This week Room Solutions Staging was hired to stage an Occupied home that's been on the market for many months. The homeowner is the nicest young man who didn't have a lot of furniture. The family room looked like this in the online MLS photo (note the lack of any tables in this room; the living room had no furniture, and none of the bedrooms had a table either) ~
With a tight staging budget we needed to "create" a Coffee Table for this room. We looked high and low throughout the house and garage, and found this upstairs bedroom with only a huge TV and a bookcase ... we planned to store the TV in the garage since the seller wasn't using it ~
My staging colleague said "no problem!" and waved her magic wand ... what happened next? We took the bookcase & removed the inner shelves; then we took the large TV from its stand and removed the heavy piece of glass it was resting on. We placed the bookcase, now on its side, on an area rug, and the glass fit over it just perfectly ~ Voila! An instant coffee table!
The homeowner was delighted with this creative effort, and potential buyers will now find a much more inviting space. Even with a very limited budget, don't forget that you can usually find a way to "create" what you need!
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Maureen Bray and the Room Solutions Staging team helps sellers in the Portland Oregon area prepare their homes for a faster sale with professional home staging services. Call 503-246-1800 and let us help you maximize your profit potential.
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Candice ~ this room really did need a lot of color to liven it up -- thanks for commenting!
Kelly ~ angling the sofa was important in opening up the space ... although you can't see it in the photo above, the wood floor behind the sofa is angled the same as the TV armoire and the sofa so we just followed the natural flow of the room. Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy ~ Thank you! Thinking on the fly is a LOT of fun and Trish is so good at it!
Maureen,
Just another day in the world of staging. I love how things turned out. What a fun project this was and what a great client to work for. I know he was so thankful for all our artful touches. You forgot to add photos of the living room you designed with a bookcase and a chair. Perhaps a subject for another post.
I can't wait to do it again. This was too much fun.
Trish ~ Thanks again for your amazing help with this project! It's more challenging to work with an Occupied home's existing furnishings than to furnish a Vacant home with our own inventory, but this one was so rewarding.
Lisa ~ It was a lot of fun to go "hunting" for possible items to turn into furniture! I'm sure all stagers feel a sense of satisfaction when it works out. Thanks for commenting!
How very clever. I love how you've arranged the furniture too!
Congratulations. Your post is being featured in the group Staging Before & After Pictures.
Kathy
Debra ~ The family room rug came from my inventory -- this home needed color! I don't usually put soft goods in an occupied home, but since there are no children or pets here and the bachelor was very tidy I made an exception. Thanks for stopping.
Nicola ~ Adding a few pieces made it feel more like a home.
Kathy N. ~ Thanks for your comment. It was a lot of fun to figure out how to best use what we had and it's so much harder than staging a vacant home.
Melissa ~ Well, to answer your questions: we put the TV in the garage since it didn't enhance any room in this home, and the seller wasn't using it anyway. That big chair was moved to the previously empty living room. Here it is Before ~
We found a rug rolled up in the garage and put it in the living room, moved the side chair out of the crowded family room, added a bookcase found in an empty bedroom, and then added a tree, picture, table & lamp from my inventory so the space was warmed up and we showed the function of the room. I don't usually think vignette staging is the best way to go, but in this case, that's all the budget would allow for ~
Kathy P. ~ Trish and I knew that we had to open up the space in that family room ... it was hard to even walk around all that furniture. Angling the sofa was our best option due to the layout of that room and the angled wood floor behind the sofa. Thanks for stopping by!
Fernando ~ Thanks for your comment -- it's great to have such a talented colleague to work with.
I love it - what a great idea!! Looks terrific.
hey girlfriend! I haven't had a chance to get in the rain for over a week. Just now got wet by reading this great post of yours! I love the stories that go with the before and afters! It makes them so much more interesting! Love your redesign!
Kimberley ~ Thanks very much for your feedback.
Karen ~ Welcome back to the Rain! We missed you. As you well know with redesigns, sometimes you just have to find the best option you can. Hopefully now this nice seller will have more interest in the home.
This looks fantastic, Maureen. Even the vignette staging highlights the windows and warms the room really well. Great staging example to learn from!!
Kathy
Elaine ~ Thank you for your enthusiastic endorsement! Bachelors are indeed fun to work with because they are so amazed with the outcome and so appreciative of our efforts, aren't they? Kudos go to my colleague Trish for the coffee table idea. We think it worked out great.
Kathy ~ Even though this was an occupied home, the living room had only a mirror....and was the first room you see upon entering the home ... so we had to create some type of vignette to show how the room is used. We felt like we were back in a staging training class and being told to make some magic happen! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Brilliant!
You are very lucky to have someone who can think on their feet like that!
Terry ~ You're right -- that's why they hire us! It's always so much fun when it works out the way you want it to, isn't it? Thanks for stopping and commenting!!
Karen ~ Don't worry, you CAN find a way to make something out of nothing. Look in the garage, the attic, the back shed, the basement, or the yard, and you'll find something that might be used in a different way to make it work for your project! Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Maureen,
Brilliant minds must think alike. Every idea here is a little gem!
You just gave me an idea for a little dining room table I need to come up with by Monday morning. I can't wait to try it.
You do good work, Maureen! That family room was sooooo crowded...so much better the way you set it up. Brilliant idea for a coffee table! It turned out well. Woooo Hoooo!
Maureen; Excellent work, and what a great creative solution.
Abby ~ Thanks for your feedback .... but the credit here goes to Trish Lane, my talented colleague who thought of making the coffee table out of a bookcase and TV stand. It's one of the reasons I love working as part of a team when staging ... our creativity just multiplies and we have so much fun figuring out different options.
Linda ~ Thank you for your kind compliment!
Reece ~ My colleague is indeed talented and together -- we're downright dangerous! (in a good way!)
Many thanks for your comment, it's much appreciated.
Maureen: You are a magician. Such a practical solution. Now, isn't it interesting that the client had no tables. If anything, I am the opposite - a collector of occasional tables. ARG!!!
Hi Valerie ~ It's so much fun to create a bit of "magic" in the homes we stage! This bachelor had no tables in his home other than a dining table, LOL!! Sometimes you just have to think on your feet, and when it works, it's a great feeling! Thanks for stopping by.