Tag Archives: Home Staging St Paul MN

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.

 

 

What is LVT/LVP? You will want to know!

If you are building or remodeling a home, there is a chance that you may have come across these abbreviated letters. But many of my clients just starting the process get a blank look when I say “Have you considered LVT?”

LVT stands for Luxury Vinyl Tile. When I mention the word vinyl I sometimes see a horrified look on my client’s faces with flash backs to the large linoleum rolls of flooring from the 60s. That is NOT what I am talking about. 

Many times LVT is used as a catch all for all vinyl flooring but there is a difference based on style.

Luxury Vinyl (LV) comes in many styles and colors. It comes in long planks (LVP –Luxury Vinyl Planks) of different widths for the appearance of real wood. It also comes in 12″x24″ rectangles for the appearance of ceramic tiles (LVT). These rectangles can be grouted for an even more realistic tile look. You can even find luxury vinyl that looks likes stone.

 

 

 

Luxury Vinyl continues to improve and many times I have to get down to feel the flooring to determine if it is ceramic tile, hardward, or Luxury Vinyl. Of course real hardwood and real tile will add more value to your home but many times these products are not the best choices.

Vinyl plank flooring is the perfect flooring solution for busy households, basements, bathrooms, and even kitchens. It has the natural, stunning look of wood, without the risk of water damage because it is waterproof! I installed LVP in my laundry room and I LOVE IT!

 

 

It not only looks like rustic wood, my wash machine could flood and the flooring could sit in water for days and not be harmed.

 

 

AND is is super easy maintenance in a room that is high traffic for St Bernards. 🙂   

 

 

Please do your homework. Some vinyl sheets or planks are only water resistant….not waterproof. Many of the peel and stick variety you find in the big box stores are only water resistant.

A FABULOUS article about Luxury Vinyl from one of the best flooring experts in the Country is The Flooring Girl’s Blog Post. Check it out!

I installed LVT in my guest bath. I chose not to grout it as I didn’t want the maintenance of scrubbing and keeping grout clean. The best thing about LVT is the low maintenance so why complicate it?

 

 

 

LV is made in layers with it’s primary component being PVC vinyl. This makes it makes stable and flexible. Luxury wood vinyl planks also, unlike hardwood, have an extremely hard, durable wear layer. Created under great heat and pressure, the many layers of luxury vinyl tile make it extremely durable and stable. Luxury vinyl tile is extremely durable and stable, with little to no upkeep.

Vinyl flooring typically lasts anywhere from 10 to 20 years, and thus isn’t considered quite as durable as linoleum. But who wouldn’t replace their flooring after 10-20 years anyway? The styles will be totally different.

So if you are remodeling, building or updating your home for selliing, it is worth your time to discuss LVT/LVP with your flooring specialist to see if it is right for you.