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Article Published in South Shore Newspapers...

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Home Stager with Orderly Manor Organizing & Redesign/Staging Services

Here is my article recently published in my local papers for my column "got clutter?".  Hope you enjoy!

Got clutter?: Staging a profit on your home

By Patty McPherson

Fri Dec 19, 2008, 01:08 PM EST

Trying to sell your home or thinking about doing so? It's a tough road these days for a lot of homeowners. But if you'd like a competitive edge, consider home staging. 

According to the Real Estate Staging Association, home staging is "the process of preparing your property for sale bysetting the scene throughout the house to create immediate buyer interest in your property [by] highlight[ing] all the benefits - space, traffic flow, curb appeal and overall ambience.

 The main benefit of hiring a professional to stage your home is that they will look at your surroundings with an experienced, tasteful and objective eye. They won't be attached to grandmother's antique table, nor will they have the same affinity you may have for that pink bathroom. They will be able to tell you which items should be removed or added, and how best to feature your home.

There probably isn't a single house that couldn't benefit from some design evaluation - even if it's simply some reorganizing, freshening up and clutter removal. Often, suggestions and changes from professionals can amount to significant increases in the bottom line profit when selling your home. StagedHomes.com, a leader in home staging services, cites an average of at least 3 percent increase in the final sales price for homes that had been staged, versus those that had not. On a $300,000 home, that's a $9,000 increase, and well worth the staging fees. Remember, when you are selling your home, you are concerned with how potential buyers are going to like it, not whether it is decorated in your taste. You are trying to appeal to the broadest audience and your country cow collection in the kitchen may only appeal to a small minority. Again, here is where a staging/redesign professional can help to market the potential of your house in a tough real estate market.

Even if you are not putting your house on the market, the staging principles can still be applicable.

One of my organizer/redesigner pet peeves is when clients place items and furniture around the perimeter of a room with lots of floor space in the center. I joke that, unless they are holding aerobics or dance classes in the room, all that empty space and air is unnecessary. You want a living room to be inviting and cozy, and clearly suggest where you want people to congregate. For a good conversation area, make sure the furniture is arranged so people won't be more than 10 feet apart. Hang artwork so it's connected with a conversation area, grouping, seating or vignette (i.e. lamp, side table, reading chair), not merely placed in the center of a large wall.

Rearranging a furniture layout and mixing things up in a new way allows you to look at the elements of a room differently, and during the process you may also purge, clean and reevaluate items. Nothing is set in stone, so you can move things around without commitment. Try new placement options: a sofa or cabinet at an angle; using the backside of a couch or desk to create a virtual wall or room divider; shifting furniture to see if a new layout will work. Start with what you'd love it to be, and then work backwards through what you can realistically do. Just see how something works in another spot or if you can shift things around to make a better design statement, allow for better traffic flow, or accommodate changing needs.

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