzo is one of the most time-tested of building materials. It was used in palaces, courtyards, assembly halls, villas and bathhouses during the height of the Roman Empire. Many of those ancient structures are still intact. When the ruins of Pompeii were unearthed, the forgotten terrazzo floors were virtually undamaged. Terrazzo is an historic and very strong, enduring — and endearing flooring product.

The National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association defines terrazzo as “a material consisting of marble, granite, onyx or glass chips in Portland cement, modified Portland cement or resinous matrix. The terrazzo is poured, cured, ground and polished. Typically used as a finish for floors, stairs or walls, Terrazzo can be poured in place or precast.”

There has been a renaissance in the usage of terrazzo over the last decade. According to Jim Belilove, president and CEO of Fairfield, Iowa’s, Creative Edge Corp., “Terrazzo is now offered with an epoxy matrix. This is stronger than the cementitious material which was the traditional binder. Epoxy doesn’t crack, can be offered in many more and much brighter colors, the color does not fade, and curing time is much less. Terrazzo with an epoxy matrix can also accommodate larger chips … and the thickness of the material, even for a major industrial application, can be just 3/8 inches thick.

“Additionally, with computerized waterjet technology, shapes into which the terrazzo are poured can be cut perfectly over and over again,” Belilove says. “As a result, designs for stores or malls can be duplicated quickly and without worrying about the visual differentiation from one hand-formed shape to another.”

A good example of a major retail installation which featured waterjet technology can be found at the Grand Coastal Mall in Myrtle Beach, S.C. T.B. Penick & Sons, Inc., the San Diego-based general contractor with a specialty in the installation of high-end terrazzo projects, was involved in this creative flooring project, which included a food court with a multi-colored, highly focal terrazzo floor design.

This food court had beautiful shapes which were achieved by pouring the terrazzo into waterjet-cut aluminum forms. This was a project that included intricate images that had to be re-created in terrazzo to exactly replicate the artist’s original drawings.

Retail construction executives should know about waterjet technology. The process is a computerized, cold cutting technology that can cut most materials into any two-dimensional shape. Marble, granite, porcelain, ceramic, linoleum, sports flooring, vinyl, and all metals are excellent materials for the waterjet process. Waterjet cutting does not heat, harden or distort metals. Those are some other reasons why the aluminum forms into which terrazzo was to be poured at Coastal Grand Mall’s food court were best cut by waterjet.

Anything that can be drawn on a computer can be cut by waterjet. Many materials like stone, porcelain, and stainless steel cannot economically be cut into complex shapes in any other way. Terrazzo is more versatile than most developers or designers can imagine. For example, it can be poured onto many different substrates, or right over existing floor materials such as concrete, vinyl tile, ceramic/porcelain tile or even wood.

It is still ideal for any retail construction project, particularly those that have heavy foot traffic.