Staging tips for the holidays!

          

Example of bad Christmas decorating during sale.                                                 Example of proper decorating during the sale of a home.

Christmas is a hard time of season to deal with as we work full time, have gifts to buy, parties to attend or host, and you may have added the sale of your home as well. Here are the top 5 tips for decorating your home so you can still enjoy the holiday as well as still appeal to potential buyers.

1) Think "Holiday festive" thank birth of Christ, Hanukkah, etc. you still want your decor to stay neutral so you appeal to the most amount of buyers. You want your decorative items to used to celebrate a holiday rather than a specific religion as Ottawa is multi cultural and we want to appeal to all religions.

2) Don't skip the Decluttering: when it comes to selling a home decluttering is a natural part of the process. Just because you may be in a time crunch because of the month don't skip this part as adding holiday decor to a home with out decluttering will be overwhelming. For every holiday decor piece you add remove one normal decor piece (or two if you have many decor pieces or collectibles)

3) Add comforting feelings: This is the BEST time of year to have baked cookies, cakes, cupcakes etc displayed and presented in a way that buyers want to enjoy the delicious treat! Because of the time of year you'll want to hit home with the potential buyers that their home could be just as cozy and comforting.

4) To tree or not to tree.....that is the question! Well if you can decorate the home in a festive way with out a tree i would say go for it. However if you have small children it will be hard to convince them that Santa will still be able to give gifts with out a tree. So when it comes to trees try and select one that is about two feet from the ceiling and as skinny as possible with out it looking top heavy. This will allow for more floor space to be shown off and give the appeal of a large floor home.

5) Curb appeal- You still need to attract buyers up into the home so don't put out anything large or what may be considered tacky by potential buyers. Hide giant blow up snowmen, reindeer, Santas, candy canes, snowflakes, or even lots of flashing lights. Opt in for the simple look as when it comes to selling "LESS is MORE" simple white lights lining the roof peaks, walk ways and large attractive windows (Note: if your window's need replacing or look rough don't highlight them with lighting)

 Now your ready to sell this winter season or maybe even decorate your home in a way that will appeal to everyone!

if you have any holiday decorating or staging questions please do not hesitate to call me!

Kristy Morrison
Capital Home Staging & Design
(613) 832-8958 / info@chsd.ca
www.CapitalHomeStagingAndDesign.ca
@OttawaStager + @CapitalHStaging

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2011 / 2012 paint Colour trends

According to the Ottawa Sun's article this weekend Sico paints and their Colour experts say their are three trend themes to look out for. They called them Inviting, Authentic, and Dazzling.

Inviting is the trend to make the house feel homey & comfortable. This is colours that remind them of familiar things that make them happy. Such as "clear sky's" (blue) "juicy fruits" (red) "strawberry & violet" (mauve) "sunny fields" (yellow) and shades of coral, moss green and lavenders. These colours are informal, relaxed, and allows home owners to cherish their home.

Authentic is very earthy and full of timeless beauty with wood, clay, earth and denim tones. Here less is more. Popular colours included sand, cream, blue, brown, yellow. These tones are supposed to relax and have a pleasing feeling.

Dazzling is energetic of clean pastels and zingy tints these colours are hot pink, brilliant yellow, lime green, turquoise. Thank goodness they said these colours are BEST applied as an accent wall or Colour blocked to a neutral Colour.

Now that i have read the article and see their predictions for Colour trends all i have to say from a stagers point of view is "I sure hope not!!!!" inviting and authentic colour's can be quite attractive for living (never for sale) Of all of my Colour consultations I have NEVER done a consultation where the owners requested the new trends nore have I recommended to do the new trends....why....well TRENDS CHANGE and that's every year! So unless you have so much disposable income your can paint your home every year I don't suggest a "trend" design. When we do a Colour consultation we talk with the client about colours they like and dislike and come up with a plan using those colours our clients like. Now with that said we also make suggestions as to thinking outside the box but the choice is ultimately up to our clients! What do you think of the new Colour tends coming up? Which set would you choose? Kristy Morrison
Capital Home Staging & Design
613 832-8958 / info@chsd.ca Sent from my iPad

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Free Hugs Campaign - Official Page (music by Sick Puppies.net )

We all need to open up a little. :)

Kristy Morrison
Capital Home Staging & Design
613 832-8958 / info@chsd.ca Sent from my iPad

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How to sell your home around Halloween with out scaring buyers away!!

Selling your home near Halloween can be SCARY!.....
You have to keep in mind your Halloween decor while selling your home. Buyers will not appreciate going up to a home that scares them till next week! Their is a way to decorate your home for Halloween so your kids can still enjoy the fun but you don't scare away potential buyers! Here are a few tips.....

1) Go for "PG" rated think kids and don't go over the top (this year)
2) Reduce the amount of exterior scare, no cobwebs, spiders, things that jump out you want buyers to WANT to enter the home not run away screaming.
3) Interior should have festive small pumpkins, gourds, arranged decoratively, you can even get the kids to paint fun faces on the mini pumpkins. This is more fun, cute and definitely won't scare buyers away!

It only takes one time to scare away a buyer do you really want to take that chance over a 1 day kids holiday?? Kristy Morrison
Capital Home Staging & Design
613 832-8958 / info@chsd.ca Sent from my iPad

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What is the best secret weapon for any business???? Business Coach!

Plain and simple.......an amazing business coach!
A business coach will evaluate where you stand in your industry what you are doing well and what you can improve on as well as help you think outside the box and create ways to draw attention to your business!

Working day in and day out in your business or on your business can wear you down mentally so your "creative" aspects can not shine and eventually....in a worst case scenario you let things slide and become an after thought which is the WORST thing for your business.....becoming an after thought. In my company being TOMA (top of mind always) is very important to me for Capital Home Staging & Design which is why I love working with and having our weekly coaching meetings Mary Anne Gillispie of "Red Apple Coaching" MAG is high energy, honest, creative, and inspiring to me as a business owner! One of the greatest ideas thought up by MAG was an alternate world in a space that appears to be normal.......a fully staged tent in the middle of a golf course at a local golf tournament! I thought of sponsoring a golf hole before but how can I make it memorable???.......well this definitely made it memorable! I was able to bring out couches, accessories, art, rugs, lamps, tables, food etc and having this on my sponsored hole where I was able to meet some great real estate agents that I hope to develop a strong business relationship with!

MAG knows that I have big plans for my company and I am confident that with her on my right arm I can stay focused and obtain my short and long term goals. It is important to have someone there you can talk to, count on and brainstorm with! So, if you are in business whether you are an agent, stager, mortgage broker etc who has their own business and you want to stay focused or even obtain help with goal setting or thinking outside the box then call MAG at RED APPLE COACHING. You will not regret it!! http://www.redapplecoaching.ca/

Kristy Morrison
Capital Home Staging & Design
613 832-8958 / info@chsd.ca Sent from my iPad

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Why Painting prior to sale is important...Capital Home Staging & Design, Ottawa ontario

Have you ever wondered why it is suggested to paint a house prior to sale? your selling it anyways so what\'s the point??  Well if you like money in your pocket and not left on the table when it comes to selling read on.....

Painting a house in most cases is an excellent investment of time, money and effort. Everyone in this whole world is different, we all have likes, dislikes, beliefs, and religions so why do you think everyone will like YOUR house the way YOU have it decorated? As a professional stager it is our job to help clients neutralize the home so it appeals to the most amount of buyers in the least amount of time as well as help the clients maximize the value of the home.....now how can you maximize the value of the home you say well there are many different factors that we can assess and help you out with but let\'s start with PAINT.

1) Neutral Colours:
As mentioned everyone is different so do you think your pastel painted house will appeal to buyers who like dark rich colours or even vice versa?? No they wont and they will feel that they have to paint it BEFORE they move in because the just cant live like that.....When it comes to selling a home keep it neutral which is earthy tones. You can have some "colour" but it\'s harder to pull off with out assessing the home tans, creams, beige, taupe, brown-grey, etc are all colours that would appeal to the "majority" of buyers. FUN NOTE: Did you know that brown is made by mixing all of the colours together which is easy on the eyes which in lighter shades allows people to like the colour more widely!

2) New paint is CRISP & CLEAN
Buyers LOVE to have a crisp, clean home that feels fresh and inviting. Paint has a hard job standing up to us and life with all of our traffic of coming and going, our kids, our pets and the weather and light bleaching. All of these factors can easily make paint feel old, tired, and sad which makes the whole home feel that way too. New paint is new life and buyers love when it feels fresh.

3) Eliminates any odours
Odour is the #1 thing that buyers pay attention to and odours come from may things, smoking, pets, cooking, even crafts of making soaps. This can put off buyers so painting the walls will help eliminate any odours present.

There are 3 strong and very important factors as to why you should paint your home prior to sale.

Capital Home Staging & Design
Putting Capital Back Into Your Home
 

Kristy Morrison

Property Stylist & CEO

613-832-8958

www.CapitalHomeStagingAndDesign.ca

 

-RESA Rookie of the year finalist (2009 & 2010) for all of North America

-BBB Torch Award Winner for Marketplace Ethics.

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Fake furniture for staging? Capital Home Staging & Design, Ottawa

An AMAZING alternative for quick stagings of small low-medium priced properties!! Next stage furniture is a US company and this invention is genius....Because I loved the idea of having options for my clients I JUMPED on this idea and was the FIRST company to bring in an option to our Ottawa clients!!

Above you can see the corrugated cardboard pieces of furniture assembled and dressed up with accessories so it looks like a regular functioning couch.....and YES you can sit on it as this unit can hold up to 1000lbs but unfortunately can't with stand the wrath of little jumping kids! Lol

One property we staged with this inventory received $40,000 over the original asking price!!

This is an excellent opportunity to stage a home on a budget!


Kristy Morrison
Capital Home Staging & Design
613  832-8958 / info@chsd.ca
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