Home Staging in Portland Oregon Blog

Inspired by Mel Salazar's post about sellers using rooms in their home for storage, and Cathy Lee's post about returning rooms to their original purpose .... I recalled a staging project in an occupied home that we completed a few months ago.  The home (in Portland's Hawthorne district) was a charming old Victorian loaded with character, but the room sizes were relatively small and chock full of the sellers' furnishings.

We coach our clients that since they're selling square footage, it's important to show as much floor space as possible.  And that while the room may have served them well with another purpose while they lived there, it's best when selling to show potential buyers the room's original purpose.

This home had two living rooms (or "parlors" as they were called back in 1895 when it was built). One of them had become a "catch all" for music equipment and miscellaneous items that didn't fit somehwere else:

After removal of all the equipment & miscellaneous clutter, buyers could now walk through this room and imagine using it as a cozy seating area.  The original wood floors, a main selling feature, were now exposed and visible, adding instant equity.  (We also recommended that the room be painted a neutral shade, but the sellers weren't willing to do this and luckily the house sold in spite of it!)

Upstairs there's a bedroom that had been used as an office space as well as storage for miscellaneous clutter:

After staging, buyers could see the added value of this guest bedroom! Gone were the desks & office equipment and the large area rug (exposing the berber carpeting underneath);  we then added a staging bed, two simple tables & lamps, and used a few of the sellers' items to warm up the space.

Result?  This home SOLD in a challenging market ~  The sellers were happy and so were we!

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Room Solutions Staging in Portland Oregon provides staging services to homeowners and Realtors to reduce market time and maximize equity. Whether your property is vacant or occupied, we can help!  For a no-obligation home staging proposal, call us at 503-246-1800.

This vacant home felt so cold when I first viewed it....it's been on the market for several months with no offers so the sellers wanted to do whatever was needed to make the home more appealing to potential buyers (there had been lots of showings, and realtors reported that the home is priced right).

Room Solutions Staging in Portland Oregon first advised the sellers to paint the decorative wood trim a warmer color, replace the main floor brass light fixtures from brass with brushed nickel ones, and remove the dated fan in this living room:

When the homeowner saw the finished staging, she loved the transformation.   UPDATE:  After many months on the market, this home SOLD after staging!

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Maureen Bray and Room Solutions Staging in Portland Oregon offers professional staging services to homeowners, builders, realtors, and investors.  Give us a call so that we can help you sell your home faster and for maximum profit (503-246-1800).

Often in a vacant home, there's a room or two that doesn't immediately indicate what it's purpose is -- that's where creative staging comes into play!  If buyers can't see how to use the room, they'll get confused and just move on to the next house....so we want to capture their imagination and let them see the possibilities.

This week we staged a 1912 vintage vacant home that had several challenges. One of them was this upstairs room that had been converted from an attic.  The sellers had used it as a family room, which was great for them as it has wonderful light and a large area for family fun, but this house also lacked a well-defined master bedroom downstairs. Our solution? 

We showed potential buyers that this room would work as a master bedroom if that's what they needed ... just doing some light staging.  One of the benefits of staging is that it shows buyers how the space might be used ~ and vacant rooms lack warmth and an inviting look.  This home had been on the market for months without a sale, but it SOLD after staging!

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Maureen Bray and Room Solutions Staging in Portland OR offers professional staging services to homeowners, realtors, and investors.  Give us a call @ 503-246-1800 so that we can help you sell your home faster and for maximum profit.