As home staging professionals it is our job to help clients best market and present their homes for sale. Often times we are required to work within our client's budget constraints and our vision of how to best furnish and accessorize a space may not be feasible.  

In the past, I have hesitated to offer "accessories only" packages because adding furniture and area rugs not only allows buyers to envision how they can live in a space but also properly shows the size and scale of each room.

In this current economy however I am finding that more and more clients cannot afford to completely stage their homes or need to invest their dollars in making updates or completing construction projects.I have started to offer "accessories only" packages and have been pleased by the results. When done correctly adding a few accent items can properly enhance a home's selling features. Below are a few guidelines that I have developed to help enhance a property using accessories only:

1. Focus on the key areas:

• Add artwork, greenery or an area rug to add warmth to the foyer. Consider a large floor vase with reeds or artwork on an easel to fill a vacant entryway.

Accent the kitchen to showcase materials and finishes. Set the breakfast bar or set up the built-in desk as a command center.

Add artwork and accessories to highlight a mantle in a living room or family room.

Strategically place items in a built-in bookcase to add color and depth.

Soften a bare bathroom with greenery and spa accents.

2. Use a single color scheme to create flow from room to room:

Add color to the spaces that you want buyers to notice. As they move through the home keeping the color scheme the same will add to continuity and balance to empty rooms.

Use complimentary colors to add pop and balance to a neutral palate and neutral colors to soften a colorful room.

3. Select items that are in keeping with the price point of the home:

Nothing says budget staging more than inexpensive looking items! Items do not have to cost a fortune to look great as long as they match the profile of the buyer you want to attract.

4. Select items that are the proper size and scale:

Large scale artwork and mirrors can be expensive. Instead of adding skimpy pieces, stretch your budget with metal wall scrolls, or multiple pieces of art grouped together.

• Items that are too small look cluttered- less items that are the right size will make a more powerful statement.

Have you done any "accessories only" home staging projects recently? If so did you find them to effectively market the home? Please share!

If you are looking to sell your home take a look at how home staging transformed this property. Hart Staging personally services the Main Line, Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery area of Pennsylvania. Visit our site at www.hartstaging.com to learn more about our services. For all other locations contact us at www.selecthomestagers.com to find an associate in your local area.

Kate Hart is an award winning home staging expert servicing clients in the Main Line and Philadelphia regions. Make sure to subscribe to her blog for money saving staging and home design ideas.

We recently had the pleasure of helping Sposato Builders with one of their most recent Main Line home renovations. This was an especially rewarding experience because the client chose not only to stage a few key rooms but also to finish the lower level of this home per our recommendation.

As a home staging professional it is our duty to make sure that we are giving our client all the right information about what they need to do to best market and present their property for sale. In this case, completing the basement meant staging less areas in the home, however this compromise meant the home was more competitive with other homes on the market.

Here are some photos of this recent project. As you can see adding some key pieces of furniture and accessories not only added warmth to this space but also enhanced the selling features of this home. Once the lower level is complete the play room items will move out of the third floor and into the lower level. With 4 fully renovated stories and a professionally landscaped yard this home will not last long!

If you are looking to sell your home take a look at how home staging transformed this property. Hart Staging personally services the Main Line, Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery area of Pennsylvania. Visit our site at www.hartstaging.com to learn more about our services. For all other locations contact us at www.selecthomestagers.com to find an associate in your local area.

Kate Hart is an award winning home staging expert servicing clients in the Main Line and Philadelphia regions. Make sure to subscribe to her blog for money saving staging and home design ideas.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of preparing this home in Wallingford PA for sale. Located in the sought after Avondale Springs Community, this home offers Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances and views of the Spring Haven Country Club Golf Course. Located minutes from all major transportation this home offers you all the conveniences of living in Wallingford- Money Magazine's Top Rated Town in 2007!

If you are looking to sell your home take a look at how home staging transformed this property. Hart Staging personally services the Main Line, Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery area of Pennsylvania. Visit our site at www.hartstaging.com to learn more about our services. For all other locations contact us at www.selecthomestagers.com for one of our associates in your local area.

Kate Hart is an award winning home staging expert servicing clients in the Main Line and Philadelphia regions. Make sure to subscribe to her blog for money saving staging and home design ideas.

As a home staging expert on the Main Line, I understand that buyers are critical in today's market- updated kitchens and bathrooms are at the top of their must have list. One way that home sellers can update their bathrooms on a budget is to consider enhancing what they already have instead of a full bathroom makeover.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of using MirrorMate Frames to transform some home owners' bathrooms in Downingtown, Chester County Pennsylvania. Instead of removing their existing plate glass mirrors, we added a MirrorMate Frame to give their bathrooms an instant update. Take a look at the results below. 

I would also like to thank these home owners for allowing us to use their home for a news story we shot with Nydia Han of 6 ABC Action News Philadelphia. You can view the story here and learn about some quick and easy things you can do to update your bathroom on a budget.

Last week Hart & Associates Staging had the pleasure of helping a Main Line home seller to prepare their home at Brick House Farm Lane in Newtown Square Pennsylvania for sale. Located in picturesque Delaware county, this stately new construction home offers luxuries such as hardwood floors, a floor to ceiling stone fireplace, gourmet appliances, a coffered ceiling in the kitchen and custom lighting and mill work throughout. View our real estate show to see how our home staging team transformed this luxurious Main Line property.

Are you using the 1-2 punch to sell your home?

If not a combination of PRICE and PRESENTATION is the key to getting a successful home sale in today's market. Savvy home sellers and smart Realtors in the Main Line and Philadelphia markets know that propper pricing and presentation or home staging is essential to getting an offer within days. Need proof? Check out these updates from home sellers that put their homes on the market just weeks ago:

Pricing and Presentation IS what it is all about:

Dear Kate,

We did it again! The team of Hart & Associates Staging and Design and Realtor Marcia Fluhr just sold another home! At the beginning of February I was referred to a Seller whose listing was expiring with another company. The property was vacant and needed some pop. You brought in your staging materials and within hours you set the tone. You also recommended that they paint the master bedroom a more neutral color. 17 days later we had an agreement of sale and go to settlement the end of March. Pricing and Presentation IS what it is all about! I can't wait to see you at my listing next week to what kind of magic we can create. Thank you for being part of my team! M.F. Prudential Fox Roach Blue Bell PA

We got an offer for list price in hours:

Kate,

I wanted to thank you for all your help and let you know that we put our house on the market yesterday and got an offer for list price within hours!!!  Thanks again for everything! A.M Philadelphia PA

House Sells for MORE THAN LIST PRICE Within Weeks:

Kate,

I'd guess you probably already know from Kath, but we sold our house for a bit more than the listing price just three weeks after it came on the market.  Competing bids did the job, just as Kath had hoped.  And the compliments on how well the house looked just kept coming.  The realtors loved it, and at least three people put in bids.  We are very grateful to you for your help. S.D. Gladwyne, PA

Still not convinced that home staging can help you sell your home faster? Check out the email I got from a Philadelphia area home seller this afternoon:

"Kate,

I wanted to thank you for all your help and let you know that we put our house on the market yesterday and got an offer for list price within hours!!!  Thanks again for everything! " A.M

Even I had to smile at those results! So what made this home seller so special? She realized that in order to sell a home in today's market that she needed to use the 1-2 punch: PRICE AND PRESENTATION

She contacted us three months ago to give her a home staging consultation and then got to work storing the extra furniture, repainting, cleaning and purchasing a few things like new bedding and lamps. She then listed her home with a professional Realtor that priced and marketed her home correctly.

Bravo to my home seller! She deserves to take a bow!

I am so excited to share with you my first transformation of a client's bathroom using a MirrorMate custom frame. I was pleasantly surprised not only at the amazing results but also with how simple the frame was to install. It easily adheres to an existing plate glass mirror and instantly transforms the look of a space within minutes.

As a home staging expert I know that home buyers look carefully at kitchen and bathrooms when making their home sale decision. Bathrooms that are outdated or do not feel luxurious will not be on their must-buy list.  MirrorMate is a great solution for home owners or home sellers that are looking to update their bathrooms without the expense of removing the plate glass mirror, repainting and repairing walls, and purchasing a new mirror.

I was recently called in to provide a home staging consultation to a client that is moving out of a 5 year old condominium. This home seller was very savvy and understood that his home now will be competing with new construction condos that are on the market in the same price point. His home had many selling features including hardwood floors, a gourmet kitchen and marble master bathroom. My main concern was that the brass faucets and builder's grade mirror in the master bathroom gave the bathroom an outdated look. I recommended that the client add new sconces and a MirrorMate frame to give this bathroom the same look as bathrooms in newer model homes.

Take a look at our before and after photos to see the results.  Before, the mirror made the bathroom feel cold and uninviting. After, the silver tone MirrorMate highlighted the new fixtures and made the bathroom look more custom and up to date. Make sure to visit the MirrorMate product gallery to see the many styles and colors of decorative frames they offer at www.mirrormate.com

 Kate Hart is an award winning home staging and money saving design expert. Sign up for her monthly newsletter Prepare! by clicking here.

It is with great honor that I announce that MirrorMate Frames has asked me to become their national product spokesperson. As a home staging expert I am often called in to advise my clients on what they can do to make their resale homes more appealing to home buyers. Updating bathrooms is always on the top of my list.

Thankfully, home sellers do not have to spend a fortune to make their bathroom more on trend. MirrorMate Frames can instantly transform their existing bathroom mirror to give it a new look in minutes. If you have not seen this incredible product at work you should visit their website at www.mirrormate.com.

I am not the only real estate stager to love this product. RESA recently named MirrorMate the 2009 RESA Product of the Year. I encourage you to recommend this innovative product at your next resale home staging project. Make sure to subscribe to my blog so you do not miss out of the amazing before and after transformations we will make using MirrorMate Frames.

Below is the official press release from MirrorMates. This is not only an honor for me personally, but for the entire home staging industry to have a national company recognize that real estate staging is a valuable resource in helping home owners to enhance their homes.

MIRRORMATE^® FRAMES SIGNS AWARD-WINNING

HOME STAGER KATE HART AS NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (February 2009) -MirrorMate^®has tapped the talents of renowned home stager Kate Hart to serve as spokesperson for the brand in 2009.  MirrorMate is the leading manufacturer and retailer of custom frames for plate glass bathroom mirrors and is used by homeowners, remodelers, designers and stagers, like Kate Hart, to give boring bathroom mirrors a finished, up-to-date look in a matter of minutes and for a fraction of the cost of a new mirror. 

Kate Hart is a pioneer in the staging field, having helped hundreds of families and realtors prepare homes for sale over the last 5 years through her Philadelphia-area company, Hart & Associates Staging & Design. Her design work has been featured in numerous books and national publications, as well as on The Fine Living Network, HGTV Radio and CNN Headline News.  Hart was also recently recognized by the Real Estate Staging Association as "Staging Professional of the Year."

"We all know kitchens and bathrooms sell homes," said Kate Hart.  "I've found MirrorMate frames to be an indispensable tool in getting a home ready for sale.  It's a quick, affordable and high-impact way to transform a dated bathroom into a home's biggest selling point."

 "We're thrilled to have Kate as an ambassador for the MirrorMate brand," said Lisa Huntting, inventor and president of MirrorMate.  "Kate and the staging community have embraced MirrorMate and we look forward to having her share her staging and design expertise with homeowners and industry professionals nationwide." 

  About MirrorMate LLC

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, MirrorMate LLC was founded by Lisa Huntting, who invented the product as a design solution for the four bare mirrors in her own home. The patented design allows the custom-cut frame to tape directly to the mirror currently on the wall, covering clips and channels and fitting seamlessly with any mirror - even if it sits atop a backsplash or runs to the wall or ceiling.  MirrorMate comes in over 40 styles, installs in a matter of minutes and gives the bathroom a finished, updated look.  As the original and industry leader, MirrorMate frames are patented in the U.S. with additional patents pending in the U.S. and Canada.  For product and company information, as well as a demonstration video, please visit www.mirrormate.com.

Press Release courtesy of Amy Florek, Florek PR

Below is an article from our monthly newsletter Prepare! Feel free to share these ideas with your clients on your next listing presentation.

Budget is a huge concern for everyone these days and now more than ever home sellers are anxious about spending money to get their homes ready for sale. Each month we will feature a different area of the home and share quick and affordable changes your client can make.  

Front Door First Impressions:   The saying that "first impressions are everything" is especially true when you are selling your home. Buyers often judge the appearance of the front door as an indication of the condition of the rest of the home. Here are some easy ideas to make sure your first impression is a great one.   

Under $10.00:

• There is nothing like old fashioned elbow grease! Grab a cleaning cloth and some metal polish and get to work polishing the front door knob, knocker, and kickplate. Don't forget to polish any light fixtures too.
• Sweep away those pesky cobwebs from any overhangs and light fixtures.
• Replace any non-working light bulbs.
• Powerwash any mildew or residue on front porches or landings.
• Wipe down the front door to remove any marks.

Under $50.00:

• Repaint the front door with a fresh coat of paint to make it look like new. Not sure what color to choose? Typically you should have no more than three colors on the exterior of your home. Your siding/stone/brick is one color, the trim a second color and shutters or doors a third color. Opt for classics like hunter green, black or cranberry red.   
• Add a new door mat in a natural fiber like coir or sisal. I recommend an oversized mat to give your home a more stately look. Bed Bath and Beyond and Target stock these year round.
• Add urns or pots with annuals to frame the entrance to your home. Small arbor vitae trees will work year round- even in winter.

Under $150:

• Replace your old hardware with a new handle and lock set to give your front door a mini makeover. Home Depot and Lowes offers many to choose from.
• Add new sconces or light fixtures to update the entrance of your home .