Category Archives: Living Room

October Featured Before & After

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White enameled trim is an amenity, but if buyer’s can’t see it, they can’t appreciate it.  Here we painted the walls Benjamin Moore Bennington Gray to make the room more inviting and show off the trim.
       
BEFORE
AFTER
This living room is from the same home as the bathroom in the last post.  To see a before and after tour of the entire home, click here. This Minneapolis home will go on the market next week, let us know if you would like more information about it.

May Featured Before & After

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This before and after is from the same home as above.  We suggested that the homeowner paint the room a neutral color. Then we brought in our rental furniture to give the room a very inviting look.  Because it wasn’t in the budget to replace the draperies, we just removed them to let in as much light as possible.  This home sold in just a few weeks!
BEFORE
AFTER

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.

March 2013 Staging Tip

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Are you not sure that you can look at that old dark woodwork one more day?  Waiting until you can afford to replace it all?  Lighten it up by paiting it white or cream now for very little cost.  Here is a great blog with step by step directions.  The only thing I would add is to use a paintable caulk to fill gaps before painting. http://www.livelovediy.com/2012/04/how-to-paint-trim.html
Photo courtesy of LiveLoveDIY

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!

October 2012 Staging Tip

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A wall of mirrors can feel quite dated, but be very intimidating to think about removing.  Most mirrors are glued to the wall with construction adhesive.  Using a putty knife or small crow bar can usually pop them off the wall without breaking them.  Then you have to sand down the spots (a power sander is a good idea) and then patch them if they aren’t smooth.  A couple times of sanding and patching should ensure a smooth wall.
Vertical blinds are probably our least favorite type of window treatment.  They are cold, sterile and institutional.  Here we replaced them with floor to ceiling draperies.  The draperies not only add softness to a room, but in the case of tall windows, it emphazied the height of the room and gave it drama.  Because these windows were so big, we had to order an extra long drapery rod and sew two drapery panels together to get the length we wanted.  We used panels from Walmart so the total cost was still less than $175.

Mcknight living a    Mcknight living b

A nuetral wall color, new carpet and rented furniture finished off this room!

September 2012 Featured Before & After

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This living room is from the same home as the dining room in the last post.  Notice in the before picture that the fireplace and trim were painted the same color as the walls.  By changing them to white, these amenities of the room become beautiful focal points!

living a

BEFORE
living b

AFTER
To save the homeowners some money, we reused their existing occasional tables, but replaced the sofa, chair, art and accessories. We also added a rug to soften the room. Removing the draperies and furniture that blocked the windows completely opened up the room!

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.