Monday, January 28, 2013

Working With What You've Got

I'm learning that pereception about home styling and staging is not always grounded in reality. Some homeowners believe that styling a home for sale is an expensive proposition. Well, it's not. Others think that stagers will insist that they get rid of everything and bring in all new stuff. If your stager does that, it's time to get a new stager. Lastly, a great number of people believe that for a home to be "staged," everything in it must match. Wrong again! A great home stylist will work with what you already have on hand. Sure, you may need to buy a few things, but making your current furnishings work better is what sets a real stylist apart from an imposter.

Remember last week when I showed you pictures from a home staging we did for a couple who had moved nearly all of their furniture to another state? The greatest challange was that we had very little to work with and no budget for bringing in new stuff -- not even rentals.



Here you can see a bedroom that is completely empty. Some stagers might suggest that the owners rent/buy furniture and accessories, but it was not in the budget. Instead, we found a smaller bedroom containing a bed that was too large for the room. It made no sense for the tiny bedroom to have a bed, while the larger room sat empty. Not only did the poorly arranged room leave buyers with a negative impression of the home's space, but the room was the only access to the huge bonus room over the garage. By simply moving the bed into the larger room, we solved two issues (poor scale and room identity) at one time.

Once the bed was in the larger room, we realized that we had nothing else to go with it. No dresser, no nightstand, no lamp, no bedding, NOTHING. We scrounged through closets and basements in search of anything to go with that bed. Praying to find a "Bed-in-a-Bag", we happily settled for a Laura Ashley-ish comforter with a small royal blue and deep red flower motif.

First problem solved. . . sort of.  We had a comforter, but no bedskirt. We did, however, find sheets. They were rusty red with a beige flower print. They did not match, but they worked. We covered the box springs with the fitted sheet and tucked the flat sheet around the mattress -- giving us blue, reds, and a tan/beige color in our new color pallette and solving the problem of having no bedskirt.

Next we found a rug in the basement. It was berry red with a light beige design. It didn't match either, but again -- it worked! 

At that point we had plenty of red. It was time to play-up the blue color in the comforter. We remembered seeing a bright blue trunk in the garage. It wasn't the exact same color as the comforter, but it blended well enough to make a great beside table. We also found a blue globe to use as an accessory. Did the blues match? Of course not, but somehow they looked great together.

The biggest surprise was an odd little oil painting. If I'd seen it in a gallery, I would have walked right past it; but the colors of the painting totally popped when we placed it in the room. It put the blue color in a 3rd location in the room, and the beige/yellow in the painting blended perfectly with the pine bed and a bench we found in another room.

Then we brought in a small, dark cabinet from the attic. It matched absolutely nothing, but the scale was right for the space. With khaki colored accessories, it too worked great in the room.

We hit pay dirt with the use of an antique wooden gameboard over the bed. It was made of a light pine (like the bed) and the graphics were red. Like everything else, it didn't match perfectly, but all together it worked.


Sure, we could have taken the easy way out and advised the clients to buy all new bedding, a side table, dresser, and coordinating accessories to complete the space in order to have a showroom quality room.  But that would have been the easy and most expensive way out of the problem. Instead, we made the owners' items work in a logical, well-coordinated, and affordable way.

And as for that other tiny, odd bedroom where we found the bed . . . Here's how it turned out . . .

 
 
What you cannot see from the photos is that to the left of the corner window there is a door to the bonus room. This is room is considered a 5th bedroom, but in order to access the bonus room, one must walk through this room. Instead of keeping its identity as a bedroom, we thought it would make more sense if buyers saw the room as an office. There wasn't much available to make this tiny room an office, but with the addition of a desk and chair, buyers aren't left to wonder why you'd walk through a bedroom to get to the bonus room.
 
 

Saturday, January 19, 2013

It's Always a Good Time to Declutter

Sorry that it's been so long since my last post, but my time off allowed me plenty of opportunity to take mental notes. Among them, I noted that lots of people (including myself) seem strangely guided by editorial schedules. By that, I mean we tend to do things based on what media suggest we do. We deep clean in April. We plan tailgating menus in August. And when January rolls around, you can bet we'll get to organizing.

The thing is, people shouldn't necessarily let media dictate when it is time to tackle projects. Sure "Spring Cleaning" is a must-do, but why wait for spring to clean and declutter? Our latest styling project illustrates the point that any time is a great time to declutter your home.

In this project, the family we worked with had partially moved from their 5000 sq ft home in Tennessee to a smaller home in another state. Nearly all of the furniture had been sent to the new home while the owners remained in Tennessee living pretty much in just two rooms.

Our task was to "stage" the home for the real estate market using only the accessories and furniture remaining in the home. Essentially we found ourselves again working with a very small hodgepodge of mismatched furniture and accessories that the owners were not even interested in keeping for themselves. In most rooms we had no furniture to work with. Just look at that table below. . . it has no chairs. That's what we had to work with.

Interestingly, the biggest improvement was made not by cleverly pairing the meager offering of art and accessories around the home, but by simply decluttering. Take a look:


 


As you can see, simply removing all the "stuff" that accumulates daily can add instant value to your home's image. And the rule doesn't only apply to kitchens. Take a look a the difference that decluttering and adding simple, chunky accessories makes to other spaces. In the case of small or choppy bath areas, decluttering can add to the feel of space and spa-like calmness. Take a look:


 
 
 

 


There are a few things to note regarding the master bath changes that are not obvious in the photos. In the "before" photos, you can see that hanging under the counter is a small curtain hiding the under-counter storage. We removed that, cut it, and upholstered a 2nd garden chair to match the skirted one already in the bath. Then, we tacked up a matching valance over the window to tie the look together.
 
Another big difference was made by simply removing used towels from the racks and counters. Please -- never show your home with used towels hanging in the bathroom. Of course our clients were not showing their home in this manner, but I have been on home showings where recently used towels were hanging in the bath. Don't do this if you're trying to sell your home. If you cannot have fresh matching towels hanging in a bath, it's better to go with nothing on the racks. The same is true for bath mats. If you can't have clean, new ones, then just toss the old ones and go without mats.
 
Lastly, you may not realize it, but something as simple as a trashcan can have a big impact on the look of a bath. In the BEFORE photo, you can see that the owners had a very functional but big plastic can as well as toilet brushes and plungers in the area. It was easily accessible for them, but not good for showing a home. So we stored the toilet brushes & plungers and then replaced the plastic can with a rattan & metal basket to finish off the room's new sleeker look.
 
 


One of the unique amenities in the home is an upstairs sitting area where the teenagers can hang out, watch television, play games, etc. It is a great space, but it lacked an identity. We cleared the clutter and selected some chunky accessories to complement the design. But the best thing we did was rescue three items from the trash pile. In the corner you can see a wooden oar and a pair of antique children's skis. Those were headed for the trash and Goodwill when we arrived. We saw them and saved them from their early demise by incorporating them in the teen's hangout area. Take a look:
 






 So while we're in the middle of the cold, stuck-in-the-house-all-day time of year, why not do a little decluttering of your own. It can dramatically change your environment; and maybe your attitude too!