Homeowners always tend to push their furniture against walls so when a corner fireplace enters the picture it can feel tricky. When we staged this property in South Bound Brook, located in Middlesex County, NJ, I knew that buyers would have no idea what could be done with a room like this. The mantle being black, really made the fireplace the focal point of the room and it was important that the furniture placement create the drama to make this room come alive.
We placed the furniture opposite the fireplace and created a cozy seating area that was unexpected and made the fireplace the star of the room. Taking the black mantle as a design feature, we added black accents, along with bold color, to make this a room someone could fall in love with and see themselves living in. It was chosen for HGTV "House Hunters" as one of the three houses featured, and wound up selling for $50K+ over the asking price. The sellers were blown away by the results and credit the staging for making the house looks so good!Â
I usually do "Walk & Talk" consultations, but these clients in Bridgewater, Somerset County in NJ, turned the phrase around!Â
I "Talked" and they "Walked" away with more money then they expected after completing the suggestions on their list. For these sellers, who had a specific itemized list of directions, wound up reaping the financial rewards on the sale of their home to the tune of an EXTRA $26K over their listing price!Â
Home staging for owners living in their properties while selling ("Walk & Talk" consultations), are essential to making sure the house is presented in its best light to appeal to highest amount of buyers. Knowing what furniture, accessories, or "stuff" needs to stay or go, is one of the most important steps to selling your house. A little expert staging guidance from Stellar Stagings, some sweat equity and time, will always prove to be a winning combination to sell your house!Â
You take the time to detail your leased car to make it look good before you turn it in to the dealer, why wouldn't you detail the biggest asset of your life to make more money?
You shouldn't wait to stage your house until you are ready to move. What if you "staged to live" and really enjoyed it and then when you were ready to sell it was ready to go? Don't know where to start to make a room cohesive? What I have found from the hundreds of "Walk & Talk" consultations that I have done, is that people really struggle with art and scale. What I suggest is to find a large piece of art or rug that you really love and then use the colors in the art to accessories the room. Size of art is really important. When you have a large sofa, you need a large piece of art to anchor it. Then you can pull colors out of the painting for pillows and accessories for a coffee table.Â
In this example in Edison, the abstract art made a statement above the sofa. Then when we pulled the orange and the blue from the art by using pillows of those colors, it really created a harmonious look. Then we added another layer of colors and textures on the coffee table art. When you see the furniture, art, pillows, and accessories combined it all makes sense.
Be a home stager and create the environment YOU want to live in; I am sure you are going to love the results!
Last post I talked about the Return on Your Investment when you take wallpaper down BEFORE you list your property. I want to follow up with the property in Metuchen that was listed first WITHOUT removing the wallpaper. While the house did get offers - they were not acceptable. Fast forward to the owners taking the paper down, staging, and relisting, and the results are in! The received offers $15,000 HIGHER than the original list price! They got a 500% return on their investment to remove paper and paint! What investment do you know that can give you a 500% return? Â
Bottom line - home staging works at getting top dollar!