Designer Lighting Impacts Renovation With Great Reward!

For years, we have been assuring home owners that a key upgrade when competing with new construction is designer lighting.  Once you have recessed “pots” (they’re called by the pros) you have a hidden advantage: the overall ability to see what’s in each room is greatly enhanced. Plus,it is one of the many big differentiators of…

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Maple MakeOver Needed A More General Personal Style

Sometimes a home is nice, with all the basics covered, but it may not photograph well.  Since we all reach for Google when starting any kind of search today, every house listed for sale needs a personality and a warm welcome to stand out. This might seem a conundrum: stagers are always telling home owners to remove…

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Accent Walls – Caution Ahead!

Modern Family Room by Los Angeles Interior Designers & Decorators Annette English Accent Walls There are lots of good reasons to have an accent wall. And as populare as they were in the 80s and 90s, they remain as stylish and useful today.  For example: If you love open plan living, but want to subtly…

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Naperville Home Staging Gig Goes Younger and Brighter

Naperville Home Staging

This Naperville home staging project was a house we knew well. We had staged it when the owner still lived there, and once they moved out, we came back in with our own furniture and accessories. It is a large house, located in a part of downtown Naperville where the lots tend to be smaller.  The…

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Kitchen Staging Ideas: Too Far vs. Not Far Enough

Kitchen Staging Ideas

Kitchen Staging Ideas proliferate, but it takes a delicate touch to get a kitchen exactly right. The whole scenario relies on how you treat the counters.  The biggest mistake we see home owners make is in clearing the counters off and leaving nothing there at all. This bare presentation leaves potential buyers with nothing to look at,…

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Home Staging Ideas Dining Room Locations

Game Table in living room

When you have an open plan first floor, where do you locate the dining room?  Part of the kitchen or on the carpet as part of the formal living room? We recently encountered this conundrum when we staged this charming home in Oswego, IL. Interestingly it has no formal dining room as it is an…

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Staging A Vacant in Naperville

Naperville Home Staging

One of our most fun projects lately was staging a vacant in Naperville, IL. The lot had been empty for years. Though new builds in Naperville sell well, no-one had imagined how to fit a spacious home on it. Until now. Now we have a beautiful, spacious home, with windows cleverly placed so that each…

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Staged Downers Grove Home Sold in 1 Day!

staged downers Grove success

We recently staged a newly constructed home in Downers Grove.  We like the community of Downers Grove. Everybody does.  Located a mere 22 miles west of Chicago, it’s a thriving suburb that has been ranked – #8 in America’s Friendliest Towns (Forbes Magazine) #5 in its Best Places for a Healthy Retirement list (CNN) #2…

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Appreciating What You’ve Got!

The most compelling reason to own a home has always been the appreciation. As in asset appreciation. But when you’re dealing with an older home, there are other assets – architecture, character, other initially incomprehensible renovations – to appreciate.  When you go to sell this home, you will want not only appreciate all of those quirks…

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Sold in 5 days! Staged Naperville townhome races off the market!

Home Staging Chicagoland Home Staging

Following staging, this Naperville townhome sold in 5 days.  Home staging in Chicago’s Western suburbs often produces terrific results. Why would a staging design make such a difference? It is not that the occupant had done anything wrong with their design. They had a nice, solid,wood table, white chairs by the window, allowing for good light,…

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