Unexpected Houseguest

Late last year, we responded to more requests from development companies to stage their new-to-market properties inside of DC. We have noticed a trend of the companies  buying older rowhomes, completely updating their interiors (and exteriors too in some cases) and returning them to the market looking and feeling brand new.  These are happening all over the city, not just in one corner, from Southeast to Bloomingdale in NW.  As home stagers within the Washington DC market, it is imperative that we make potential buyers say ‘Its soooo cute/clever rather than “Its so small”.

First up is our blank canvas in the vacant property.  This house is in NE DC on a block with 2 other houses under construction, meaning competition is only few doors away.   It is important that our property stands out against others on the same block!  We walked in to find a small family room, as pictured here..

After touring the rest of the small home, we set to work figuring out how to stage such a small space. Although I rarely use love seats, this room was perfect for one.  So that was easy to solve. Next was colors. The wall color was nice and there was no need to change it. But we always add more color to the space and thus life with our furnishings, art and decor. We created a moodboard, via Olioboard to start the inspiration and juices flowing.

For those who are not familiar, Olioboard  is an on-line moodboard software tool, which uses real furniture, art and decor to help with interior design for homes, parties or anything else you can think of. This was a great tool to use for crafting a cool space in this new home.  We started with our own artwork and just freely pulled ideas from it.

We love the Olioboard that we created for the space, even though we already knew there was no way that size furniture could fit in the space. But it gave us a great starting point, then we rummaged through our own warehouse to pull the room together like so…

 and our art inspiration piece helped to make the room ‘cute’ family room.  The piece is titled ‘Clever Women are Dangerous’ which is the perfect title for this room now!

We loved the space and think it turned out really cute! The chevron rug was one that we made earlier in the year, and the lemongrass mirrors were a last minute DIY, using a few wooden mirrors and spraypaint.

Today’s post is a part of a monthly #Oliohop, featuring 10 selected bloggers who blog and tweet about the same topic on the same day. Learn more about OLIOBOARD and their free moodboard/inspiration tool – use it for your next home project! It doesn’t have to be for staging!

You are encourage to hop from one blog to the next via the links below.  This month, the featured topic is staging! Check out my fellow hoppers and their blog posts here!  And leave a comment if you like what you read above! Thanks for stopping…I mean hopping in!

Lisa Mende, Design

Frances Newman, As You Like It!

Stephanie Weeks, Interior Design HQ

Marilyn Russell, Design Magnifique 

Williams Sonoma Interior Designer Marketplace

Lynda Quintero Davids, Focal Point

Linda Merrill, Surroundings

Ronique Gibson, Stagetecture

Kristin Barnett, The Decorologist  

Don’t forget to follow Olioboard on Twitter and Facebook and YouTube too!

I often visit thrift stores often to find items to use in upcoming home staging projects to add character and life to my projects.  I am a big proponent of supporting local small businesses and stumbled on some wonderful gift items for men. Of course, these are items that could be easily displayed in a home or office, since that is my ‘industry’.   Check out a fewfindings from my recent trip to one of my favorite shops in NW Washington DC.

Barware – this pictured collection of bar ware, from glass brandy decanter, glass ice bucket  (with gold tongs) to the old school martini shaker are all great gifts for the man who appreciates fine brandy and a good cigar every now and then.  And tends to entertain from time to time.  Add some personalized low ball glasses and bar napkins and you’ve got yourself a gift!

Bust or statue  – Perfect for the classical music, jazz music  or history buff.   You never know whos statue you will find (Thomas jefferson? Paul Revere? Bach?) but as long as it is in good condition (no missing pieces or large scratches) you should be good to go! And it is the perfect gift that represents DC museums too!  Add in albums or CDs with the same genre of music (lots of thrift stores carry albums too) and another gift is completed. For the history buffs, a coffee table book to accompany the bust would be a great add as well.

Professional gifts – If you have a hard time purchasing gifts for the varied professionals on your list, you just may stumble on a great gift from the thrift store!  When I spied this marble scale, I thought it make a great gift for an attorney, judge or recent law school graduate on your list.   Keep your eyes open for all sorts of professional items, like judges gavels,  morter and pestle sets for doctors and nurses, and old school bells for teachers.

Some other items that I did not see on this visit but would make great gifts include  vintage maps, old black and white photographs, vintage alarm clocks, and valet stands in good condition.

Although I don’t recommend giving furniture as a gift, I just couldn’t resist taking a photo of this iron end table frame. Can’t you just see this with marble or granite top, sitting next to a leather recliner, or wing chair! It also has casters to make the piece functional as well as attractive. Perfect!

Don’t be a afraid to shop your local thrift store for holiday gifts!  You might not think of it as a place to shop but your local shop may have some  true gems just waiting to be discovered! And you will be supporting a small local business too!

(all pictures were taken at Ruff and Ready Furnishings in NW Washington DC).

Many times, new layouts in old homes can and do confuse new buyers – where would the sofa go? What about the television?  Where do we eat?  This is especially true in DC, where many times the row homes were built with walls and distinct functions per room, and then the developers and contractors remove the majority of the interior walls, giving the old home a new and open floor plan.

Home staging helps to answer tough design related questions for the potential buyers so that they can instantly see how they might live in the space. Below are some before and after pictures taken of a recently completed vacant staging project in NW DC, that really does give buyers a sense of a way to live in the space. After all, the easier it is to see themselves in the space, the easier it is to sell!

This is the main family room space, with the picture being taken from the kitchen/bar point of view. That is P street outside of the windows on a particularly sunny November morning.

Now is the after – you can see the sofa in the foreground with additional seating featured across the room. The picture also gives a sense of space in the room – there is a good amount of it!

Now for the Master bedroom – first is the before shot…the room sits just above the family room so the bay window feature is found in this room as well.

And the after picture has a bit more of the room, again giving a nice spatial sense of the room and how it could be pulled together.

You almost lose the sense that this bedroom is in the city – with the sun filtering through the tree and the blinds. This is a great example of what home staging can do for vacant properties – really help buyers get a sense of how to live in the space. no more guessing games and hopefully more offers! Let us know if we can do the same for YOUR properties!