By Emma Bowen Meyer, For The Herald Bulletin
EDGEWOOD — One comment kept coming back to thwart the attempts of John and Marsha Moss to sell their condo.
“I was showing the home when it was vacant and people kept saying, ‘I don’t know how my furniture will fit in here,’ ” said Ken Miller, F.C. Tucker agent.
While the open concept living room, eating area and kitchen are appealing to the eye, individuals unfamiliar with the arrangement had difficulty imagining how to use the space. Discouraged, the couple decided to lease the property. The Mosses had moved from Anderson to Punta Gorda, Fla, seven years ago.
When the most recent leasee left in May, the couple opted to place it back on the market — once again without furniture, with much the same results.
Then they heard of home staging and decided to breathe new life into their abode with the help of a staging company.
“I went online to learn about home staging and I saw statistics that said 86 percent of people look at pictures online before they ask to see a home,” said Marsha. “I looked at my pictures and they were horrible. There was no reason anyone would want to go and see it. I felt like we needed to do something different.”
Heightening interest
Marsha flew north and met with Pat Gillam of Home Matters, LLC.
Gillam walked through the home and offered a variety of changes to update the abode and heighten the interest of buyers.
Suggestions varied from changing paint colors, switching out light fixtures or scaling back the landscaping.
Since the home was void of furniture, Gillam also recommended filling a couple of rooms with items from the Home Matters warehouse.
“I get a feel for the house,” she said, describing how she chooses the furniture. “You want it to look homey but you don’t want to fill it up. You are selling space. You want to draw attention to the focal point of the room, like the Moss’ fireplace, and not block the flow of the room.”
To achieve the desired effect, Gillam selected a cream couch to face the fireplace and a beige chair as a side piece.
A glass inlaid coffee table matches the end table next to the chair, adding a classy yet comfortable tone.
A round table and four chairs sit near the kitchen area in front of the large windows. Three tall chairs provide seating around the island. Each piece complements the others to provide a unified theme in the space.
Making updates
Gillam didn’t stop with the addition of furniture. She “spread color around” the room by adding throw pillows, dishes on the island, plants by the fireplace, a decorative pot on the eating table, candles on the mantle and art on the walls.
“It’s not just the furniture that is such a help,” said Marsha. “It’s all the suggestions. We had the home built in 1995 and a lot of things needed to be updated that we didn’t think about.”
One such alteration was to exchange all the brass light fixtures and kitchen drawer pulls for nickel. Another was to paint the walls a taupe color to contrast the white trim.
“People today just want to move right in and not have to fix or change anything,” added Gillam.
While none of these changes are major and the furniture will return to the warehouse once the condo is sold, the effect they are having on visitors is measurable.
“When I had it up for sale for a long time it became shopworn and some agents weren’t even coming in anymore,” said Miller. “Staging the home gave me a chance to start over. Agents were enthusiastic about the new look and I’ve had a lot more showings. All of the people who have come in have been energized.”
“Now looking at the pictures online I feel like we’ve got something much better,” said Marsha. “We’ve had a lot more activity on the home. The Realtors that saw it before and then again, they were amazed. They couldn’t believe what a difference it made. We certainly feel like we’ve got something appealing to people now.”
Each week, Emma Bowen Meyer features a Madison County-area home. If you know of a home that should be showcased, send an e-mail to emmagoldie meyer@yahoo.com
