Staging and Design in North Scottsdale

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contemporary-dining-roomWhether you are a homeowner seeking to sell your home, or a homeowner who wants to transform your space, there are some general principles of good design that will maximize your space, no matter your ultimate goal.  For example, the living room or great room is usually a room that most potential buyers will view immediately upon entering your home, and it’s a room that most homeowners enjoy on a daily basis.

First, consider the art of furniture arrangement.  There are a few simple design rules that are easy to remember and follow when it comes to placing furniture.  Always create a comfortable walking space between a sofa and a coffee table, with a minimum of 12 inches but 18 inches is ideal here.  Any furniture in a conversation area should be no more than 8 feet apart.  Appropriate lighting for reading in your seating arrangement is a must.  (This lighting will both brighten and showcase your space for potential buyers, as well as help you to maximize your own enjoyment of this space).  Finally, anchor your conversation area with rugs if you have hardwood or tile floors.

Second, address the arrangement of accessories in your space.  Accessories and artwork are small investments in modernizing your home as these details really count.  If you’re staging your home for sale, keep accessories and art that are universal, and that don’t showcase your personal hobbies or tastes.  If you’re redesigning your home, then be sure to surround yourself with all of the things you love.  Regardless of your motivation, there are some general design rules when it comes to accessories.  Group in odd numbers, preferably with three or five pieces.  Try to group accessories in different heights; for example, use one tall, one small and one medium piece, to create visual interest.  Finally, try to always incorporate a living accessory such as a plant or shell into each room, to infuse life into the room.

Finally, the art of wall arrangement is the last item to consider when it comes to staging or redesign.  Wall art can help to add balance as well as texture or drama to a room.  Wall art can be paintings, mirrors, sconces, shelving, or ironwork.   The right height of this art is critical.  Generally speaking, a center of a painting should be at eye level as you are entering the room.  Also, scale is very important.  For example, hanging any type of art over a couch, the art or grouping should be at least 3 feet across, but ideally is 4 to 5 feet across.  Finally, in the case of groupings of wall art, don’t separate artwork more than 5 inches away from each other.

These are just some starting points of staging and home design, as the possibilities are endless.  When all is said and done, the art of staging a home is similar to the art of redesign in that the goal is to create a home in which someone would aspire to live.  If you will continue to live there, then all the better!

Contact Us to learn more.

Tips on Getting Your Home Ready to Sell

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When conversing with real estate agents, you will often find that when they talk to you about buying real estate, they will refer to your purchase as a “home.” Yet if you are selling property, they will often refer to it as a “house.” There is a reason for this. Buying real estate is often an emotional decision, but when selling real estate you need to remove emotion from the equation.

You need to think of your house as a marketable commodity. Property. Real estate. Your goal is to get others to see it as their potential home, not yours. If you do not consciously make this decision, you can inadvertently create a situation where it takes longer to sell your property.

The first step in getting your home ready to sell is to “de-personalize” it.

De-personalize the House

The reason you want to “de-personalize” your home is because you want buyers to view it as their potential home. When a potential homebuyer sees your family photos hanging on the wall, it puts your own brand on the home and momentarily shatters their illusions about owning the house. Therefore, put away family photos, sports trophies, collectible items, knick-knacks, and souvenirs. Put them in a box. Rent a storage area for a few months and put the box in the storage unit.

Do not just put the box in the attic, basement, garage or a closet. Part of preparing a house for sale is to remove “clutter,” and that is the next step in preparing your house for sale.

Removing Clutter

(Even though it may not be clutter to you)

This is the hardest thing for most people to do because they are emotionally attached to everything in the house. After years of living in the same home, clutter collects in such a way that may not be evident to the homeowner. However, it does affect the way buyers see the home, even if you do not realize it. Clutter collects on shelves, counter tops, drawers, closets, garages, attics, and basements.

Take a step back and pretend you are a buyer. Let a friend help point out areas of clutter, as long as you can accept their views without getting defensive. Let your agent help you, too.

Kitchen Clutter

The kitchen is a good place to start. First, get everything off the counters. Everything. Even the toaster. Put the toaster in a cabinet and take it out when you use it. Find a place where you can store everything in cabinets and drawers. Of course, you may notice that you do not have cabinet space to put everything. Clean them out. The dishes, pots and pans that rarely get used? Put them in a box and put that box in storage, too.

You see, homebuyers will open all your cabinets and drawers, especially in the kitchen. They want to be sure there is enough room for their “stuff.” If your kitchen cabinets, pantries, and drawers look jammed full, it sends a negative message to the buyer and does not promote an image of plentiful storage space. The best way to do that is to have as much “empty space” as possible.

For that reason, if you have a “junk drawer,” get rid of the junk. If you have a rarely used crock pot, put it in storage. Do this with every cabinet and drawer. Create open space. If you have a large amount of foodstuffs crammed into the shelves or pantry, begin using them – especially canned goods. Canned goods are heavy and you don’t want to be lugging them to a new house, anyway – or paying a mover to do so. Let what you have on the shelves determine your menus and use up as much as you can.

Beneath the sink is very critical, too. Make sure the area beneath the sink is as empty as possible, removing all extra cleaning supplies. You should scrub the area down as well, and determine if there are any tell-tale signs of water leaks that may cause a homebuyer to hesitate in buying your home.

Closet Clutter

Closets are great for accumulating clutter, though you may not think of it as clutter. We are talking about extra clothes and shoes – things you rarely wear but cannot bear to be without. Do without these items for a couple of months by putting them in a box, because these items can make your closets look “crammed full.” Sometimes there are shoeboxes full of “stuff” or other accumulated personal items, too.

Furniture Clutter

Many people have too much furniture in certain rooms – not too much for your own personal living needs – but too much to give the illusion of space that a homebuyer would like to see. You may want to tour some builders’ models to see how they place furniture in the model homes. Observe how they place furniture in the models so you get some ideas on what to remove and what to leave in your house.

Storage Area Clutter

Basements, garages, attics, and sheds accumulate not only clutter, but junk. These areas should be as empty as possible so that buyers can imagine what they would do with the space. Remove anything that is not essential and take it to the storage area.

Or hold a garage sale.