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HomeGain is a well known industry leader in providing home stagers factual current statistical information for the home improvements that will give the best Return On Investment (ROI). This survey was published in January 2011 and is relevant in today’s marketplace and in many parts of Canada. The survey was conducted with 600 nationwide US realtors and these were their recommendations to home sellers.

You can read the full article but these are some of the highlights:

TOP 10
1. Cleaning and de-cluttering ($290 cost / $1,990 price increase / 586% ROI / 99% recommended)
2. Lightening and brightening ($375 cost / $1,550 price increase / 313% ROI / 97% recommended)
3. Home staging ($550 cost / $2,194 price increase / 299% ROI / 80% recommended)
4. Landscaping ($540 cost / $1,932 price increase / 258% ROI / 93% recommended)
5. Repair Electrical or Plumbing ($535 cost / $1,505 price increase / 181% ROI / 92% recommended)
6. Update kitchen and bathrooms ($1,265 cost / $3,435 price increase / 172% ROI / 75% recommended)
7. Replacing or shampooing carpets ($647 cost / $1,739 price increase / 169% ROI / 98% recommended)
8. Painting interior walls ($1,012 cost / $2,112 price increase / 109% ROI / 96% recommended)
9. Repair damaged floors ($931 cost /$1,924 price increase / 107% ROI / 93% recommended)
10. Paint outside of home ($1,467 cost / $2,222 price increase / 51% ROI / 81% recommended)

In comparison to the 2009 survey results, the top five home improvements were the same, except that Lighten and Brighten and Stage home for sale were flipped for second and third top home projects.

The home improvements with the highest price increases to a home’s resale value is Updating the Kitchen and Bathroom ($3,435 price increase), followed by Painting the Outside of the Home ($2,222 price increase) and Home Staging ($2,194 price increase).

I am really excited about finding this Canadian eco-friendly product from Frame Your Mirror and I want to share it with you. It is amazing and very cost-effective glue-on-frame that totally transforms a ‘blah’ or slightly-damaged-around-the-edges mirror. You can use this in your own home but for staging – now this is a beautiful thing – because you can attach it with velcro! This is a product that’s been a secret for far too long!

They offer a good variety of frames and you can quickly find out the cost of your mirror by using their Price Calculator. Check it out and I think you will like it a lot!

This is what they have to say about it:

“At Frame Your Mirror we provide Canadian consumers with an eco-friendly, practical, easy to install, and cost effective way to transform plain bathroom mirrors into attractive focal points without removing the mirror from the wall. We specialize in providing a tasteful selection of customized, high quality laminate wood Custom Mirror Frames in Calgary and across Canada!

Discover how a decorative mirror frame can refresh a tired bathroom simply and inexpensively! With numerous mirror frame styles to choose from, you are sure to find the perfect solution to achieve an inexpensive Bathroom Renovation or Bathroom Remodeling project.

Order our custom mirror frames online. Our frames are shipped disassembled and upon delivery are easily assembled and installed.”

Exciting time ahead with lots of changes for the home staging and redesign industry in 2012. The world economy is changing. Many home owners – sellers and dwellers will want to make good economical choices whether they need a professional eye to redesign and refresh their existing home, or need assistance in preparing their property for selling. That’s where the PRES home staging and redesign graduates come in.

Making the investment of a few hundred dollars or several thousand dollars for a professional PRES home stager

PRES Staged Home SELLS!

90% of home buyers want a ‘Move-In Ready’ home and you can give that to them by consulting (even for jut a few hundred dollars) with a PRES home staging graduate! PRES graduates are also trained and qualified to set you up in your new home by working with all of your personal possessions and collections they had you pack up for selling!

This year thousands of dollars have been donated to charities on behalf of the PRES Staging School throughout the Lower Mainland. If you are selected as one of our ‘PRES training homes’ we request that instead of paying us for your home makeover, you make a donation to your favourite charity on behalf of the PRES Staging School. Recipients of the donations include animal rescue societies, music not-for-profits, art not-for-profits, childrens’ societies, homeless societies and disadvantaged youth and adults.

For this I am truly grateful because not only does PRES staging resource centre make a difference by transforming homes, we also play a role in transforming lives. By doing this I believe we make the world a better place for all of us.

In 2012, the PRES Staging School is looking into partnering with Habitat For Humanity as our primary charity. More details to follow in 2012.

Wishing you all a very Joyful, Loving & Peaceful 2012.

If you want to turn your passion of home staging into a profitable business then the PRES Home Staging & Redesign Home Study course is for you! This course was specifically designed for people who want to learn at their own pace, and in the comfort of their home. But, it’s not just for newbies – it’s a fantastic refresher for anyone who has ever taken another home staging course or never taken a home staging course.

You will learn from the home staging expert Dana J. Smithers’ 10 years of home staging and redesign business knowledge. This 60 hour high-value high-content program is jam packed with everything you need to know about starting your home staging & redesign business AND the ‘how to’ of creating the right look for every home transformation.

The program contains:
* 7 complete lessons – you can pace yourself to do one lesson per week or fast track as much as you like
* over 145 pages of manuscript content
*465 power point slides (as if you were in the classroom)
*48 pages of BONUS HANDOUTS
* 26 practice exercises
*9 Audio recordings (MP3 or CDs) – over 90 minutes per lesson

You can download the entire program for as little as $497 or order the hard copy Manual, CDs, and extra BONUS ITEMS for as little as $997. MERRY CHRISTMAS…

In the last PRES home staging & redesign training course we staged a townhouse that was using their futon in their main living room area. During the consultation I asked if they had any other furniture that I could use and the home seller said they had their new brown leather sofa and ottoman in the garage ready for their move. I asked to look at it and well…the rest is history. It was THE PERFECT piece of furniture for the living room and the futon worked beautifully downstairs in the less formal family room.

Living Room Before

Living Room Before

New Sofa & Ottoman in Garage!

Living Room with Leather Sofa & Ottoman

Dining Room & Living Room Connected!

This was a junk room filled with plastic containers, paint cans, tarps, etc. We did some ‘out-of-the-box thinking’ and used the plastic containers along with a bookcase to make a bed! We turned this junk room into a guest bedroom with a nautical theme. The headboard is a cushion from a summer bench we didn’t need to use!

Junk Room turned into a Guest Bedroom

The home sellers were delighted with the changes and this is what they had to say:
“When I walked in the door I felt like walking into a designer show home. It was all my furniture, yet it all looked brand new to me!

Your students have definitely earned their A+’s! ”

As a home staging instructor I don’t recommend staging with religious holiday decorations but I do believe you can use some seasonally coloured decorations like red, silver and gold. If the property does not sell in December the staging can stay as it is into the next month. Plants and florals work well at any time of the year but red amaryllis and white orchids look quite stunning.

Gorgeous Xmas display

Exquisite white orchids - so lush & beautiful

Smashing red garland with white orchids

We have a local florist shop that I love going into for inspiration called Special Moments. The owner Jennifer Sullivan does absolutely sensational displays every single month. I even go in her shop just to get a visually high on the florals and all the home decor items she has.

Take some time and get inspired by going into your local florists shops – so magic!

If you look a few posts back you will find one entitled ‘Want to Make Your Home a True Reflection of You. Find out how…’. The husband and the wife were delighted with the new look of their one-day home transformation. We were thrilled to be able to create a home that reflected their love of Africa.

I always ask my clients for a testimonial as I use them for marketing and plus, I like the positive feedback and to be able to share it with my students. Maureen, the wife, sent us a testimonial in the form of a poem. I LOVE IT and wanted to share it with you:

We left in the morning, around 9 to be fair

We said go ahead, do what you dare.

We came home around 5, and walked thru the door

We had no idea of what was in store…

Our plain brown couch, loveseat, and chair

Were moved into spots, we didn’t know were there.

Our pictures were placed on the walls oh so right

Perfect center, perfect depth, and of course perfect height.

Pieces were moved and shuffled about

Stuff not needed was completely left out

We can’t thank you enough for the changes you made

Our home is more beautiful and perfectly played.

You have a talent for staging and it needs to be shared

People love to come home to a place that is theirs.

The colours we home stagers choose for our home sellers are typically neutrals. They can be neutral beige, green or blue but they are never too bright although they could be trendy.The colours I choose for my home owners who are living in their home are a totally different story. Read on…

I have been working with a client for years now and I started out doing a redesign for her. Since I am also an interior decorator I selected new upholstery fabrics for her two chairs, selected new window treatments, helped her purchase a new dining room table with custom upholstered chairs, and shop for her on occasion to update the look of her home. They thought they might sell but they looked around and decided to stay put and do some updates with paint colours and a few other small accessories.

So their dull and dated dining room went from blah…to WOW! and all with some colour that jazzed this boring room up!

Tired green dining room...

WOW! this is gorgeous and has so much life!

Sitting Room is so outdated and tired...

She was 'over the moon' with this colour choice!