Leslie Hoyt's (hellohome) Blog

Oh my goodness, everyone! Are you all still out there? I have taken (without any notice to anyone on Active Rain) a break/hiatus/vacation/time off since last September. Been busy trying to get our daughter off to college... and that we did. See, we have been homeschooling our girls for 10 years! ...

This darling little breakfast room had perfect features: vaulted ceilings, windows surrounding the room, built-in shelving and a desk, convenient cable and phone hook-up at the desk, hardwood flooring, all under a canopy of backyard oak and maple trees. This darling breakfast room also had dark, ...

This is Part 1, about a boy's room. Part 2- GIRL is to follow. To stage a bedroom as a boy's room or not to stage a boy's room, that is the question. Sometimes, in a smallish house, a child's room needs to be more versatile. Like a guest room or office. Sometimes in a larger home, a child's room ...

When seeing the tile on this fireplace surround, we knew it had to be painted, as hunter green dated it terribly. We used a satin black Krylon enamel over a primer to update it. (Oh, we also painted all the wood oak trim white). (Excuse the plugged in cord- these haven't been Photoshopped yet!)  ...

I was browsing the CNN.com headlines today and read this article, that made another case for making vacant houses at least look lived-in. It talked about vacant homes in Atlanta that are being stripped of everything: the appliances, HVACs, cabinets, copper wiring and kitchen sinks. These homes th...

July 16th: What a whirlwind day! We were supposed to be finished with a staging today at 5 o'clock. The first buyers were scheduled for 6 o'clock. But, because of a few delays with a few small projects, we were still in the house when the agent's photographer was taking pictures at 5:45. I left a...

When we first saw this little office, tucked away in a dark corner of this house right off the living room, we immediately knew that the color had to stay- it was fun and fresh. Typically, we suggest painting over a color like this- but we didn’t have the heart. Several other rooms in the home w...

Smart Art I thought y'all might like to see a project we recently completed for a redesign... A large wall in a girl's room needed a punch of fun and color~ and while walking through Hobby Lobby, I spied several sets of colorful, funky-fun 12" X 12" scrapbook paper- on sale, too, for .25 a sheet...

A few blogs ago, I asked for your help on staging a leopard bathroom- what great ideas you gave me...the home sold in 34 days...very good for the market of $400,000+ homes here in Greenville. Here are the before/afters... And thanks for all the help- y'all made us and the house look good! ~Lesli...

Basement BORING to Basement BLAST! This home's basement had been finished in order to sell the extra living space, but when potential buyers saw it, they couldn't imagine using it for anything but storing their cast-off furniture or Gazelle. We turned it into a retro-ish game area, so parents wi...