The email came in this last winter from a young couple who had bought a charming vintage four room, one bedroom condo in a friendly, walk-to-everything location. They loved the place, but needed a home office and an area for her burgeoning scrap book hobby. Could I come over and talk about looking for a larger home and selling their current one? I had sold them their home (I am a real estate broker and author of 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home) just over two years ago and set up a date to talk over the possible move to a larger home, but I wasn't convinced that they really needed a move, I thought to myself that they needed a fresh perspective on the space they already had.

The agreed upon time arrived and we began to discuss what was right and what was wrong with their current home. Location, perfect, neighborhood, loved it, the unit itself, great except they were running out of space. Every room looked well-lived-in except the dining room, which was museum quality. The table perfectly plotted under the home store chandelier with six chairs and a sideboard that was a gift from her parents. The table top was void of anything, as to not scratch the finish that had been preserved in her family for three generations. The dining room was twelve-by-thirteen, hardwood floors and featured good southern light streaming in from an row of three windows. Okay, you don't need to move I told them, you need to utilize this dining room for more than a monument to your grandparents dining room suite.

Before

-Traditional style,dark stained dining table with two leaves and six matching chairs with upholster seats. Matching upright china cabinet with drawers below and beveled glass door display space above.

-Hardwood floors, paper accordion window blinds and an over-scale wrought iron chandelier.

-Walls painted a mustard color (faux Tuscan) with hand-stenciled ivy border near ceiling.

-Original baseboard and window trim in good condition painted a ivy green.

After

-The dining room/office/hobby area was open to the living room which was painted a deep red with off white trim.

-The first thing I recommended was to take down the chandelier, once it was gone it wouldn't set the tone for the room and it rid the room of the albatross sitting in it's center. They purchased a decorative plaster medallion to place over the electrical box.

-Shrink the table by taking both the leaves out. Purchase some felt bags to store the leaves in, under their bed. Purchase table pads to protect the top and move the table under the windows. Take three of the side chairs and place around table.

-Purchase a 24" x 48" beveled glass top to rest on two dark stained pillars for a desk which will double as a buffet or cocktail station when entertaining. Place one side chair at desk.

-Two table top candlestick lamps, one for task lighting on the desk and one for the scrap book hobby center on the dining room table. This pair of lamps return to the desk/buffet for entertaining. Pastel yellow shades pick the area rug.

-Install two halogen can lights in beveled china cabinet to add mood lighting and accent glassware. Remove two wood shelves in cabinet and replace with two beveled glass shelves to allow new lighting to stream down.

-Area rug. I suggested a 5' x 8' that was overall more neutral than patterned. That way my clients could take it with them to their next home. They selected a light pastel yellow rug that looked great against the medium oak hardwood floors.

-Chair upholstery. Upholster four chairs that remain in the new office/hobby/dining room in a botanical print with a soft yellow background complemented by red and green flowers. The remaining two chairs to be reupholstered in a companion red and off-white colored wide stripe and placed in living room.

-Wall and trim colors. The room needed to be harmonized with the adjacent living room, so I suggested an off-white trim color that matched the living room trim. For the walls a very soft pastel yellow in eggshell was applied.

-Window blinds. The owners wanted wood blinds, so to soften the look I suggested off-white or ivory, with the window trim painted the same color, it's a custom look.

-To finish off the room, I thought using the wide strip chair upholstery as a table cloth for the dining/hobby table with a clear plastic overlay for the scrap book hobby would blend form and function. When entertaining they can remove the overlay for a striking tabletop.

Mark Nash's fourth real estate book, "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home" (2005), and working as a real estate broker in Chicago are the foundation for his consumer-centric real estate perspective which has been featured on ABC-TV, CBS The Early Show, Bloomberg TV, CNN-TV, Chicago Sun Times & Tribune, Fidelity Investor