As the unofficial 'queen of vacants' on Long Island, I love the challenge of working with the seller's own furniture and accessories.  For this particular home, we simply added a mirror, 2 framed prints, some window treatments, 5 accent pillows and faux greenery.

When the seller upgraded the kitchen, he enlarged the space and, as a result, ended up with this small, windowless 'Living Room'.  This is the first room that you saw when you walked into the Entry Hall.  Before staging, it wasn't a defined space but, rather, was used as a storage space.

We 'borrowed' a chair from the Den, 'spiffed up' a console table with Old English scratch cover and turned it into a writing desk, pulled up the rug & brought in a smaller area rug from another room, hung artwork that we found in the house and the purchased mirror (Homes & Garden $40 at Walmart) to add depth and reflective light to the room, brought in a console cabinet that was in the Dining Room, and added a lamp from the Master Bedroom and various accessories (including 2 purchased faux plants from Walmart and a $8 throw pillow from Christmas Tree Shops).

Here are a few more 'after' views:

The Dining Room only needed some 'light staging'.  We cleared out the console cabinet, shelf unit, 2 chairs, a table leaf, and the parrot print on the wall.  We also de-cluttered the china closet and table. 

 We added new matching prints ($5 each at Walmart!) and potted orchards to add some color.

The Den was a bit of a challenge because the sofa had to stay.  We removed the area rug and replaced it with a cream-colored shag to coordinate with the cream-colored chair that we brought in from the old Living Room.  2 purchased accent pillows and greenery were added while the mantle was decluttered and then enhanced with candlesticks that were found in another part of the house.  The sheer curtains were removed in order to open the view and a framed print belonging to the owner was hung over the sofa.  Sadly, the tv had to stay and we left instructions for the owner to reposition it in the corner.

Here are some before and afters of the dining area in the kitchen:

As you can see from the photos above, simple changes make all the difference when presenting a house for sale.  This 'product' is now ready to compete with similar houses in the Huntington area that are currently on the market.

At Staged 2 Sell we 'set the stage for your successful sale'!

Val Allocco, a certified (HSE), professional Home Stager, is the founder & owner of Staged 2 Sell NY which was established in early 2006 and serves all of Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties) as well as the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.  She is also the Metro New York Chapter President and Central Long Island Chapter President of ASHSR (American Society of Home Stagers and Redesigners).

Val has taught Adult Education courses on "Staging Your Home To Sell" and has also been a featured speaker at numerous Home Selling Seminars on, and around, Long Island.  She is available for seminars and other real estate related presentations and can be reached at 516-982-2671.

Please visit www.staged2sellny.com for more information and examples of our work.