home staging tip: To Garden or Not To Garden...That Is The Question (when selling)
- 05/21/10 03:45 AM
I was consulting with a staging client last week, and she was lamenting that she wasn't able to put in her tomatoes this year because they were selling the house. I asked her why not, and she said that she didn't think it would look good to buyers. I didn't agree and here's why: if a garden bed is neat, clean, weeded and thriving - this makes the whole yard look good gardens are inviting - and promote that image of "I could live like this" that you want when selling the home backyard, urban 'homesteading' is super hot right … (17 comments)
home staging tip: Shiny Brass = Kiss of Death
- 01/24/10 05:13 AM
It's everywhere, that shiny brass! You see it on doorknobs, light fixtures, cabinet pulls, faucets and more. When I do staging consults, recommending that people update their fixtures and doorknobs is one of my key points. Nothing says, "lowball me" or "this house hasn't been updated" like a pitted, tarnished, shiny (or not so shiny anymore) brass front door knob. Now of course, it can depend on the price point of the home, but in my area (and I'm guessing this is true in others as well), the houses that are selling are either way underpriced/foreclosure types, or the ones … (22 comments)
home staging tip: Stinky smells in a home for sale & my quotes in The Tennessean yesterday . . .
- 11/15/09 09:26 AM
I had a nice call last month from a local reporter doing a story about smells in a home for sale. It's a major concern in a lot of houses. Smells are one of the biggest turn offs for so many buyers and one of the things that home owners rarely address primarily because, well, they don't notice them. Some obvious ones are cat boxes, baby diapers or stinky food. But some not so obvious (to the home owner, anyway) include air fresheners, especially those awful plug in kinds; mold or mildew smells; cigarette odors that are embedded in the walls … (9 comments)
home staging tip: No headboard in the Master Bedroom? Make One for under $50!
- 08/17/09 10:05 AM
I often run into clients on a tight budget who want their house to look terrific when it sells (that's why they hire me!). But, as is so often the case, even while much of the house looks really nice, the master bedroom is the last place to get spruced up. I find a big bed - usually just a mattress & box spring on a frame - in the middle of the room with a bunch of mish-mosh furniture pieces. Anyone who stages knows that you need to make a master bedroom a retreat and without a headboard, the room … (16 comments)
home staging tip: Where Organizing and Staging cross paths . . .clutter is your enemy when selling!
- 06/17/09 03:50 AM
Clutter is the downfall of most houses, and never is this more apparent than when a house goes on the market. As both a Professional Organizer and Home Stager, it's really amazing how much of my organizing skills I use when I stage. In fact, I'm surprised there aren't more stagers that are PO's as well! So from my Professional Organizer hat, here's some tips for stagers (as if you don't already know these!!), but mostly for homeowners putting their house on the market: A stager will tell you to de-clutter. This means PUT AWAY OR GET RID OF ALL OF … (8 comments)
home staging tip: Why "Now I don't want to move" is music to my ears! Don't wait to improve-enjoy it now!
- 06/12/09 03:10 AM
One of the things I love about staging in occupied homes is that when I'm done, usually working hand in hand with the homeowner, the comments are usually something along the lines of "I wish I'd done this years ago" or "I don't want to leave now!". And why not? Why not do the things that need to be done now - so you can enjoy them while you are in a home. Here's some of the things I do when I stage that can be done at any time, so you can have the home you want while you are … (8 comments)
home staging tip: tired (but good quality) doorknobs? replate instead of replace
- 05/21/09 08:17 AM
I recently staged a contemporary 80's home that had a fabulous doorknob & door knocker. The only problem was that they were pitted and worn. They're by Baldwin and the knob was a mortise lock - which if you know these, involves lots of parts and space on the interior of the door. My initial thought was to replace them, which is what I usually do, but these were so nice and the knocker was just amazing - heavy and really cool. So instead, I took them in for replating. WOW. I had them plated in brushed nickel. They look amazing. Brand … (12 comments)
home staging tip: there is such a thing as too much de-personalizing...blandness does not inspire offers
- 05/19/09 02:01 AM
Usually when I go on a staging consult, it's an occupied house which generally means that personal items have accumulated in the home such as family photos, toys, prescription bottles, calendars, religious or political items, etc. These are the kinds of things I recommend removing as the main goal of staging is to get the buyer to visualize themselves in the home. But lately, I've been running into an opposite problem. Sellers who "get ready" for the Stager or misunderstood what their Realtor told them (or the Realtor didn't really understand the concept of "depersonalization"), or in some cases, just never got … (13 comments)
home staging tip: Stainless appliances help sell - but you can be budget friendly
- 03/22/09 10:09 AM
I had a client recently who is putting their house on the market - during the consult, we discussed upgrading the appliances. She asked why - the ones she has worked perfectly fine. This is where I went into my discussion of the perception of prospective buyers. In the $600,000 price range, people expect certain things. Here I could go into my rant about builder's model homes bumping up the expectations of even low end homes but I won't. Stainless steel appliances are one of those expectations. BUT - there are things you can do on a budget, and here they are: You … (5 comments)
home staging tip: chocolate brown is my new black
- 03/19/09 02:45 PM
I've been using chocolate brown now for a while instead of black for front doors, bathroom cabinetry headboards when staging to sell. And I just love it. I have a current client who is building a headboard for their master bedroom (bed, white duvet, limp curtains, white walls . . . you get the picture). Luckily he's handy but we're going to create a Pottery Barn style headboard and we'll paint it - yes, chocolate brown. I'll post a pic when it's done. I just did a cute little house with cream siding - did the door and shutters in chocolate and … (15 comments)
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