Last week I wrote a post about the magic of staging, why clients might be reticent to hire and utilize a stager when they’re preparing their homes for sale and why I believe that staging is an excellent way to help sell a home quickly and for top dollar! If you’re still reading, you’re at least ready to entertain the idea of hiring a stager to help showcase your home in the best possible light.
Now, I’d like to introduce you to a truly talented staging professional… Caren Kirkpatrick. Dear readers… this is Caren. Caren… these are my dear readers! Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s find out a bit more about Caren, her company “Savvy Home Staging Redesign” and specifically what she offers her clients!
Caren is a Certified Home Stager and member of the American Society of Home Stagers and the Real Estate Staging Association. Before launching her home staging business, Caren worked as both a Realtor and an interior decorator. This new life of hers is the perfect blend and balance of her previous professional lives and YOU – my sweet clients, can be the lucky recipients of Caren’s professional expertise. Caren’s motivated by a few fundamental philosophies that I know to be true… She understands that most buyers form an opinion about a home within the first 30 seconds of a showing. Take a deep breath and read that again… yes, I did say 30 SECONDS! That’s why it is so important to create a home with maximum marketability.
During an initial consultation, Caren will spend a full hour walking through your home with you and giving expert advice on the most important aspects of staging your home for sale: de-cluttering, neutralizing and furnishing/accessorizing. With some gentle nudging, a few checklists and some good old fashioned moral support, most clients find they can actually handle the de-cluttering and depersonalizing on their own. As I mentioned last week, consider this important pre-sale work of organizing and purging one less thing you’ll have to do when you prepare to move! Occasionally, clients just don’t have the time or desire to de-clutter on their own and in that case, Caren is happy to include that work in her final package.
Neutralizing is a bit more complex and usually requires Caren’s expertise. During her initial consultation, she’ll make note of spaces that need to be transformed from brightly painted rooms of red or gold to soft, soothing rooms in tones of tan, beige or the ever popular grays. In addition to paint schemes, Caren also provides advice about overly loud furniture with crazy patterns or textures. The name of the game is to create a room with clean, crisp lines that is balanced, inviting and functional.
Last, but not least… Caren provides furniture and accessory arrangement. Sometimes, client’s furnishings are in good repair, up to date and pleasingly neutral, but they’re just not arranged in a satisfying way. Quickly and efficiently, Caren can redesign a home to create beautiful focal points, a nice flow and establish a warm and inviting atmosphere. Other times, Caren provides the sound advice that the current furniture needs to be removed and stored and replaced with rental furniture and accessories that she provides from her vast inventory. While this idea might not seem appealing initially, most of my clients who’ve availed Caren of this service tell me that it made all the difference in marketing and selling their home quickly!
Because every home, client and sale is different, Caren is well-versed in providing personalized and individualized written proposals and bids. Some clients only need a half-day’s staging and lots of advice on how to accentuate the positive aspects of their homes while arranging furniture to create an easy flow. Others need a full day’s staging to create dynamic transformations. Still others will require a furnishing/accessory rental package. No matter what category you fall into, just know that the time and money you spend with Caren will be well spent… and often reimbursed in the form of a quick sale at a great selling price!
Caren can be reached at 615.477.2701 or by e-mail at carenkirkpatrick(at)hotmail(dotted)com