On December 29, we staged a lovely owner-occupied house in Rosemead, CA. This Rosemead house has a great floorplan and flow with a very high ceiling in the livingroom, lots of windows and space. The homeowner hired us for a home staging consultation a few weeks ago so that she & her husband would have enough time to complete the necessary work. The home has been freshly painted and is sparkling clean. The kitchen and bathroom all have granite counters.

I’m so impressed with what a great job the homeowners did following my home staging consultation instructions. Many items went into storage to be moved into their new home, after this home is sold. We worked with a combination of the homeowner’s own furniture and rental furniture. In addition, we brought in lots of artwork, accessories, lamps and silk plants. Since the family will continue to live in the home while it is on the market, we purchased new bedding and linens for them to use. I just love this embroidered duvet and bedding set in the master bedroom by Martha Stewart, which was purchased at Macy’s.

This home has 5 bedrooms – 1 on the first floor and 4 on the second floor. Here’s a shot of the guest bedroom on the second floor.

I mentioned before that this home has very high ceilings in the living room. Here’s an overhead shot from the second floor overlooking the living room.

The home will be listed on the MLS next week. In the meantime, you can contact the listing agent Keith Yang, Long Dragon Realty (626) 888-2080. I think this home will sell quickly. Its in a very nice neighborhood, has a lot of space, a great patio for entertaining and it shows very well.

If you think your home or listing can benefit from a home staging consultation, please give us a call. We helped transform this home and we’d love to help you!

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!™

On occassion, during the course of a home staging consultation, I recommend the homeowner replace some or all of their kitchen appliances as part of upgrading their home to ensure a faster sale at a higher price. The cost, while not pocket change, is usually minimal when compared to the cost of carrying the home for extra months while it sits unsold.

Los Angeles home buyers want a move in ready house.

Home buyers don’t want an allowance to make repairs, replace the carpet or buy new appliances. Excuse me for repeating myself: Home buyers want a move in ready house. Your list price will have to be considerably lower or your allowance considerably higher than the cost of actually replacing the appliances, replacing the carpet or doing repairs.

The kitchen is the heart of the home, and an updated, attractive kitchen will help sell your home.

I did some research to find some very cost effective replacement appliance upgrade packages in Los Angeles. These costs come from advertising flyers in the Los Angeles Times and the Pasadena Star News. I don’t guarantee these prices. These prices may or may not be available when you go into the store to purchase them. If you shop around, you may get an even better price. And don’t forget to apply for your rebates from your electric company and natural gas utility. Many are offering rebates of $100 or more if you replace your old appliances with Energy Star appliances.

From Pacific Sales:

Whirlpool 4 piece Stainless Steel Upgrade Kitchen Package $2,199. with stainless steel refrigerator, dishwasher, 30″ range and over-the-range microwave.

Frigidare 4 piece Stainless Steel Upgrade Kitchen Package with Counter Depth Refrigerator $2,499. This includes a stainless steel 5 burner gas range, over-the-range microwave, dishwasher and counter-depth refrigerator.

According to the Pacific Sales advertising circular, the Whirlpool prices are “Before Additional Instant In-Store Savings”

From Warehouse Discount Center:

Unbranded 4 piece white appliance package $1,199.96 with dishwasher, 30″ range and over-the-range microwave.

Frigidare 4 piece Stainless Upgrade Kitchen Package $1,999.96. Refrigerator has ice and water in the door, dishwasher, 30″ range and over-the-range microwave.

You may be able to get free delivery, free installation and free recycling of your old appliance. Check store for details.

As you can see, for less than the cost of 1 monthly mortgage payment (for most homeowners) you can replace your kitchen appliances to give your kitchen a fresh new look.

If your home sells one month more quickly than if you hadn’t upgraded the appliances, it will be well worth the cost!

From the listing agent:

This is a wonderful townhome style condo located in a desirable NOHO neighborhood/ West Toluca Lake area. Open floor plan, bright and airy. The living room has a spacious balcony where you can enjoy views of Camarillo tree-lined street. Bedrooms are located on the 2nd floor. 2 master bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Both bedrooms are comfortable in size with good closet spaces. Kitchen has been recently updated with new granite tile countertops. Both the dining area and the kitchen has lots of light. There is a breakfast counter off the kitchen. A private patio deck is located on the 3rd level. It is a perfect spot to entertain and relax/enjoy the summer evenings. The condo is centrally located to NOHO Metro Rail and easy access to the freeway. This is a perfect starter condo – ready to move in and enjoy. Nearby Notables: Lakeside Golf Club, North Hollywood Park, North Waddington Recreation Center, South Waddington Park, and Whitnall-Off-Leash Dog Park.

For more information about North Hollywood, Toluca Lake or Los Angeles home staging, please call us at 626-385-8852. We know what makes homes sell!

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I can’t over stress the importance of curb appeal when selling a home.

From the moment a prospective buyer has a first view of your home, they are making a sub-conscious decision about how much they like or don’t like your home. If they have a good impression of the outside of your home (often called curb appeal), that is one less objection you must overcome when they walk through the front door. Your house (no matter how lovely) is not having to overcome that bad initial impression from the curb.

Here’s the front of the home as I first saw it in early January.

And here’s the house almost 2 months later – the epitome of “charming English cottage”!

The list I gave them during the home staging consultation was long and specific. Some of my suggestions were:

• Trim camellia bushes in front of the windows below the bottom of the window and “lace them out” (trim out some of the inner branches to give a lighter, more lacey effect).
• Trim and lace out camellia bushes on either side of the front door and either corner of the house.
• Remove all dead plants and fallen leaves.
• Plant new colorful flowers in planting beds (I suggested adding Impatiens which grow quite well this time of the year in Pasadena).
• Cover all exposed dirt with redwood bark chips.
• Neaten border edging.
• Broadcast a weed and feed product on the front lawn and rake in some grass seed on bare areas.
• Paint the front door red for a jolt of eye-catching energy.
• Add 2 bowls of colorful flowers on either side of the front door.

Making these changes created a true Cinderella transformation for this house. The house now shouts “Look at me! Aren’t I lovely?”

This home is listed by Irina Netchaev, Keller Williams Pasadena, (626)627-7107. Read more about this home Charming Caltech Area Home Staging