This historic home is quietly tucked away in the hills of Corte Madera, California -- though it's less than five minutes from charming downtown Larkspur. I was captivated from my first step into the light-filled living room, surrounded by original multi-paned windows and illuminated by skylights. The house may be surrounded by lush trees, but it's filled with streaming natural light.

I'll share with you some of the before and after photographs from this recent staging project (which just received its first offer this week -- woo-hoo!).

Living Room Before

Living Room After Staging

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After Staging

Office Before

Office After Staging

Den Before

Den After Staging

Original Bathroom Before

Original Bathroom After Staging

Bedroom Before

Bedroom After Staging

Bathroom Before

Bathroom After Staging

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom After Staging

Special thanks to Real Estate Photographer Karin Larson for her lovely "After" photographs. Also, much gratitude to artist Taylor Mancini for original paintings in the Office.

For more photos of staging projects by Leslie Olson Interiors, please visit:

Contemporary Oasis in the Redwoods - Staging Before and After Photos

Staging a Storybook Cottage - Before and After Photos

Contemporary Craftsman Before and After - From Vacant House to Inviting Home

Mill Valley Film Festival - Outdoor Art Club - Before and After Photos

Modern Architecture Staging Photos

Staging for Traditional Home Architecture and Style

Staging Success - Downplaying Tween's Green Wall Paint

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...Or Not - Staging Small Spaces

Marin Home Staging - What a Difference a Door Makes

Thank you for stopping by!

   Leslie Olson, ASID

Leslie Olson Interiors   Marin County, California   www.leslieolsoninteriors.com   415-233-2633

I've been going over photos from my recent staging projects, and this secluded Mill Valley oasis was a particularly fun home to stage (once you finally made it down the 49 stairs to get to the front door of this 3-story house!). A gentle waterfall from a seasonal spring added to the tranquil atmosphere. To this day I still covet the spa-like master bath!

While the homeowners' art collection was more avant-garde than some potential home-buyers might prefer, after they moved out I was still able to infuse the house with original art and fresh colors to appeal to a younger buyer. As an Interior Designer it was great to have a contemporary staging project again -- one of my favorite styles to work with.

Enjoy!

   Fireplace Before, with homeowners' sculpture

   Fireplace, After Staging

   Living Room Before

   After Staging

   Dining Room Before

   After Staging

   Entry Powder Room Before

   After Staging

Media Room After Staging

Girl's Room After Staging

Balcony After Staging

Master Bedroom After Staging

Master Bedroom Seating

Master Bath and Secluded Balcony

For other photos of Staging by Leslie Olson Interiors, please visit: 

Historic Wooded Hideaway - Staging Before and After Photos

Staging a Storybook Cottage - Before and After Photos

Contemporary Craftsman Before and After - From Vacant House to Inviting Home 

Mill Valley Film Festival - Outdoor Art Club - Before and After Photos

Modern Architecture Staging Photos

Staging for Traditional Home Architecture and Style

Staging Success - Downplaying Tween's Green Wall Paint

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...Or Not - Staging Small Spaces

Marin Home Staging What a Difference a Door Makes

Thank you for stopping by!

   Leslie Olson, ASID

Leslie Olson Interiors   Marin County, California   www.leslieolsoninteriors.com   415-233-2633

As I transition my business focus from Real Estate Staging to return to Interior Design (there is a difference in the two professions!), I've been going through photos from my recent staging projects here in Marin County, California. I'll be posting some of my favorite before and after photos for you in the coming days.

Of all the houses I've staged the past five years, this charming shingle-style cottage was my daughter's favorite, and I half-think she was trying to persuade me to buy the house! (She still sighs audibly when looking at the pictures.) Alas, this character-filled home was snatched up quickly after staging, and sold right away. While the property and Mill Valley neighborhood had lots going for it...let's just say that the house needed a bit of staging help transform it from an old house into a delightful home appealing to potential buyers.

Here are some photographs taken before and after staging by Leslie Olson Interiors:

For more photos from Staging by Leslie Olson Interiors, please visit:

Contemporary Oasis in the Redwoods - Before and After Photos

Historic Wooded Hideaway - Staging Before and After Photos

Contemporary Craftsman Before and After - From Vacant House to Inviting Home

Mill Valley Film Festival - Outdoor Art Club - Before and After Photos

Modern Architecture Staging Photos

Staging for Traditional Home Architecture and Style

Staging Success - Downplaying Tween's Green Wall Paint

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...Or Not - Staging Small Spaces

Marin Home Staging - What a Difference a Door Makes 

Thank you for stopping by!

  Leslie Olson, ASID

Leslie Olson Interiors     Marin County, California     leslieolsoninteriors.com     415-233-2633

Skipping merrily through our local MLS listings I stumbled across this delightful MLS photo. While I can appreciate the personalized funky style of this house for sale, I stopped dead in my tracks at the dining room photo...

Apparently I wasn't the only one who stopped dead in their tracks...what's that perched atop the buffet, peering at the dinner guests?  

YIKES!

Leslie Olson - ASID, RESA

Leslie Olson Interiors     www.leslieolsoninteriors.com   leslie@leslieolsoninteriors.com   415.233.2633

Home Staging - Redesign - Interior Design    Marin County, California

    Special thank-you tulips for the AR community!

As a relative newcomer to Northern California, it's important for me to present my staging business, Leslie Olson Interiors, to Realtors face-to-face. The good news is that Real Estate Staging is the rule more than the exception here, and Marin County Realtors are technology and market savvy. The more challenging news for my business is that many of the Realtors have long-term working relationships with other stagers in the area. 

With that in mind, as well as current real estate market conditions, I faced my upcoming Realtor Presentation with great anticipation...yet I knew I had to approach this differently than I might have in the past. I truly wanted this to be relevant for the Realtors attending...and challenged myself not to use the tired and predictable  topics they had seen presented so many times before: De-Clutter - De-Personalize - Neutralize... I vowed that I would not so much as use those words!

And okay to be honest I also wanted them to remember my company in terms of branding -- for the company to have a positive "linger factor" with them as they consider staging projects in the future.

To prepare for the presentation I turned to the rich knowledge base on ActiveRain for ideas, and found an absolute wealth of inspiration. It's my challenge to name all the sources of that inspiration by name and blog link below!

To try to provide hand-outs to Realtors that were relevant to Staging and their business (and a place for them to find them when they needed them!) I provided bright orange hanging files that reflected the color in my company logo. The bright white file folder was labeled "Real Estate Staging Hand-Outs..."

...until they open the folder to easily find my company contact information, web link and blog link.

To make sure they can find my information quickly and easily in the future, I included a business card and Rolodex cards in two sizes with the same contact information. But how to prevent them from falling out of the folders?

Thanks to Gina Zimmerman's blog tipping us off about a recent Oprah episode on organizing clutter, I printed out a 20% off coupon for The Container Store -- which happened to be located in the same shopping center as the Realtor presentation. How Conveeeeeenient!

And to continue the theme relevant to Staging, Realtors dropped their business cards into a marble bowl for a drawing for a gift card to The Container Store.

Hand-Outs included a company flyer and profile for Leslie Olson Interiors (before and after graphics thanks to Picasa photo software as recommended by ActiveRain users!), the new RESA Staging Statistics Report, a list of web links to publish Realtors' listings, the Real Estate Website Popularity Rankings for January 2009, a copy of one of my ActiveRain blogs featuring a current house my company staged, and an example of a recent Initial Staging Consultation Report.

Early in the morning, ready for Realtors to arrive at the restaurant.

As a sponsor for the event, the display table for Leslie Olson Interiors, including a Before and After photo slide show on the laptop, and Picasa-generated presentation board. On a cool and rainy morning the fireplace was warm and cozy...and even the fire complimented my company logo!

Thanks for your many suggestions for preparing for a Realtor Presentation: 

Cheryl Marantino - The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round....

Sara Bonert - Real Estate Website Popularity Rankings for January 2009 - Hitwise

Carol Clay Comment - "As an agent...I agree with the other comments that a gift basket wouldn't sway me one way or another. But I would like to have something at my fingertips so I don't have to hunt for your name or phone number. I hate cheesy give aways, but I love note pads." in Lori Donegan's blog  "Questions from a Rookie Stager"

Michelle Minch Comment: "No REA is going to hire you based upon your goodie basket. They will hire you if they think you will make their job easier, make them look good and/or will help them make more money," in Lori Donegan's blog  "Questions from a Rookie Stager"

Liz Carla Comment - "I provide a colorful file folder with my brochure, staging articles, biz card, etc. labeled with my business name and phone number. I have received good comments on this. The realtors love it and I really think they keep it. Easy to file in their drawer.  Do a give away." From Lori Donegan's blog, Creative Realtor Presentations.

Annie Pinsker-Brown Comment - "I agree that you should use lots of photos and statistics! The numbers are what is important to Realtors. Also we had a realtor panel in my local stagers group and the realtors all said what they wanted from us was a sheet they could give to their clients to explain Staging, the pros and cons and some ballpark pricing. Plus before & after photos. I took that to heart and now give those sheets out at all my Realtor presentations. Explain to the Realtors that it is something they should put into their listing presentations to sell their clients on Staging. Of course it will also have your name and contact info on it. From Lori Donegan's blog, Creative Realtor Presentations.

Gina Zimmerman -  OPRAH HAS DONE IT AGAIN! WOW!!

Special appreciation to Kathy Nielsen, Michelle Minch, Shell Broadnax and all who contributed to the new RESA Staging Statistics Report

And thank you for all the great feedback I got about photo enhancing software as I prepared a series of Before and After Staging Photos for a Picasa slide presentation to display on my laptop computer. I was also able to use Picasa's Collage feature to design the company flyer and display board. The blogs about evaluating software packages are listed below:

Professionally Preparing Problematic Pictures -- Picking Picasa or Picnik?

EUREKA! Progress Professionally Preparing Problematic Pictures in Picasa! Part II

Thank you so much for your contributions and interest!

Leslie Olson, ASID, RESA

Leslie Olson Interiors  www.leslieolsoninteriors.com  leslie@leslieolsoninteriors.com  415.233.2633

Marin County Home Staging - Redesign - Interior Design

Hmmm...there's something wrong with this picture...

Hello ActiveRainers...it's your friendly neighborhood Luddite here, Leslie.

If you'll recall yesterday I sent out a plea to the AR community to help me decide which FREE photo-enhancing software I should consider using to update my mediocre staging profile pictures (Professionally Preparing Problematic Pictures -- Picking Picasa or Picnik?)

Since you're still reading this I'll assume that you've successfully cleared off your computer screens since reciting that aloud.

After the tremendously helpful feedback I got from this ActiveRain communtiy I decided to download Picasa last night before I went to bed. One of the bizarre features of this software that it synchs up with your computer hard drive to suck in all the visual images you have stored there. Okay that's not the bizarre part...remember I was verrrry sleeeepy when it was zipping through all these pictures (years of family pictures, holiday photos, trips abroad, staging before and afters...). There's a tiny box in the bottom of your screen that displays the image that the software is currently downloading -- whizzing past at uber warp-speed. It was really weird in my drowsy state, almost hypnotized. I stumbled to bed feeling as if I had literally watched my life pass before my eyes.

Whew!

With that process over I started poking around the software this morning...trust me it's really distracting unearthing all those pictures you haven't seen in years.

But the result is...and I'm kinda proud of myself...if you look at the right side of this ActiveRain blog you'll see a slide show from one of my vacant staging projects!  (You may recognize some rooms from that project that I recently featured in the blog, Contemporary Craftsman Before and After - Home Staging Marin - From Vacant House to Inviting Home) Yup, I selected and enhanced each of those photos to produce an album for that project, and even (rather accidentally) figured out how to embed the slide show in my AR settings!

Now the questions for you are...does it (honestly now) look okay?  And almost as important, does it slow down the loading of my blog page? (I hate it when that happens.) Is it too frenetic and busy flashing in your view as you're trying to read my fascinating tome?  Or are you galvanized to hire my company for your upcoming staging projects -- immediately? Please be straight with me if you don't like it. I can always use the slide show in other places, this was just a learning experience for me.

By the way, with my new technological savvy I promise not to return to taking pictures using the techniques demonstrated in the photo above...

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Leslie Olson, ASID, RESA

Leslie Olson Interiors - Marin County Home Staging - Redesign - Interior Design

www.leslieolsoninteriors.com  leslie@leslieolsoninteriors.com  415.233.2633

Okay fellow ActiveRain members...I need your help!

One thing that we can all agree on is the critical importance of high quality pictures for MLS photographs and Real Estate Staging portfolios. I am in no way, shape or form a good photographer. And I get easily overwhelmed with the multitude of options available with photo-enhancing software. I long ago left PhotoShop, never quite mastering it. For years I've used ancient versions of Microsoft Office Picture Manager and Paint Shop Pro 7 that are on my PC (sorry, not Mac). My proudest achievement was learning how to straighten my always-crooked images so that the room no longer appears to be sliding into a sink-hole (Eeeeeewwwrrrrrrrrr...THUNK!).

I have so many pictures from projects that I loved...but the pictures aren't blog-worthy, much less up to the level of my business web site.

Lately on ActiveRain I've seen a lot of mentions about Picasa and Picnik software to enhance and modify visual images. I've tried to weigh the options...but my eyes quickly glaze over. And their web sites give me a bit of sensory overload. I just want something that's going to be dazzlingly effective with my mediocre digital photos -- while straightforward enough for me to use without getting exasperated.

Just a simple question for those of you who have worked with them...Picasa or Piknik?

** UPDATE **

To follow up on this saga, I've posted a new blog to tell you the results of my decision based on your feedback: EUREKA! Progress Professionally Preparing Problematic Pictures in Picasa! Part II.

Thanks for your help!

Leslie Olson, ASID, RESA

Leslie Olson Interiors - Marin County Home Staging - Redesign - Interior Design

www.leslieolsoninteriors.com  leslie@leslieolsoninteriors.com  415.233.2633

The New York Times is reporting a public outcry over the cancellation of popular home magazine, Domino. As I mentioned in my recent blog, Say It Ain't So...Are Home Shelter Magazines the New Dinosaurs?, Domino is one of several shelter magazines recently nixed because of shrinking ad dollars.

In the NYT article, "A Girl World Closes, and Fans Mourn," they write:

WHEN Domino magazine folded last week, another casualty of the economic smack-down, a howl of protest rang through the blogosphere. Fans of the girlish, how-to decorating magazine owned by Condé Nast were vociferous in their disappointment, posting anguished comments on design sites like Apartment Therapy, Decorno and Design Sponge (which accrued 498 remarks in just a few hours), as well as nondesign sites, like The Huffington Post. Even Gawker readers set aside their snark to mourn.

The commenters bemoaned the death of a magazine that "felt" like them, and worried that their Domino subscription renewals, already paid, would yield subscriptions to Architectural Digest, Condé Nast's remaining shelter title (median reader age: 50).

To read the entire article, click on http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/garden/05domino.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

It remains to be seen if the protests will bring any results, but clearly this is a publication that was innovative, fresh, and tapped into a young, growing market. Quite a contrast from the old dowager Architectural Digest (which, to my knowledge, is not being cancelled).

For Leslie's blogs related to this subject, I invite you to visit:

Say It Ain't So...Are Home Shelter Magazines the New Dinosaurs?

How Are Your Favorite Home Retailers Doing? Must-Read Articles

Leslie Olson, ASID, RESA

Leslie Olson Interiors   Marin County, CA   www.leslieolsoninteriors.com   leslie@leslieolsoninteriors.com   415.233.2633

This new construction craftsman-style home was built in a charming older neighborhood, replacing a house that was dilapidated beyond repair. The Realtor was in fact the person who had designed and built the house -- a two-year labor of love. He hired our firm, Leslie Olson Interiors to furnish and stage the vacant house for sale. Despite the very tight staging budget this was such a gratifying project to work on, as the Realtor/Owner was thrilled to finally see "his" light-filled house transformed and furnished, after nurturing it from concept to construction.

Vacant Living Room before:

Living Room after staging by Leslie Olson Interiors:

Welcoming Living Room from the Entry:

Kitchen during contruction:

Warm and inviting Kitchen after accessorizing:

A tranquil Master Bedroom awaits future homebuyers:

Cozy Master Bedroom seating area:

Master Bathroom vanity with reflections:

Master Bath with view:

For additional photos of Staging by Leslie Olson Interiors, please visit:

Historic Wooded Hideaway - Staging Before and After Photos

Contemporary Oasis in the Redwoods - Staging Before and After Photos

Staging a Storybook Cottage - Before and After Photos

Mill Valley Film Festival - Outdoor Art Club - Before and After Photos

Modern Architecture Staging Photos 

Staging for Traditional Home Architecture and Style

Staging Success - Downplaying Tween's Green Wall Paint

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...Or Not - Staging Small Spaces

What a Difference a Door Makes

Thank you for stopping by!

Leslie Olson, ASID, RESA

Leslie Olson Interiors   Marin County, CA   www.leslieolsoninteriors.com   leslie@leslieolsoninteriors.com   415.233.2633

To follow up on my most recent blog, "How Are Your Favorite Home Retailers Doing? Must-Read Articles," this New York Times' article, "The Meltdown in Home Furnishings" lists troubled home furnishings retailers who are struggling in this economy, as well as many much loved "shelter" magazines:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/garden/29industry.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Due to the faltering economy and shrinking advertising dollars, the past several months have seen several home design magazines close up shop, to include:

The 106 year-old House and Garden, Home, Blueprint, O at Home, Cottage Living, Country Home, and most recently Domino.

At a personal level shelter magazines have been so important to me through the years as sources of inspiration, aspiration and upcoming design trends. I have folders and notebooks filled with pictures clipped over the years, kept to inform future projects. Some designers' works I've collected as if I were in a movie star fan club. (Don't forget those shelter magazines also elevated the careers of many successful designers.) Sifting through several of these notebooks before our move last summer I felt like I was traveling through a time capsule of dreams deferred (and sometimes realized), representing my own evolving design interests. And for years my Interior Design clients have shared similar magazine clippings with me, helping to crystallize a focus for their design plans.

I fear that some of my favorite magazines may be next in line for troubles (as well as those who write and publish for them), and send them my very best wishes.

Do you have favorite magazines that have particularly inspired you through the years? Which would you truly miss if they were no longer here? Are there past shelter magazines that you continue to miss? What other sources of design inspiration do you use in their place (blogs, etc.)?

**UPDATE**

2/5/2008 - This morning I just posted a follow-up blog about the cancellation of Domino magazine, from a recent New York Times article. Check it out at Domino Effect - NYT Reports Fans Mourning Demise of Magazine.

Thanks for your interest!

Leslie Olson - ASID, RESA

Leslie Olson Interiors   Marin County, CA   www.leslieolsoninteriors.com   leslie@leslieolsoninteriors.com   415.233.2633