Tuesday 21 August 2007

the results are in

Okay. Here are the photos after the stager finished her handiwork. Most of house was a mish mash of bits and pieces that were struggling to fill the space provided. The lounge room literally only had a couple of sofas in it and that was it, as you can see from this first picture.
I was quite happy to have a stager come in and do something with the area, since we aren't into buying more stuff mode, what with the move back and all, and the lounge room is the first room one arrives to upon entering the house, so it is important to make a good first impression.
Anyway, the whole point of staging is to draw attention to the house, rather than the things in it, or the ugly wall paper; hideous overly mirrored walls and dog piss stained carpet...as was the case when we bought this house. Yes, the aim is to give it enough that a potential buyer can see themselves living in the space, rather than picking up the owners vibe i.e staring at their wedding photos; checking out the diplomas on the wall and the books in their book case etc. It all has to be inviting, pleasant and reasonably impersonal.
The stager was actually at our place for a good four hours, which surprised me. The other surprise was that she not only did the one room, like she said she would, but she added a couple of bits and pieces to most of the room to tie it all in (I guess so people weren't immediately struck by how one room looked suspiciously lovely while the others looked so so).
The stager used many of our own things, but arranged them in different ways. She mostly added lamps and pictures to our vacant walls, and added a few other decorative pieces.
In the end the changes she made were quite subtle, but made a dramatic impact. She brought in the ottoman for the living room, which gave the room a great grown up look - that room was formally dominated by the kids and their stuff.
She also gave us a kitchen table which is not pictured here. She moved our own table into a space in the lounge room to make it into a formal dining room (pictured here). The kitchen table she gave us is a little rectangle one which gives our kitchen a look of so much more space. She did a really good job.
I think the biggest surprise came from Ashley's reaction. He wasn't sold on the stager idea. In true blokey fashion, he couldn't really see the point and did not appreciate the potential power of soft furnishings and a few well chosen pieces of furniture, but he was suitably impressed.... I am glad, because I just kind of said "we are doing this" and this was it.
To answer Muses query, the kids were great about the new furniture and stuff. The stager didn't touch their rooms, which was good. It is all a bit of a novelty stillm so they are presently respecting the rules about the new things. I do know, the longer the place takes to sell, the harder it will be to maintain the pristine look, so I am praying that it sells quickly so we can give this stuff back and get back to being the uncultured slobs we normally are, ha!

6 comments:

jeanie said...

That looks gorgeous!

My sister's house always looks fairly staged with a bit of kid detrius strewn around for the authentic touch!

It would feel like I was on holiday if my house looked that good.

Kathleen said...

I'd say she did a lovely job. I love your wall color....it looks great with the red, and with wood. Very inviting.
We are holding good thoughts for you!

ELIZABETH said...

Shows why we need the experts...fresh eye.

Fingers crossed for a quick sale

shishyboo said...

awesome job!

I am hopeless when it comes to home decorating, it's a good tip to remove all the very personal things about the house that detract (and distract) from the whole purpose of having strangers in your home.

money well spent, I hope there is a service like that around here when we decide to move.

Best wishes for the sale x x x

Tracey said...

Wow. Mind you, all I can think of is "she'd have a real challenge on her hands with my place".

Good luck.. let's hope it sells quick for you!

Brissiemum2 said...

Wow. I love the look. It's just like a make-over really....somebody should do a tv show about them! ;)