"All the house can be a stage" is the title of an article the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) published in their weekend "HOME FINDER" section a week ago.

The author, Mary Booth Thomas, did not interview home stagers for input, nor did she interview REALTORS for validation of Atlanta home staging expertise. 

Her validation as to the value of home staging came straight from the house's horse's mouth!

Ms. Thomas interviewed home sellers regarding their take on home staging in the Atlanta market.  She asked questions about the value of their home staging experience for an occupied home. 

• was home staging a value in selling?
• was it a value for showings?
• was the experience worth the time and investment?
• what did you expect and what was home staging in your own home really like?

I was fortunate enough to have 3 of my recent past clients interviewed/referenced for the article.  The testimonies they gave supporting the experience of home staging their occupied home was fabulous!  Here's some excepts from the article that involves their comments:

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When Maj. Toby Moore and his wife, Susan, put their house in Peachtree City up for sale in May, they expected it to be on the market for quite a while."

Instead, they sold their home in a week-and-a-half and got full price.

Their secret: At the suggestion of their Realtor, Leigh Steele of Prudential Georgia Realty, they hired Karen Dembsky of Peachtree Home Staging to make their home more appealing to prospective buyers.

"Home staging is part of our Realtor's selling plan," Susan Moore said. "There never had been a house in our neighborhood that sold for that much. It definitely works."

Professional home stagers move furniture and minimize accessories to highlight a home's positive features and play down the negative.

Upon Dembsky's advice, Moore packed up family photos and her children's artwork and removed the shower curtain in one bathroom to show off the tile. "She rearranged things to make the house flow better and removed a lot of personal things to make it show better," Moore said.

Moore was so impressed she recommended Dembsky to her mother, Barbara Lovejoy, who sold her home in Alpharetta in less than a month.

. . .  Shelly Peacock was initially apprehensive when her Realtor suggested bringing in someone to stage her home in the Maple Shade community in Tyrone, where several other homes in the $650,000 range are also on the market.

"My vision was that someone was going to come home and criticize my style. That wasn't the case at all," she said. "Once I got over it, it's fabulous."

In the living room, Dembsky rearranged the furniture to open up the space and make it more interesting, Peacock said. Dembsky worked with the Peacocks to pack up 15 boxes of personal items and memorabilia, in addition to what Peacock had packed before Dembsky arrived.

"It frees up your life. Now, when the house is going to be shown, I don't have to run around and straighten up all the stuff I had before," Peacock said.

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                             BEFORE                                                                    AFTER

How folks live in a home is their business, how folks present the home for sale is my business!

For tips on how to prepare your home for sale and information on staging a home in Atlanta, visit the web site of PEACHTREE HOME STAGING or call us at 770 595-8809. 

We do occupied and vacant home staging with professional perfection! 

If you would like to e-mail us specific questions our address is:  Karen@PeachtreeHomeStaging.com

Peachtree Home Staging is a proud APPROVED AND ACCREDITED Business of the Greater Atlanta Better Business Bureau. 

Peachtree Home Staging Serves all of Metro Atlanta:  Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton and Gwinnett counties in Georgia, including, Alpharetta, Atlanta, Brooks, Chamblee, Decatur, Douglasville, Duluth, Dunwoody, Fairburn, Fayetteville, Jonesboro, Lawrenceville, Lilburn, McDonough, Newnan,  Norcross, Peachtree City, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Senoia, Sharpsburg, Stockbridge, Tucker, and Tyrone