My current project is an ex-rental property in Currambine and progress is going well, on budget and on time....you can view the .Currambine Presale Makeover on my website.
The property is an ex-rental that has been poorly managed by the property managers and there has been substantial amount of work to bring the property even to just a reasonable state for sale. The property has some great features and is on a good size block on a quiet street. It has large multiple living areas which can be used as either a parents retreat or kids games/TV room. There is a real demand in todays buyers market for split living areas/retreats.
The bathrooms are slightly dated, but are very clean and are in great condition. It really wasn't worth the extra money to update the bathrooms in this market and given the needs in other areas due to the poor management of the property. The budget just didn't stretch that far, but there are things that can be done to minimise the bathrooms being slightly dated. Painting, update tapware, accessories, blinds and styling.
The backyard is coming up a treat. It was very plain, no shade, bare patches of garden mixed with overgrown patches of garden, chipped tyles, badly placed shed, rusted BBQ etc. Overall it was really unappealing. The feature of the backyard is the spa area, therefore it is important to ensure this is maximised so that it becomes the key feature in the backyard and buyers attention is taken straight to the spa and BBQ areas followed by the garden.
The front entrance has a little courtyard and the owner wanted to put in a water feature. Very keen to do this as the owner wanted the front courtyard to be very appealing. Totally agree about making the courtyard appealing.
However, the cost of buying a water feature that would be suitable for the area, the electrical work and plants saw a budget set at around $1200. I managed to talk the owner out of the water feature idea and invest in styling with large pots and appropriate plants.
This area is still to be completed, but watch this space.
The water feature would not be a good return on their investment, therefore I can't stress enough be mindful of what you spend your Spruce Up budget on.
There are so many cost effective areas that sellers can spend money on that will help modernise the home such as tapware, blinds, flooring, tiles, sinks, door handles, lighting etc.
Activities for this week, new blinds, carpets, front yard, lighting, kitchen etc.... So keep posted there is much more to come.
Spruce Up before You Sell Up Perth's Presale Makeover Specialist
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Furnishing for Sale
One of the biggest challenges facing sellers these days, especially those with vacant properties is how to cost effectively furnish the home ready for sale. It is a known fact that vacant properties can generally take much longer to sell and possibly at a discount. This generally comes about because buyers can't visualise the room sizes and see the potential the property has.
Not all sellers have the ability to visualise their furniture in the property or the potential of the property, therefore styling a property is about enabling the visual ability of the seller. Styling a property for sale is not cheating the seller, you are simply helping them to see the property potential through the use of accessories.
Hire furniture is generally high quality modern style furniture and accessories that is targeted at the large modern home, developer and renovated homes. In many cases, I have clients that are interested, but I know the furniture will look out of place in their home. So this can leave the seller with few options to help them style their homes successfully for sale.
Clients are surprised when I discuss the cost of styling their home with hire furniture. It is not a cheap exercise, but the benefits pay off when you go to sell. So it comes down to the cost/benefit analysis of investing in hire furniture to style your property.
Average time to sell a property is somewhere between 70-90 days so that is essentially 3 months of hire costs that you need to recover from the sale price. This is generally not a problem as it is a good investment, but not everyone has the budget to hire furniture for 3 months.
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?
I believe there are alternatives for sellers to mix and match with purchased and hire furniture options. In some cases it is much cheaper to hire certain items and purchase others. Oh I hear you say "what do I do with the purchased items". I'll deal with that later. The reason I suggest purchased items, is that it presents a cost effective solution to styling and furnishing your home ready for sale. There are a range of well prices furniture shops such as Ikea, Furniture Spot, Fantastic Furniture etc. Each one presents different cost options and price ranges.
NOW you don't have to style the whole house, you just need to style the main areas, such as Master Bedroom, Living and Dining. In addition to these areas, you can consider an additional bedroom and the lounge/theatre area set up as a second living / kids retreat. AND if you can the alfresco/pergola area.
I heard you earlier "what do I do with it once I sell the property" You can sell it with the house, or you could place an advert on Gumtree and sell all items as a package for half price. You will still have cost effectively furnished your home for sale.
I have a client with a small 44 x 2, that may not sell straight away and therefore the cost of hiring furniture was going to really push their budget over. Essentially , the hire options would be up around $2000 per month to rent furniture plus one off costs. They chose to purchase a range of items with my help, and my final styling for photos and home open. They invested nearly $$2000. If they sell the excess items on Gumtree as a package and recover 50% of their initial investment, they will have only invested $1000 for the sale period. Great options for those on a tight budget.
However, word of caution, this may not work for all properties and can be dependent upon the Sales Campaign. If you are going to auction, then it maybe worth investing in hire furniture to ensure you have maximise WOW factor for the property.
THE KEY to successfully styling with cheaper ranges of furniture, is ensuring you select items that aren't cheap looking or tacky. Always keep the colours of the furniture similar and plain, something that would easily be sold on afterwards.
Accessories are another difficult area, as these cover items such as plants, fake flowers, artwork, vases, bowels, table runners, lamps, cushions, rugs etc. These items are just as important as the furniture itself and can really help add the WOW factor in the room.
Watch my web gallery for the after photos of this property.
Written by Sandy Anderson
http://www.spruceups.com.au/
Not all sellers have the ability to visualise their furniture in the property or the potential of the property, therefore styling a property is about enabling the visual ability of the seller. Styling a property for sale is not cheating the seller, you are simply helping them to see the property potential through the use of accessories.
Hire furniture is generally high quality modern style furniture and accessories that is targeted at the large modern home, developer and renovated homes. In many cases, I have clients that are interested, but I know the furniture will look out of place in their home. So this can leave the seller with few options to help them style their homes successfully for sale.
Clients are surprised when I discuss the cost of styling their home with hire furniture. It is not a cheap exercise, but the benefits pay off when you go to sell. So it comes down to the cost/benefit analysis of investing in hire furniture to style your property.
Average time to sell a property is somewhere between 70-90 days so that is essentially 3 months of hire costs that you need to recover from the sale price. This is generally not a problem as it is a good investment, but not everyone has the budget to hire furniture for 3 months.
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?
I believe there are alternatives for sellers to mix and match with purchased and hire furniture options. In some cases it is much cheaper to hire certain items and purchase others. Oh I hear you say "what do I do with the purchased items". I'll deal with that later. The reason I suggest purchased items, is that it presents a cost effective solution to styling and furnishing your home ready for sale. There are a range of well prices furniture shops such as Ikea, Furniture Spot, Fantastic Furniture etc. Each one presents different cost options and price ranges.
NOW you don't have to style the whole house, you just need to style the main areas, such as Master Bedroom, Living and Dining. In addition to these areas, you can consider an additional bedroom and the lounge/theatre area set up as a second living / kids retreat. AND if you can the alfresco/pergola area.
I heard you earlier "what do I do with it once I sell the property" You can sell it with the house, or you could place an advert on Gumtree and sell all items as a package for half price. You will still have cost effectively furnished your home for sale.
I have a client with a small 44 x 2, that may not sell straight away and therefore the cost of hiring furniture was going to really push their budget over. Essentially , the hire options would be up around $2000 per month to rent furniture plus one off costs. They chose to purchase a range of items with my help, and my final styling for photos and home open. They invested nearly $$2000. If they sell the excess items on Gumtree as a package and recover 50% of their initial investment, they will have only invested $1000 for the sale period. Great options for those on a tight budget.
However, word of caution, this may not work for all properties and can be dependent upon the Sales Campaign. If you are going to auction, then it maybe worth investing in hire furniture to ensure you have maximise WOW factor for the property.
THE KEY to successfully styling with cheaper ranges of furniture, is ensuring you select items that aren't cheap looking or tacky. Always keep the colours of the furniture similar and plain, something that would easily be sold on afterwards.
Accessories are another difficult area, as these cover items such as plants, fake flowers, artwork, vases, bowels, table runners, lamps, cushions, rugs etc. These items are just as important as the furniture itself and can really help add the WOW factor in the room.
Watch my web gallery for the after photos of this property.
Written by Sandy Anderson
http://www.spruceups.com.au/
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
To Feature Wall or Not to Feature Wall?
This is the biggest question when it comes to painting homes these days.
WHICH wall should I use as a feature wall and in which room? Not all rooms require a feature wall.
I did a feature wall in my living area, not on the big plain wall, but on the wall surrounding my very large windows - the wall is essentially 80% windows / sliding door. My WHY - I saw the windows as a piece of artwork looking onto my garden and I wanted to frame it like you would do with any artwork. In addition, the blinds where white and I felt it was sterile and lacked warmth. If I had chosen the big plain wall opposite the windows, it wouldn't have made the room too small.
You will need to consider the size of the room, window location, number of windows, window furnishings, artwork to be used in room or on wall and furniture that is in and near the feature wall. All of these factors can can impact how your feature wall will look. If there are heavy curtains or coloured blinds, it might not be suitable to do a feature wall as these items will bring in colour and texture. Furniture size and colour can also impact negatively on a feature wall.
The most common areas for feature walls are Living/Lounge and master bedrooms. Now WHAT colour do you put on your feature wall.
WHAT colour should you choose? Not all feature walls need to be bright colours and take up more than one wall. A subtle colour can be more effective in the styling of your home. It comes down to what you want to create with your feature wall and will it give you the style you are looking for. Unless you have the time and money and an ultra modern property, I would stay clear of fashion fad colours and textured paint, as these can easily date and you might be re-painting in 12 months.
Some recent feature walls I have completed have been subtle with only a shade or two darker than the main wall colour, through to beautiful greens to break up the "neutral" overall look of the property. I call it the builder look "neutralising tones", beige tiles, cupboards, walls, doors etc. Therefore no personality in the room whatsoever and all you can see is beige and cream..... eeeek.
How best to test that your chosen colour will suit your feature wall. Pick more than one, as the hue of the colour will be different once you get it home. I recommend that you get tester pots of a range of colours and paint them onto an A4 sheet of paper and blutac them on your chosen wall in at least 2 positions. Leave them there for a week so you can live wit the colour on the wall. This enables you to view the colour during the day and night. I personally don't like textured paints as feature walls as they are very difficult to remove and paint over.
With my chosen feature wall I think I went through 5 colours before I found my colour. I felt I had lost my colour mojo, or maybe I was just being extra fussy. But I love it now as much as I did the day I painted it.
The feature is very subtle but creates the frame and warmth I wanted in the area.
Here is a picture of partof the wall
http://www.spruceups.com.au/
Are features walls still in fashion or are they out of fashion? To be honest I love a good feature wall as long as it is on the "right" wall in the right room with the right colour. There are too many feature walls on the wrong wall, in the wrong room in the wrong colour.
So which is the right wall? Well there are many factors to consider when deciding on which wall can be used as a feature wall. The first thing you should ask yourself is WHY do I want a feature wall? Consider this - Is it because you think you should have one? Is it because you want to add colour / texture to your house? Of it is because you think it is fashionable to have one and therefore I must have one in my house? If it is because you think you should have one because your friends have one and say that you should have one, then maybe you shouldn't? Once you have worked out the WHY, then you can explore WHICH wall as you may not have a suitable wall.
I did a feature wall in my living area, not on the big plain wall, but on the wall surrounding my very large windows - the wall is essentially 80% windows / sliding door. My WHY - I saw the windows as a piece of artwork looking onto my garden and I wanted to frame it like you would do with any artwork. In addition, the blinds where white and I felt it was sterile and lacked warmth. If I had chosen the big plain wall opposite the windows, it wouldn't have made the room too small.
You will need to consider the size of the room, window location, number of windows, window furnishings, artwork to be used in room or on wall and furniture that is in and near the feature wall. All of these factors can can impact how your feature wall will look. If there are heavy curtains or coloured blinds, it might not be suitable to do a feature wall as these items will bring in colour and texture. Furniture size and colour can also impact negatively on a feature wall.
The most common areas for feature walls are Living/Lounge and master bedrooms. Now WHAT colour do you put on your feature wall.
Some recent feature walls I have completed have been subtle with only a shade or two darker than the main wall colour, through to beautiful greens to break up the "neutral" overall look of the property. I call it the builder look "neutralising tones", beige tiles, cupboards, walls, doors etc. Therefore no personality in the room whatsoever and all you can see is beige and cream..... eeeek.
How best to test that your chosen colour will suit your feature wall. Pick more than one, as the hue of the colour will be different once you get it home. I recommend that you get tester pots of a range of colours and paint them onto an A4 sheet of paper and blutac them on your chosen wall in at least 2 positions. Leave them there for a week so you can live wit the colour on the wall. This enables you to view the colour during the day and night. I personally don't like textured paints as feature walls as they are very difficult to remove and paint over.
With my chosen feature wall I think I went through 5 colours before I found my colour. I felt I had lost my colour mojo, or maybe I was just being extra fussy. But I love it now as much as I did the day I painted it.
The feature is very subtle but creates the frame and warmth I wanted in the area.
Here is a picture of partof the wall
If you are unsure of your colour and want to maximise the colour in your home, I would recomend a colour expert to help.
http://www.spruceups.com.au/
Monday, 28 March 2011
Spruce Up Recipe for March
Spruce Up your insides with this home created Tortilla stack.....bit like a fritatta but without the potato.
Ingredients
Pumpkin (cut about 0.5cm thick and steam)
Chilli (red) (finely chopped
Garlic
Red Capsicum (Thinly sliced and fry in pan with garlic and oil, on high to char grill a little)
Pesto Paste
Spinach (baby)
Ricotta (not tub but the more set one)
Finely grated strong Parmesan cheese
Eggs 3-4
Chives (finely chopped)
Tortilla wraps (whatever size suits your fry pan)
Need a reasonably deep fry pan. Line with baking paper. Spray with light oil
Lay first tortilla on bottom
Place steamed pumpkin and drizzled finely chopped chilli
Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese
S& P to taste
Lay second tortilla
** spread pesto paste on top of the second tortilla layer (be generous)
Place ricotta and spinach
S&P to taste
Lay third tortilla
Place char grilled capsicum and sprinkle a little chilli on
Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese.
S&P to taste
Lay final tortilla on top
Mix egg and chives together (say about 3-4 eggs) and mix in Parmesan cheese. Pour gently over mix to allow it to flow to other layers, but not making it like a quiche.
Cook on low heat with lid to assist cooking process - will probably take between 30-45 mins. Once most of it has cooked through put under low grill to cook top through a little more.
Let it sit over night and serve cold or warmed.
Good luck and let me know how you go
Sandy
Ingredients
Pumpkin (cut about 0.5cm thick and steam)
Chilli (red) (finely chopped
Garlic
Red Capsicum (Thinly sliced and fry in pan with garlic and oil, on high to char grill a little)
Pesto Paste
Spinach (baby)
Ricotta (not tub but the more set one)
Finely grated strong Parmesan cheese
Eggs 3-4
Chives (finely chopped)
Tortilla wraps (whatever size suits your fry pan)
Need a reasonably deep fry pan. Line with baking paper. Spray with light oil
Lay first tortilla on bottom
Place steamed pumpkin and drizzled finely chopped chilli
Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese
S& P to taste
Lay second tortilla
** spread pesto paste on top of the second tortilla layer (be generous)
Place ricotta and spinach
S&P to taste
Lay third tortilla
Place char grilled capsicum and sprinkle a little chilli on
Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese.
S&P to taste
Lay final tortilla on top
Mix egg and chives together (say about 3-4 eggs) and mix in Parmesan cheese. Pour gently over mix to allow it to flow to other layers, but not making it like a quiche.
Cook on low heat with lid to assist cooking process - will probably take between 30-45 mins. Once most of it has cooked through put under low grill to cook top through a little more.
Let it sit over night and serve cold or warmed.
Good luck and let me know how you go
Sandy
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Those moments that bring a smile to your dial!
I'm sitting here this morning working on a borrowed laptop - mine had to have the hard drive replaced, then the software ghosted back on to it, so you don't have to download all your software again. Like who has all the discs these days!!
I look out the window and my dog Jade is sitting against the fence in the garden soaking up the sun, surrounded by little plants with some purple flowers, her ears up and just looking as cute as a button. She is Staffordshire bullterrier, the best dogs ever! It brings a huge smile to my face, unconditional love!
It's a beautiful picture - that moment you need to run and grab the camera. Problem is that everytime I bring out the camera, she starts carrying on, she just doesn't like the paparazzi....
So it has to be a memory for me.
Can never spruce up her, she doesn't need it!
http://www.spruceups.com.au/
I look out the window and my dog Jade is sitting against the fence in the garden soaking up the sun, surrounded by little plants with some purple flowers, her ears up and just looking as cute as a button. She is Staffordshire bullterrier, the best dogs ever! It brings a huge smile to my face, unconditional love!
It's a beautiful picture - that moment you need to run and grab the camera. Problem is that everytime I bring out the camera, she starts carrying on, she just doesn't like the paparazzi....
So it has to be a memory for me.
Can never spruce up her, she doesn't need it!
http://www.spruceups.com.au/
Welcome
Welcome to my blog. I have been contemplating putting up a blog and what should I say? I hope to share with you my experiences, expertise and tips on the area of presale property styling. There is so much misconception out there and many property owners are the ones that are losing out because they are not given the right guidance and suggestions to improve their opporunity during the sales campaign.
I will look to shae with you styling tips, new products on the market and my favourites.
Feel free to visit my website to view my gallery of before and after photos of my presale makeovers, which includes colour consulting, placement of hire furniture and management of many services, along with clients who have chosen to DIY their own spruce up based on my recommendations. http://www.spruceups.com.au/ Stay posted and join my blog journey
I will look to shae with you styling tips, new products on the market and my favourites.
Feel free to visit my website to view my gallery of before and after photos of my presale makeovers, which includes colour consulting, placement of hire furniture and management of many services, along with clients who have chosen to DIY their own spruce up based on my recommendations. http://www.spruceups.com.au/ Stay posted and join my blog journey
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