Beautifully Pressed Bedding

While not inexpensive, I have invested in a rotary iron to iron bedding for my staging projects.  It is a huge time saver and the bedding looks professionally dry-cleaned each time.  I hang it on hangers for transporting and it is much faster than using a steamer on site.

Making Rooms Look Larger

In an effort to make secondary bedrooms appear larger, I have done the following in advance of listing a home:

• removing the top bunk from a bunk bed to allow buyer’s eyes to scan the room unobstructed.
• adjusted a bed frame to a smaller size, and cut a “foamie” to the new size. When dressed with an abundance of pillows, the bed appeared to be a queen size, making the room seem larger.

Lights

No matter what time of day your home is being shown always have all lights on, along with soft music playing in the background, it helps the client relax and enjoy the showing. It also helps the agent, she/he does not have to go looking for switches.

Beds

Hospital corners are a great way to make a space look professional. They are a simple way to fold the corners on a bed to be sure it looks neat and tidy. When homeowners are packing up, bedding might not be 1st priority in a spare bedroom. In this case you really only need sheets and possibly a throw blanket to add a little life and colour in the room.

It’s the small touches like this that make our clients hire us as opposed to doing it themselves.

Taking home the trees

Transporting plants to and from your staging location can be a tricky job. Leaves get damaged easily or get lost even in the process.

I always wrap my plants in cling wrap, top to bottom. This way the plants do not get damaged during transportation and will be easy to store. Taking the plants to another house with your next job will be easy!

Details

Don’t overlook even the smallest details when staging a property.  Hide those extension cords and lamp cords.  Nothing looks worse than to see an cord sailing through the air and plugged into an outlet.  Another trick is to tape the cords to the back of a console beforer plugging into the outlet.

Master Bedroom

An easy way to make a big impact in a master bedroom is with a platform bed frame. You take an airbed mattress with you. The bed is easy to assemble and disassemble and you need minimal linens, just wrap the mattress with a blanket and add beautiful pillows. See www.styleinform.com  “Sloan bed” for a linen bed.

Owner-occupied

This staging tip relates to staging homes which are owner-occupied during the staging process: I believe it is important to talk to the homeowners before the staging process begins to ensure that they are prepared for the changes in their home. Even though they obviously don’t plan on living in a staged home for long, some people are really attached to their stuff, and may need some time to envision what the staged home will look like. They need to accept the concept of what the staged home will look like, before you start staging. This way, you’re not dealing with a traumatized clutter-keeper or a shocked family-photo-collector when the staging is complete.

A few tips

• Use a liquid that if you cut something, you can seal the ends of the fabric without sewing it. (Friz )
• Fold towels in linen closets in thirds.
• Club soda gets stains out like blood.
• Use straight pins or masking tape to hem curtains quickly.
• Make sure you follow through on a project.
• Return calls quickly
• Magic markers or furniture markers are good for touch ups.

Curtains

Staging Tip – Curtains are an easy way to make any room look warm, lux and complete. Buyers like to know that they can move into a room without having to worry about privacy right away. They are cost effective and available anywhere. You could also use matching throw cushions easily.

Reusing

I believe the reusing and repurposing items is a great way to add some unique touches and preserve our environment. Frequently garage sales and thrift shops allow me to find inexpensive, one of a kind items without doing much damage to the budget. Big ticket items i.e. couch, table, bed etc. are easy but sometimes all it takes is that special item to make it pop. I also bought some pictures to show.

Create work row chart

If taking on the step 2 “Do the work and a number of trades must be brought into property in time” sensitive scenario, recommend you:

Create work row chart identifying each trade, time/dates on site, nature of work. Share out with all trades to identify any workflow issues and reinforce importance of their timeliness to other trades.

Views

Never leave the toilet seat up and the door open. Make sure any odors from pet, food, garbage bins are eliminated before a potential client views.

Details

1. Pay attention to the details – updated light switch plates, outlet covers and door hinges full of paint.A buyer won’t necessarily notice then when replaced, but surely will if not.
2. Fresh flowers in the dining room, bathroom, entrance.
3. Clean, clean, clean.

Light

Open drapes/curtains, allowing more natural light into the room and there by making the room appears brighter and larger.