Stager vs. Stager

Not everyone has the luxury of moving out before putting their home on the market. Especially in tough economy, we are seeing an increasing demand to stage occupied homes. We try to work with owners’ existing furnishing, thus saving them the money from renting furnishings from us. Occupied homes are tougher to stage than vacant homes, the design process is more involved since we’d have to consider the owner’s furnishing and make sure the staging is practical to live with.

Here is an example of a condo in Mountain View we recently staged. The property was previous on the market, staged by another staging company, and after more than half year, it was still on the market. Then… the Realtor was changed, and we were asked to freshen up the place. We removed some of owner’s bulky, dated items, brought in few contemporary furnishings, injected brighter colors here and there, and voilà! The place was sold in a week with multiple offers at almost $30,000 over the listing price.

Does staging really work? ;-)

Our staging combined with our complimentary eye-popping photography/virtual tour service give you the winning edge!

Here is the comparison between the previous stager’s work (left) and ours (right):
(More info on this property, here is the virtual tour)

Related posts

Congraz Jan!

Dear One Two Six,

We appreciate your talents in making my brother’s old home sparkle! 240 people went thru the (first) open house over two days and we received 5 bids, four above asking.

Jan (home owner, Mountain View)

bna_jan

Congraz Jan and happy Thanksgiving!

Related posts

SOLD! $23,580,954 Worth of Happiness!

Since last Sold entry, we have staged and helped to sell $23,580,954 worth of real estate.

  • Blackwood, Sunnyvale (sold in 14 days!)
  • Kennewick Ave., Sunnyvale (sold in 5 days!)
    A $1.3M newly renovated home with large yard and a huge pool
  • Orchard Ave. Mountain View (sold in 7 days!)
  • 9th Ave, Menlo Park (sold in 5 days!)
  • Ramona St, Palo Alto (sold in 20 days!)
    Gorgeous home! white picket fence, paver stone drive way and court yard, large bright windows, spacious master suite…
  • Live Oak Ave., Menlo Park (sold in 18 days!)
    Walking distance from downtown Menlo Park Santa Cruz Ave. Large corner lot with garden, this place has 2 kitchens and a basement!
  • Pilgrim Loop, Fremont (sold in 3 months)
    A Family Den within the large Family room!
  • Timber Creek, Fremont (sold in 3 months)
    A single family like townhouse, up in the hills of Fremont
  • Hayfield Ct., Saratoga (sold in 2 months)
    Gated community, with grapevine in the front yard and a basketball/tennis court in the backyard! Bright and spacious main level and a huge basement ideal for the children to play uninterrupted
  • Weyburn Lane, San Jose (sold in 7 days!)
  • LynnOaks Dr, San Jose (sold in 6 days!)
  • Porpoise Bay Ter, Sunnyvale (sold in 29 days!)
    Tri-level townhouse in an upscale community close to 237 Freeway,
  • Watson Cir., Santa Clara (sold in 12 days!)
    Located in the heart of famous Rivermark community
  • Pear Ave., Sunnyvale (sold in 9 days!)
  • Clausen Ct., Los Altos Hills
  • Miramonte Ave., Mountain View
  • Venice Way, San Jose (sold in 17 days!)
  • Ortega Ave., A404, Mountain View (sold in 1.5 month)
    A penthouse condo in a gated complex bordering Palo Alto
  • E. Floresta Way, Portola Valley (sold in 40 days)
    Located south of 1-280, the gentle hills and serene surrounding make this a great place to call home
  • Grape Wagon Cir, San Jose (sold in 5 days!)
    A single family in a gated retirement community the size of the city of Mountain View!! Remodeled throughout, great view of the golf courses and the valley
  • Morningside Dr. Sunnyvale (sold in 5 days!)

Related posts

SOLD! Heap of Good News!

We have been working very hard to keep up with the market lately, houses are moving very fast these days.  In little over two weeks since my last SOLD blog entry, we now have a heap of sold properties that needs to be announced.

  1. La Paloma, Los Altos Hills: This is a $7,000,000, 6 bedroom, 5+ bath, three level estate situated in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the Bay Area. Salt water pool, waterfall, you name it, this place has it! (SOLD in 7 days!!)
    La Paloma 1
  2. Cherrybrooke Common, San Leandro: Our investor friend has done it again! David fixed up this cozy 4 bedroom single family house, had us stage it, and sold it all within a month! (SOLD in 2 weeks!)
  3. Tyrella Ave, Mountain View: A charming townhouse conveniently located close to the thumping Mountain View downtown, with easy access to Highway 85, 101 and 237 (SOLD in 8 days!)
  4. Aruba Ln, Foster City: Only steps away from the water, within miles away from the happening San Mateo downtown (Sold in 1 month!)
  5. Williams St., Palo Alto: Freshly renovated, cozy home near Stanford (SOLD less than 2 weeks!)
  6. Campbell Rd., Los Altos: Very functional layout, this home sitting on a large lot walking distance from the Village (SOLD in 6 days!)
  7. Firebird Way, Sunnyvale: Move in ready, bright home with Cupertino School (SOLD in 7 days!)
  8. Terra Bella Dr. Cupertino: A home in the Monta Vista area of Cupertino (SOLD in 11 days!)
  9. Saranac Dr. Sunnyvale: A spanish styled gated single family, with glistering pool and large backyard (SOLD in 11 days!)
  10. Kensington Cir. Los Altos: Long private driveway leading to this magnificent home hidden behind mature oaks, wrapped around floor plan puts focus on the HUGE backyard and its olympic size pool (SOLD in 7 days!!)
  11. Sold!

  12. Blackwood Terr. Sunnyvale: Large townhouse located near the center of Sunnyvale (SOLD in 2 weeks!)
  13. Kennewick Dr. Sunnyvale: Cul-de-sac home on a 13,000 sq ft lot! Pool, BBQ, garden, new roof… new owners can move in and enjoy this gorgeous home right away! (SOLD in 5 days!!)
  14. Orchard Ave. Mountain View: Across the street from Castro st, downtown Mountain View!! (SOLD in 7 days!)
  15. Live Oak Ave. Menlo Park: Charming home with two kitchens! and large basement in the Allied Arts neighborhood, two blocks away from downtown Menlo Park (SOLD in 18 days!!)
  16. Hayfield Ct. Saratoga: Over $4,000,000 worth of reasons, this resort-like home is located in a gated community in Saratoga, with easy access to the highway-85. Huge windows throughout the house, stone outlined pool and a full size tennis court makes this a magazine front-cover worthy dream home! (Sold in 2 months!)
  17. 9th Ave. Menlo Park: A private-like drive leads up to this spacious two story home (SOLD in 5 days!!)

Related posts

Vanity Award

We received an email from the US Commerce Association a week ago, notifying us that they’ve chosen One Two Six Design for the “Best of Palo Alto Award” in Home Design & Planning Services category.

One Two Six Design, Best of Palo Alto Award

One Two Six Design, Best of Palo Alto Award

Woohoo~~!!   Yippeeee~~!! (for the next 5 mins)

Finally when the excitement subdued, and calmness settled back in, we realized… wait a minute, “Best of Palo Alto”? But… we moved from Palo Alto to the present Mountain View location more than 5 years ago. US Commerce Association? Who are these people?

Intrigued, we followed the link provided in the email, the web site open with instruction on how to obtain the award plaque, for a fee… Something didn’t feel right, if someone really want to give us an award, shouldn’t they give us the plaque for free?

Have to say, these people have came up with a very creative way to grab your money, hats off to them. In the world that’s full of spam mails, at least US Commerce Association’s spam comes with a vanity award.

Related posts

SOLD! Busy Busy June

June has been full of activities, we hit a record month both in terms of staging and de-staging sold properties. Homes are moving, many of them even received multiple strong offers. The home owners are happy, REALTORS are smiling and we are definitely excited about all the wonderful outcomes!

Home Staging by One Two Six Design:

Sold!

  • Emerson St. Palo Alto: a spacious bi-level condo in the heart of Palo Alto, huge bedrooms, and a large den/office makes this condo feels like a luxury penthouse
  • El Camino Real, Burlingame: a condo in a gated community, next door to the prestigious Hillsborough, easy access to downtown Burlingame and walking distance to many shops and community amenities, the new owners will love their new home and the neighborhood!
  • Stelling Dr. Palo Alto: Midtown Palo Alto, quiet cul-de-sac location, nicely maintained yard and the simple, elegant Eichler architecture, the epitome of Palo Alto living. (Sold in 2 weeks!)
  • Bountiful Acres, Saratoga: This ~7,000 sq ft gated Saratoga mansion sits on huge corner lot with large pool and expansive lawn. Bi-level with 8 bedroom, billiard room, fitness room, media room… and additional 3 bedrooms and baths can be found in the lower level au pair quarter, that’s 11 bedrooms!! The wrapped around balcony provides a great entertaining area overlooking the entire property. This place took us the entire day and took up 3 full 17″ truck load of stuff to stage, it was a fun project!
  • Ross Rd. Palo Alto: A midtown Palo Alto newly constructed 5 bedroom single family. Very practical and functional floor plan, perfect home for a large family.
  • Madison Ave. Mountain View: Sold in 7 days! Need I say more?
  • S. Mary, Sunnyvale: A spacious townhouse located close to downtown Sunnyvale.
  • Samadra Ave. Sunnyvale: Bordering Cupertino, close to many new shopping centers/plazas, a great starter home.
  • Palmita Ave. Mountain View: 3 blocks away from the booming Castro St. downtown Mountain View, this charming SFR looks and smells new inside and out. (Sold in 9 days!!)

Related posts

SOLD! Smile!

Sold!The latest sold properties staged by us:

  • Illima Ct. Palo Alto (in 1 month!)
  • Ocaso Corte, Fremont (in 2 months)
  • Flora Vista, Cupertino (in 50 days)
  • Crescent Ave, Sunnyvale (in 1 week!!)
  • Murlagan Ave., Mountain View
  • Annie Laurie, Mountain View

Related posts

SOLD! Happy Weekend!

Sold!We aren’t done for the week yet, not until we finish all the good news that happened this week!

More sold properties:

  • Norelius Ct., San Jose
  • Camellia Way, Los Altos (47 days)
  • Charmwood Sq., San Jose (47 days)
  • Serena Ct. Mountain View (40 days)
  • Heatherstone Way, Sunnyvale (sold in 1 week!)

Ok… now I am done, happy weekend everyone!!

Related posts

SOLD! Catching Up

Sold!Haven’t had the chance to tally up the sold properties we staged in awhile. As the economy pitches and rolls, the Sold news is motivating to say the least…

  • Tulane Dr., Mountain View (sold in one week!)
  • Stratford Ct. Los Gatos (sold in 2 days!!)
  • Saint Michael Ct. Palo Alto (sold in 51 days)
  • Doyle Rd., San Jose (sold in 2 weeks!)
  • Navarro Rd., Sunnyvale
  • Newton Dr., Mountain View
  • Bryant St., Mountain View (sold in 2 weeks!)
  • Parkfield Dr., San Jose (sold in 52 days)
  • Sierra Ventura, Los Altos (sold in 50 days)
  • Colton Ave., San Carlos (sold in first week!!)
  • Park Villa Cir., Cupertino (sold in the first weekend!!)
  • Runningwood Cir., Mountain View (sold in 60 days)
  • Maybell Ave., Palo Alto (sold in the first month!)
  • Northampton Ave., Palo Alto (sold in 6 days!!!)

We staged, you sold! Congraz to everyone!!

Related posts

Sold! Don’t You Just Love It?

Sold!Last two weeks we were crazy busy with staging, this week, we’ll be crazy busy with de-staging on top of staging.

Smile, more properties are selling

  • Pacchetti Way, Mountain View (<60 days)
  • Connemara, Pacifica (<1 month!)
  • Gail Ave, Sunnyvale (<1 month!)
  • Hidden Hills, Napa (1 WEEK!!)
  • Alger Dr. Palo Alto (<1 month!)

Related posts

Stager’s Tip: Cleaning

I have been publishing various tips on Twitter from time to time, but the 140 character limitation on twitter is just not good enough…

Cleaning Tip: Brillianize

I was first introduced to Brillianize by the guys from Tap Plastics in downtown Mountain View; I was there to order a custom acrylic desk cover for my Pottery Barn Bedford desk in my office, and the sale agent strongly recommended Brillianize to help keep the not-so-cheap acrylic desk cover clean. I was definitely skeptical at first, but soon realized just how wonderful this stuff was!

Not only it does miracles on acrylics and plastics, you can use it on window, glass, chrom, stainless steel, granite, even LCD and TV monitors! Take the Brillianize to your car to help keeping your windshield, wood trims, head/tail light lenses spotless! Spray this stuff on once to clean the surface, and spray it on again to achieve the highly polished look and slippery smooth. The best part is, the treated surfaces are fingerprint resistant!!

This stuff is magic in a bottle!

brillianize

Related posts

Sold! Throughout the Bay Area!

Sold!We are very happy to hear the news of the houses we staged throughout the Bay Area are selling!

  • Camino Al Lago, Atherton (this was staged for rental, rented!)
  • Port Dr., San Mateo (sold in <60 days)
  • Hope St., Mountain View (sold & closed in 60 days)
  • Hidden Hills, Napa (sold & closed in 30 days!)
  • Deauville Park, Fremont (sold & closed in 30 days!)
  • Vaquero, Mountain View (sold in first weekend!)

Related posts

New Inventories & Old Favorites

New Inventories

The evidence of our latest purchases

The evidence of our latest purchases

As mentioned in the previous post, we are constantly out shopping for arts, accessories, bedding, etc. No we are not shopaholics, we simply believe in investing in our inventories, keep our stuff updated and in-trend. We want our clients to get what they’ve paid for, and give the home buyers a fresh feeling when they walk in homes we staged.

Anyways, here are the packing boxes from our latest purchase pilling in our back parking lot…

 

Old Favorites

Trends change over time, besides buying new inventories to update our style, we also creatively revamp our older furnishings: painting the natural wood colored sofa feet to black with a Sharpie can do wonders to the feel of the sofa; Spray painting the older chairs or small tables has worked surprisingly well. As the matter of fact, we had this set of Pottery Barn dining chairs, they have been our designers’ favorites for a long time, love the look, but the color is just not working out anymore… 3 cans of black semi-gloss spray paints, 10 mins later, voila! can’t wait to use them again!
(I will post the before & after pics of the chairs tomorrow… ;-) )

Related posts

Sold!! More Sold!!

More good news from our realtor clients, actually, we prefer to call them “partners” since we are working toward the same goal — to help home owners sell. 

We recently staged a lovely 1300 sq ft condo a block away from downtown Mountain View. In less than a week, our partner called us to de-stage, yup, the place is sold!! Granted, the condo is located at a prime location, great looking boutique complex, functional layout and nicely remodeled. It is still amazing to hear how fast it was able to sell!

 

Mountain View Condo (Sold in 1 Week!)

Mountain View Condo (Sold in 1 Week!)

 

On the other hand, last Tues we did a partial staging for a townhouse in East Bay. This was a challenging project. The townhouse was covered in floral patterned wallpapers dated from the 70’s, the owner also had a lot of heavy, bulky, solid wood furniture and a set of bright red leather sofa. To make it more difficult, the owner run out of storage space, so besides the bright lipstick red leather sofas, everything else had to stay… Well, we re-arranged the existing furnishings, brought in a set of lighter neutral colored sofa, art works and accessories to tie everything together… Again, we were very pleased to hear from our Realtor partner over the weekend that the place is pending!!

 

Crane Partial Staging Before & After (Sold in 1 Week!)

Crane Partial Staging Before & After (Sold in 1 Week!)

Crane Partial Staging Before & After (Sold in 1 Week!)

Crane Partial Staging Before & After (Sold in 1 Week!)

Related posts

Nice Words

Here are some nice words from a client (Mountain View) who we recently helped to stage her home for the market. This was an occupied staging, we added our furnishing and accessories to compensate her existing stuff to make it practical / livable and yet presentable.

It is always to hear nice words… ;-)

Testimonial

Testimonial

Related posts