Atlanta Georgia Home Staging

Tips on How to Showcase The Features of Your Home - Dining Room

As an Atlanta Home Stager, I've had the good fortune of helping hundreds of homeowners with preparing their home for the market. Throughout the years, it's become apparent that one of the biggest challenges homeowners face is understanding how to "showcase the features" of their home.

In the first of the series, (yes, you need to subscribe to my blog so as not to miss one) I'm going to share with you some techniques on how to showcase the features of a dining room.  Upcoming posts will feature master bedrooms, master bathrooms, kitchens and then last but not least, kitchens (one of my most favorites rooms to home stage).

Let's get started.

Here's a dining room before being home staged.  As you can see. it's a lovely room. It's also a lovely home, in a lovely sub-division. Simply put, it's a beautiful room with beautiful features. However, the one main feature, which is the light fixture, is lost.  

Before picture:

Now here's the after picture:

How to showcase the features of your dining room:

• Determine the features you want highlighted. In the case of this home, I wanted the chandelier to be the highlight of the room. By replacing the art to the left and right of the chandelier, and removing the one piece of art that was directly behind it, your eye is now instantly drawn to the centerpiece of the room, the chandelier.
• Minimize. As you can see, there are a number of different items we removed - wine rack, table cloth, artwork and place setting. The result - a simplified and uncomplicated look that lets the room breathe.
• Choose the right accessories. With the determination made on the features of the room we wanted highlighted, we chose to minimize the accessories we used.  As you can see, we have only three accessories in the room - a centerpiece and two pieces of art. The "less is more" works well for most rooms.

Note: One of the reasons we changed the table from a light wood to this darker set is that it help compliment the style of the home. At the same time, it also matched better with the wrought iron in the chandelier, making it a win-win for the room. Now let me be the first to add that it's not necessary to change your furniture. 

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A Real Estate Staging Association Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year 2010, Kathy Nielsen understands  what it takes to help sell homes quickly. Considered an expert within the home staging industry, and having years of experience, Kathy makes the perfect choice for preparing your home for the market in the Atlanta area.

Website:  Home Staging Atlanta

Before and After Pictures: Atlanta Home Staging Portfolio:

Email:  Kathy@HomeStagingAtlanta.com 

    

 

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Tips on Making Small Spaces Appear Bigger

The other day, while watching HGTV, they ran a commercial called Smart Tips by Christopher Lowell (sponsored by KMart). This particular tip was so useful that I took the steps to rewind and captured every word spoken.

Before sharing his tip on making small spaces appear bigger, I just have to say that he is (and has been) one of my most favorite interior decorators. When he had his show called Christopher Lowell, I tried to watch every episode. If he came on and I happened to be out of the room, my husband would call out "your boyfriend is on", at which point I would come running.

Direct from Christopher Lowell:

"Did you know that small things in small places actually make a room look smaller. It tends to amplify the very thing you're trying to disguise.

Two things can help.

Contrary to popular belief deep rich wall color can make small rooms look bigger vs. plain white walls which actually emphasizes the size.

The human body only needs 18 to 20 " to comfortable navigate around furniture.  When in doubt, go bigger in size.  A few over scale pieces in small spaces vs. tiny stuff will actually make the room look bigger as the eye will always go to the furnishings.

Thanks to Christopher Lowell and to KMart for sharing these tips with us.

A message to home sellers - when selling your home, consider implementing these tips. If in doubt, a professional home stager can help tremendously.

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A Real Estate Staging Association Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year 2010, Kathy Nielsen understands  what it takes to help sell homes quickly. Considered an expert within the home staging industry, and having years of experience, Kathy makes the perfect choice for preparing your home for the market in the Atlanta area.

Website:  Home Staging Atlanta

Before and After Pictures: Atlanta Home Staging Portfolio:

Email:  Kathy@HomeStagingAtlanta.com 

    

 

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It's likely that most sellers know of the importance of the three C's (clutter, clean and curb appeal) when preparing their home for the market.  These three things will always play an important role when it comes to getting a house show-ready.

However, there are three R's (re-arrange, resist and refresh) that you can help take your efforts a notch up and truly help set your home apart from the others on the market.

As a professional home stager in Atlanta, here are a few things I share with my occupied homeowners I work with:

• Rearrange - Showcase the features as well as the "real estate" the room has to offer. Arrange the furniture so that it helps draw the buyers eye to the features. When rearranging, consider what pieces could either be removed entirely or moved so that it creates more visual real estate.

• Resist - Resist the urge to show-off the collectibles. When selling a home, it's not about the treasures you've collected. In fact, leaving collectibles can actually be a distraction.

• Refresh - Minor changes with big rewards. Here are a few: change the knobs in the kitchen; change the faucets in the bathroom, recaulk around the bathtubs and change out the toilet seat.

The biggest challenge most homeowners have to contend with is figuring out how best to re-arrange the furniture. My advice, try a bunch of different scenarios, but keep in mind that you want to open up as much space as possible without looking too minimal.

If you need the advice of a professional home staging company in Atlanta, feel free to contact us to arrange an appointment.

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A Real Estate Staging Association Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year 2010, Kathy Nielsen understands  what it takes to help sell homes quickly. Considered an expert within the home staging industry, and having years of experience, Kathy makes the perfect choice for preparing your home for the market in the Atlanta area.

Website:  Home Staging Atlanta

Before and After Pictures: Atlanta Home Staging Portfolio:

Email:  Kathy@HomeStagingAtlanta.com 

    

 

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Cheap and Easy Tips To Showcase Your Kitchen -  Brought to you by your friendly Atlanta Home Stager!

How important is the kitchen when selling your home? Ask any buyer and you're bound to hear that the kitchen is one of the most important rooms. Why? Buyers know that they will be spending a considerable amount of time in the kitchen; whether it's cooking the meals or entertaining, the kitchen will no doubt get a lot of activity.

The good news is that there are some very affordable to no-cost solutions that any seller can implement.

Tip #1: If you don't use it, lose it.  Counter top space is important to a buyer. As a result, you want to create as much 'visual real estate' as possible.  An easy solution is to remove those items that are NOT used on a daily basis.  Mixers are a great example.

Tip #2: Add some light.  

Well sure, you could add a lamp shade to your head but... not quite sure how effective that will be. Instead, try placing a small lamp to your counter top as it will help warm up the space.

  Tip #3:  Clean. And then clean some more.

  It's simply amazing how a little cleaning can go such a long way. Not only will the kitchen shine

  it will smell clean as well.  Yup, another simple tasks that anyone can implement.

  P.S. Those are scouring pads and not pieces of coal. Just sayin (smile).

Tip #4: Organize your cupboards. Trust me, buyers will be opening your cupboards and with reason.  A neat and organized cabinet will allow the prospective buyers to see how much space they'll have.

Tip #5: Give your cabinets an instant facelift with new knobs and drawer pulls. You're going to be amazed at how big a transformation this will have on your kitchen.  Now... do yourself a favor and shop around for the best price. Check the internet, flyers, etc... to find any sales.

If you missed my previous post on How to Showcase Your Bathroom for Less than $100.00 just click on that link and you'll be taken directly there.

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A Real Estate Staging Association Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year 2010, Kathy Nielsen understands  what it takes to help sell homes quickly. Considered an expert within the home staging industry, and having years of experience, Kathy makes the perfect choice for preparing your home for the market in the Atlanta area.

Website:  Home Staging Atlanta

Before and After Pictures: Atlanta Home Staging Portfolio:

Email:  Kathy@HomeStagingAtlanta.com 

    

 

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How to Transform a House into a Home

Back in January, I had an opportunity to partner with an investor.  Little did I know at the time, I was one of 5 stagers being interviewed. This investor was looking for a partner; someone that he could seek additional insight into the changes he should make to each of his flips.  Although he was a prospect, I willingly gave him advice as to what changes would provide the biggest return. In other words (and these are his words, not mine), I treated him as a customer before he even signed on the dotted line.  The end result - I secured his business.  

In March he called me in again on a new home he had just purchased in Kennesaw, Georgia. By the way, the first home we did together sold in 6 days. As for the home in Kennesaw -  it was another investment property and the house needed some work.  Here's what I had the pleasure of helping him with:

• Color of the hardwood flooring
• Color for the walls throughout the home
• Selection of the countertop for the kitchen
• Color of the exterior of the home (including shutters)

Here is the before & after picture of the kitchen.  

Here is the living room (before & after):

Transforming a house into a home can be easily accomplished with a well thought out plan.  Here are some suggestions:

• Flooring - Consider using hardwood flooring when possible as it can add instant warmth. 
• Wall color - Don't go white as it can be too stark.  Instead, choose a color that has a beige tint.
• Countertops - Based on the wall color, you've got a perfect opportunity to add more warmth by selecting a pattern with some earth tones.  In this case, we made the decision to keep the existing cupboards, matched up the hardwood and chose a countertop that would compliment both.

Georgia Interior Solutions (GIS), LLC is Atlanta Georgia's Premier Home Staging Provider.  Owner and Real Estate Staging Expert, Kathy Nielsen has appeared on the pages of Atlanta Magazine, Atlanta Home Improvement; Atlanta Business Chronicle and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.  You can also see one of her staged homes on HGTV's hit show Sleep On It.

With their extensive home staging portfolio, you'll quickly learn that they have the experience and knowledge on what it takes to make your home and/or listing appeal to the prospective buyers.  Contact them today for your free no-obligation appointment:  678 522 8392

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A Real Estate Staging Association Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year 2010, Kathy Nielsen understands  what it takes to help sell homes quickly. Considered an expert within the home staging industry, and having years of experience, Kathy makes the perfect choice for preparing your home for the market in the Atlanta area.

Website:  Home Staging Atlanta

Before and After Pictures: Atlanta Home Staging Portfolio:

Email:  Kathy@HomeStagingAtlanta.com 

    

 

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