Home Staging Pennsylvania- Hart & Associates Servicing the Main Line, Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties.

When I stage a property I always like to use a pop of the same color in each room to unify spaces and add more flow to the home. I also use a pop of color to direct the buyer's eye to which selling features I want them to notice- the great fireplace, the kitchen counters, the cozy sitting area in the master bedroom. Perhaps it is the season but lately I have been loving orange and how it adds warmth and sizzle to the spaces we stage. Take a peek and try it out in your own home. Add some perky pumpkin, mellow mandarin or calming homcantaloupe to give your rooms a kick that you can enjoy all year round.

Still not convinced that you need to stage your home to prepare it for sale? Think staging only works for model homes? Take a look at our most recent staging in Malvern Pennsylvania. Located in picturesque Chester County, this gorgeous home had great selling features but needed to be fine tuned to show families how they could live there. The results? Stunning!

This weekend I was going through some photos of past home staging jobs and had a great time remembering some of the wonderful (and sometimes strange) things we had seen over the past few years. I thought it would be fun to share our first staging jobs. Below are mine:

The room I staged in my first staging class. Not bad for 45 minutes and using what you have. Notice the valance I made from a runner!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first home I staged on my own- it was a woman I had never met before and she let me do it for free to use for marketing. I ran into her last weekend in a lighting store and she remembered me! She said the room is still the same!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first vacant home I staged. It sold within 2 weeks! I still have the striped urn- it cost me a fortune!

If you are like most home owners your house is set up the way you like it, but when it comes time to sell you need to take a step back and make sure that you are showing buyers the best use for each space in your home. You may need to use 3 bedrooms in your 4 bedroom home as office space, but most home buyers will want to see how those rooms can be used as bedrooms. Your formal dining room may work well for you as a playroom or yoga studio, but home buyers want to envision their formal dinners there. You may not have a ton of storage and opt to use the living room as a storage locker but home buyers will not understand where to entertain. Home Staging makes sure that you are properly showing buyers the best purpose of each space in your home. Check out the transformations we made below:

This formal office was being used as a game room- great for the seller but not too appealing to the home buyer that needs a home office:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This home seller was using his master bedroom as a home office but it did not send the luxury retreat feel home buyers were looking for:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This home seller was using their dining room as a formal living room. But buyers were wondering where to have Thanksgiving dinner!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The family living in this home loved using the large living room to hang out and watch tv, but buyers needed to see a formal space they could use for entertaining:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This home had a ton of storage but you would never know by looking at this catch all space. We gave it a new purpose:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The area at the top of these stairs was vacant. A simple solution was to show buyers how they could use this area as a home office, freeing up a bedroom for sleeping:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This dining room was perfect for the kiddies, but did not make sense for home buyers wanting to actually eat in there!

You know you have been staging for a long time when you get a call from a client you helped years ago to stage their current home. I was elated to hear from 2 clients last month who I had helped 3 years ago and were moving again. Clearly these clients understood that home staging was an essential part of marketing and selling their homes.

I was equally surprised to get a call from a new client to stage their home. When they told me the address of the house something seemed all too familiar. When I pulled up to the house I instantly remembered- this was a home that I staged the first year I was in business! The family that had purchased the home was now moving and wanted to make sure this home looked its best. These clients were a joy to work with! They had already installed new windows and removed all the carpet.  They eagerly agreed to make some simple updates- new lighting in all the rooms, polish the hardwood floors, repaint and add new blinds. During our first meeting we discussed what type of buyer would most likely buy the home. Given the great neighborhood and schools I felt it would most likely be a young family. I recommended that the clients use their existing furniture and rent some pieces to give this home the young, trendy look first time home buyers would be looking for. Below are some photos of the transformation. I am thrilled that these clients were so open to staging- I will keep you posted on how quickly they get an offer!