We've got the blueprints completed and printed for our new log home. We are about to sign on the dotted line for the loan. Now we're just waiting for the county's final approval before we break ground.

If all goes as planned, we should close by the end of the month and begin the excavation work to lay the foundation for our log home soon thereafter. With that in mind, it could be anywhere from 6 to 9 months before we move into The Fun Times Lodge (...wait til you see all the other fun names I've come up with for our log cabin home!).

Let The Home Staging Begin...

At this point, I'm getting into the "packing" mode... doing a lot of cleaning, purging, and donating in order to lighten our load for the upcoming move.

At the same time, I'm also trying to "de-personalize" our current house a bit -- which, they say, is one of the most important steps in "staging" your home.

I like at least 10% of a display space, such as a bookcase, to be empty. A coffee table and other practical surfaces should be only 10% full." -- Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, makeover expert on HGTV's "Small Space, Big Style"

With that in mind, here are some tips from the pro's about staging your home for resale. Hopefully, these staging tips will help you get top dollar for your home...

When I was researching some interesting color tools (that let you experiment with various paint colors and ultimately pick the right colors before painting each of your rooms) I came across this:

Glidden's Online Color Test

Check out this cool system of hanging photographs using wire, pulled taut across a span, from floor to ceiling, with small hardware holding the photos in place.

This would actually be a great system for hanging just about anything in a modern yet informal kind of way.

Think... kids' artwork, Christmas cards, awards, concert tickets, and more!

I've always dreamed of having an open & airy bathroom with a lot of natural light, scented candles, colorful flowers & lots of green plants.

You know... a bathroom that's warm, welcoming, and comfortable.

One thing that really helps to soften the "hard-edges" in a bathroom and remove that boring, sterile feeling is to add something organic.

...We're talking about plants.

Do you subscribe to any magazines?

We haven't for years (since I ended my sub to Creating Keepsakes scrapbooking mag about 4 years ago). But, after visiting Jim's family over Christmas and flipping through the pages of Elouise's Better Homes & Gardens and Country Living magazines, I became excited to start "reading" again.

Few things depreciate faster than computers. Did you know that computers double in speed and halve in price every 18 months?

Jim's 4-year-old HP computer has been operating on its last legs (and quickly declining on a daily basis) for months now.

Finally, we realized that his trusty old HP could no longer handle all of the memory-intensive programs that he uses on a daily basis. It wasn't operating up to par in terms of speed anymore either, taking way too long to: a) load certain programs and b) process certain tasks.