Kathy,

I always tell my sellers to paint the "height" walls for emphasis in a different color.  Even if it is just a shade different than the regular height walls.

I have a huge green triangle in the dining room. Many of the walls are white, so the color adds emphasis without making the home dark.

What I like best about my before and afters is the befores were staged also by the previous owner and agent.  Not simply clutter vs. de-clutter, but a total transformation.

Miriam,

I don't mind your comments at all! 

The room is staged for showing at this point and to me staging is all about walking and noticing the key points of the home, and not sitting.  In staging and decorating, you create a focal point.  But in decorating the focal point is about sitting...in staging the focal point is about walking through it.  Professional Stagers and I often disagree on this point.  Buyers usually don't sit down until they have pretty much decided to buy the place, so you have to "grab them" while they are walking...not when they are sitting.

I made the piano the focal point and not the traditional focal point...the fireplace.  The room is long and narrow because of the walk way through, so focusing on the end vs the center creates more width.  Plus the window next to the piano has a framed view of the Seattle City Skyline which is fabulous at night!  Much more interesting than a fireplace.

I always say if you are standing and looking or sitting, you aren't staging...you are decorating.  You have to walk through quickly turning your head this way and that, like Robin Williams in Birdcage when evaluating your after product.

Neal,

This is the only room in the entire house with anything on the windows besides blinds.  They are draped scarves.  Because the paint gives a stark angled feature, the scarves add softness.  Most of the walls are white, but from the angle of the photos you see color.  The longest walls are white and the shortest walls (the height walls) are the drama.

The architecture and original details are from 1921, so some softness is required to blend the addition with the original detailing from yesteryear.  This is one of the only rooms left intact from 1921 as is the porch frontage.  Everything behind this room both up and down was added in 1994.  The original clawfoot bath and french door front bedroom is off of this front "parlor".

We use the front area complete with bathroom as the "office" area and the front "bedroom" as Kim's office.  The rear behind the living and dining room is a great room with two sitting areas and my office.  The main floor is 1,600 square feet with two offices front and rear, 1.5 baths on this level, a great room, a dining room and kitchen, Eight rooms on the main floor alone.  750 SF UP is the master suite and another 1,200 sf on the lower level has additional bedrooms and a bonus/theater room.

With so many sitting areas in the rest of the home (three or four), the main room becomes "a sitting parlor" as in olden days vs a traditional living room.

Michael,

It's not a flip project.  The transformation as to style and use of the rooms is primarily the difference between the way the former owner used the house or the former agent staged it and the way I did. 

It's a good example of how two different viewpoints can transform a home with just a little paint and different furnishings.

The previous owner had already moved out, so I'm not sure if the furniture was his in the BEFORE photos, or it was staged.  Always seemed odd to me that a single guy would have such a granny decor.  "Granny Decor" doesn't go over well in Artsy Kirkland, but does in Woodinville. 

Buyer profiling is part of staging.  Who might buy it?  If the likely buyers are not going to be Country Style...then you can't stage in doilies :)