Beverly Carlson

After having staged a few houses 35 of them since 2007, but whose counting?! I picked this before and after as my favoite before and after for now.

This is a sun room bonus room living area before. As you can see it was being used for exercise, except as you may expect not much exercise really got accomplished in the space.

Here are the before and afters. See what you think. I think you will see a difference!!

BEFORE FULL OF EXERCISE EQUIPMENT.

AFTER, SUN ROOM FULL OF DELIGHT!

With cooler weather, it's time to make hot chocolate and enjoy warmth of the fire in the fireplace. Staging the Fireplace when the house is for sale makes the Fireplace a desirable selling feature of the home. Nothing is more appealing than warm firelight on a blustery day.

This fireplace is in the dining area and the place for romantic firelit dinners.

PLAIN JANE BEFORE STAGING!

BEING STAGED

Staging Complete:

More Fireplace Staged Photos!

FIREPLACE STAGED!

ANOTHER FIREPLACE BEFORE STAGING:

AFTER STAGING! WHAT A CONTRAST!

This fireplace is in a modest three bedroom home that could have benefited from an updated fireplace screen, but hey, the house is sold!!!! A fireplace is a natural focal point of a living room and should be shown to be staged even in the off season, too hot for a fire in the fireplace. Here on the mantel of this fireplace are two battery operated candles perfectly safe to add a little "fire lit" image. In staging the fireplace to sell, no personal photos, trophies, stuffed animal heads are necessary. Use an odd number to dress a mantle such as three objects on the fireplace mantle is a good number. You will want the fireplace to look inviting but not cluttered. If in doubt take one object back away one object at a time until you are satisfied with the look. Of course one person's cozy is another person's cluttered. In staging, error on the streamlined side!

When you're ready to sell for results, call Abilene's most experienced home stager and Accredited Staging Professional and licensed REALTOR at 325-721-2429.

Anybody else noticed that one day it was Halloween and the next day it was Christmas in all the stores?

I have three houses with staging in them, one of them is under contract, yippee! I have a lot of pumpkins in one, real ones, fake ones, little ones, big ones, okay okay I got a little carried away! The table setting in one is even orange and black. Now that it's seem the right time to bring out Christmas decor, the orange just doesn't feel right.

Thus, I did it. I brought out some Christmas decor and added Christmas to one house. I feel like maybe I am letting Thanksgiving down. Thanksgiving is all about pumpkin pie, so whats this uneasy feeling with all the orange. Is there some sort of genetic decor DNA that says the time for orange is past and one must now put out something that looks a little more like Christmas. First the fireplace got warmed up with candles.

Second the living and master got red accent pillows.

Third red glass candle holders went on the breakfast bar.

The nice thing about staging, the magic is that a little accent goes a long ways.

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Lets admit it, there's nothing too exciting about vacant homes. The other day I was in a vacant home that actually echoed, it was spooky and wasn't even Friday the 13th or Halloween.

This most recent house that I staged for another Realtor is a newer 2 story home with great curb appeal, but was vanilla bland inside. I think I helped it a bit at least enough for a contract! The owner recently changed the kitchen counters to granite which helped immensely as well.

EXTERIOR PHOTO

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ANOTHER EXTERIOR PHOTO

THESE VACANT ROOMS WERE VANILLA BLAND AND BORRR...ING IN DIRECT CONTRAST TO THE CHARMING APPEAL OF THE ROSY TWO STORY BRICK EXTERIOR.

LIVING

DINING

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AFTER STAGING LIVING/DINING Photo from 2nd fl.

Dining Room After Staging.

BEDROOM BEFORE:

MASTER BEDROOM & BATH AFTER STAGING

No longer tired and boring, this staged home appealed to a buyer to make offer and house is under contract. Staging seems to have worked and took bland to beautiful. For a free consultation on what will help your home sell, Call Beverly Carlson at 325-721-2429.

To see more staged homes in Abilene, go to www.stagedhomes.com and look at staged properties by typing in "Abilene." Staged homes sell faster in a slow market and outshine the competition.

Staging is not decorating as decorating is about personal taste. Staging is to have broad appeal to the most buyers. An investment in staging will save you money in price reductions and seller conscessions.