Summerplace ~ a 55+ Community near Glendoveer Golf Course!

RMLS #11103885

3 Bedrooms/ 2 Baths + 1,536 sq ft on one level

On a Cul-de-sac with large covered patio

For more information,  contact Diane Mealey @ John L. Scott Real Estate @ 503-380-1861

~ Staging and Photos by Room Solutions Staging LLC ~

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Room Solutions Staging offers home staging services to Portland Oregon homeowners, real estate agents, builders, banks,  and investors to prepare homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our customer service and our home staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultations, staging for both vacant and lived-in homes, and interior restyling service.  For a free home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.

The main floor bedroom was being used by the sellers as a home office — perfect use for the space.  It was painted about 8 years ago when dark red was a very popular color. It was also overstuffed with furniture, making the space look much smaller than it really was.

Here’s how the office looked BEFORE

We recommended a lighter paint color to brighten up the room, and removal of the existing furniture.  We then staged it lightly, letting buyers see the function of this space as an office.

And here’s how it looked AFTER 

For a minimal investment, buyers don’t have to “see past” a dark, cave-like room to imagine how they might use it.  EASY!

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Room Solutions Staging offers home staging services to Portland Oregon homeowners, real estate agents, builders, banks,  and investors to prepare homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our customer service and our home staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultations, staging for both vacant and lived-in homes, and interior restyling service.  For a free home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.

~ Staging and Photos by Room Solutions Staging LLC ~

As always, when staging this home our goal was to make sure it appealed to the target buyers so we used lifestyle staging techniques that we’ve fine-tuned over years of experience.  Here are some Before & After photos of this Portland home staging project:

The living room has beautiful oak floors

and an original 1954 fireplace

The all-new IKEA kitchen was fun to stage!

A 1954 light fixture & it’s original “Edison” bulb!

The lower level includes a large Family Room

and an equally-spacious Media Room

Our client for this project in a smart investor who uses our company for all of his newly-remodeled homes ~ he says that our staging always helps them to sell faster. The 3 homes we’ve staged for him this year have averaged just 10 Days on the Market!

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Maureen Bray is a professional home staging expert based in Portland, Oregon who serves as a Moderator of the ‘Stage It Forward’ and ‘Real World Home Staging for Newbies’ forums on Active Rain and writes posts helpful to homeowners, real estate professionals, and other home stagers.  Maureen’s staging and design work has been featured on HGTV’s show ‘My First Place,’ on AM Northwest and KATU News, and in The Oregonian, Portland Monthly, Personal Real Estate Investor, and Angie’s List Magazine. Maureen was awarded the Super Service Award by Angie’s List in both 2011 and 2010, and was voted by her peers throughout North America as a Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year for 2012 and 2011.

Room Solutions Staging LLC Earns Coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award

Award reflects businesses’ consistently high level of customer service

Room Solutions Staging of Portland OR has been awarded the prestigious 2011 Angie’s List Super Service Award, an honor bestowed annually on only 5 percent of all the businesses rated on the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews on local service providers.

When notified of the award, company owner Maureen Bray said “we’re delighted to have earned Angie’s List Super Service Award for 2011 as we did in 2010 because it means that our clients have rated our home staging services consistently high. Nothing makes us happier than providing the best possible service to our home staging clients in the Portland Oregon metro area.”

“Only a fraction of the businesses rated on Angie’s List can claim the sterling service record of being a Super Service Award winner because we set a high bar,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks. “The fact that Room Solutions Staging can claim Super Service Award status for two years in a row speaks volumes about its dedication to consumers.”

Angie’s List Super Service Award winners have met strict eligibility requirements including earning a minimum number of reports, an exemplary rating from their clients and abiding by Angie’s List operational guidelines.

Ratings are updated daily on Angie’s List, and members can find the 2011 Super Service Award logo next to business names in search results on AngiesList.com.

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Angie’s List collects consumer reviews on local contractors in more than 500 service categories. Currently, more than 2million consumers across the U.S. rely on Angie’s List to help them make the best hiring decisions. Members get unlimited access to local ratings via Internet or phone, exclusive discounts, the Angie’s List magazine and help from the Angie’s List complaint resolution service.

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Here are some Before & After photos of how we helped bring this home into the 21st century — after the sellers completed the interior painting and some easy cosmetic fixes.

The kitchen nook needed new paint, replacing the light fixture, & removal of the valance

The dining room just needed paint, replacing the chandelier & removal of those dated window coverings

The living room had a challenging layout, but paint & removing the window coverings did the trick

Quick Tip:  The brass fireplace screen & brass mirror dated this room … it’s easy to spray the screen with a matte black heat-resistant paint, and replace the mirror with art for a dramatic difference

The master bedroom just needed paint and removal of the dated window coverings to let in all the light

The seller emailed me after seeing the “transformation” “Wow, Wow and double Wow!  Is this the same place??!! You did a wonderful job Maureen!”

After six months on the market before staging, this Portland home deserved a few easy cosmetic improvements and professional home staging.  If your home or listing is lingering on the market, contact your local home staging experts for a staging consultation and proposal — you’ll be glad you did!

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Room Solutions Staging offers home staging services to Portland Oregon homeowners, real estate agents, builders, banks,  and investors to prepare homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our customer service and our home staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultations, staging for both vacant and lived-in homes, and interior restyling  service.  For a free home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.

One of the benefits of professional home staging is that the home is seen at its very best, including showing as much “space” as possible.  Potential buyers who view a home are usually wondering, “will my furniture fit here?”

One of our goals in staging is to make sure that buyers will “see” the space that the house has, so we don’t  use unnecessary furnishings.  We’ve found that this approach makes the house the “star” of the viewing, rather than the furnishings; the homes that we’ve staged over the past two years have an average Days on Market of less than 28 days. One of our recent staging projects was a 1,275-sq ft home where we needed to show buyers that it’s roomier than it might appear when empty, or when viewed with too much furniture.

Here are some Before & After Photos of this Portland cottage-style home, starting with the living room; we suggested a more neutral wall color, and staged the room with just enough furniture so that buyers could “see” the space that they’d be buying:

In the guest bedroom, the furniture was over-sized and crowded this small room.  Staging it as a child’s room made sense since the target buyer is a couple or family with one child:

The master bedroom presented a challenge because of its size, so we staged it to show buyers that there’s room for two nightstands — perhaps they’ll want to install a plasma screen on the wall opposite the bed:

In the dining area, the previous rectangular table was too large to allow for movement, so we selected a glass-topped round table and used just 3 chairs.  Buyers will see that a 4th chair will fit, but our goal was to show as much space as possible:

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Room Solutions Staging offers help to Portland Oregon metro area homeowners, Realtors, builders, banks and investors in preparing homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our service and our staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultation reports, staging for both vacant and occupied homes, and interior redesign  projects.  For a complimentary home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.  (Photos by Room Solutions Staging)

We’ve seen the compelling evidence that proves that excellent photos can significantly improve a home’s appeal in the online photos.  Since so many of today’s buyers are previewing homes online it only makes sense to have the best photos possible.  Sellers and listing agents who hire a professional photographer are smart and savvy — a true professional can enhance the home with photos by using a wide-angle lens that shows the architectural features of the home, not just a corner with two windows (which is what we often see in the MLS photos, unfortunately).

Every now and then I’ll notice a vacant home on the MLS that was professionally photographed, and I admire the shots and how the photographer’s expertise captured the rooms beautifully.  Being a professional home stager, however, I can’t help but wonder …. wouldn’t this vacant home look even better if it were staged? With appropriate furnishings, potential buyers would be able to imagine what it would be like to live in this house, and make it a “home.”

Recently, my Portland home staging company was hired to stage a new construction home that had been on the market for a few months.  The feedback from viewers is that they liked the home and location, but some were having difficulty with the great room space, not quite sure how to configure the furniture.  The builder thought that staging could help show buyers that the space was indeed very workable. I was impressed that this builder had  already hired an excellent professional photographer for the online photos (they are beautiful photos) but as a professional home stager, I could also see that staging would make a difference in how buyers would perceive this home.

Here are photos that show the home vacant but professionally photographed – and then staged.  Buyers will find the staged home more appealing since staging answers their questions about furniture placement, size and relevant scale of the space, etc.  Staging a home also allows for buyers to make an emotional connection, which is difficult when the home is vacant.

For the best chance to showcase your home or listing in the MLS photos, hire a professional stager who has the experience and talent to make your home stand up to all the competition! We provide photos for the online listing to our clients as part of our service, but we also recommend hiring a professional photographer if the budget allows.

“After” Photos by Room Solutions Staging

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Room Solutions Staging offers help to Portland Oregon homeowners, real estate professionals, builders, banks, trustees and investors in preparing homes for the market.  Our home staging clients love our service and our staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultation reports, staging for both vacant and occupied homes, and interior redesign  projects.  For a complimentary home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.

You should also consider consulting with a professional home stager to help stage the home for the target buyer. We know just how to present your home in the most appealing way so that buyers can easily imagine themselves living there. Here’s an example of a client in Portland Oregon whose home we staged; the third bedroom was being used as a “storage room” for excess furniture in this cottage-style home.  The listing agent agreed that showing this room as a child’s room made a lot more sense for potential buyers. Since the wall color was so bold, we selected the new paint color and the seller got busy painting and putting this furniture in storage.

Before:  BOLD wall color, and way too much furniture in this bedroom would just confuse buyers and make them think the room was much too small

After:  With a more neutral wall color along with bright accents in the staging accessories, buyers can now easily see this room is just the right size for a child — and this home SOLD IN 2 DAYS!

This home SOLD in two days for full asking price!  Call your local professional home stager for help with YOUR home.

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Room Solutions Staging in Portland OR helps our clients maximize home equity by staging to sell. Join the Portland Oregon homeowners, real estate agents, builders, banks, and investors who turn to Room Solutions Staging for help preparing homes to sell faster.  Our home staging clients love our service and our home staging statistics!  Our home staging services in the Portland OR metro area include consultations, staging for both vacant and lived-in homes, and interior redesign  projects.  For a free home staging proposal, please contact us @ 503-246-1800.

We recently staged this Portland home and think that the “Before” & “After” photos kind of speak for themselves … would you  agree?  First is the living room …

Here’s the dining area Before & After photos

Finally, the kitchen looked “just OK” Before but needed some color & interest for Buyers

Sellers ~ Jump on the Bandwagon and Stage your home so that buyers have a chance to fall in love!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

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Maureen Bray is a professional home staging expert based in Portland, Oregon, and a member of the Real Estate Staging Association.  She serves as a Moderator of the ‘Stage It Forward’ forum on Active Rain and writes posts helpful to homeowners, real estate professionals, and other home stagers.  Her successful home staging company, Room Solutions Staging LLC was established in 2006; Maureen’s staging and design work has been featured in multiple episodes of HGTV’s show ‘My First Place,’ on AM Northwest and KATU News, and her interviews are found in publications including The Oregonian, Portland Monthly, Personal Real Estate Investor, and Angie’s List Magazine. Maureen was awarded the Super Service Award by Angie’s List in 2010, and was voted by her peers throughout North America as a Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year for 2011.