Why Empty Homes Don't Sell

Every morning on my Chicago area social media feed, I see acres and acres of empty rooms posted by Realtors. So many empty dining rooms, breakfast rooms, kitchens, living and bedrooms.  Do I stop and click on the photo, intrigued to have a look at the room, the house, the property? No, I just scroll on by...  Do I read the eloquently written description?  Do I appreciate the professional photography?  No, I just scroll on by...  Why?  It's that they all look the same; devoid of any senses,  any flavor, any style. 

WHY?

#1. An empty home leaves an empty canvas to paint negative thoughts on – Prospective buyers will find imperfections and not interested or wanted features. An empty home amplifies negative thoughts. 

#2. Empty homes lack a vision of its layout (What is this room?)  A Staged homes explain how the home flows and how each space can be used.

#3.  An empty home is void of imagination and feeling.  People buy homes on emotion.  An empty property is just a HOUSE, a staged property becomes a HOME.  Home Staging creates the emotion that your prospective buyers envisioned.

#4. The National Association of REALTORS 2015 Profile on Home Staging found that 81% of buyers find it is easier to visualize a property as a future home when it's Staged. 

“A staged home may seem like it has furniture that’s fixed in place; but what is going on in the buyer’s mind is a very kinetic process. With a home that is staged, they see a family - celebrating home.”

— Julea Joseph

BUDGET Home Staging Ideas - A Bedroom with 5 Easy Pieces!

Home Staging ideas - Stage a bedroom with five pieces.

Do you have a need to create, stage & style a bedroom in an empty room? Think you need to go out a buy and lug in heavy furniture? Think again. Today's home staging & styling job was for a client that enlisted me to to do a budget bedroom staging. Here's how I did it.

1. The bed is the focal point of a room, so start here.  My client owns this great air bed that basically is a rolling suitcase and you unzip, plug in and within minutes POOF turns into a queen size bed.  Frontgate has a few to choose from.
2. Head Board. The head board are 2 plastic decorative fencing panels from Home Depot. I know, I know, super clever, weigh nothing and you can attach them to the wall with a nail. Instant headboard. Acurio Panels from Home Depot. 
3. Bedding. A bed should be lush & lovely.  Chic bedding, fluffy pillows, cute accent pillows -and always throw a throw at the end of the bed for a bit of interest and texture. I found this great microfiber duvet set (almost no-iron) at HomeGoods and bird accent pillow from Michaels. (had the shell pillow and throw in my staging stock pile.) 
4. The Night stand is a butler tray table. A butler tray is meant to be mobile, so easy open and close. This is a great what I call "Good Bones" piece of furniture.  The tray comes off and the base just folds up.  I found a close one on Amazon: Crosley Palm Harbor Outdoor Wicker Butler Tray 
5. Lamp.  Just make sure is substantial enough to work with the scale of the bed.

Accents pillows add detail and ambiance to a bed.

Home Stagers LOVE-HATE Relationship with House Cleaners

A house cleaner moved home staging - shower curtain pushed to other side, accessories squished.

Ahhh.. cleaning people.  The coveted crew that makes us, the Home Stager, happy and horrified at the same time. In our perfect world, the cleaning people sweep in just prior to our detailed obsessed styling when we stage a home.  We love them because they're the experts in cleaning and polishing a home to make it fabulous for the prospective buyer.  The down side is, they clean the home after our job is done, moving what we've styled, squishing our perfectly placed accessories and moving everything around from furniture to window treatments in their quest for a tidy home - forgetting to put all those things back.

Our obsession with perfection has a goal - it produces a great online photo and gives the room optimum visual appeal. We take spaces and stage and style them not only visually appealing, but attractive to everyone who takes a peek. We showcase the best of the room which is why it is important to retain the product we produce.

Here are some ways a homeowner can preserve the integrity of the original staging.

1.) Have an photo archive of the recent staging for each room on your cell for reference.

2.) Print out a picture of the room/space and slip it into a plastic protector for the cleaning crew.

3.) Have a plastic storage bin that can house and protect staging props when the space is being occupied for daily usage or cleaned.

A Tale of Two Homes – Home Staging is for EVERY Home

I’m hoping that you don’t think that home staging is just for empty homes, that you need to have deep pockets to hire a stager, or that we remove what you have and bring all new in - But just in case you do, here’s a glimpse of what a talented home stager can offer you.

Whether tiny or grand, we offer a variety of home staging options.  At Reinventing Space, we combine a perfect blend of home staging, interior styling and decorating services to best market your home.  Our goal is to bring out the very best of the home and create an environment, backdrop and mood that potential buyers can relate to and picture themselves living in the home.

Home #1. 1906 farm house in a very desirable community.

Pros: Charming, cozy, perfect for a young family or professional single. Cons: A kitchen and bath not as charming as the home and a real lack of style and arrangement defining the rooms. Solution: Paint, update kitchen just enough and stage and style the home with a young city couple returning to the ‘burbs in mind. We used what the homeowner had, made wise, cost effective updates and enhancements keeping in mind the price point and target buyer of the home.  A bit of painting, minor repairs, a new sink/ faucet, a cleaning service both for home and windows and a day of hands-on home staging and styling did the trick.  Within 3 weeks a contract on the home. To see the MLS listing, CLICK HERE by Dean Rouso of Baird & Warner.

Dinning Room

Dining room home staging

Bedroom Home Staging

Bedroom home staging - defining a room.

Kitchen Home Staging

Making most of a kitchen.

Sun Room/Porch home staging

Create a room, Home Staging.

Office Home Staging

Study/Office Home Staging

Home #2. Lovely, luxury home in a gated golf community.

Pros: Gorgeous, custom built, perfect for an executive who loves to entertain. Cons: A few key rooms with little or in-need of properly arranged furnishings. Homeowner had great furniture, just not in the right place or missing pieces in key rooms. Solution: Purchase key new pieces (which will move to the new home) rearrange and move other pieces, rugs, etc… to other rooms. Depersonalize the home, add new accessories to stage and style the home accordingly. Take a look at  the results and see if you can find the rearranged pieces.  CLICK TO SEE THIS SPECTACULAR LISTING by Rosemary West, RE/MAX Professionals Select.

BEFORE: Home Staging.

So whether a home is a cute 1906 farm house or a fabulous grand estate - Every home can use a bit of staging to present the home in its best condition and attract its best buyer.

5 Home Staging Tips if Selling in the Winter

If your home is on the market during the winter months, here are a few extra staging tips and ideas to ensure your home will show well during the chilly and sometimes weather challenging season.

#1. A Clear Path.  Make sure from curbside to front porch your potential buyers have easy access to your home.  Keep walkways clear of snow and ice. Purchase a non-salt based de-icer that will not leave white residue tracks.

#2. A Shoe Removal Friendly Foyer. Make it easy for people to remove their footwear with seating and a stylish boot tray in the foyer. You don't want the 1st impression to get off on the wrong foot.

#3. Light it up. During the winter months, evening comes early and days may be overcast. Keep your exterior and interior lights on timers so that your home is well lit for showings. Replace light bulbs with a higher wattage and choose a bulb that casts a warm tone.

#4. Bring on the Greens.  With nature on siesta, have a evergreen container garden to greet guests, showcase your porch and to liven up the entry to your home. Inside, pack away the fake floral and replace with potted flowering plants in pretty containers and a few vases of fresh floral.  Fresh always adds a bit of hospitality and creates a cheerful display.

#5. Set a Warm Mood. Give home lookers a sense of cozy by making sure the temperature is at a comfortable setting, rooms look inviting with an added decorative touch of a warm throw, a few extra pillows and the flicker of a few candles. Use battery operated candles which are safe while you are gone for showings.

Home Decorating Tips - The Art of the Mix

Wouldn't it be pure bliss to have an unlimited budget to make your home lovely.  No regard for the bottom line or being reduced to look at price tags?  Oh joy.  As a Chicago home decorator, interior stylist and stager there is no fun in that scenario!

I love the thrill of the hunt, find euphoria in using what you already have and get giddy using my creativity and cunning ability to reach the same end. Now that's pure bliss.

My job with clients is to know when to spend it and when not to - getting that right mix.  A beautiful home should have a rich collectiveness - A mix of rich with poor, old with new - A recipe that in the end defines the legacy and personality of the homeowner.   My business signature is using what you have, and then moving on from that.  For most of my clients, shopping is not an issue, nor is what they already own - It's the mêlée of pulling it collectively together to distinguish their space and define their style.   Whether they're puzzled on how to make their living room inviting or launching into a remodeling project - Most struggle with knowing how to mix that perfect recipe.

My secret formula is to know when to use it, when to spend it, and how to get the look for less.  The total package has to fit together with your personal taste, style of your home and most importantly - Your Budget!  It doesn't matter if I'm staging your home, helping you decorate for a party or holiday, or consulting on a major renovation - The formula is the same. 

So what's my formula?  How you obtain that perfect recipe?  Here are the three ingredients:

USE IT:   Most of us over the years have accumulated things, whether bought, inherited, or found, we have stuff.   If you take a hard look at your stuff; I guarantee there is treasure galore within your inventory.   Can you repaint, reupholster, and update it?  In another room, would it look better or have better use?  Your old stuff is your legacy, it defines who you are, and if it doesn't, I'll let you know.   As an educated professional, my talent is to be able to identify what can be used or not when it comes to making your spaces beautiful.   Although, most would not cast me to appear on "Antiques Road Show," I'm pretty good at knowing what's worthy, and really good at using it if it fits into the grand plan.

Whether it's a couch, painting or lamp, I'll let you know if it will work, or if it's an undiscovered treasure that we can use "as is," or is worthy of a reinvention.   I did a staging recently and came upon a signed Leroy Neiman print that the homeowner had picked up at a garage sale.  They were going to toss it because the matting was ragged and damaged and the print was falling out of its frame.   After a quick look over and a suggested run to a framing store for a re-mat & tune-up - They'll have a pretty snazzy "real" piece of showcase art! 

SPEND IT:  O.K., even though I'm supposed to be the budget decorator, sometimes you have to spend a bit.  Love that vintage French one-of-a-kind-kind piece, knowing it will be perfect for your awkwardly sized foyer- Entry Table. Go get it!  It will become the showcase to your home.  You'll love looking at it every day and it will define the style of your place.  There has to be expensive in the mix - and there will be a times that spending the big bucks is a worthwhile or part of the grand plan. That stuff may be pricey, but you can fill in the blanks with less expensive or fabulous finds.    

The other piece of SPEND IT has to do with the quality of things.  Sometimes you can't get it for less; sometimes the workmanship upstages the price point. Your inherited Grandma's dining room set may need repair and is a perfect example of the SPEND IT choice you make.  Pair her set with off-the-rack Target window treatments and rods and her set is reduced to a "tired pass-down."  Pair her set with custom one-of-kind window treatments and the set is now upgraded to "antique heirloom."

LOOK FOR LESS:  Getting the LOOK FOR LESS is a two- fold feat.  The 1st feat is to see if you can find the expensive, SPEND IT item for less (you still have to pay a bit of cash.) And the 2nd feat is to have the knack for eyeing that inexpensive item that has the look of expensive.   Shopping expensive is easy; anyone can walk into the Chicago Designer Mart and find fabulous stuff, expensively priced.   Finding its identical twin or a knock-off for a fraction of the price takes talent and an eye.   Getting that look for less, filling in those blanks, makes for that perfect "mix." 

Say you've got a few lovely Sterling silver pieces.  Pair those with a few more you have found at a discount retailer in silver-plate and the plate becomes instantly "Sterling" by association.

The end result is a beautiful home that has the perfect mix...