If you're just joining me, you may want to go back and read The Introduction to this series of blog posts. It's a quick read. You can also check out Part 1: The Garage Sale so that you're up to speed on what's been going on so far.
With the garage sale out of the way, we then removed items that would not be needed for staging. It was pretty hard on my Mother-in-law to watch the family home be stripped of memories, so she only popped by on occasion to see how things were progressing. In fact, she made the wise decision to stay away altogether on the day of the garage sale. It would have been pretty tough on her to watch everything that they loved and worked so hard for reduced to somebody's garage sale find.
Assessing What Needed to be Done
My Mother-in-law left it up to us to do whatever we felt was necessary to help sell her home faster, so that was one hurdle out of the way. Once the house was down to the bare bones, it was easier to see what had to be done in the way of home improvements so of course, I went into Stager mode and started making a list of items that I felt needed to be addressed.
Fortunately, my Husband is a big believer in home staging so he was on board from day one. He has always compared staging a home to prepping a car for sale. Being a car enthusiast, as a hobby he has bought and sold his share of old clunkers classic cars over the years. He restores and 'stages' them to showroom condition - not just the interior and exterior, but under the hood, chassis, you name it. So obviously, he 'gets it' that putting the effort into preparation will bring you the best results - i.e. a quicker sale and in some cases, more money.
Stumbling Blocks
That being said, there were still varying opinions within the family on what improvements were really necessary. The main stumbling block for the house (in my opinion) was the orange broadloom in the living room - it just HAD to go. I always advise my clients to give serious thought to replacing worn and/or non-neutral broadloom since it can really become a deal breaker for some potential buyers. Of course as expected, I was met with a few of the usual comments that I often receive from home sellers such as: (i) We'll give a carpet allowance and let the new owner select their own broadloom; (ii) We're not sure if there is hardwood underneath; (iii) We're not sure what condition the hardwood underneath is in; and (iv) it's not worth the bother, let the new owner do it.
Becoming the 'Bad Guy'
Since I'm used to hearing these concerns, I was prepared with my responses. We knew for a fact that there was hardwood underneath, so that was one of them off the list. That left giving a carpet allowance, concern over the condition of the hardwood underneath and whether or not it was worth the bother to do it. Once I explained why a carpet allowance can backfire and I was able to overcome everyone's concerns over the condition of the hardwood, the rest was easy. Since I was the one that volunteered to rip up the broadloom, if anyone was going to be bothered by it, it would be me; so that was it - the broadloom was coming up!
I totally understood that part of the reluctance in making changes was driven by not wanting to let go of the memories, but it still made my job harder nonetheless, as I had to be the "bad guy". My Sister-in-law assists me on some of my staging jobs and sees first hand the transformations that take place in a home that's been staged, but she had a hard time with this one. I'm not looking forward to the day when I have to do this with my parents' home. All in all though, things went very well through the whole process. The living room looked 100% better with the broadloom gone.
There were many other things that we did as well to update the family home. Here are just some of them, along with a few photos. Unfortunately, I guess I got caught up in the moment at times, and forgot to take photos of some of what we did. The staging before and after photos will be revealed in a later post.
Living Room
- Tore up the orange broadloom
- Changed the ceiling fan - replaced it with a light fixture as the room was a little dark.
- Painted the baseboards
Dining Room
- Stripped the wallpaper and border
- Painted the walls and baseboards
- Updated the existing light fixture by adding lamp shades
Breezeway
- Turned it into a mud room and installed coat hooks
- Replaced the light fixture
Kitchen
- Changed the hardware on the kitchen cupboards
- Removed the frilly curtains
Bedroom
- Repaired plaster on one wall
Bathroom
- Replaced an outdated light fixture
Attic
- Installed fluorescent lighting to brighten it up
- We also re-purposed the attic - you'll see in another blog post what it became
Cold Cellar
- Installed fluorescent lighting
Garage
- Had the ceiling professionally repaired (the only thing we didn't do ourselves). It had never been repaired after the new roof was put on the house.
- Installed fluorescent lighting
Shed
- Emptied and thoroughly cleaned it of cobwebs, dead mice, ...
Might I add that all of the above could not have been done without the help of two wonderful neighbours that took time out of their busy lives to help us with everything. We will never be able to thank them enough!
Once all of the home improvements were completed, everyone was VERY happy with the outcome and that sure was a relief. After all, I'll be seeing these "clients" long after the house sells ;-).
Stay Tuned. Next instalment: Part 3- Choosing a Realtor
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Dezigner Digz is Burlington, Ontario's premier home staging, styling and redesign firm serving Ancaster, Hamilton, Burlington, Waterdown, Stoney Creek, Oakville and surrounding areas. The owner, Charlene Storozuk, is a member of the Real Estate Staging Association and currently serves on the Executive Committee as Regional Vice-President, Canada. Her work is featured in the book FabJob Guide to Become a Home Stager, 2009 edition. Charlene has written several articles on home staging, some of which have been published by the International Business Times and the Women's Council of Realtors. She is also a Contributing Blogger for REALTOR Magazine. For more information about us, visit our website at www.dezignerdigz.com.
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