Here’s a money saving home staging tip: hire a professional home stager for a home staging consultation and then do the recommended work yourself.

By calling Moving Mountains Design for an occupied house staging consultation, you’ll get expert advice and house selling tips at an affordable price:

1. Verbal Home Staging Consultation – We’ll walk through your home , inside and out,  and discuss the work that needs to be done to get your home in market ready condition. We can make paint color recommendations, suggest the optimal furniture layout and discuss what items need to be pre-packed or donated. You can ask any questions, show us carpet samples and paint chips you may have picked up. You take all the notes. Do the suggested work on your own schedule.
2. Comprehensive Home Staging Consultation – We walk through your home with you (including exteriors) and outline the work that needs to be done to get your home in top market ready condition, same as above.  Afterwards, I’ll email you your  custom and very specific comprehensive home staging consultation report. Your report will contain all the recommended changes and tasks that we discussed. In addition, I’ll include information about how to prepare for open houses and showings, how to stage your closets, how to stage your garden, how to stage your garage, and how to stage your kitchen cabinets. Once again you save money by doing the recommended work yourself.

Once you’ve completed all or part of the suggestions in your Home Staging Consultation, the Moving Mountains Design team will come in and complete any portion of the work you would like. Our services are completely a la carte. The more work you do yourself, the more money you will save. 

 Here’s what a recent Pasadena home staging consultation client had to say:

…The best decision we made in this whole process was hiring you. It’s no exaggeration to say that we couldn’t have gotten any of this done without you — we didn’t even know where to begin.

We also offer cost-effective interior design, decorating or redesign consultations. Many homeowners are not planning on moving in the near future, but want to redecorate or refresh their current interior decorating. Once again, you can do all the work yourself, do some of the work and hire us to complete the project or hire us to complete your project while you put your feet up and relax. We can handle everything from light redecorating to full-on kitchen and bath remodels (we only work with licensed and insured contractors and sub-contractors!)

To schedule a home staging consultation appointment, call (626)441-8975 or send me an email at Michelle@MovingMountainsDesign.com.

Moving Mountains Design – We know what makes homes sell!™

Well, they say if you hang around long enough you’ll get to see everything at least once so here it is. Diamond Foam and Fabric is having a big parking lot sale.

Fabric sale date & time: October 22,23 & 24, 2010 from 9:00 AM-5:00PM

Where: Diamond Foam & Fabric, 611 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles. Just South of 6th Street, across the street from La Brea Bakery (I highly suggest you grab a sandwich and some of their delicious bread).

In case you didn’t know, Diamond Foam and Fabric is a fantastic warehouse of gorgeous designer upholstery fabrics.

They also carry silks, velvets, leather and a huge assortment of Sunbrella and outdoor fabrics. I shop Diamond Fabric first (before the Pacific Design Center showrooms) for my interior decorating and home staging clients. On any given day you will see Los Angeles’ top interior designers (or their assistants), stylists, fashion designers, set decorators and movie stars shopping for the latest and greatest in fabric. All the fabric is sold “off the bolt”, so no waiting 16 weeks for it to be shipped from Italy.

So if you’ve been putting off reupholstering your sofa, recovering your throw pillows, or replacing the ratty old sheet covering your bedroom window, now’s your chance to pick up some beautiful interior designer fabrics without the interior designer prices.

See you there!

Sierra Madre Master Bath Before Staging Remodel

Sierra Madre Master Bath After Staging/Remodel

The homeowner used a left-over piece of granite from the kitchen remodel for the bathroom counter. New floor tile was also installed. In addition, a closet was removed which made the bathroom feel much larger.

Sierra Madre Master Bath Shower Before Staging/Remodel

(Drumroll for the new shower, please)

Isn’t that an amazing bathroom transformation?

I think the homeowners did a fantastic job with this bathroom transformation. I provided the guidance and design suggestions. The clients hired their own contractor and purchased the supplies. Once the work was finished, we came in and added finishing touches for the staging.

Because Moving Mountains Design is also a full service Interior Design company, we have he knowledge and resources to assist our clients on projects such as bathroom and kitchen remodels. Before you hire a home stager, make sure they are qualified and have the resources to help you prepare your home for market.

Its available as a print catalog or an online catalog here.

Why is this such a valuable resource for Los Angeles home stagers, real estate agents and remodelers? They have pretty much everything you could possibly need to handle missing parts and pieces for a vintage or older home.

Home stagers and listing agents are often asked to repair or replace missing cabinet and drawer pulls, switch plates or light fixtures from the older homes they stage or list.

Here’s just a small sampling of what they offer.

Their prices are very reasonable. Check VanDyke’s Restorers for your home staging, remodeling, real estate restoration or flipping needs.

Here’s a list of my tips for making a small home feel larger. You can use these tips whether you are staging your home to sell or if you are planning to stay, but just need some help dealing with smaller rooms. These tips will work with either vacant or occupied homes:

1. Pare down what you need to have in a smaller room to the essentials. Do you really need a chair in your bedroom, or can you sit on the bed to put your shoes on?

2. Clutter makes a room feel smaller. Lots of smaller items, like your Hummel collection or your bowling trophies displayed on every horizontal surface, eat up visual space. Only display 3-5 items at a time. Store the rest and rotate them out of storage throughout the year. Not only will the room feel larger, but each item displayed will stand out more.

3. Use fewer pieces of furniture. Its better to have one larger dresser than 2 smaller ones.

4. Use appropriately sized furniture. Having a large sectional in a small family room will highlight how small the room is.

5. Cooler colors recede, so painting a room a pale blue, green or gray will make it feel larger.

6. Show more hardwood. The larger the expanse of hardwood, the larger the room will look. See how the room looks without an area rug.

7. Try using one larger area rug instead of several smaller rugs.

8. Use fewer patterns on upholstery and bedding. For instance, use a solid color blanket or bedspread on a bed in a small bedroom to make the room feel larger.

9. Strategically placed mirrors make a room feel larger.

10. A well lit room feels larger.

11. Minimize window treatments. The simpler the better. Shutters, blinds or simple drapes (no flounces, ruffles, strong patterns or complicated valences) take up less “visual space”.

These home staging tips work if you are staging to sell or just want to make the home you are living in feel larger.

If you need some help figuring out how to make your home feel larger, consider hiring us for a home staging consultation. You’ll get some expert home staging and interior design tips from the Real Estate Staging Association 2010 Professional Stager of the Year. Prices start at $250 for a verbal consultation or $350 for a comprehensive written consultation. Its the best “bang for your buck” and it’s a great investment in preparing your home for sale, or making your home more livable if you are planning to stay.