The Record Homescape 09-03-2020 | Page 2

8LF | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 | THE RECORD P HOMESCAPE / ADVERTISING SECTION Garage sale: Donate unsold items to charity CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7LF When it comes to pricing, your heart should not be trusted. “It’s easy for us to over-price things in a garage sale,” says Cruze. “We start to add sentimental value.” For a more realistic price, it’s best to consult with a friend or research similar items on Facebook, Poshmark, and other appropriate sites. “This is a garage sale so you’re probably not going to get $50 for a sweater. Price your items to sell,” Cruze says. Bundling is an appealing way to price items because most can’t resist a bargain. “If you have a box of old baby clothes each priced individually for $3, that might be easy to pass up,” says Cruze, “You could consider offering three for $7. When people feel like they’re getting a deal, it makes it harder to pass up.” And if the day is ending and items aren’t selling, she says, “You can let people choose a certain number of items for a flat rate.” A tip for handling cash, says Maniscalco, is to have enough on hand to make change and carry it in a fanny pack, which is easier to manage and keep secure than a cash box. n Stage for Results: As someone with extensive experience in home staging, Maniscalco cannot overemphasize the importance of presentation. Get your merchandise off the ground and arrange it attractively on tables. “It should be almost like shopping in a store,” she says with like items displayed on the same table. Categories might include toys, books, collectibles; and there could be a bargain table with all free items. “People shouldn’t have to look at every table to try and figure out what’s there,” she says. Cruze also suggests hanging clothing and grouping it with accessories near a mirror, just like you might find in a department store. “Taking a few small extra steps to make sure your stuff is presented nicely can make a big difference!” n Make a Date: Maniscalco busts the myth that you have to hold a two-day garage sale. “A lot of times people don’t want to come on the second day; they feel all the good stuff is taken,” she says. The best days for a sale are Friday and Saturday, not Sunday! The best times are between 8 a.m. (there will always be early birds) and 3 p.m. (nobody comes after that), she says. Because there’s often no accounting for weather, she suggests a tent or other protective covering, so the sale can go on. n Get the Word Out: This is the last and most important step, says Maniscalco because without advertising, you might have the best merchandise and no one to buy it. Of course, there are the popular lawn signs to post on main roads and throughout the neighborhood with arrows to the sale, address, time, and date. Knick-knacks and lower-priced items can be bundled together at an attractive value to move merchandise at a garage sale, particularly at the end of the day. But she says many shoppers also consult the newspaper classifieds, and don’t forget Facebook and craigslist, including a photo of your most promising items, she adds. n Donate Unwanted Items: Most people don’t want to reclutter their closets with things that didn’t sell, so why not plan in advance how you will dispose of these remnants. Cruze suggests taking another go at it by posting certain items with a high-quality photo and a description on sites like Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, or Letgo. BASYA555/GETTY IMAGES If you’d rather be done with it, Maniscalco suggests arranging in advance with a veterans’ organization or other charity for them to pick up leftovers after the sale. Or how about posting free at curb on social media? Maniscalco did that for her own sale, and items were gone in 10 minutes. Whatever you decide to do with your profits, now you have the benefit of clean closets to stash your new belongings. As Maniscalco says, “If you continually declutter, you will never get to the position where in 20 to 30 years, you have so much stuff it’s impossible to get rid of.” Ceiling fans: Safer when installed by professionals CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7LF of the blades can be reversed. Running in a clockwise direction the fan blades push heated air near the ceiling back into the room. “We don’t get a lot of questions about energy efficiency,” says Antenna. “We bring it up because fans today are more energy-efficient than those in the past, especially those with LED lighting.” EnergyStar ceiling fans are 20 percent more efficient than standard fans. Those with lights are 60 percent more efficient. EnergyStar is a program of the Environmental Protection Agency that rates and promotes the use of energy-efficient products. PICKING THE RIGHT SIZE FAN Ceiling fans are sized by the diameter of the blade span. Sizes range from about 24 inches up to about 60 inches. The larger the room, the larger the fan needed to ensure proper air flow. “Our formula is any room that is 10 feet by 10 feet or less, we recommend a 42-inch fan,” says Antenna. “Larger spaces require a 52-inch fan or larger.” The Home Depot buying guide for ceiling fans uses the length of the longest wall as a guide. If the wall is less than 12 feet long, they recommend a 36-inch fan. If more than 15 feet, then a 52-inch fan or larger is called for. Some very My Home Project Problem solved by creating a planter post large spaces will need multiple fans to provide adequate cooling. Another important measurement is the amount of air flow the fan produces, expressed in cubic feet per minute (CFM). Airflow is a product of the fan’s design, its motor and the pitch of the blades. Flat blades produce very little air flow. Look for blades that are pitches of 12 to 14 degrees. Air flow measurements are usually part of the product information for each fan. Look for fans that produce over 3,500 cfm for maximum comfort. INSTALLATION For the best performance, a ceiling fan should be located about eight feet above the floor. For standard height ceilings, there are flush-mounted fans. For ceilings higher than eight feet, such as cathedral ceilings, down rods, available in various lengths, can get the fan blades closer to the floor. Ceiling fans are connected to a wired junction box in the ceiling. The box has to be rated “suitable for fan support” or some other wording that indicates the box is strong enough to support the weight and the movement of a fan. In many cases where there is a light fixture in the ceiling, people think they can just install a fan in its place. “Many times, those (electrical) boxes are plastic and they can’t hold the weight of the fan,” says Palmarozza. “We’ve gotten calls where people have installed a fan themselves and it has pulled out of the ceiling. And it usually happens when you are not expecting it, like in the middle of the night. That’s not a good time to have a fan fall out over your bed.” Palmarozza’s service replaces existing ceiling fans if the right equipment is present. If the box doesn’t work, the homeowner needs to hire a licensed electrician to install a new box. The cost of ceiling fans ranges from about $150 to over $1,000, so there is a wide range to choose from. Professional installation will cost about $100 to $150 for ceiling fixtures that have the correct electrical box. By JOSEPH CICCHELLI of Hackensack, NJ SPECIAL TO HOMESCAPE The groundhogs eat the flowers faster than my wife can plant them and the hummingbirds lost their feeder because their tree was removed. I think I need to make some garden posts. The arborist left me 12 inches of trunk to use as the base for Post One. I bolted a steel post base to the trunk and trimmed off the height of a light kit from an 8-footlong, 6- x 6-inch cedar post, with a circular saw. I secured the post into the post base. I trimmed the post bottom using PVC board and mouldings, secured with stainless-steel nails, Cortex screws and PVC glue. With the light kit attached atop Post Project Two. on the post top, I chamfered the post’s corners from 4 inches above the base trim top to 4 inches below the light kit with a router. I attached two wrought iron plant hangers, a hummingbird feeder and a Wi-Fi sprinkler system sensor to the post. With Post Two, 2 feet of an 8-foot post was buried in the ground following standard post installation protocols. Its base was trimmed out similar to post one, but proportionally sized for its shorter height. I topped this one off with a birdhouse, chamfered its corners and attached two wrought iron plant hangers. Another job in the “Honey Do” jar calls for repairs to the shed. When done, I’ll paint the post bases and shed to match the house colors, while the cedar weathers naturally. The flowers are hung, the hummingbirds are fed, my wife is happy, and the groundhogs are on a diet. Joseph Cicchelli is a resident of Hackensack, NJ, and a handy DIYer. Quickly occupied, Cicchelli’s birdhouse sits PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOSEPH CICCHELLI A planter topped with a light kit, Post Project One is anchored to a tree stump and features a hummingbird feeder. Project materials include PVC board, mouldings and glue. 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