Home And Garden Articles

Home Stager to The Stars? Beth Ann Shepherd Reveals ?Top Ten Tips for Staging Your Home to Sell?

Los Angeles (PRWEB) July 16, 2007 -- ?Home Stager to the Stars? Beth Ann Shepherd, President of the luxury home staging company Dressed to Close (www.DressedtoClose.com), knows a thing or two when it comes to best positioning a home for sale. Celebrities such as the Black Eyed Peas? Fergie, Velvet Revolver rocker Slash, actors Josh Duhamel, Greg Kinnear and Christina Ricci are all clamoring to Shepherd and her Los Angeles five-star company for exquisite interior and exterior designs to add perceived value, dramatically increase sale price and greatly reduce the time their home is on the market.

?We see hundreds of homes each year and are acutely aware of what sells and what does not,? said Shepherd. ?Designing a sellable home is different than designing a practical home. We have identified certain elements that create a perception of brilliance and success in the home. Likewise, we have identified certain elements that decrease the perceived value of a home. Dressed to Close eliminates the negative and incorporates brilliance to bring a home to its finest potential.?

Shepherd doesn?t want to keep all this brilliance to herself however. Below she offers her ?Top Ten Tips for Staging Your Home to Sell? in an effort to provide homeowners and sellers with a highly viable solution in this increasingly sluggish real estate market.

1. Glamorize your curb appeal.

? Whether it is all new sod, fresh landscaping, new exterior design, landscaping lights, or something as simple as an updated, modern front door and handle, curb appeal is paramount to getting buyers through the front door.

2. Make a memorable entrance.

? The minute a potential buyer walks in the door, they should think ?looks good, sounds good, and smells good.? Put an oversized mirror in your entry (people love to look at themselves) or a dramatic piece of artwork. Fresh flowers and scented candles go a long way for this first impression.

3. Refresh old or worn attributes of the home.

? If you have hardwood floors, have them sanded and restained in a darker colour (dark wood floors are more popular than ever and quickly add drama to a home). If you have carpet, have it steam cleaned or replaced with a light taupe berber (which is appealing to most people and makes the room actually appear larger). If you have stone floors, have them pressure cleaned.

4. Make furniture inobtrusive.

? Open your mind to new furniture layouts. Remember, the fireplace does not always have to be the focus of your seating area. A lanai, beachfront or pool area may be more pleasing to the eye.

5. Modernize your kitchen with stainless steel appliances.

? A stainless steel refrigerator, stove top and dishwasher go a long way to quickly updating your home for the sale. Stainless steel appliances immediately add perceived value. If you have the room, add a glass-front wine cooler.

6. Get the ?five-star? hotel look in your bathroom.

? Everyone loves to go on vacation, therefore, bring the same thick, white, luxury hotel towels into your home bathrooms. Always have the thickest towels on your racks and have two hand towels carefully placed next to each sink. A wood tray with infused scented reeds or scented candles, beautiful bathroom cotton-ball, as well as a Q-Tip, holder (with cotton and Q-Tips of course) are delightful in projecting the ?five-star hotel? look.

7. Clean, re-configure and reorganize closets.

? Professionally built-out closets add value to your home. No one, including Prince, wants to look at your clothes from 1999. Your closets should ?look good, smell good and sound good.? Have closets only ½ filled to capacity. Have all your shoes on racks and nothing on the floor. If your closets are scraped up or dingy, paint them white. Put cedar blocks for scent and always, always have matching wood hangars for every item of clothing. Again, you are projecting a lifestyle of organization and great success.

8. Look at your master bedroom like a luxury hotel suite.

? You only need a few items to impress. Thick white sheets and pillows. Thick white duvet and duvet cover. A nice tray with a couple reading books. Scented reed diffusers (or scented candles). A nice warm colour on the walls. One plant to reach the ceiling (adds perceived height to any room) and, if room, a nice chair with reading light in the corner or a sofa seating area. No clutter, no photographs, no notes, no pens or pencils. Nothing except what you would find in a luxury hotel suite.

9. Ensure the ?sounds good? aspect of selling a home is omnipresent.

? Hook your IPod up to inexpensive wireless speakers casually placed throughout the house and have Frank Sinatra?s Greatest Hits playing during open house and viewings. I strongly recommend you invest in at least one plasma television. If possible, one for the main TV-watching area and one for the master bedroom. You will get your money back in the sale of the home. Plasma televisions immediately tell the buyers this is a modernized, updated ?impressive? home which will be perceived as more valuable.

10. Add perceived square footage by dramatizing what outdoor areas you do have.

? If you have a small patio, put an oversized leaning mirror on the back wall to double the size and place a café table with two chairs, two placemats and colourful napkins with interesting napkin holders. If possible, hang a candle-light chandelier or an outdoor light above the table. If you have a larger area, create an outdoor living room with eating area. Customized outdoor sofas, modular sectionals and chairs are optimal. Outdoor living rooms are impressive to buyers and add to the perceived value. Add outdoor pillows for colour. Purchase extra-long white sheer mesh draperies and install rods around your trellises or outdoor area for that billowy drapery feeling found only in exclusive resort hotels throughout the world. This is a dynamic, fast way to provide the MAJOR WOW needed to sell your home higher and faster.

About Dressed to Close

In an effort to best serve the luxury real estate market, Dressed to Close (www.DressedtoClose.com) offers a five-star service for homeowners, as well as real estate agents, using fine interior and exterior design to increase the sale price and reduce the time a home is on the market.

In addition to staging, Dressed to Close offers value-added marketing services to increase selling potential; architectural photography, web pages, brochures, direct mail campaigns, and more can be developed to best market a property.

For inquiries, please contact 310.556.0418.

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