Home Staging in Portland Oregon Blog

Tip for Sellers: Dark Cluttered Office Transformed with Paint & Staging Help

This is one of the rooms in a Portland OR home we staged last week ... but the transformation is quite dramatic!  Not only that, it was quick and easy, too ~ something anyone could do before putting your home on the market.

The main floor bedroom was being used by the sellers as a home office -- perfect use for the space.  It was painted about 8 years ago when dark red was a very popular color.  It was also overstuffed with furniture, making the space look much smaller than it really was.

Here's how the office looked BEFORE

We recommended a lighter paint color to brighten up the room, and removal of the existing furniture.  We then staged it lightly, letting buyers see the function of this space as an office.

And here's how it looked AFTER 

For a minimal investment, buyers don't have to "see past" a dark, cave-like room to imagine how they might use it.  EASY!

***                    ***                    ***

Room Solutions Staging offers home staging services to Portland Oregon homeowners, real estate agents, builders, banks,  and investors to prepare homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our customer service and our home staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultations, staging for both vacant and lived-in homes, and interior restyling service.  For a free home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.

~ Staging and Photos by Room Solutions Staging LLC ~

 Portland Home Staging:  Staged & Sold in 3 Days for Over Asking Price!

Our Portland OR home staging company was recently selected to stage a newly-remodeled vacant home in a great Portland neighborhood.  In this 1954-era home, the seller highlighted it's mid-century features while adding all of the conveniences that today's buyers are seeking.  This home was listed on a Thursday, and by the weekend had 3 competing offers and SOLD for over asking price!

As always, when staging this home our goal was to make sure it appealed to the target buyers so we used lifestyle staging techniques that we've fine-tuned over years of experience.  Here are some Before & After photos of this Portland home staging project:

The living room has beautiful oak floors  

and an original 1954 fireplace

The all-new IKEA kitchen was fun to stage!

A 1954 light fixture & it's original "Edison" bulb!

The lower level includes a large Family Room 

and an equally-spacious Media Room

Our client for this project in a smart investor who uses our company for all of his newly-remodeled homes ~ he says that our staging always helps them to sell faster. The 3 homes we've staged for him this year have averaged just 10 Days on the Market!

Related Post:  Guess What the Sellers Wrote into their Contract for this Portland Home?

***                    ***                    ***

Maureen Bray is a professional home staging expert based in Portland, Oregon who serves as a Moderator of the 'Stage It Forward' and 'Real World Home Staging for Newbies' forums on Active Rain and writes posts helpful to homeowners, real estate professionals, and other home stagers.  Maureen's staging and design work has been featured on HGTV's show 'My First Place,' on AM Northwest and KATU News, and in The Oregonian, Portland Monthly, Personal Real Estate Investor, and Angie's List Magazine. Maureen was awarded the Super Service Award by Angie's List in both 2011 and 2010, and was voted by her peers throughout North America as a Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year for 2012 and 2011.

Home Stagers' Secret Weapon for Furniture Touch Ups!

Don't you just hate it when you find scratches, dings or scuffs on furniture, cabinets, lamps, frames, & other household items?  Here's an easy-to-use product that works on wood surfaces.  It covers scratches, dings, worn-off finishes, etc. 

There's a professional home stager's SECRET WEAPON to cover up those flaws in items that don't really need full refinishing, just a small fix.  Just match the color you need (blend two colors if needed for just the right look).

• Fills in scratches, scuffs or damaged areas on furniture, kitchen or bathroom cabinets & even touches up small scuffs on wood floors. 

• 6 colors to match any wood tone: Maple, Oak, Cherry, Walnut, Mahogany & Espresso 
  

What is this miracle product?  It's something I keep in my tool kit at all times (along with Black Sharpies for other surfaces):

REJUVENATE Repair Markers

You can find them at big box stores & online for less than $10 for the package

Give them a try -- you'll love the results!

Watch this YouTube video about them

Maureen Bray is a Portland OR home staging expert who shares staging advice with homeowners and real estate professionals.  For more information on our home staging services visit us @ www.RoomSolutions.com or call us for a free staging proposal @ 503-246-1800.                                                                                              

Portland Home Stager Receives Angie's List Super Service Award for 2011

Room Solutions Staging LLC Earns Coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award

Award reflects businesses' consistently high level of customer service

Room Solutions Staging of Portland OR has been awarded the prestigious 2011 Angie’s List Super Service Award, an honor bestowed annually on only 5 percent of all the businesses rated on the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews on local service providers.

When notified of the award, company owner Maureen Bray said “we’re delighted to have earned Angie’s List Super Service Award for 2011 as we did in 2010 because it means that our clients have rated our home staging services consistently high.  Nothing makes us happier than providing the best possible service to our home staging clients in the Portland Oregon metro area.”

“Only a fraction of the businesses rated on Angie’s List can claim the sterling service record of being a Super Service Award winner because we set a high bar,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks. “The fact that Room Solutions Staging can claim Super Service Award status for two years in a row speaks volumes about its dedication to consumers.”

Angie’s List Super Service Award winners have met strict eligibility requirements including earning a minimum number of reports, an exemplary rating from their clients and abiding by Angie’s List operational guidelines.

Ratings are updated daily on Angie’s List, and members can find the 2011 Super Service Award logo next to business names in search results on AngiesList.com.

###

Angie’s List collects consumer reviews on local contractors in more than 500 service categories. Currently, more than 2million consumers across the U.S. rely on Angie’s List to help them make the best hiring decisions. Members get unlimited access to local ratings via Internet or phone, exclusive discounts, the Angie’s List magazine and help from the Angie’s List complaint resolution service.

***                    ***                    ***

From time to time I log onto Copyscape.com to see if anyone has copied text from my website ... they offer both a FREE service (as well as a premium one that's very reasonable for a more in-depth search).  You simply enter the url of your websites's various pages and instantly receive a report on places where that text is shown.  You'll see that it includes your text on sites where you placed it (like ActiveRain, your own website, Linked In or other profiles, etc.) as well as sites where PLAGIARIZERS have copied YOUR content and are using it as their own. 

Once you click on those "unfamiliar" links, Copyscape.com gives you a full report that shows the Source Page (YOUR content) as compared to the COPYCAT'S page.  Your text will be highlighted and so is YOUR text on THEIR page, so both you and the person who stole your original content can easily see what's been copied.  Copyscape.com also includes a Word Count to make it very clear how much of your content was copied.  For something that's this helpful, it's amazing that it's also FREE.

If you'd like their Automatic Search service, that costs a bit more but is the easiest way to make sure your original content is safe from copyright infringement.

AS a professional home stager in Portland, Oregon I've been dismayed to discover that home stagers from around the country  have copied my website text.  When this happens, I email them a polite but firm letter giving them the link to Copyscape.com's report as well as a demand that they remove my text from their website within 48 hours.  If they ignore my request, they receive a more firmly-written letter that references the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Title 17, section 512, US Code (commonly referred to as "DMCA"). 

A final resort is a letter from an attorney detailing the financial penalties they'll be liable for if the plagiarized text isn't removed immediately.  You can also contact the host of that person's website and request that their site be taken down -- I did that last week and the offender's entire website was shut down in less than 24 hours -- because she'd refused to remove my text from her site.  Fines and penalties can be surprisingly stiff since federal law protects original content.

*Oh -- and you COPYCATS?  Don't offer that lame excuse that your "webmaster must have done it" -- we've heard that before and as the business owner, you're the responsible party for making sure that any content on your site is YOUR OWN.

***                    ***                    ***

Maureen Bray is a professional home staging expert based in Portland, Oregon, and a member of the Real Estate Staging Association.  She serves as a Moderator of the 'Stage It Forward' and 'Real World Home Staging for Newbies' forums on Active Rain and writes posts helpful to homeowners, real estate professionals, and other home stagers.  Maureen's staging and design work has been featured in multiple episodes of HGTV's show 'My First Place,' on AM Northwest and KATU News, and her interviews are found in publications including The Oregonian, Portland Monthly, Personal Real Estate Investor, and Angie's List Magazine. Maureen was awarded the Super Service Award by Angie's List in 2010, and was voted by her peers throughout North America as a Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year for 2012 and 2011.

Guess What the Buyers Wrote into their Contract for this Portland Home?

Our Portland home staging company recently completed staging a beautifully-remodeled vacant home in a great neighborhood.  When it had been on the market for only 3 days, a bidding war began ~ the final selling price was well over asking price (with very happy sellers :-)

My client, the seller, let me know that the buyers had written into the contract "sale to include flatscreen plasma TV in media room."  

He responded to the buyers' agent, "I'll ask my stager, but I'm afraid they'll be disappointed in its performance ..."

Why, you ask?  Take a look ....

It's only a plastic prop TV!  Sorry about that!! 

Related Post:  Portland Home Staging:  Staged & Sold in 3 Days for Over Asking Price!

***                    ***                    ***

Room Solutions Staging offers home staging services to Portland Oregon homeowners, real estate agents, builders, banks,  and investors to prepare homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our customer service and our home staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultations, staging for both vacant and lived-in homes, and interior restyling  service.  For a free home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.

The Difference that Staging Makes (in Portland Or Anywhere Else)

After this 1987 home had been on the market for six months, our Portland OR home staging company was contacted by the sellers to stage it.  Previous viewings had been sporadic and the feedback from potential buyers was that the house looked "dated."  No problem ~  we know how to help update a home with suggestions for easy cosmetic improvements, followed by staging it with current furnishings that appeal to the target buyer!

Here are some Before & After photos of how we helped bring this home into the 21st century -- after the sellers completed the interior painting and some easy cosmetic fixes.

The kitchen nook needed new paint, replacing the light fixture, & removal of the valance

The dining room just needed paint, replacing the chandelier & removal of those dated window coverings

The living room had a challenging layout, but paint & removing the window coverings did the trick

Quick Tip:  The brass fireplace screen & brass mirror dated this room ... it's easy to spray the screen with a matte black heat-resistant paint, and replace the mirror with art for a dramatic difference

The master bedroom just needed paint and removal of the dated window coverings to let in all the light

The seller emailed me afterwards: "Wow! Is this the same place?!! You did a wonderful job Maureen! We all agree that the staging played a big part in the sale!  Thank you."

UPDATE:  After six months on the market before staging, this Portland home deserved a few easy cosmetic improvements and professional home staging.  Once staged, this home had a pending sale in just one month!  If your Portland-area home or listing is lingering on the market, contact your local home staging experts for a staging consultation and proposal -- you'll be glad you did!

***                    ***                    ***

Room Solutions Staging offers home staging services to Portland Oregon homeowners, real estate agents, builders, banks,  and investors to prepare homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our customer service and our home staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultations, staging for both vacant and lived-in homes, and interior restyling  service.  For a free home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.

                 Home Staging Tips in Portland OR: Transforming Spaces that are Large or Awkward

Sometimes when homes have large rooms or awkward room shapes, it can be challenging to help home buyers overcome their typical question, "How can we use this space?"  In order for buyers to make that important emotional connection to a home they're viewing, as professional home stagers we need to show them how they might use the space, so that they can imagine themselves living there.

Our Portland-based home staging company was recently selected to stage a vacant home in the upscale Portland suburb of West Linn.  This home has some very large rooms which buyers might feel overwhelmed in if the rooms were vacant.  You might think that the more square footage your home has, the better -- but making a large room feel cozy can be challenging for buyers, especially if the home has no furnishings to act as a reference point.  This is one example where home staging can make a big difference in how buyers react to the property.

~ UPDATE:  this home SOLD in just 15 days!  The seller told me that the buyer loved how the home was staged  ~

This space is just inside the entry with high windows on one side and a curved wall for the staircase on the other.  The room shape makes you wonder, what is this room used for?  Here are 2 views of the vacant space

We staged this space as a conversation area where you could sit and enjoy the light flooding into the room

The family room is large and adjoins the kitchen.  When vacant, it seemed too big, but staged it's much cozier

The Master Bedroom is huge!  When vacant, it just felt big & cold

Staging it helps add warmth and the important emotional connection for buyers.  Taking photos from several angles helps buyers imagine living here -- so different than viewing photos of vacant rooms on the MLS listing

Breaking down the big space into smaller ones helps buyers imagine this room as a peaceful retreat

The long wall for the bed doesn't inspire buyers when vacant, but adding furniture puts it in perspective

Selling a home with large or awkward spaces can be challenging -- consult with a professional home stager in your area to ensure that your property is presented at its very best!

***                    ***                    ***

Room Solutions Staging offers home staging services to Portland Oregon area homeowners, real estate agents, builders, banks,  and investors to prepare homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our customer service and our home staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultations, staging for both vacant and lived-in homes, and interior redesign  projects.  For a free home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.