STAGING 101

Did you know that you do not have to hire a professional stager? Let Grand Mountain Group come in and stage to help maximize the value of your property. Staging can help your property appeal to more Buyers which will help sell your property quickly and for more money.

We recommend the three C’s of Staging:

• Clean = spotless kitchens, baths, patios, and decks
• Clutter Free = limit the number of personal items creating a show-home look
• Color = warm rooms with color accents if possible

The most important thing you can do to prepare your home for sale is to get rid of clutter and depersonalize. Make a house rule that for every new item that comes in, an old one must leave. One of the major contributors to a cluttered look is having too much furniture. When professional stagers descend on a home being prepped for market, they often whisk away as much as half the owner’s furnishings and the house looks much bigger for it. You don’t have to whittle that drastically but take a hard look at what you have and ask yourself what you can live without.

There’s a common belief that rooms will feel larger and be easier to use if all the furniture is pushed against the walls, but that isn’t the case. Instead, furnish your space by floating furniture away from walls. Reposition sofas and chairs into cozy conversational groups, and place pieces so that the traffic flow in a room is obvious. Not only will this make the space more user-friendly, but it will open the room and make it seem larger.

To make a room appear to be bigger than it is, paint it the same color as the adjacent room. If you have a small kitchen and dining room, a seamless look will make both rooms feel like one big space. And make a sunporch look bigger and more inviting by painting it green to reflect the color of nature.

Another design trick to create the illusion of more space is to paint the walls the same color as your drapery. It will give you a seamless and sophisticated look.

Painting a living room, a fresh neutral color helps tone down any dated finishes in the space. Even if you were weaned on off-white walls, take a chance, and test a quart of paint in a warm, neutral hue. These days, the definition of neutral extends way beyond beige, from warm tans and honey to soft blue greens. As for bold wall colors, they have a way of reducing offers, so go with neutrals in large spaces.

Don’t be afraid to use dark paint in a powder room, dining room or bedroom. A deep tone on the walls can make the space more intimate, dramatic, and cozy. And you don’t have to do a whole room, you can paint just an accent wall to draw attention to a dramatic fireplace or a lovely set of windows. If you have built-in bookcases or niches, experiment with painting the insides a color that will make them pop!

Mixing the right accessories can make a room more inviting. When it comes to eye-pleasing accessorizing, odd numbers are preferable, especially three. Rather than lining up a trio of accessories in a row, imagine a triangle and place one object at each point. Scale is important, too, so in your group of three be sure to vary height and width, with the largest item at the back and the smallest in front. For maximum effect, group accessories by color, shape, texture or some other unifying element, stagers suggest.

If you can’t afford new cabinets, just get new doors and drawer fronts. Then paint everything to match and add new hardware. And instead of replacing the entire dishwasher, you may be able to get a new front panel. Check with the manufacturer to see if replacements are available for your model. If not, laminate paper, which goes on like contact paper, can be used to re-cover the existing panel.

Unfinished projects can scare off potential buyers, so finish them. Missing floorboards and large cracks in the sidewalk on the way to your door tend to be a red flag, for example, and they cost you less to fix than buyers might deduct from the asking price.

Let Grand Mountain Group help get your property ready for sale!