Living, Dining and Family Room Makeovers Archives

Tiny Dining Room Gets Color Makeover

It’s important that living, dining and family rooms feel warm and inviting— whether you’re trying to sell your home or decorating it to live in.

Here a tiny dining room, that was barely more than a hallway from the front of the house to the kitchen in the back was, given a dramatic face lift.

Old wood chairs were re-painted and an inexpensive wrought iron Ikea fixture is dressed up with beaded red shades.

As one might expect in a home from the early 1900s, the old plaster walls were less than smooth. To visually minimize this issue and save money, the walls were repainted and then a wash of a second deeper color mixed with glaze was added over top. This textured look gave depth to the room while making the bumpy walls no longer an issue.

Rental furniture for home staging adds to what you currently have

Written by Debra Gould -

When it’s time to put the house you are living in onto the real estate market, it becomes a product. Rather than suggesting all new furniture in a resale home, a good home stager will try and work with what you already have in new and better ways when staging your home.

Sometimes though, it’s necessary to bring in rental furniture to add to what you already have, or to replace furniture that’s not appropriate to the purpose of the room, or the target market of your home.

For example, I staged a million dollar home that had inexpensive Ikea furniture in the living room. I moved this down to the basement where it was more suited to a family room. Then I brought in rental furniture to stage the living room to be more in keeping with what the buyer of a million dollar property would expect.

Below is an example of combining what my client already owned with rental furniture that I brought in just before the house went on the real estate market.

Clutter and unnecessary furniture, like the bean bag chair in the center of the room, were removed from the eating area/family room in this home and rental furniture was brought in by Six Elements to create a proper eating area.

Need help with your staging or decorating project?

With a minimum two hour consultation in your home, we will tell you everything that needs to be done in your house before you put it on the real estate market (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.

If you’re outside the Toronto area, I can still help you personally by phone working from photos you email me. Learn more about this virtual staging service.

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.

Too Much Clutter Hides Room’s Purpose

Written by Debra Gould -

Not everyone lives in a home the way they would like others to see it when it’s time to sell. My clients realize that in order to sell their homes more quickly and for more money they have to turn it into a product that will appeal to potential buyers.

In this house the family room had become a dumping ground for clutter that ranged from video games to kid’s toys and a myriad of family photos of all shapes and sizes crowding the fireplace mantel. Fine for living but not for selling!

You Might Not Need a Dining Room But Buyers Expect to See One

Written by Debra Gould -

I’ve staged hundreds of homes and discovered that many people don’t use their dining rooms as such. For some families it’s a big empty space filled with toys, for others, especially when the dining room and living room are one, it becomes one big living room with the family eating in the kitchen.
[Read more…] about You Might Not Need a Dining Room But Buyers Expect to See One

Builders and Renovators: Don’t Leave Money on the Table

Written by Debra Gould -

bedroom after staging by Debra Gould — The house sold in days for $30,000 over asking. Three other houses on the street were available for sale before this home came on the market, and they were still for sale weeks after this one sold. Not providing the finishing touches leaves a significant amount of money on the table when it's time to sell. Everything in this photo was added during a Home Staging by Six Elements Inc.

Attention Builders, Renovators and home owners with empty rooms! Home Staging can easily increase the selling price of your empty home by $20,000 to $50,000 with minimal investment.

Decorating your house to sell, also called Home Staging, House Staging, Real Estate Staging or House Fluffing, will help you sell more quickly and as a builder or renovator, you know time is money!

Subtle Use of Accessories to Stage a Family Room

Written by Debra Gould -

A common problem I run into when people stage their own homes is that they’ve read that need to depersonalize and declutter. This is good advice, but when taken to the extreme you can end up with a bland room that doesn’t romance prospective home buyers the way it could. Even subtle changes can bring back the warmth.

family room before staging

family room after staging

This family room looked cold and uninviting when the owners had finished staging it themselves to be neutral. Debra Gould spiced it up using items the family already had. Only a few minor changes can make a subtle but important difference in the overall effect.

I found two antique leather suitcases stored in the garage. We gave them a polish and stacked them to serve as a coffee table. By adding flowers to the table and picking up the same red in accent cushions on the sofa, the room looks more pulled together and more inviting. Replacing the larger art in the corner with two smaller pieces made that area feel less crowded and gave us a much needed piece for an empty wall in another room.

Debra Gould, President Six Elements Inc.

Home staging expert Debra Gould uses much of what a client already has in new ways when decorating a house for the real estate market. This keeps the costs down when staging a house to sell. Contact us to learn more about how Debra can help you.

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.

Living, Dining and Family Room Makeovers

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