Living Room, 84 Barchester, Whitby Home Staging
20
May

Staging Rooms in a House or Condo on a Small Budget

Staging Rooms in a House or Condo on a Small Budget

When Design to Impress stage homes in Toronto, they will likely replace your dated and used furniture. After all, potential buyers should be uninfluenced by a previous homeowner’s personality when viewing a home. They need to be surrounded in somewhat of a generic, yet inviting environment in each room they’re in.

That being said, your furniture wont always be replaced with brand-new pieces. With your budget in mind, sometimes a home stager can trick the eye into seeing things that aren’t there. For example, if your dishwasher door is old and broken down, or even if its colour has faded, it can be replaced. The buyer can choose to replace the dishwasher if they choose to make an offer. First impressions are everything though. If they see a broken down dishwasher door, they’ll factor the cost of replacing the entire dishwasher in the asking price immediately. If the dishwasher looks new, it won’t be an immediate turn-off.

Actual furniture is a different story. In all likelihood, your furniture won’t remain in the home when the house is sold. Potential buyers viewing your bedroom are therefore unlikely to lie in your bed to decide if they like the bedroom. The bed will be more of a focal point, a prop to create a serene and intimate room. If your bed does not match the look of the home stager’s vision, it may be replaced with something as simple as an air mattress, sitting on a frame or boxspring, covered up with duvets, pillow cases and throws.

Design to Impress will always work within your budget when decorating your home, using creative tactics to give each room the look it deserves.

Staging a Kitchen on a Shoestring Budget

At times, the home staging team at Design to Impress can decorate a kitchen using items already in your home.

For example, if your kitchen is missing an island, and has excessive floor space to the point where the room looks empty, a small table may be brought in, colour coordinated with the kitchen cabinets, along with a couple of matching chairs.

Keeping the table tidy and simple, a table-runner may be placed in the centre, with two clean plates on top of it. A candlestick could be placed between the plates, wine glasses to each plate’s left and napkins to their right.
Napkin holders can be used at the end of the linens for a restaurant-look. They can also be placed on towels and other kitchen cloths, and placed on the counter for a domestic look.

Your counter will be purged of most items, including the microwave, as every buyer will want to see counter space. Aside from the towels and kitchen cloths, the home stager could leave an open recipe book on the counter, perhaps held upright. A bowl of fruit, a candle, or a salt and pepper shaker should be all that’s found on the rest of the counter.

As you can see, kitchen staging is more than just the repainting of cabinetry. Decorating the rest of the room doesn’t always involve a complete makeover. Ask Toronto’s home stagers, Design to Impress, how they can prepare your home for sale for an open house on a shoestring budget, and deliver a strong profit by doing so.

Staging a Bedroom in a Home For Sale

When our home stagers prepare any bedroom for a viewing, furniture replacement is just an aspect of creating the room’s new look.

Staging a bedroom involves redecorating based on the room’s assets. Buyers should see all the bedroom has to offer, and a home stager will restructure the room to show off its features.

You might think the room is already tidy and clean, but it still has traces of your personality inside of it. The home stager will remodel the room from the perspective of a potential buyer. After all clutter is removed, the bed will be covered up with neutral-coloured blankets, pillows of different sizes in pillowcases, throws and a comforter. The home stager may even steam some of the bed’s linens to remove any wrinkles.

While some bedrooms can be staged to accommodate either a male or female, the master bedroom should appeal to both sexes. The walls will be painted a neutral colour – however, the tone can be a slightly darker in this room, as it is the most intimate, relaxing space in the house. The colour chosen will be based on the shade of carpeting or hardwood floor. The drapery will offset both colours to make the room more coordinated.

Night tables may be placed on either side of the bed. Nothing should be on it except for a lamp, and perhaps a book or clock. On the dresser, the counter will be empty, covered with a table runner, perhaps some fresh flowers directly in front of the mirror.

Soothing, peaceful, colour-coordinated art may be hung on the walls behind the bed. If the bed is in front of a window, the art could be placed to the bed’s side, or facing the bed. To give it that welcoming look, a small rug may be placed at the foot of the bed.

Staging any bedroom is always about creating a feeling for the buyer. If the room puts the buyer in a certain kind of mood, you can count on an offer shortly after the viewing. Ask Toronto’s home stagers, Design to Impress, how they deliver a ROI on any house or condo on the market.

Staging a Perfect Bathroom Before an Open House

When viewing a property for sale, potential buyers spend the least time in bathrooms, as opposed to every other room in the house. Most people tend to do a quick peak inside, so it’s essential that they leave the bathroom without seeing, smelling or feeling anything that can turn them off.

Design to Impress has staged every bathroom in Toronto with a remodeled look. If your bathroom walls are in need of repair, contractors may be used to replace tiles, remove peeling wallpaper, or paint over chipped walls. Missing cabinet doors and broken shower knobs could be replaced. However, if your walls and tiles are in good shape, your bathroom may be staged with a good cleaning and a few accessories.

The home stagers at Design to Impress like to give bathrooms a spa-like appearance, using soft colours on the walls, the aroma of nature in the air, surrounded by an aquatic atmosphere. Accessories ranging from candles on the tub, to fresh towels on the shelves, to a wicker waste-basket, may be used to create this theme.

The bathroom will be meticulously cleaned, as a buyer’s eye will immediately catch any flaw in a room surrounded by beauty. If the corners contain accumulated dirt or mold, they will be purged. Shower doors will be scrubbed to remove calcium build-up, tubs will be cleansed of grime, and dirty, worn-out rugs and mats will be thrown out. Personal items, like prescription bottles and half-used toothpaste tubes, will be completely removed from the sink or medicine cabinet.

With over 30 years of staging homes in Toronto, Design to Impress knows how to make any bathroom look brand new, whether it’s replacing the hardware, or accessorizing with details. Contact Toronto’s home stagers for more more information on how they can deliver a strong ROI for your property on the market.

An Example of a Living Room in a Home Staged

Our home staging team arranges furniture that adds flow and functionality to a room. Potential buyers viewing your home will walk on a consistent path that continues from one room to another. Each room will serve it’s purpose – while decor will be added for aesthetic purposes, furniture will be designated in the room best suited for it.

Using the living room as an example, our home stagers may position a two-piece sofa into an L-shape. By grouping the furniture, a room suddenly looks more spacious. The sofas could be placed in front of the focal point of the room, perhaps a fireplace. Hanging picture art above the fireplace would draw the eye to those sitting in front of it. The mantle will showcase some accessories, perhaps candlesticks or pottery, to add colour.

Between the fireplace and the couches, the home stager will likely add a coffee table, something small, as a larger table will take away from the size of the room. If the floors aren’t carpeted, a rug may be placed under the table, to make the seating area look more inviting. Accessories, like a chessboard or a bowl, could be used as a table prop.

The colour in the room will come from accessories and furnishings. For example, the colour of your drapery or couch will be coordinated with sofa pillows or throws. It is important to keep a neutral colour theme in the room, varying the tones to keep the room from looking mundane.

Contact Toronto’s home stagers, Design to Impress, for more information about living room staging.