This blog has moved!

Blog of NE Staging & Interiors. Elevating lifestyle through home design & decor. 

www.StagingStyleBlog.com

The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet's "Staged" Home. Before & Afters...

A Hollywood home with an adventurous past gets a new makeover and offers up 

plenty of inspiration for home staging ideas. 

"The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" home is for sale in the Hollywood Hills listed at $4.995 million. The house sold last year in 2013 for $3.025 million and has since undergone quite the renovation by designer Kishani Perera.
I love this exercise in decor change because it is such a great example of taking a dated home and transforming it into a stylish, current home that will last the new homeowners many years to come.

Take a look at the difference in how the home shows from the real estate listing photos last year vs. today's current listing on MLS.

Before Entry

After Entry

Before Living Room

After Living Room

 Okay, I love this one! Look at the storied past of the family room. 

Photo Credit

Before

After

Before Dining Room

After

Before Kitchen

After

Check out the rest of the current listing tour here on Zillow.

The house is staged so well. Let's see if it gets the almost $2million increase a year later!

What's new in NEW CONSTRUCTION?

Week after week, we travel around the North East looking at gorgeous homes. One of the best aspects of our job is discovering the latest design trends in new construction. Many new home builders and new home buyers hire us to select the finishes for their new homes. From cabinetry style and color, to paint and color palettes, window treatments to lighting, we see it all. It's an interesting dynamic because we have daring, colorful room photos pinned and earmarked in our idea books, yet, the end product is usually much more subdued. Especially when selecting finishes for a home listed for sale. As much as we want to do a turquoise kitchen, in order to appeal to the widest audience, we tend to recommend what we know works as a softer approach. 

Barely a day goes by the we don't get the question: "What's happening right now? 

Here's a peek into our favorite finishes.

BATHROOMS:

Deck out the shower with creative tile installations. We still love marble and there are plenty of fabulous new designs in the tile world.

Kids bath floor tile. 

Master Bath tile 

Floor tile

How gorgeous is this new tile from Ann Sacks?

Calacatta Carrara Marble

Grey Cabinets in the bath and kitchen.

Gray paint on the window and door trim.

This gorgeous home will be on the market soon. (New Canaan CT)

Want to follow along with us while we select and install the latest trends in interiors?

 We add new finds everyday to our design boards.

Check out our NEW CONSTRUCTION 2014 set on Flickr

Follow us for daily updates on INSTAGRAM

And don't miss our PINTEREST "New Construction Ideas" board. 

Building a new home? Show us what you're doing- we love houses!!

I Found Your Favorite Paint Color!

2014 is buzzing along like crazy! I can barely keep up with the pace at which we have quotes and floor plan designs flying out the door. And, just like that.......stopped in my tracks...........I discover the best design tool I have found since Pinterest! Talk about making our lives easier and taking our creative brains to a new pace. I'm so excited to share this! We are obsessed with this tool and started using it from day one. Check it out... it's called Chip It, from Sherwin Williams.

Here's how it works: Go to www.LetsChipit.com and drag the Chip It button up to your browser.

Here's your new color chip board!! 

Save it, share it and paint it!!!

You can create boards with all of your ideas. I absolutely love this!

Here are some of my favorite rooms and their new chip boards I created.

You can Chip It any photo.

This one is probably my favorite. 

Okay, so let's get chipping! Next time you see your favorite color at the farmer's market, 

it just might inspire an entire room in your house!
Follow our Chip Boards!

Thank you Sherwin Williams!

Secret to Selling in the Winter

Here we find yet another year passing and winter knocking at the front door. For those of us not selling our home, we can breathe a sigh of relief in knowing that it doesn't really matter where we kick off our winter boots this season. For those of you that are selling your home, it can be a little extra work to stay organized through the winter. With that said, I have some great winter staging tips to share and it's no secret, they work!! So get moving!!

There are 2 key points to remember when you are selling. 

Your placement of "stuff" demonstrates how you use the space.

What does that mean?

As we live in our homes, with kids and dogs and jobs and stuff, we tend to use our spaces in whatever way works best for us. This use of space is great when we are just living. I love this photo below via The Marion House Blog because in the article, this mudroom is the family's favorite room in the house. 

I see 100 rooms just like this every year. This room is full of life and totally works for the family.

When you're selling, these favorite rooms can tell a little too much about how what's working and not working as far as the functionality in our home. Think of it this way;

The potential buyer has this same room in their current house. They are looking for a new house that eliminates the disfunction and makes life easier, more organized and functional for a busy lifestyle. 

They are looking at Houzz and Pinterest and Restoration Hardware catalogs and here is what they see...

Get a similar look:

This is what they want.

You want to demonstrate how your potential buyer wants to live!

And sometimes, the story you are telling may not be accurate.

Piles of boots/shoes by the back door can tell the buyer there is a lack of storage 

when actually, you may have lots of storage.

Get it together

Whether it's the mudroom, the office or the kitchen, start with getting a designated place for every day items. If you do not use them everyday, the items should go stored in a closet elsewhere. 

Or, start packing it up for that matter! Buyers like to see a motivated seller.

Ikea, Target and any big box store has a storage system that can work.

I love adding a fun wallpaper in storage areas.

Black and white stripes or maps!

WHAT IS THE POINT??

Selling a home is inconvenient. Stage it to sell fast.

The good news is that staging your home will help your home sell faster. That means less time on the market and less inconvenience for you. The more you fight it and make excuses like 

"Buyers need to understand we are living here..."

...the longer the pain.

So, start boxing up those summer shoes and bathing suits!

Get organized and get moving! 

(and don't even think about dragging out that holiday decor ;)

Creating Empty Space When Selling

When it comes to staging a home, new furniture, cleaning and organizing seem to be the hot topics. There is however, an important dynamic in staging that is not often addressed which is what I call "empty space". This tends to come into play more so for homeowners living in their home while selling.

Empty space is important because it offers the perception of having an abundance of space(square footage). The buyer gets the impression that there is more than enough livable space. The balancing act comes into play through strategic staging tactics that still demonstrate how the home is used without "over-decorating" the space.

Here are some helpful tips for opening up the space without losing ambiance.

Move furniture away from the wall. Like this...

via The Evergirl, see the house tour here.

I call it "furniture arrest", where all of the furniture is up against the wall. Moving furniture away from the wall and placing a sofa table behind, or perhaps nothing, just gives the room an airy feeling. 

There are very few cases where a chair should be square up against a wall.

Remove layered drapes and hang them high.

Window treatments warrant their own post for later, however for creating space, removing heavy swags and layered panels is a good start. This will open up the space, let the light in and make the room feel bigger. Solid colored panels are always a good bet. Drapes should be hung high, not at window height.

Clear the countertops.

Clearing the countertops can help open up the kitchen space however, creating purposeful decor is important. Too much empty space can call attention to any defects and also lose the emotional impact needed to connect with buyers.

Use white hotel bedding.

via Williams Sonoma Home

Hotel striped bedding is a great way to calm the visual space in the bedroom and create the perception of more room. Live plants in the room are also great. 

IKEA has fiddle leaf fig trees for $12.99 right now! Such a great deal.

Keep surfaces clear of clutter.

Via Wisteria

Dressers, tables and shelving should stay clear of personal belongings. Candles should be new and flowers should be real or look real. (no dried flowers) Accessories can be grouped into 3's (like above) to make a visual impact. Spreading things out makes the space look more cluttered.

Try some of these tricks at home and see what you think! 

Want more ideas? Follow us on FACEBOOK and PINTEREST.