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

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%!

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.

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.

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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Moving Mountains Design Home Staging

Moving Mountains Design is one of the most successful home staging companies in Los Angeles, CA.

We measure our success by the speed in which our staged homes sell, often with multiple offers above listing price. We work with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale.

Some of our services include vacant home staging, occupied home staging, color consultations, corporate and executive relocations, move organization, redesign, and interior design. We also stage model homes, REOs,foreclosures and auction properties.

For more information about our home staging services, contact Los Angeles home stager, Michelle Minch (626)441-8975 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

Posted by Michelle Minch Home Staging Los Angeles & Pasadena, CA on 12/07/2007 09:44 PM

Comments (45)

persian rug, san marino real estate, san marino estate, san marino staged home, moving mountains design, pasadena home staging, arcadia home

Originally posted at: Los Angeles Home Staging Info: $5.78 Million "Fixer" Sells in 10 Days After Staging by Moving Mountains Design

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

DEC

2007

Michelle, that is simply gorgeous!! Your work is just phenomenal! I love Persian rugs and you definitely did a terrific job on this home.

Michelle you go girl that was awesome

Stunning...I hope the seller got over list price for such a beautifully displayed home. You have a great eye for details.

Thanks, Kimberly. The right rugs can add so much to make a home stand out.

From one Michelle to another, thanks. Glad you liked it.

Gail: The selling price is being kept confidential. I didn't know you could do that, but I guess you can. I was told that the seller was very pleased with the selling price and that it was close to the listing price.

Michelle - very nice!

Jackie

Thanks, Jackie.

DEC

2007

Stunning! As always, your attention to detail makes this transformation incredible.

Congratulations. Your post is being featured within the group Staging Before & After Pictures.

Kathy

WAY TO GO MICHELLE!! Of course, you are one of my favs and always do a fantastic job! Do you own the rather large rug?? The line of pillows is so fresh on the sofa and I loved it!! The simplicity of the greenery in the dining room really kept the focus where it should be....the room itself! Thanks for sharing!! Regards-Kathleen G

PS-Good call on the dining table duo!! Great solution!! Now if I could only acquire some palace rugs......

Michelle, this was awesome! I promise to call after this weekend is up! Ive been busy getting ready for the SIF roundtable! I got a 3 hour trip!

I just think you're the best.

Kathy N: Thanks for the feature. I will add some before photos.

Kathleen: Sadly, I don't own those gorgeous rugs. I get them from a local showroom. The dining table was an act of desperation. I couldn't find a single large table anywhere. I was going to cover them with a tablecloth since I was worried about the seam (I was able to find a 144" tablecloth at Tuesday Morning). But it looked so much more elegant without the tablecloth, that I decided to let it go naked. No one noticed the seam between the tables.

Marci: I just facilitated our Los Angeles Roundtable yesterday. It was a blast. I look forward to your call. And thank you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to my sister Barbara (above), a very talented artist and writer. I always send links of my blog to my family. Thanks, Sis. Love you.

Hi Michelle, The rooms look great! Did you stage the living room and dining room only?

I had a great time yesterday at the Round Table meeting, and it was a pleasure to meet you. I'll probably be bothering you more now since we are so close. To your sister, Barbara: Nice to meet you Barbara. Yes you are correct, I also think she's the best.

Diane Concialdi, DC Redesign - Orange County CA

Diane: We were hired to stage the main floor only, so no bedrooms, which were all upstairs. I would have liked to stage the master bedroom which was as large as the living room. We staged the living room, dining room, kitchen, butlers pantry, powder room, the orangerie, the foyer and a small sitting area.

I'm glad you had a good time yesterday. It is no bother, feel free to contact me anytime.

Michelle, The rooms look just awesome, you did a beautiful job with everything! Congrats to you for a very fast sale!

Michelle Wow you really move mountains....thats record sale Congrats!

Thank you Carole. Due to the condition of the home, a number of REAs thought that it wouldn't sell at that price, and certainly not so quickly. Apparently it was appropriately priced, the Listing Agents did a marvellous job marketing it, and the staging allowed the potential of the house to show, and not all the flaws.

Thank you, Fernando.

Michelle you are a true talent and in a league all by yourself. Every room you do is a "Wow" room. I recognize Brooks...the space planning gives it that high end feeling. Beautiful!

Margaret: Thank you. You're not so bad yourself!

Another beautiful job!

If you get the chance could you post the afters of the other rooms? I'd dieing to see them.

Michelle, another fabulous job as always. You are a perfect example of keeping standards high....definitely a shining star you are!

I'm right there with Lori Kim! an awesome job; beautiful work. It must have been quite exciting. Congrats!

Beautiful, Michelle! May I ask- Did you use loaned rugs from a rug dealer in exchange for advertising?

It looks like a palace!

Kathy

Dane: I'm working on it.

LKP & Karen: Thanks.

Sorry Kathy if I told you, I would have to kill you! Just kidding, but that is one aspect of my business that I do not discuss publicly. I have a long term and very mutually beneficial relationship with my Persian rug supplier. However, yours is a good idea.

Oh how nice these rooms are! You're work is truly amazing. I'm very inspired by what you do. Thank you for sharing!

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.

Abby: Thank you so much.

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

DEC

2007

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.

Hi Yvonne: Thank you for the compliment.

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

2007

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!

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

2007

Michelle,

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

Why, thank you, Jo. Coming from you, that is a great compliment.

DEC

2007

Awesome work Michelle! Love how you blended the colors in the living room.

I agree, this is awesome. Congratulations!!!1

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

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.

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!

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

2007

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

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.