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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Maureen - Fun project and great job opening up the space. What a wonderful home. Congrats on the sale.
Maureen,
Ain't that the truth. It's hard sometimes to convince or approach people about it. You have to balance offending them and getting it ready to sell.
Great job defining the spaces Maureen. Could not figure out what the first room was suppose to be for in the before photo and I now know the second room is indeed a bedroom.
You are so right and laundry and garages are often just as important. Buyers need to see things as they might use them, as intended so to speak. Nice post. T
Maureen - Huge improvement! Changing that office back to a bedroom had to have a big impact. You've got to show the buyers what they need to see!
David ~ Like you, we love staging these old Portland classics! See you soon!
Johnathan ~ So ture, there is a delicate balance. That's why professional stagers are the best choice because we know how to tactfully convince sellers to store all the excess before selling.
Michele ~ If the room's purpose isn't obvious, buyers just get confused and won't remember the house as one they want to see again. Thanks for your feedback.
Terrylynn ~ "as intended" is so important, you're right! Even as you say, those secondary rooms too.
Rhonda ~ In this home, there were 3 bedrooms, but one was shown as a TV room so this one HAD to be staged as a bedroom. Buyers just can't always see the potential, can they?
Ah, Maureen, there is nothing like compelling 'before and after' pictures to showcase how staging works, and yours show that hidden potential lies in every room! What a difference!
Val :)
Maureen, sometimes I lay awake nights worrying about how much work I have ahead of me to accomplish just what you've said here, when I have to sell this current house. Having downsized into this house...almost every room feels cluttered and I hate it.
Great photos and examples of what all sellers need to consider. I think that I need to do a similar blog for my market and agent newsletter. Thanks for the inspiration.
It definitely looks very neat and organized,but in order to truly appeal to the most buyers, The Faux Must Go !! couple of galons of Taupe paint could create a miracle in this case.
Maureen, You did a wonderful job of transforming that home. I often see homes with so much clutter and help them to declutter and organize. You're right about the floors, that alone made a tremendous improvement.
Val ~ Thanks for your positive feedback. I love viewing others' Before & Afters!
Ginger ~ Remembering photos of some of the homes you've staged .... those clients definitely benefitted from your expert assistance. (You won't see photos of my own house here, however -- it's too cluttered at the moment with overflow staging accessories that didn't fit into my warehouse space!)
Fernando ~ No kidding about the faux painting ... the sellers would not agree to my recommendation to paint this room ... but the house SOLD in spite of it, so perhaps the buyers painted it ... you think?
Carole ~ Those original floors, even though they needed refinishing, are something that buyers here put a premium value on. Exposing them made a lot of sense.
Those double parlors can be tough for people to figure out how to use. When i had a house like this, also in the Hawthorne district, I staged one as the more formal living room and the other as the tv room. Makes me think of my great-grandparents home in Montesano, Washington. When I was little, I thought their house had 3 living rooms! LOL You did a great job. Glad the home sold in spite of the faux finish.
Pangaea Interior Design, Model Home Deco, Home Staging Portland OR
Maureen ~ Great job on both rooms! The bedroom turned out wonderfully - the picture alone draws me in!
Pangaea ~ That's funny you mentioned it, because the other parlor was suitable as a TV room in this house. These old pre-1900 homes are full of charm, aren't they?
Kathy ~ That room was just too full of other "stuff" for most buyers to be able to envision it as a bedroom. Once it was cleared out it felt like you could walk in and breathe!
Thank you Maureen. From the other coast. Heard your weather was going to improve. Ours is awful.
Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year
I was on the Holiday House Tour Committee this year, and it amazed me how many participants just shut a door and excluded it from the tour. I suspect they looked like your "before" rooms - wasted space.
'Love your photos.
Congrats on getting that home sold. Looks much better.
Nice before and after photos, did you do the moving or did the owners?
Very nice. I had a seller recntley that rented a POD for all their extra stuff. It was great. The house transformed. Good post.
Pat ~ Thanks for stopping by ... hope your weather improves. At least our snow is gone for now and hopefully not as much flooding. Have a wonderful 2009!
Margaret ~ We believe that every room show be showcased while a home is on the market. We need to keep educating sellers so that they understand the importance of showing the "space" instead of their "stuff." Thanks for your feedback.
Mike ~ Thanks, this home sold in a tough market and the sellers believe that the staging helped quite a bit.
Sonny ~ We first visited the home and gave the sellers a "to do" list that included moving out the major pieces that we identifed as excess. They had an unfinished basement with lots of storage area so that was a godsend in this case. Then when we did the staging we brought additional items down to the storage area and the home ended up looking much larger than before.
Cindy ~ We love PODS and think they do a great job for sellers! Almost everyone has too much "stuff" when they're selling their home and taking it away in a POD is such a good idea. Thanks for your input.
Nice before and after pictures! I was told that everyone should take at least 30% out of each room. What do you think of that?
Kristi ~ Thanks for joining into the discussion with a great question! It's not so much a certain % of items that we recommend removing ... it's more geared towards identifying the ones that don't contribute to the room's focal points, or highlight the room's best features, or that block the best traffic flow throughout the space. In some rooms, that could mean 10% and in others, up to 70%! The other side of the coin is that sellers sometimes hear "declutter" and remove even the pieces that are needed to add warmth to the space ... and that leaves the room cold. This is why a consultation from a professional stager is a good idea, as the cost is very reasonable and prevents sellers from making a mistake.
Hi Maureen, good post and your pictures are fantastic and realy tell the story.
The before and after pictures are always very dramatic. Having sellers that were willing to do this makes your job so much easier.
Definitely an appovement for the two rooms.
Charles ~ thanks for the nice compliment! It's true that a picture tells a thousand words.
Morgan ~ These sellers were cooperative and motivated clients ... that makes a huge difference.
Maureen -- Wonderful work on showing off the home's valuable square footage and the sale! Congrats too you as well for the feature post and passing the 100,000 point mark -- WOW!! Not only are you an extremely talented stager, but smart businessperson as well!
It is sometimes difficult to get people to swap rooms around for best use while they are still living it in even though you know it will make a big difference in ghow the home shows and sells... Thanks for posting. I will re-blog this
Great idea for everbody concerned. People like to see a room the way it should be.
Rebecca ~ Thanks -- our goal is to make the home appealing to the target buyer.
Margaret ~ Many thanks for your kind comment. I've learned so much here on A/R and the points kind of snuck up on me -- you'll be there soon as well!
Caron ~ Yes it can be challenging to get sellers to buy into the idea -- but if they're really serious about selling, it's usually necessary to live in the home a bit differently while it's on the market. In the end, it will help them reach their goal much sooner!
Russ ~ I agree, most people want to see a room and know it's being used for it's original purpose.
Maureen, I just stopped back to Congratulate you on a Wonderful Feature!!
Hello - the prospective buyers need to be able to see the room (ie square footage) that they are contemplating. Store stuff somewhere else . and do not make buyers use their imagine they are busy people - show them the use of the room.
Carole ~ How sweet of you to take the time ~ Thank you!
Kathleen ~ As stagers it's our mantra .... put the excess in storage please!! Yes we must be sure the room shows as spacious so that buyers don't have to try to imagine it.
Great thinking, It sure does make it nice for the home inspections too.
Jim ~ That's a great point, thanks for mentioning it! Naturally a tidy house would make your job easier!
This is an awesome example to "sell what stays!" Buyers can't remember if they saw a bedroom in a home that the room was used as storage - especially when they see several homes in a day. Make yours the one they want to remember!
Great job and post Maureen!
Hi Maureen -- as a fellow stager, it's so encouraging to see other's work and the end results, which mirror our own work. Great job. Referring to the room's original purpose isn't pointed out enough by stagers in my experience, so that is very insightful of you to recognize that. Excellent work!
Karen ~ That's right Karen, I like your saying "Make your home the one they want to remember!"
Chris ~ Thanks for your encouragement and the positive feedback ... best wishes for a very successful 2009!
Makes a huge difference -- but many sellers can't see giving up their way of living to get the home sold - sad.
Bob & Carolin ~ that is indeed sad when sellers don't realize that the way they live in their home is very different than the way it needs to be prepared for selling. Let's continue to work together to educate those sellers!
Maureen, those are some incredible before and after photos. Agents and Sellers are wise to hire a professional stager when selling a home.
David ~ I know that as an agent you are a firm believer in staging since you know that it really works! Thanks for your positive support.
Wonderful,. powerful images!
Hi Maureen;
Great improvement, super cleaning job, very nice pictures. Good Luck!
you are so right. look at that befor and after. Job well done!!!!
Janice ~ By showing sellers the difference we hope it encourages them to follow suit.
Anthony ~ Thanks for your encouragement. This house sold! :-)
Andrea ~ All it takes is time, while keeping the goal in mind. Thanks for stopping by.