Staging Inspiration

My apologies ahead of time- until we list this house on April 13th (and maybe even after), you can be assured that I will most likely be sporadic and very very very one tracked minded.  I have a feeling most of you are here because of my flip stuff anyway, so let's consider this a good thing.  Millie was a bigger project than I ever anticipated and has been sucking all of my time, energy, and brain power for better or worse.  While I still have a few big things going on, the biggest will be staging.  Following my previous trend of spending as little as possible and buying vintage as much as possible, I'm definitely handing myself a challenge here.  The interior design side of me wants to stage this house to the nines, but I need to pull myself back.  ROI.  Spending more won't necessarily bring more back in return.  I need to be STRATEGIC! The area that I've been thinking about the most since it's literally the most open ended is the living room- or rather 2 living rooms- and what the ideal way to stage them would be.

If you do a search for Craftsman Bungalow, you find 2 things:

Wood filled bungalows with complete period furnishings that look straight out of a museum (which are gorgeous in their own right, but not what I'm going for),

or whitewashed spaces that have taken it a bit to the extreme (also very nice, but I could never do that to Millie's wood work),

My goal here is to find the right balance of old and new and put my quirky little twist on it.  I think textiles are going to be key here.  Who doesn't love some good throw pillows??

A bit less formal than Millie's living rooms, but I love the cozy vibe from this open concept space featured on Fixer Upper. (note- textiles enhance coziness)

Even though this room featured on Apartment Therapy sports the painted woodwork, it also sports a nice balance of darker natural materials mixed in.  Can we just swoon over that coffee table for a sec here?

This pinned image seems to lead to an inactive real estate listing, but I love it all the same.

The shell of the space is very traditional and borderline formal, however the softness added with furniture and accessories makes the house feel so welcoming.

I have so many great ideas for Millie's living rooms, but so little time and budget to execute!

After hunting endlessly on craigslist and at estate sales, I gave up on finding a pair of chairs that weren't hopelessly dated and ordered these on clearance from Target.  I'm totally making it my mission to bring back the 'granny florals' and make them cool and fresh again.  The fluffier fabric balances well with the straight lines of the chair.  Trust me when I say these will totally make sense hanging out in the first of Millie's living rooms.

Snowed in Staging with Chairish

Ah snow days.  The rush to get things done before the snow starts, then the inevitable cleanup and catch up afterwards.  Over at Millie, I've got record amounts of snow to shovel.  Literally.  Yesterday's 33.5" apparently beat the old record by .5"  Luckily, Millie has super amazing neighbors who cleared the front sidewalk for me. Even though there's still quite a bit of work left to do (understatement of the year) before I can list Millie the fliphouse, my mind has already shifted to staging.  I don't want it to sneak up on me at the end and then run out of time to stage it properly.  She deserves better than that.  So when Chairish asked me to put together a styleboard using one of their latest rugs, it was right down my alley.

If you aren't familiar with Chairish, it's an online consignment shop for awesome furniture and decor.  Doesn't sound like anything I'd enjoy, right?

Today I was in the mood for a bit of rustic glamour and chose this Turquoise Overdyed Turkish rug to base my design off of.  I started simple with a few staple pieces:

1.  West Elm, Ainslie Sofa

2.  Serena & Lily, Reese Side Table

3.  Chairish, The Foundry Factory Cart

4.  Target, Carissa Shelter Wing Chair

The fun really comes into this room once you start adding accessories.  I wanted to balance out the rusticity of the wood and patchwork with some sophisticated metallics.

1.  Target, Nate Berkus Geo Printed Resin Tray

2.  Anthropologie, Arca Jewelry Boxes

3.  West Elm, Moorish Tile Printed Curtain

4.  Rejuvination, Merchant Floor Lamp

5.  Anthropologie, Ink Drop Pillow

6.  Tonic Living, Handcut Shapes, Rain Pillow

7.  West Elm, Beaded Corners Pillow Cover

Now I'm itching even more to get to staging!  Have I inspired you too?  Check out their other available rugs for more inspiration.

2 Weeks and $1000

It's been a good few days on the flip front.  Friday, after 2 weeks of scrambling, I got Frankie all staged and ready to show off for his Saturday showing.  The Saturday showing lead to a second showing Sunday and an accepted offer!  And Hubby and I sighed a collective sigh of relief.  We've learned several expensive lessons with this house: 1- purchase price has to be right for the neighborhood.  2- the best offer is the one you have in front of you.  We would have made more profit if we took the first offer... ce la vie. and 3- staging is totally worth the time and money (plus it's fun). When faced with a non-selling house, we didn't want to sink any more money into renovations, so reluctantly we agreed that staging was the way to go.  We had resisted previously because we weren't convinced that the time and cost were worth it (spoiler alert: they are).  I may be able to envision furniture in the space, but sometimes I forget that not everyone sees a space that way.  So I gave myself the challenge- 2 weeks and $1000.

Admittedly, it was trying to rein myself in- I wanted to design the whole space with the absolute perfect pieces!  I had to force myself to do just enough to make it feel cozy and to work with the pieces that I could get from craigslist for next to nothing.

I hung IKEA curtains in all the bedrooms using Sarah M. Dorsey's hook method and they totally helped the entire house feel finished.

If you didn't see on face book, I'm kind of madly in love with the mid century modern twin bedroom sets (yes, setS) that I found.  Eventually they'll get refinished, but the lines are dreamy and they're SOLID.  Sadly, the nightstand was missing it's original knob.  I may have to find a suitable replacement in the near future.

This dresser may end up being a future project too- polish up the knobs, repaint it (the finish is the victim of a poor refinish attempt) and add legs which apparently were there originally.

I shopped my own house for the majority of the accessories including lamps and trays.

My absolute favorite view is the view you get when walking down the hall:

It certainly doesn't look like a house that's lived-in, however just adding the furniture and a few strategic accessories, help to make it feel like it could be a home.

Aside from the kitchen/dining witch I had staged when we listed, I totally met my own challenge and was able to furnish and style a living room and 3 bedrooms for under $1000

Here's the cost breakdown:

Living room:

Sofa, craigslist-$50

Side chair, craigslist-$50

Rug, craigslist-$40

Lamp, already owned-$0

Side tables-$30 + spray paint

Living Room TOTAL: $170

Bedrooms:

2 twin beds, 2 dressers, 1 nightstand, craigslist-$100

Queen headboard & metal frame, craigslist-$50

2 Twin mattresses, craigslist-$50

Queen mattress, craigslist-$25

Queen split box spring, craigslist-$FREE

Nightstand, tag sale-$5 + spraypaint & new knobs

Dresser, craigslit-$30

Bedding, pillows, & accessories-$328.33

Bedrooms TOTAL: $588.33

TOTAL STAGING COST: 758.33