Bedroom Transformations Archives

Kids Rooms are Key in Selling in Family Neighborhood

If you’re selling a three or four bedroom house in a family neighborhood, it’s important to show kid’s rooms, even if there are no longer young children living in the house. It doesn’t take much to create the look and it’s an important part in romancing the target market for the home.

Home buyers have less imagination than you might think. That’s why home staging can make such a difference in the selling price of a home and the length of time it takes to sell.

When a couple with a young family walks through a childless home, it’s hard for them to imagine how their own family will live there. Questions come up like:

Are the bedrooms appropriate for their kids?
Where will they play?

kid's room before staging

kid's bedroom after staging

There were no actual children living in this house which had been purchased to renovate and resell. Family homes sell better when they are shown with rooms for children. Six Elements uses rental furniture and props to create the right ambiance, even when no real children live in the home being sold.

Professional home stagers always keep the target market of a house in mind when staging. This helps paint a picture for the potential buyer by staging the house the way it would be lived in by them. With minimal furnishings and a few props, it’s easy to show a child’s bedroom!

Learn more about how Six Elements can help you when it’s time to decorate your house to sell.

Debra Gould, President Six Elements Inc.

Internationally recognized Home Staging expert Debra Gould president of Six Elements will supercharge the appeal of any property. If you’re looking to profit in the real estate market, your best investment may be a ‘decorate to sell’ consultation with Debra.

Old wallpaper no barrier to inexpensive makeover

Written by Debra Gould -

Many of us live in older homes that have layers of wallpaper that have been there for years. The thought of removing it becomes a roadblock to redecorating because we’re afraid of all the plastering work that will be needed if we take it down.

This is particularly true when you live in a home with plaster and lath construction, which was popular through to the 1950s when drywall was introduced in the US and Canada. If you’re not sure what type of walls you have, try hanging a picture. The nail will go smoothly into drywall, not so with plaster and lath that will crumble with age sometimes turning what was supposed to be a tiny nail hole into a quarter inch diameter mess!

If you’ve run into this problem just hanging pictures, it’s not hard to scare yourself out of removing layers of old wallpaper that may indeed be holding those old walls together. This doesn’t have to stop you from radically changing the look of your room with a new color of paint.

With proper priming you can paint over wallpaper!

Granted, this isn’t considered the “right” way to do things, but does it really matter if the alternative is living in a depressing space that you hate, or losing money trying to sell a lack-luster home?

bedroom before color makeover

bedroom after color makeover

Given this older home’s plaster and lath construction, removing multiple layers of 20+ year old wallpaper could have turned into a 5 day messy and expensive re-plastering project. Instead this transformation was achieved over a weekend.

After priming, Debra Gould chose a deep caramel color that was painted right over the ugly wallpaper. New and more colorful bedding, and a properly proportioned night stand and lamp that she selected, completed the redecoration of this master bedroom.

Need help with your decorating or color project?

With a minimum two hour consultation in your home, we will tell you everything that needs to be done in your home (room by room and outside too). Contact us to learn more or arrange an appointment.

> Read more about our color consulting, interior redesign and home staging services.

Feel free to add your comments to this story. Have you ever tried to take down wallpaper before painting?

Home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements Inc. She has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate, including seven of her own homes. Debra has gained international recognition and has been featured in major media in the US and Canada including: HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, GlobalTV, CityTV, The Wall Street Journal, Woman’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

5 Reasons Empty Rooms Are a Bad Idea When Selling Your House

Written by Debra Gould -

emtpy room before staging — Newly renovated, but this is a depressing first view when you walk into the house. And it looks so small!

Whether you’re a builder about to list a spec home, an investor ready to sell your vacant property, or a home seller who is living in a house with empty rooms and you’re wondering whether to furnish them before listing your house, this article is for you.

If you are hoping to sell the home quickly and for as much money as possible, it’s a bad idea to try and sell a house with empty rooms.

Bedroom Transformations

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