This house in Aspen Estates, Calgary sold for $120,000 over list price in only 5 hours.
How is that for an opening line? Do you think it would have performed as well prior to staging this aspen estates home in Calgary? Take a look through the before and after photos below and see the difference staging can make. These sellers were on their game having their realtor call me before they listed. And the ROI? Peanuts converted to gold.
The homeowners hired me to not only stage their aspen house with rentals, but to consult on purchasing odds and ends like drapery, smll furniture, and artwork – artwork that they could bring to their new home to use. Smart!
Aspen Estate Living Room
The living room coule really only go up from where it was – a fridge and a tiny carpet floating. Obviously this was not how they lived but this is where they called for help – afterselling most of their furniture. As an occupied stager this rarely works because I do not rent furniture and need to use what the client’s already have. Fortunately, they still had a fully furnished basement we were able to poach a couch, coffee table, and plantstands from. The blue chairs we found on marketplace and the homeowners purchased these for staging and to bring with them to their new house. The rest was styled with my rentals.
You will also note the light and bright windows. They followed my recommendation of removing the dated vertical blinds and replacing with a curtain rod and bright long drapes – game changer.
Living Room After
Living Room Before
Aspen Estate Kitchen
The kitchen, as usual, was more about decluttering and lightly styling. This one was no different, and what a difference it made.
Kitchen After
Kitchen Before
Aspen Estate Breakfast Nook
Next to the living room, this breakfast nook was the biggest transformation. As a plant lover myself (I have over 40 living plants in my house), I appreciated them using this area for their plant babies because of all the natural light. However, this is living and not staging. And so we needed to make some changes to list their home.
We sourced this small dining table and chairs off of marketplace. All of the fixtures in the home were chrome and so I decided to stick with that theme and found a cool set that would suit the space and reflect all that beautiful light – like a jewel. The glass top kept the room feeling large and airy. And all their plant babies got temporarily relocated to the basement. And some of the plant stands got redistributed as side tables and consoles throughout the house – score!
Here too we removed all of the outated and dirty virtical blinds and replaced them with colour drapery.
Breakfast Nook After
Breakfast Nook Before
Aspen Estate Dinning Room
The dining room had smaller changes for big impact. We opened up the leaf in the dining table to show just how large the room was for family gatherings. If you have the room flaunt it. I then added a large piece of art that we found in the client’s basement to pull the bright blue we had in the drapery (not picture, but again replaced) through the room. Some light styling and the addition of plants and this room was complete.
Dinning Room After
Dinning Room Before
Aspen Estate Piano Room
This room was a little bit confused when we first arrived. The piano was still wrapped up for their recent paint, and more plants were surrounding it and a tiny very loud rug. And so we decided to make a moment out of it.
This room turned into a seaside european theme thanks to a large piece of art the clients already owned and had in the space. We moved the piano into the opposite corner near the window so it was not blocking the view of the dining room when buyers entered.
The clients found these 2 wood and leather chairs that they wanted for their new home and we incorporated them into this room as a small sittin area to listen to music – maybe with a glass of italian wine or whiskey? I grounded these with one of my more colourful rugs and light styling.
We also removed the vertical blinds here again and added a darker moodier, but complimentary, drape to help tone down the very dark heavy piano.
Piano Room After
Piano Room Before
Aspen Estate Office
The office had turned into more of a storage room than a workspace, and as we all know – workspace sells. So we helped clear out all of the boxes and move them into the actual store room, and brought up a rug the clients had purchased to brighten up the space. We also found a cabinet in one of the upstairs bedrooms and brought it down to fill the alcove, strengthened with the client’s art and some rental decor. One last piece of the client’s art behind the computer and this room was ready for a new boss!
Office After
Office Before
Aspen Estate Master Bed Room
This primary was sad and needed a little bit of Zhuzh-ing (yes I googled how to spell that… it is not ‘jujjing’ like I typed. lol!). We brought in artwork and many pillows, as well as a throw blanket to lux-up the bed. We also replaced the beige drab drapery with a pop of colour and to follow our new blue theme throughout.
A large piece of art above the bed gave an immediate focal point when you entered the room.
Lastly, we rearranged the little sitting area around the corner so clients could see how they may live in it – but we forgot to get before photos. oops!
Master After
Master Before
Homeowner Google Testimonial
“Once I have decluttered and freshly painted my house, my wife asked my realtor if he thinks my house would benefit from home staging. He gladly recommended Unself Design – home staging service based on his experience showing houses to buyers. During the first consultation meeting, Sarah recommended some areas to improve the decoration and arrangement and … cost-effective ways to improve the house value. The consensus was quickly achieved to have Sarah provide us with the staging service before the picture day. And it turned a great result!
No doubt, staging costs your time, money, and energy but it is worth all the efforts and we did sell our home faster, at a greater price than we expected, and certainly without months of carrying costs – because my house was properly staged and buyer-ready. This is a great example that Sarah offered her expertise and her unique taste of fashion on staging my property. Then for myself, I will bring Sarah back for my future home!”