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$5.78 Million "Fixer" Sells in 10 Days After Staging by Moving Mountains Design

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Home Stager with Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA

Moving Mountains Design was recently hired to stage a $5.78 million home in San Marino, CA. The home, built in 1926, was design by Roland E. Coate, a noted California architect. This Spanish Colonial home had not been on the market since the early 1950's. It did not appear that any upgrades had been undertaken during that time. Showing buyers the true potential of this home was not easy, but we were up to the task.

The seller accepted one of multiple offers 10 days after the home was staged. Escrow is set to close next week.

Escrow has closed, and the sale was recorded by the Tax Assessor - $5.78 million SP%LP=100%!

copyright 2007 www.movingmountainsdesign.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The rooms were huge. The Persian rug in the living room was 12'x15' and there was still a very generous border of hardwood surrounding it.

Copyright2007 www.MovingMountainsDesign.com

Here is a photo of the living room before. Sorry I don't have any photos of exactly the same angle. The hardwood floors were refinished and the room painted before staging. Also we replaced all the light bulbs to a higher wattage daylight balancing light bulb to make the room appear warmer and brighter to the eye.

 

 

 

 

 

The ballroom size Dining Room was so long, we put two identical dining tables together to create one 12' long table, which wasn't dwarfed by the room. The Persian rug in this room was a "palace size" 22'long x 12'wide.

 Copyright2007 www.MovingMountainsDesign.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Copyright2007 www.MovingMountainsDesign.com

Here is a before photo of the dining room. It is the opposite angle from the after photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Moving Mountains Design is the premiere home staging company serving Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, South Pasadena, Alhambra and the San Gabriel Valley. From Condos to Cottages to Castles, we know what makes homes sell.

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Los Angeles Real Estate Staging

2019 RESA Top 10 Professional Home Stager Vacant

2015 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

2014 RESA Top 10 Professional Home Stager

2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year

Michelle has staged thousands of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.

She works with home sellers, listing agent, builders, flippers and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles and North Orange County.

Moving Mountains Design provides vacant home staging, color consultations, corporate and executive relocations,  and interior design. We also stage model homes, REOs, foreclosures and auction properties for real estate investors and asset managers. Builders hire us to stage their models or to help move inventory when sales slow down.

For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.

Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio

Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog

Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price

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Kathy Alexander
GreatStages Home Staging and Redesign - Vancouver, WA
Home Stager Camas WA, Home Staging Southwest WA
Michelle, I can only echo what everyone else has already said - your work is phenomenal. Using the rugs is genius as they completely bring the rooms up to the highest level.
Dec 08, 2007 11:16 AM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA

Abby: Thank you so much.

Kathy: The right rugs can really turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

Dec 08, 2007 12:32 PM
Yvonne Root
rooms b.y. root - Prescott, AZ
Home Stager - Northern Arizona
Michelle, Once again you have knocked the ball out of the park! Your work is simply awesome. Thank you so much for being so faithful to share such excellent work. 
Dec 09, 2007 06:57 AM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
Hi Yvonne: Thank you for the compliment.
Dec 09, 2007 07:01 AM
Phyllis Pafumi
ReStyled to Sell Home Staging New Jersey - Old Bridge, NJ
ReStyled to Sell Staging Homes NJ

Michelle it is gorgeous and the rugs are awesome, did you rent them? I love what you did with the dining room tables, good save and you are right no one WOULD notice the seam, it looks elegant. I am sure the homeowner was thrilled.

Phylis Pafumi 

Dec 09, 2007 12:41 PM
Anthea Click
Fresh Perspectives - www.InsideNashvilleHomes.com - Franklin, TN
Nashville Home Stager - Selling Nashville, TN homes quickly!
Michelle,
Such a beautiful job. Did you already have those rugs in your inventory or did you purchase them especially for this job? They must have cost a small fortune!
Dec 13, 2007 08:49 AM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA

Thank you Phyllis & Anthea: I have a mutually beneficial arrangement with a Persian rug dealer that I purchase a lot of rugs from for my clients. I don't disucss the value of the rugs for security reasons.

Phyllis: I sweated over the dining table. I tried 4 different tablecloths on it before I decided that it looked better with the beautiful wood of the table showing. I was very happy with how it turned out.

Dec 13, 2007 03:25 PM
Jo Potvin
Design To Market LLC - Cincinnati, OH
Home Staging Cincinnati - Design To Market

Michelle,

What an incredible example of your work.  The scale of the furnishings is perfect even with the size of the rooms.

Dec 14, 2007 11:05 PM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
Why, thank you, Jo. Coming from you, that is a great compliment.
Dec 15, 2007 02:14 AM
Tanya Venable
Orlando, FL
SEO, Mobile SEO, and Internet Marketing Consultant
Awesome work Michelle! Love how you blended the colors in the living room.
Dec 18, 2007 10:59 PM
Susan Brown
IMPRESSIVEHOME - Durham, NC
I agree, this is awesome.  Congratulations!!!1
Dec 18, 2007 11:30 PM
Kate Hart
Hart & Associates Staging and Design - Radnor, PA
I love the elegance and simplicity of your designs. You are so adept at allowing the architecture of the home be the star of the show and using the props as guide points for showing off the selling features. This is a hard skill to achieve and I am always impressed with what you do. Congrats! KH
Dec 18, 2007 11:31 PM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA

Tanya: Sometimes we get lucky and have a great canvas on which to paint our staging picture. This house was an example of that. Everything flowed together nicely.

Susan: Thank you.

Kate: Thank you for your very kind remarks. It is always exciting when what we think will work on paper, actually exceeds our expectations in real life.

Dec 19, 2007 01:58 AM
Karen Otto
Home Star Staging - Plano, TX
Plano Home Staging, Dallas Home Staging, www.homes

Michelle you are certainly a gifted artist! What a transformation.

It takes a trained and gifted eye to discern the scope and scale of furniture and decor that highlights the home without over doing the furnishings and in a house this size many a stager/redesigner could have become overwhelmed by the mere size of the rooms -(count me in there). Premiere is an understatement girlfriend!

Dec 19, 2007 05:37 AM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
Karen: We all walk the line between too much and not enough. I always bring more than I need so that I can cover my butt in case I miscalculated. I usually wind up using a lot less than I anticipated. Brook allows me to request more furniture than I know I am going to need, and they don't charge me if I send something back. It is great to be able to work that way.
Dec 19, 2007 06:09 AM
Jackie Peraza
Perceptions AdverStaging(TM), LLC - Framingham, MA
Home Stager - Framingham, Massachusetts

Michelle - Oh my gosh...I just saw you've added before photos to this post!!  I already thought you had highlighted the home, but what you created was warmth, character, a sense of intimacy and a home!  Good grief, woman...NO WONDER it sold in 10 days!!

Thank you for adding the before photos - as is always the case, I continue to learn from each of your posts.

Jackie

Dec 30, 2007 05:24 PM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
Jackie: Thank you so much for your kind thoughts. I am still waiting to find out exactly what it sold for. The sellers swore the Listing Agent to secrecy. I will know once it hits the tax assessors office.
Dec 31, 2007 01:26 AM
Jackie Peraza
Perceptions AdverStaging(TM), LLC - Framingham, MA
Home Stager - Framingham, Massachusetts

Michelle - AWESOME!  And, again....congratulations on such a magnificent job 

Jackie

Jan 03, 2008 02:17 PM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
Thank you, again, Jackie.
Jan 03, 2008 03:04 PM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
I finally got the stats on this house. The house sold for full price $5.78 million. DOM 42 to closing. DOM after staging = 10.
Jan 05, 2008 05:17 AM