Roslyn's Staging Blog

Most of the time I stage vacant homes and condos in Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Maryland and DC but every now and then, I am asked to stage a property with furniture.  Such a property came my way in mid-December and I eagerly took on the challenge.  After reviewing the home and furniture, I developed a custom staging plan and recommended few furniture pieces to be removed (too big, color was off), walls needed to be toned down and furniture moved around the home. The walls were painted as requested just after the holidays but when I returned to the home to stage it in early January, NONE of the furniture had been moved or removed as I requested.  So before I could get into staging using my furniture and accents, I had to figure out where to place things.

The first room you see upon entry was the first challenge. In the family room, I had asked for the blue sofa to be removed as it seemed big and bulky for this room. I had selected another sofa, rug and art that fit the space and style of home better.  But I had to figure out where to put this one! 

Fortunately, I was able to repurpose the sofa in the office (rearranged the furniture) and the rug in another bedroom.  Good thing this home has four bedrooms!

Office with re-arranged furniture and sofa from family room.

The second big challenge was the third floor master suite.  The sellers were showing it as an exercise room (?) but the realtor and I agreed that master suite would be better. The room opens to a full bath and closet space.  Again, the machine was supposed to go into storage. ACK! So I figured out how to disassemble it and store it in the master closet. In went the bed and nightstands to show the room as a master suite, not a forgotten space.

Before of top level room

After of same space

The only thing I couldn’t find a place for was the blue chaise, which went back to our warehouse. I felt a different level of accomplishment after the challenges of this house, that I don’t typically get when staging vacant homes.  Yep - it is all about making do with what you have!  Any stagers out there agree?!!

After a pretty successful and busy summer in staging, I toyed with the idea of investing in a fun prop, that I could use on my projects. I have read on a few staging blogs that many realtors don't like for stagers to leave information about their business in the staged properties, which seems a shame - stagers are business owners too! I think I found a creative way around it and hope I don't offend any of my realtors by using it.

Here it is - Drum roll please...

And I am excited to be able to use it on my first unit this winter!  The screen is 40" wide and can either be shown on the stand, as seen above or else mounted on the wall.  Perfect prop for condos!

Let me know what you think!

This season, I was approached by the franchise owner of DC's Ace hardware stores and asked to decorate the hardware store windows.  There are currently four stores and I helped to design and decorate 2 of stores.  This was my first project with window decorating/visual merchandising and learned quite a bit along the way. Since they were hardware stores, I was limited to mainly use items found in a hardware store - which sorta felt like I was in a DeisgnStar challenge of sorts. 

This is the before window space. This is the only view of the store seen from the street - the store is physically underground, and entrance is at the underground parking lot.  While working in this space, I ended up directing people to the store's entrance.

I actually painted the room myself, with help on day 2 from a good friend and local faux painter with taping and confidence building on the red. MUCH RESPECT TO PAINTERS!! The table showcases items that people MAY not know are sold in Ace hardware stores - like Menorah, rolling pins, colanders, and even table cloths!

Store number 2 - Before. Second picture was taken just inside the windows, which is also a receiving area.  Outside is busy walking area, with condos, apartments, grocery and gym close by.

Above is the new look on the inside, with panels the store built and I designed and decorated. Check out the view from the outside below!

The panels make the store look a bit more focused and clean. And the best thing about the panels, they can be repainted and used for other store promotions. Very cool!  The manager loves em!

Thanks to all of the Ace store employees who assisted - at both stores.  And special thanks to the sista who helped rescue my Blackberry from the red paint tray! :-)

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?!