Fresh and Neutral Staging for Top Results

One of the best parts of my job is staging vacant homes so they can really shine when listed.  While each home is unique and requires certain distinct accessories to showcase its specific features, there is definitely a formula for creating invitingly staged vignettes.

The first thing to consider is furniture and how it should be arranged to create a conversation area.  It is important that there still be plenty of space for potential buyers to walk around the room during showings.  A house that is too full does not show well because buyers cannot easily access all areas of the rooms including looking through windows and doors throughout the house.  It is important to remember that the furniture is there to demonstrate how the space is to be used, not to fill empty space!

The 2^nd piece of the puzzle is to accessorize.  I love to use fresh looking accessories such as orchids and grasses to bring energy into a vacant house.  It is amazing how quickly a home can be brought to life with a few plants.   It is important to remember to keep accessories simple and only to use them to showcase a feature of the house.  Decorative items should be used to accentuate countertops, built-ins and fixtures rather than to distract from them.  If done correctly, the kitchen island centerpiece will draw a buyer’s eye to the island itself rather than the decoration.  Items on a bookcase will remind them of how much storage built-in shelving will give them rather than what is currently on the shelf.

After the furniture is in place and accessories are added, the next step is to walk through the home again to make sure everything inside flows from room to room.  The home pictured here does a wonderful job of carrying finishes  throughout the house.  My job as a stager was to continue that flow in the style of accessories and the color choices.

The end result is a listing with much more appealing photos and a more warm and inviting feel during showings.  If you have a vacant home you need to sell, staging is well worth the cost and effort.

**OR list with Kate of the Mari Halliday Team and have it staged for free!

Pot Racks for Creative Kitchen Storage

If you are like many homeowners, you are in need of more storage in your kitchen.  No matter how big your space, it seems to be human nature to fill every last bit of it.  One great idea to add utility, value, and decoration to your kitchen? A unique pot rack!  The great thing about a pot rack is it can be hung either from the ceiling if you have higher ceilings or from a wall if you have unused wall space.  One of my favorites is to combine the pot rack with creative lighting over an island!  The designs are endless and can be easily made to fit any space.  You can achieve a very rustic look or something more industrial.  There are also classic designs as well.

You could add color to any kitchen by painting a peg board to match your home’s color scheme.

Or go rustic with an old ladder

The side of a cabinet works well for tight spaces

And this light fixture would look wonderful with pots hanging over an island

Whatever style you choose, make sure to space items evenly to create symmetry and always display only attractive pieces.  A pot rack can easily lose its luster if overstuffed or hung with pots and pans caked with grease.

Front Porch Staging in Early Spring

Here is central Illinois, all of us are over-joyed to finally have some spring weather! Of course, with the amount of snow we had this winter, most yards still look pretty brown and muddy.  It is important to stage the outdoor spaces of our home this year anyway to make them look their best.  A good idea is to add a few bright potted plants to the front porch to make everything look more like spring.  Still too cold to keep anything alive?  If you porch is covered, try realistic looking faux plants in terracotta planters! It will be maintenance free and bring some much needed color to a your house when the landscaping hasn’t come to life yet.

The ferns in the photo are artificial plants placed in adorable planter boxes.  This scene shows an inviting front porch even when the weather is still not perfect outside.

“Seasonal flowers are great and you want to have them out in pots on porches, as it can be a gray and rainy season, and you want some color. Even as early as February you can have cuttings from your yard or winter pansies.” -Barb Schwarz founder of home staging

Kitchen Overhaul for Less

Bottom line:  Updated kitchens and baths sell homes.  Depending on your market, it may not always make sense to gut your kitchen, but it always helps to make updates.

One way to save money, keep your cabinets and change the rest.  The most expensive item in many kitchens are the cabinets and many can be saved.  Older, solid wood cabinets can be sanded, primed and painted either white or a trendy neutral.  Newer cabinets that are particle board with laminated fronts don’t turn out well when painted but can be updated with modern pulls in a trendy finish.  New countertops and adding a backsplash make all the difference.  Granite is a great choice especially if your kitchen is smaller.  It adds big impact to a small place.  While granite adds great value, high definition laminate countertops are also a good choice if granite isn’t in your price range.  The new laminates today look better than ever and the cost is minimal.  They can even be installed DIY for more savings.  Currently, my favorite laminate is CustomCraft High Resolution Laminate in Carrarra Pearl from Menards. They always have it in stock and it resembles marble without the high price tag.  Currently, the price on a 10 ft  of Carrarra Pearl is $125!

Below is a picture of an updated kitchen in one of my rentals.  While it took a long time to paint all 40 cabinets, it makes a huge difference.  The white allows for the granite countertops (remnants were used which decreased the price) and backsplash to shine.  The tile floors amazingly update the space as well.

Great Post from REALTOR® Magazine

This post from REALTOR® Magazine is for more than just Realtors.  Anyone selling their home in the Central Illinois area should be aware of and have a plan of how to address this issue.  The post discusses the generation gap between Millennials looking to buy and Baby Boomers looking to sell and how this affects the market

“Younger home buyers make up the largest groups of today’s consumers. According to a National Association of REALTORS® survey, Millennial’s and slightly older Generation X represent over 60 percent of today’s home buyers.

However, the bulk of the housing inventory over the next 15 years will come from retiring boomers who want to downsize and embrace a new lifestyle that doesn’t include their large suburban home. It’s expected that 20.1 million senior households will attempt to sell between 2015 and 2030, and according to University of Utah researcher, Arthur C. Nelson. What’s more, an estimated 7.4 million won’t be able to find people to buy the houses.

Younger buyers want an already updated home and with a large percentage of homes built before 1990, that poses a challenge for the market. Older, outdated homes give buyers a lot of reasons to cross the property off their list.”

This post hits the nail on the head.  To sell your home now, stage it! A home that appears dated to young buyers will sell for much less than one with updates and it will take much longer to do so.

To read the whole post visit:

How Staging Is Key to Tackle the Emerging Generational Gap

Further Proof that Staging Works!

If you still need proof that staging helps sell homes, keep reading!

This beautiful home in a desirable neighborhood was listed with a different agent for 6 months with no offers prior to being listed with the Mari Halliday Team.  When we took the listing, I staged that main living areas and the master bedroom and we received an offer in 6 days!  The sale price is 98.5% of the listing price.

Below are a couple of pictures from the listing.  As you can see, the staging simply helps a potential buyer envision how they will use the space and to really demonstrate the size of the rooms.

Awesome Organization Idea from DoItOnaDime!

Kathryn from Do It On a Dime posted this great youtube video about making DIY bathroom storage containers from old candle containers.  I love her idea and her bathroom decor is beautiful.  I am a huge fan of reusing things especially when they can look this nice.  This will definitely be making it into my staging projects in the future!

Note:  I prefer soy candles to paraffin wax candles because they burn cleaner and are much easier to clean out of the containers.  For soy, the easiest way to get rid of any remaining wax is to microwave it and simply wipe it out with a paper towel.  Then you can proceed to the cleaning step.

Slow Season? Not in our Office!

It is common knowledge that there are fewer transactions during the colder months of the year, but that does not mean your home can’t sell! At the right price and with the help of staging, your home can sell no matter what the weather.  Proof:  The listing below went under contract this week for full asking price after being listed just 14 days!

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/7012-N-Tobi-Ln_Peoria_IL_61614_M83557-61132

Staging with Nature

The whole point of staging is to get a maximum return from a small investment.   For this reason, I am a big fan of using inexpensive and free items whenever possible in staging.  Sometimes you have to look no further for inspiration than your own backyard! While summer is great for using fresh flowers from the garden as free decor, fall and winter have great items to offer as well.  One of my favorites are pine cones!!

They look great painted or bare, in a bowl, vase or wreath.  There is really no limit to how you can use them in centerpieces.  For those of you pressed for time, the easiest solution is to head to your local Michael’s store and purchase a few mesh bags full of scented pine cones.  For those of you looking to save a little cash, just take your dog for a walk as you pick up pine cones through your neighborhood.  Make sure to put them in the oven for half an hour at 200 degrees in case any bugs hitch a ride into your home on the pine cones.  This will also help them to open wider for more texture.  From there, you can use them as-is or add color in a number of ways.  I am a big fan of spray painting them to match the color scheme of your home, but white tipped pine cones are timeless and always a good choice.  Below are some beautiful pictures to inspire you!

Pantry Problems

This is a normal sight when opening up the pantry in many homes but DON’T LET  IT BE  YOURS!

Homes on the market need to be in top order even behind closed doors like in closets and pantries.  A buyer wants to see that that the home has plenty of storage, not that it is bursting at the seams! A home that has plenty of extra space in cabinets and shelves lets buyers imagine their life as being more organized and orderly than it is now.  It promotes a certain lifestyle that a buyer wants to work toward.

To achieve this, remove everything from the pantry and get rid of anything that is expired or that your family does not like.  Don’t pretend to yourself that the kids will eat that stale cereal or that you will finish that canister of protein powder that tastes terrible!  Then, make sure the shelves themselves are clean before starting to put things back.  Items that are capable of getting messy like flour and sugar look much better in glass canisters than in half used bags (plus it will stay fresh longer!).  When putting things back in, keep in mind that similar items should be grouped together and should have all labels facing forward for a strikingly neat affect.  Leave at least 10% of each shelf empty to show the space it provides.