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If so, can we talk? I want to share with you what I know about setting goals.

When I met Mr. Lucky in 1990, both of us were starting over, refugees who had fled failed marriages. He was living in a campground in a $3500 camper, working for someone else for $10 an hour. I was earning even less, and paying $250 a month for my rental apartment, which was basically half a doublewide trailer.

But both of us had lived in better circumstances and knew we wanted a better life again. Even before we married, we set mutual goals and together we have created a satisfying lifestyle, more comfortable and more interesting than we ever imagined.

We decided that our path to financial freedom would be through real estate investments. We had the skills and determination, so we set specific goals. We wrote these goals down and read them aloud to each other each evening.

We quit our jobs and went into business as painting contractors, something Mr. Lucky had been doing for 10 years. He trained me, and soon we were employing others and handling large accounts. Evenings we studied how to buy and sell properties, how to negotiate prices, how to calculate fix-up costs and interest rates, and how to find and keep good tenants. Midday we listened to audio tapes about real estate investment as we ate brown bag lunches in our work van. We joined a real estate investors club and listened to speakers, borrowed books, and attended seminars.

In a year’s time, we had enough savings and education to start buying houses, fixing them, staging them, and selling or renting them. Today, we are completely debt-free, and depend on our rental properties to support us.

I’m not an authority on how to set and reach goals, but I know what has worked for us, and I also did my homework for this post. Here’s what the experts say.  

   

Double-check that your goal -- selling your home -- is really what you want. If you’re not on board with the idea, or if your entire household isn’t supportive, the path will be uphill.

Make sure your goal doesn’t contradict other goals you have. I knew that investing in real estate did not compromise my ethics or my dedication to my family or health. Will the sale of your home support or undermine the other important expectations you have in your life right now?

When you see what you want spelled out on paper, your subconscious begins believing! You can carry this visualization even further by describing in detail what you want, and even collecting pictures of your goals. Pinterest is terrific for doing this. Twenty years ago, I chose clippings from magazines to represent what we were working for, and put them in a cheap photo album, photos of dreams that are reality today.
         

Be positive rather than negative when defining your goals and new year’s resolutions. Instead of writing, “I will not sleep late on Saturdays,” write, “I will use each Saturday morning to deep clean a different room.” If you have low expectations of yourself, recite positive affirmations such as, “I will be happy with less clutter in my life.” A proactive state of mind is indispensable to achieving success.    

Be realistic. Educate yourself about how quickly homes are selling and at what prices where you live. Work with your realtor to establish fair market value, based on proven formulas and statistics. Mr. Lucky and I knew we couldn’t buy spacious four-bedroom homes as investments. Our first property was a one-bedroom home. But it came with enough land that we were able to subdivide the lot, and have a new house built on the property, which we sold for a handsome profit. Life is full of happy surprises when you begin with realistic expectations.

Staging a home calls for big strokes, whether we’re talking furniture, window treatments, accessories, or art. Big Art makes a house look more modern, more luxurious, more comfortable, more valuable.

And, It doesnt take up any floor space.

But any kind of large-scaled work of art is bound to have a price tag to match. DIY is the most practical solution, but not the whole answer. You still have to use your ingenuity.

Combine three identically framed pieces each with a third of one large picture.

You can use this same format to hang three similar posters, such as three images of Paris or three black and white photos of trees.

Look around. You probably already own over-scaled stuff. Use a  flat surface like a white board or cork board, as a base instead of reinventing the wheel. You might be able to convert a vinyl shutter or a window frame into a piece  of art, either covered with fabric or paper, or "as itself" pure and simple.

Sometimes the frame isn’t the problem, but filling it with art is. When this happens, you can put a large empty frame around a framed smaller piece. I love this technique when I have art thats great for home staging in every way but size. So, dont pack up all your favorite small paintings!

Because of its size, the pencil drawing above would be too insignificant for staging. But when I added an ornate frame, it gets the boost it needs.    

Many decorators dont know that you can get huge sheets of foamcore for budget prices at places like Lowes and Home Depot.

Just buy a piece of 1-inch thick rigid insulation at your home improvement store. They cost less than $20 and measure 4 by 8 feet. Cut it in half and you have two, lightweight, 4-foot by 4-foot surfaces that you can wrap with fabric.

Ive done this and it works. Ive also done this and it didnt work when I wrapped it with canvas and then painted the canvas. The board developed a slight warp. Advice: If you want to paint a canvas for your insulation board, do the painting and then wrap the insulation board with it. Wrap like a package, duct tape the fabric on the back, and hang with Command strips. No need for a frame.

All three parts of a triptych dont have to be equal widths, as shown in this  painting of red tulips by Lourry Legarde available through FineArtAmerica.

Hang items that weren’t designed to be wall hangings – rugs, quilts, flags, signs. They can be framed under glass, pasted into jumbo combinations, or hung as a gallery wall. As long as there is an aesthetic similarity -- the color, the style, the subject -- your collection will read as one Big Art.

An old window is the  perfect size and shape to fill an awkward area. Photo from blogger Down to EarthStyle.

6. Get Out Your Scissors

Cut up a print or poster, and reassemble the pieces on a large canvas, cubist style.

Or you can create your own crazy cubist picture using your camera and photo editing to make a collage. 

Start with one subject  and photograph it from different angles.

I think a big "painting" in the style of cubism would bring any ho-hum space to life. Your camera is your friend here. Photograph the same scene from different angles and then create a collage with photo editing and over-scaled printing at a copy shop. Or print multiples of your pictures and cut and paste them to a canvas. Bingo!

I hope you have some fun creating Big Art for your home, whether you are staging it for sale or just dressing up your digs.

You can pick up more fun tips in my décor eBooks aimed at professional home stagers and homeowners prepping their own homes for market.

Thinking of changing your front door color? Confused about the choices? There’s only a bazillion possibilities! Let’s take it one step at a time.

Typically, your house siding is the resting spot for eyes, whether it is wood, vinyl, brick, stucco, cement board, stone, or some combination. Your front door should punctuate that space and be the focal point of your home, inviting people to approach. For a cohesive look that still attracts attention, choose a door color that has the same undertones as your siding. The undertones can be muddy, or clear or tints of yellow, grey, blue, red, or green.

If youre having trouble coordinating colors, talk to an experienced salesperson at a paint store (not a big box store). He can help harmonize colors for you based on what is recommended by the color experts at the companys corporate headquarters. A trained sales clerk can tell you the undertones because stores have the pigment formulas.    

If your home is a charming cottage, go with a cheerful color like pale yellow or a mid-tone blue. If you own a brick home, stay with colors that don’t emphasize the orange tones, such as muted a green like the one shown above, or a warm grey. If you have a classically restored ranch, a Victorian, a Williamsburg-style, or a Craftsman home, stay true to the palettes that are historically correct.

Picture a realtor bringing her clients to your front door. There are those few seconds as the door is being unlocked. Expectations are high. This is your chance to set the tone. 

The most popular colors for doors are dark greens and olive greens, classic black, burgundy reds, all shades of grey, navy blues or aubergine, along with  yellows and creamy whites. 

When you move to your next home, you can go nuts with that taxi cab yellow or neon pink, but I advise sticking to front door colors anyone could love, just the way you do with interior colors when you are staging.          

When guests (and prospective home buyers) enter your home through the front door, the first room they see is the entry. Whether it’s a tiny foyer, a grand staircase, or your whole studio apartment, the interior color should talk to the exterior color. They shouldn’t match, but they shouldn’t clash. 

Your home will seem bigger and more intentionally put together when there is a sense of flow. Big is good in the eyes of buyers.   

I always suggest that people follow local traditions when staging their homes. It’s an opportunity to cash in on the appeal of local flavor, which is especially attractive to people house hunting because they are relocating from another area of the country. Why try to look like a Nantucket cottage if you live in the desert, or imitate an Iowa farmhouse if you live in New Orleans?         

Ideally, you’ll strike a happy balance between fitting in and standing out. Pick a color that is not identical to the homes immediately surrounding yours. If your home is not in sight of neighboring houses, you have more leeway. Remember that people are more comfortable buying a home from people they feel simpatico with, people they want to be like. 

So, don’t be the crazy lady with the multicolored front door. Sure, show some style, but don’t narrow your market.   

Choose a color that is not the same as the siding, trim, shutters, foundation, roof, steps, lattice, or window boxes. Consider your siding as color number one – the largest block of color. Color number two will be your roof, which should harmonize with your siding. Color three is your trim. Color four is your door. 

If you have shutters or other details, they should relate to one of these colors, a lighter or darker shade of the door, the trim, the roof, or the siding.   

Did you know that some new (and even some not-so-new) homes still have just primer on the doors? Builders can, either through frugality or negligence, leave side doors and back doors without anything more than a factory prime. Often these doors are grey, but they can be white. Do any of your doors look like they received only a quick spray at the factory? Are they showing wear around the edges and knob? It’s time for a coat of paint. Side doors and back doors can match siding or trim. They should not be the same color as the front door.

If you have a storm or screen door, painting it to match the front door is one possibility that has worked for some. Others remove the storm or screen door while the home is on the market, for a cleaner look.

If you live where your neighborhood association or HOA dictates or limits your color selection, make the best of it by keeping your door in excellent repair and clean. That includes the area around your doorway. Cobwebs and debris seem to find a way to accumulate there overnight. Make sure you have something seasonal to dress up the area and to make the entrance feel fresh and friendly.   

Don’t plant flowers or shrubs that will fight for attention with your front door. Keep it simple and make the door the magnet that draws buyers.

If you own a home with vinyl siding and you and everyone else hates the color, it can be painted. There are paints formulated just for vinyl. I once knew a spec home that was sided with sky blue vinyl. It sat on the market for two years. Finally the desperate builder had the siding repainted a warm, light yellow. The house sold in a matter of weeks. Along the same lines, I once owned a home with aluminum siding that had dulled over time. I was able to brush on a new coat of paint in a fresh color that brought it back to life. Although most people consider vinyl and aluminum siding a plus because it is low maintenance and painting it will require a repaint in years ahead, you might decide painting is necessary to attract a buyer.

Avoid high gloss paint finishes. A low-luster stain or semi-gloss will wear well and hide any imperfections. If you are sold on a glossy door, your door should be in prime condition.    

If you want an inclusive, fun post about paint colors in American history, I recommend reading what Joe Davis writes.

Your front door is the centerpiece of that all-important view from the street. Painting it yourself is an economical and simple improvement. These guidelines should help you decide on the perfect color. For more tips on boosting your homes value for the real estate market, read my $4.99 eBooks.  

Top photo: National Builders Supply.