Home Staging Consult
SUMMARY
This large modern home was in a beautiful area of east Mississauga that was in high demand. The owners had meticulously maintained and upgraded the home wherever they could. It was a beautiful canvas for staging and we knew we could excite and attract the most discerning of buyers.
OUR SERVICES
When I first saw this home, and how it was cared for, I knew these would be great clients to work with. They had a high attention to detail and valued quality results. They were well situated for a successful sale, as potential buyers in the area also expected high quality finishes and a move in ready home.
Our client had read over our website and chose The Village Guru because we offer higher quality services than other options in the marketplace. The owner was willing to do whatever necessary to prepare the home properly, and this is music to our ears, because we always have great success when we are able to work collaboratively with the owners.
The owner was very analytical and valued the numbers and statistics. We reviewed past sales in the area, what the homes looked like and evaluated the correlation between presentation and sales price.
In a community where all of the units are new, they can all look almost identical, which can make it hard to stand out. It was important to build on the neutral foundation to set this home apart from the rest.
“A Beautiful Neutral Pallette” is how our Home Stager, Stephanie, described the home. “I can literally use any colour I want in this home, which is the flexibility buyers are looking for.”
Together we made a plan that everyone was happy with, and we executed as a team. The owners were exited to be a part of the process and contribute towards the final success.
The Plan
Stephanie, our Home Stager, met with the owners at the property to see what needed to be done to highlight good features and downplay any negatives. There were many attractive features to work with and bring to the buyer’s attention.
As you can see from the pictures below, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the home itself. It simply needed a little colour and styling to elicit a positive emotional reaction from buyers.
Furniture
Even though the plan for this home was fairly simple on paper, it was very labour intensive. We brought in a lot of furniture to update the look of this house, and often we need to hire a mover to deliver our furniture and props to the home. There’s a lot of lugging and hauling, packing and unpacking. It’s too easy to use the word “staging”, but it can have a lot of different meanings. Is it just a consult? Or is it full service? You have to ask to be sure. With the Village Guru, we offer all levels of staging, and there’s a lot of experience, planning and labour that goes into achieving the best results.
In this home, we brought in all of the furniture for the living room except the coffee table that was very neutral and heavy, so we decided we would work with it. In the dining room, we brought in new chairs to update their large round table that was the perfect shape for the space. For the back patio, we brought in a simple bistro set and potted flowers. Especially when listing a home in the warm weather, it’s ideal to stage the outdoor living areas as well, to maximize every square foot of usable living space.
Colour Flow
As simple as it sounds, one of the most impactful things we did was to add colour. A neutral backdrop is excellent for selling a home, but you can’t stop there. Listing photos that are monochromatic and missing any focal points fail to attract buyers and create a positive reaction.
There are benefits to colour when buyers are also in the home viewing the property. Buyers are making a quick first impression, and colour enables them to quickly notice all the best features of the home, and often, keeps their eye away from anything that’s not as appealing. Colour tells people where to look and what to pay attention to, and so the strategic use of colour is one of our best techniques when staging homes.
We often use blue and green whenever we can, because these colours look great with any shade of wood and also provide energy and contrast to neutral schemes. As you look through our portfolio, you will see repetition of schemes, ensembles, vignettes and colours. One reason for this is simply that we don’t carry the storage space for more that 3 houses worth of furniture, and we don’t need more stock because it’s never the same buyer reviewing any of our listings. But more importantly, we use these themes because they just work. Time and time again, we get superior sales results.
Accessories & Art
Stephanie loves this part of the job; to add in those pops of colour, interesting items, and create vignettes for the buyer to appreciate. If you think about any major company trying to sell anything, think of the investment they have made to ensure their product is attractive to their target buyer. Research, trials, testing, marketing, package design; this is all par for the course when selling. Marketing your house is much in the process. The more time and effort spent to make sure every last detail interests and impresses the buyer, the more demand you are going to create and thus, achieve a better sale.
Before & After
Let’s take a closer look at some of the rooms’ before and after photos, so that you can see the effects of some well executed staging plans. To us, staging is never about overhauling your style or your home, it’s about many small tweaks that build high impact first impressions. We have worked with every style, from modern, traditional, eclectic, country, and so on. We are not here to change you or your home. Staging is simply about making your home cause a positive emotional reaction with buyers.
Credit must also be given to our professional photographers. The before photos were taken with a high quality iphone, but you can see that light and shadows still effect the colour, and it cannot capture a wide angle of the rooms. To us, professional photography is a must. How do you want your home presented when selling?
