I want to share a recent staging win! My company, Glastonbury Home Staging, was hired to stage a very large home listing a little under one million dollar by local Real Estate Agent, Ileana Sybert, of Dzen Realty, South Windsor, CT. She had found me as of a result of an article on staging that I had been interviewed for by The Journal Inquirer newspaper in Manchester, CT. I had provided in depth information and photos on staging and Ileana saw the article and called me knowing that this house really needed to be staged. We have been working on projects together ever since. But I digress, anyway this listing had been on the market for months without offers. This home was in South Windsor, CT located in Hartford County. It was about 4800 sq ft with additional living area on lower level walkout including: living area, two bedrooms and bath, workout room/game room, bringing it to about 6,000 sq ft. It had been purchased as an investment property. The upstairs bedrooms were furnished and the lower level quarters were as well, but the main floor was vacant. It had every bell and whistle you would expect at this price range, but it had two issues on top the empty rooms. It had the most ornate lighting fixtures I have seen in a long time outside a hotel ballroom. And the entire first floor was large white marble tiles, really beautiful actually. But, this is New England not Miami or Los Angeles. People want hardwood floors. It just added to the cold empty feeling. The owners would not entertain changing the lighting or the floors, which would have been very costly. Most everyone that looked at the house wanted hard wood floors, just couldn't get past the tile or the light fixtures. I did try to work on the lighting fixtures which I knew was a long shot, the owner was not going to spend money on them. I even had a company that deals in restoration lighting, reselling antiques, previously owned unique fixtures to come in to see if they would bid on them, thinking we could sell them and then apply that money to new ones. But the appraiser had the same reaction, no one is this market is going to want these over-the-top fancy chandeliers. So I was stuck with them. I worked with CORT furniture, brought in living room, dining room, family room and kitchen eating area furniture. I supplied the art, plants, dishes, linens, sun room furniture. (I got a great buy at Pier 1 - I think the set was a hot topic a couple of months back here on AR) they were an ugly grey and I spray painted them a nice apple green). CORT furniture only carries rugs up to about 8 x 10 and these were really large rooms. I needed cover up the tiles and warm up the floors! So I got to thinking, "how can I get some really big rugs?" So I called Kaoud Oriental Rugs, in West Hartford, CT, a very reputable fine rug company, that does a lot of TV ads and spoke with Maurice Kaoud, one of the owners. He was very enthusiastic and said "I want to to all your staging jobs with you"! I was so excited about working with him. He had never leased his rugs, so I discuss possible ways to price out a monthly lease. He took some time and came back with a price but it was way too much and I knew the homeowner would freak out, because it was about the same as he was going to pay CORT for all the other furniture. Of course the quality of rug that Maurice Kaoud was offering was in a whole other price bracket, they sell very fine hand knotted rugs of the highest quality. So I was disappointed because I thought it was such a great idea. We were prepared to have Kaoud's marketing materials at the house for the rugs, should anyone want to buy them, but it didn't work out. I had to use CORT's rugs, which are fine, just limited in available sizes. I know I am off on a tangent, but I am wondering if anyone else has resources for larger rugs that are more affordable. I do think that there is an amazing business opportunity for someone to fill this gap in the market, I have seen others stagers here comment on this as well; we need more options for furnishings to lease. Anyway it was an amazing transformation, this big, cold, empty place turned into a home. The homeowner was so excited that he got good solid offer the day after the staging was completed and he said no; he felt so confident in the staging that he could hold out for exactly what he wanted; and he got it!! Sold in 2 Days!
Here are some after photos of this house.
Kitchen Area - Fun and Festive!!
Family Room - Cathedral Ceiling posed challenges -
The all white walls and all white floors made this vast space very cold and unwelcoming.
This feels warm, friendly and fun - a real family room!
The original ballroom now a living room
Another view of living room
Tried to add a little global feel to the room!
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