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.

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! ”

In the last PRES 5 day training course we had the opportunity to do a home makeover for a client who said her home was very bland, and seemed to lack personality. (A home makeover for living is all about bringing in the home owner’s personal taste unlike staging where you want to create broad buyer appeal to the seller’s target market)

When I did my initial consultation and tour of the home I noticed they had a lot of very nice bigger furnishings and some attractive accessories scattered throughout the home. But it was true – everything was quite bland UNTIL … I sat down with Maureen, the home owner, and asked her if there was anything in storage that she might like me to incorporate in the home. BINGO! She said she and her husband had just come back from Africa, where he was born, and they had brought back some African art and even a canvas painting of the house he was born in.

African art taken out of storage for us to use

When we arrived, myself and my students, we were delighted to see more African art and accessories on the kitchen table. Now we had more to work with. So using the PRES 10 step secret success formula we got to work by emptying the room and then building it back up.

We did our ‘walk about’ in the home and discovered some African masks and some gorgeous African vases that would fit in perfectly with the new personality of the home.

Bland Personality in Living Room Before

We were able to incorporate some new furnishings and removed the curio cabinets.

A created ‘art wall’ of more of their African collection!

African Art Collection Showcased!

As home stagers we realize that sellers often have a ‘bare bones’ budget and we try and assist them as much as we can with the preparation of selling their property. During the consultation we will give them as many ideas as possible within their budget to get the property looking at the very least, better than it looks for living.

The PRES staging school recently assisted a working divorced mom with two teenage daughters and a really, really tight budget to get the home ready for the market. During the consultation it was recommended that the client ‘borrow’ some better looking furniture, tables, art and accessories. She did let me purchase some bedding for her and it has made all the difference in the final look for showing.

The only thing the seller needs to do now is to paint in the neutral palet that was chosen for her. I often suggest if you only picked one colour for the entire condo then go with the evergreen look of Benjamin Moore CC90 Natural Linen. It’s a nice soft neutral beige that works well with almost any flooring. Always use the trendy colours for accessorizing and keep in mind the next buyer can live with the neutral beige more than any other colour!

Master Bedroom with no good focal point!

Master Bedroom with new bedding - next is painting!

Fireplaces are often focal points so they need to look good...

Borrowed art is better than no art!

Home stagers offer a multitude of services when it comes to preparing the house for selling. True, the real hands-on staging work involves better furniture placement, decluttering, hanging art, accessorizing, and creating an overall harmonious and balanced look for the home seller’s potential target market buyer. But in truth, we do so much more!

One of the services that many home sellers don’t realize we offer is SHOPPING. Now as a home stager I think it would be a fair statement to say that most of us love to do this for our clients. While I do it fairly frequently for home sellers I often do it for home dwellers. This is the person who admits they have little home decor style sense and do not know how to pull their look together. They may not even know what style they are because they don’t know what they really like. They are afraid to ‘take the risk’ of buying something that doesn’t work.

So the home stager comes to their rescue. This is the simple process that I go through with clients I need to shop for:

* have a consultation about what they feel is lacking in their home
* ask them of the furnishings they have what do they really love, and/or do they want you to keep and use in the home transformation
* take photos of all of the rooms that need some art, accessories etc. and make a list of what you need to purchase
* get a retainer/deposit for the amount you think you will need to purchase product for them (often getting a cheque is good because you can cash it and if anything has to be returned the client can do that if they want to get something different – if you choose to use your credit card you will need to take anything back that does not work)
* if you are somewhat unsure of what the client will love, then take photos of the products and send them to your client to get their feedback – this way you will be 100% on track. I did this with this client and was glad I did because she absolutely loved the home makeover with the new purchases!

From a Feng Shui perspective the client needed some 'blue'

She liked whimsical things so this one worked!

She didn't like the cherries so I didn't purchase this art.

* PRES stagers use their 10 Step Formula to redesign and/or stage the rooms so by following this process they can easily incorporate the furnishings the clients love with the new ones they have purchased

DINING ROOM BEFORE SHOPPING

Poorly set up with no invitation to sit down and enjoy a meal...

DINING ROOM AFTER SHOPPING and REDESIGN

Dining Room With Personality!

This client said she feels like she really has a re-energized home and she just LOVES everything we did!

During the 5 day PRES Staging & Redesign Training course, students are taken into real clients’ homes to apply the theory they learned in the classroom. Our training home clients are carefully selected by the PRES Resource Centre Founder & Creative Director, Dana J. Smithers. What’s essential in the training homes is that there are at least 3 major rooms to transform, enough art and accessories to work with. Some homes may have more opportunity for learning proper furniture placement and others may provide the perfect opportunity for teaching the ‘art of hanging art’. Whether we are staging the home to sell, or transforming the home by redesigning it for living the outcome for the client is the same – they LOVE the transformation!

In this home the client was struggling with how to make everything she loved look good together. When you are redesigning the home for living it’s important to transform the home by using as many of the client’s things as you can. Having said that not everything goes back into a room once we start building it back up using our 10 Step Secret Formula!

The Living Room BEFORE:

A Living Room That Needs to Breathe!

The Living Room AFTER:

A living room that captures her personal style!

This her testimonial. When I walked in my home all I could say was “Wow!” I was taken aback immediately by the sense of being welcomed into my own home, stunned by the spaciousness and a feeling that the rooms can breathe again. With styled shelves, walls complimented with art, properly placed furniture and treasured items beautifully displayed, it became the space I wanted it to be. If you want your home staged or redesigned invite PRES Staging program in the door because you won’t be disappointed!

If this is something you are interested in participating in let us know by going to our PRES Training Home Page. Just click on this link and we will be in touch! Sorry, this offer is only for home owners in the Lower Mainland BC (for now).

If you have a home that is going on the market in the next few weeks and you have not staged it, you may be leaving good money on the table! Staged homes sell for more money and sooner than homes that are not staged. Why not consider getting your home staged professionally by the PRES staging school program? Best yet it’s FREE!

LOWER MAINLAND STAGING TRAINING HOME WANTED JUNE 21 or JUNE 22 –
IT’S FREE! Just make a donation to a charity of your choice.

During the 5 day PRES Staging & Redesign course in the Lower Mainland we use ‘real client’s’ homes as part of the training practicum. Students are tested on their ability to do the hands-on staging as well as classroom learning.

If you are a realtor you may want to take advantage of this offer for your client. Do you have a home that your client is putting on the market, or is already on the market, for selling and it could use a one-day home staging job. They must have their own furniture, art, etc and we will rearrange and transform 3 rooms in the home in just one day.

If you are a home owner and would love to have your home professionally staged check out the criteria and contact us immediately!

Criteria To Qualify as a TRAINING HOME:

Go to PRES Staging Resource Center for more information. You can also check out some of the amazing transformations in the homes we have done with rave reviews from our happy clients!

• The home needs to be more than 1500 square feet and have 3 different rooms that we can work in for the day
• We need enough furniture so that we can reposition it, repurpose, regroup your art and overall create a more balanced and harmonious look in your home for living or selling
• You must be ‘open’ to having up to 6 students in the home for the day – start is 9 am – finish up between 4 & 5 pm

To be Selected:

• We may set up a consultation appointment with your client or, better yet send photos of 3 rooms to info@PresStaging.com
• If you or your client’s home is chosen for the makeover, we will set up a time to meet in person

THE COST:

$FREE for a One-Hour Consultation; $FREE for the One Day Home Staging
We ask our clients and/or realtors to make a CHARITABLE DONATION on behalf of PRES Staging Resource Centre. It can be any amount you want. It’s all about making a difference in the world we all live in.

PS FEEL FREE TO EMAIL THIS A FRIEND IN NEED!

Understanding how to create the WOW factor in home staging can be achieved by using the PRES no-fail 10 Step Formula. In the PRES staging and redesign training program every student knows how to work quickly and efficiently in a room. Using this blueprint they entice prospective buyers into falling in love with the home.

In this training home on first glance it doesn’t appear that we have much to work with. However every trained professional stager knows they can get the WOW look regardless of what they have to work with. Yes it’s great to be able to bring in trendy inventory but when the seller doesn’t want to do that, well this is where we create our magic!

BEST STAGING TIP
1. Determine your FUNCTION in each room
2. Determine the FOCAL POINT

from here everything falls into place. The way you live in your home is not the way you sell your house.

The function in this room appears to be watching television and not about enjoying talking or relaxing. Think about what the seller wants. What would you do here? Even though the home owner has the television and the fireplace as the focal point it just doesn’t work – there is no balance in this living room.

Before – the huge television distracts from the inviting fireplace and oh, this is so not balanced nor inviting…

After – A gorgeous fireplace with trendy accessories and it is clearly the focal point!

There are 2 things in my life that make me feel totally over-joyed with life and both involve transformations. One of them is the transformation that happens when we do home makeovers for living or selling AND the momentum that we created continues throughout the home. The other is coaching PRES graduates after they take the PRES 5 day staging and redesign course to continue building on that momentum.

During one of my last PRES courses we transformed the rooms we agreed to do for our client. When she came home for the ‘reveal’ just like on television, she was totally overwhelmed and cried. I left her with a suggestion that she continue to do these 2 rooms that you see below. She also wanted a colour consultation and I referred Judith Lowe of Twiques, a PRES member to her. Well GREAT NEWS! She got the family together to clean out these last two rooms – the guest bedroom and the ‘pile up’ room. They sorted into piles of what they wanted to keep, throw out, sell and give away! AND, she had her colour consultation with a painter on his way to totally complete this home transformation!

I don’t have any ‘After’ photos but I know these rooms don’t look like this anymore and that is such a good thing! PRES stagers and redesigners are simply AMAZING CHANGE AGENTS!

It is a sad truth that many master bedrooms are neglected because we live such busy, busy lives, and many moms are busy taking care of everyone else except themselves. Sound familiar…

In my last 5 day PRES staging and redesign course we did a home makeover for living and a home staging for selling. Students go into real clients’ homes so they can experience first hand the challenges that they will face once they leave the course. Home owners call us because they have a problem, and we find them a solution – a better, healthier, less cluttered way to live. These are two very different goals but the end result is always a much better looking home and often home owners make new purchases to go along with the ‘new look’.

The master bedroom is suppose to be our haven and safe space from all the busyness of a crazy day! We all live hectic lives and it was such a treat to transform the way these two families lived in their master bedroom. I know they will continue to watch the amount of clutter that starts piling up and keep the rooms looking good!

She LOVES her new bedding!

Master Bedroom too much clutter!