Eleven Expert Tips To Make Small Rooms Feel Larger
March 8, 2010
As a professional home stager in Pasadena and Los Angeles, one of my primary jobs is to make smaller homes feel larger, or at least, feel as large as they really are.
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:
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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?
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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.
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Use fewer pieces of furniture. Its better to have one larger dresser than 2 smaller ones.
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Use appropriately sized furniture. Having a large sectional in a small family room will highlight how small the room is.
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Cooler colors recede, so painting a room a pale blue, green or gray will make it feel larger.
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Show more hardwood. The larger the expanse of hardwood, the larger the room will look. See how the room looks without an area rug.
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Try using one larger area rug instead of several smaller rugs.
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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.
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Strategically placed mirrors make a room feel larger.
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A well lit room feels larger.
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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.
A Real Estate Agent Gets Real About Home Staging
February 26, 2010
Here’s another animated video about home staging. In this video the real estate agent talks to her client about the necessity of hiring a professional home stager. The homeowner is a do-it-yourself home stager, and the results are, well, interesting.
©Copyright 2010 Michelle Minch & Moving Mountains Design. All rights reserved. Copyright includes video, script and contents. Be original, don’t copy!
Los Angeles Home Staging Video – A Real Estate Agent Talks About Home Staging
February 20, 2010
Here’s a video I created about home staging. A real estate agent talks about home staging to their client.
©2010 Copyright Michelle Minch and Moving Mountains Design. All rights reserved. The contents of this video, including the dialog (spoken words) are protected by copyright. Please do not copy. You can create an original video at Xtranormal.com
Home Staging Consultation – Updating a Silverlake Cottage Kitchen Inexpensively
October 13, 2009
I recently did a home staging consultation on a Los Angeles Silverlake Cottage that was about to go on the market.
The kitchen had the original sink, faucet, tile counter & cabinets. The homeowner didn’t have the time or funds to do a complete overhaul, just the basics so the house could be put on the market quickly.
Silverlake Cottage Kitchen Before Make-over
Now here’s the “after make-over” photo:
Silverlake Cottage Kitchen After Make-over
The lightly remodeled kitchen still maintains the original cottage kitchen charm, but yet is updated and even more charming.
My recommendations as part of the home staging consultation:
- Paint the cabinets & walls
- Replace the tile countertop with new tile. The original tile backsplash was still in good condition so it stayed.
- Replace the old (and chipped) porcelain sink with stainless steel
- Replace all the cabinet hardware
- Remove the doors on the cabinet over the sink and turn it into an open shelf for displaying the owner’s pottery collection
- Declutter the pots and pans storage shelves
- Declutter the countertops
- Clean out and organize all cabinets
- Declutter and paint the laundry room and pantry area (off to the left)
The homeowners did all the work themselves. The cost was minimal (under $500) and the kitchen looked adorable. The house went on the market and has received multiple offers over asking price one week after the first open house!
The homeowner knew the kitchen needed to be refreshed before they could put the house on the market but didn’t know where to start or how far to go. They were considering investing in new appliances and granite countertops which would have added considerable expense. By hiring Moving Mountains Design for a home staging consultation, they were able to cut the cost and maximize the impact for money spent.
The cost of a home staging consultation is $350 for most homes. This home owner saved upwards of $5,000, for planned but unnecessary upgrades, by paying for a home staging consultation.
I’d say it was worth it. Don’t you agree?
Los Angeles Home Stager’s Tips For a Smooth Move
May 16, 2009
Moving boxes with tape gun & marker
I spent the morning with Ram Katalan, owner of Northstar Moving in Chatsworth, CA. Ram is a great guy. I first heard about him in Fortune Small Business Magazine last year. Here is a link to the article Moving On Up. He invited me to his moving and storage warehouse and boy was I impressed. Even though it’s a warehouse, the place is spotless and neat as a pin. I’ve been recommending him to my home staging clients and real estate agents ever since we first met.
As a home stager in Los Angeles, I frequently help my clients pack before moving. Ram taught me a lot about proper packing techniques. One way to save money when you move is to pack your own boxes. Here are some cost conscious tips for packing so your possessions arrive at your destination in one piece:
- Use good quality cellophane or plastic packing tape. Don’t use masking tape. It’s not strong enough. If you have a lot of boxes to pack, a tape gun will make the job go faster.
- Tape the bottom of every box with 2 or 3 strips of tape that wrap up the side. Tape the top closed the same way. Run two strips of tape along each side of the opening and one strip down the center. Don’t use flimsy boxes if you want your stuff to arrive undamaged.
- Make sure boxes containing fragile items are clearly marked on top and sides.
- Use small boxes for heavier items like books or your cast iron skillet collection; larger boxes for light weight or bulky items, like a down comforter.
- Most professional movers use unprinted newsprint to wrap items, not bubble wrap. White newsprint is inexpensive and recycleable. Ink from printed newspaper may soil or discolor wrapped items. Use the unprinted paper available from most movers, truck rental companies and box stores.
- Wrap each item individually. Wrap small items then wrap the wrapped item with tape. You will be less likely to throw it away when you are unwrapping. If a fragile item has a lid, wrap the lid separately then taped the wrapped items together so they don’t get separated.
- Stuff top, bottom and sides of boxes with crumbled paper. This helps prevent the contents from shifting, rubbing and possible breakage.
- Fill boxes full to prevent boxes from being crushed. Don’t pack fragile items too tightly. Stuff the empty spaces with loosely crumbled paper.
- Label the contents of every box and the room where it belongs on top and at least one side. Label any boxes/items “STORAGE” that will go directly to storage, but also label what the box contains and what room it belongs to. The more information you put on the box (for example, master bedroom-brown dresser-top drawer) the easier it will be to unpack and find things.
When you’re done moving don’t throw your moving boxes away. Many moving companies will pick them up and reuse them or you can sell them on Craigs List. Did you know many moving companies and truck rental companies also sell used moving boxes at a discount? That’s another tip for saving money and keeping some moving boxes out of the landfill.
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