Do you find it difficult to keep up with the changing trends of home décor? Not only can it be a pricey task, but also very stressful and time consuming. We look for inspiration on HGTV and hire home decorators but what better person to bring a vision to life than you! Doing it yourself not only provides you with major bragging rights but an opportunity to get crafty and an opportunity to have fun.

As Fall is approaching, there truly is no better timing than now. Designing your home should not have to come with a heavy price tag or a degree in fashion, that’s why I want to provide you with the latest home décor and reno trends.

Add Colour

We tend to play it safe when it comes to colour in our homes. The typical white, grays and crème dominate our colour palette. But why blend in when you were born to stand out? Adding colour to your home is a major trend this year. Rich colours such as green or blue, make for great accents to spruce up your home. In fact, the fortune 500 company, Sherwin-Williams, colour of the year is majestic teal. Infusing kitchen appliances, furniture or decorative items with colour to your home make its more nurturing, really transforming your house to a home.

Dark Wood

Dark wood is in! Deep, bold furniture adds a luxurious edge to your home. If you have old pieces of furniture that are ready for a face lift, consider sanding then adding … that can be found at Home Depot or the Local Paint Store. Adding brass accent to your furniture is another trend that will be sure to enhance your luxurious finish.

Vintage Fixtures and Velvet

Out with the old, in with the new… except for vintage fixtures and velvet! The current trends in home décor lead us back to the brass and copper lighting fixtures that create a dramatic presence and bold statement to any room. And I hope you didn’t give away your velvet chairs! Velvet furniture compliments any room providing a chic and comforting aura. Time to call your parents and check your storage, this is the easiest money saver!

Open Shelving

Do you have empty walls that need some TLC? An easy way to spruce up your living space is to add wood shelving. As opposed to buying brand new furniture, shelving is a feasible option. The shelves can incorporate your fancy dish collection that you’ve been hiding in your cabinets. It definitely brings creativity and uniqueness into your home. Open shelving even provides you with the option to change your décor to match any season! These home upgrades will even help maximize your return on the resale value of your home! Time to get creative and get going with these easy tips to transform your home.

So you’ve waited out the winter and are finally ready to put your home on the market when spring gets here. While I am usually all about putting your home on the market when it’s ready and you’re ready to sell, there are many who’d much rather wait out the cold weather for moving. And, quite frankly, that’s very understandable. Moving can be a difficult task in the best of weather! Since you’re now in the process of considering putting your home on themarket, you should know about a few things you have the power of doing to have your home “market-ready” as soon as spring hits!

  1. Cleaning and replacing floors

 There is no greater casualty to the snow and slush than your floors. This is especially true with homes that have carpeting throughout and in entranceways. We’ve all seen guests or the kids hurrying to get into the home quickly to get out of the cold. After “wiping their feet,” there’s a fresh track of wet stuff just waiting to stain and damage the floor. Even in cases where the damage is minor, you want to ensure a homebuyer has the best impression of your home when they walk in. Giving them a nice clean walkway into your home is the best start!

 2. Outside Projects & Repairs

 Any damage caused by general age, and your home dealing with the elements itself, need to be fixed ahead of your home being put on the market. Here’s are few things you can make an outdoor checklist with:
 

•  Eavestroughs
• Windows & Caulking
• Downspouts
• Updated Outdoor Fixtures
• Property Grading

While much of that is minor to some when living in their home, you must remember that these things can be a big factor when buyers are looking at multiple properties. If any of the above need fixing, that work should be done by a professional or someone you trust. The last thing you need to worry about is someone making a mess of an outdoor project before you put your home on the spring real estate market.

  3. Declutter, Clean & Stage Your Home

 Spring cleaning is a rite of passage for many families. This couldn’t be more important for those looking to enter the spring real estate market. I get it, winter is usually a time we accumulate the most “stuff,” in our homes. When people walk through to purchase a home, having it as empty as possible allows their imaginations to run wild as to where they’ll put their things when they move in. You know what that means? Your “stuff” needs to go! Decluttering, while often also therapeutic, can also give you less to move when you move into your next home as well. A clutter-free, clean home then becomes easier to stage for the final push through from putting your home on the market, to seeing it sold.

International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women's Day, is celebrated on March 8 every year.[2] It commemorates the movement for women's rights. The earliest Women's Day observance was held on February 28, 1909, in New York and organized by the Socialist Party of America.[3] On March 8, 1917, in the capital of the Russian Empire, Petrograd, a demonstration of women textile workers began, covering the whole city. This was the beginning of the Russian Revolution.[4] Seven days later, the Emperor of Russia Nicholas II abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.[3] March 8 was declared a national holiday in Soviet Russia in 1917. The day was predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.

In August 1910, an International Women's Conference was organized to precede the general meeting of the Socialist Second International in Copenhagen, Denmark.[6] Inspired in part by the American socialists, German Socialist Luise Zietz proposed the establishment of an annual International Woman's Day (singular) and was seconded by fellow socialist and later communist leader Clara Zetkin, although no date was specified at that conference.[7][8] Delegates (100 women from 17 countries) agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights including suffrage for women.[9] The following year on March 19, 1911 IWD was marked for the first time, by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.[3] In the Austro-Hungarian Empire alone, there were 300 demonstrations.[7] In Vienna, women paraded on the Ringstrasse and carried banners honouring the martyrs of the Paris Commune.Women demanded that they be given the right to vote and to hold public office. They also protested against employment sex discrimination.[2] Americans continued to celebrate National Women's Day on the last Sunday in February.

In 1913 Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Saturday in February (by Julian calendar then used in Russia).[5] Although there were some women-led strikes, marches, and other protests in the years leading up to 1914, none of them happened on March 8.[5] In 1914 International Women's Day was held on March 8, possibly because that day was a Sunday, and now it is always held on March 8 in all countries. The 1914 observance of the Day in Germany was dedicated to women's right to vote, which German women did not win until 1918.

  In London there was a march from Bow to Trafalgar Square in support of women's suffrage on March 8, 1914. Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested in front of Charing Cross station on her way to speak in Trafalgar Square. In 1917 demonstrations marking International Women's Day in Petrograd, Russia, on the last Thursday in February (which fell on March 8 on the Gregorian calendar) initiated the February Revolution.[2] Women in Saint Petersburg went on strike that day for "Bread and Peace" – demanding the end of World War I, an end to Russian food shortages, and the end of czarism.[5]Leon Trotsky wrote, "23 February (8th March) was International Woman's Day and meetings and actions were foreseen. But we did not imagine that this 'Women's Day' would inaugurate the revolution. Revolutionary actions were foreseen but without date. But in morning, despite the orders to the contrary, textile workers left their work in several factories and sent delegates to ask for support of the strike… which led to mass strike... all went out into the streets."

  Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai and Vladimir Lenin made it an official holiday in the Soviet Union, but it was a working day until 1965. On May 8, 1965 by the decree of the USSR Presidium of the Supreme Soviet International Women's Day was declared a non-working day in the USSR "in commemoration of the outstanding merits of Soviet women in communistic construction, in the defense of their Fatherland during the Great Patriotic War, in their heroism and selflessness at the front and in the rear, and also marking the great contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples, and the struggle for peace. But still, women's day must be celebrated as are other holidays."

  From its official adoption in Soviet Russia following the Revolution in 1917 the holiday was predominantly celebrated in communist countries and by the communist movement worldwide. It was celebrated by the communists in China from 1922, and by Spanish communists in 1936.[7] After the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949 the state council proclaimed on December 23 that March 8 would be made an official holiday with women in China given a half-day off.[12]

 The United Nations began celebrating in International Women's Day in the International Women's Year, 1975. In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for women's rights and world peace.