Thursday, January 19, 2017

Staging

As you know, we did a lot of work on our old house getting it ready to sell including staging. Staging is supposed to accomplish two things. One is to make the rooms seem as large as possible and the other is to arrange the room so the buyers can see how it can be used and imagine themselves living there. That is done with neutral colors and themes and minimal furniture and accessories.  It's challenge to find a balance between being too cluttered and personal to being too sparse and sterile.

I found the whole staging process exhausting mostly from the point of shopping and reshopping to find the right items. We used our furniture on all of the big things and some of the accessories, but many of our other things had too much of a personal stamp on them or were too dated. I also shopped at my sisters' houses and found a few things, but most of the shopping was done in stores. I visited thrift shops, consignment shops, Khols, TJ Maxx, Pier One, Home Goods, Walmart, Target, Ikea, Big Lots, and Amazon. Multiple times.

 I haven't done the final numbers, but I think the money spent was approximately the same as what a professional stager would have charged for renting their things for 3 months. Of course, we get to keep all that we bought, but some of it we don't need and can't take back. If I had to do this again, I'm not sure if I would do it myself or not. While I was in the middle of the process and going crazy,  I thought we should have hired a professional. Now that things have calmed down, I'm not so sure. I've learned a lot from the experience and would definitely be much better at staging than this first time. Also, if I weren't trying to do it in a hurry during the holidays, it might not have been so taxing.

But was all of that effort worth it? Yes!! We got a signed contract just a couple of days ago after the house being on the market a week. Actually, we had two offers and a bit of a bidding war going on which resulted in getting more than the asking price. This is not the case for other houses in our area. While real estate is not dead here, it isn't moving that fast. We're very pleased. Now we need to get past a couple of more hurdles before I can schedule the movers--the inspections and buyer financing. Both should be okay, but when buying and selling a house, you never know.

Below are a couple of examples of the staging we did. During the process, I was too busy to take pictures, so these pictures were pieced together from various places including the listing service. They don't necessarily show the best comparisons but I think they will give an idea of what was done.

Before: The Living Room

You will notice the dated curtains which are also a bit faded from the sun. I've been meaning to change them for a few years now, but couldn't figure out what to replace them with, so there they stayed. 

The two wooden chairs along that wall (out of their usual spots) are replacements for some upholstered chairs we used to have. However, the old chairs got shredded by the cats to the point that they were an embarrassment. So, they were replaced with chairs that could be easily fixed from cat scratches. Some day when we figure out the cat problem, we'll get different ones. 

The big bowl on the coffee table (from my parents that I refinished) was a gift from my neighbor. It's really too big for that spot (and every where else in my house) but I left it there for her to see until I could figure out what to do with it. 

The hutch came from Ward's grandmother and is full of personal family items that mean a lot to us, but don't display well.

The pictures on the wall are personal ones including the marriage certificate of my great 
grandparents.

After: The Living Room


First and foremost, the room got a fresh coat of paint in a neutral color. We hired most of that out and it was money very well spent. Who knows how long it would have taken us to paint the whole house? New paint means the green accent walls are gone. 

The rug got cleaned with a lot of hands and knees spot cleaning. 

The end tables are old pine ones that we made from a kit when we were first married. They had gotten pretty marred (yes, cats were involved in some of that), so there were a lot of touch ups with a brown Sharpie. Not a perfect match, but okay from a distance. Accessories were placed to cover up the worst places. The brass lamps got changed for brushed nickle ones. Brass is very dated and brushed nickle is in. Not shown here, but we also changed all of our brass door knobs for brushed nickle ones. 

However, the brass fireplace (which you can't see in the before picture) insert stayed. We decided not to go to the expense or effort of a new insert. However, we did paint the black metal around it to improve the scratched surface. The fireplace had bookshelves on either side that were removed. They were solid oak and in good shape, but were "so 80's". We put a lamp in one corner where they used to be to bring more light into the room. On that note, we also changed the fluorescent light bulbs in the whole house for incandescent ones because they give off brighter and warmer light. The picture and accessories around the fireplace are entirely new. Finding a picture for there was really hard. I think I tried 5 different things before I found one that looked okay. That's part of the back and forth shopping I talked about. Without the shelves on either side, the brass insert really stood out and needed to be toned down with accessories. It took a while until that was satisfactory. 

The couch got a cover to cover up the ends that the cats shredded. New throw pillows were added. New pictures above the sofa. When picking pictures, painted ones are better than photographs and generic pictures are better. Flowers are okay if they are stylized. You can't see it, but we took the curtains down over the whole house. That showcased our new windows and the pretty view we have surrounding all sides of the house. Of course, that meant that we did a lot of window cleaning.

Recently redone hardwood floors helped the whole look. Luckily, no work required there.





Before: Family Room
This was the room that we spent the most time in. When the kids were younger, the basement served as the family room, but we moved up here a few years ago. Our computer, TV, and files were in here.  It opens up directly from the garage and it was also our mudroom and drop spot. 

However, the room is not very big and we had it pretty crowded although quite functional for what we needed. 

Once again dated curtains and a covered couch. If you look closely, you see a fur spot where the cats rubbed on it daily. 

The colors are shades of blue and gold honoring WV colors, but not necessarily ones I think look best. Just ones I picked when I couldn't figure out anything else. I'm not good at picking colors. 

The pictures above the couch were wedding gifts from my aunt. She personalized one for both me and Ward about our home states and backgrounds.



After: Family Room
You'll see many of the same things were done here as in the living room. No curtains and fewer pieces of furniture. 

The gate leg table in the corner is from my grandmother and was supposed to used for staging in the dining room. We don't have separate dining room furniture and we wanted to move our every day table to use in the new house, so were going to use this table. However, we couldn't get the chairs to fit well with the gate leg so we folded it up and moved it in here to fill space with a suggestion that you could put a TV there is you wanted. 

The recliner has a smaller footprint than most and fits well in that corner. We set it up as a reading corner with a lamp, throw, and end table with books that are out of sight on the other side of the chair. The lamp has a brass pole, but decided to use it since it is mostly out of view behind the recliner. 

The recliner has several scratch marks on it from the cats so it definitely needed a throw to cover them up. However because it is leather, most throws slid right off of it. I actually tried taping them, but that didn't work so well. The one that's there was crocheted by my aunt that has lot of texture so it didn't slip so easily.  While the throw is kind of old fashioned, it was okay because it was a good texture contrast with the chair.

We removed the ceiling fan (notice the top of the first picture) and replaced it with a light fixture. This got rid of the dated, brass fan that was there.


And the list goes on an on. We did this to pretty much every room in the house and several places outside. Another day, I may show you some more before and afters. But for now, there's still a lot of house stuff to do. Next up is cleaning up the yard and garden shed at the old house and moving things from there to the new house.

Until next time...

Note: When I call things dated and old fashioned, no judgement here. Obviously, because that's what we were living with. However, we thought that the market for our house would be young families and they were the ones that would consider them "old". We didn't want our house to look like their parents or grandparents house. We wanted it to look like it could be "their" house. Who is actually buying our house? A young couple about to be married buying their first house.

22 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the signed offer! I know there's still some steps to go through, but it's almost done!
    I think you did a great job in the staging.

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    1. It's almost done. Yes! In just a month, we should all of our things in one place. I'm looking forward to that.

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  2. You did a phenomenal job! I never really believed in "staging" but I think you've sold me on it. Wanna come do my house if I ever put it on the market?! It could be a new career for you!

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    1. Staging may be one of the hot careers out there now. While doing research for this job, I saw all kinds of websites talking about that. I think they were targeting people who like to decorate and want to set their own hours. However, I think it would require a lot of start up as you get a warehouse full of furniture and accessories to do several jobs at once.

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  3. Wow! I am impressed. I'm sorta with Nathalie, never really believed in the concept but the rooms really do look twice as big. Did you remove the paneling in the family room or just have it painted? The neutral colors really do look nice.

    Anyhow, congrats on such a quick sale. Perhaps you've found a new line of work! :-)

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    1. The paneling in the family room has been painted three times now and is starting to look pretty good as the grooves are slowly filled in. The first painting job was the most dramatic, however, as we went from dark wood color to off-white. I did that project one week while Ward and the boys were off at Boy Scout camp.

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  4. I think staging is the key to selling quickly and you did a fantastic job of it. Like everyone I have some beloved pieces but they don't translate well for a young couple. Right now my house is neutral but it is not the hot gray neutral. When we get ready to sell I will paint it whatever is the best selling color at that time

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    1. The neutral for downstairs is putty color meaning it's a gray based beige. It is actually the same color as the brick in the fireplace and made spaces on either side not look so empty. In the bedrooms, we used a grayer color with a little bit a beige tone. Neither color is one I would have picked, but they look particularly good with the white woodwork.

      You may remember that we had an initial consultation with a professional stager who recommended those colors. She knew what she was doing. The painter said that he does a lot of work for real estate agents and mostly used steel gray for those jobs.

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  5. Congratulations on getting the signed offer and at a higher than asking price, too! You did a great job with the staging! The rooms do look bigger in the "after" pictures. I agree with the others - you might have found a new career! :D

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    1. We were surprised about the higher offerings. Our new house cost more than our old house, so we were especially pleased about getting more money than we expected. It's not a lot, but every little bit helps.

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  6. A great post. I enjoyed reading about your efforts and seeing the changes in the before and after photographs. I particularly liked your final point about not putting across an impression of it being a seniors' house, but one that could appeal to younger buyers. Congratulations on achieving such a quick sale.

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    1. While our house definitely looked like older people were living in it (because they were), I didn't think it was too bad. However, I hope I can update this house a little as we settle in. I won't be making the whole place gray, but some of the things from the 80's may get an update.

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  7. I love before and after pictures. Wonderful job with your staging! Glad the time and money paid off in offers on your home.

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    1. I would have really disappointed if all of the hard work we did hadn't paid off. But you never know what might happen when you're selling a house. You can put the odds in your favor with something like staging, but it's all really a gamble of finding the right buyer.

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  8. Well worth the effort! And congrats - hope the sale goes through without a hitch!

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    1. Thanks. I'm not quite holding my breath, but it will be nice when the house is actually sold.

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  9. Wow, I like both before and after photos, looks nice in both to me. Great house, glad you got it sold.

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    1. I think the after photos look much better, but those are not rooms you could live in. Everyday living creates clutter. That's just the way it is.

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  10. More congrats and nicely done! Sounds like a lot of work but I'm glad it payed off :o)

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  11. Ditto-Wow, June! That is really great about getting the offer so soon. Great news and congrats to both of you!

    We probably won't be selling our small place any time soon, but your post was very educational and eye-opening; very helpful. Now, if we can only get our daughters to move out, then we'd have some more room. ;) (and I am being careful about what I am wishing for).

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    1. When it time to sell (if ever), educate yourself to what is the trend in your area. What are trends in some areas, aren't in others.

      I think you probably feel like we do about our kids. We love having them around (couldn't always say that), but want them living out in the world on their own. And don't worry, mine are living up to the cliche of returning home after they leave. Yours may do the same.

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