Although interior design is the bulk of her business, Bridget M. Savereux is well-known for her work as a home stager.
Perhaps that’s because she’s one of the experts featured on the popular HGTV show, “The Stagers” and she has a thriving Vancouver design business, Balance 3 Living Design – Mind Body Design, with her Mom, Maureen Powers. In her experience, Bridget has worked on everything from small apartments and condos to an 8-million dollar penthouse, so if you’re thinking of selling your home, she can help you make it look its very best!
Home staging is preparing and transforming your home for a maximum amount and for speed of sale.
Bridget says, “We take your home – a product – and prepare that product for the market.”
When selling your home, you want to do everything you can to make it look its best. Bridget says, “At the end of the night, when people come home after seeing 10 places, you want yours to stand out in their minds. You want them to say, ‘Great layout,’ or ‘See how much furniture they got in there?’
With a home stager like Bridget, you can take it from ordinary to dynamic!
There are many different levels of preparation Bridget can offer, from helping you declutter if you don’t have a big budget for new furniture, to neutralizing and cleaning the space.
“We give them an effective way to place furniture and tell them to get rid of certain pieces,” Bridget says. “If they have any wild patterns or wrong colours going on that might not appeal to a larger market, they go too.”
Basically, “you want to give them (new home buyers) as little ammunition as possible. No odd smells, heavy, bulky furniture, dirt or crazy colors.”
She also says, “Please, please, please clean. We like to call it hotel clean.” That means no clutter, no dirt and definitely no rumpled anything!
Bridget says, “We try not to recommend buying furniture. That is why we offer the whole service of staging. Part of our service is that we bring in furniture to scale for the space.”
She works with Dekora, Canada’s leading staging company, where she can walk through the large warehouse and bring in the appropriate pieces.
One thing you should know is that you are not involved in this part.
“When you turn it over to us,” Bridget says, “You have to disconnect and think of your house as a product. Trust that the stagers will come in and do what they are professionally trained to do. We don’t need emotional interference.”
But you will learn all of this in the consultation, of which there are many levels.
“We give you ideas to use with your existing furniture and we can do an ‘enhancement,’ where we use some of your furniture and bring in some,” Bridget says.
And then there’s the level where “You pretty much move everything out and we come in and completely recreate the space.” This may mean ripping out carpet or flooring, repainting, etc.
It’s all based on your budget and whatever you come up with in the consultation.
Bridget has noticed some trends that you should keep in mind:
1. Buying large furniture without measuring or working with a designer. Often you bring the piece of furniture home and it doesn’t fit or work in the space. Don’t feel bad – you’re not an expert. But at least hire one!
2. Large televisions. Do not make these the focal point of your home unless they are part of a media room. Store it away when not in use.
3. Platform beds. They may look cool sure, but you lose the under the bed storage and often they take up the whole room!
4. Reassess all the electronics in your home. Get rid of what you don’t use and tidy up what you have.
5. Stainless steel appliances are here to stay. Just be sure to keep them clean. Wipe them down when you do the counters.
6. Open concept living is huge. Flow of your kitchen to your dining room to the living room creates an integrated feeling to the home. Embrace this. It looks better this way.
Bridget M. Savereux can take your home from Hmm to WOW! in just a few easy steps. And you’ll have a home that sells quickly and have a better, cleaner way of living in your new home.
Win-win.
Text by Stephanie Dickison
Photos Compliments of HGTV
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