Category Archives: Accessorizing

May Featured Before & After

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Sometimes homes just need a few things to make them feel a bit more polished.  In this home, we added barstools to draw attention to the breakfast bar, replaced the dining chairs to make the dining area a little more elegant, and added art and accessories to the mantle and surrounding bookshelves to draw buyers attention to the beautiful focal point of the room!
 
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER

May Staging Tip of the Month

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When selling your home, we always recommend removing personal photos so that buyers will spend time envisioning themselves living there…..not trying to figure out who the sellers are.  If you don’t have time to repair holes and touch up paint from those personal photos, you can reuse the frames, but replace the photos with scrapbook paper (or wrapping paper for larger frames).
 
Here, I found two different types of scrapbook paper that had the same color palette as the bedding.  I also found some great paper flowers to include.  This whole project was less than $10!

April Staging Tip of the Month

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 One of the biggest mistakes that homeowners make in laying out

furniture in their home is pushing all of the furniture up against the walls.  Below is a perfect example of how doing this creates an uninviting space and often makes buyer wonder how they can layout the space to make it feel nicer.
Below, the furniture has been brought into the room, creating a comfortable conversational area without making the room feel smaller.

February 2013 Staging Tip

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Sometimes a TV just has to remain in a room when you’re trying to sell your home.  If this is the case, try to limit all of the additional items that surround the TV.  Here, we were able to remove the entire component cabinet and just keep one single cable box on top of the TV.
What a difference it makes!  In this room, we also removed draperies, clutter and personal photos.  The sofa was also very large, so we moved it to a different room and brought in a loveseat instead.  We also added a rug for softness and some new art, accessories and a lamp!

August 2012 Featured Before and After

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This living room is from the same home as the kitchen in the last post.  Notice that while doing the granite we also extended the bar area to provide more seating.  This home does not have an informal dining area, so this small change will make a huge difference in how buyers see the home!

Orwell Living A
BEFORE

Orwell Living B
AFTER
To save the homeowners some money, we reused their existing seating, but replaced the dated end tables and brass lamps with a more current style to update everything.  We also had the homeowners add draperies to soften the hard angles and frame the view of the St. Croix River.  And lastly, we angled the layout to open up the room.  If you can avoid it, you never want buyers to enter a room looking directly at the back of a sofa.  It creates an uninviting feeling to the room.

February 2012 Staging Tip

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bookshelf a

BEFORE:  For most people, it is so easy to let our shelves become a collection place for paperwork, extra books and everyday items.  Even though there are beautiful items in there, they get lost with all of the visual clutter.
STEP ONE:  If you’re selling your home, make sure to remove all photo albums, paperwork, most paperback books, games, and all but 1 or 2 of your favorite personal photos. Don’t forget to wipe down the shelves while they are pretty clear.
A note about photos:  I prefer to stage with black and white photos and only inside shelves. Personal photos should never be hanging on the wall or sitting at eye level, such as a mantle or buffet.  If you’re not selling, you should have your photos out.  But don’t group them all together in one spot….spread them out around your house so that each photo gets to be admired by itself. 
STEP TWO:  First use the hardcover books on opposite ends of each shelf.  Don’t be afraid to lay them horizontally as well.  Odd numbers of book groupings look best.  Then add in your accessories.  If you don’t have enough accessories, don’t be afraid to add in a small piece of art, a book with a pretty cover standing upright, pinecones, rocks or cool sticks from the yard.  And I always like to have a plant for a little life.  The fake plant on the bottom shelf comes from Wal-mart for just $7.  If you need to have some paperwork or smaller items in your shelf, put them inside a beautiful basket first.