CUStaging

As a professional stager, each new client and house I have the privelege of working with is like a new puzzle.  And I love puzzles!  Sometimes it's a 3000 piece puzzle that you know is going to take you extra time to create a staging plan for and other times, it's a 500 piece puzzle that when you put it together, it just shines quickly.  

What's the best way for a client and home stager to work together?

When a stager is meeting with a client, usually on the second visit, to share with them the staging plan, the home stager becomes a tight rope walker.  It's a constant balance to positively share the prescribed changes with the homeowner and not hit a nerve and offend them.  Each stager has their own approach – some are no nonsense, pull no punches, tell it like it is.  Others, work with the client in a way that is a bit softer to make the client feel comfortable.  As a seller, you get to choose the type of personality you'd like to work with in a home stager.  But whatever the approach you're comfortable with, keep in mind that the staging professional should be there to help you maximize the value of your home to help you get the best price possible.  All the recommendations and changes should be focused on helping achieve that.  So as much as you adore your Aunt Myrtle's hand-woven tapestry of pelicans you have hanging in your dining room, don't feel hurt if your stager asks you to take it down.  Keep an open mind when your stager reviews their recommendations  and instead, get excited for the adventure in front of you of looking for your new home.

500 Piece Puzzle…..Touch here, new addition here, and it's like a makeover!

This past week, we had a fabulous client who lived in a beautiful classically decorated condo with fantastic views.   Many realtors would have just asked them to declutter their personal items and photos and put the condo on the market as is.  But this client's real estate salesperson recognized that she could maximize the selling price of her client's condo by bringing in a professional stager to just tweak the overall look and feel in the condo.  

Before: The dining room before picture shows a classic, elegant dining room, with a spectacular china cabinet that featured sparkling crystal and a second well-appointed cabinet with collectibles. Add in a green ficus tree and a large table topper on the dining room table (not counting the cat!) and for everyday living, it's a terrific room that has enjoyed many dinner parties.  But for selling the condo, there were a few too many items and the large dining room space wasn't being featured.  Plus, the mirrored wall to the right (behind the black cabinet) which should be reflecting maximum light, was being covered.

After:  The dining room after picture still shows a classic, elegant dining room, but you can clearly see the fine bones of the room, especially with the mirrored wall to the right being totally open.  The china cabinet was moved out to storage and the items packed away, ready to move.  (A great benefit of having your home staged as you'll actually have many items pre-packed.)  The black cabinet was moved to the wall and the items were reduced to a few per shelf, focusing on glass and green items.  The orientation of the dining room table was changed to help seperate and create a distinctive dining room space, as the room opened directly into the living room without any partitions.  And the new dining room topper combination in white brought a lightness to the room that was carried into the living room.  

This dining room and the condo itself certainly did not require a major re-work.  Just a refresh and some minimal changes to help maximize the space and to help sell the condo more quickly and for the best price.  

3000 Piece Puzzle…..Sometimes, it takes more than a day and requires some elbow grease.

The other staging we had last week was the total opposite of the condo above in the amount of work that needed to be done.  Thank goodness the client was just as great as the previous one, as it helped us manage this estate sale home staging quickly, efficiently, and with a minimum of fuss.  We do a lot of estate sales, where the individual is either moving to a retirement home, assisted living, or has passed away and their children or executor are putting their house up for sale.  A lot of times, these houses have not been updated for quite some time and need to have a much more extensive staging plan to make the house sparkle for perspective buyers.  

Before/After: The total time of this staging took place over 3 weeks.  The home was freshly painted on the main level as was the basement, which included painting the ceiling in the basement (which we had sprayed white to brighten the space) and the cement floor.  And by painting, it's not just paying neighborhood kids to slap a couple of coats on the walls.  We had professional painters who cleaned the walls and doors, then sanded, and then painted the walls a soft buttery yellow we had selected which makes the house warmly glow.   We knew the next owners would most likely totally renovate the kitchen, so instead of doing that renovation, the cabinets were primed and painted a neutral color, the counters were painted taupe with a special paint and technique was used to paint the countertops, and a new tile floor was laid.  The hardwoods throughout were cleaned, sanded, revarnished, and shined.  Baseboard molding was added. Light fixtures were updated.  The front door and trim was painted for curb appeal along with the outdoor light being replaced.  And inside, the eat-in kitchen, living room, and master bedroom were staged.  Phew!  The home's sellers were very happy to have all of that managed by us. The initial offer price of the home was increased dramatically as a result of these changes and showings took place before the home even had its first open house.  

Creating a house that shines!

It's vital for home stagers to not be afraid to create a plan that will maximize the property's potential to sell.  Sometimes that is a plan that will only take 3-4 hours to complete the transformation and sometimes it's a multi-layer plan that the stager can help the seller manage that takes place over a few weeks, but in the end, creates a jewel of a listing.   How you work with your home stager and how your home stager works with you is vital to the ultimate success of what you're trying to achieve – a great price for your home and a quick sale.

For me, as a home stager, one of the rewards is when the seller walks in for the reveal and is so pleased that they can't stop smiling.  And telling their friends! 

For many people, buying a house is the single, largest purchase they are going to make in their lifetime.  It's scary, exhilirating, and very much fraught with emotional highs and lows.  Looking for a new home is an emotional journey and buying a home is an emotional decision for many.  The first impression your home gives, can either elevate or destroy a potential buyer's interest.  Staging helps you to craft that emotion to be positive.

Isn't Staging Just Smoke & Mirrors?

Sometimes it is.  But it's the right use of those smoke and mirrors to make your house feel welcoming to those potential buyers walking through.  It's about just the right placement of furniture, just the right amount of items in a room, and the color palette that's used to create the mood.  Staging creates an illusion that the buyer feels, can sink into, and thinks, yes, I could live here.

I Watch All Those Shows on HGTV.  Can't I Do It Myself?

Sure, anyone can watch the shows about staging, and they have some terrific tips anyone can apply to their own house.  But there is an art to staging that education, experience, and talent bring to the table for your benefit as a home seller.  Professional stagers view your space with an eye that is able to strip the room to its' bare bones, declutter it, reorganize it, rearrange furniture, add apropriate pieces/accessories, and subtly change the feeling of your house from being your home to being a potential home for someone else.  The minute you decide to sell your home, it then becomes a house and a product, and should be treated that way.  You want a potential buyer to love it and want it as much as you did when you first bought it.

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We've been enjoying a bit of a heatwave in Toronto, with temperatures feeling spring-like.  As a result, people are thinking about the coming season and inevitably, if they are going to sell, thinking about getting their home ready.  The phones have been ringing with questions and appointments as a result.  Here's a few things we've been sharing with our clients as they get geared up for spring, as a prep for getting their house ready to sell!

#1:  The dreaded pack away, store, or throw out?   Things in our home's are those items that we've either purchased, been given, found, rescued, or inherited.  Somehow, at some point, these items have meant something to us.  Now while we all don't live in an episode of Hoarders, thankfully, many of us do have places we stash things – in closets, under beds, in the spare room, basements, and garages.  Some items are waiting for repair, some are waiting for our kids to grow up, and some are just waiting.  Best advice?  If it isn't a family heirloom and if you haven't seen it or used it in over 3 years, either toss it or donate it.  It's not worth keeping around, adding to the clutter and collecting dust.

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