I'm baaack

Vacation was great!

Back when I worked the corporate job, vacations did not happen very often. Now, as a self-employed stager, I find myself scheduling time off more frequently. And, golly, that time can really be both relaxing and productive.

Unfortunately, we left the proprietary cable (needed to download pictures from the camera) in a hotel room. I will post some pics of the big adventure as soon as I can.

As you may have suspected from previous posts, I am working through my own philosophy of staging. Today I am diving for philosophical fundamentals: what I call Degrees of Staging.

What is Basic Staging?
Basic Staging:
- Only applies to furnished (usually occupied) houses.
- Works with what is there (does not bring anything new into the house or yard).
- Is really, really not expensive.
- Supports the asking price, if the house is priced competitively with it's comparables.
- Should always be done before a house is listed.

What is Advanced Staging?
I call Advanced Staging "Take It Up A Notch"
- Applies to both furnished and vacant houses.
- Brings things into the house or yard if needed.
- Incurs a certain amount of expense, depending on the staging activities.
- Sustains or enhances the asking price, even if the house is priced somewhat above it's comparables.
- Should always be considered, and frequently should be done, before a house is listed.

Tomorrow, I will talk about Basic Staging.

But now, let me say, most stagers provide Staging Plans for a nominal charge. A good Staging Plan includes both Basic and Advanced activities, although, since these are my own terms, the plan may not break out which activities apply to each Degree of Staging. You may have to read carefully and/or discuss each activity with your stager to determine the degree of staging appropriate to your house and budget.

You can read more about each staging activity in The Science And Art Of Staging on my website: anorderleehome.com. Since I just started working on this idea about Degrees of Staging, the website does not (yet) go into a lot of detail. However, just like with a Staging Plan, as you read you should be able to decide what is Basic and what is Advanced.

See you tomorrow!

Blog to resume June 1

Because of a family medical emergency and a planned vacation in late May, even getting up at 03:00 AM, I am not finding time to give this blog the attention it deserves. This blog will resume on June 1 by which time the emergencies should be resolved.

I hope you have a May!

Staging Presentation

On Saturday, May 9,

CREIA,

the Carolina Real Estate Investors Association,

is holding a Fabulous Four Seminar

at the Enka Campus of AB Tech.

They have been kind enoughto ask me to give a

presentation on Staging.

My presentation will run from 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM.

The seminar is open to the public.

CREIA does charge a nominal fee for attendance.

http://www.creianc.org/clubportal/Calendar.cfm?clubID=1079

Color my vacant world

Why is painting such a big deal when we sell a house?

New paint cleanses, refreshes, and energizes a room. Buyers respond positively to these changes.

Warm neutrals welcome your potential buyer into each room. Most buyers have neutral colored furniture - they can see their furnishings are going to "go" with the color. Warm neutrals make it easy to judge the size of the room - buyers can quickly tell if their furnishings are going to fit in that space.

Warm neutrals define the room without distracting from the room. The buyer does not have to spend time worrying about needing to repaint before they can move in. Many, many buyers are not going to select a house that requires that kind of up-front work.

Synopsis to date, finished.

Now, when we selected a paint color, we based it on the furniture in the room. What do we do if there is no paint in the room?

When in doubt, go for a mostly-green touch-of-brown-and-yellow tone (instead of a straight brown, straight yellow, or just green color).

If you can, open a separate tab and open this link http://www.benjaminmoore.com/bmpsweb/portals/bmps.portal?_nfpb=true&_windowLabel=contentrenderer_1_2&contentrenderer_1_2_actionOverride=%2Fbm%2Fcms%2FContentRenderer%2FrenderContent&contentrenderer_1_2currentNodeUUID=%2FBEA+Repository%2F5610&contentrenderer_1_2NodeUUID=%2FBEA+Repository%2F306001&_pageLabel=fh_explorecolor

Click "Search For A Color" and enter Sage.

This an example of a Fan Deck using green-brown-yellow. If you click the right arrow, you will move into more yellow colors. If you click the left arrow, you move into more brown colors.

Basically, I start with green because it is a universal color: most greens go with most furniture and provide an attractive backdrop to most art. I add brown because it neutralizes and tones the green down. I add yellow because, even diffused by the green and the brown, it reflects light and brightens the room.

Click away, have fun.

How do I choose the colors to paint in a vacant house? I consider the amount of light, the architecture, and the size/shape of the room. I have several fan decks and I look at a lot of warm neutral colors. I especially pay attention to what colors are coming in from outside, the view through the windows. I want the color on the walls to enhance the view.

If I do not think green-based tones are best for the room, I jump over to the Taupe family (search on Taos Taupe). If that does not work, I venture into the browns.

As always, choose your colors from one color card and carry those colors throughout the house.

Oh, and this is kind of hard to say, there are not set rules. All painting decisions depend on the room, the light, the architecture, etc.

While I usually follow these guidelines, there are times, there are houses, where I have to consciously decide to make completely different decisions if I am going to achieve warm, neutral, welcoming.

An example is rooms that look into other rooms via double- or triple-wide openings. Using the colors from the same chip will create the both the effect of shadows and will tend to "flatten", or reduce the apparent size, of the further room. In that case, I will choose warm neutrals colors that compliment, but contrast, with each other. Maybe one room will have a green base, and the other room will have a brown base.

Have I confused things enough? Please, feel free to ask questions, make points, or disagree.