For this demonstration I chose 7 sunflowers for their bright, beautiful color and size. I also purchased one small bunch of greens for added fill, texture and color. The total cost to make 4 mini arrangements and 1 centerpiece came to less than $20.00.

A trick to really bring your floral arrangements alive is vase filler. Get creative and use river rocks, peppers (as I have here), limes, lemons or wrap some leaves or a ribbon around the base of the flowers adding function and beauty. Use just enough water so the flower tips are submerged.

If you have a garden even better – use what you have. There’s no right or wrong way to create beautiful floral arrangements with interesting vase fillers, putting your own unique stamp on it.

Instead of using a traditional vase get creative and use anything from glass bowls, Ball jars, drinking glasses, tea cups and cachepots. I find a lot of inexpensive vases at HomeGoods, Pier One, Joss & Main and Pottery Barn. For these mini arrangements I used everyday drinking glasses.

Below is the finished product with 4 mini floral arrangements and one centerpiece pulling it all together.

Later in the week I used 3 sunflowers from the centerpiece and created a new arrangement for my kitchen…

I made this simple, inexpensive arrangement with one red rose, a sprig of berries, river rocks in a shallow glass bowl…

Another way to bring nature indoors is by planting grass or moss found at your local nursery in a cachepot like this rustic terra cotta one from Pottery Barn for only $24.00. This really stretches your dollar because it lives on…

You can place them in different rooms or use them outdoors…

Use leftover greens to enhance your candles…

Use a shallow bowl and float flowers in water for a spa like feel…

As you can see it’s easy and inexpensive to brighten up any space using flowers without spending a fortune. If you’re having a special occasion, party or themed event and need some creative ideas or hands on help and/or inventory rental, call Kristine Ginsberg of Elite Staging and Redesign at 201-602-2562 or fill out our contact form. Our goal is to make your party a memorable one! 

Mid-Century Modern furniture is the perfect balance between art and function with a sculptured look, ethereal quality that does not diminish its practical design. While many people think of traditional, transitional, contemporary, old world or modern as design styles, most aren’t familiar with Mid Century Modern design.

I ask many of my clients if they really know their  décor style and if it’s truly a reflection of themselves, their family and lifestyle.  Do you walk through your door at the end of the day to what feels like your sanctuary, a place you feel proud of and want to show off to your family and friends? Many people aren’t informed, don’t really know their style and buy mass produced furniture sets where everything matches (don’t make this mistake!) or buy a bunch of miss-matched styles with no cohesive look that don’t make sense in relation to the rest of the room because they don’t know any better.

However, you are unique and your spaces should reflect your taste, style and look. A good way to determine your style is by looking through design magazines, online furniture stores or spend a few weekends visiting a variety of furniture stores that carry many different manufactures, styles and decor before you buy anything. Take your camera along and take photos of what speaks to you, captures your interest and do some research into that particular design style.

Most people are more partial to one particular style and limit themselves to furniture and décor from that era.  However the rules of interior design have changed and now you can now marry almost any decor by adding a few select pieces from another furniture style, thus adding more interest and putting your unique stamp on each of your spaces. For example a table made of reclaimed wood with white Eames Eiffel chairs looks fabulous and fits into any kitchen; you just have to be able to think outside the “traditional” box.

Mid-Century Modern furniture, born in the 1950′s, gave birth to many classic styles like the Barcelona chair that works with everything from traditional to modern and everything in between. I’m more partial to white if paring with traditional furnishings, and black looks very sleek and modern.

A great way to incorporate Mid-Century furniture into any room is by adding a chair or two, couch, coffee or end table. You can choose from Barcelona, Swan, Bantum, Eames Eiffel and molded plywood chairs to Corbusier loungers or a Noguchi coffee tables. You can add one piece or design an entire room around this increasing popular design because they marry into just about any style.

Ghost chairs (see through acrylic) and Barcelona chairs are popping up everywhere from traditional to contemporary decor and they work beautifully in any space. The original branded Barcelona chair  can cost up to $6,000, but there are good knockoffs for under $1,000 so do your research.

I’ve always been a firm believer in mixing it up and adding interest with period furniture. Make it fun, functional and fabulous! If you are looking to update and Redesign your Morris County home call Elite Staging and Redesign at 201-602-2562 today to see how we can transform your home into a beautiful sanctuary even on the smallest budget! No job is too big or too small!

Prior to my career change and becoming a Morris County home stager and Interior redesigner, my sister hired interior designers for her last home and I must say it looked gorgeous. Recently she moved into a new home and wanted a fresh new look and hired me to create her a beautiful living room.  While honored, I was a little apprehensive working with a family member, hoping I could deliver and create a room she loved.

Lisa wanted each piece of furniture to be unique along with the accessories and come together with a cohesive look, a reflection of who she is and her family.  We set a budget and began the project. I love to design in all styles (contemporary, old world, traditional, transitional, mid-century, ect), but fortunately she and I have very similar interior design styles which worked to my advantage.

She picked out the rug and we decided that I would narrow down each piece of furniture to 3 choices and then she’d make the final selection. This is common practice and I love when my clients get involved because designing is a fun process for both me and my clients, also yielding the best results. First we chose a wall color and furniture, working our way to the accessories. When it was complete I came in $1,700 under budget and she truly loved every last detail.

I mixed it up, creating an updated traditional look using different textures: wood, iron, mirror, glass and fabrics to add interest. The fireplace was the obvious focal point of the room and I had seen this sunburst and knew it would really add the wow factor. I choose a contemporary fabric on a tradition bergere chair and an updated wing chair – it worked. The couch has clean lines and goes nicely with the rest of the furniture.

I don’t usually have people in my “before” photos, but this was the day my sister placed the bid on her home and I came along with her and was already mentally decorating. Lisa’s Realtor® had just given her the great news – her bid was accepted which you can see by the happy look on her face…

More than any other financial investment, most people report that they buy homes based on emotions and then justify it with logic.  Why? Because a home is several things: It’s your refuge where you

raise your family, a representation of who you are and your lifestyle as well as most people’s largest financial investment.

Buyers need to be able to envision themselves living in your home

When selling, it’s important that buyers can envision themselves living in your home which is why we suggest removing collections, family photos, and personal objects that remind them they are in your home.

One aspect of home staging is creating emotional connections with buyers.

For example kitchens and bathrooms are mostly hardscape and can appear cold and sterile. Rather then remove everything from the kitchen counters and bathroom vanities (old school of thought) this Morris County Stager adds warmth and creates a feeling of “home” using several techniques:

Using organic props when home staging

When staging we used organic props and nature not only to create ambiance, but to create those oh-so important emotional connections with buyers. By adding live plants, oils, flowers, fruit, vegetables and fresh bread in a kitchen, it triggers emotions of family dinners, entertaining, home cooked meals, while adding color, texture and warming up the space.

Example 1: An already lovely kitchen that needed some warmth and “life” breathed into it along with pops of color. (We also purchased some updated stools at target for $50.00)

Before

After

Different Angle

After:

Close-ups:

Example 2: For this bathroom a little staging went a long way. We added warmth by giving it a spa like feeling so buyers can envision themselves taking a bath in this relaxing space…

Before:

After:

Close ups:

The point is, when presenting your home on MLS or in person you want buyers to connect with your home on an emotional level, giving them the feeling they are home. You want them to easily envision themselves living in your house. Cold, sterile hardscape doesn’t illicit feelings of “home sweet home”. Staging adds warmth, and creates emotional connections with buyers.

If you’re thinking of selling, call Kristine of Elite Staging and Redesign (201) 602-2562 for a comprehensive home staging consultation with more tips on how to prepare your Morris County home for the real estate market.

Everything we purchase is “staged” to grab our attention, create desirability persuading us to buy a particular product. For example clothing stores hire design experts to stage window fronts to get you inside their doors where you find manikins adorned in the latest fashions all marketed to get you to buy their products……and it works.

You may not be aware, but we stage ourselves everyday

Whether we are going on a date, to a black tie event, work, on a date, a job interview, a party, a funeral or a wedding, to some degree we all stag ourselves every day.

Why would you not stage your home, your biggest financial investment?!

Provided that your home is priced right, home staging is a short term marketing tool to sell your home quickly and for top dollar.  You only have a short window to wow buyers, create a buzz, increasing your home’s desirability bringing in offers.  You have a choice – you can drive buyers to your door, or drive them to your competition.

A good home stager will focus on highlighting your home’s architectural features

We create warm, welcoming emotional connections with buyers and present your home in its best light. Staging includes everything from organizing, rearranging/repurposing furniture, cleaning, decluttering and updating with art and accessories in a way that best complements your home and its architectural features.

Every room needs to make sense to buyers and have a purpose

Home staging takes the guess work out of furniture arrangement and demonstrates to buyers how they can maximize your home’s square footage. Whether it’s an odd layout or an open floor plan, a good home stager will demonstrate to buyers how they can utilize and maximize each room so they can easily picture themselves living in your home.

Why accept a price reduction costing you tens of thousands of dollars?

Sadly, price reductions are considered the “norm” when selling homes, especially in this turbulent market. However, if you invest in home staging (a fraction of a price reduction), you will drive more foot traffic to your door, increasing the odds of selling faster and for more money. Once your home has sat on the market, it becomes stale and buyers tend to make low-ball offers. To avoid this call Morris County’s Elite Staging and Redesign and learn  how we can beat your competition for a quicker sale at top dollar!

Here is my list of do’s and don’ts when selling your Morris County home:

The Do’s

Find a Reputable Realtor®

Find a Realtor® who will price your home based on their research, knowledge and comparable comps, not what you think your home should list for.  You don’t know all the variables that go into pricing a home, nor do you have the information they have access to that determines what you home should list for.

Throw Out the Old, Dated and Dusty

Throw out any outdated, dusty floral arrangements and flower swags that went out with the eighties. Replace them with real plants, or buy silk arrangements that will pass for the real thing – just not at the dollar store!

Paint the Interior of Your Home

Paint the interior of your home if it hasn’t been done in 10 years – it’s the biggest bang for your buck with a 150% return on investment. Painting is the best way to clean up, neutralize and rid your home of unpleasant orders that have permeated the walls. Stick to beiges, taupes, creams, grays – it goes with any décor. Red dining rooms are out folks – it is what it is!

Leaky Toilets, Broken Cabinets, Door Hinges and knobs

Replace or fix leaky toilets, broken cabinets, door hinges, knobs – you know – all the projects you’ve been meaning to do, but didn’t. Now’s the time!

Tidy Up Outdoor Spaces

Highlight and clean up outdoor spaces like patios, decks and porches. Create a lounge or dining area, replace old welcome mats that say anything but, or add a few potted flowers. Outdoor space reigns supreme in today’s market so give it a purpose.

Non-gender Specific Master Bedroom

Your master bedroom should be non-gender specific. Invest in neutral bedding – grandma’s quilt isn’t going to cut it. Look for a bed-in-a-bag and keep it simple.

Now, the Don’ts

Think you know more than your Realtor ® and list your home above fair market value

Today’s fair market value, not 6 years ago when homes were selling like hotcakes – face it, those day are over…….for now! Your Realtor® is an expert at determining the price of your home. Moreover, 85% of sellers think their home is worth more than it is because it holds sentimental value, thus they can’t be objective. This is why you need a professional!

Clean your home by cramming your junk into any available storage space

Buyers look in closets and cabinets – it’s a given! If your closets are filled to the brim with “stuff”, your sending a flag that their “stuff” won’t fit either. This is the time to purge or donate anything you don’t absolutely need while your home’s on the market.

Wait until the last minute to eliminate unnecessary furniture and clutter

Rent a small storage space or call on family to store the things you don’t absolutely need while your home is on the market. This serves two purposes: opens up your rooms showcasing the square footage, and creates easy flow within and to and from each room. In addition, you’ll be more prepared, reducing a lot of stress at moving time.

Assume buyers are going to take on all your unfinished projects

As soon as buyers enter your home they are assessing all the pros and cons. Don’t give them your DIY projects like leaky faucets,running toilets, broken doorbells, torn screens, and chipped molding to add to their con list. Today’s buyers want turnkey homes and will make a note of any unfinished projects.

Forget about curb appeal

This is the first impression; what buyers see on MLS and when they arrive at your home. Mow the lawn, trim the hedges, put down fresh mulch,  add a few potted plants for pops of color and use a blower to remove debris from your driveway, walkway, steps and porch. Drive buyers in, not away!

Fill the house with scented candles, air fresheners and Glade Plug-ins

Clean is the only smell all buyers love and what they want to find when they step inside your home. Anything else seems like you trying to mask hidden odors. Think of air fresheners as substituting perfume or cologne in lieu of taking a shower – it doesn’t work and is a huge turnoff!

Assume buyers are pet lovers

Some are not, and even if they are, they don’t love your pets! Clean and wash all dog and cat beds, toys, blankets, food bowls, litter boxes and store them where buyers can’t see or smell them during showings and open houses. In addition, temporarily take pets out of the home and all traces of them. This is a hassle, I know, but it’s temporary and you want to sell.

Invest in a Morris County staging consultation ($100) for the top 5 recommendations to improve your home for the market.  We understand and can implement necessary changes that will give your home that competitive edge so necessary in today’s market. Call Kristine, our top design consultant today at 201-602-2562 to see how we can transform your home into a buyer’s dream!

First, use a quality camera (I shoot with a Nikon D5000 wide angle lens). If you aren’t proficient in photography, I strongly advise hiring a professional photographer. Why? Because 90% of buyers start their home search online and this is the moment when they decide they must see your home in person, or move onto your competition. Great MLS photos drive foot traffic to your door, increasing the chances of multiple bids.

1.   Pay attention to the sunlight. If it’s really sunny day you may consider taking indoor MLS photos on an overcast day. That way you’ll avoid blinding sunlight coming through the windows, bleaching out everything else.

2.  A very sunny day also casts a lot of distracting shadows and there’s no way to edit them out.

3.  Sellers: vacuum and mop your hardwood floors. If you have any dust round or underneath your furniture the camera polarizes it. If you take the time to clean them, they will shine and look gorgeous in the MLS photos.

4.  Prior to taking photos, always check underneath all your furniture, especially beds because while you don’t notice it (books, toys, baby monitors, storage containers) the camera has a way of zooming in on it and you will have to retake your photos – if you won’t settle for less than the highest quality MLS photos.

5.   Take down heavy outdated window treatments to showcase your windows. Remember, you’re selling your home, not its décor and people love, light sunny rooms. One caveat: if the view doesn’t enhance the room, a great trick is to buy inexpensive white sheers that hide the view while letting the light shine in.

6. You would think this would be obvious, but if you’ve been on MLS lately you see this all the time; a pet, person or a reflection of yourself in a mirror – always a no-no.

5. Always take a photo with the lights on and off. You never know which will look better until you download them to your computer. Incandescent bulbs cast a bright yellow, unattractive glow.

7.  Take down heavy outdated window treatments to showcase your windows. Remember, you’re selling your home, not its décor and people love, light sunny rooms. One caveat: if the view doesn’t enhance the room, a great trick is to buy inexpensive white sheers that hide the view while letting the light shine in.

8. You would think this would be obvious, but if you’ve been on MLS lately you see this all the time; a pet, person or a reflection of yourself in a mirror – always a no-no.

9. Sunlight is always best, but it’s not always an option. If a room has only one or no windows, extra lighting is necessary. Elite Staging and Redesign uses several 50 watt Halogen flood lights that don’t burn yellow and are more akin to natural sunlight.

10.Pay attention to wires. There are a few tricks you can do like taping them to, underneath or behind your furniture. If there are a lot of wires like in home offices, use “wire hiders” found at most hardware stores. A professional photographer can edit them in some cases using the clone feature, but this is not for armatures!

  As a Morris County Home stager, I always stage from the room’s entrance because that’s what forms buyers first impression and there should always be a focal point. Keeping that in mind, always take a photo from the doorway and stand as far back to showcase the size of the room.

These two rooms are examples of using all the above techniques:

Below are 5 bathroom examples that Elite Staging and Redesign staged without any renovations or big purchases:

Bathroom #1- The biggest problem with this bathroom was the wallpaper. It ooked dated even though the vanity was new. Elite Staging and Redesign removed the wallpaper and painted it in Benjamin Moore’s Bleeker Beige.

Bathroom #2 – This was so easy! All we did was let the light shine in, added white towels and a few accessories…

Bathroom #3 – Painting this Yarmouth blue by Benjamin Moore really made the white molding pop and warmed up the space. We added a few accessories and the transformation was complete.

Bathroom #4 – This builder grade wood vanity didn’t do anything for this otherwise pretty bathroom. We painted it white, added new hardware and found a carrara marble top at Home Depot for $120.00. Next we added some storage space with a bench and a small cabinet over the toilet, both from Home Depot.

Bathroom #5 – For this ½ bath, we painted it from stark white to Sherman Williams Kilim Beige, added some accessories and a small table with towel storage. Staging is about being creative and finding inexpensive solutions that add function and beauty…

Whether you’re selling your home or want to update a room while you still can enjoy it, call Elite Staging and Redesign serving Union County: 201-602-2562 or email me today!

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Tailoring the Décor to Appeal to the Masses

A good home stager will know your market demographics and tailor the decor to appeal to the broadest audience. It’s not about your personal taste, or for that matter mine, but appealing to the most buyers when they visit your home and on MLS (Multiple Listing Service). The goal of home staging is to capture the attention of buyers and drive the most foot traffic to your door for a quicker sale at top dollar!

If You Want to Sell Your Home Quickly, It has to have appeal to the masses!

Don’t be offended by the changes we make – home staging is not personal! Prior to selling, your home is a reflection of you and your family,  your sanctuary. None of us live in spotless homes with limited furniture and no personal items. But, that is how we SELL Them. Now that you’re selling your home you need to look at it like a commodity to be marketed for sale. The focus should be on your home, not its décor.  More importantly it has to appeal to the greatest audience, thus we neutralize the color pallet and decor. 

A proffesional home stager will know what accessories, art and paint colors are appropriate and the most popular by the general public. Elite Staging and Redesign  researches Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Valspar and Behr’s hottest neutral colors because that’s what people want.

A Good Home Stager will Draw Attention to Your Home, not the Décor

A good home stager will draw your eye to the  fireplace, windows, and compliment your baseboard and crown molding along with any other architectural features.  We take the guess work out of room purpose, furniture placement and maximize each room highlighting its square footage. Yes, we add art, lighting and accessories, but limited and only to compliment the room – not be the focus.

Home Staging is a New and Innovative Marketing Strategy to Help Sell Your Home!

Only 10% of buyers have the ability to envision your homes true potential, how to maximize each space and configure the furniture for optimal look and function. The other 90% will move on to your competition who did prepare their home for the market. The amount of money you invest to stage your home is a fraction of a price reduction (see our “Services” page with pricing).

Change your thinking and instead of accepting a price reduction as part of the selling process, chose a new and innovative marketing strategy to help sell your home by calling Kristine Ginsberg of Morris County’s Elite Staging and Redesign, LLC today @ 201-602-2562! Together we can prepare your home for the market and get is sold quickly and for top dollar!

First, we designed the room’s layout for the best furniture placement, storage and cohesiveness along with a bathroom, giving it function and style. Mark likes The Godfather series so that became the inspiration for his new bedroom. Sometimes Morris County redesign jobs all start with a picture and that was the case with Mark’s room.

First Elite Staging and Redesign laid out the room.  These two photos are the work in progress …  

This photo is the finished product, a room Mark loves….. 

This is the before of the opposite side of the room… 

This is the after… 

Keeping in mind that Mark is a young guy we designed a more masculine bathroom…..

                                 Before                                                                                   After                                                

While Mark and my clients love the new space, they fear their son will never leave!