You know sellers ask me all the time, "Will buyers really look in my closets?".
The answer is most certainly 'YES'!
They, especially Mrs Buyer, are purchasing closet space in a new home.
So small or shared spaces need to be made to appear as large as possible.
Where to start?
Pre-pack all out of season clothing.
This can be tricky here in the mountains, we need sweaters, even a few jackets year-round.
But pack the items less used , keeping only the bare essentials.
It is also time to donate those seldom worn or out dated items.
1-800-CALL-JANE is the number for ARC and they will pick it up!
Next you should color coordinate your closet.
I am not 'Martha Stewart', but trust me this is really an easy way to make the closet
appear larger.
ROY G BIV is the color rule used by retailers, at least for their clearance section.
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
White, Grey, Black, Brown and Tan follow.
Hangers of all the same style are best.
No wire hangers from the dry cleaners, if you please.
And I hope I don't really have to say this but, make sure the clothes are hung in a tidy fashion, with buttons buttoned and zippers zipped.
Slouchy garments falling off of hangers is not a good look!
Shoes also need to be edited down to the essentials.
Start by packing those out-of-season flip flops or boots.
Ladies, this includes your handbag collection.
You too guys with your backpacks and computer bags!
About that stack of gimme tee shirts...do you really wear all of those each week.
Okay so you want to be comfy on the weekends and evenings pick your favorite 7 tees and pack the rest.
One more retailer trick for jeans on a shelf.
Fold the legs lengthwise, back pockets facing and now in half waist to hem.
Once again at the knees and place on the shelf with the folded edge out.
By taking just a few minutes on laundry day your closets will show more spacious for your buyers.
Friday, October 19, 2012
The Occupied Stage
The Occupied Stage is my favorite by far!
An occupied stage refers too the home that is inhabited by the sellers during the sale of the home.
Many people think of the Vacant Stage when the idea of staging is introduced.
The Vacant Stage is fun because I get to choose all the elements for the design of the home and each room.
Creative most definitely... challenging, yes sometimes especially with a small budget.
But the occupied stage taps into a creative vain like no other design.
Using the furniture and accessories of the seller to re-purpose, re-create and re-invent the space into a design like the homeowner never imagined but longed for the whole time they lived in a home.
The process always involves editing the items that have accumulated over the years.
'Gifts', treasures and just stuff tend to find their way in to our homes design and sometimes we don't realize how over populated the look becomes.
A room needs to be striped of its contents so that the organic process of placement can begin.
Proper placement of furniture, lighting, greenery and accessories all bring the room to life.
Now the home can look and feel it's best for every potential buyer and your sellers have a fresh take on their possessions for the new home.
And best of all it is the most cost effective form of staging!
An occupied stage refers too the home that is inhabited by the sellers during the sale of the home.
Many people think of the Vacant Stage when the idea of staging is introduced.
The Vacant Stage is fun because I get to choose all the elements for the design of the home and each room.
Creative most definitely... challenging, yes sometimes especially with a small budget.
But the occupied stage taps into a creative vain like no other design.
Using the furniture and accessories of the seller to re-purpose, re-create and re-invent the space into a design like the homeowner never imagined but longed for the whole time they lived in a home.
The process always involves editing the items that have accumulated over the years.
'Gifts', treasures and just stuff tend to find their way in to our homes design and sometimes we don't realize how over populated the look becomes.
A room needs to be striped of its contents so that the organic process of placement can begin.
Proper placement of furniture, lighting, greenery and accessories all bring the room to life.
Now the home can look and feel it's best for every potential buyer and your sellers have a fresh take on their possessions for the new home.
And best of all it is the most cost effective form of staging!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
A Letter to Parents...
Dear Parents,
We all know how precious your little ones are to you.
So many times you are moving because you have out grown your home and need more room for the children that have blessed your union.
But please hear me when I say, during the sale of the home, children should not be seen, heard or smelled for that matter!
Let me explain... If you had YOUR hobby's strewn all about the house I would ask you to store them away for the sale of the home. Same goes for toys, inside and out.
A few tidy toys in the bedrooms of the children are acceptable.
Do yourself a huge favor and purchase multiple tubs to store toys for showings. These can easily be put in a closet, in the garage or your car for showings. No muss not fuss!
Lets talk for a moment about a dirty subject, diapers.
Soiled diapers smell!
I know you are busy and tired, but please for the sale of the home, for your realtor and your potential buyers make it your new habit to take the soiled diaper straight to the outside trash as soon as the change is over.
Baby's come with lots of stuff, high chairs, play yards, bounce seats etc.
These must be put away for the showings.
We have all become accustom to the 'needs' of baby's but once upon a time there were no ______ for babys!
Parents made do without these thing for eons, I suggest you challenge yourself to live for a while like your ancestors.
I know you can't live like a model home, but these few inconveniences go a long way!
Please don't be offended by my words, they are only meant to help you sell faster so you can live happily ever after in your NEW home.
Sincerely,
Your Stager
We all know how precious your little ones are to you.
So many times you are moving because you have out grown your home and need more room for the children that have blessed your union.
But please hear me when I say, during the sale of the home, children should not be seen, heard or smelled for that matter!
Let me explain... If you had YOUR hobby's strewn all about the house I would ask you to store them away for the sale of the home. Same goes for toys, inside and out.
A few tidy toys in the bedrooms of the children are acceptable.
Do yourself a huge favor and purchase multiple tubs to store toys for showings. These can easily be put in a closet, in the garage or your car for showings. No muss not fuss!
Lets talk for a moment about a dirty subject, diapers.
Soiled diapers smell!
I know you are busy and tired, but please for the sale of the home, for your realtor and your potential buyers make it your new habit to take the soiled diaper straight to the outside trash as soon as the change is over.
Baby's come with lots of stuff, high chairs, play yards, bounce seats etc.
These must be put away for the showings.
We have all become accustom to the 'needs' of baby's but once upon a time there were no ______ for babys!
Parents made do without these thing for eons, I suggest you challenge yourself to live for a while like your ancestors.
I know you can't live like a model home, but these few inconveniences go a long way!
Please don't be offended by my words, they are only meant to help you sell faster so you can live happily ever after in your NEW home.
Sincerely,
Your Stager
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Spring Spruce-up
Well Spring is here!
If you listed the home during the colder months your landscape may not be ready for showings.
It is time to trim back the summer blooming shrubs and bushes.
Clean up your fence row.
The grass can grow up between the slats and when it dies back for the winter it will look unkempt in the spring.
Rake the beds and add fresh mulch.
Trim the tree limps that have died over the winter.
It is also time to clean your gutters so the maintenance of the home is not brought into question when your potential buyers view them from the second floor.
The garage also needs special attention now that the weather is better.
Organize the garage, toss anything your will not be moving with you.
Power wash the floors to remove the 'snow' grime.
Don't forget the front porch it is the buyers first impression of the inside of your home.
Clear away any leftover winter clutter such as snow shovels and de-icing materials.
Sweep the porch.
Put plants in the empty flowerpots or store them if the weather is still pending.
Make sure the cobwebs are removed from the corners and de-bug the light fixtures.
Does any of your decking need paint? Now is the time to invest in your property.
First impressions are lasting impressions, make yours a good one with a Spring Spruce-up!
If you listed the home during the colder months your landscape may not be ready for showings.
It is time to trim back the summer blooming shrubs and bushes.
Clean up your fence row.
The grass can grow up between the slats and when it dies back for the winter it will look unkempt in the spring.
Rake the beds and add fresh mulch.
Trim the tree limps that have died over the winter.
It is also time to clean your gutters so the maintenance of the home is not brought into question when your potential buyers view them from the second floor.
The garage also needs special attention now that the weather is better.
Organize the garage, toss anything your will not be moving with you.
Power wash the floors to remove the 'snow' grime.
Don't forget the front porch it is the buyers first impression of the inside of your home.
Clear away any leftover winter clutter such as snow shovels and de-icing materials.
Sweep the porch.
Put plants in the empty flowerpots or store them if the weather is still pending.
Make sure the cobwebs are removed from the corners and de-bug the light fixtures.
Does any of your decking need paint? Now is the time to invest in your property.
First impressions are lasting impressions, make yours a good one with a Spring Spruce-up!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Snakes & Fruit...but not quite the Garden of Eden
Staging is the art of editing the items that don't belong.
Kind of like the game on Sesame Street.
That's not to say they are wrong for the owner to have just that they are not always visually appealing for a staged home.
For example, today while staging a kitchen my staging partner and I agreed that the real banana and avocado didn't look right placed in the bowl of faux limes on the kitchen counter. So after a moment I placed them inside the microwave.
An odd choice in storage at first glance but think about it...in the fridge both would turn dark and in my opinion would be inedible. While they are still room temp in the microwave and in no danger of being cooked because to be used the microwave must be opened first.
It has been the rare occasion that I have ever dealt with snakes on a stage. Lizards in tanks yes but not snakes.
Well in the last month I have had two!
Both were wild snakes, not domestic, if you can domesticate a snake...
The first snake I never saw personally but the evidence of it was quite apparent.
Large holes in the ground all around the front porch of a rural home. The sellers were quite fond of their friend, a large bull snake, that had inhabited their yard for a couple of years.
I suggested that they add fresh mulch to the beds and never bring up the subject of the snake's dwelling.
My second encounter of the slithery kind was just today.
We were in the basement of the a home tucking a few things in the closet when my staging partner moved a box and the 'carpet' wiggled!!!
There he was, the same color as the carpet, no bigger than a freshly sharpened pencil.
Oh and I did I mention there was a showing going on upstairs!!!
The realtor had a couple viewing the house prior to it even going on the market.
Now what to do? Say nothing and let him slither out of his hiding place at the worst possible moment.
Or try to catch him---not an option as that would have caused a great deal of commotion between us.
So we took Option #3 and prayed he would stay put until the showing was over!
All went well and Mr Seller came home for the big reveal and helped us remove the snake with kitchen tongs and a plastic tub.
Snake removed and order restored we finished and said good-bye satisfied with the day....until about three hours later when the seller called my staging partner asking where his avocado and banana had gone.
Well is it not obvious??? They are in the microwave of course!
Kind of like the game on Sesame Street.
That's not to say they are wrong for the owner to have just that they are not always visually appealing for a staged home.
For example, today while staging a kitchen my staging partner and I agreed that the real banana and avocado didn't look right placed in the bowl of faux limes on the kitchen counter. So after a moment I placed them inside the microwave.
An odd choice in storage at first glance but think about it...in the fridge both would turn dark and in my opinion would be inedible. While they are still room temp in the microwave and in no danger of being cooked because to be used the microwave must be opened first.
It has been the rare occasion that I have ever dealt with snakes on a stage. Lizards in tanks yes but not snakes.
Well in the last month I have had two!
Both were wild snakes, not domestic, if you can domesticate a snake...
The first snake I never saw personally but the evidence of it was quite apparent.
Large holes in the ground all around the front porch of a rural home. The sellers were quite fond of their friend, a large bull snake, that had inhabited their yard for a couple of years.
I suggested that they add fresh mulch to the beds and never bring up the subject of the snake's dwelling.
My second encounter of the slithery kind was just today.
We were in the basement of the a home tucking a few things in the closet when my staging partner moved a box and the 'carpet' wiggled!!!
There he was, the same color as the carpet, no bigger than a freshly sharpened pencil.
Oh and I did I mention there was a showing going on upstairs!!!
The realtor had a couple viewing the house prior to it even going on the market.
Now what to do? Say nothing and let him slither out of his hiding place at the worst possible moment.
Or try to catch him---not an option as that would have caused a great deal of commotion between us.
So we took Option #3 and prayed he would stay put until the showing was over!
All went well and Mr Seller came home for the big reveal and helped us remove the snake with kitchen tongs and a plastic tub.
Snake removed and order restored we finished and said good-bye satisfied with the day....until about three hours later when the seller called my staging partner asking where his avocado and banana had gone.
Well is it not obvious??? They are in the microwave of course!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Solution
Just a quick note to let you know I have found a solution to barking dog problems for your sellers and buyers.
Let me tell you the story.
My new renter has two mature English Retrievers, mostly calm and quiet, but the next door neighbor dog is an instigator! He barks at everything. So these two joined in and created a chorus that annoyed the whole neighborhood.
We decided that as opposed to losing our renter, who didn't want another call from code enforcement officers, we should do something ourselves.
After much research we came up with some options.
Bark Collars give the dog a zap when it barks for a certain length of time. While this would quieten the resident dogs the instigator could bark scott-free! And I have to say not a very humane solution to present to a renter either.
We choose a different option.
A dog bark device, it looks like a birdhouse hung in a tree and is powered by a 9 volt battery.
It covers 50 ft and quietens all barking dogs within that range.
It is humane and safe for the pets and the environment.
Most of all it restores peace to the neighborhood!
Let me tell you the story.
My new renter has two mature English Retrievers, mostly calm and quiet, but the next door neighbor dog is an instigator! He barks at everything. So these two joined in and created a chorus that annoyed the whole neighborhood.
We decided that as opposed to losing our renter, who didn't want another call from code enforcement officers, we should do something ourselves.
After much research we came up with some options.
Bark Collars give the dog a zap when it barks for a certain length of time. While this would quieten the resident dogs the instigator could bark scott-free! And I have to say not a very humane solution to present to a renter either.
We choose a different option.
A dog bark device, it looks like a birdhouse hung in a tree and is powered by a 9 volt battery.
It covers 50 ft and quietens all barking dogs within that range.
It is humane and safe for the pets and the environment.
Most of all it restores peace to the neighborhood!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Try Before You Buy? At Least Analyze it.
As a buyer sometimes we so want to try before we buy. And some products do come with that kind of an offer.
Houses are not one of those products. Except for one long gone HGTV show based on this very premise.
More important than the house is the neighborhood. You can change the house, but you can get stuck with a location you really can't stand.
Let me share with you how my husband I have always bought our 'neighborhood' before we allowed ourselves to fall in love with a house.
The age of the homes dictate the search in an area. Once the area is chosen and a house identified we now start the 'showings'.
Don't misunderstand this is not yet about the house, but the neighbors and how they live in there homes. Are they well maintained? Are there grease spots on the driveways and on the street in front of any homes?
Sound silly??? If you can't stand it now you can't change it latter!
How does the neighborhood look when everyone is home and on the weekends.
We have even returned at 10pm and taken a walk in a neighborhood. Do you feel safe there not matter the time of day or night?
One lovely tree-lined neighborhood that was so desirable during the day had whole different vibe at night!
The streets were lined with cars, on top of these car were teenagers with the music so loud.
House and neighborhood no longer on the list we moved on to area #2.
We have never gone so far as to interview the neighbors but we always drop by our immediate neighbors with a treat as soon as we move in, just a "Hi there nice to meet you" can go a long way in establishing good relations and make problems easier to overcome latter on.
Before you fall in love with a house make sure you love your neighborhood.
Houses are not one of those products. Except for one long gone HGTV show based on this very premise.
More important than the house is the neighborhood. You can change the house, but you can get stuck with a location you really can't stand.
Let me share with you how my husband I have always bought our 'neighborhood' before we allowed ourselves to fall in love with a house.
The age of the homes dictate the search in an area. Once the area is chosen and a house identified we now start the 'showings'.
Don't misunderstand this is not yet about the house, but the neighbors and how they live in there homes. Are they well maintained? Are there grease spots on the driveways and on the street in front of any homes?
Sound silly??? If you can't stand it now you can't change it latter!
How does the neighborhood look when everyone is home and on the weekends.
We have even returned at 10pm and taken a walk in a neighborhood. Do you feel safe there not matter the time of day or night?
One lovely tree-lined neighborhood that was so desirable during the day had whole different vibe at night!
The streets were lined with cars, on top of these car were teenagers with the music so loud.
House and neighborhood no longer on the list we moved on to area #2.
We have never gone so far as to interview the neighbors but we always drop by our immediate neighbors with a treat as soon as we move in, just a "Hi there nice to meet you" can go a long way in establishing good relations and make problems easier to overcome latter on.
Before you fall in love with a house make sure you love your neighborhood.
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