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The kitchen in this rural metro farm home was undeniably small, but several movable storage carts gave the impression that it was even smaller, and lacked storage space. The message was that the kitchen was unusable in its present condition, said Lori Matzke of Centerstagehome.com. Team that with worn flooring, and you have buyers mentally factoring a total kitchen makeover into the sale price. To give the space a move-in appearance, here's what Matzke did: To declutter the countertops and refrigerator, Matzke suggested clearing space in a cabinet for all those things you might normally leave out for daily use, including kitchen utensil and knife sets. She cleaned the cabinets with an orange oil product to add shine to the room. Bright greenery over the refrigerator and in a ceramic pot on the counter added texture and color to the space. The garbage can was placed in the garage and a sm! aller waste can was fitted beneath the kitchen sink for easy access. Leaving your garbage can in plain view is never a good idea. Ditto with the cat bowl! A microwave-oven cart was also placed in storage. A corner cabinet was placed next to the refrigerator to display the owner's teapots. To make the floors seem more up-to-date, adhesive tiles in a faux parquet pattern, which the owner had bought to match existing tiles in the front entry, were installed directly over the existing linoleum. Adhesive tiles are a quick and inexpensive fix for worn linoleum and the lesser of two evils if you can't have your flooring professionally replaced. You can buy them for less than $2 per footlong square at most home-improvement centers. Matzke used a colorful braided throw rug in shades of brown, cream, green and red to break up the wood tones between the cabinets and the flooring. The window was cleaned to allow more natural light into the space, and the tattered and worn valance was replaced with a decorative, bright red valance, adding a pop of color. Matzke painted the frame of a long and narrow wooden mirror and leaned it on the back counter to let light reflect around the space. After decluttering, the microwave oven fit on the existing countertop. |
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