Posted on: August 6, 2007
Make your home sale-ready in a snap
Help potential buyers envision themselves in your home: Beef it up!
By Kit Davey
CTW Features
Before
My clients had shuttled between their condo in Honolulu and their house in California for several years, and they were finding it tiresome and expensive. They had stripped down their California home in anticipation of renting it furnished for a few months while they wintered in Hawaii.
Then I received a long distance call from Honolulu one morning: “Aloha, Kit! We decided to sell our home!” They’d had enough of the stress of managing two properties and wanted to simplify their lives. Fortunately, they picked a great market in which to sell. Houses in their neighborhood were going for more than the asking price, with multiple offers. Carefully staged and prepared homes did better.
One of the homeowners flew back to California and we met to go through the house to come up with a curb-appeal and staging plan. The house needed a few repairs, some yard work, interior painting and accessorizing. Most of the work was straightforward, but I knew that accessorizing would be an adventure, as everything in her home, except the major furnishings, was packed away in the garage.
After
My challenge was to take the house from bare bones to an inviting home that potential buyers could envision themselves living in.
Before
I returned after the painting and yard work was completed to do the final staging. We had the skeleton, but there was no meat on the bones! If we showed the house this way, people would be turned off by its sterile, lonely look. When a house is properly staged, the home has the “Goldilocks look”– everything is “just right”– when it comes to the amount of life, color and personality.
Before
I searched through all the boxes in the garage and found a few accessories to dress the mantel and tables. I prefer not to use mirrors over a fireplace, as they don’t add any color or interest, but I couldn’t find anything large enough to fit the space. A simple solution was to lean a smaller piece in front of the mirror. I sprinkled a few dried pomegranates across the mantel, and added branches to the glass vase for texture. The silk ivy on the bottom of the round table adds another touch of nature. The area with the chair now looks complete with the addition of a lamp, piece of artwork, a throw and pillow.
The house received several offers and sold in a matter of days – for more than the asking price.
Kit Davey, an interior designer based in Redwood City, Calif., helps clients redecorate their homes through the creative use of their existing furnishings. E-mail Kit your questions: kit@ctwfeatures.com