:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Ginger-f40a2b3168044a988fef69c2dc664721.jpg)
Egypt Sherrod is one of those multi-hyphenate super women. The kind of woman who—even when watching her kick butt on HGTV's Property Virgins or Flipping Virgins—makes you think: I want to be like her when I grow up (even if you are close to the same age).
I certainly felt that way after speaking with her via Zoom on April 7. I felt inspired and empowered after those 20 minutes—I even told her PR rep I wish I could start each day speaking with her! To give you a sense of her what she's got going on, here's a short look at the major elements of her life. She is a:
- Renovation queen and host of the two aforementioned HGTV shows
- CEO of Egypt Sherrod Real Estate Group in Atlanta
- Mom of three—one in college, a 9-year-old, and a 2-year-old
- Author
- Wife
- ... and a lot more!
Can you imagine? So when her team approached us to discuss hacks for the home, we jumped at the opportunity. Here are the five hacks she uses to help make her own home—and properties she's selling— functional yet aesthetically pleasing.
1. Find Peace in Your Home
"I’ll just say this for full transparency... everyone needs something different from me. I'm pulled in a million different directions," she said.
Like so many in 2020 to this year, being at home a lot more has presented a new set of challenges for her. "I felt like I was suffocating: I was the teacher, mommy, entertainer, trying to do it all and run my businesses. And it got to a breaking point, where I just needed some space for me," she said.
We feel you, Egypt.
A Haven Just for Her
And like most of us, with so many rooms now serving multiple purposes in the home, finding that space was a challenge. So she used a closet. "This is my meditation haven," she said from a cozy looking space decked out with neutral pillows, plants, photos, and string lights. "It's a closet behind my laundry room. It’s the only space that wasn’t being utilized by someone else, because even my office became the classroom and the playroom.
"So just to balance myself every morning I created this place where I could just zen out and re-approach my day," she said. "You have people who use cloffices, turn bathrooms into sanctuaries and little nooks even closets like this into reading rooms—wherever we can have a home getaway."
Her Hack for Making Quick Updates With Decor
Trying to fit all her things into her haven took some creativity. But her solution is so easy. Partnering with Command products to provide "super easy, mess free, damage free" decor and storage solutions made sense.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/DAW_135112-70f87f6af1a64b47bd53fa362196b26f.jpg)
Egypt Sherrod
"These are picture ledges," she said pointing to her wall, "and it took me minutes to affix them to the wall. And if I want to move it around as many times a possible I just pull the Command adhesive and relocate it," she said.
"This is my biggest hack of 2021."
2. Choose Neutral Furniture (But Not Gray!)
"I always say if you do furniture go with something neutral," she said. "Grays have been in for a long time, but I love oatmeal because it goes with every color.
"I don’t want people to be afraid to step out of gray. Gray was so the last five years! Now we‘re getting into warm and earthy colors, browns and creams."
3. Paint This One Wall in Your Living Room
"If you’re brave, all you have to do to pull the room together is paint one wall, the one focal wall that is right behind the sofa. Paint that the color to match your updated pillows. You can do it in a few hours to give the room an entirely new look and you didn't have to blow a bunch of money on contractors.
4. Get a Color Wheel and Follow the Rule of 3
"A great thing to do is get a paint color wheel, pick your three colors—I always follow the rule of three, even when I decorate table," she said.
"When you pick your colors from the family you like, go with the deeper or the lighter color on the wall, and the pillows can be the other colors. You can never go wrong when you pick three from the same color wheel. They’re cohesive and work together," she said.
5. Layer Your Bed Linens
"Ever go into department stores and the beds look so lush and beautiful and you want to buy everything and you get home and it looks nothing like the store?," she asked. I nodded in agreement.
"What most people aren't paying attention to are the layers. To create that lush look you have to have three comforters. Peoople generally notice the top one with the throw, but they don’t realize there are two others underneath to create that lush layered look. Pay attention to the small details," she said, adding that she uses that trick during staging as a real estate broker.
A Final Piece of Non-Home Advice
"Generally people come to me for real estate and wealth advice. And it’s always 'how can I create multiple streams of income?'," she said, adding that often she responds with "what about multiple streams of joy? That to me is so much more important and you have to have that [first] otherwise everything else will be fleeting," she said.
To help people manage, she's launched an alignment planner called Ignite Joy With Egypt. It’s a 90-day alignment planner, and a digital course, too. "This is the head space I'm in... no matter what’s going on the world, I don’t let it throw me off balance. because I still have to show up and be my best for everybody in my family, in my office, and for my clients, and that means I have to be the best for me. So this was as organic to my spirit as you can get."
