Major Transformation with Staging

I loved working on this project!  The Realtor and the homeowners went above and beyond what I suggested.  We all wanted to make sure the house was presented in it’s best form.

Dramatic Entrance

The front foyer is the first impression for buyers so you want to make sure it gives the ‘wow’ factor.  Remember, staging is different from living/decorating.  It can be challenging to live in a staged home but the better the house looks, the faster it will sell.

The first thing buyers will now notice are the rich gray curved walls.  We pulled the colour from the veining in the floor tiles.

With the darker walls, you notice the beautiful oval tray ceiling with the lighter gray and white shades.

Changing the light fixture also made a huge difference.  Lighting is like the jewelry on an outfit.  I like how this one casts interesting shadows on the ceiling and walls and doesn’t block any views.

The darker colour makes the foyer feel like its own special room.  I always tell homeowners to remove coat trees, boots and shoes etc. since it might make buyers wonder if there is a hall coat closet.  This house has a huge closet.  I hung a mirror that had a wire backing so I could use a big j-hook on the rounded walls.  Adding the ottoman and cushions added softness and it invited you into the space.

When to Rent Furniture

Buyers are not buying the furniture but they are buying a ‘perceived’ lifestyle.  We rented the sofa, loveseat, chair, lamps and coffee table from a furniture rental store.  Styled & Staged was able to accessorize once the main pieces were place.

Removing the TV out of the ‘formal’ living room allowed space for a chair which is more suitable for entertaining.  Notice how nicely the soft colours flow into the front foyer.

Staging an Empty Room

Sometimes, it’s just not possible to rent or buy furniture for all rooms.  The good thing about an empty dining room is that as long as there is a chandelier, buyers know it’s the dining room.  I choose this chandelier since it was large and took up visual space with the round drum shade.  The style is neutral for the masses and will go with any style of furniture.  The area rug helps give the room some softness since there are no drapes.  They didn’t need drapes since they had beautiful white shutters.  The large artwork and mirror give buyers a sense of where they would put their buffet.

Adding artwork not only helps with the scale of the room, but it also makes the room more memorable.  The colours all flow from room to room. Their area rug was actually in a bedroom upstairs but it had more impact in this room.

The chandelier also draws your eye up to notice the beautiful ceiling and crown molding. You can certainly mix your metals like we did here with the brushed nickel light and the gold textured mirror.

The Finishing Touches

This is everyone’s dream kitchen.

The only thing that were missing were two pendants above the island.

These large pendants finished off the room perfectly.  The simple design is stylish, yet neutral for buyers.

Adding a few pops of the soft colour palette finished off the already perfect room.

The back splash and the floor tile were my colour inspiration for all the artwork and accessories on the main floor.

How to Create a Cozy Space

When you have huge rooms like this, it can be challenging to make them feel cozy if you don’t have a lot of furniture.  We started by adding artwork.  From the artwork we could add accessories and cushions for more colour.

The large sisal area rug helped add texture and made the dark furniture pop against the dark floor.  Big floor plants are great for adding life to any home.  Although there were pot lights, it’s nice to add mood lighting with table or floor lamps.  The artwork made the fireplace the focal point of the room.

Adding a tray on an ottoman, creates an instant coffee table.  It also gives you another hard surface for decorative items.

How Far do You Have to Continue With the Colour Flow?

Since you can see the dining room from the landing upstairs, I wanted to continue the colour flow. Adding artwork gave the landing some personality.

Again, the importance of light fixtures in high end homes are very important.  The light bulb was replaced with the massive 24″ sphere.  An electrician was brought in to install all the new light fixtures of the home.  Not only did the accent colours flow, the lights all flowed from one room to the other as well.

Thank you again for everyone’s team work on this project.  I think the results speak for themselves.