Bly’s Blog, Great Impressions Home Staging, NJ

Our local (NJ) chapter of the Real Estate Staging Association has been asked to take on the design of 15+ rooms in a new Covenant house for homeless young people in Montclair, NJ. We need to raise money for furniture, rugs, lighting, bedding, art, and accessories with a target date of July. I am ...

An inexpensive and beautiful way to update old kitchens using just paint and new hardware! The transformation is startling; this is just one way stagers are well worth their fee. Home Staging Tip:  Dated Oak Cabinets?  Update them with Paint! As a professional home stager based in Portland, Orego...

As stagers, we have to consider both the home's style and demographics to make a staging "work." Doesn't matter what style WE prefer, it's what fits the target demographic as well as the style of home, within reason. I won't put Victorian furniture in a Victorian home, because that's just too tas...

I looked at the MLS photos of a 6,000 sq. foot multi-million $ home today, after receiving a call from the owner that she's had no offers in two months and wants to know if I think it would benefit from staging. I can recommend that some of the patterned furniture and a few sponge-painted walls b...

Today I attended "The Evolution of Staging," an event in NYC sponsored by the Real Estate Staging Association that featured 3 high-powered NYC agents/brokers and 3 well-known stagers, including Matthew Finlason of HGTV's The Stagers. It was entertaining and well-attended with probably (very rough...

A client I met with yesterday lives in a 60+ year old house that has been on the market two years with no offers. The price is a tad below 800k for this "blast from the past," with yellow flowered wallpaper, bright yellow kitchen cabinets, a bright green tiled bathroom with p...

        A few pics I've seen recently on the MLS have made me cringe . . . and I'm pretty sure they do the same to buyers!  My first thought is: Would you want to BE in these rooms, let alone LIVE in them? Shouldn't the goal of photos of any house for sale be to pique the interest of buyers, not ...

Testimonial on the ROI of staging from an agent who has seen the small fee paid returned 30 X over n a higher sales price! If only more agents understood this and tried staging all their properties, too. I Believed in Home Staging Before but never Thought of it This Way...Hopefully, this can help...

Too many people think it's very easy to invest and make money in rental or especially "flip" properties . . . my husband and I learned the hard way this is not so! This article has great advice about the legwork required to be a successful investor.Most real estate agents have gotten the call "We...

Holiday Decorating and Staging – do they mix?   Now that the holiday season is officially here with Thanksgiving behind us, I have clients wondering “is it OK to decorate for Christmas (or Chanukah) even though we’re selling our home?”   The answer: YES, but on a scaled-down,...