Updated with Staging – Styled & Staged

I love a challenge. I was called in to stage this house after it had been on the market for a few weeks since they weren’t getting the traffic that they wanted. The MLS photos are so important to bring in buyers. It can be very difficult to visualize furniture in a space since empty rooms always look smaller. You also see every flaw in a house when it’s empty since there is nothing to distract you. Buyers are looking for move-in ready homes so that is what we gave them.

Remove the Barriers

Within minutes of being in the house, we tore down the white spindles that served no purpose and definitely dated the room. The owner is extremely handy so he removed the panelling on the half walls and replaced it with drywall. We needed to keep them since the flooring didn’t continue underneath and we didn’t want to replace the whole floor. They also contained the outlets so they were important.

Since they owners only wanted to pain one colour throughout the entire house I chose this light cream. It automatically felt light and fresh. We brought in rental furniture and my rental accessories to show buyers the full potential of the space.

Too Much Wood

The wood panelling really dated and darkened the room. Once the half walls, the entrance to the basement and the closet doors were all painted the same colour as the walls, it instantly updated it.

The built in wall unit was painted white and it was a great place to add more pops of the accent colour.

Think of Function

The wall where the cut-out was in the only wall on the main floor that makes sense to put a TV. Buyers always want to know how they would ‘live’ in the space. The window cut-out could have been a deterrent for buyers who aren’t necessarily handy but it was no problem at all for the owner to fill it in. Remove all the reasons why a buyer might NOT buy a house. I was so grateful how accommodating he was. Although we don’t have a TV in place, it’s easy to see that this is the wall for it.

Drapes

Adding floor to ceiling drapes added elegance and softness to the room. I choose a colour that blended in with the wall so they wouldn’t make the rooms feel small. They just add texture. Even though this window could have used shorter drapes, I wanted to balance the height difference with the window in the dining room.

Because I used the same coloured drapes in dining room, you don’t notice the fact that the window is so high. If I had hung gray drapes, you would have really noticed the big gap under the window more. and the gray drapes would have looked like gray stripes going down a wall.

Remove Dated Elements

I I can’t tell you how excited I was to see the huge tinted mirror come down. It was right out of the 70’s and because it was tinted, it made the room look darker. Now I had a place to hang this extra large artwork as my colour inspiration. The mirror was not centered on the wall so nothing lined up.

I was equally as happy to remove the fan and hang this simple and neutral hanging pendant. I never understood fans over where you eat. All I can imagine is the dust flying onto your food when the blades are spinning. Trust me, I see this all the time.

You can’t go wrong with clean lines on a light fixture when you’re staging a house. It’s versatile for buyers so no matter what their furniture is, they can live with it.

Accessorizing is Key

When I go into the furniture rental store, it can be a bit daunting to know which pieces to choose since I’m choosing furniture for an entire space/house and thinking what accessories I have in my inventory to pull it all together. Everything has to have a nice flow, be simple, but not boring. More importantly, it has to fit (which can be a challenge in older homes). I’m also at the mercy of what is in stock and what is available in my inventory. Since everything changes every day, it’s a challenge but somehow, it always comes together. Adding this large area rug grounds the space and gives it interest because of the pattern. All the artwork and accessories are pretty neutral so it works. Balance and symmetry is extremely important in Staging. You want buyers to be looking at the room and not the ‘stuff’.

Even though the pallet is soft shades of creams, whites, aqua and grays, I’ve added lots of textures to keep it inviting. Because the sofa is the same colour as the wall, it recedes into the wall and makes the room feel larger. If I had chosen a bold sofa, it would have come into the room too much.

The entire house was transformed with a fresh coat of paint, new carpet in the bedrooms, all the light fixtures were replaced and it a deep clean. I believe the Staging will help buyers see themselves living there and see it’s full potential.

This house is move-in ready. When the photographer came back to retake the photos, he hardly recognized the house. It’s had incredible feedback so far, with lots of showings on the first open house so I’m sure it won’t be on the market for long.