Category: Living Spaces

Remodeling a kitchen is a bit like cosmetic surgery. You greatly anticipate the end result, but it’s the getting there that worries you.

Yet, despite all the concern, planning, and costs involved, there are few investments that will deliver the kind of return that a kitchen remodel will — both in terms of economic return on investment and enjoyment.

According to a 2008 survey of real estate professionals, a kitchen remodel is among the top 10 projects with the greatest payback for the dollars invested. In addition, a minor kitchen makeover that includes new cabinet doors, painting, installing energy-efficient cook top and oven, new countertops and cabinet hardware, wall covering, and vinyl floor covering costs about $22,000 and yields an average payback of about 80 percent.

Plus, kitchens sell houses. Realtors agree that the kitchen is one of the first places a prospective home buyer will look. Often a well-appointed, modern kitchen will sell a house despite minor flaws elsewhere in the home.

Aside from economics, a lot can be said for the effect that a kitchen remodel can have on a homeowner’s quality of life. A well-thought-out design with modern energy-efficient appliances, easy-to-care-for finishes, and useful well-managed storage components can make life in the kitchen a pleasure.

Once you have decided to remodel and have set a budget, the next and most important step is planning. Often a home-owner will spend too little time planning, resulting in too much time being spent in the construction phase. Poor planning can result in inferior design, unsatisfactory finishes, construction difficulties, major cost overruns, delays in completion, and disputes with the contractor.

One way to avoid being a victim is by getting help from a professional. An architect, designer, or design-build contractor can assist in the layout and design of the new kitchen. They will be aware of building codes and industry design standards and can assist with the selection of building materials and finishes. The cost for the design and planning phase of a kitchen remodel should run between 5 and 10 percent of the overall cost of the project.

Your design professional or building contractor also should be able to tell you what permits will be required to perform the work.

The next step in planning your kitchen remodel is selecting a professional to perform the work. Get recommendations from friends or neighbors who have had similar work performed. If you live in a state where contractors must be registered or licensed, make sure yours is and has the necessary insurance, such as worker’s compensation and general liability.

Don’t begin the work until you have everything in writing. Insist on a written contract. The contract should contain a firm price, a payment schedule, start and finish dates, and an accompanying set of plans.

Finally, continue to stay involved after the work has begun. Keeping the lines of communication open will probably do more to ensure a successful result than anything else.

For weekly tips and projects online, go to onthehouse.com.

Not only does landscaping make your yard look nicer, it can also increase the value of your property and help you save on energy, not to mention it’s great exercise. Other benefits include stress relief and tax deductions.

Property Value Increases: When you spend money on doing your property up, it’s only natural it will raise the value of your property. But what most people don’t understand is that doing work to the house not only adds value on paper, it increases the property’s value in potential buyers’ minds.

People will pay more for a home that looks better than the rest of the houses on the street.

Save On Energy Costs: By using proper landscaping techniques, you can keep your home warmer in winter and cooler in the summer, lowering your energy bills.

Much of the cold that comes into your home in winter is caused by wind. Adding a row of conifers, white pines, or hedges around your home and your windows can help keep the wind out and the heat in. In summer, you can keep your home cooler by planting trees that provide shade over your windows.

Effortless Exercise: Backyard landscaping is a great way to get your daily exercise, not to mention the fresh air. And gardening is known to be a great stress reliever. Getting outside and getting your hands dirty calms the body, and it’s a great way to relax after work or on the weekends.

Tax-Deductible Landscaping: It’s true, you can get money back for adding value to your home. Home improvement (not home repair) is a tax-deductible expense in America.

Container Landscaping: But what if you live in an apartment or a condo and don’t have space to landscape? Not a problem. Planting in containers is the obvious solution.

There really isn’t much difference between traditional gardening and container gardening except for one very important fact: Traditional gardens rely heavily on nature for their basic needs, but container gardens rely almost solely on you. You must provide them with the nutrients they need. Container gardens can dry out quickly.

The good news is you can grow almost anything in containers, from edible plants to decorative shrubs and flowers. You can even grow trees, though they will never get to their intended size, since their roots are confined. It’s also a good idea to select hardy plants that can survive in drought conditions.

When it comes to selecting containers, the most popular pots are terra cotta and stone. However, be careful with weight restrictions if you are putting your containers on balconies.

Taking care of a plant in a container is primarily a matter of making sure it has adequate water and good soil and that you prune when needed.

Repot them when the plants get too big for their containers, and don’t forget to fertilize as needed. If you want to slow the growth of your plants, prune the roots.

For most of us, reaching the “move-or-improve” decision can be very difficult. Of course, living through construction work in progress is also difficult. To decide if your home is worth the cost and upheaval of remodeling or if you should just move, you need to consider a number of factors:

Personal Preferences

• Do you like your home?

• Do you like your neighborhood?

• Do your school-aged children have friends in the neighborhood?

• How long do you plan to live in this home?

Financial

• How much do you owe on the house, or do you own it outright?

• Will the cost of the project exceed what you can recoup if you should decide to sell your home in a few years?

• What will your monthly mortgage payment be if you have to finance your remodeling project?

• What would the mortgage be on another home that already contains the features you desire to add to your own home?

• What are the current interest rates?

• Will the remodeling project price your home out of the neighborhood?

• How important is that to you?

• Will more money be spent to redo the basic structure than on the actual remodeling project?

• Will more money be spent to meet current codes than to accomplish the desired project?

Structural Considerations

• Will remodeling make the best use of the space?

• How is the wiring?

• Do you have lead pipes?

• Do the flooring and siding (or other products) contain asbestos?

• Do you have adequate space for expansion?

As you can see, there is a lot to consider before you can make any final decisions. If you take the time to do some research and gather the facts required to answer these questions, you will be able to make an intelligent decision, one you will be able to live with for many years.

Additional Considerations

Before you invest your time and money in any remodeling project, it is important to understand the guidelines provided by local codes and regulations. Zoning regulations can impact the use of your property in relation to its property lines. Zoning ordinances establish land use: residential, industrial, or commercial. These ordinances protect you, your neighbors, and the community from undesirable or inappropriate land uses and/or construction. Other factors to consider include:

• Special height restrictions.

• Egress window requirements for bedrooms, especially those located in basements.

• Wall thickness and insulation requirements, as determined by any state or local energy codes in force in your area.

• Minimum-sized footings and foundations for the addition of a second floor.

• The existence of covenants, which could restrict you to height, type of roofing or roofing material, color, siding, etc. You will want to check the title of your home to verify the existence of any covenants.

• If your home is a historic building or located in a historic area. You could be restricted in what you want to do with the exterior appearance. Contact the historic preservation office in your area.

Before starting any project, check with your local city or county building department for specific requirements that may apply.

Once you have answered the questions above and researched the regulations, you will be much closer to making an intelligent “move-or-improve” decision, one you can comfortably live with. The bottom line is to take your time and do all your homework before making any decisions. Let the facts guide you in the right direction.

Leon A. Frechette is the author of The Helping Hands Guide To Hiring a Remodeling Contractor and writes for the blog asktooltalk.com, where a version of this article first appeared.

Bill, a Midtowner, put his house on the market in spring, and within
days, it was sold. And he got the house he wanted to buy. Mary, who
lives in East Memphis, put hers on the market at the same time. It sat
for several miserable months until it finally got a solid offer.

Both Bill and Mary would recommend their real-estate agent.

“She’s nice” is Bill’s simple explanation. Mary, who visibly
stiffens when recalling her experience, says that her agent took care
of all the details, such as obtaining a termite letter.

Buying or selling a house can be stressful. Having a real-estate
agent that smoothes the way is fundamental. But how do you know which
agent is the right one for you?

First Things First

Before you start shopping around for a realtor, it’s a good idea to
learn your limits. Phil Johnson of Sowell & Company is just one of
the agents I spoke with who recommends those in the market for a house
first get qualified for a loan and find a mortgage broker. This way,
you’ll know what you can afford.

Ask Around

Joe Spake of Revid Realty, as well as others, suggests asking
friends, family, and neighbors for recommendations. According to Spake,
“[Those in the market] should look for agents who are willing to spend
enough time to develop a good working relationship, who are
experienced, knowledgeable, ethical.”

Joe Dougherty of Coldwell Banker Hoffman says you should interview
no more than three prospective agents and then ask for references.

Quality Time

Garnette Stephens of Keller Williams teaches a class for agents
that, in part, deals with the client/realtor relationship. “It’s sort
of like matching someone up on a blind date,” Stephens says. “You want
someone perfect for you.”

“I am their agent first,” Johnson says, “but I have developed
lasting friendships with many clients, and I am proud of that. I also
know that if there is a misunderstanding, it is always the realtor’s
fault. That’s why being attuned to the same wavelength is
important.”

Dougherty, who’s been in the business for 25 years, is friends with
many of the people he’s worked with. “I’m old school,” he says. “If
they don’t like what I’m doing, we take the contract and tear it up. It
doesn’t make sense [to continue] if we’re not getting along.”

For Stephens, it boils down to three words. “You want someone you
like, know, and trust.”

Spake is doing his part by actively participating in social media.
He’s Facebooking, Twittering, and blogging. Everything’s out there, he
says. “It’s so transparent.”

Be Real

Along the way to selling or buying a house, there will probably be
bumps or wrinkles and maybe wrinkly bumps. It’s best to be
realistic.

Tonda Thomas of Crye-Leike warns, “There are no perfect houses.”

Adept agents will walk you through the process, which may be hard to
hear within the din of house-buying/selling excitement. But you must be
willing to listen to what your realtor has to say.

$$$

“I think an agent needs to treat a buyer or seller’s money as if
it’s their own money,” Stephens says. “Put yourself in their position
and under-promise and over-deliver.”

Thomas worked for two years showing one couple between 75 to 100
homes before they found the right one. That relationship eventually led
to three more sales for Thomas.

Spake sums it up: “I’m going for the win-win.”

n Friday, June 12th, sometime around 4:30 p.m., Todd Keadle was
being urged to take cover in a freezer at the Schnucks on Union. He
resisted, however, and made his way through the nasty storm, tornado
sirens blaring, to his home in Vollintine-Evergreen. Keadle had made a
bet with himself. He won. He lost.

Keadle and his wife purchased their home 16 years ago, having been
sold in part by the three beautiful oak trees in the front yard. About
five years ago, one of the oaks split in two during a bad storm. The
tree took out the front porch. On Keadle’s drive home during this last
storm, he thought about the remaining two trees (the objects of his
bet). One stood. The other had halfway uprooted some 15 to 20 feet in
the air, missing the Keadles’ house this time but destroying a
neighbor’s garden and taking out a utility pole that blew out power in
the area for three days.

First, there was the ice storm in 1994, then “Hurricane Elvis” in
2003, and, now the June 12th storm — all felling trees around the
region.

Suzy Askew, a garden designer and volunteer plant coordinator in
charge of plant propagation at the Lichterman Nature Center, pinpoints
the three types of trees most vulnerable: large oaks that have reached
maturity or have been compromised by previous storms; trees that grow
too tall too quickly, such as Bradford pears; and trees that were
planted in an area too narrow, such as near a street curb, for root
systems to spread and take hold.

“It’s nature taking care of itself,” Askew says. In other words,
what will be will be.

Askew has a tree in her yard that was damaged by the 2004 storm. “I
cannot prevail,” she says. Instead, she’s planted another tree next to
it as a replacement, something she wishes others would do as well. “We
need to grow more trees,” she says.

As for keeping still-viable trees from being wiped out prematurely,
it’s best to seek professional help.

Mark Follis, the owner of Follis Tree Preservation and a Ph.D. in
agroforestry, says keep the trees trimmed. “In nature, trees are
surrounded by other trees so that they don’t take the full brunt of the
wind,” he explains. When trimmed properly, trees are better able to
take the strain. Second, occasionally fertilize the tree. Trees
need food but too much is bad a thing. Third, be careful with root
systems, taking care not to overmulch or damage them with construction
projects.

Mitch Harrison of Harrison Tree Service recommends that trees be
inspected by an International Society of Aboriculture member once a
year and says that during the summer, trees should be watered two or
three times a week for at least two or three hours. Otherwise you’re
just watering the grass.

For those now living in tree-fear and who are considering removing
trees to avoid a catastrophe, it’s probably not worth it. Taking down a
tree, particularly a large oak, is cost-prohibitive, “thousands and
thousands of dollars,” Follis says. Plus, Plato Touliatos of Trees by
Touliatos says it’s hard to know when a tree has fully aged. Removing a
tree that hasn’t reached full maturity is, he says, “like you take the
average male and you shoot him!”

Keadle is considering removing the third oak in his yard and
planting two more. He is happy about one thing. “Thankfully,” he says,
“no one was hurt.

“We’re on a job right now, and the family have a large outdoor
patio,” says Brian Deas, owner of Memphis’ Deas Floor Decor.

“They had their patio furniture and grill sitting on drabby, gray,
unsealed concrete. Once we clean the concrete, stain it, and seal it,
it will transform the living space outdoors.

“Put the furniture back on the patio, and you just want to hang out
outside,” Deas continues. “We’re used to seeing warm hardwood floors.
When you do this with concrete and you protect it with the sealers we
use, it’s a very attractive solution. And in a lot of cases, it’s very
economical.”

Increasingly, homeowners who want to add a little flash to their
home — or who want to punch up the value — are putting
money into their outdoor spaces. It beats burying their cash in the
backyard.

A home’s outdoor space can go from good to great with some targeted
spending. For starters, go blue or green: blue, with a swimming pool
(consider a saline pool — it can be cheaper over time and less
harsh on the skin than traditional chlorine pools); or green, with an
investment in landscaping (consider shade trees that will grow to
protect your home from the sun — and save you money on
utilities).

The newest trends and technological advances are in the way of
hardscaping — the complement to landscaping, including stone or
concrete features such as pool decks, patios, and seating.

Deas works inside and outside customer’s homes to upgrade flooring.
Outdoors, Deas touts custom decorative overlays that turn boring
concrete into a show-stopper.

“We can take concrete that doesn’t have a prayer and resurface it,”
he says.

With features such as custom patterns, colors, and engravings,
flooring can look as natural as stone, as familiar as tile, or as
unique as a homeowner’s personality. It is also durable. “The sealers
we use are essentially bulletproof,” Deas says. They also require
little maintenance and are easy to clean.

Structures such as patios, kitchens, fireplaces, or pergolas can
round out the backyard experience. Jason Rhea of JRI Design/Build says
demand is up for outdoor kitchens and living spaces.

“You can maximize the use of your backyard by making it another room
in the house,” Rhea says. Extending homes 100 or more square feet adds
space for entertaining, value to the property, and aesthetic appeal, he
says.

With fully or partially enclosed spaces, patios can be enjoyed
year-round.

As with home interiors, the extent of outdoor upgrades depends on
budgets. Rhea has done high-end patios with flat-screen TVs, sound
systems, bar areas with sinks, refrigerators, grills, stone or brick
fireplaces, and advanced lighting amenities.

Another new trend is ipe (pronounced ee-pay), a richly
colored, dense wood from South America that is durable and
long-lasting.

Other ideas are popping up all the time.

“In outdoor kitchens, we use a lot of concrete for our countertops,”
Rhea says.

“We’ve started embedding fiber optic lighting into the concrete
prior to pouring it, so that at night when you’re entertaining, you
turn it on and the countertops change colors. It’s definitely a
conversation piece.”

This morning in northeast Shelby County, under an infinity of blue sky — the hue of which should be called Arlington blue — there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming Fall VESTA Home Show. The Memphis Area Home Builders Association (MAHBA) again presents the VESTA show, a showcase of the latest and greatest in residential housing by some of the top builders in the Mid-South, this year celebrating its 25th anniversary.

This year’s show is adding one key adjective to its name: green. The 2009 Fall Green VESTA Home Show will feature the advancements being made in sustainable, efficient, and — crucially — affordable homebuilding. This show will be the first in the nation that exclusively features homes that will conform to National Green Building Standards, certified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

This marks a “new and different direction for homebuilders in the area,” Steve Hodgkins, MAHBA president, said today in remarks at the ceremony. He commented on how the homebuilders have “been blamed for a lot of problems the country has.” Defiantly, he added, “Our industry will come back without a bailout,” to which the crowd of building and related-field leaders responded with enthusiastic applause.

The show, at The Villages at White Oak in Arlington, will fully embrace ecological-sound, progressive amenities by utilizing recycled and other green materials, being energy efficient, and by being a cornerstone of a new, New Urbanist community. Within walking distance are planned mixed-use, office, and retail developments.

This will be the first VESTA Home Show in Arlington. Town mayor Russell Wiseman cited recent census figures and estimates that show the Arlington population jumping from 2,069 in 2000 to nearing 11,000. “People move to where they like what they see,” Wiseman said today. “Let’s go sell some houses.”

In addition to being built in accordance to ANSI/NAHB standards, the houses this year will meet those set out by Memphis Light, Gas & Water’s EcoBUILD program. EcoBUILD homes use 30 percent less energy than standard-built homes. That translates to lower utility bills and homes that accumulate in value more quickly.

Builders in this year’s VESTA Home Show are: Chamberlain & McCreery, FaxonGillis, Ruch Homes, Regency Home Builders, Signature Homes, and Sterling Homes. Jerry Gillis of FaxonGillis said that much of what’s green about these homes won’t be readily apparent to visitors to the show. So signage and other educational tools are being developed to school VESTA viewers on what it is that makes these homes unique. (Apart from price tags that will range from $250,000-$350,000 and monthly utility bills scads cheaper than what they’re likely used to seeing.)

The 2009 Fall VESTA Home Show will run October 10-November 1 at The Villages at White Oak in Arlington, Tennessee. Call event director Joe Callaway at 756-4500 for more information.

We’re moms with a mission,” says Sharon Nicholls, co-founder of the
local nonprofit Green Hope Foundation with Teri Morin and Arisa Wolf.
“We took something very devastating and turned it into a positive.”

In 2004, within weeks of each other but thousands of miles apart,
Morin’s daughter and Wolf’s daughter were both diagnosed with leukemia.
The mothers met at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “It was any
parent’s worst nightmare,” Morin says. “Fortunately, St. Jude saved
their lives.”

Wolf recalls, “Teri and I became each other’s great support. We made
a promise that, when our lives got back somewhat to normal, we would
give back in some way.” And so, in 2008, the Green Hope Foundation was
formed.

“People don’t realize that the home can be one of the most harmful
places,” Nicholls says. Chemical household cleaners, pesticides,
cosmetics, carpets, formaldehyde resins used in furniture
manufacturing, high-VOC paints, molds, radon and carbon monoxide, and
toxins on new clothing and bedding — many of these risk factors
can be commonly found in the typical home.

Morin began to wonder if her daughter’s cancer was caused by
pollutants in the home. She says, “[Researchers] don’t have a reason
yet, but there may be environmental links to leukemia, and there are
environmental links to other cancers. That was startling to me.”

Conversely, Wolf was impressed by the safe homes they were able to
create for their children after they were discharged from St. Jude.
“Sometimes our daughters were at a zero white-blood-cell count and had
no immune system to fight off anything,” Wolf says. “Those choices we
made in the home — what we cleaned with, what we used in our
yards, the products our children used — became very serious
decisions for us. We were able to keep them infection-free by using
green cleaners, vinegar, and essential oils in the house.”

“We weren’t environmentalists,” Morin says, to which Wolf quickly
adds, “We’re moms making healthy choices protecting our children.”

Wolf continues, “It was something I learned through practice and the
experience we went through. If we can make choices to lessen the
chemicals that come in contact with our children, I’d like to pass on
that knowledge.”

The Green Hope Foundation is having something of a coming-out party
on April 30th. That evening at Felicia Suzanne’s, attendees will be
treated to an organic meal and organic cocktails, a speaker from St.
Jude, and a presentation by Christopher Gavigan, author of the
bestseller Healthy Child, Healthy World. Cost is $125 per
person, with proceeds to benefit St. Jude. Included in the price are
dinner, drinks, and book, among other goodies.

“We’re giving out great eco swag bags,” Wolf says.

Later this year, the foundation is rolling out its next concept: the
Eco Chic Home Party. Parties will include guest speakers, cleaning
demos, and recipes. The organization also is soliciting community
sponsors and companies to donate their green products for use at the
parties.

Morin says, “Before my daughter was diagnosed, I didn’t know about
the hazards of pesticides and the importance of organic food. There are
a lot of people like me in Memphis.

“We would like to give our mission to Memphis and maybe Memphis can
help us carry it to other cities,” Morin says. “It’s a start.”

Go to thegreenhopefoundation.org for
more information.

“The volume of properties for sale is so high right now that people are literally walking out of homes that they would have considered purchasing over paint and wallpaper,” says Jennifer Jones.

Jones is the owner of the professional staging company House of Chic. As a stager, it’s her job to keep potential buyers interested by accentuating a home’s best points while minimizing its weaknesses.

“We look through the buyer’s eyes,” says Melissa Douglass of Home Stager Gals. “It’s hard when you’re living in your house to stand back and look at it objectively because you’re used to it. We come into it with new, fresh eyes.”

Stagers’ services vary depending on what the client — either the home seller or the real estate agent — wants. Sometimes, stagers will be hired as a consultant to do a walk-through and provide a list of ideas for clients to complete on their own. Other times, they’ll be more hands-on — moving furniture, picking out new paints, and rearranging art. Douglass’ business specializes in providing furniture for vacant homes, which she says tend to stay on the market longer.

Changes should be cost-appropriate to the home, according to Jones. An $850,000 home might need new appliances in order to compete. On the other hand, the cost of installing granite countertops in a $200,000 home will probably not be recouped from the sale.

Annette Jordan of Memphis Staging was an interior decorator for 30 years before turning to staging. “When we go into the house as a stager, we focus on the characteristics of the home. That could be a fireplace, a beautiful bay window,” she says. “When a decorator goes into a house, he or she will focus on the things in the home.”

It’s dealing with those things that is perhaps a stager’s number-one task: de-cluttering. A common mantra among stagers is, “The stuff is not for sale; the house is.”

“We try to go in and neutralize the home using the furniture they have to enhance the room, so the buyer will see the house, not the collection of angels or the fabulous custom draperies,” Jordan explains. “We have to take the personal out of the home and make it appeal to every kind of buyer who might come through.”

Douglass is president of the Memphis chapter of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals (IAHSP). Jordan is the president-elect. (Jones is not a member.) The IAHSP was founded by Barb Schwarz, who is credited with coining the term “staging” in the 1970s. IAHSP holds training seminars around the country. Members are required to hold a business license and to be bonded.

Each of the stagers have several success stories. Douglass has had a few houses sell the day after she was done staging. Jones says a house that had been on the market for 15 months before her services sold two days after she finished the job. According to Jordan, one couple was moved to tears when they saw the changes.

Jordan says she’s only had one client who was unhappy with her work. “They usually love what we do,” she says, “and they love it even more when the house sells fast.” ■

Melissa Douglass, Home Stager Gals
(428-8497, homestagergals.com);

Jennifer Jones, House of Chic (338-1443);

Annette Jordan, Memphis Staging
(412-3251, memphisstaging.com)

“This is our busy season,” says Brad Davidson, co-owner of Incognito Custom Closets. “Everybody wants to lose weight and get organized.”

It’s the latter resolution that drives people to Davidson’s East Memphis business, looking to reorganize their clothes closets. Incognito designs customized storage spaces — from food pantries and garages to simple clothes-closet re-dos and eye-boggling fancy dressing rooms — costing from $500 to $5,000.

Rae Morgan, co-owner along with Karen Shrader of More Space Place in downtown Memphis, also deals in storage. She’s seen closets so tiny that, on occasion, she’s recruited her 6-year-old granddaughter to crawl into intimidatingly tight spaces with a tape measure.

More Space Place services range from $500 to five figures for the particularly ambitious consumer. Like Incognito, they provide all the materials and installation. Neither business will do construction work such as adding or taking down a wall. Installation usually takes a day.

Davidson, whose company works with a lot of area builders, says that the days of the single shelf and rod are over. What people want are drawers and cubby holes in addition to rods and shelves. His company operates under what he says are “Closet Laws,” which he’s compiled through trial and error over nearly 15 years of business.

One of Incognito’s “laws” is that clothes should never been seen in the bedroom. This is a sentiment Morgan has heard as well. Many times the goal for the customer is to have the master bedroom furnished with the basics — a bed and a few side tables for lamps and books, and that’s it. All the rest of it goes … somewhere.

Those with the space can have all their storage wishes fulfilled: shelves and cubby holes for shoes and purses, pull-out laundry baskets, swivel mirrors, and loads of drawers and rods.

The looming question, when it comes to closet makeovers, is does it make sense in this economy? According to Davidson, the money put in will surely be regained from the sale, and in the meantime, the customer gets to enjoy the new closet.

Laurie Stark, who works with Hobson Realtors, says that potential homebuyers who are set on older houses, such as those in Midtown, expect tiny closets, but if they see a house with exceptional closets, “it helps push you ahead.”

Davidson doesn’t necessarily believe that everybody needs his services. For those with some carpentry skills and tools, DIY closet kits are available at hardware stores. One thing he’s positive about is that the storage space is there just waiting to be utilized. He recommends making the most of hanging space. For those with pitifully small reach-in closets, the addition of multiple hanging rods for fold-over clothes can double the closet’s capacity.

Kate Larkin, owner of Kate’s Klosets, is a professional organizer. “Any job takes tools,” she says. “It’s all about creating a space that works for you.” She recommends multiple rods for hanging clothes and specialized storage solutions — easy-to-install hardware to add extra shelving or pieces designed for storage under the bed. There’s also furniture specifically made for storing accessories.

Morgan says her job provides her customers with almost instant gratification: “It’s like you’ve given them a gift.” ■

Incognito Custom Closets,

incognitocustomclosets.com

More Space Place, morespaceplace.com

Kate’s Klosets, katesklosets.com