Tag Archives: Home Staging St Paul MN

April Showers Bring Staging Flowers!

It’s almost May here in Minnesota, and that means we are crossing our fingers and toes hoping that spring, and the beauty it brings, will be arriving soon! There is nothing better than the blooms of a magnolia tree, the bright colors of tulips and daffodils emerging once again, or the sweet smell of lilacs in the breeze. Close your eyes: imagine the scent, the joy, the warmth a fresh bouquet of flowers brings!

When staging a home, or during a staging consult, we suggest using plants and flowers to bring additional color and life to a home. It is a simple, lower cost way to add color, texture and freshness to a home.  Consider these basic methods for sourcing and displaying greenery in your home.

Trader Joe’s is A Home Revival staff favorite for sourcing fresh flowers and house plants. They have a variety of sizes and styles of plants and flowers, and tend to have a reasonable price point! A few ideas for Trader Joe’s greens:

  • Grab some baby blue eucalyptus and baby’s breath, toss them in a simple, neutral vase, and you have yourself a centerpiece that will last for weeks! Center it on the dining table, an entryway credenza, or on the dresser of the primary bedroom.
  • Take home a few succulents to stage bathrooms. Set small succulents in the corner of the vanity along with a candle or soap pump for a fresh, spa-like effect!

Treat Yourself to Fresh Flowers - The Purple Hydrangea

The Purple Hydrangea

  • Toss a mixed bouquet of bright, fresh flowers in your cart and use as a focal point in the kitchen or dining room during your home photo session! A fresh bouquet is also a nice touch for showings, but should be replaced when blooms begin to wilt. Bonus? They smell great without the overpowering effects of fresheners and spray (which we do not recommend using for showings).
  • Use a variety of house plants on coffee tables, nightstands, sunrooms, etc. to add interest and livability to the home. Plants tend to reduce stress and increase creativity, just what a potential homebuyer needs to envision their new life in your property!

Maybe you’re not into live plants, I get it! For vacant staging, we use artificial plants and stems for the sake of maintenance and longevity. A few favorite spots for faux plants:

Ikea – low price point, good variety of plants and stems, and cute pots and baskets to boot!

FEJKA Artificial potted plant, indoor/outdoor/lavender lilac, 4 ¾ "

World Market – great for artificial trees and larger house plants.

Target – wide variety of styles and price points available.

Medium Ribbon Fern Leaf in Pot - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 2 of 10 slides

Nearly Natural – an online retailer that has mastered the art of the faux plant. At a higher price point, this is a great option for investing in faux greenery you can incorporate into the design of your new home.

spring captions when in doubt add flowers

Good Housekeeping

When deciding whether or not to incorporate greenery in your staging design, just remember, plants are lean, mean, selling machines! They are one of the simplest, low cost ways to freshen and brighten a space. Not up for the effort of purchasing and placing plants? No problem! You can always reach out to us to do the heavy lifting with an occupied or vacant stage of your home.

 

Guest Blogger: Katya Larsen, Stager, A Home Revival

 

The Top 3 Staging Items to Purchase

Most people associate Home Staging with the dreaded ‘D’ word. Declutter! They think that a Home Stager will come in and tell them what they need to take out and remove.

That is part of it but most of my home staging consultations also include tips for the homeowner of items to purchase to make the home shine a little brighter. There are three top items I seem to always be recommending. These three things are not updates to the house or upgrades. They are items that you can take with you when the home sells.

1. New Towels

New towels are the best way to freshen up a bathroom. You know when you  buy them and they are all soft and fluffy before you wash them a few times? That’s what you want hanging on your towel bars.

 

 

They will become your ‘pretend’ towels that will only be hung for photos and for showings. Don’t wash them and don’t use them until your house sells. Then pack them up and take them to your new house because who can’t use new towels!

 

2. Lamps

No one likes a dark house. Even if your home has a ton of natural light or many recessed lights, table lamps on end tables and nightstands warm up the space and makes it feel more cozy.

 

 

Be sure to turn on all your lights whenever possible when you have showings, even if it is a bright sunny day. And again….you get to take them with you when you move!

 

3. Throw Pillows

Most sofas are a neutral color like brown or tan. These aren’t colors that photograph into a great statement for your MLS photos. By adding throw pillows you add color, pattern and texture to a room. It’s also a perfect way to make a tired looking sofa look more alive!

 

 

This applies to beds as well. A bed shouldn’t be just a comforter or bedspread with bed pillows. It too needs some interest and throw pillows are an inexpensive way to do so. This is most important in the Master Bedroom. A queen size bed should have three pillows (two matching and one accent in front) and a King bed may need as many as five but it does depend on the size of the pillows used.

 

 

Take a look around your home and see if these three things may help to make your home show better to both the camera and the buyers walking in your door. A professional Home Stager will be able to give you specific guidance as to color, lamp size and the number needed.

And remember……these items are not a sunk cost as you get to take them with you to use in your new house!

Selling Your Home When You Have Kids – Home Staging Minneapolis

Selling your home is not easy nor convenient. When you have children it is even more challenging and much more inconvenient.

A common theme I run into on most Home Staging Consultations is toys. It seems as though young kids just have a lot of them. I’m sure it is all because of Grandma and Grandpa. 🙂   

Many parents struggle as to what to do with all the toys that are in the living room, the dining room, their bedrooms, the family room, the bath tub and just about everywhere else.

Here are my recommendations:

Toys Are Not the First Thing the Buyer Should See When They Walk In The Door

In other words, whatever rooms you can see as you enter should be toy free zones. So if those rooms for you are say the foyer, living room and dining room, those should not have any toys in them. I am not saying toys are bad but they just need to be contained and the home itself should be the first thing the buyer sees.

The Best Place for Toys Are the Kid’s Bedrooms:

The kids bedrooms are the perfect place for toys. It’s a kid’s room after all and it is totally fine to find toys there. The toys should be neatly arranged on shelves, toy chests or neatly against a wall. Not in disarray around the room.

One End of a Family Room Is Another Great Place for a Toy Area:

If you have a large or long family room, designating one end of the room for a toy area works well. You could have the play kitchen, stove and refrigerator along one wall with the small table and chairs ready for tea in the middle. Whatever it is, again it should be neat, tidy and orderly.

A Toy Designated Toy Room is Fabulous:

If you have an extra bedroom not being used or a non-conforming bedroom, it is totally fine to have this room as a designated toy room for all the toys. But remember rule #1 still applies……it cannot be a room the buyer sees right when they walk into the home. In this room you could have the legos table with legos on it, the coloring table or whatever it is your kids like to play with the most. The rule however is no chaos. Still have the room neat, tidy and orderly so the buyer can walk through the room and isn’t overwhelmed with all the things. 

 

What To Do With All the Other Toys:

Many homes I walk into are filled with toys and they won’t fit neatly into a child’s bedroom and one end of a family room. Many sellers wonder what they will do with the rest of the toys and here is my recommendation.  Most children don’t play with every toy every day. In fact there are probably many of the toys that they haven’t played with for a while.

First pack up or donate all the toys that they have outgrown or just don’t play with anymore. If the remaining toys are still too plentiful to fit neatly in the 2 designated areas then I recommend buying bins with lids and having your child pick 2 bins of toys that will stay at their home today. The toys that are not selected are packed into remaining bins. Place these bins in storage or a storage area of your home if you have one.

Tell your children that in two weeks (or one week or three weeks, whatever you agree to) that the two bins that are staying in the house will be packed away and two new bins of toys brought out. I find that the children get excited about the two bins that will come next week and when they open them up the toys are new and fabulous again.

Rotate the bins as often as you need but hopefully by having your home in top selling condition and show ready it will sell quickly and all the toys can come back out. Or leave them in the bins as they are all ready packed to go to the new house!

Another incentive for your children in packing away their toys is that any toys left out will probably be played with by children visiting with their parents to look at the home. If your kids don’t want certain toys played with by others, it will make their decision process easier.

If you are struggling to get your home ready for sale and need advice, call a Professional Home Stager for assistance.