One Year, 5000 Visitors and Still Going Strong – Thank You!

We started the “to be continued” blog on February 28, 2011 with a mission to inform and educate progressive realtors and savvy sellers about the value and benefits of home staging.  This week, we passed the 5000 page view mark with 141 posts. 

Thank you so much for your interest, support and business.

Since we started this little adventure in blogging, we’ve shared conversations we’ve had; ideas we’ve shared; and, projects we’ve worked with proactive Realtors and savvy sellers. 

We’ve even gone international with visitors from the US and 9 other countries.  In fact, we have regular visitors from Russia and the UK and we would love to hear from them via a blog comment or email. 

For that matter, we would love to hear from any and all.  Let us know what you like, don’t like and what you want to see more of in the future.

In addition to the “to be continued” readers, we also pick up about 60 visits each month to our Transitions website (http://transitions-home-staging.com ) which features lots and lots of examples of the more than 400 houses we’ve staged.

In honor of this latest milestone, we are providing a list of “oldies but goodies” blog posts from the past year.  For our newer followers, this list gives you a guide to a representative sample of “blog conversations” about home staging.  For our faithful followers, you may remember an idea or use a catchphrase from one of these “oldie but goodies”. 

Whatever your motivation, read a few and enjoy!!

March 4, 2011 - Dates, Job Interviews, or Selling Your House – Is There Any Difference?

March 7, 2011 – When It Has a For Sale Sign in Front, Your House Is No Longer Your Home

April 12, 2011 - Anatomy of a Successful Home Seller

May 2, 2011 - Remarkable Is the New Business as Usual

May 25, 2011 - For Realtors’ Only - Benefits of Professional Home Staging

July 5, 2011 – Professional Home Staging as a Standard

August 10, 2011 – People Buy the Dream and They Buy Value

September 26, 2011 – Mid Town Gem

October 3, 2100 – What a Kitchen

October 16, 2011 – Make It Look like a Million Dollars

November 3, 2011 - The One That Finally Stumps Me

February 23, 2012 – Cherished by Two Generations

February 28, 2012 – One More “Show Ready” House

March 1, 2012 – Marriage of Home Staging and New Construction with a “Midtown Feel”

Dwell in possibilities but make sure to have fun in the process!

Cindy

Show Ready, Staged Houses Sell Quickly

There are moments in life when something seems so obvious, so real that it is tough when others don’t realize the obvious and real.  In real estate, it so obvious and so real that show ready houses sell quickly. 

If you follow ”to be continued” regularly, you know that we recently featured a number of show ready houses that sold quickly such as the following:

·         February 28^th - One More Show Ready House -- One More Quick Sale!!

·         March 1^st - Marriage of Home Staging and New Construction with a “Midtown Feel”

·         March 6^th - Falling in Love Again

Why do show ready, staged houses sell quickly!! 

First, the show ready house sellers smartly select Realtors with a track record of success and most importantly, they listen to their Realtors. 

Successful Realtors tell the sellers what they need to do with their property if they want the house to sell.  Successful Realtors candidly assess the strengths and weaknesses of the house and share that assessment with the seller.  Successful Realtors have a plan for highlighting the strengths and another for addressing the weaknesses.  They do not “sugar coat” to keep that listing.

Second, the show ready house sellers invest in simple but effective upgrades and improvements based on their Realtors assessment and correction plan.  They paint.  They remove dated wallpaper.  They replace light fixtures.  They replace or professionally clean their carpeting.  In short, they work hard to make sure that their house is show ready from the first day it is on the market.

Third, the show ready sellers invest in professional home staging.  It is the finishing touch ensuring that the home is exceptionally show ready. 

Home staging paints a picture for the buyer about what life could be like in this house.  Home staging makes sense of the house and its functions.  It teaches buyers how to live in this house.  Home staging helps buyers imagine living their best selves living in this house. 

And when they are so inspired, these buyers are more likely to find the possibilities in this house and make an offer quickly.

 

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

Staging Magic in Maple Ridge – From “Bug-a-Boo” to British Colonial

Sometimes I am asked as a professional stager to make sense of a space.  This is usually the result of potential buyer’s asking “What would I do with this room?”

This is exactly what happened when I opened an email from a Realtor enlisting my help with a new listing in the historic Maple Ridge neighborhood in Tulsa, OK.  According to this Realtor, the home had a unique back room that he thought I could do something with.  As you can see in the “before” pictures, the room had multiple angles that made its function unclear.  In his words, the room was a real “bug-a-boo.”   

This room was a large windowed space that had been added on as a sort of pool room/sun room.  This creative Realtor had a vision to step it up to a more updated and sophisticated space worthy of 2012 entertaining.  His vision involved enclosing the angled areas to include a media viewing area (the angled areas became the closet housing the media equipment).  Our first meeting in the space included the contractor who suggested a bar area at the west end of the space.  Where there was previously a pool table, I saw a conversational area.

As you can see from the “after” pictures we created an atmosphere of gracious and carefree entertaining.  I wanted to give the room a fresh look that would be true to the age of the house.  The British Colonial style felt very natural in a home that was probably built in the early 1900s.  You can find more photos of this home on our website at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/18th-Street---Tulsa.html

And so I put my staging magic to work to create this fresh look with a feel from another place and time. 

Using furniture and accessories, this large area of questionable intent became three obvious entertainment spaces.  The pub table and shelving are surrounded by windows and overlook the beautiful yard and pool.  The streamlined sectional and large ottoman are centered in front of the large flat screen television (equipment out of sight and in the media closet).  The three sea grass wingback chairs form a conversational circle with a metal table to hold drinks and refreshments.

What was once a space that created more questions than answers and did not live up to the elegance, charm and historical significance of the rest of the house became one of the best features of this fabulous house.  We went from “bug-a-boo” to British Colonial.

This Maple Ridge home is located at 1201 E. 18^th Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma and listed by John Sawyer (Sawyer Wallace Home Collection- Chinowth & Cohen (http://www.cctulsa.com/getagent/show.php?uname=jsawyer )

The before and after pictures demonstrate what a visionary Realtor, a professional home stager and a talented contractor can do in a very short period of time for an open-minded and trusting homeowner!  With that combination, the possibilities are endless.

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

P.S.  This staging project was so much fun and so successful, the homeowner and Realtor decided to keep going and  I was hired to stage the entry and formal living room.  So, literally this blog post is “to be continued”.

Falling in Love Again

One of the tough truisms of real estate is that when a house goes on the market for sale, it is no longer the owner’s source of pride.  It has become a product for sale that needs to appeal to as many buyers as possible.  For many sellers, this truth can be very emotional and difficult to accept. 

Today, we share the exception to that rule – a seller delighted by the transformation of her home by professional home staging!  Expecting the weird feeling of walking into what felt like someone else’s house, this seller fell in love again with everything.

I am delighted to share this testimonial from my staging project at 12124 Birch in Jenks, Oklahoma.  This house is listed by Carrie DeWeese,Chinowth and Cohen,  (http://www.tulsagreenrealtor.com )

"I thought it would be weird to walk in and the home would not look like 'my house'. I thought I would feel like I was a guest in someone else's home. I was so surprised to come home and fall in love with everything! My home was completely transformed and I had no idea that my own things would look better if they were staged properly!"

This testimonial is “music to the ears” of any professional home stager. 

While our objective to stage it to appeal to as many buyers as possible, it is always quite gratifying to have the house appeal to the home seller and Realtor partner.  It is even better to have the staged house delight the seller and Realtor. 

I often “over-deliver” in my staging because I want to delight my clients and help them sell their house quickly and for the best price possible.

As you can see from the accompanying photos, I was working with a house full of great possibilities.  You can find more photos of the Birch Avenue staging project on our website http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Birch---Jenks.html.

 

Remember to dwell in possibilities

 

Cindy

Marriage of Home Staging and New Construction with a “Midtown Feel”

This staging project located at 12702 S. 2^nd Street in Jenks, Oklahoma was a match made in heaven.  This stunning new construction by Brian D. Wiggs (http://www.briandwiggs.com ) created a “Midtown Feel” with its design, fixtures and features and special touches.  When we added the magic of professional home staging, we delivered tremendous results – staged on Friday, under contract that weekend!!!

Today, I am going to focus our attention on the kitchen and the bathrooms and discuss and show how we staged these spaces for maximum effect.

Kitchen - I believe that a kitchen closes the deal on a house.  If the kitchen is remarkable then the house has been sold emotionally – and I was working with a very remarkable kitchen.  Thanks to the granite, sleek glass backsplash, white cabinetry, and stainless fixtures (see the Before photo), I was simply adding jewelry to a red carpet gown. 

My “staging jewelry” included; a black and white place setting for two complete with two black saddle style barstools, clear glass canisters and utensil holder (of course filled with black utensils) various other glass, stainless and white porcelain “expected” kitchen accoutrements and a whimsical tray holding a black bird and feather filled white porcelain milk bottle.  I wanted buyers to imagine their family and their best selves in the kitchen enjoying life and each other.  My goal was to feed the buyer’s imagination with the ideas of the possibilities to be found in that kitchen. 

It is easy to see why the kitchen can be the deal closer or deal breaker.  It is the space where the family gathers most often.  The kitchen is more than a place to cook meals.  It is where families plan their day over morning coffee and share their day over dinner.  It is the place where great parties begin and end.  If buyers imagine these possibilities in this kitchen, it can be the deal closer

You can find more photos of the 2^nd Street Kitchen on our Transitions website at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/2nd-Street---Jenks.html

Bathrooms – the bathrooms in this house screamed modern and sophisticated so I staged them accordingly.  The black painted cabinetry of the Master Bathroom is accented with black and white bath linens, geometric art and a wispy floral arrangement.  I used a slightly different approach with one of the second floor bathrooms by accenting a gray and white shower curtain and bath linens with pops of yellow in the artwork and a bouquet of poppies.  The result is comforting and”cool”.  

You can find more photos of the 2^nd Street bathrooms on our Transitions website at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/2nd-Street---Jenks-2.html .  They are worth a second look!

Anything is possible when you start with a stunning house full of great features and polish it off with professional staging.  In this example, a quick sale went from possibility to reality.

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy