Posts Tagged ‘Model Unit’

Boston Model Units

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Guest BedroomModel UnitI spent a lot of time this week working on a model unit in the South End in Boston.  Model units are usually my favorite projects.  I learn a bit about the type of people the builders are expecting to be their buyers.  I then research the styles, colors, etc that appeal to that group and get to work. 

This last project was especially fun because it was a young, very diverse group I was designing for.  Students and young doctors - male and female- in their residencies. 

I chose a lot of really current colors and patterns.  Plums, soft purples and bright apple green in the living room.  Modern art hung above the sofa and cute armless chairs in a gorgeous chocolate across from the sofa. 

The guest bedroom was a platform bed with a simple duvet folded down with an amazing lamp.  So simple and yet so pretty when it was finished.

The master bedroom was my favorite of the three rooms.  It was this beautiful bright yellowish green bedding with a white bird pattern and the duvet was trimmed in black as were the shams.  It is stunning.  I paired it with black grommet top draperies and glass lamps with black satin shades.  To quote one admirer “Julie, this looks so boutique hotel!”   What a great compliment.

The real trick with model units is making the space look homey and appealing which can be tough if you do not really know what is appealing to the buyer.

Finishing my Model Unit

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

I expected yesterday to just be an easy breezy day. All I really needed to do was hang some drapes in a model unit, layer in some additional accessories, and buy some draperies for another client. Of course nothing really goes quite that smoothly with me.

I arrive onsite with draperies, accessories, and my steamer in tow to finish my model unit. I am excited, I love to see things come together. So first I find out there are residents in the model….hmmmm this should be interesting. Their apartment is being worked on so the model unit is their home for the day.

The wife is lovely and is sharing her decorating stories with me while I am clipping in drapes, hanging shower curtains, and unwrapping accessories. She leaves to go to the library and leaves her husband who is deaf and blind with me. Luckily, he is sitting in a chair listening to a walkman. (not sure how that is possible but whatever) At one point I am trying to expand a drapery rod so the drapes are on the outside of the window frame. The rod splits apart, the rings slide off with the panels and I come crashing to the ground to top off the pile. The husband has not even flinched. It is like something out of a sitcom. I could be impaled on this drapery rod and he would have noticed nothing.

The wife comes back later and I am steaming out drapes. She says she and her husband are going to lunch. At the same time a group of doctors show up to tour the model. About 10 minutes later the husband is looking for his wife. She went to lunch without him!!! So off I go to find the wife so she can come back to collect her husband. Luckily, I find her in the corridor and she has realized she forgot her husband. Yikes.

So the wife, the husband, and the team of doctors leave the unit and I am….finally….left alone with my steaming. I wrap things up and head out.

What a day

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

So yesterday went from being a slow office catch-up day with a quick trip to Home Goods in the middle to Calamity Jane all in about three minutes. The good news is that it was all good things that caused the calamity.

The Union Leader newspaper in Manchester NH is running a story tomorrow about the Home Seller’s Classes I offer in conjunction with Sue West from Space 4U Organizing. At least I think that is what the article is about. I guess I will find out for sure tomorrow. So Sue and I were emailing back and forth much of the day, I was gathering photos to be featured in the article. Which made me realize it is sooooooo time for a portfolio of before and after pictures. I really am so bad at that.

Into this mix came a client who missed a deadline for a promotional offer so I tried to go to bat for her to have the vendor still honor the discount, shopping for drapes for a client, and pulling my puppy off a bed pillow - or what was left of it and all of its stuffing off of him. Argh.

More Home Seller Class dates coming soon. We have one in February, an April one and a September one.