Home Staging: Before and After ~ Week 2

Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments 

on my Home Staging post last week.  

It is hard sometimes for me to put that kind of post out 

because it is not what I think if as true decorating.  

Real decorating is planning and selecting furniture, 

accessories, paint colors etc. 

over a period of time for and with the homeowner. 

Staging is more like problem solving to me.  

I go in, I go out, I only have a certain amount of time 

and I usually never interact with the homeowners much.  

In this particular staging job I did go in and take pictures beforehand 

and I generated a report listing all of the things that they should do before 

listing the home.  

Let's get started.

The homeowner was the nicest lady! 

She needed to downsize because her last son was headed to college.  

I feel that pain right now!  

It is a four bedroom home with a living room, dining room, kitchen on the main floor 

and all of the bedrooms upstairs.  

The basement was unfinished which will hurt the sale in my opinion.  

The school district is excellent and it is in a very desirable area.  

The entry was small 

but it was two stories which makes it look bigger.  

The light fixture was outdated and I suggested that it be replaced.  

She was planning on painting and replacing the carpet 

so I brought along my paint decks 

to look at some possible color choices.

She didn't replace the light...

but with a fresh coat of paint and new carpet 

it looked fresh and updated.  

The dining room to the left of the entry was problematic.  

The bottom half is painted bright yellow/gold 

and the chair railing is falling down.  

The ceiling fan was hung in the middle of the ceiling old school style 

with the chain dangling down the wall.  

On the plus side, the french doors are pretty 

and the ceilings are nice and high. 

I wasn't sure why she had this glass table here 

and trust me if I am confused then potential buyers will be very confused!  

I suggested that she put the original dining room table back in its place 

and remove the hutch altogether 

to make the room look larger. 

When I am taking pictures I am not thinking about blogging it afterwards apparently.   

I am usually walking around trying 

not to be obtrusive 

and snapping photos of things 

that I want to remember.  

 Here is the After photo.   

I brought in a lot of my own accessories for this job.  

She didn't have any large items that were usable 

so it was just easier to go into my storage and gather what I needed.  

The buffet was moved from the family room 

and I placed matching floral pictures above it.  

I wanted it to look simple and elegant.  

I removed the blue drapes to show the 

pretty arched window off.  

Remember that you are selling real estate not decor.  

The attributes of the house have to stand out and not be hidden.  

This room is to the right of the entry.  

They were using it as a sort of den area. 

Again, it is confusing for buyers 

when there are too many purposes for one room.  

My suggestion was to paint, remove most of the furniture 

and stage it as a music room.  

You will see why 

when we go into the family room and kitchen area.  

You can see lots of cords and wires dangling everywhere.  

This has to be fixed because it is distracting to buyers.  

All the see is "Danger" when they see lots of cords and wires.

And After!  

It is always amazing to me what a little paint can do!  

The mirror was eventually hung up 

but it was heavy and the realtors were going to do it for me.  

The basket under the table 

is hiding the router and a bunch of cords.  

See, no one would ever suspect!  

This room was also a real problem room.  

It is off of the kitchen 

and was packed with furniture.  

In this picture you can see the layout of the home.  

In this one room she had a sofa, 

two chairs, two ottomans, a piano, 

a buffet, a cocktail table and another smaller chest/buffet.  

Wayyyyyyyy too much furniture!  

Buyers are buying space!  

We relocated the buffet to the dining room 

and the piano to the "Music Room" 

and rearranged the furniture for a better traffic flow.  

The cocktail table was too large 

so we tried a couple of different pieces 

before deciding on this end table.  

I threw a couple of my pillows on the sofa 

because I felt like the floral chairs were overwhelming the space.  

 Painting the bookcases and the insets over the bookcases 

helps to neutralize the space 

and make the fireplace a focal point again.  

Now it looks very spacious and light and bright.  

Overall the kitchen was looking pretty good .  

Painting and decluttering will snap it back into shape.  

It was the same yellow/gold color that was used thru out the home.  

Here you can see the formal dining room table 

and some ladder back chairs.  

 Lots of clutter on the top of the cabinets 

and on the counters.  

My rule of thumb is no more than three appliances 

on the counters and preferably only two.  

Refrigerators always need to be decluttered!  

 Now doesn't that look like a great kitchen?  

All we did was paint and declutter.  

Most of the time that is all that a space needs to be show ready!  

Remember that most people look on the internet first 

when choosing which homes to visit.  

If this is the photo you saw wouldn't you put it on your list?  

Of course a little greenery goes a long way 

in freshening up a room.  

Let's take a look upstairs.

Bedroom number one.

 Bedroom number two.

Transformed 

by removing the drapes 

and folding down the comforter.  

It was too dark with the comforter pulled up 

and in pictures it makes it look like a dark hole in the room.  

Bedroom number two got a little rearranging.  

It looks so much larger now.  

The bed looks a little messy to me... 

I remember now 

that we were in a hurry to finish 

because there was a showing in the afternoon. 

The master bedroom had some challenges.  

Lots of dated furniture and lots of clutter.

The mirror over the dresser was actually broken.  

This sets off warning bells in a prospective buyers mind.  

When something is broken 

they see the home as not well cared for 

and it scares them.

The homeowner didn't have the budget to paint upstairs so 

we had to make do.  

The bedding set is mine.  

I keep four or five of the 

"bed-in-a-bag" 

sets handy to use for staging.  

We brought up one of the dining room chairs 

to place at the writing desk.  

 The Master Bath was in the process of being re-tiled.  

She had the most interesting closet.  

Those two sets of mirrored doors that you see 

are one closet that goes 

all the way behind the tub.  

Lots of storage!  

 I didn't do a thing but hang this picture.  

Simple and clean is always a winner.

The other bathroom all staged.  

Again, simple and clean is what people want to see.  

I would show you the before picture 

but that wouldn't be fair to the homeowner.  

I have a feeling that she told her college son 

to clean up before I came over 

and like most boys that age 

their idea of clean and ours are vastly different!

I am happy to report 

that this house had not one but TWO offers 

on the very day that I was there to do the final staging touches!  

The moral of this story is neutral and light and bright sells homes!  

I hope you are still enjoying this series!  

I'll be back next week with another fun one!  

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves

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