I had soooo much fun staging this house since I loved the Zen feel to the home. However, rooms that are too minimalistic do not photograph well and Staging is all about making the MLS photos look great to generate traffic to your home. There is a fine line between making a home too sparse and making it feel welcoming and warm without being too much.
When I first walked into the home I immediately noticed how spotless it was, which is so important when selling your home. Then, I noticed the beautiful dark hard wood floors, the cathedral ceiling and the huge windows. As much as I loved the house, it didn’t have any artwork or colour so it felt empty to me. I knew it could be great with just adding some colour, texture and some bold accessories.
A BLANK CANVAS
Before – I literally had a blank canvas to work with.AFTER – I started with a very large piece of artwork (even though it doesn’t look big on these large walls) for my colour inspiration. I knew the homeowners were worried about adding ‘too much colour’ and ‘stuff’ since they like the neutral calm space, so I was a bit nervous about what they would think when they came home to a completely transformed house! I’m happy to report that they LOVED it.AFTER – Adding cushions and pops of colour is necessary when you have dark leather furniture. I liked adding a bit of pattern in the cushions.AFTER – adding the ivory carpet made a huge difference. Not only did it help divide the zones, it broke up the darkness from the floor and the furniture. Even adding the silver leaf tray on the ottoman added depth. The lamp also made a big difference since it gave some sparkle but still looked modern with the square base and drum shade.
EVERY PROP HAS A PURPOSE
AFTER – notice how all the colours flow from one area to the other. This makes a smaller space feel larger. When you live in a smaller house, everything has to have a purpose and you should love everything. There isn’t enough space for just ‘stuff’. That is why I love Staging smaller homes so much. They can actually be more challenging since everything is visible.AFTER – the fireplace is the focal of the room. The huge deep mantle can easily equip a TV but I wanted to make it stand out with these lovely painted vases and tall grass. They really make a statement in the room.BEFOREAFTER – adding artwork and a red bowl was all that was needed.The homeowners upgraded their light fixtures and it made a huge difference. When your house is a ‘cookie cutter’ you need to add your own style. These pendants add value to your home as well as just looking great. 🙂BEFOREAFTER – I really wanted to emphasise the nice tile backsplash. This artwork is perfect since it had all the colours plus the colours and modern feel of the other rooms. The brown Eiffel Tower is the same rich colour of the cabinets. It also emphasized the height of the ceiling.The matching single pendant was installed in the kitchen.Little Zen accents adds a pop of colour. I love how even the pears are gold with bits of red 🙂BEFOREAFTER – it’s amazing how simple things like bold artwork that blends with the rest of the house) and a coordinating hand towel can completely change a powder room.
SHOWCASE EVERY INCH
BEFOREAFTER – It’s so important to showcase every inch of your home. Buyers can now see this area is large enough for many purposes.AFTER – since you can see both floors at the same time, I felt it was important to carry the same reds and yellows upstairs.AFTER – the perfect balance of colour dispersed around the room.
ZEN LIVING AT IT’S BEST
BEFORE – since they didn’t have any artwork, we brought this in and just rested on the pillows to see if it would work.AFTER – this super cool bamboo platform bed makes a statement all on it’s own! In order to keep the Zen feeling, I suggested they buy new gray linens since I found the striped ones too young looking for the master bedroom. If you’ve been following my blog, you would know that I usually add drapes to all the windows for more texture and colour. Since this window was low and the bed is low, it would have looked unbalanced to have high drapes. The whole mood of the room would have been lost.AFTERAFTER – we brought in low accessories since I didn’t want to put any height on the dresser, but I did want to add some texture.BEFOREAFTER – adding tall greenery adds some warmth but still keeps it looking modern in the silver vase. This room is very calm and serene.AFTER – the metal artwork with the brown circles balances the dark brown vanity on the opposite side of the room.AFTER – one of my favourite features in this room was the wooden ladder towel holder. It’s perfect for this house.BEFOREAFTERAFTER- since we were still able to use their linens, all we needed to add was some artwork and a few accessories. This room has a bit more colour since we wanted it to appeal to the masses of any age/gender. I would have liked to hang drapes, but it would have looked silly being the only room in the house with drapes. The homeowners have installed very good quality blinds on all windows so drapes are not needed.Legend has it that if you fold 1,000 origami’s you will have 1 wish granted. I hope the homeowner’s wish of selling their house fast comes true 🙂AFTER – since the windows are so big you see right out to the back yard. I carried the same colours in the cushions to extend the eye outside as well. Never overlook all the little details. Most of the time buyers have no idea why the like the ‘feel’ or ‘look’ of a house so much, but it’s because of the care that goes into the details.
Thank you. As a Realtor, I’m sure you can appreciate the difference staging makes.
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I really liked this staging. You were able to take a stark look and make it inviting.
Thank you for the kind words Irene.
Beautiful job
Thank you. As a Realtor, I’m sure you can appreciate the difference staging makes.