Sharon Roark A Home Staging Realtor in Lexington KY

Home staging in Lexington KY continues to pay off for both me and my clients.

After 58 days on the market (exactly half the 116-day average for similarly-priced homes located within a mile of this home in Lexington KY) this slightly dated but otherwise beautiful Lexington KY home went under contract and is now scheduled to close in 2 weeks.

The staging of this homewas a challenge, both because it was vacant at the time of staging and because I was on a very limited budget. My assistant and I scoured Craigslist, yard sales and our garages for enough furnishings and accessories to show off the benefits of this large home, which had some great features but was being overshadowed by things like dated light fixtures and some other personal design choices that didn't necessarily appeal to most mainstream buyers.

With the support of the sellers, we painted the blue kitchen (blue should never be used in a kitchen or dining room -- it's been shown to diminish the appetite) a neutral tan color, replaced a few light fixtures and furnished all the rooms on the main floor, as well as the master suite. We accented with lots of live plants, along with apples and limes in the kitchen, and made sure the first rooms buyers saw were light, bright and updated.

The last home that sold on this street sat on the market for 239 days and sold for $5,000 less, despite the fact that it had a fully finished, walk-out basement and an additional full bath (our home had a partially finished, pit basement with no additional bathroom). Both homes were unoccupied while on the market, so in addition to selling for less, the neighboring house accrued 8 months worth of mortgage payments and utility bills, a total I estimate to be, conservatively, about $12,000.

Our sellers are happy because they're now free to build their dream home in another state. The buyers are happy because they're getting a great home that passed the inspection with flying colors.

While I consider the sale of this home a staging success story, it's also a great example of how important it is to price a home properly. Initially, the sellers decided to price the home $10,000 higher than my CMA indicated would be fair market value for this home. For the first 30 days, we had a good amount of activity, but no offers.

After bringing the price to market value, we had two parties seriously considering an offer within 2 weeks and had an offer on the table within 3 weeks of the price adjustment.

This kitchen was originally peacock blue. We painted it a light tan, using a slightly deeper shade below the chair rail in the breakfast area.

The cherry cabinets look beautiful now, but originally had quite a few scuff marks. The Mr.Clean eraser helped take care of the scuffs and we touched up any deeper scratches with a can of matching stain.

The windows were highlighted with valances to soften the windows (the great view is highlighted but not obscured).

The gray paint throughout most of the first floor was a challenge, but since the paint was a fairly recent addition, we felt we had no choice but to work with it. The carpet was beige/tan, so we needed to bring together the grays and tans with something that could warm up the room. The accent pillows and rug both contained chocolate brown and gray and helped bring the room together.

The table set in the living room was purchased for $60 off of Craigslist. The tables were originally brass -- we painted them a deep brown which complimented the other furniture and other accessories in the room.

The mirror over the sofa was originally gold. We painted the frame a deep brown with a light brush of metallic bronze to highlight the detail work.

The family room originally had a brass/oak ceiling fan with no light fixture. The updated ceiling fan/light fixture helped to brighten the room. We got a set of six lamps on clearance (and with a coupon!) from Home Depot for $60 -- four of which we placed in the family room. The sofa is was an existing one that we slipcovered and the chairs came from Value City (my local Value City gives me a 10% discount and free delivery -- make sure you ask your local furniture stores for a "home stager's discount".

Being on such a tight budget, we weren't able to afford quite as many accessories as I would have liked, but the room still came across as bright, updated and welcoming.

The angle of the light in the master bedroom made the colors seem a little washed out in the photos -- in real life, the colors were very rich.

The comforter set was $42 from Family Dollar store -- the matching window panels were $10/set. We added a bedskirt the homeowner had left over along with some big square pillows we covered with matching gold Euro-shams.

We got the headboard for $10 at Goodwill -- we upholstered it in a nicely textured sage green fabric we got on sale for $10/yard and covered the $8 side tables with it.

The metallic art pieces over the bed were on clearance at Big Lots for $2/each. They were originally gold & orange. We painted them a deep metallic brown with bronze highlights. We painted a pair of brass lamps the homeowners were leaving behind.