All I did was....Home Staging Success Stories

It's official!  The launch of my staging boutique, Michelle Finnamore Interiors, was a grand affair.

Hundreds of real estate sales agents brought their clients through on client appreciation day to see how I could help them to stage their homes for sale as well as providing design services for their new home. 

It all started out with a vision to grow my business from providing only staging services to staging to live (redesign), designing homes from plans, to designing model homes and sales centres for builders.

  The past year was definitely one to remember. Winning design awards both in Canada and the U.S. I knew I had to do something with all the partnerships that I had formed and the upgraded services that I had incorporated into my staging business.

When the brokerage where I had my staging office was expanded to 17,400 sq. ft.  it was perfect timing to open a staging and design studio to fully serve the needs of my clients. With over 200 agents on board it was an win/win opportunity to move up to the next level in my staging business.

Now my clients can stop in to the 900 sq. ft. studio before and after they have moved to their new home to select drapery fabric, headboards, furniture, custom artwork and mirrors (my specialty), choose paint colours and plan furniture placement.

In addition I am looking for a new home/condo builder that would have their decor selection centre inside my studio. It will provide a personal design service for their clients in an central, upscale location in front of a major shopping mall Vaughan Mills. The idea is to move the look of their decor selection centre up to the next level to help differenciate themselves from the other builders.

Thank you to Gabriel Bianchi, the broker of record, and his wife Bessie. They are a blessing in my life....their encouragement and advice in making my dreams become reality will never be forgotten.

 The space was to be finished in 30 days- just in time for the Remax Premier client appreciation night. Gabe kids me about having the largest office at Remax Premier.

As anyone knows, what will go wrong, goes wrong and it all came down to deliveries arriving the night before the launch and more on the morning of the launch.

Being a stager, I knew I could handle the short time line with the help of my team. No matter what gets thrown in my path I always manage to make it all happen.

This is what it looked like the night before the launch...

 

Most of the furniture had arrived two days before and was assembled and arranged. Mirrors and artwork hung the next day, and then 11 more crates turned up late in the evening the night before the launch!

We knew we had 3 hours in the morning before the doors opened so we went home for a good nights sleep. Little did we know that the snow storm that had been blowing in for two days would continue to show up the next morning.

Just another day in the life of a stager, handle the problems that arise and make the deadline.

My space is at the end of the main lobby hall and I had wanted a TV mounted on the wall so that everyone that enters the brokerage would see the looping video of my staging and design work. It never did get installed for the opening (insert boo boo kitty face here) so that was the only thing that did not get done in time.

It's installed now and it is a very effective marketing tool to show my staging work as well as the work designing model homes and builders sales and decor centres.

 

Since opening, curious people entering the lobby  have ventured down the hall to see what it was all about.

It's like no other brokerage that I know of.

How clever is that of the brokerage to offer not only staging services that get results for their clients and an award winning designer for their clients when they move into their  new home. One stop shopping at it's best!

On opening night I had a $10,000 Italian Cowhide sofa on display. It was one of two that were available in Canada and I had one in my design boutique. 

It was another great marketing tool that I was able to give the real estate salespeople when inviting their clients to visit on client appreciation day. Their clients would have one fabulous story to tell over the holidays.

You can imagine them telling their friends and family ...."You'll never believe what I did. My agent invited me to their client appreciation night and I sat on a $10,000 sofa! It would be a conversation that would keep the agents name in front of how many friends and family over the holidays. Now that's smart marketing.

Here are a few of the people that stopped in to enjoy the festivities.

   

 

I was very fortunate to have an up and coming song writer and guitarist to play for the evening. Daniel Humphries was a hit with the agents and the guests. He was offered a trip to Florida to play at a beach side new years eve party!

  Here's a close up of the sofa. It definitely was the hit of the evening. People just couldn't believe how soft it felt. You just had to pet it. 

I had a dream about it  the first day that I saw it.

Now I know what you're thinking. I don't usually dream about furniture either, but this is such a unique piece- almost like artwork.

I knew I had to find a home for it. Still looking for the right person to call it their own and give it a place of pride in their home.

Things have gone well. Sold items the very first day.  Clients whom I had staged their home for sale a couple of months ago dropped in and booked appointments to have me come out to do a consultation for them in the new home.

It's going to be a very interesting year in 2011.

One of the real estate agents said he was going to wish me good luck but he could see I wouldn't need it. Everything was going to be heaven in 2011. What a lovely sentiment!

Thank you to everyone who came out to wish me well. I appreciate that you placed your trust in me to stage your homes for sale, and look forward to working with you in the future!

 

 

Michelle Finnamore Interiors (yes, there has been a company name change)                                               Staging, redesign, model home design

416.928.2999   Vaughan, Woodbridge, Toronto and area

705.720.0113   Barrie and area

2010 North American Home Builders Silver Award for Design - Zancor Homes Kings Ridge King City
2010 Nominated for two Ontario Home Builders Award for Design - Devonleigh Homes Parkside Alliston
2010 Entrepreneur of the Year Award
2009 Trail Blazer Company of the Year Award

 

In this home staging in Vaughan I would like to show the difference between what your home looks like while living in it compared to when you are selling your home.

When you are living there you don't really think about how other people see your home. When you are selling, you are now selling a product.... and you have competition.

To accommodate your active family when you live in your home you typically

• place furniture against the walls to make room for active children

• no artwork is hung over sofas as the children play there and might bump their heads

• toys take precedence in the room over any adult activities

• don't think about drapery as the kids tend to pull on it while playing 
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you are selling your home it is now a product for sale.

Buyers are looking to check off their wants and needs when they view your home. 

To get the most equity out of the sale of your home and to have it sold in the least amount of days there are steps you can take to make this happen.

Step One- Hire an real estate agent that includes a home staging consultation as part of their marketing plan. To sell your home and get the most equity out of  it you must prepare it for sale. A home staging consultation will give you the plan to make that happen.

Step Two- Follow the plan as closely as you can. If you have little time or budget to spare to do the prep work, let the stager know so that they can advise you on where to spend your limited time and budget to reap the most rewards.

Professional home stagers know what buyers are looking for. They can advise you on "staging safe" paint colours that buyers find appealing. Also, whether to replace worn flooring and with which product that buyers find appealing. 41% of buyers will pay more for a house with no "honey do" list.

Step Three- The staging day. Hire your stager to either stage your home to market it for sale or to do a follow up walk through to see what you have done and make simple suggestions if it needs some tweaking.

In this home all I did was take the "kid" centric feeling out of the room and show it as a place for family time with parents and children together. Baskets in red and white store the children's toys for easy access and to indicate whose toys are where. The client was buying new sofas, so I negotiated a discount for their purchase. Simple draperies were bought at a local discount store for $15 each. Artwork, vases, coffee table and end tables were purchased from Ikea and area rug from Rona Hardware. 

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voted Trailblazer Company of the Year 2009.

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In this home staging in Vaughan I would like to show homeowners and agents the importance of updating your look to attract todays buyers. Sellers want the highest price in the least amount of time and agents want to market a home that is ready to sell. Professional home staging is a key part of your marketing strategy to get results. HGTV has created an educated public that will not settle for less than perfect.

If you give your buyer what they see currently in stores and magazines you are bringing the dreams of their next home to life for them.

Buyers start their hunt for their next home with a logical list of things that they want in their next home.

An extra bedroom.

A larger kitchen.

A larger bathroom.

In the end, most buyers still purchase on emotion. Buyers remember how you make them feel when they enter a home.

When buyers walked in the front door of this home, the dining room immediately created an impression that you were somewhere special. Buyers wanted to see the rest of the home. Each room created desire in the mind of the buyer and encouraged them to make an offer.

All I did was paint, move their Ikea table, chairs and buffet from the kitchen to the dining room, add a rug, drapery, artwork and a lamp.

Investment, minimal.

Impact, priceless.

Advantage Staging creates homes that sell with effective, simple and inexpensive solutions.

Winner of the 2009 Trailblazer Company of the Year Award.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this home staging in Vaughan the agent Geroge Zanette of Remax Premier invited Advantage Staging to consult for a senior who really had no idea what home staging was or why you would want to do it.

The condo was vacant as the owner no longer lived there. It was an empty space that buyers would have to imagine what it would look like if they lived there.

Luckily the owner has supportive family that understood that home staging is marketing your property for sale and decided to bring some of their furniture and accessories out of storage and staged the condo themselves. 

To make this condo unique, all I did was suggest that they stage a windowless pantry off the kitchen as an office so that it could be marketed as a two bedroom with office. There were no shelving units in the room so I thought why not market it in a way that would stand out from the other units in the condo building. Give buyers something to remember this particular unit. As the room was quite large, the new owner could always use the room as pantry/office  by adding shelving or storage units.

I never did meet the owner or the family, however, they followed my staging suggestions and look what they accomplished. Remember your professional home stager is a person trained in creating a lifestyle look for any property and this one says "Welcome Home".

Investment, minimal.

Impact, pricless.

  

 

 

 

Once a listing client sees first hand what a professional stager can accomplish in one or two days marketing their home for sale, it often leads to staging their new home for living.

I had the opportunity to stage a property for a busy professional couple with 3 year old twins. Once they had seen the positive change in their present property, they understood that it is the details that bring a design together to create a finished, polished look.

My brief was simple. Stage the five principal rooms on their move in day. Sofas, drapery, artwork, bedding, lighting, area rugs and accessories were purchased over a three day period. 

As the couple were busy packing and moving from an hour away, I was at the new home receiving new furniture deliveries, hanging drapery rods and drapery and staging the rooms. The painter had been in to paint earlier so the stage was set to complete the look.

In the family room I chose a Natuzzi sofa for the parents and an extra long chaise lounge for the children to use. On the far side of the chaise there is a 52" LCD TV. The twins snuggle up on the chaise like kittens when they watch their movies and the parents sit on the sofa looking over the chaise to the TV. This is an idea the client had not thought of and really loved the concept of enjoying their family space in a new way. The cube storage piece stores away their individual toys. The red and white storage bins indicate which childs toys are inside.

  

 

The dining room was the first room that was seen upon entering the front door. It was in need of a focal point so I chose to paint the alcove for the serving piece in a deep, warm red colour. Symphony in Red artwork was selected to create impact and express the entertaining aspect of the room. The overall feeling in the room is now one of warmth and welcoming guests for a good night with friends and food.  The dining room leads out to the centre hall which leads to the family room. The chandelier selected for the space is truly a one of kind, jaw dropping piece. The shade is a grey mylar over a crystal light fixture.

  

The kitchen sits off to the right of the family room and is the heart of the home. I chose to purchase a dining table on its own so that I could select seating that would suit the needs of the clients family.  The adults have individual chairs covered in fabric the same warm red colour used throughout the design of the home. The children have a bench that provides easy on/off access for them to sit at the table. It is also a fun element that the twins really enjoy.  For a focal point on the wall I had my painter apply the same red paint colour to the wall using a stencil. The results are dramatic and create a conversation point for guests when they are over. The client remarked that the stencil mirrored the chandelier image on the wall.

 

For the master bedroom the clients only instructions were that the colours to be used were blue and chocolate brown. When she opened the double doors to the master bedroom her first reaction was tears of happiness. She said that she wouldn't have chosen any of the things that I did but that she loved it all.

This is where a client who trusts their designer to implement the concept for the overall design results in a finished look. Clients remark many times that they go to the store and buy the complete bedding set as shown in the store and when they get home it doesn't have the impact on them that it did in the store.
A professional knows it is in details that the final look comes together. This bedroom is truly a place for the clients to relax in at the end of the day. The artwork on the wall opposite the foot of the bed allows them to feel like they are waking up on vacation each morning. And who wouldn't love that?

 

 

The chair in the master bedroom was a special find. Peacock feather design on the seat side and a beautiful silk on the back panel with studs along the seam.  When the client saw the chair she sat down in it and said she was never leaving her bedroom. It was absolutely more than she ever envisioned for her husband and herself and was overwhelmed with happiness.

Advantage Staging is at your service whether it is for staging to market your home for sale or to stage your home for living.

 

 

 

Awarded Trailblazer Company of the Year 2009

Offices in  Vaughan Mills and Barrie

416.928.2999

705.720.0113