Project 1 | The Devil's in the Details
136 Ordnance Street
Client | Investor, owner
Agent | Jeri Mooney, Royal LePage ProAlliance Realty
The Challenge | Small, vacant rooms and awkward upstairs landing. This semi in downtown Kingston had been renovated, rented and now was vacant. In what was expected to be a slower market, the client did not wish to incur extended rental costs for staging props. She was, however, willing to let us use beautiful furnishings and original art from her own home and a few things borrowed from friends to complete the work.
Solution | We had paint touch-ups done and 'shopped' the client's home for items to use in staging. We had the client hire movers to bring in the heavier pieces of furniture. Picking up on the bright colours in the art, we pulled hits of red throughout to create a sense of continuity and flow between the rooms. We accessorized fully from our inventory for the photo shoot by David Bell of Bell Photo. Subsequently, to meet the client's budget constraints, we removed some of the small prop's we had brought in. This left the rooms furnished, but without the staging of lifestyle suggestions and with some less suitable furniture pieces.
Result | The house went on the market in February, 2009. It sold in 75 days for 94% of asking price.
Lessons Learned | Staging is more than simply furnishing a home. Because buying decisions always involve an emotional component, proper staging needs touches to create warmth, stir buyer's imaginations and tug their heartstrings. Now I recommend leaving a less important room unstaged instead of omitting the necessary lifestyle selling touches from the main rooms.
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