Michelle Minch Home Staging Los Angeles & Pasadena, CA

My client got a 1000% return on her investment of a paid home staging consultation!

A few days ago, my assistant Terri and I went to do a home staging consultation on a nice two story home in Sunland, CA. I talk and Terri takes notes and measurements. The homeowner showed us around the main floor, and we discussed the necessary repairs and improvements she and her husband were planning to do.

We went upstairs, and as she was showing us around, I suggested that she might want to freshen the high-quality creamy beige carpet covering the entire second floor, by having it steam cleaned. The carpet was not obviously soiled, and there were no visible stains (this woman was an amazing home-maker, even with a very energetic 3 yr. old son) but I knew once we removed the furniture steam cleaning would be in order. She told me that they thought they were going to have to replace the carpet (to the tune of $3,500). After looking at the carpet again - and I should add that they take off their shoes before they walk on the carpet - I told her, in my professional opinion, the carpet was in wonderful condition and that they wouldn't have to spend that $3,500.

Needless to say, she was thrilled to save the money, which she will be able to spend decorating her new home. The consultation cost $350, so she wound up saving 10X the cost of the consultation or $3,500. She also got a 7 page written consultation to use as a road map to help get her home ready to put on the market.

I don't know about you, but I would be thrilled to get a 1,000% return on my investments. Heck, I'd be happy with 10%! I'm not saying that you will save that kind of money every time you hire a professional home stager, but a good professional home stager will be very knowledgable about what does and does not need to be done to get a home ready to put on the market.

Paying for a home staging consultation may be the best money you spend before you put your home on the market.

Moving Mountains Design & Staging is a full service home staging and interior design company in Pasadena, CA. We offer comprehensive home staging consultations to help you get your home in tip-top shape and ready for market. Don't settle for second best. Hire the company with a great track record of helping to sell homes faster and for the best price and the statistics and referrals from happy clients to back it up. Call us today to arrange for your comprehensive home staging consultation (626)441-8975 or visit our web site at www.MovingMountainsDesign.com.

Copyright 2008 Moving Mountains Design. All rights reserved.

If there were such an award, I think I would have a pretty good crack at it, although my friend Jo Potvin of Design to Market in Cincinnati, OH would give me a run for my money (Take a Peak at our Warehouse). My company, Moving Mountains Design & Home Staging, outgrew our previous location - my guest house and carport. It took me a while to find it, but on December 15, 2007 I leased a warehouse in Arcadia, CA. It was about 1,100 sq. ft. to start with, and I added (well, I paid a contractor to do it) another 400 or so sq. ft. mezzanine to increase available storage.

Beside the fact that we were bursting at the seams, I wanted to be able to increase my inventory. I currently own enough inventory for about 10 houses. With the new space and high ceilings, we can expand that to 15-20 houses.

Here is what the space looked like before we moved in:

The previous tenant restored classic cars here.

OK, so here are the "after" photos. Keep in mind, we are still moving in, but things are developing nicely.

This is "the greenhouse" (left) and lamps r us (right)

We fondly refer to this (up on the mezzanine) to Pillowland & Bed, Bath & ...well, you know the rest! I have tried to incorporate a tabletop in each section for sorting the things we want to use in a particular staging, and the things we are returning to inventory. Right now we have the luxury of space, so we can afford to have empty horizontal surfaces. I keep all my bedding, towels & throw pillows in plastic tubs to help keep them clean, together & for ease of grabbing and going. I may change this once we are entirely moved in, to have the throw pillows displayed openly, for ease of selection.

This area is where we store all the accessories, fake food, etc. We call it "wonderland".

We are still working out storage options for artwork, furniture (I mostly rent large pieces, but do stock smaller items or items I can't find a rental source for) and the rugs. I have a feeling palette racking is in my future. I'll post some more photos when we are finished.

UPDATE: I found my warehouse on www.loopnet.com a website where commercial REAs advertise their listings. We signed a 3 year lease. If we need more space, we will either expand the mezzanine or lease another unit, if one is available in the same complex. We are paying $1.10/sq. ft./month.

(c)2008 Moving Mountains Design

DOM= less than one. Yep, its true. My crew and I staged a cute, vacant California Cottage in Silverlake, CA (a suburb of Los Angeles) on the Thursday before Christmas. We finished staging at about 5 PM. The homeowner (our client) was thrilled with the result. I wanted to come back the next day to bring a couple more throw pillows that I thought would be the perfect finishing touch on the window seat. I was informed by the Listing Agent that she had 3 showings scheduled the next morning so we would have to come after 12 noon. The first man who saw the house liked it so much, that he wanted to bring his wife back right away. She immediately fell in love with it and they made a full price offer.

Dining Room Before Staging Dining Room After Staging

Living room before and after staging

We fondly refer to it as the Hollywood Hills Hipster House. A previous owner had been a fashion designer and an artist had been the last tenant. The current owner was also an artist (sculptor and installation artist). The house definitely had a certain playful artistic flair. There were stained glass & bronze Moroccan lanterns in the living room and master bedroom. The kitchen was painted black & white with a black and white checkerboard tile floor.

Keeping in mind that the potential buyer of this very nice and very quirky home would be someone who embraced the "Hollywood Hills/Silverlake lifestyle", we toned down some of the more "out there" elements while embracing the more interesting ones.

We used the accent color of orange throughout the kitchen which played very nicely off of the black & white

In the master bedroom, the two hanging Moroccan lanterns dictated the placement of the bed and precluded the use of table lamps on either side of the bed.

The pillows on the bed & the wall hanging over the bed were purchased specifically for this job to keep the eclectic/ethnic flow throughout the house. The Persian rug really tied it all together.

One of the biggest challenges this project presented was a small bedroom that had almost wall to wall shelves, the interiors of which were painted Robin's Egg Blue.

I decided to play up the blue interior of the bookshelf instead of trying to mask it. We covered all the books with white wrapping paper so that they would look more like art objects.

I am honored to have been nominated as RESA Professional Stager of the Year 2007. Voting is open to the public. You may vote for me here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "vote now". Then just click on the circle next to my name (Michelle Minch;-)) and click "vote".

Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Michelle Minch, President of Moving Mountains Design, located in Pasadena, CA, is the RESA Regional VP for California, Nevada and Hawaii. We specialize in staging homes in Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, and Los Angeles. Contact Michelle to learn how our staging & marketing expertise can help you sell your listing or home faster and for more money (626)441-8975.

Moving Mountains Design was recently hired to stage a $5.78 million home in San Marino, CA. The home, built in 1926, was design by Roland E. Coate, a noted California architect. This Spanish Colonial home had not been on the market since the early 1950's. It did not appear that any upgrades had been undertaken during that time. Showing buyers the true potential of this home was not easy, but we were up to the task.

The seller accepted one of multiple offers 10 days after the home was staged. Escrow is set to close next week.

Escrow has closed, and the sale was recorded by the Tax Assessor - $5.78 million SP%LP=100%!

The rooms were huge. The Persian rug in the living room was 12'x15' and there was still a very generous border of hardwood surrounding it.

Here is a photo of the living room before. Sorry I don't have any photos of exactly the same angle. The hardwood floors were refinished and the room painted before staging. Also we replaced all the light bulbs to a higher wattage daylight balancing light bulb to make the room appear warmer and brighter to the eye.

The ballroom size Dining Room was so long, we put two identical dining tables together to create one 12' long table, which wasn't dwarfed by the room. The Persian rug in this room was a "palace size" 22'long x 12'wide.

Here is a before photo of the dining room. It is the opposite angle from the after photo.

Moving Mountains Design is the premiere home staging company serving Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, South Pasadena, Alhambra and the San Gabriel Valley. From Condos to Cottages to Castles, we know what makes homes sell.

I recently blogged about my experiences staging a 7,800 sq. ft. home in Arcadia, CA, The Homeowner Raised the Listing Price $200,000 AFTER STAGING!!! . This was a beautiful house - I was very lucky to have such a great canvas to work with. Here are some Before and After photos:

Living Room Before and After (above)

Office Before and After (above)

Loft Sitting Area Before and After (above) (A vertical picture would have been better, but this was all I had left at this point)

Dining Room Before and After

Den Before and After

Moving Mountains Design is a full service Home Staging and Interior Design Corporation located in Pasadena, CA. We specialize in staging vacant homes in Pasadena, Arcadia, San Marino, La Canada/Flintridge and San Gabriel.