Home Staging Guide by Kelly Clark

Table of Contents (click below to jump to a page) Introduction : What is Home Staging, In the beginning Quick Home Feature Fixes Pg. 40 Going beyond the efforts to make it look tidy, How we got started, Dark Wall Paneling Pg. 40 and how it impacted our business Rubber backed curtains Pg. 40 Dark rooms Pg. 40 The Importance of Curb Appeal Pg. 7 Tall weeds in the yard Pg. 41 First impressions / Enticing buyers Pg. 7 Mirror with silvered edge Pg. 41 Should you paint? Pg. 8 The Front Lawn Pg.10 Quick Makeovers Pg. 41 The Front Door Pg.11 A barbecue grill in the kitchen Pg. 41 The Roof Pg. 13 Built in standing bar Pg. 41 The Gutters Pg. 13 Ugly furniture Pg. 42 The Garage Pg. 13 A funny smell Pg. 43 The Most common questions clients ask Pg. 13 Faded carpet and other floor miseries Pg. 44 Staging Windows Pg. 15

Where to Find Home Staging Ideas Pg. 17 Take Field Trips Pg. 17 Look at Magazines Pg.17 Watch Decorating Shows Pg. 18

Furniture, Lights, and Accessories Pg. 18 Furniture Placement Pg. 18 Lighting; Let there be light, and lots of it... Pg. 21 Accessories, Make the Room Pg. 22

Coloring the Home and Style Pg. 26 Color Pg. 26 Flowers and plants Pg.27 The Use of Round Tables Pg. 30 Quick Dos & Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ts of Staging the Home Pg. 31 Style in the staged home Pg. 33 Staging a home with pictures Pg. 36

Top Ten Props to Start Home Staging Pg. 39

Staging Key Rooms Pg. 45 The Entry Way Pg. 46 The Living Room Pg. 47 The Dining Room Pg. 50 The Bedroom Pg. 51 The Bathroom Pg. 53

The Preparation to Stage a Home to Sell Pg. 55 The first walk through Pg. 55 What impression does the room make? Pg. 55 Handling the Skeptical Home sellers Pg. 56 Prepare Your Homeowners for Staging the Home Pg. 57 Why are some homeowners skeptical about this method? Pg. 58

Setting up home staging to sell as a business Pg. 59 Where will my clients come from? Pg. 60 How Much to Charge For Services? Pg. 60 Training Assistants Pg. 62

Introduction:

Naked. It was the first thought that crossed my mind. The floors, windows and walls were naked down to the skirts of the windows missing. Mozart played in the background and glaring white carpeting lay at my feet. I took my shoes off. There was nothing homey about the house, just white wash. And I knew the buyer visiting the home would think the same. The house had all the charm of a brand new sanitarium. The only way I could think of to redeem the home and reverse the white sterility were the words, “Home staging.” And what I mean by “staging a home” is NOT having a rental company come by and deposit a truck load of furniture and set it about in a Hodge podge manner. That is not staging!

Staging a house means going beyond efforts to just make it look tidy.

Just as stagehands set the stage for a production, you can do the same for a home. It can be made to look cozy, colorful and inviting, with a personalized look to make it stand out from the rest of the other houses on the market. If you have ever visited a new home development and walked through the models you’ve seen what staging a home to sell ought to be. You walk through a model and as you look around you hear yourself say, “Wow, this is some place!”

You leave with a positive impression created by properly placed furniture, color coordinated accessories, beautiful rich linens and table settings, everything there evoking a feeling that the model home is cozy and inviting. Easily you pictured yourself living in that comfortable space, putting your own personal belongings in the home, lighting those candles on the dinner table, having friends visit in the homey setting...

And that’s exactly what potential buyers want when they visit the house you’re selling. They want that same instant coziness and comfort in the home they’ll choose. Most people are visual oriented and cannot mentally remodel a home that needs TLC in their head, nor to be honest, do they want to have to spend thousands of dollars renovating. So, as a result, what the potential buyers see is usually what they want.

The good news is that to stage a home to sell you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to do this remodeling. It will be the little things you do that will make the magic happen. The accessories, the colorful chintz fabric on the tables, the fresh bouquet of flowers in a vase, the scented candles on the fireplace mantel, and the manner in which the furniture is set around an area rug, that is where the difference will be made.

Do you begin to understand that we will not be spending oodles of time and money redoing a home in this process? There won’t be any need. In these chapters will be discussed how to stage a home to sell without needing a professional designer. By using the simple staging to sell methods in this book you’ll learn how to makeover any house you’re selling yourself.

Most of the time there isn’t a need to use such traditional makeover ploys on a house, just some home staging to sell know how. And the end result of a sold sign tells the rest of the story, that this method works.

Who can use this method? Anyone, who wants to improve the look of a home.

And that list includes: Realtors, Home sellers, present/future homestagers, and present homeowners.

Many people complain they don’t have time to stage a Home! Home staging to sell setups can be done quickly. It doesn’t take all day to set up and stage a home. You won’t have to despair anymore when a client comes to you with an old house with a labyrinth puzzle of a floor plan. And if you’re the homeowner selling your own house, or renting it, this will make it easier to do without having to do many costly repairs. It will work by simply taking the time to assess the home’s strong and weak points and giving it the home staging to sell magic necessary for your potential buyers to dream themselves into making an offer.

How did you get started? Were you professionally trained?

These are common questions people ask me all the time. Home staging to sell began out of a need my husband Paul and I had in our own realty business. I’d worked previously in retail and in particular furniture outlets such as Nordstroms, and had had some formal study of design.

In retail I frequently noticed how merchandise set out and displayed in the front windows sold quickly the items. Department store managers I worked with explained to me that if the merchandise was not brought out and showcased it would not sell. For instance, a bedspread staged on a bed with matching pillows and headboard sells faster than one that is simply left folded neatly on the shelf.

“Staging to Sell,” I quickly learned moves your merchandise . This can also be said of selling homes!

I started to experiment with decor by remodeling my own home. People would come by and say to me, “You ought to become an interior designer.” But at the time we were raising four small children and as a stay-at-home mother I didn’t see how this could happen. That is until I became involved in my husband Paul’s real estate business.

The first home I staged to sell was a vacant townhouse in San Jose, California. The townhouse had been on the market for a while and not receiving any interest from potential buyers. Paul and I sat and watched as people walked in and walked out. And as this happened I came up with what I consider today to be a God inspired idea of staging the home to sell. ( And it has been truly from the very beginning a wonderful gift from above to have this talent to stage homes to sell). I asked myself, Why not take some of the decor accessories from home and set them up just as if it were being staged in a showroom? And that’s just what I did. A vignette was setup in the kitchen of the townhouse, using some linens and dishes. I hung pictures on the wall and staged some furnishings and plants about the rooms. And then, to our delight, it sold almost immediately after the staging.

We realized that this home staging to sell could change the manner in which homes were sold. From then on, if a house wasn’t selling, I’d ask myself, why isn’t this house selling? What’s wrong with it? How can I stage it to make it look its best? And try to come up with a solution that would solve the problem.

Paul and I have now staged and sold hundreds of homes in the last five years, and the number keeps growing... Out of those houses 70% percent had been sitting on the market already three months to two years. After being staged to sell they sold within an average of 18 days, some within 24 hours! And of those homes sold less than 20% percent were re-carpeted and only 25% percent completely repainted.

Did home staging make a difference in our business? You please a client and that person recommends you to a friend or neighbor. That is why Realtors often ask clients to recommend them to others, and this is what happened in our own business. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to build a list of clientele. Soon word about our home staging to sell was spread around on the grapevine and people began calling after hearing from friends how successful we had been at selling their homes. Often they would request my home staging to sell services, but I would take them on as clients if they promised to list with us, only then would I use my special decorating know how. After building up our clientele I started buying objects, which I call “props”, to stage homes.

One time I was buying a chair at an antique store and told the lady owner how I planned to use the furniture. The woman’s eyes lit up, her own house had been on the market for a long time and she’d been told by her Realtor to go ahead and find another agent , because he couldn’t sell her home. I was hired right there on the spot and had a listing for that very afternoon to stage her house. When I went home and told Paul my story about how I’d gotten another listing, he said, “From now on Ginger your job is to go shopping at least once a week!” No problem. Now I have accumulated a garage full of props for our home staging to sell business. And Paul and I have taken on many more listings, which many other agents had given up on, thinking that they’d never sell.

In this book is outlined in several chapters how color, furniture, accessories, focal point, curb appeal, are all part of home staging to sell.

In the Chapter: “How To Start Your Own Business” explained in detail is how to enhance your own realty business and sell that house everyone else believes is an unsold white elephant. If home staging to sell brings out the amateur decorator in you this creative business could develop into a full-time lucrative occupation that is your very own business.... Home staging can be creatively used on any home without requiring a lot of expensive repairs, so that homeowners can make use of this method as well. The best part about this method is that you don’t have to be a professional designer or Realtor to stage a home to sell.

The Importance of Curb Appeal

Buyers form snap judgments based on first impression of a home. And that first impression, whether good or bad, is generally a lasting one. It’s usually made from the vantage of viewing the home for the first time from the curb, looking at the house’s front stoop. The moment potential buyers come driving up they are looking over the exterior of the house and forming a quick opinion. That is why curb appeal is so important to the house’s sale. A negative first impression, which leaves the potential buyers to think, this is an old rundown shack, will cause them to drive away and never to return.

My husband, Paul, a Realtor who has been in the business of selling homes 26 years, has shown property to potential buyers and many times driven up to the front of the home to have them say, “I don’t like this one, lets see the next one...” The buyer’s

immediate first response to a less than well-kept front yard was negative. What they saw on the exterior of the home determined what they thought the inside would be like... However, sometimes the negative impression of the front yard can be worked around by telling the potential buyers an appointment with the seller to see the home had been made and that they should honor it. But it better be a showcase inside or you’ll have some very miffed clients on your hands afterwards!

Usually the first impression remains fixed in the potential buyers minds and no matter how makeovers may be done later to the home it will not change. The yuck factor of a negative first viewing will remain fixed in the buyer's minds. That is why from the very beginning, when the house is first listed for sale, it should be shown at its very best. This is where decorating the home to sell by staging it can be the most help in showing the home to its advantage.

But how do you entice buyers into stopping to preview the rest of the house?

If the outside of the house looks appealing enough they’ll stop and take a look, even peek over the fence to get a glimpse of the backyard, if not open for viewing. But if the home is available to preview, they’ll step inside. These simple staging to sell methods can be used to get any house ready for sale. It just takes a little thought and surprisingly, in most cases, not a lot of time or money invested to achieve desired curb appeal.

Some tried and true ways to give the home curb appeal: Should you paint the house? Sometimes painting the house’s exterior before it’s put on the market can give the most for your fix-up money, but it’s not absolutely necessary. However, out of the 121 homes we’ve sold 25% percent were completely repainted.

Often all that is needed to sell the home is some touch up paint jobs and staging to sell decor, in which case why throw money away?

As a general rule try to use what you have to work with first and after using staging to sell methods see what happens. The house you’ll discover will sell without spending a lot of money to change anything about it.

When do you paint? If the house’s exterior is anywhere peeling, looking noticeably faded and dated, it is probably time to think of having it painted. Just remember painting the house is worth every penny spent, if it will convince potential buyers that they should investigate further and stop to look at the home. What types of exterior dates the home? When a home’s exterior, for instance, is white with pink trim. Those types of fifties bubble gum coloring are dating the house, and therefore making it look very old fashioned. The potential buyers will take one look at the house and think, whoever owns the home will inherit some headaches worthy of the pink colored jaundice they’ve developed looking at the house. And unfortunately, even if the interior has been completely remodeled and updated, the outside has prejudiced them from looking at the rest of the home. By simply redoing the trim in a more contemporary color the buyer might be enticed to take more than just a dismissive glance at the house.

What colors to use to repaint the exterior? Take a look at new and more expensive neighborhoods where homes have been recently built and remodeled. Usually professional designers have been hired to give those homes the contemporary look that many potential buyers like and admire. Notice how colors compliment each other and what shades are being used on the exterior of the homes, then ride the latest color wave and redo your own home. When you visit your local design center find color palettes to help decide what will best showcase the house you’re repainting.

For further information on how to use color refer to: Coloring The Home.

The Front Lawn

Now is not the time to decide to irrigate, or redo the sprinkler system: The look the house should have is tidy and neat. It should not look as if gophers have made a home in the front yard.

The lawn ought to look manicured and maintained: It therefore ought be neatly mowed, the shrubs trimmed and clipped. The yard should to be raked free of piles of leaves, the sidewalk swept clean, and the front porch free of toys and bikes, giving the home a well cared for appearance.

How to add color and interest? If needed, plant colorful flowers around the perimeter of the yard and along the walkway leading to the front door. A few colorful potted flowers by the front door can inexpensively add charm to the home making it more welcoming.

How about when the front yard looks like a moonscape of rocks? No greenery to be seen anywhere? How do you then stage the front of the home? Is it beyond salvaging? It is not beyond redemption and can be staged to sell. This occurred once with a client’s house where the front yard of the home was made up primarily of white rocks. There wasn’t any greenery anywhere, making it look barren and desolate. It quickly became evident that this was going to be the big obstacle to creating curb appeal for this home. The solution: It was simple and inexpensive, and can be applied to any front or backyard landscape that is barren of foliage. Potted plants and flowers were brought to the front and arranged around the yard and on the porch, adding the necessary color that was sorely missing. The front transformed from barren wasteland into suburban greenery, comfortably making the home more pleasing aesthetically to the eye. Indeed, the transformation was so dramatic that the owner’s neighbors started coming over to ask, “What did you do to your yard?” Thinking incorrectly that they had spent a lot of money to change it. When in reality the white rocks were still there and all the rest had been accomplished by home staging to sell magic.

The Front Door

Keep clutter away from the from door. This means removing bicycles, scooters, piles of toys, newspapers, anything that may block the access to the entry.

Next, if there is a screen on the door remove it. The mesh will detract from the look of the door, making it look dusty and unclean. Potential buyers also will not be able to see the coordinating color of the door if the screen is left on, nor will they notice how it matches with the rest of the home’s exterior.

If the front door looks old and the color faded, do not discard it. Save yourself some money and give it a fresh coat of paint. Only if it is completely beyond repair consider replacing it with a brand new one.

How to choose a color for the front door? Let us say that the door is old and the color rather outdated. Color coordinate the door to match the trim of the house. If you still have a very plain unappealing door hang a pretty floral wreath on it and this will add instant country charm and warmth. Placing some potted flowers by the front door also can add color, creating an inviting atmosphere for the potential buyers.

Key point: Remember, the goal is to have the potential buyers feel welcome and to give the house a homey allure so that they’ll want to see more.

“See Clutter, Buyer Thinks Gutter” Here is a motto that very well sums up what curb appeal is all about. This means that any type of clutter from piles of leaves, garbage cans, old car parts, anything left

outside, which will detract from the appeal of the home and make the potential buyer think that the house is a magnet for junk, is not okay. If it makes the house look untidy get rid of it!

The number of cars in front of the home should be minimal. This word of caution applies to large work trucks, boats, and mobile homes that may detract away from the first impression and block the view of the home. For the short period of time the house is on the market make every effort to display the house at its very best and leave your four wheeled toys parked elsewhere. Even if this means for a while parking them in front of cousin John’s house for a week or two... It’s better to part with your vehicles for a little while than to have to pay for two mortgages on two homes.

A Little Test of Logic: Which house would you choose to preview if you were the potential buyers? Subject (A): a charming house with a neatly trimmed lawn, sunny flowers lining the walkway, and an inviting wreath hanging on the door. Subject (B) an unassuming house with peeling trim, overgrown grass, and a clutter of toys by the front door and a mobile home blocking the view of the front lawn?

It’s pretty evident which house the buyer would choose to visit, isn’t it? The charming tidy exterior of Subject (A). The home potential buyers at first glance will assume has just as an equally well cared for interior. The simple logic of knowing that a neat and tidy home with the proper staging can allure your buyer inside ought to get you thinking, now how can I stage this home to interest the buyers? Does the house have enough curb appeal to be eye-catching and make them curious enough to stop? And what do they see when they peek inside? If you can answer the above questions when objectively viewing the home you’re staging to sell it’s well on its way to being sold.

IF IT ISN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT

Remember that by staging a home to sell we are trying to save money by working with what the home has now. Don’t pay out thousands of dollars to fix the house you’re trying to sell. Try using the methods suggested below first, before calling the repairman.

The Roof: Minor repairs can be made to the roof, if for instance, a few shingles are loose and need to be nailed down. But do not change it entirely because the owners are putting the house on the market. Wait and see what the inspector says first before hiring a contractor.

The Gutters: Sagging gutters, especially those located by the front door and windows, must be taken care of before the house is put on the market. A dangling gutter over the front entry door will make the house look sloppy and untended. Otherwise, let the inspector decide if they need to be completely repaired.

The Garage: It should look neat and clean on the outside exterior. Trash cans ought to be put away in the side yard and the front and sides of the garage door kept free of junk. If the paint is peeling on the garage door, repaint it to match the front of the home. Only when it is in complete shambles, barely functioning, and looking as if it would make terrific kindling for the house’s fireplace, should you think, Hmmm... maybe it should be replaced.

The most common questions clients ask:

But where should I stash all this extra stuff? Answer: Stash it in your garage. The garage is the last place the buyer will look at and to be honest if your garage looks somewhat full of things, they don’t mind. The buyer’s only real concern is that you have a garage. Make it look as neat as you can, but then

put all those extra pieces away into the garage for temporary storage while your home is staged to sell.

Should items in the house that are not going to be sold with it be labeled as such when the house is being shown? Answer: No. Remember that you’re staging the home in order to create a picture of what the home can look like when properly decorated. If, for example, you decide to take the bedroom curtains because they match your bed’s coverlet, make it known when everything is being itemized concerning what stays with the house and what goes with you. It is then you should declare your intention to take them. Otherwise stick it notes on items looks tacky, as if the items in the home were more important than the house itself.

Another interesting question:

Would it be a good idea to faux paint my home? Answer: Although it’s very pretty to have, it doesn’t add monetary value to the house. The home staging to sell answer, therefore, is don’t have it done. It’s an expensive process and like wallpaper, the chances of the next owner liking what you’ve had painted are slim.

Should we be present when the house is being shown? Answer: Unless you are the Realtor selling the home, your presence is not required. Do yourself an emotional favor and leave.

A true story: Once, when one of our clients were selling their house, they went into the backyard to give the potential buyers some space. They told the potential buyers to go ahead and be Lookee Lous and take a look into the kitchen cupboards if they wanted. The homeowner’s daughter took a peek into the windows to see what the potential buyers were doing and came back to her parents to report that the buyers had not only opened

the kitchen cupboards, but actually looked into the refrigerator! Why, who knows? It was what the potential buyers needed to do to be certain that this particular house was what they wanted to buy.

Try and have faith that the house will sell itself on it’s own merits. And now that it’s been beautifully home staged, why wouldn’t it?

A good piece of advice for the home seller: Hire a professional cleaning crew to thoroughly clean the house you’re selling. It’s well worth the expense to have the windows washed, the floors scrubbed and waxed, and the carpets professionally cleaned. The best way to showcase a home is when it’s spotlessly clean.

Staging Windows

Keep the windows spotlessly clean inside and out. It may mean removing the screens temporarily from the windows. Pull the drapes back and clear away any old flowerpots and other debris, front hedges should be trimmed down to below the window sill. Keep it nice and tidy. By pulling the drapes back and having the blinds up the front window will act like a showcase display for the home. Much like store front windows perform for shops with the interior lights focused on them, so will the well lit front windows of the house look cozy and inviting from the street to entice buyers in.

How do you setup a front window vignette? You’re going to use some old Hollywood knowledge that department stores use today in displaying merchandise. Setup a vignette using a table, a chair, formal chintz fabric and accessories, and then display this for front window viewing. Dressing up the front window will add class, color, and style. It invites the potential buyers to step inside and see what the rest of the home has to offer.

Should we invest in double pane windows? No, it’s not worth the cost. Unless there is a broken window, leave the condition of the window, sills, the glass and frames alone. If the next owner wants to change them, that’s their decision, and one you don’t need to be concerned about.

Do the buyers really look inside the windows? Yes, interested potential buyers do peek through windows. By keeping the front windows free of mesh screens potential buyers can take a peek inside and see if they want to investigate further, so keep that first impression positive and clean, and let the only smudge prints on the windows be the buyers.

Does a staged front window make a difference? In the past, when Paul and I have worked with clients who have had their houses 3 to 6 months on the market and sat and watched helplessly as potential buyers drove up and drove away, not knowing why their house wasn’t selling. And then, after having the front window staged with a cozy tableau, watched as that same house that no one had shown interest in before, sell within a matter of days. I can honestly say, “Yes,” that showcase front window treatment can make a tremendous difference.

But why didn’t it sell before? Even when the house had everything in mint condition, including a perfect interior? It usually comes down to how the house looked from the exterior. When the heavy front drapes were drawn it looked closed off, oppressive and uninviting, signaling to the buyers to stay away. When the heavy drapes and sheers were pulled back, an area rug placed on the floor, and then had the front window setup with in a lighted staged setting to showcase the interior, you can bet your next mortgage payment no one drove away anymore. And yes, home staging to sell can be as simple as drawing the curtains back.

Key point: Remember you are staging to sell the house potential buyers to be intrigued enough to ask to see more.

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Just like a store front window, they’ll peek through the windows, hopefully like what they see, and want to make an appointment to finally walk in and preview the rest. So keep the drapes pulled open, the front lights on both day and night, and setup a vignette that tells the buyer what a comfortable retreat this house can be to live in.

Where to Find Home Staging Ideas Don’t have any new homes being built in your local neighborhood and want to see a staged home? And you don’t know what colors are fashionably in? Here is a list of places where you can look to find answers to what’s new on the housing market and what a staged home can look like. Take Field Trips: Take a field trip to a local home furnishing store like Ethan Allen, Ralph Lauren, Macys, and other display rooms to find ideas for your vignettes. Visit model homes to see what the latest furnishings and colors are and as you walk around try and see what style they are trying to convey and to whom they are trying to sell. Homework: Ask yourself, is this a home marketed for the young or the elderly? A couple with children or double incomes with no kids? Try and figure out to whom they’re targeting.

Look at magazines: Home decorating magazines can be helpful such as Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Traditional Home, Ladies Home Journal, Victoria, and other publications and books which feature staged home decor. They can show you what the latest colors are being used and how accessories can be properly used in staging a room. Homework: What key colors are being used in the room? Are they grouping accessory objects by color, subject, or texture? What is the style is being used, is it country, traditional, cottage, or contemporary?

Watch decorating shows: For the auditory oriented, there are now on television different decorating programs which explain how to work with color, furniture, and accessories. But to really understand how furniture is placed about a room, get a truer sense of the size and types of accessories used in a particular space, and to see the impact of color, it’s better to see it in real life. Homework: How did they rearrange the furniture to make a difference? Could you do the same in a problem room in the house you’re selling?

Furniture, Lights, and Accessories

First: Find the focal point. Before arranging furniture you first need to locate the focal point in a room. What object or place in a room stands out the most? That is the focal point.

The focal point usually is the most prominent feature in a room, whether it’s a fireplace, large picture window, or a piece of art work. This is where your furniture should be arranged and special attention ought to be paid when setting up the accessories.

For instance, it only makes sense to arrange a seating group around a fireplace or a large window overlooking the garden. In rooms without standard focal points the eye may get lost searching for one. At which point, try using the largest object in a room and arrange furniture accordingly around it.

Grouping furniture: Instead of pushing the furniture up against the walls and making them appear like forlorn wallflowers bring them instead into the room and form intimate groupings, angling pieces so the foot traffic moves around them. Place small furnishings together or they’ll get lost in a room. And to add interest include one oversized piece to that grouping and it will actually make a room feel larger.

Which piece of furniture should we start with first? Start with the largest piece of furniture in the room and work your way downward to the smallest. Then decide what accessories and plants to use to fill in space. The largest piece should look into the focal point. Place it directly opposite the focal point. Add a pretty area rug that matches the room’s style in the center to anchor the pieces together. A rug will also provide color and texture to a room, for inexpensive carpets try sisal or sea grass.

Pay attention to traffic flow: For example, lets say right in front of a room’s entrance there is a sofa blocking the way. Instead of keeping it there you move it off to the side at an angle to permit more walking room. Remember, the entry way into a room should always be kept clear, so the potential buyers can admire the large space of the room and enter it without moving as if in an obstacle course. This also will help impress upon the buyers the large space of the room and keep it from feeling tight and claustrophobically crowded.

How do you deal with small spaces? It is one of the most difficult dilemmas facing the home stager. It’s also amazing the myths about such small spaces. Many people think that small spaces means using small furniture and other munch kin sized items. Not true! The real fact is that three or four deliberately over scale items in a room will fool the eye into thinking the room is larger. Bigger in this situation, can mean better.

Musical Furniture: It may be necessary to play a little musical chairs with the house’s furniture. When staging a home to sell sometimes the original furniture that is in one room may not be suited to the overall effect you’re trying to achieve. It may be necessary to take furniture from one room and put it in another and rearrange the pieces where they suit best.

For example: A completely remodeled kitchen with a new table and custom made curtains hanging from the windows looks fine, but when someone enters the room the

first pieces of furniture the person views are a set of oak colonial chairs. Nothing is wrong with antique furniture, except these chairs bespeak of dated age, making the wrong first impression that the kitchen is old. What did I replace the old with? Looking about there’s a set of new cranberry colored dining room chairs that are almost hidden in another room. Taking these contemporary items into the kitchen transforms it instantly making it more trendy and modern.

Again, furniture in another room may be better suited for the needs of the room being staged than the furniture that is already being used there. Don’t box yourself into a corner thinking this room has to work with the original furniture. Play a little musical chairs with the pieces in the house and see what really makes the best first impression.

Please be realistic when moving belongings around in someone else’s home! Just a quick blurb of advice. Remember that when you are working in someone else’s home to always take into consideration their feelings. This house you’re about to stage to sell is still the seller’s home until they put their belongings into the moving van. It’s unrealistic, therefore, to expect them to remove everything out of the house to please you. So try not to be a pesky perfectionist in the process and work around as much as possible with what the present owners have currently in the home.

What about a large vacant house? Should every room be staged? No, don’t stage every room, do only the most important ones. The entry way, livingroom, kitchen and master bedroom ought to be completely staged with furniture and accessories. In the bathrooms do some minimal staging on the counter tops, and if time permits, the shower. Remember to always address the focal point in each room when staging.

What affects the sale and staging of any home? Consider the market, if the house is situated in an area known to have good schools and the homes are selling quickly when put on the market, you may not need to do as much staging. The present economy and the availability of homes in the area also will affect how quickly it will sell.

One last note on furniture arrangements: Always check balance and scale. Make certain everything is proportional to the furniture that you’ve placed and rearrange where needed. If the setting feels uncomfortable to look at, or be in, then it’s not right, and you’ll need to try arranging the furniture in another way.

Let there be light, and lots of it... Imagine someone walking into a dim lit house, peering into the front entry way to see what lays beyond the threshold, and making out vaguely a room with curtained windows. And this all happens in a house you’re supposed to try to be selling. Beginning to get the picture? Nobody wants to live in glum darkness, not the least the potential buyers coming to check the house you’ve put on the market. They want to see light and color, and a house therefore, that’s warm and inviting.

How does lighting play a part in where the furniture should be placed? The lighting should accentuate the most important elements in the room. Arrange it to be in balance with the other pieces of furniture for the most pleasing effect. Set the lighting in an imaginary triangle on tables and with the furniture.

Dark heavy drapes blocking the light? Pull them back away from the window and bring the sheers forward, if the widow view is not appealing. Sheer curtains are see-through, and will allow natural light to filter into a room.

Are the brightest lights best, or lower wattage? Get rid of any frosted lights, spend about ten bucks and buy good clear glass bulbs and replace them. Put the brightest bulbs possible in any dimly lit areas. When lighting vignettes put in mood lighting, especially in dining rooms where the mood can be set with dimmer lights. In other rooms don’t let the light be so bright that the room looks flooded with artificial spot lights a` la` Hollywood. Have just enough light for it to feel like that there’s someone living in the room. Above all, don’t let the potential buyers

walk into a dark room. The house should be bright and warm, so let the lighting help set the mood.

How can color bring more light into a room? A room may have dark mauve colored walls for example, that are sucking up all light and creating a dark somber room. By using a light neutral color repaint the room. Perhaps even paint the ceiling, to reflect light back into the room. This will bring sunshine in and add much needed light. The atmosphere in the room will also change from somberness to cheerful brightness.

Accessories Make the Room

What brings personality and color to a room are the homey accessories. These objects will often be placed on tables, mantels, books shelves, counter tops, dining room tables, anywhere where charm and history is needed to personalize a room and make it appear more livable. Arrangements with accessories can add interest to a room, even create a theme that might be carried throughout the home. For instance: Maybe the house has wallpaper with a striped print on it, looking at it might reminds you of an English manor theme. Among your props you might have some framed prints of a hunting scene to hang on the walls. And then on the round table you’ve setup decide to use a rich burgundy linen in the same color as the stripes. Using a copy of a Victorian lamp wired for lighting you add more light to the room putting it on the table, then place a full ivy plant next to it in a wicker basket. For added history, maybe an adorable black and white photo of the homeowner as a child taken in the 1950’s, situating it in front of the plant and lamp, you finish the vignette.

Look at the rooms you’re staging and ask yourself: What accessories work best in here? Is there a theme? And what color predominates the most?

Then begin to develop upon the main color and coordinate accessories with the furniture, drapes, and wall color.

Accessories do not have to be expensive: Many items needed to accessorize can be often found within the home itself, or bought very inexpensively in a local discount shop like Michael's, Ross, resale outlets, thrift stores et. So, keep to your budget and remember that this is for show, not a forever permanent situation. Word of advice: Be certain that if you are hired to stage a home to sell to let the homeowner know of the extra expense involved in buying props and accessories, such as flowers . Scented candles: Scented candles give a smell to a house that’s not chemical. It’s nice to have one burning in the house when the buyers are previewing. You can even match the appropriate smell for the right room. For example, cookie and fruit smells in the kitchen, lavender, vanilla, orange in the others. They provide as well wonderful mood lighting in the appropriate areas. Be careful though not to leave a house with these still lit, or have them around small curious children.

How do you place accessories about a room? Follow these simple rules:

A) Do what the Europeans have always known, use odd numbers in grouping objects, it’s more pleasing to the eye. So when hanging photos on the walls keep the numbers odd.

B) Mix objects that share the same color and material. For example; a collection of white vases arranged on a shelf, or a group of photos in the same type of frame.

C) Leave some breathing room. Don’t cram too many objects together, place some space between them to keep the display interesting and uncluttered

D) Vary the heights of the objects from low to tall, this includes everything from stacking books, arranging photos, to grouping vases, etc. One idea would be to take a stack of

books and lay them flat on each other by size and then place an object, such as a framed photo, on the top most one for interest.

Will using antiques alienate my buyers? No, not at all. In fact, a young professional once hired me to stage his home to sell and he thought that the use of antiques would be dreadful. But the home was lacking accessories, and so I staged the home to sell with the usual antiques and linens despite his worries. After it was staged he was absolutely delighted with the end result. And when the home sold quickly, it revalidated my choice of props. Antique accessories work, use them!

Warning: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t over do it. The rooms should not look like a yard sale or the front of an antique store. Be ever mindful of the color scheme that the room requires and keep that simple. Sometimes a room might look a bit too old and ancient and frighten off a buyer. So mix new furniture and accessories that may already be part of the home with the antiques

you bring to give the home a feeling of remaining up to date with a touch of classy history.

How much is too little or too much for knickknacks in a house? Basically keep your largest pieces in a room. For instance, a lovely mahogany table that your grandmother gave you and now has a whole menagerie of crystal glass animals frolicking on top might be a bit too much clutter.

Do you have a beautiful portrait of one of your children? Keep it up. If it suits the staging you’re creating and adds history to the room, don’t remove it. Some Realtors suggest removing all family photos, so the home is completely impersonal and the potential buyers can project thoughts of their own family into the home. This stager disagrees, it brings history and interest into the home to see family photos.

Remove the cute glass critters and put them in temporary storage, or in a display case for safe keeping.

Replace glass collectibles with either a nice big plant, a stack of books, or a pretty framed picture. But be careful, becoming too militant and puritanically clean can have the opposite side effect of creating too much bare space. Remember to continue to correctly accessorize with a lovely linen tablecloth for color on top, an interesting photo, and a lush full plant. Then, add lighting, such as an antique table lamp to highlight and finish the tableau.

If the collection suites the setting, for example a collection of lovely figurines, don’t remove them. Finish your vignette instead by adding a colorful plant, an arrangement and some interesting books or plates.

A good rule: Keep large accessory items out and put them to good use. However, less is better for little knickknacks, even if they have personal value, such as family pictures, cards, glass crystal collections etc. Except, for example, a lovely basket of flowers that a friend has just given, well of course enjoy them, and put it to good use as a decorative accessory in the house.

Coloring the Home and Style

A house may be in perfect condition, but lack light, color and personality. A house does not need to be overwhelmed with color, but by adding matching accessories here and there about the rooms can bring texture, style and interest to it. Contemporary colors can update the home

What colors to use? Stage the rooms to more modern neutrals and basics that wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pull the home backwards in time and will facelift your home into the modern day market. The outside colors of the exterior need to be kept to modern neutral colors. Nothing too startling such as a bright purples, oranges or pinks should ever be used. If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what the most contemporary colors are to employ take a trip to a design center where wallpaper and paint is sold, or visit an area where some new homes have been built and discover what colors and shades are fashionable and up to date.

The buyers of today are looking for their home to be a retreat away from the hustle and bustle of their lives. Bright reds, purples, and yellows are colors to avoid. Think tranquil soothing colors such as slate gray blue and Navajo cream white as welcome color palettes for the stressed home buyer.

Where to begin?

Look about the room you’re staging and pick out colors that might be interesting to have in the room. For instance, it may be a palette found in the curtain fabric hanging above the windows as part of a floral motif, or colors that coordinate with the sofa cover. Choose those colors and begin to build from there with matching accessories that have the same shade of colors in them, such as a complimenting blue color in the fabric of a table cloth, the geometric motifs in an area rug, or the varying shades in a flower’s petals in the curtains.

Accessories should compliment the color: Work on accessories that match both the style and colors in the room. So that if for example, the curtains are black and white checkered, you’ll see a possible country theme with a white tablecloth on the table, black framed country pictures hanging on the wall and white daisies in a clear vase on the round table. The smaller accessories you might then add would be country in theme too, such as a miniature cow or black and white bird cage.

Completely lost for color ideas? If you find yourself working with a completely blank colorless room sometimes a favorite fabric can lead the way to a designer look. Find a fabric that you like and take it from there. You can have pillows, table clothes, couch slipcovers, even curtains made of this fabric for those completely colorless homes. This can become a foolproof way to find a canvas on which you can stage any home.

How can accessories perk up that bland boring room? To give an unassuming room some much needed color pizzazz use the following items to perk a room up: rich colorful fabrics, area rugs, colorful tablecloths, napkins, place settings, throw pillows, curtains, comforters, quilts, pictures. Simple flower arrangements and green plants can bring that extra beauty into the room. Every room in the house needs some of these color accent makers to brighten up the room. Even a plain white bathroom can be transformed into a place of interest by simply using color accents.

Flowers and plants:

Place vases of colorful flowers throughout the house. Simple bouquets either bought from the supermarket, or inexpensively from your local farmers market, or from the garden, will work fine anywhere in the home. Bringing the outdoors in can make a house more homey and give a more lived in look.

It’s easier to not use real plants when staging for several reasons:

a) Don’t have to worry about tracking dirt into the car or house.

b) Don’t have to be careful about leaves falling out.

c) Don’t have to worry flowers are being squashed when hauling around.

d) Don’t have to worry that they’ll die in an unoccupied house.

Simply said, Good silk plants look just like real ones, and are a lot easier to care for. A quick wipe with a sponge when they become dusty and you’re done.

What types of plants to buy:

#1) Ivy: tossed in a box and rearranged quickly in a bucket or basket, it’s very easy to use when staging, gives a nice country touch.

#2) Ferns: From a stager’s point of view, nothing is nicer than fern. Use this plant as a filler or amongst accessories.

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#3) A small ficus tree: A great floor plant to fill in empty spaces, corners, and add color to a room.

What kind of plants to use? What size? Place them where? Again, these are one of the best top ten staging props to use when decorating a home to sell. They can be arranged in any container you want from an smooth porcelain vase to a rough wood basket, depending on what fillers are needed and what textures you want to add in the room’s decor.

Got an empty spot in the room? Filling in with greenery is always a good idea in any room, use them on tables, floors, and throughout the settings, as well as on bathroom and kitchen counter tops for color and anti-sterility factor.

The Use of Round Tables: They are simple and portable with screw on legs and are among this home stager’s favorite props for decorating. Draped with rich fabrics and topped with three large accessories, it’s a real color accent winner. Place a table next to a sofa or chair and see how the interest of the room changes bringing out the color of the curtains or a sofa cover. Place it in a kitchen or dining room, set with linens and a table setting, and you have an instant vignette, or use it in the bedroom beside the bed set with a lamp and an open book and you’ve created a feeling of the home being lived in.

The round table is one of those must have props that may be used anywhere in the house.

Quick Dos & Don’ts of Staging the Home:

Do: Take the Screen off the front windows and doors

Mow the lawn and remove leaves Open the front window drapes Plant flowers along the walkway Place a wreath on the front door Fix drooping front gutters Turn on all lights Make sure home is spotless and clean Clean windows Re-carpet using a neutral beige color of average quality Caulk all bathrooms Get carpet cleaned Place flowers throughout the home Refinish the hardwood floors

Don’t: Park a lot of cars out front

Leave piles of toys, leaves, and other objects out front

Replace the garage door, unless it’s in complete shambles

Repaint the house, unless it looks truly old and dated

Replace the roof, if it canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be repaired

Block the entrance to a room with furniture

Spend a lot of money on a makeover

Make certain entrances to a room are accessible and bright

Style in the staged home:

What Style to use? Is there a particular age group the house will appeal to? Take into factor the age, income, and life style of the people you are marketing to sell the house to. This will help you decide what style to decorate the home in.

Young preppies: This age group is usually composed of professionals. They like to keep it simple, with no fuss and bother, because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have time to clean and polish antique fripperies. Consider using a contemporary style, using neutral modern colors such as white taupe, tan, and black. Keep to more contemporary furnishings with clean lines and use accessories sparingly. Typically this style can be employed in townhouses, condos and rentals.

A quick word of caution: Be aware of your market. Look around and see what age groups are buying the condo or townhouse you’re staging. It may turn out that the complex is actually a haven for retired empty nesters, who don’t want the hassle of owning a house with a pension draining mortgage and back breaking gardens.

Family oriented and older clients: This age group tends to like more traditional styles such as English manor and colonial American. It is a style that has been around a long time and most people feel comfortable in. You’ll find it very easy to find inexpensive accessories for this style as its popularity means most stores carry them.

Traditional palette colors contain rich gold, yellows, reds, and deep blue hues. Accessories have gilt and mahogany wood, rich chintz fabrics, and antique reproductions. Think red, white and blue patriot and farm house styling.

Is there any particular style that appeals across all age groups?

The cottage style, which is not used very often, appeals to all age groups. It uses light spring pastel hues and works well both with antiques and modern furnishings. The accessories have rose patterns, and props can include hand painted birdhouses, French provincial fabrics and country garden touches. Small homes in particular might be well suit to staged cottage makeovers.

What if there isn’t a table or mantel to display items on? Sometimes when staging a home there might not be enough pieces of furniture to display accessories on. Put on your creative thinking caps and find alternative ways to use the furniture already in the home. Look at the form of a piece of furniture and think to yourself is it round? Well, then here’s a table. Is it flat? Okay, here’s a shelf to display items on. Look at the examples below and begin to picture how small pieces of furniture can be reused in different ways.

Different ways to use furniture: A trunk: can be used as a coffee table.

Hall table: to put up against a sofa back.

Bench: use as a coffee table.

Bookcase: to display small grouping of accessories. For interest, stack a pile of the books down on their side, don’t have them all be vertical.

Ottoman: use as a coffee table. . For example: A closed writing desk. Open the desk and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll become a wonderful place to display items of interest and add texture into a room. Place a chair angled in front with an area rug. Accessorize the inside of the desk with writing materials, as if someone is about to write a letter, add a nicely framed photo, and a small vase of flowers, or a nice green plant on the top and it becomes the perfect vignette to use in almost any room.

Staging a home with pictures

How do you hang pictures? Generally walls are wider than they are high. They need therefore horizontal groupings and. narrow spaces need vertical arrangements. Place all pictures at eye level or below to be better seen. What you are mimicking is the space that you have to use when creating a picture grouping. Again, odd numbers are preferable. An example of this: A long narrow wall leading down to another level of the house will need either a large vertical picture or small picture groupings arranged in a triangular set of threes, five, etc.

A simple formula for hanging pictures: wide wall=horizontal photos narrow wall=vertical photos.

Should holes that are in the wall be filled? Yes, absolutely. The look of dry wall eating termites on what should like a nice solid clean wall is not aesthetically appealing. Filling the holes in will make the wall look solid and fresh, also the new homeowners will appreciate this extra act of kindness.

A short lecture on appropriate wall attire: Just like a well dressed woman, you want the house to look tasteful and proper. like a beautiful lady. Think G-rated viewing about anything that is hanging on the house’s walls, or anywhere else for that matter, including the garage. In other words, try not to offend. If posters on the wall contain obscene language, sexually suggestive photos of anyone, creepy skeleton heads, crosses and other religious objects that have been used for anything else than for religious purposes, do try with some tactfulness, to get them off the walls and into a nice dark closet for the duration of time the home is on the market. Otherwise, one quick glance and your potential buyers will be scooting out the door with their agents scurrying behind them faster than you can say, “May I have your card please?”

How do you bring history into a room? Photo collections such as old black and white family pictures, portraits of classic movie stars, bring charm and history into a home. In my own business I use a Shirley Temple photo, which I always place in a vignette somewhere in the home when staging. The photo has become my favorite calling card. Another advantage of having an interesting photo is that many people may remember the photo to the house it was staged in. Many times buyers and Realtors, after visiting over a dozen homes, often do not recall all the houses they’ve seen that week. But by associating the house you’re selling with that particular photo, they might place it firmly in their memory apart from the others they’ve viewed.

Where should you display photos? A mantel is the obvious place to begin adding personal touches such as old photos, mix them with candles, plants and other accessories. Otherwise they can be displayed on bedroom dressers, vanity tables, in bookcases, and on shelves.

Helpful Hint: Look up in the house’s attic, old china patterns, lace linens, black and white photos are probably packed away just waiting to become the next accessory needed. This also will get the homeowner eager to look through trunks to see if they’ll come out with a soon to be treasured heirloom to proudly use and display. (Put an interesting black and white photo here. We ought to frame it with a computerized frame. Do not put a famous star here as it may infringe upon inheritance laws and be considered as advertising. If you don’t have an interesting old family photo let me know, I have several.)

Should we keep up all of the family photos on the wall? Some family photos ought to be kept up to create history for the home. Too many photos, however, can create a crowded excess. Take out extra photos, which might be better used in other areas of the home. If there is a really spectacular photo among them, use it as a centerpiece for a table, or hang it on the wall as a focal point.

One final note: Leave one wall completely bare. A sense of space is very much needed, otherwise the eyes are never allowed to rest and the home will appear crowded and small to them.

Top Ten Props to Start Home Staging:

1) Round table

2) Pictures

3) Fabrics

4) Lamps

5) Plants

6) Books and magazines

7) Chairs

8) Tables settings

9) Area Rugs

10) Door wreath

Quick Home Feature Fixes Older homes often have time capsule problems related with the era in which they were built. What was groovy and hip in the sixties and seventies when many track homes were built, may not appeal to the potential buyers walking through the same door today. Many buyers are visual oriented and can’t imagine the home redone unless it’s already been given a modern day facelift. Finding a way to update and stage the older home, one which may not have been vacant for some time, can be an interesting challenge. Below are listed some “quick fixes” to some of those house dating problems.

Dark wall paneling: Don’t strip or remove it! Just repaint it. A nice Navajo white color will make it look great. This color has texture and can lighten the appearance of a dark room. It will update its appearance with the contemporary color at the same time, so it will no longer look like a 1970’s mobile home.

Rubber backed curtains: These type of curtains one would expect to sail the seas, but not decorate the house. Remove them from the windows, then swag rich fabrics over the windows with curtain rods and tie back with ribbon.

Dark rooms: They also can benefit from the removal of heavy drapes with this simple stage to sell window treatment. Remember light is one of the important elements in making a good first impression!

Tall weeds in the yard: Don’t have the time to weed out the yard? Hack them down to look just like grass. It’ll look better than seeing a yard of muddy dirt or tall billowing weeds. If you have time add some flowers to fill in empty bare spaces.

Mirror with silvered edge: Often found in older homes are large bathroom mirrors with worn edges. Redeem the mirror by hot gluing on the edges decorative braid. The bathroom will look very chic unique! Then have fun by staging the bathroom with fabrics on the counter top, scented candles, colorful area rugs and fluffy towels, etc. to match the braid trim.... And there you have it, a whole new bathroom!

Quick Makeovers: A barbecue grill in the kitchen: It’s an brick grilled monstrosity that some thoughtful homeowner erroneously had installed in the kitchen without any thought of resale value. Now it’s up to you to sell the home with it smack dab in the middle of what could be an acceptable kitchen. How can you stage it sell?

Built in standing bar: It was hip in the swinging sixties and seventies, but most potential buyers these days look upon these built in time warp elements of the past with disdain. The homeowners won’t remove it, and it’s keeping you from selling the home so, how can you stage it to sell?.

Solution to a standing bar:

You’re probably thinking a sledge hammer would be real handy when faced with these two built in blunders. But sadly no, we won’t be building muscles on this home stage to sell makeover. The solution to the two dilemmas presented is quite simple, camouflage; drape fabric all over the barbecue and the built in bar. Then place plants on top and accessorize as you would a round table or mantel with books, candles, and bouquet of flowers, to distract away from the eyesore underneath.

Word of advice: Placing another piece of furniture, such as a bookcase with interesting accessories set next to it, might redirect the buyer’s eyes away from the offensive item.

Heating vent: It’s there smack dab square in front of your eyes as you enter the room. This oblong object sadly is often the focal point of a room. It can’t be avoided, but it can be hidden. Solution: Put a table up in front of it. Add colorful fabric on top of the table, a plant and picture for accessories, and then hang a nice picture over it on the wall with a nice mahogany frame, and then for a final finishing touch an area rug at the foot of the table. What has become the focal point now are the table and picture. They distract the viewer’s eyes away from the utilitarian eyesore downwards to the rich fabric covering the table and upwards to the picture and textured wood frame. The focus happily no longer is centered on the boring vent.

Peeling linoleum floor: The linoleum is completely shot. It looks scratched and faded from long use, but hasn’t developed any holes or other major weaknesses, such as cracking. Solution: It is simple to solve, put indoor/outdoor carpeting over it to cover up the mess beneath. Simply roll it and tack it down. Later credit the buyer some money back on the house to replace the troublesome floor. Sisal rugs are an excellent choice for this and can add texture to the room.

Ugly furniture: Staging a home to sell with ugly furniture?

Get a cream colored coverlet to put over the sofa and tuck it in. Place some big throw pillows on top of that to match and there you have it, a couch with a new look to match the rest of the staging to sell decor. Cover all the tables with rich fabrics and accessorize.

Fireplace that’s been painted: A fireplace that once was red brick, but now an ugly color of orange due to a color blind owner’s paint job. The fireplace is the center focal point to the room and it’s dating the house, what to do? Solution: It’s about to be once more revived, but this time it’ll be painted in a contemporary Navajo white color. This can also be staged by putting accessories such and plants and small framed photos on the mantel. Hang a large picture over it, arrange the furniture with an area rug in the center of the circle to complete the room. And presto, an eye popping makeover, what a difference a little paint can make!

“What’s that funny smell?”

A funny smell: You can hear them now, “What’s that funny smell?” As the potential buyers enter a house that’s been locked up for what smells like an archeological dig into a suburban tomb. A common problem when selling a house is that funny smell lingering about the house. The original homeowners might have been heavy smokers, had several pets, or left the home simply to molder away.

Solution: First, get the house professionally cleaned, a good idea anytime when selling a house, and have the carpets shampooed. Afterwards, burn some scented candles and open the windows and let fresh air do the rest.

Switch plate covers:

A switch plate cover that’s rusted or has some funky wallpaper should be changed, otherwise it’ll date the house. White is the most update color to use to cover the electrical outlet.

Faded carpet and other floor miseries: This is one of those items that staging a home to sell tries not to have redone. Cover the offending carpet or floor with area rugs, if possible, without having to replace the flooring.

However, if the flooring is beyond redemption have the it replaced and buy inexpensive beige carpeting or linoleum that won’t cost a fortune. If the homeowners are financially strapped and flat out can’t redo it, try to use rugs to cover the mess.

Quick fixes follow basic accessory rules They keep the cost of redoing a house to the very minimal with home staging to sell methods. It’s worth the time and effort to try and have furniture properly placed and arranged to give the maximum to a room’s space and light. The potential buyers are looking at the house you’re selling as a peaceful abode where they can retreat to after a busy day.

Keep the image therefore as positive as you can make it, with interesting accessories and color accents, which when combined with the properly placed furniture, can create the homey atmosphere they’re seeking.

Final note on makeovers: Remember that area rugs are excellent for camouflaging floor eye sores.

For example: A bright shade of wall to wall carpeting The house has an interesting color of carpeting, like deep rose for instance, throughout the entire house. The present owner likes it and would never think of changing it. But, you, the home stager take one look and realize that it darkens the appearance of the house and overwhelms the senses. In this house there’s no need for rose colored glasses, because it’s everywhere. So, in order to distract the eye away from the offending carpet color area rugs are scattered throughout the house and accessorize to the furniture and drapes to compliment each room’s decor.

Staging Key Rooms You enter a client’s home and begin to try and decipher the floor plan of the house. Sometimes what a room is supposed to be can be a game of guess what this is? You win if you figure out its original purpose.

A room may have become something not remotely related to its actual intended function over time due to the needs of the present occupant. Often dining rooms becomes large storage closets, bedrooms develop into home offices, and dens into a basic catch for all for unused items the owners just could not bring themselves to get rid of.

The original purpose of a room may have all but disappeared by the time the house comes up for sale.

Your mission as the home stager as to redeem as many rooms back to their original purpose as possible. This Mission Impossible to reclaim the rooms to their original function will in the long run make the home more appealing to the buyers. So yes, even though it’s back aching work to move all that stuff out into the garage it’s worth it!

Keep in mind that an empty house looks smaller. There’s no where for your eyes to go and no where for them to rest, they’ll just keep looking...

The Entry Way: Setup a vignette to greet the buyers. This where the first impression of the interior of the home will be made, so keep it interesting. Having the entry way properly staged can make the difference between an excited, Wow, this is really nice, response, compared to an less than enthralled, When can we see the next house?

Power the wow area: The entry way shouldn’t be dark, plain, or bare. Make certain when the potential buyers enters the home they see color and light. For example, a ceramic beige tiled entry way covered with a little area rug place, should be replaced with a long runner with warm cheerful colors on top. Dim lighting may need the extra boost of a change of lamps and bulbs.

What to do if there is no outlet for lighting? Lighting in the entry way is important, so try and have the area lit even if there isn’t a power outlet nearby. It may be necessary to conceal an extension cord under the carpet or along the wall to bring needed power into the area. Remember if the entry way is dimly lit the buyers will think the house is dark and drab, so be certain that there’s light and plenty of it.

The Living Room :

This is one of those rooms that every house ought to have: Even if it means you have to create one from scratch the house youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re staging out to have a living room. It may mean having to work around untouchable items such as

computers that have been set up in corners, but this is one of the rooms potential buyers expect to see and in their minds visualize their belongings in.

What if the furniture is all mismatched in the living room? Try to work with any mismatched furniture that may be waiting to be sorted out and arrange into a grouping a vignette around the room’s focal point. If the furniture is old and worn out remember to drape with throw blankets and sofa covers.

What if it became a home office? First off, leave any technical equipment in a room alone. This especially concerns computers, unless you have the owner’s permission. Ask to stash the fax machine into the garage and work from there on the other items in the room, always focus on the largest object in the room as you create a cozy vignette around it.

What if there isn’t a coffee table to group furniture around? Make a coffee table to go with the couch and love seat, even if there isn’t one available, using objects such as an old ottoman, or piano bench as substitutes if needed draped in fabric and set with a tea service. What type of lighting? Add lighting to the room to use in highlighting vignettes, then accessorize the walls and tables, filling in empty corners with artificial plants where necessary. Remember to put light in triangular groupings with the furniture.

How should color be used? Try to mix color throughout the room, not just in one area. You want the eye to be drawn into looking about the room to see what’s in there. If eyes are only focused in one area, where the color is, the buyers may miss out on the other qualities the room may offer.

A small living room? How can the size of a room be visually increased? Previously discussed in the section on furniture placement was the use of oversized furniture in a small room with groupings of more diminutive furniture. But another way to visually increase the size of the room is to use a very easy and adaptable accessory, the mirror. Whatever window treatments or wall color has been chosen for the room keep it the same.

For example: If the walls to a small orange colored room are being repainted, all of room’s walls should be painted the same color. Uniformity is required in small rooms. How to use mirrors to increase the size of a room visually: The problem of having to stage a small living room with poorly arranged furniture is a home stager’s least favorite dilemma. Add to this the problem of working in a tight space and the room becomes a claustrophobic nightmare. But all is not lost, here are some ideas as to how to go about addressing the problems:

First, start with the obvious: One problem in the small space may be a large chair or sofa that’s blocking the room’s entrance. Remember potential buyers need to move freely about a room.

The solution: Move the piece of furniture blocking the room’s entry out of the way, slightly at an angle to the side with a grouping. Place a mirror, which may have been previously hidden in the room, opposite the entry way. The mirror now becomes the first item one sees upon entering.

By placing the mirror opposite the entry it makes the room appear much larger and brings light-enhancing power into what is a small dark room.

Consider what the mirror reflects when placing it. Does it reflect a window or doorway? And if so, a feeling of deepened larger space should as a result be instantly created. The potential buyers should now be able to easily enter and navigate the room. The feeling of more space has been created by the mirror on the opposite wall at the entry way and the room is now sunnier. However, if after you’ve staged this, and the room still feels crowded, it may mean removing some pieces of furniture and anything else that may be underfoot.

The Dining Room:

Try to showcase this delightfully romantic room: If you’re lucky and the present owners haven’t made this room into a storage area this can be a wonderful room to stage. Many potential buyers like to have dining rooms. The romance of a lovely table set with elegant linens, tall willowy candles in holders, a vase of flowers, beautiful china and silverware settings can have great allure in this room, even the napkin holders can make an interesting style statement.

Keep the lights on a lower setting in keeping with the mood of an evening dinner and the rest of the atmosphere will help create the impression of what wonderful dinners could be served in this room.

Don't disappoint. This is a room where the table linens, framed pictures on the wall, and other atmosphere enhancing accessories, can make the house appear to be extra charming and desirable to own when viewed by prospective buyers. Help the potential buyers dream build themselves into buying the home by putting a little more extra effort into staging this room let them envision cozy dinners here.

The Bedroom: First, think what is the biggest space that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be covering visually?

Answer: The bed.

So, when staging this room bring in a beautiful big comforter and matching throw pillows to showcase it. The bed will be your starting place. Place area rugs on the floor, pictures on the wall, and complementing accessories about the room. A book open on the beautiful coverlet bed and a night stand can be nice touches.

Think bed and breakfast when staging the bedroom.

What makes a bed and breakfast’s bedroom special? Is it the cute little shaped soaps in the dish in the bath? The Victorian white coverlet on the bed with delicious fringed throw pillows on top? The beautiful crisp flowered rug on the floor? Or the lovely gold gilded picture hanging over the bed?

All these touches are what makes home staging to sell so interesting and wonderful. Add to this mood lighting in the room and accent key areas with lush green plants and your staged boudoir will have the potential buyers gasping with delight.

Remember first impressions when staging any room. Ask yourself, is there enough light, is it cheerful and is there enough color? If you answer, yes, to these questions then you’ve properly staged the room.

The Bathroom:

Keep it clean: This a room that needs to look and smell clean. Wet mold and dark stained porcelain streaking down the tub are not going to help sell the house. The owner might want to consider replacing peeling stained items in the bathroom, which age the home. Any bad smell may be a sign of water leakage and should be investigated and taken care of before the sale of the home.

How do you bring color into a white bathroom? For bathroom color remember to use colorful hand towels and framed pictures. Place mats on the counter tops to bring added color and a nice green plant on a counter top bring freshness. A basket of rolled hand towels to match the shower curtain will make the room more special.

Other nice bathroom touches: Add cookie cutter soaps in a porcelain dish and potpourri in a nice ceramic container or wicker basket. These accessories will give it a more like a bed and breakfast appeal.

Various bathroom associated problems: Have an old bath fixtures? If the bathroom fixtures are awfully money to have them redone.

rusted, definitely

Ugly cabinets? If the cabinets in the bathroom are old contemporary color.

replace them. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth the

and ugly paint over them in a fresh

Chipped and stained sink and tub? If the sink and bathtub are looking pretty shabby consider having them resurfaced and repainted by a professional to look like new. If the sink is not set in tile, it may be better to simple had it replaced. If you hire a plumber to install the sink save yourself some time and money and have the rest of the houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pipes inspected at the same time. Then, if a problem presents itself you can have it taken care of before the home is put on the market.

What covers the most space visually in a bathroom? Answer: The shower.

Therefore, a shower curtain needs to have pattern and color. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very important in this room to have a nice colorful curtain for visual impact. From there consider the area rugs on the floor and other color matching accessories to be used on the counter and around the toilet.

In Preparation to Staging a Home to Sell:

The first walk through: With clipboard in hand you walk into a room to prepare to stage it to sell. A preliminary walk through will save you time and money, if you think carefully how you’re going to stage a room and make the necessary list of props needed in advance. Often, you’ll find almost everything you need in the home that you’re staging. But go shopping for those necessary accessories and furniture in the home itself first and save yourself an expensive bill. When walking through a room ask yourself the following questions:

First: What impression does the room make? a) Is the room bright? Is it dark? b) Is the room inviting and cheerful? c) What looks outdated and needs replacing? d) What accessories are needed in each room? e) Where is it lacking color? f) Does anything need to be disguised into a quick fix makeover? g) Too much of any item? Too little? h) Will this room hook you buyers into seeing the rest of the home?

Don’t forget to make that first impression count. You want the potential buyers to want to see more... Second: What is covering the most space visually? For example, the plain back of a sofa shows as a large block of color upon entering a room, so it’s an item you mark down to be moved. You place the piece at an angle and it makes the room look more appealing. Again, try playing around with the different pieces in a room, try out various different angles being careful once again not to line everything up linearly against the wall.

Third: What can be used for better impact? There might be furniture and accessories tucked away somewhere in the house that will have more of an impact visually in a room than what presently is occupying the space. Be careful not to trod on the present homeowner’s toes as you move around the pieces, be sensitive again to the fact that this is their home. Rearrange the furniture and put pieces such as a lovely flowered floor mat that’s been hiding away in a small guest bedroom, and put it to good use for example, in the living room, for more impact.

Handling the Skeptical Home sellers: Listen.. Listen.. Listen... this is the first thing you must do when meeting with a potential client to be. And then listen some more.. Listening to your clients ought to be your primary concern when meeting with them for the first time. Don’t try and impress them with all your know how, just tune the ears completely to the person who is interviewing you, or you’ll miss the important signals they are trying to convey and mistakenly offend. Pay attention and listen... That is how you will get the job and maybe the listing.

Prepare Your Homeowners for Staging the Home Homeowners need to know that staging a home to sell is for the improvement of their home and that it will require some daily living changes in their routine, such as asking them to leave the lights on in the house during the day as well as at night. Knowing what they will need to do to stage their home will break down the reservations that the sellers may have about having it staged in the first place. They also will be warmer to you when you begin staging their home, if they understand what will need to be changed. They need to know beforehand that home staging will require moving their personal belongings around and possibly storing them in order for their home to be transformed into a showcase fit for the potential buyers’ eyes.

Homeowners may think that what they have is already nice and that it doesn’t need to be changed. But if you show them before and after photos of other homes you’ve stage they may be quickly won over to agreeing to have the rest of the home redone.

In our own personal lives, Paul and I have changed the look of our own home to sell it, although it had already been professionally decorated beforehand. But home staging meant making it look even more glamorous than it already was and adding accessories that normally would be bothersome, such as many throw pillows on the bed, to our everyday living.

But the inconvenience of home staging is well worth it! So do it!

Why are some homeowners skeptical about this method? A lot of home sellers have the feeling they have been taken for a ride by previous Realtors and made to pay costly makeovers. They were promised that if they did certain things it would help sell their homes. And as they paid the bills, which kept on coming after each so called “necessary makeover”, they naively believed that at last their house would sell..

The extreme example of this was a real life couple we’ll call, Mr. and Mrs. H, whose home had been six months on the market. No sale. They had had two Realtors and eleven thousand dollars in cosmetic fix-ups done on their house. And still no sale appeared despite all their costly efforts.. Just think about how you would feel, if you were in their shoes.... Mad, you bet! I met with them and showed them two listings that had been home staged to sell. Of the two, one of them had a barbecue pit in the center of the kitchen and had previously been on the market for four months with no sale... The other wasn’t in as in too bad a condition to sell, but still needed to be staged. After viewing both of these homes, Paul and I were interrogated for another one and a half hours by the skeptical couple.

Finally they said, “Okay we’ll go with you guys...” Then, after signing the listing, the wife saw a falling star at just that moment and said, “It must be sign from God that we did the right thing. ’’

The final outcome? The house sold in six days flat. The home had just needed to be staged and properly marketed for it to sell. It came down to how it showed, even with all the brand new facelifts that had been done on the house, they couldn’t bring in the necessary color and warmth it lacked. Only staging the home to sell would have done the trick in getting it sold.

Happy ending: Delighted with the sale of the house the sellers sent us a huge basket filled with teas, chocolates and other delightful goodies as a way of saying, Thank-you... Wow, what a wonderful challenging experience!

Setting up home staging to sell as a business Home staging to sell can be an interesting and monetarily rewarding job. Setting up your own business is not difficult, if you have a proper game plan as to how to go about finding clients and are prepared with the right props (see list of ten most important props to own) to stage the homes with when hired. Rent furniture props? Dressing a vacant home, for example, may require using a furniture rental service. Where should the props be stored? The space in your own garage is the perfect place to store props, if there isn’t any room put them out in a shed, use a vacant house, or rent storage space. You will gradually overtime collect props as you stage homes. Little by little you’ll be adding items to your repertoire of staging props till you can stage a home without taking furniture from your own. A van is very handy to have to haul your props around and it can be used for storage. Consider having painted on the vehicle’s side advertisement of your home staging business, so that it can be a mobile advertisement of your business.

Is it worth while to advertise? Yes, advertising can generate clients. But be certain of the manner in which your business will be advertised. The science of advertisement can be daunting to the uninitiated, because you’ll need information, such as how and where it will be printed, the size and space given, and the graphics used. Advertising can be quite expensive. You might want to start small and see what the results bring to your business before taking out larger adds.

Be warned: As I’ve said before, advertising can be expensive, it’s highly recommended that you take a look at these two web sites www.MarketingMaster.com and our own HomeStagers.com. At these web sites are some experts, who can help mentor you and your business along using ideas that have been tried and tested. Answering such questions as What’s your market? Do you know how to attract it? will help you plan.

Word of mouth is always the best kind of advertisement.

Where will my clients come from? At Real estate offices: There are often meetings held where loan officers and others involved in the buying and selling of homes present themselves and their businesses to agents. Don’t think that this is going to be a boring board room meeting. This is a golden social opportunity to give a short presentation on what you do as a home stager. If you present your business well enough you may even find yourself being hired right there on the spot. Note: You can pretty much build the rest of your clientele by word of mouth by homeowners and agents, who’ll recommend your business and find you appointments to stage. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself being besieged with jobs. You know of someone who has a house for sale? Take advantage of the opportunity and stage it. It will help you begin showing your talent and may lead to the homeowner recommending you to their friends. You want the word to get out about your business! Go to Open Houses: Present your business to homeowners and give them advice as to how they can improve the look of their home. Anywhere you can find an audience to show off your talent as a home stager take advantage of it. Your calling card: At Open Houses leave your card by one of the vignettes that you’ve staged, so that people can learn about your business by actually experiencing the wonderful outcome of seeing the end result. Community Centers: Give classes at your local community center on How to Decorate Your Home or Staging Your Home To Sell. The benefit in this situation is that you’ll not only will you be paid, while teaching about something you love doing, but you can advertise your services to the class, who may then recommend you to their family and friends.

Create color brochures with present to potential clients.

photos of

houses you’ve already staged

How Much to Charge For Services?

It is all going to come down to what is considered a comfortable cost to charge in the area you choose to work in. The charge is going to be different between say a big city in California and a small town in Idaho. For example, $15.00 an hour may be adequate in a small town, but in a big city you might want to charge $50.00 an hour... It can not be said enough, that it will all depend on what the market will bear and what you, the laborer, feel is fair pay for your services.

To help decide what is a good fee to charge, ask yourself these questions: Will the seller be willing to pay this cost? And am I being fair to myself? You then can set your service fee. As your business develops you’ll fine tune what you charge, adjusting it to fit your lifestyle and the number of demands for your service. So, that if for example, you want a lot of clients, that means keeping fees reasonably low. But if you’ve developed the business to being overrun by too many clients, you’ll then want to raise your fee, thus decreasing the number of clients you’ll handle. Don’t forget to let your clients know up front that there is an extra service fee for props, which you purchase expressly for their home. For example, lets say you buy some fresh flowers for an arrangement, which can not be used again as a prop, it should be included on top of the estimate that you present your client after you do the initial first walk through. Initial Consultation fee: This fee should be charged based upon a minimum of an hour’s of work. A range between ($50-$150) dollars, is a reasonable charge. Again, this fee depends on what the market can support and what you would consider just payment for your services. Initial consolation should include: The first walk through, in which you will list everything that will need to be done, the props you will need, and an in depth discussion with the client about changes to be made, what you see are the house’s weak and strong points, how much time it will take you to setup, and what extra props you think that you’ll need to purchase. Also, if you think they can help you find props within the home itself inquire if they don’t already own the item. This is an opportunity to show brochures of homes that you have staged before and to go step by step through the whole process with your client, so they understand what will be done and what is expected of them to maintain the staged appearance of the home.

Be professional: Try to have a professional attitude by keeping appointments and being as prepared as much as possible when actually staging a home. You don’t want to have the inconvenience of returning again and again with props.

When being interviewed for a job: a) Listen, listen, listen.

b) Be honest as to what you can do.

c) Present clearly your plan.

the proof is in the pudding and having your client’s house sell is what really counts the most. Remember, no matter how terrific you think you are..

Training Assistants: It is not a bad idea to have another set of arms and legs to help you home stage. Let’s face it, moving stuff in and out of a vehicle, hauling furniture from one part of a room to another, can wear a person out. So why stage houses by yourself?

As your business becomes more well known look through the list of people who’ve come up to you and said that they’d like to do exactly what you’re doing, but don’t want to make it into a full time occupation. And among these home staging wannabes you’ll find assistants. Now how to go about training them?

Staging 101: Lesson One: Show assistants a house before it has been staged. Teach them how to look and plan what will need to be done. Then, for contrast, show them a house that has already been staged and walk them through the process of what you changed to achieve the makeover, how you can start with a blank slate of white walls to showcase fabulous. Lesson Two: Show them three very different homes. This will expose them to different situations and problems that many houses have in common. It also will get their creative thinking caps juiced for the moment when they will be home staging a room or house themselves by having them work with color, texture, lighting, and pattern. Thus, teaching them what needs to be done when staging a home to sell. #1) A small house (less than three bedrooms). #2) A very large house ( with three bedrooms or more). #3) A house that needs a big makeover, perhaps one with a bizarre floor plan.

Note: Have your assistants help stage all three different houses. Lesson Three: It’s time to see if your apprentices understand what you’ve been teaching them. Let them try their own hands at home staging a room. Give them the basic props to work with, window treatments, accessories, etc. And for the first time let them try staging a bedroom and hall to see if they’re able to correctly add color and accessorize.

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About Paul and Ginger Conti Paul has a unique way in creating effective Real Estate results. His marketing ideas and channels are extraordinary innovative. He’s constantly exploring new realms of marketing ideas and techniques in order to effectively move Real Estate and stay updated with the changing market. Paul and his wife Ginger work closely together in order to create smooth transactions and results. Paul is the Licensed Real Estate agent who handles the transactions while Ginger who is naturally inclined with designing tips and innovative ideas also a major part of the team. Why are they different than any other team? Well lets just say that they've been called innovators and movers to say the least. If you would like to experience the joy of working with Paul and Ginger, or if you just have a simple question please feel free to send email to PaulandGinger@HomeStagers.com.

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Check us out in the Press We’re featured In the New ‘Cool Careers for Dummies’ book Read More at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764553453/quixtr/002-1067624-5604040 Book Description

New edition of the Wall Street Journal bestseller! Cool Careers For Dummies, 2nd Edition provides updated, honest profiles of over 500 rewarding careers and self-employment opportunities. Whether you're drawn to high-tech e-jobs or the career gems of the past, you'll find expert advice on creating a job to fit your individual strengths and abilities. Editorial Reviews from Amazon.com Looking for a job? Thinking about a career change? Dreading it? Well, Cool Careers for Dummies promises not only to help you find jobs you never knew existed, but to make it fun! From enologist (that's winemaker, dummy) to attorney specializing in outer-space issues, career specialists Marty Nemko and Paul and Sarah Edwards have compiled over 500 interesting, offbeat, and just plain cool jobs. But that's just the first step.

After the short descriptions of cool careers--thoughtfully separated in their own yellow-pages section--the authors present a smart, funny, well-organized guide to choosing and nabbing the perfect job, even jobs that don't make the "cool" list. Filled with practical advice such as using e-mail to reach potential employers (it's more likely to get answered), Cool Careers for Dummies is a sure cure for the interview jitters. Important tips and pitfalls are highlighted with bold icons, making this useful as a handy reference as well as a career guide. Sections on résumés, interviews, and salary negotiation round out the package, making this the perfect companion for the first-time job hunter or the seasoned professional looking for a change--after all, you don't have to be a dummy to need a little help. A word of warning: if you think you're satisfied with your career, be careful with this book--you might find yourself longing to be a newborn photographer or a dating coach! --Rob Lightner

Read More at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764553453/quixtr/002-1067624-5604040

REAL ESTATE; HOME ECONOMICS May 15, 2001 AmericanWay® Magazine. (American Way® is published on the 1st and 15th of each month by AA Publishing, a unit of American Airlines, for the approximately 100 million passengers who travel each year on American Airlines/American Eagle. ©) Visit on the web at: http://www.americanwaymag.com/lifestyle/trends.asp?archive_date=5/15/2001

By Judith Kirkwood Whether your house needs a major face-lift or simple, cosmetic attention, home staging can turn a potential buyer’s first impression into love at first sight, and given the unsteady economic climate, that may be more important than ever. How can stagers help you sell? They begin by filling an empty house with furniture and props that they have in inventory, including pictures and area rugs. Or they can “shop” for items in different areas of your house and mix them around to showcase your home’s best side. Home staging usually runs $5,000 and up, but stagers say the cost of their services is more than accounted for in a quicker sale, and potentially a higher sales price. Ginger and Paul Conti of San Jose, California, a real estate/home staging team, claim to have sold — in an average of 18 days — 150 homes that were previously on the market for up to two years. To find home stagers, check out www.homestagers.com.

SELLING A HOME? STAGE IT LIKE A SET DESIGNER STAGES A MOVIE SCENE, Or Nordstroms SELLS CLOTHS, ADVISE HUSBAND & WIFE REAL ESTATE TEAM February 27, 2001 Country Newspaper By Gene Beley,

If you're going to sell your house, you're likely to sell it faster and even get more money for it if you use some old Hollywood knowledge that department stores have also long utilized. It's called staging. Unfortunately, most realtors are still just advising clients to change the carpeting and other traditional makeover ploys. But two new realtors to Morgan Hill are taking it to a new level and working as a team. As their ad in Country News states, "Ginger stages the home and Paul sell the home." Moreover, Ginger performs this service for free. The only catch is that they hire her husband for their realtor! Just talking to Paul and Ginger Conti, the husband and wife team, turned into this human interest story that should help a lot of our readers and even other local realtors jump on this new wave of real estate marketing. The Contis have staged more than 182 houses the last four years and averaged 18-day turnaround sales time. Some of those were houses other agents couldn't sell in 18 months to two years! One couple, getting ready to sell their home, told the Contis they wanted to spend $30,000 to remodel their kitchen. Ginger told her to save the money and "let me have at it with all my furnishings and accessories." "The kitchen then didn't look old and drab," said Paul Conti. "I used Ralph Lauren fabrics to add a richness to the kitchen on top of the old yellow tile," Ginger began. "You would've had to been there to understand the impact." Model home developers have long known the value of staging. "Most people are visual," Ginger adds. "People have to see it; they can't imagine it. Moreover, with peoples' lifestyles being as busy as they are these days, people want to see homes that are ready to move into NOW. They don't want fixer uppers." But almost anyone can image one client they had who loved her deep rose carpet and refused to change it, because she loved that color. "I went in and used area rugs over the existing deep rose carpet," Ginger said, explaining how she handled that difficult situation. She said the in color now is blue. "People want to slow down their lives and the hustle, bustle and like ocean colors. We also add classical and easy listening music. Frank Sinatra is big and Bach classical music, or jazz and swing that appeal to all ages now." "We get some people who think their house is perfect," Ginger continued. "They don't understand when you put your home on the market, you have to prepare it for the buyers' eyes, not their eyes. We're looking to buy a home now in Morgan Hill and will be staging our own home when we sell it, even though we have been constantly redecorating it." Lighting is another important factor. "A little night light in the bathroom and mood lighting throughout the house goes a long ways towards selling the house," Paul said. They chuckled when they recalled how one client called to complain that their electric bill went up $7 the first month that the staging was implemented. "I told her she could turn those lights off at night," Paul said. Another insider's staging trick they have long used is to feature Shirley Temple framed photos in the houses they that stage. That's kind of their trademark, they both said. "One agent said she had been to 30 houses and couldn't possibly remember any single house, until I mentioned our house had a Shirley Temple picture on top of the Grand Piano."

"Oh, yes, I do remember that house!" the realtor admitted. Paul began in the automotive industry, working in a body shop, eventually managing a body shop. Ginger long talked about entering the real estate field. By the time child number four was due, Paul decided he would take the initiative to go that route. He got his real estate license in 1977, quit his body shop job, and went full time in real estate. Twenty years later, Ginger joined him by helping him with open houses. "I had worked in interior design and taken courses in that subject," she said. "Much of it, though, was self taught, just observing places like Nordstrom and how displays sell products." At one open house, Ginger told Paul, "You know, I think I can do something with this place. She did, and afterwards, other realtors called to say, 'We can't believe what you did for that house!'" After they hit on this team effort, they began getting listings through referrals from their clients passing on the word about their good teamwork. "One homeowner called one night and said, 'When I came home, I thought I was drunk, because when I left for work, the house was empty and bare. When I came home tonight, with the way you accessorized it and put all your furniture in here, with the Frank Sinatra music playing, I swore I was in the wrong house!'" Contis said they maintain more than $60,000 in inventory of accessories and furniture for their staging side of their business. Most of it is in houses currently being sold, or in their own home. What do they recall about their most challenging assignments? "One house was called the black and white house," Ginger began. "The kitchen was the Disco Kitchen. The man refused to change it so I had to work with what I had. I took out his black and white striped curtains that accentuated the black and white cabinets that looked like he had hand sawed them. His floor looked like checkerboards. " The man had gotten married, moved out and the house had sat vacant six months before Ginger and Paul got the assignment. "I hung neutral beige curtains," Ginger continued, brought in fresh plants, colorful place mats for the counters, colorful plates, and books like you'd see in a model home. I used neutral beige rugs over the black and white floor. I lit the house with accent lighting and completely rearranged the look of it to divert people's attention from what was really going on!" "There was no eating area in the kitchen, so I set up an eating area in the corner of the living room. That dining room table helped sell the house, because it showed there was some place to eat. " One thing they always do is make sure escrow closes lock-tight on the home before they remove their staging materials, because they have had calls from realtors, asking them, after they do remove everything, "What happened to that house?" Another challenging assignment that ranks right up there with the Disco Kitchen house is a home they staged for a bachelor in Cuperinto who traded with natives worldwide from Africa to Ethiopia. He had artifacts hanging on every wall of the house, floor-to-ceiling. But fortunately, he was more cooperative than Disco Kitchen Guy. "By the time I told him what to remove from the house, I was left with a futon and a braided rug," Ginger laughed. "I then brought in all the staging and furniture needed. We sold his house in two days and got at least $15,000 more than what he wanted!" Now that the Contis have been house hunting in Morgan Hill, they see houses as other buyers see them.

"We are amazed at how poorly presented they are," groaned Paul. "They just aren't set up very well to sell. The poor realtor is going to take the heat for the house not selling quickly, but it's really the owner not staging the house for the market." Now that the market has slowed down somewhat, they realize the need for their services is even more critical. "But even when the market was white-hot," Paul pointed out, "we staged our listings. By doing that, people got not only a quick offer, but more money for their home. Ginger is now writing a book called Decorate to Sell and welcomes your questions about decorating. You can e-mail her at Ginger@HomeStagers.com or call her at 408-345-9855.