The Best Atlanta Home Staging Story EVER!

I don’t think anything makes me happier than getting a phone call or an email from someone who says, “I found you online.  I need your help.”   That was the case with Tristyn.  She and her husband were about to list their home and needed the assistance of an Atlanta home stager to help prepare it for the market.  We scheduled an appointment.

When I got to Tristyn’s home I saw that it had great curb appeal.  It was obvious that someone was taking good care of the exterior; but once I walked through the front door, I saw why she needed a little help.  Tristyn has three little ones.  The foyer was where they came in and out, taking off their shoes and coats and plopping down their book bags.  Here is what I saw upon entering the front door:

crowded foyer

Foyer – before

While I’ve seen much more cluttered foyers in homes with small children, this was not the first impression we wanted to give buyers upon entering the house.  The problem was that the children really needed a place to “drop” everything when they entered the front door.  The solution?  Tristyn and I simply moved this piece of furniture to the backside of the same foyer wall in the living room and added artwork in the now empty space.  (Her mom had given her a number of home decor items from which to choose.  We made good use of them.)

The now decluttered foyer.

Foyer – after

These are just a couple of paintings we found that looked nice, fit the space and worked well together.  It would’ve been nice to have a small table underneath, but nothing was available.  Apparently, the buyers didn’t seem to notice there was something missing, but more on that later.

Next was the dining room, which was to the left of the front door.

This dining room needed a little updating.

Dining Room – before

I don’t recall the room being that pink when I was there, so it must be the camera and lighting causing it to read that way here.  Regardless, this room was in need of a fresh coat of paint and updated accessories.  Take a look at the after:

This room has been painted and updated.  Wow!!!

Dining Room – after home staging

Tristyn did a fabulous job with this room, don’t you think?  When I left her the day I was there, all she had was a paint color in hand and instructions for what to remove from and add to the room to set it off.  She had mentioned possibly getting a new table and chairs, but I wasn’t sure she would.  What a difference!  She exceeded my expectations.  What a pretty room to take note of upon entering the front door.

One more room I want to show you is the master bedroom.  Here is the before:

This bedroom needs help!

Master Bedroom – before

This was the room where Tristyn and I went “shopping” for accessories, which were placed on the floor on the backside of the bed.  The main problem in this space is the placement of furniture.  The bed 1) should not have been in front of the windows blocking the light and 2) should have been against the focal point wall opposite the door.  Once again, I selected a new paint color, told her how to position the furniture and gave her instructions on how to tweak the room.  Here is what she did:

This bedroom has been beautifully staged by the homeowner.

Master Bedroom – after home staging

I was really blown away by this photo.  What a great job Tristyn did showcasing this room in a way that would cause potential buyers to see it as cozy, open, warm and inviting.  Well done!

But I’ve saved the best part for last.  Here is the note I received from Tristyn last week when she emailed the before and after photos:

Dear Patsy,

I just wanted to follow-up with you and thank you for your wonderful help and advice staging our home. The response has been INCREDIBLE. I put our house on the MLS on Wednesday and by the following evening we had four offers in hand and they just kept coming in. By the weekend we had ten and we just had to stop the madness and accepted the best offer which was well over our asking price with the buyer paying their own closing costs. I know the staging really helped create that WOW factor that brought in offers from nearly EVERY SHOWING (and two of them came from people who hadn’t even seen the house in person ).  Pat yourself on the back. LOVE the paint colors by the way.

Thanks again!
Tristyn

I am sooooo happy for Tristyn and her husband to have such outstanding results!  She’s giving me way too much credit, as she is the one who had to paint, move additional furniture around, purchase a few more accessories and tweak the staging after I left that day.  I applaud her for knowing she needed home staging help (always the first, step, right? :) , calling in someone who has been trained to know what needs to be done, and carrying out her assignments to perfection.  Job well done, Tristyn!

If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow and the clutter to go, contact Patsy Overton Interiors 770-843-2307  Accredited, Licensed, Insured.

Can the Right Paint Colors Sell a Home?

One thing I love about being an Atlanta color consultant is that you meet the nicest people!  Take Sam, for instance.color palettes for your home

Sam had purchased a house in his own subdivision from neighbors who had fallen on hard times financially.  The plan was to purchase the home at auction on the courthouse steps, freshen it, sell it, then share the gain with the former owners.  Wouldn’t we all like to have a neighbor like Sam!

I received a follow-up email from him a few weeks ago.  Here’s what he had to say:   “I’ve been meaning to send you a note and share the wonderful comments I had on the colors you selected for 9020 Etching Overlook in Ammersee Lakes.  The house sold 38 days after listing, even in this horrible market.  The commercial paint contractor whom I hired was totally complementary and said that ‘your decorator sold the house.’”

So what did this Atlanta decorator, home stager and color consultant do?  Decorate the home by bringing in lots of accessories to high-light all the great selling features?  No.  Stage the home by bringing in rental furniture to this vacant property?  No, again.  So, what did I do?  I simply performed a color consultation to neutralize the existing hues and high-light key areas of the home to make it more appealing to the masses.  Yes, you heard me — that was it.  I met Sam at the property, walked the home noting the large open spaces, closed off rooms and bedroom suites, and advised him what colors to use throughout the house.

I don’t have before and after photos of Sam’s home, so I’m going to share with you pictures of another home where the wall colors were neutralized in much the same way.  BTW, this staged home sold in two days!

living room before staging

Living Room - before

living room with updated colors

Living Room - after

dining room - before

Dining Room - before

dining room which has been staged and painted

Dining Room - after

I don’t know about the housing market in your area, but in Atlanta we are still experiencing a record number of foreclosures and have a saturated inventory.  So, can the right paint colors sell a home?  You be the judge.

If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow and the clutter to go, call Patsy Overton Interiors.  770-843-2307  Accredited, Licensed, Insured.

“So many colors, so little time.

 

 

Atlanta Home Stager Is Not Charging Enough

It’s time to go up on my rates.

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from some former Atlanta home staging clients.  To give you a little background, I did a home staging consultation for them back in the fall, then received another call this spring.  When I went back to the home, I felt that they needed a few key accessories to bring the home to life.  Shown below is a “before” shot of their living room:

living room before POI staging

Living Room - Before

I went shopping, then returned to the home to add the accessories.  Here is the “after” shot of the same room:

living room with key accessories added

Living Room - After

The results?  The home sold shortly and the homeowners are now settled in their new home out of state.

But back to their recent email.  Here is what this sweet couple had to share with me:

Last year you advised us on decorating our house and rented accessories that were instrumental in helping us sell our house.  We were discussing the sale of our house and wanted to share three ideas that came up in our discussions.

  1. At the end of our rental period, if we had been presented with a price list of accessories you put in our house, Andrea would have purchased several items.
  2. We both agree that the rental accessories were priced significantly lower than the amount we were willing to pay for them.
  3. The folks who purchased our home really liked the accessories.  If you contacted them after the sale and offered to sell them some/all of the accessories that were in the house before the sale, I’ll bet they would have purchased some/all of them.

Wow, what great feedback!!!  I wonder why they didn’t tell me at the time that they would’ve been willing to pay more?  :)   Actually, I do sell accessories quite often to my Atlanta home staging clients.  In fact, just this morning I prepared a price quote for an accessory buy-out to home staging clients.  The truth is, I’m not all that anxious to sell my home staging inventory, as I’ll just have to go out and shop all over again for the next client.  Having said that, I’m normally willing to sell items that the homeowners are particularly interested in.

I truly want to thank these homeowners for their feedback — especially the part about how they would have been willing to pay more for accessory rental.  Note taken!

If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow and the clutter to go, contact Patsy Overton Interiors. 770-843-2307  Accredited, Licensed, Insured.


Home Staging Tips From a Roswell Job

A few months ago I was called on to stage a beautiful townhouse in Roswell.  This lovely home had all the bells and whistles — hardwoods, granite, nice tile, coffered ceilings, tray ceilings, faux finishes, and on and on.  In addition, the homeowner had nice, quality furniture and upscale accessories.  So what was the problem?  There was way to much to look at!  All of those pretty furnishings distracted the eye from the great selling features of the home.  With that in mind, here is today’s first home staging tipalways keep in mind what you are selling.  Your goal in home staging is to show off the property, space, architectural detail, nice finishes and views.  Everything you do to stage the home should work toward supporting that goal.

For example, take a look at the “before” photo of the dining room:

dining room before home staging

Dining Room - before

As you can see, this is a beautiful room with the glorious chandelier, domed ceiling with faux finish, hardwoods and furnishings, but it was much too packed with furniture.  As this was the first room you saw upon entering the home, it was especially important that this room show well.  We removed the rug, two chairs, a section of the table-top, and a number of accessories.  Shown below is the “after”:

dining room after home staging

Dining Room - after

Isn’t it amazing how much larger this room looks?  (Of course, agent Mark Mitchell’s great photos taken with a wide-angle lens helps!)  In hindsight, I should’ve also removed the ferns in planters, but they weren’t nearly as imposing in person as they seem to be here.  Regardless, the features of the room now show much better than before, which leads me to home staging tip #2 rugs take up lots of visual space.  Use them sparingly.

Next, on to the family room.  Here’s the “before” shot:

Family room before home staging

Family Room - before

The family room has so much going for it — great built-ins, fireplace, coffered ceiling, hardwoods, furniture and accessories, but there was just too much going on.  Also, the room seemed over crowded and did not have good traffic flow.  Shown below is the “after”:

family room after home staging

Family Room - after

Does this look better, or what?  As you can see, we removed furniture pieces and lots of accessories.  We also rearranged the furniture to open up the room.  In this case, I didn’t think it was necessary to remove the rug, as you can still see the great hardwoods on approach in the hallway and adjoining kitchen, and also around the rug edges.  Ready for home staging tip #3Arrange the furniture in such a way as to allow the room to “breathe.”  Less is always more when it comes to home staging!

And, finally, the “before” and “after” shots of the master bedroom:

master bedroom during home staging

Master Bedroom In Transition

master bedroom after home staging

Master Bedroom - after

In answer to your question, no, the bedroom did not look like the “before” shot when we arrived.  I forgot to take a picture until the staging of this room was already in process.  The bed was made and the room was in good shape, but the accessories (in red, white and blue) did not go with the rest of the downstairs décor, so the bed coverings and throw pillows along with a few accessories were swapped out for those in an upstairs bedroom.  Once again, the room here looks huge with the rug removed.  This is probably my favorite shot of the home.  Home staging tip #4 is this:  remove, remove, remove, remove until what’s left showcases the room instead of its furnishings.

If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow and the clutter to go, contact Patsy Overton Interiors770-843-2307  Accredited, Licensed, Insured.

Another Atlanta Home Staging Success Story

Wow, have we had a great spring/summer here at Patsy Overton Interiors with several incredible Atlanta home staging success stories.  I received another one last week.

Whitney called several days ago.  (In case you didn’t see it, I wrote a blog post a month or so ago on how she found me on the internet, then called due to something I tweeted about the UK Wildcats!  Read the story here.)  Anyway, she had some great news.  After home staging, her Atlanta home went under contract in 9 days!!!  Woo, hoo!  So I’m happy to report that, once again, home staging did the trick.

Whitney's staged living room
Staged Living Room

Doesn’t her living room look great?! It is perfectly neutralized and streamlined with correct furniture placement.  And shown below is a photo of her family room, which was also put into order BEFORE the sign went up in the front yard.

staged family room
Staged Family Room

Whitney did everything right by staging her Atlanta home, and she is now reaping the rewards.  When she called to tell me her home was under contract, she also scheduled an appointment for Patsy Overton Interiors to help her get settled into her new home.  Congratulations, Whitney!  I look forward to seeing you soon.

If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow and the clutter to go, contact Patsy Overton Interiors770-843-2307 Accredited, Licensed, Insured.

Another Lawrenceville Staged Home Under Contract!

We’re on a roll.  Here’s a recap:

  • In April, we received word that our Lawrenceville staged home went under contract in 48 hours.
  • In May, the agent called to let me know that our Alpharetta staged home received its first offer within hours of the sign going up in the front yard. Negotiations were made over the weekend, then the house went under contract for full price.
  • I received word last week that another Lawrenceville staged home went under contract in eight days. This is the story I’d like to share with you today.
Several weeks ago I received a call from Leslie Kunkel, a “go getter” Keller Williams agent working out of the Sugarloaf office.  “Patsy,” she said, “I have a new listing in Lawrenceville that needs to be staged.  Can you help?”  When I pulled onto the property a day or two later, the first thing I saw was another agent’s sign laying at the end of the driveway.  Having an incredibly sharp mind, I surmised that this property had been listed before, but not with the desired outcome.  The pressure was already palpable.  Game on.

This home actually had great curb appeal.  The lawn was nicely manicured, the shrubs trimmed, and there were pretty flowers in full bloom.  So far, so good.  But when I stepped through the front door, my first impression of the interior was not a positive one.  Here are “before” shots of the living room and dining room, which were to the right and left of the front door.
living room before home staging

Living Room - before POI Home Staging

dining room before home staging

Dining Room - before POI Home Staging

I want to be quick to point out that the reason this homeowner had no furniture in the front rooms was because she has several family members who have fallen on hard times of late and had given her furniture to them.  I was very impressed by that!  But, she is now trying to sell her home and first impressions are everything.  We had to take care of the matter at hand.  Here are the “after” photos of the same rooms.

Living Room after home staging

Living Room - after POI Home Staging

dining room after it has been staged

Dining Room - after POI Home Staging

In addition to furnishing the front rooms, I also spent a good bit of time rearranging other furniture in the home, removing and rearranging artwork, and adding key accessories.  The result?  This Lawrenceville home went under contract in eight days!!!

Selling a home in this market takes a team effort.  There must first be an agent like Leslie who will tell you not what you want to hear, but what you need to hear and will see that changes are made before the house hits the market.  There must be a homeowner who is willing to do what it takes to put the home in top-notch condition.  And, finally, you must have a home stager who has been trained to know what aesthetic changes need to be made to make the home appeal to the widest possible audience and can implement those changes.  I was very fortunate in this situation to have hooked up with a rockin’ agent and a “whatever it takes” homeowner.  Game over.
If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow and the clutter to go, call Patsy Overton Interiors.  770-843-2307 Accredited, Licensed, Insured.

Whitney for President!

You gotta love it when your clients write your blog posts for you.  A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Whitney, an Atlanta home staging client.  Here’s what she had to say:

Hi, Patsy.  You came to my house in Atlanta back at the end of March or early April for home staging.  At that time, we were staging thinking we might sell our house if we were able to make an offer on and buy a house about 1 mile away that we wanted.  Well, last week, we signed the house we’ve loved for almost 10 years!  So we are very excited.  Our house just went on the market.  We have had 4 couples look at it informally… I wanted to share with you that we received wonderful feedback from all of them about how good the house looked.  In fact, the ones who went with a fixer upper just felt like there wasn’t anything to do to our house and the husband likes to remodel things!  One person who came in said the our master looked just like a hotel. (Way to go, Whitney!  Sounds like you did GREAT prep work!)

Family Room - before home staging

Family Room - before

Family Room - after

Family Room - after

We bought that colorful art in the dining room due to your suggestion.  In the family room, over the mantel, we commissioned a painting (we figured it was our 10th anniversary gift to ourselves in case we didn’t get the house–I think the new house is our new 10th anniversary gift!).  We moved the TV which was in front of the fireplace and removed the extra furniture in the family room.  I also made several small purchases throughout the house, bought a rug for the study, and hung all art where you suggested.  I think the house looks really, really good. We just need people to come see it now.

 

Study - before home staging

Study - before

 

 

Study - after

Study - after

I am a huge believer in staging now.  Our real estate agent’s jaw nearly dropped when he saw the difference in the house after you’d been there. And it wasn’t bad to start with–just too much furniture and clutter.  You earned every penny we paid you when you 1) moved that one chair in the living room to open it all up–my friends have all commented on that and 2) said that the TV in front of the fireplace had to go.  My husband did not want to put it above the mantel–he just doesn’t want to look up at the TV.  So, it was convenient for him where it was located but when he saw the photo of the room (even after we removed some of the furniture you recommended), it was obvious that the TV just looked bad.  We removed that big TV, purchased a smaller flatscreen and put it to the side on the shelf.  We also bought a colorful painting on your recommendation and put it above the mantel.  I also removed some of the books from my bookshelf (my prized possessions).  What honestly looked okay in person but didn’t photograph well now looks really good.  The room almosts looks like it’s twice as big.
 

Living Room - before home staging
Living Room – before
Living Room - after home staging

Living Room - after

We are supposed to close on the (new) house at the end of July.  Do you think you’ll have a day or two in August to come help me arrange my house? (Are you kidding me?  I live for this stuff!)  You did such a marvelous job of helping with the staging that I think it would be very helpful to have you help me figure out where things should go.

I’ve enjoyed reading the newsletters you send out. (Okay, that’s one person who enjoys my newsletters!)  You really gave me a lot of confidence as we decluttered and organized this house.  YOU should see how great our closets look now!

Whitney, you are too much!  It was a pleasure working with you to stage your Atlanta home and prepare it for the market.  I applaud you for going “above and beyond” in your preparations and know that you will reap the rewards.  And, once again, thanks for writing my blog post for me!  How much do I owe you? 

Here’s a final comment from Whitney I received in a follow-up email:

I think staging is good for the economy because it has to help sell houses and that’s good for everybody!

Whitney — have you thought of running for President?  It’s not too late to throw your hat into the ring!

If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow, and the clutter to go, contact Patsy Overton Interiors 770-843-2307  Accredited, Licensed, Insured.

Is Social Media a Waste of Time?

A couple of months ago I received a phone call from Whitney.  “Patsy,” she said, enter key on computer keyboard“I found you on the web and need to talk to you about staging my Atlanta home.”  (As an aside, the most beautiful words in the English language to the small business owner have to be, “I found you on the web.”  Hooray!  My SEO strategies are working!  But I digress…)  She asked what the procedure is for home staging.  Here is what I shared with her:

  • I always recommend that we start with a staging consultation.  This is a two-hour service where we walk through the home, room-to-room, and discuss what needs to be done while she takes notes on forms I provide for each space.  When we are done she will know exactly what to declutter, what to pack, what to paint, what furniture to remove to storage and where she needs to add key accessories.
  • The next step will be for me to return to the home for tweaking.  Sometimes furniture needs to be shifted to open up traffic patterns, more delcuttering needs to be done, and pictures need to be hung.
  • The final step, if needed, will be for me to return with key accessories for rental.  Every room has a focal point and key features to highlight, whether they be architectural details, a view, a fireplace, etc.  Sometimes all it takes is a key accessory placed in just the right spot to accomplish this.
  • Once the Atlanta home is properly staged, photos can be taken and the Realtor can list the property.  It’s so important that the home be properly prepared before the listing goes up.  Positive first impressions online are critical to catch the eye of buyers who will take it to the next step by actually walking through the front door.

twitter buttonAt this point you are probably wondering what all this has to do with social media.  As my phone conversation with Whitney was coming to a close, she said, “Am I dreaming, or did I see something on your website about you being a Kentucky Wildcats fan?”  (Please keep in mind that this happened a couple of months ago during the throws of March Madness.)  I explained that she must’ve seen my Twitter post where I said something about congratulating the team for advancing in the tournament.  Whitney went on to say that she is from Kentucky, also a huge Wildcats fan, and seeing that line about the Cats is why I got the call.

I got the job, thanks to engaging in Social Media and tweeting about my love for the Wildcats.  Is social media a waste of time?  Only if you don’t know how to use it.  Go Cats!!!

Accessories Make All the Difference

Last fall I received a call from Jim & Andrea in Lawrenceville for a home staging consultation.  I met with them, explained the basics of home staging, then walked the home with them from room-to-room discussing what needed to be done to get their property sold.  I left them with a long checklist of follow-up assignments.  At the time, their home had already been on the market for 6-8 months and we were entering the “nothing’s going to sell until spring” zone.

Sure enough, Jim called again this spring to say that the home still had not sold and he was wondering if they needed to purchase new furniture to do the trick.  They had done a fantastic job of neutralizing paint colors, decluttering and streamlining, but the home was still lackluster.  Shown below is a picture of their living room as I saw it that day:

living room before accessories were added
Living Room – before

After walking through the home, I told them I thought it would be a waste of money for them to purchase furniture for staging; however, I did think adding key accessories would make a HUGE difference.  I left the home, went shopping, and came back with a few tricks (aka “accessories”) up my sleeve.  Here is what the living room looked like afterwards:

living room with key accessories added
Living Room – after

As you can see, we added a rug for warmth, replaced the large doll house on the far wall with a piece that had been in the foyer, replaced the lamp with one that was more updated, added a floral, greenery, throw pillows and a nice size-appropriate print to pull it all together.  What a difference a few accessories made!

The results?  Within a few weeks I received an email from Jim who had this to say: “We accepted an offer on our home last week.  I believe that your advice and accessories helped us sell this house after it had languished for almost a year on the market.  Thanks!”

Whether you are decorating or staging your home, accessories can make all the difference between having a look that is disjointed and sparse vs. one that is pulled-together and polished.

If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow and the clutter to go, call Patsy Overton Interiors770-843-2307 Accredited, Licensed, Insured.

Decorating/Home Staging Class – Week 8

I am finding it hard to believe that this Wednesday night is the final session for our Decorating/Home Staging class taught at Blackshear Place Baptist Church.  What a great time we’ve had!  Here’s a recap of where we’ve been:colorful bottles

  • Week 1 – Introduction
  • Week 2 – Color (hue, value, temperature, intensity, the color wheel, using various color schemes)
  • Week 3 – Decorating Styles (country, traditional/formal, eclectic, casual, contemporary, and variations thereof)
  • Week 4 – Donna Cash, guest speaker, on Window Treatments
  • Week 5 – Elements of Design (line, form, space, light, pattern, texture)
  • Week 6 – Principles of Design (balance, proportion, scale, unity, emphasis)
  • Week 7 – Home Staging (decluttering, cleaning, neutralizing, assessing each room for staging, rearranging furniture, case studies)

color stripsIn addition to following our instructional outline each week, we’ve also analyzed many photographs to see what works and why, discussed decorating dilemmas our class members have had and what to do about them, and have embarked on our own decorating projects.  This week we will wrap things up with our final session:

  • Week 8 – Decorating Trends of the Day: What’s Hot, What’s Not

Please join us this Wednesday night for our final class.  It’s not too late to get in on the fun!  Here are the particulars:

  • Wednesday, April 27th at 6:30pm.  (Greeters at the door will direct you to the room.)
  • Blackshear Place Baptist Church, 3428 Atlanta Hwy., Flowery Branch, GA  30542
  • 770-534-7058 or www.bpbc.com

If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow and the clutter to go, contact Patsy Overton Interiors. 770-843-2307 Accredited, Licensed, Insured.


Serving the following cities: Alpharetta, Atlanta, Auburn, Buford, Canton, Conyers, Covington, Cumming, Dacula, Duluth, Dunwoody, Flowery Branch, Gainesville, Grayson, Lawrenceville, Lilburn, Loganville, Marietta, Monroe, Norcross, Oakwood, Roswell, Snellville, Sugar Hill, Suwanee and Woodstock
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