Lake Spivey Staging Results with Stephanie Burt of Keller Williams

Click on the below link to see the amazing video of the before and after of a recent staging collaboration.

Be sure to read all about Stephanie, this project and page down to the bottom to see the video. Once I figure out what I’m doing I hope to actually have the video visible on my page, but this technology stuff is way over my head. Not my area of expertise. Help Johnny Rohrbeck!!!!

 

http://www.stephburt.com/blog/newly-renovated-water-front-lake-spivey

We’re Selling Fantasies Here Folks!

Fantasy of Home Ownership

Fantasy of Home Ownership

 

Let’s talk about The Fantasy of Home Ownership and Functional Spaces for just a minute.

Functional spaces…What are they? Think about your Laundry Rooms, the kitchen countertops, the bathroom countertops, the “drop zone”, even the closets & garage those are all functional spaces.

They are the work horses of our homes. They hold our belongings, clean and store our clothing & linens, they store and charge our devices and they can be a hot mess.

When you are selling your home, you are selling floor space, counter space, storage space.

Let’s use the laundry room as an example. They are usually lacking in fresh paint, and are holding piles of clean/dirty laundry, large detergent containers, the mop, broom, etc.

They are a place you want to exit as fast as you can. Is that enticing for a buyer looking at your home? NOT!

Take this functional space and make it pretty. You’re selling a fantasy here, folks! Add a fresh coat of paint to the walls, replace the broken light fixture in there (you know what I’m talking about). Clean out the detergent bottles and add some baskets or bins to hide them so they are accessible for you but camouflaged to a buyer. We want them to think this laundry space is so great that the clothes just jump in there, washes, dries, folds itself and marches to the correct designated storage space.

The same goes for the closets, garages and cabinets/vanities. These aren’t what I consider high priority when preparing a house to sell, but it is right up there next in line. We want buyers to see that your house has so much storage space that they couldn’t possibly fill it all up.  The countertops are so generous, that a buyer couldn’t run out of it with their belongings.

I call it “selling a fantasy”. Get to work sellers, sell those fantasies.

For more information on prioritizing your list of preparations to sell, contact Nan Johnston of Southern Staging and Redesign.

 

 

 

 

Loyd is U/C!

This lovely unique house was custom built by a sweet man for his long time bride.  It was her dream home and it was all HER!  There had been green carpet and pink walls everywhere…with the exception of the rooms and spaces that had wallpaper with flowers in pink & green.  She loved it! It was designed with her needs and desires.

After she was unable to remain in the custom built home, it was time to sell.  The seller had the house painted to a neutral color and replaced the green carpet to a neutral crème shade.  It was so much better suited for a buyer now.  Keeping the pink & green color scheme was preventing potential buyers from adding this to their “must see” list and the showings were LOW!  Neutralizing the colors was an investment that the seller removed from the “honey-do” list.  Always a good thing!

As professional stagers, we need to be able to work with furniture that the sellers have in order to keep their expenses down and this property was no exception.   No renting currant furniture for this project.  It was time to get creative.  We relocated furniture from every corner of the house.

Adding currant accessories can help make dated furnishings look updated.  Let’s face it, most of us have furniture from our parents or grand parents and for what ever reason we need to work with it.  Adding currant accessories is a great way to accomplish that updated appeal.

Adding bright pops of color help the MLS photos draw a buyer in and will get them excited about adding a property to their “must see” list.

After staging, the showings increased tremendously. Here are a few more after photos, but the important news…This House Is Under Contract!

What I Did This Summer

Boy Oh Boy! It’s been a crazy, busy, HOT summer!  Let me show you some before and after photos of some houses that I’ve been staging…

Turned a Log Home Into a Lake Retreat

Selling a log home can be difficult. The target market for a log house is very narrow for varied reasons.  As a home stager my goal was to create a home that might appeal to buyers that haven’t considered a log home. Good example: while researching log home décor I mostly found country, cowboy and wild bear décor. There’s nothing wrong with that type décor and the buyer of this home, may  want to decorate in this style.  However, there are more buyers that might be looking for a Lake House or Private Cabin Retreat!  Let’s try to attract that buyer!

I have had two computers to crash and can’t find any of my before photos of this beautiful log home. I’ll try to explain what it was like before.  The owner did supply me with some “in between” photos that will help.

You can see in the 3 photos above that the seller sent me that they had already updated the kitchen countertops and appliances.  The  3rd bedroom was being used as an office and to hold extra furniture and had dated carpet.

After photos of Lake Retreat

Who wouldn’t want to retreat to this every weekend or at the end of a hard working day?

 

Cherokee Ave. Atlanta, GA

Such a cute house, just around the corner from Turner Field, down the street from the Atlanta Zoo and neighbors with The Atlanta Police Mounted Patrol Stables.

Our Girl Janice

 
Remember this lovely home that I posted awhile back? I’m calling her Janice because that’s the name of her street.
 
 
 
As promised, here are a few more before, during and after photos for you to see.  Some of these photos are the ones that I took the first day that I met them…keep in mind that they were in the middle of packing that day so the before photos are more cluttered than the usual before photos that I take.

Here’s a look at the breakfast area when I first visited the property

 
a visit after the painting, granite update and floors were completed
 

 

 and  after the furniture and accessories were placed.

 
My favorite view…
 
Hope everyone has a great weekend. I think it may actually be a nice weekend in Georgia…no snow!
 

Fayetteville Before, During & After

 I’m blogging today about a beautiful home in Fayetteville, GA that I recently finished. The owner hired me in July for a color consultation.
They wanted to sell, knew that they needed to neutralize the paint colors, update the kitchen and bathrooms and refinish the hardwood floors.

What you are about to see are the before,  during and after photos. Because there are so many to see, I’ll break this house up into different blog post so be sure to check back again for the rest of the rooms.

Some of these photos are the ones that I took the first day that I met them…keep in mind that they were in the middle of packing that day so some before photos are more cluttered than others.

The others were made the day that I checked on construction progress or the same day of the staging installation.

We’ll start with the living room and foyer area.

 Living room

 
 

 Foyer
 

 
Just to give you a little taste of what’s to come…
 
 
Please join me again for the next featured room.
Nan

Let’s Call Her Zoie

One of the latest projects is a beautiful home… let’s call her Zoie.

She’s has new flooring, the ceilings have been removed of all popcorn finish, there is a full basement and bonus room with it’s on bath upstairs!
It’s a great house….let’s see the before and after shots. (more details below)

 
 


 
 


 
 

5 bedrooms
4 full bathrooms
finished basement
You could have multi generational family live very comfortably in this house. You have got to see it!

For help or information on staging your vacant property, give me a call or send me an email.  I’m happy to help!

Sold! One Day On Market

 
 
This cute house was on the market for 1 day
 
 
Would an empty room have made the same impression?
 
 
I think not.
 
 
This breakfast area may be a little more inviting than this one
 
 
 
This bedroom may be more cozy than the other one.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Talk about cold empty and uninviting…
compare these pics to the following.
 

 
 
Now that’s better!
 

 
 
Big difference isn’t there?
 
It’s not even fair to show you the before pic of this bathroom.
It was in the middle of updating and was a complete mess
but look at it now!
 
 
It’s just a hall bath but they need to feel special too.
 

 
Seriously, which house would have more appeal to you?
 
1 Day on Market!
 
 
 

Sold in 8 Days!

Remember this house?

It had been on the market for 328 days without an offer.

After Southern Staging & Redesign staged the house…

 

…it sold within 8 days of going back on the market.

 

And the seller was able to increase his price! 

You don’t get that kind of reaction with a vacant house!  This seller is living proof.

If your house has been sitting stale without productive showings, it may be time for a home staging consultation or a vacant staging plan.  Give me a call and let’s set something up!
Nan Johnston
770-251-0608 home/office
nan@southern-staging.com

Latest Vacant Staging (November 2013)

What I’ve been up too lately….

(please excuse the bad photos. digital photo classes are next on my list of things to-do)

A few weeks ago, a very nice gentleman contacted me about helping him prepare his house to sell. It had been vacant for about a year and he was frustrated with the lack of interest in his property.

 
His current agent suggested having the house professionally staged.
 

He had a few things to complete before I could get in there to work…

 
 
…and I needed to wrap my head around staging a house with 3 living areas.
 
 
 
 
 
 
A design plan was created…

 
 
Accessories were gathered…
 

 
 
Furniture was delivered…
 
 
 
Accessories were placed in just the right spots…

 

 
Turning a sterile and empty space…
 

 
into a warm and inviting home.
 
 
 
 
Creating  positive thoughts instantly…
 
 
into a buyers mind.
 
When buyers see empty rooms, they instantly start finding the flaws in a house.  Having a house professionally staged, doesn’t hide those flaws, however, keeps them from being the very first impression while viewing a property.  Showing them that every house can become a warm and inviting home.
 
For more information about staging your vacant property, contact us at nan@southern-staging.com
770-251-0608 home/office