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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Michelle - What a great post, and well targeted to sellers. You could make a flyer from this! Julie
Nicely done Michelle!
Hi Julia, That's a very good suggestion! I find to sell your service as a home stager these days that you must show your work. As more and more sellers and agents watch HGTV, they come to believe that by moving a few things around or decluttering that they have staged their property for sale. We have to show them that staging is marketing a home for sale and it is about proportion, scale, colour and flow.
HI Kimberley, thanks for stopping in to see this transformation. Staging this room really created a whole new look and feel to the room.
Really perfect illustration of "how we live" to "how we sell"! Every mother who has had young children underfoot all day can relate to this room! Push everything to the wall, no boo-boos from sharp corners, soft carpet to catch the spills, (juice and more!) and plenty of toys to choose from! What a grown up space it was transformed into, with minimal investment. Very nice work!
Michelle, the room looks fabulous! Great job!
It is amazing what such little things do when trying to sell a home. Thanks for sharing Michelle.
I love what you did with the living room Michelle. You really did a great job. You're so right that we need to live in our homes very differently when we are selling. BTW, love the chaise.
Hi Cheryl, the conversation with your client in regards to making the home present less like a daycare and more like a home for all members can be a tricky one. Most of us know it is easier to take the "safe" route when we have small children. Give them a place to burn off their energy in a safe environment where you can keep an eye on them but when it comes to selling their home, preparing it for sale is really is the right marketing route to take to get the most equity out of a home and to have it sell in a shorter period of time.
Hi Janice, thanks for stopping in to see this living room. It is like night and day in presentation and feel.
Hi Adam, I get an immense sense of satisfaction when I can create such a dramatic difference in a room. And the results speak for themselves... this house sold quickly as we gave buyers what they were looking for in a home.
Hi Charlene, as you know living in a home and selling it are two different ways of having your home look. The chaise and the sofa are from the Natuzzi leather line at Sears. Did you know that Sears offers designers and stagers a discount? Plus my client got 3 x's the points on her sears card. Now that is what you hire your stager for- to negotiate on non sale items to save you money on your budget.
Great post with great advice to those selling their homes. Your examples are done very nice..thanks for sharing
Oh man Michelle, I see no evidence of a kid centric central in that gorgeous room, well done! It really is a beautiful designed adult living room now.
HI Mary Lou, it is really hard for families trying to imagine how to live without every single toy out at a time, but it is easy to do as children only play with 5 or 6 toys at a time.
HI Cynthia, the kids actually like having their toys in the bins. Most children enjoy the activity of having a place for their things from an early age. Plus the parents put a special small treat( sometimes just their snack) in each childs bin so it makes it exciting for them to see what a new day holds in their bin.
In a word "beautiful." Your home staging truly made a difference, Michelle!
Congratulations. Your home staging is being featured in the group Staging Before and After Pictures.
Kathy
Thank you Kathy! I appreciate my work being recognized as a feature. It was a pleasure working in this house as the end results were so dramatically different from when I arrived.