Many of us could use a “second opinion” when we search through our holiday decorations in storage. What should we use this year? What would look nice together? How can we make our displays more modern?

Cindy Lin, a longtime Bay area home stager, is ready to respond to your questions – and for free – Dec. 3 and 4 at Empire Shopping Center, 5875 Lone Tree Way, Antioch, 1-4 p.m. each day at the Kirkland’s décor store. Kirkland’s is a new home décor store there, and it’s the first of its kind in the Bay area. Lin is the special guest designer for the store’s grand opening that weekend.

Lin will answer general questions décor questions about a room in need of assistance. Her advice is one-on-one, for 10 to 15 minutes per person.

It’s basically, “playing up the strengths and beauty of your home,” Lin said of how holiday staging (and any home staging) works. Lin’s own Bay area staging business is called Staged4More (at Staged4More.com).

And while Lin mainly stages houses to sell throughout the Bay area (adding the right amount of furnishings to a home to appeal to multiple types of home buyers), redesigning homes to make better use of owners’ own space for family and friends is a passion, especially at this time of year.

There’s no better way to start thinking about redesign than with all of our treasured holiday décor. Lin’s general tips for staging also apply to holiday, so here are a few ideas that can help with that red-white-and green decor:

· Color is essential – but not too much. “We need colors to make the space looks interesting but not so much color it overwhelms,” Lin said.

· Display and furniture have to be balanced. Too much, and you have the “overcrowded furniture showroom” effect, Lin said.

· Staging, whether it’s holiday displays or to sell a home, does not have to be costly.

At this free event, Cindy asks that people bring a few digital photos of the boxes for holiday display, photos of the areas where the displays will go, or general photos and questions for a key room in your house.

the attachments to this post:

Touch of fruit and fun Cindy Lin

Cindy Lin

This entry was posted on Friday, November 11th, 2011 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.