Roslyn's Staging Blog

Well...in late Spring, I was able to get a little time with a local, busy developer to get advice about his prediction on the real estate market in the dc area. I told him I was very interested in moving full steam ahead on the Staging part of my business, since I did pretty well with it the prior summer. I was really interested in getting in front of builders and developers to let them know of my services, but was concerned with everything I was hearing about the state of the real estate market. 

He didn't have much good to say about the market, especially in DC.  He told me that many of the smaller  investors/developers were NOT going to be active because the banks were no longer lending money. He encouraged me to reconsider my strategy and consider decorating office lobbies and offices, since the government had loads of cash and with the new administration, there might be a need to have these spaces redecorated.

Needless to say...I was a bit discouraged.  After having a successful time the summer before I was really looking forward to getting back to Staging.  So I thought and prayed and planned and figured. I found this new great new website/blog focused specifically on the DC condo and home real estate market, and seemd to carry a small number of ads from condo projects just finishing or soon to be finished.  I contacted the site/blog and inquired about their stats on readership, exposure, daily hits and pricing. Ad rates were crazy low and I signed up for a one-month option. I was honest in speaking with the blogger/website owner  - if no return, calls, or anything in 30 days, I am out. 

Well...as fate would have it - on day 28 - I received a call from a realtor. He ultimately hired me to stage a single family home in April - literally 2 blocks from my own home.  Five months and 7 properties later, I had the BUSIEST SUMMER EVER!  The last two properties sold within 3 weeks of them being on the market. That ONE realtor led me to 2 others who kept me busy AND my ad (yes, I kept it running) lead me to another developer!

Below is a view of the last property (in Glover Park/Cathedral) that had an offer after 2.5 weeks on the market. The shortest turnaround on all of the projects from this summer!

Before of living room 2BD, 1BA condo

After - what a diference!

So although I do think it was wise to seek the advice of the original developer, I am really glad I didn't listen!  I do think his words made it more serious and more me determined to figure it out. 

So be careful who you listen too and let influence your business.  And remember, no one has the magic crystal ball to see into the future - we are all trying to figure it out!  But if you are serious about it, then DO IT! 

Feel free to check out more of the staged rooms and homes on my portfolio.  Thanks for all of the positive responses and feedback on my earlier posts! If you are in the Metro DC area, I have a warehouse full of decorative items, just waiting to dress up and help you sell your vacant property!

I just came off of a great summer with lots of busy staging projects.  But I received the coolest news a few days ago - one of the buyers wanted to purchase some of the furniture I used to stage the home. Which is perfect!

You see - I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful furniture store as my partner in staging.  They have allowed me to rent their new furniture for use in staging projects.  The idea behind it is that someone will be so moved by what they see that they want to just purchase it all. And it finally happened!

  I selected this neat mid-century feeling bamboo table in the dining space. The table is round as in the picture here, but each section 'opens up' to a corner, making the table go from round to square. Its very cool!

  During staging, I remember saying to myself that the buyers HAD to purchase this table and chair set - it just goes perfectly with the space.  AND they did - how cool is that!  They love the table and chairs and are interested in a few other items.  It feels good to know I can stage a home to not only to sell it...but the furniture too!

 I would love to be able to sell furniture everytime I stage - that way each property will have its own look and feel. People will be encourage to purchase new furniture with their new home...and I, along with other stagers, would have more leverage with furniture stores to use their furniture in my projects too!  A win-win all the way around!

Was contacted by a local developer and won the contract to stage a newly renovated 1BD, 1BA condo in Columbia Heights in NW DC. Great neighborhood, good price and fabulous staging should lead to a rather quick sale!  Check out the before and afters below!

DC area realtors and developers - we would love to make your condo sparkle like this one too! Let us know when you are ready!  

ops...we did it again!  We turned another drab and boring beige on beige space to life!  This time, the massive fireplace sort of overtook the space, even though everything was the same drab beige color.  So we infused color to give it life and function, in a recently remodeled single family home in NW DC.  Take a look for yourself!

Before

After - with color and life!

See how much just a bit of color carefully placed can really bring a room to life!  Staging brings rooms and homes to life!  If you are in the DC area, ask us how to bring YOUR properties to life!

ow, I am used to having to respond and act quickly when working with local realtors to stage properties.  But my last project was the fastest one yet!  The realtor called me on Wednesday, I viewed the space on Thursday morning and we staged it on Friday afternoon!  Whew!

To our benefit, the house was only 1.5 miles from the office AND we were only focused on the basement level. But it was a long basement - 38' ft long by 11ft wide that was forgettable to potential buyers.  And the good thing about it the basement and just off the garage, no stairs...items could basically come right in! Take a look at the photos below and let me know what you think!

Before

After -check out our handy work below!

DC/Maryland based realtors - don't show your vacant, sell it!  We can stage your properties quickly too! Give us a call at ra reDoes rooms! We'd love to help!

A friend was in the process of cleaning up her home and asked if I wanted to take a weather-worn wicker set of patio furniture off her hands.  Of course, I am a stager! I LOVE free furniture! I opted to wait until I had a specific project in mind first, and only one week later, a client called to request staging assistance.  While reviewing her home, we discussed cleaning out her back patio and I remembered I had access to a great set! Perfect timing!

Check out how I used paint to bring this weather-worn wicker to life!

I had already started priming the loveseat before I realized that I hadn't taken before pictures.  That is why the chair is partially red.

Fortunately, the rep at Tenleytown Ace Hardware (YEA ACE!) recommended the red primer since I planned on painting the chairs brown.  And BIG Shout-out to my twitter friend @Jean-O, who recommended the spray can nozzle.  Following these ladies advice shortened my prep and painting time considerably and the final product turned out nice! See for yourself!

Makes for a nice seating area, if I do say so myself!  The kids already love it - as evidenced by the sippy cup on the table :-)

Was contacted by local realtor and staged a colonial home in my neighborhood, in downtown Silver Spring. It was fun - check out the pix below. Can you tell I enjoy what I do?

family room before and afters above

Dining room above, below is the FUN sun room!

and now you know why the breakfast nook was most fun! :-)  I got to be a bit more creative than usual. Doesn't the cake look tasty?!

The entire process of purchasing property to live requires thought, analysis and decisions.  Active buyers are constantly processing questions like

Will I enjoy living in this new community? 

Is this location safe for me and my family?

Can I easily manage all of the necessary payments to maintain this property?

Will all of my personal items fit within this property?

When a vacant property is shown, this forces even more on the buyer to think think think!  Buyers wonder whether their items will fit or if they need to purchase items, what will fit in the space.  This becomes even more of an issue with smaller condos and homes. Let's face it - open spaces just confuse buyers. Common in condo spaces is an the open area...which tends to confuse lots of buyers. But staging a home with furniture can help address those issues and at least quiet those space questions down.  Take a look at our example below to see what we mean.

Empty room/space in a condo...BEFORE 

The space AFTER we dressed it up and staged it with nicely sized and furniture, added color and life!

Now you can really see how the family room and dining room space come together! And your brain doesn't have to work so hard to figure out where pieces of furniture can go and how they can fit.

If you are a homeowner or realtor selling a condo in DC, MD or Northern Virginia - stop confusing your buyers!  They will thank you with a sale!  So make it easy - stage your vacant property!  We have great furniture to use make your place shine! See more of this condo at www.rarooms.com/portfolio.htm

Regards,


Roslyn Ashford, Interior Decorator and Stager
CEO, ra reDoes rooms, Inc.
http://www.rarooms.com; 240-423-1732

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair

Last month, I posted that I found these really cheap closet ikea doors (i love the as-is section) and scooped them up most immediately.  I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with them, but I figured something would come of it.  And boy did it ever!

First - here is a picture of the doors again - for those who didn't catch the last post...I think they were the doors in the PAX closet system and they were cleaning out inventory.  The store had a ton of them available for $3 each.

The first door I purchased, I made a headboard  - still need to take a picture of it in the room but here it is with just the headboard itself

Shown covered with shower curtain from Home Goods.

And the other two doors, came in handy for my friend's new boutique.  I made the dressing rooms and needed a second 'wall' to adhere a hook to for clothing.  So take a look and see how I used them here!

  Pretty neat huh!  So those doors came in handy, wouldn't you say!   Thanks for checking it out!  Hope it inspires you to be creative this Spring too!

Ahh...January.  Winter time here in DC and the number of staging requests have dropped signifigantly...and even those who have made contact have seemed to have magically disappeared. So what keeps me going this time of year?.  Deals, sales and bargains! january is a great month to take advantage of all of the stuff the retailers want to remove before the new items arrive.  cool for me!

January is a great month to me to re-stock inventory and prepare for Spring and Summer.  I started today with a quick visit to Ikea, to purchase easy window treatments for my fathers home.

As always, I checked out the AS IS section and found it to be a little sparse, given the long holiday weekend.  But then I ran across this huge stack of doors and I just had to pick one up! I saw this door from the Pax closet system. It is 62"H and 24"wide and I was like eh- until I peeped the price...see below!

Talk about a bargain! Yes, you are reading this right.  it does say $3.00. Holy smokes - it is within the budget! Now, I have some thoughts of how to use it but I would love to hear what other folks think! Send them my way!

And I wonder - do you think I should pick up a few more?