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

Turquoise is one of my favorite colors to wear however when it comes to selling a home it is not typically my go to color of choice. Last week I visited a property in Wayne Pennsylvania owned by a real estate investor that I work with and was surprised to discover that one of the units we were getting ready to sell had some really lovely teal wallpaper in the hall bathroom. Normally, this client does what ever we ask him to do to get his homes ready to sell- he replaces light fixtures, installs new carpet, regrouts the floors and stages the rooms. When I mentioned the wall paper to him he was not interested in replacing it. He had already invested a lot of money and he thought it was not really that bad... but was it?

That wallpaper gave me nightmares. My tranquil, transitional vision for this townhome was not in tune with those teal walls. Night after night I plotted how I could make those walls go away until I had an amazing idea. Instead of fighting the turquoise walls, I decided to make them work as part of the design for the home. As home staging professionals we can recommend what our clients need to do to properly present their home for sale, but no matter how persuasive we are, getting them to actually do the work is another task entirely. Suddenly I felt empowered again. This client would not change the walls, but I could change the way those walls felt. To make it all tie together I would use that teal color in all the rooms we were staging so it would not seem like such an island of color in this otherwise neutral home. We would make it look like it was supposed to be that color all along!

Below are some photos from the staging we did. The results look even better in person. From the teal front entrance door to the master bedroom spa-bath the touches of turquoise carry the buyer's eye through the space. The home seller was beyond thrilled. He even loved how the flowers in the wallpaper matched the floral art we selected. And in case you did not know, turquoise is one of the Pantone colors for 2010. It is trendy and here to stay.

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!

Lately it seems like we have been physically staging a lot of occupied or lived in homes- this means a lot of decluttering and packing up client belongings! Typically we do not do hands on staging for occupied homes, instead, we provide a home staging consultation and the client completes the plan that we recommend and then we come back for fine tuning or to add a few accent items.

For our most recent project in Villanova Pennsylvania we were asked to do the physical staging and rearrange the home seller's items to make the home presentable for sale. When I first visited the property to provide the client with an estimate I was surprised to see that he did not have much furniture at all to rearrange. I recommended that we use his items and treat his home like a vacant property and add furniture and accessories to show the best purpose for each space.

While I was there I also made some recommendations on things the client could do to make his home show even better such as remove the wall to wall carpeting that was covering the hardwood floors, remove the dated window treatments and repaint the walls to remove any wear and tear. As I was leaving he asked me if there was anything else he needed to do- Knowing budget was a concern, I casually made a comment that since his bathrooms and kitchen were dated that he needed to consider updating them to make his home more competitive. I showed him the unused space in the hallway between the kitchen and powder room and how the future home owner could expand the kitchen. A few phone calls and emails later we had a deal to stage the home.

When I arrived today I was shocked! The home was not the same home that I had seen a few weeks prior. The home seller had done all the things I recommended- he removed the carpet, polished the floors, removed the window treatments and repainted. But that was not the best part- he had remodeled the kitchen and even took down the wall to open up the space! I was shocked, excited and overjoyed- he had done his home staging homework!

Below are some before, during and after photos of this property. I am so impressed with his understanding of staging and that he needed to do something to make his home stand out in today's market. After we completed the staging he agreed to add a new refrigerator too to make the kitchen even more of a selling feature! See if you can spot how we used the home seller's things!

Still not convinced staging can help you to properly prepare your home for sale? Take a look at the pictures below of a home staging we did in Gladwyne Pennsylvania this week. If this does not convince you to stage your home I do not know what will! Staging can transform even the most "lived" in home into a showplace that appeals to the most potential buyers. Take this bachelor pad for example and consider what we are selling- how someone lives in their home or how buyers want to envision living in a home. Just looking at these pics makes me exhausted but amazed at what can be done in one day. I am also proud of the home seller for realizing that he needed to invest in staging to market his home. Pictures may be worth a thousand words but staging is worth thousands more for home!