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.

Color my world - part two

Why did we look at the furniture when we chose colors?

Because we are Staging. We are building a set, like in a movie or a play, designed to make each room welcoming, warm (as in friendly), and finished. The walls, ceiling, and floors are the backdrop to that set.

So, we began building the set using the pieces everyone will see when they tour the house: the furnishings.

Next, what color is your floor?

Ideally, the colors in the furniture and the color in your floor do not fight. We will discuss flooring in another blog. For now, if the colors are compatible, but not in the same family (red, yellow, or blue tones), go get some throw pillows for the sofa or big accesssories (like lamps or vases/flowers) to bring the floor color up into the room. Compare the furniture's colors to the floors colors, which is predominant?

Choose your paint color to go with the predominant color.

What other factors impact the color we paint when we stage?

How much light is in the room? Generally speaking, the darker the room, the more important it is to choose from the lightest paint on the color chip.

How many windows/doors are in the room? A slightly darker shade, painted around window and door trim, pulls the eye to the windows and doors. This is good because people are buying windows and doors. We want to enhance those architectural features.

Speaking of architectural features, does your room have any? Is there an angled wall? A fireplace? A bay window? Got any chair rail? Has molding been applied to create shadow boxes? If so, choose two colors (separated by at least one color) from the same paint card, paint one color on most of the walls, and use the other color to enhance the architecture.

Is the room on the small side? Paint the walls the lighter color and the architectural feature the darker color. Or paint the lighter color above the chair rail, and the darker color below. Or paint the darker color just around the windows in the bay window. Is the room large? Reverse the color order.

Frankly, I have just touched the surface of how I decide what color a room should be painted. Sometime in the future, I will write more. But, if this was confusing to you, I suggest you bring in a professional stager when you are preparing to sell your house. If it works for you, find someone who will spend an hour on color if you do not want any other staging advice.

Oh, and this is very important. Choose a basic color, then try to paint all of the rooms in your house from that palette. When we live in a home, we can have as many colors around us as we want. But, when we sell our house, consistency of color between rooms enhances the presentation. Buyers will be more comfortable when they see the same or related shades of one color everywhere they go in the house.

Here is a great place to examine colors. Click on the link below, choose Warm Neutrals, and enjoy exploring.
http://www.sherwin.com/visualizer

Tomorrow, we do it again with an empty house.

Color my world, part one

So, you have given serious thought to painting, and decided it is a good idea.

What color should you use?

Why, you paint it a neutral color, of course.

And, just exactly what does THAT mean?

"Neutral Color" is, I think, like "clutter" - a phrase that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. And, because fashions change, the definition of a neutral color changes over time.

Primary colors - pure red, blue, and yellow - are not neutral.

Secondary colors (blends of two primary colors) - bright orange (red + yellow), green (blue + yellow), purple (blue + red) - are not neutral.

Neutral colors tend tertiary colors (one primary + one secondary) made "muddy" by adding other colors like black or brown.

Had enough color theory? Then, if you are going to live in your house while it is for sale, go look at your furniture.

Why? Because, to effectively merchandise your house, you are going to paint using colors that are compatible with, and flattering to, your furniture. If your furniture is basically a red or orange color (red, brown, pumpkin) you are going to chose a muddy shade of green/yellow. If your furniture is basically a yellow or green color (yellow, gold, yellowish beige, olive, sage, green), you are going to chose a muddy shade of red (mocha, brown, brownish beige). If your furniture is in the blue family, you are going to chose either of the above (just don't paint the walls blue). If your furniture is all over the place, color-wise, you are going to simplify by removing some furniture and investing in slipcovers.

Not easy? This is a BIG concern for stagers. Frequently, we are invited to the house after the painting is complete. Frequently, we find the new paint is not the optimal color. If you plan to hire a stager, please try to get them involved from day one. It is very likely they can add a lot of value when you chose your new paint colors.

Tomorrow we are going to get into other factors to consider when you choose the muddy color to paint your occupied room. Finally, in a few days (depending on how detailed I get) we will start over, but this time with an empty house.

I hope you have a great Wednesday!

To paint or not to paint, that is the question

My apologies for vanishing these last few days. An emergency took me away from computer access. But, all is resolved now.

Let's dive back into the wonderful world of color.

You are going to sell your house. Should you repaint it first?

In some cases the answer is obvious. Repair work done to the house left the walls and/or ceiling scarred and covered in patches. Do not make the mistake of deciding to leave it as is, patched and spackled, and letting the buyer decide what color to paint it. Most buyers can only see the walls as they are, not as they can be. Most buyers want a turnkey purchase. They will not give your property serious consideration. Those few buyers who can imagine how the room will look after it is painted, will mentally deduct much more than the cost of painting from what they are willing to offer for the house. Don't leave the house as-is if you can help it, doing so both reduces the size of your buyer pool and reduces the probable sales price.

But sometimes the decision to paint is not obvious. Wash the walls. Use a crud cleaner to remove scuff marks. Start from the assumption that you do not want to paint. Painting costs money. Painting costs time.

Ask yourself (or ask with your stager) the following questions:
- Are the walls white?
- Are the walls a personal color? Personal colors include purple, pink, baby blue, black, coral, burgandy, charcol grey, bright and loud versions of the primary colors like red, blue, and yellow; bright and loud versions of the secondary colors green or orange.
- Is the ceiling or trim a personal color?
- Is each wall painted a different color?
- Is the ceiling or trim painted a color that contrasts strongly with the walls?
- Are there more than three colors on the walls and ceiling?
- Do any two colors clash?
- Is any wall painted with a faux effect like leather, wood, Venetian plaster, or stone?
- Is a mural painted on any wall?
- Are the walls painted a trendy color right out of the latest cutting-edge designer magazine?
- Will a beige/brown sofa clash with the wall color? (I know you are standing in the kitchen, imagine those most common of household colors against your walls anyway).
- Are the exterior colors compatible with other houses in the neighborhood?
- Has it been more than five years since the walls were painted?

If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, please give serious thought to repainting.

If you answered 'no' to all of these questions, dig a little deeper. Ask yourself then, if possible, bring in trusted friends and relatives (and your stager) and ask them these questions:
- With the curtains open, and all of the lights on, does the room seem dark?
- Does the color on the walls and ceiling look splotchy or uneven?
- Does the paint color look faded?
- Do the walls seem to press in?
- Do the walls seem to drift away?
- If it was them moving in, would they feel they would be uncomfortable in this room until they changed the colors?

Tally up the answers.

If you get more 'yes' answers than 'no' answers, please give serious thought to repainting

If you get more 'no' answers than 'yes' answers, keep the walls clean, but only repaint if, your heart, you really think it needs to be done.

Okay, tomorrow we grab a paintbrush.

Have a great Tuesday!