Hmm... You are not planning to list for a year, but are going to show your house to someone now. You clearly know what problems need addressing, and have bothered to post all the pictures, but it sounds to me a bit like you're just trying to find validation for how great a stager you are, and obviously don't need help to fix things up, so why even bother to come here? Oh, I see, there's a little link right at the bottom with your details... are you sure you're not trying to sell now after all?

Just to nitpick...

The valences come off a bit matronly compared to the rest of the house, so I would remove them.

In the office, I would take 50% of the stuff off the shelves and would stick with larger items. It is hard to tell though, so you might just want to take the boards down and see how it looks.

In the blue bath, if you are going to have towels on the shower door, use 2 white, matching ones.

In the long run, son#2 room looks a bit cluttered. I'd probably take the bookshelf out completely and just add a shelf or two above the desk. The green is a little loud for me, and I think it will get even louder once you expose more wall.

OK, since you asked.
BTW-Your house looks lovely. Your decor is great... but I'm not the buyer.
Staging to sell requires working AGAINST your decorating. You may find a buyer who loves your house the way it is, or you may find that MOST buyers like neutral. Not that they like the beiges etc, but they may see other colors as more work, and they don't want to paint. It's all psychology of percetion. It's your call.

How much work do you want to do?
The least you can do is declutter. Remove stuff off the walls and and shelving (son's rooms). Remove as much furnishings out of the rooms except for what's necessary. LESS IS MORE. This will make the rooms look spacious and inviting. Utilize the color WHITE as much as possible to neutralize and make the rooms look clean and fresh. White throws off the boldness of the wall colors. White curtains neutralize the wall colors a bit, too

IF you want to go all the way,here's what you can do:

The wall colors. Although they are beautiful and go with your decor, they are NOT SELLING COLORS. Many people will be afraid of all the PAINTING they'll have to do. People always paint when they move in but some colors make you think that it's a lot of work. You need to go NEUTRAL, like a very light beige, off white, creams, maybe pale yellow/goldish. Some pale sages are ok.

The rooms that look great:
1-Powder Room-Is that wallpaper? Remove it.
2-Hall Bath-it looks neutral enough.
3-Master Bed-fine.

Need some neutralizing:

Guest Bd- Use everything neutral: Paint, place Lg pic over the bed. Replace the bedding and pillows with a tone on tone color i.e white, beige, brown,cream, pale yellow. If you paint the room beige, and use some white linen that dresser MAY work with that trim because you will create a tone on tone effect.

Son's #1, and #2 Rms- Paint. Is any of that wall unit removable? Remove the shelf unit by the closet altogether. Remove the pictures and all clutter around the desk, and shelving. Pack it up. Get rid of the posters and small wall stuff, and the PICTURES on the corkboard. Place one large item on each shelf, and/or a couple of books here and there. Place one large pic above the bed.

Kitchen-Paint neutral. Change curtain. I don't know if you need to paint the kitchen cabinets. This all depends on your neighborhood, and your region of the country. If Oak kitchens are standard, leave it alone. IF kitchens are more modern then I would paint it. I like natural cabinets, but you will find majority of buyers currently like dark or white kitchens.

Remember that your CLOSETS, and basement (if you have one) have to be streamlined, decluttered as well. People look inside and judge your storage spaces. Remove HALF of stuff in the closets and pack it up.

Good luck and show us the results.

There is such a thing as too neutral, and bathroom #1 is it. The mirror looks so nice against all of the beige because it's dark and provides some interest and contrast. If it were my house, I'd remove the wallpaper but replace it with a similar painted color and paint the vanity a darker brown to tie into the mirror and give the room some life.

Guest bedroom's wall color is a little bright. To tone it down without repainting completely, I'd color wash the walls with a cream over the aqua. Don't sweat the white contrasts in the furniture and trimwork. WOrk with it. Buy a headboard at a thrift shop and paint it white. Any shade of white. THe $5 white that you find in the oops paint section. Paint the nightstand too. Plain white bedding and pillows. You now have a "spa" bedroom.

That whole desk area and shelving would have to go in the son's blue bedroom. You can find a much smaller desk if he really needs the space, but it totally dominates the room and makes it look tiny. Tone down the bedspread with something solid.

For the lime room, a paint job is a must. That's going to be a big job. Painting over bold colors is a PIA, which buyers know. That makes painting over it a MUST for better move in condition. Take out that full height shelf unit that also dominates the room and find a half height one. Even a $24 white WallyWorld one. As long as you can see more of the wall rather than the shelves.

The blue bathroom needs the wall applied mirror above the vanity replaced or framed in situation. While the colors aren't bad, the contrast between them and the white molding can be a bit much, so you might think about colorwashing this room too to soften the contast.

The kitchen. Sigh. WHile it looks fairly nice, it has some issues. Issues that will make a prospective buyer probably plan a gut redo. The biggest being the lack of any ventilation. I know you're not gonna redo a whole kitchen just for resale, so do a few things to make it show better. The first thing that comes to mind is those dated tile countertops and how much work it is to maintain any clean grout lines in them. New laminate countertops would be a budget choice. In black or almost black, so it offers some contrast in the sea of white and oak. Find a bistro table for your kitchen table. It's too large and only accents the fact that you don't really have room for it and barstools at the overhang. More barstools to accent that feature. KNOBS AND PULLS! (Sorry, it's shouting at me.) Black iron to tie into the counters. Get some of the appliance paint from a big box and paint the garbage disposal black to tie in better. Buy some inexpensive strip fluorescents and install them under your cabinets & just plug them into your backsplash. Get the paintable cord cover from the electrical department and paint it the wall cover so it blends in. Leave the rest of it alone. Just elminating the tile will go a long way towards making it more showable.

The angled ceiling height in your master only serves to accentuate the fact that your home has no crown molding. WHile that's a nice modern look, in your home, it looks "unfinished" because your furnishings are not modern to work with that look. Because the master has more dramatic ceilings, that no molding look is just accentuated. I'd at least attempt to fix that in that one particular room.

You have a couple of different goals here. One is very short term and the other is longer term. How bad are you wanting to sell right now? A year is a long time in the life of a child. What I would suggest to help the house sell would have a larger impact on the children. I'm not sure I would want that upset over a year. Yes, the kid's rooms need to be decluttered and most of the pictures need to be removed. That's something I would do right before I put the house on the market. The colors are not neutral, but I think people are actually able to overlook that in kid's rooms. I had neutralized most of the rooms in the house I just sold except for my 5 yo dd's room. She was upset that I wanted to paint over the pretty pink that she had picked out so I left it. The couple who bought the house are adopting and apparently really liked that room. I think you can get away with a little color if you make it cute. I would remove the stuffed animals and some of the clutter you mentioned. You could probably leave up one or two of the bigger pictures. The posters need to go if they aren't in a frame. I'd make the beds look a little more inviting with a bigger pillow or something. I'd take the outgrown toys, books, whatever, and personal pictures off of the shelves. You don't want to leave it too sparse so a couple of the baseball pictures could fill in the spaces.

Over the long, I'd remove the wallpaper in the bathroom and paint it with a light to medium color that is neutral, but not white. You may need to remove the pictures also. If you want something on the wall, you might be able to put up a wall sconce with candle or something to add a little pizzaz and soften the look at the same time. The blue bathroom needs to be neutralized also to de-emphasize the blue.

The guest bedroom color needs to be neutralized over the long term. That probably means that the bedspread wouldn't match anymore. Depending on the condition of the paint on the shutters and door, I'd repaint or not. Personally, I like to keep my trim and doors consistent throughout the house. The dresser could go in storage if it isn't needed. The handles on the closet door need to be the same. I'd put something on the shelves on the nightstand even if it was just fresh rolled up towels and a little guest basket with trial size soaps, shampoos and lotions.

I'd switch out the curtains and go with a white color also. I've done that in both houses I've sold and I really liked the clean, lighter look.

In the kitchen, I would leave the trash compacter alone. I wouldn't put any more oak in there. I'd paint a less polarizing color, but I don't think you necessarily have to go colorless if you don't want to. For instance, if you paint the walls beige, you could probably go a bit deeper brown in there.

Without seeing any more of the master, it's hard to tell what it needs. It looks ok.

I agree with Billl about your valances, lighten them up.
Guest bed needs new cover with shams.

You guys are great! So many thoughtful and detailed responses. On first glance it looks like the green in son #2's bedroom goes, as does the bookcase.

Reading more carefully:

larke - the link is to additional pictures, not details on the house.

billl - I agree about the valances in the kitchen and would love to just remove them, but the windows (there are 2 w/valances) look very bare with nothing there. Any suggestions for replacements? I've been thinking of posting that question on the decorating forum.
Thanks for the comments about son #2's room, I can easily remove the bookcase completely. Green is definitely loud - son's choice, not mine. Need to repaint.

dabouch - I don't want to do a lot of work, but I have the time and can do things at a slow enough pace that I can probably make a fair amount of changes (esp to the paint). Yes, that's wallpaper in the powder room, the only wallpaper left in the house. Are you suggesting I remove it because it looks dated, or just because it's wallpaper? I don't have an issue with removing it, just curious. Thanks for the decluttering suggestions - removing the bookcase in son #2's room sounds like a plan. Kitchen cabs: oak is definitely dated where I live, as are tile counters. The kitchen is going to be a negative to selling the house, although it's pretty common in houses in my town to have an 80s golden oak kitchen. Houses were built in the 60s and renovated in the 80s..there you have it ;-)
What color would you suggest on the kitchen walls?
Closets...yes, I've started that process already. Not too terrible a job (I actually like getting rid of things I no longer use/need/love).

live_wire_oak - another vote for removing the powder room wallpaper. Paint it a light green (RH silver sage?)
Headboard for the guest bed - great idea, thanks.
I've never done color washing - will research, thanks.
Desk in son #1's room is completely built in. I agree it's a bit overwhelming to the room. Maybe take the bed out instead and turn the room back into the home office the previous owners made it? Son #1 is in college, he'll never notice (haha).
"gut redo of kitchen" - yes, I'm afraid you're right, and if I had the $$s I'd have done it myself years ago. (sigh is right) The previous owners had these cabs custom-made and they're just an unbelievably inefficient use of space in what's otherwise a quite large kitchen. How did you know the current table crowds the bar on the peninsula? Wow, you're good! Smaller table for staging: check. Knobs & pulls: check. Paint garbage compactor: check if I decide to put the house on the market soon, otherwise I really could use a pull-out trash/recycling bin and that spot is perfect (I never use the compactor). Already have undercab fluorescents.
Laminate: no one, and I mean no one, uses laminate in my town. It's either tile or granite. But I do realize that laminates have come a long way since our mothers had them in their kitchens and will consider the possibilities.
Crown molding in the bedroom: believe it or not, where I live crown is the exception, not the rule. It's considered too formal for the informal California lifestyle. However, I've got it in most of the ground floor rooms. Will post more pics of the master later.

abadella - son #1 is in college and son #2 is on his way there next fall (their bedrooms do look a bit "young" for them, don't they?) Thanks for your thoughts tho! Short term, I don't think the house will sell as a FSBO but one never knows. I'm telling all my friends we're selling in case they know of anyone looking in my town.
You caught the handles on the closet door in the guest room - I can't get that darn right one off the door, will ask DH to take a look. The woodwork in that room is a bit tired, I think it should probably be repainted anyway. White valances in the kitchen?

One thought I've had in the back of my mind is to move the queen bed to son #2's room. It's the largest of the 3 bedrooms. I'd place the queen at a 90 degree angle to where the current bed is, and move the twin against the wall of the guest room at a 90 degree angle to where the queen is now, and make it up as a daybed. That guest room is pretty small and the queen makes it a bit cramped.

cmarlin - new valances, yes (I can sew and have been wanting to do this anyway).
New cover for guest bed - yes! What do you think about the daybed idea?

Great food for thought, photos of master coming later.

Thanks!

The master bedroom was renovated by the previous owner. It was formerly 2 bedrooms and a small bath. The layout it a bit awkward to photograph - there's a short wall on the left side of the room. I redid the bath a couple of years ago.

Looking towards bed end:

Looking from bed to sitting area:

Into bath from sitting area

Questions: remove "chest" (actually 2 night tables pushed together) from the end of the bed? New valances? Bottom shelf of the book case is a mess, I can clear all that off - what about the upper shelves?

For the bath and kitchen valances, I would do either a simple roman shade with just a few inches showing to finish the window, but keep the room bright or matchstick shades, they will give the room an up-to-date look.

Your house is in good condition, but things you could do to help someone see themselves in it and make the rooms seem more spacious would improve sales.

The wallpaper should be removed. Deep or bright wall colors need to be neutralized.

The kitchen really looks dated, especially the tile, paint color, and curtains. Put away all the stuff on surfaces except one decorative and color coordinated thing. I suspect that whoever buys this house will redo the kitchen, and you have a kitchen that will work fine till they can do so. Therefore, while the counters really need replacing, I think you will need to weigh the cost of updating them as I bet the new owners will still gut the kitchen for more up to date cupboards, flooring, appliances, etc.

Make the boys' bedrooms look spacious by furnishing and hanging things on the wall sparingly. The blue room's desk makes that bedroom look tiny. Your guest room needs a simple make over to hotel or spa look with new lamps, linens, and table. Blue/brown bath is pretty but needs a less feminine valance.

Master bedroom is too full of furniture and clutter for selling purposes. You are selling space, so show the space in the room. Get rid of the bench, the tables at the foot of the bed, the stacks of books on the windowsill and hearth, the personal photos, the extra stuff on the mantle, the wall hanging, and the picture above the bed. With that tall headboard, I think the picture you have does not work. Every wall does not have to have a picture on it, which fills a room and makes it look smaller than it is. The room will look more spacious if you furnish it sparingly. Yes, the valance is dated.

Having said all that, you do have a nice house. I hate to think what I would need to throw out to sell my own home.

cmarlin thanks for your response. The kitchen window is so deep that no one would be able to reach shades to open or close them. I know it doesn't look that way in the photo - I can take a picture straight-on to show that. So I think something lighter above the window would be a better option.

sheilajoyce thanks for your thoughts as well. I think you're right, the bench and "chest" need to go, the picture over the bed is the wrong proportion, valances are dated. I should say that the room is large enough so that it doesn't feel cluttered, and a better photographer than I would make it appear much more spacious. But I have no problem removing some of the furniture so that the space is shown to its advantage. Getting DH to pare down his books is another matter entirely!

Try to stay away from loud colors, and patterns in general.

Master bedroom-I would remove all personal photos and everything off the dresser, tables and shelves. Use a few large items as accessories. A couple of candles and a lamp , or a book on a table is fine. Place items sparingly on the shelves. One or two items per cubicle.

-Remove the 2 pieces of furniture by the bottom of the bed.
-Get rid of all the pillows. Replace them with crisp white, and leave ONE purple pillow on the very top...I'm actually not a fan of purple, pink or lavender colors when selling because most men hate them.

Now over to the fireplace area. It's a bit tricky there, but you can make an inviting sit down area without blocking too much of the wall unit or the fp.

-Remove that bench/low table thing behind the chair,under that wall hanging.
-Remove the chair.
Place 2 smaller chairs on each side of the fireplace, sort of semi facing each other, yet facing the bed. Place the table with the lamp to the right of one of the chairs, close to the wall hanging. This should create a talking by the FP and/or reading a book area.

Kitchen- Maybe paint it BM Silkien Pine. You maybe can get away with a BM Rich Cream. I hate to tell you to spend that much money on paint when selling. You could maybe check out the colors and get something similar at HD or Lowes. Remove all items off the counter. Place THREE pictures against the backsplash, with black or white frames. This will make the eyes go to the pictures NOT the tiles on the counter. Fresh flowers on the peninsula.I would use WHITE balloon type valance in the kitchen. Your kitchen cabinets and flooring will not look good with beige-too much of it. If you go with a veeeeery pale green in the kitchen don't use anymore green in the house. You already have green in the MB. The rest of the house should be the colors I mentioned in my post above.

Having said all that, you need to keep one important thing in mind: Staging helps to sell certain homes more than others. It's all about price point and if it's worth spending money to stage. In my area homes that are going for less than 400k pretty much can sell without MUCH staging. Just decluttering and some painting will do the trick. When you go into the 400K plus range it becomes trickier to sell and the staging and spending money pays off. That is why I asked you in my previous point about how much work do you want to do, and what is typical in your area. You don't want to spend and not recoup your money. We are dealing with a tough market. People want beautiful things but don't want to pay for them, so be prudent and don't overdo it. Weigh out what is the right amount of money and effort for your area. Ultimately, it will be the DOLLAR amount that will sell. The staging will just be a smoke screen.

dabunch - agree the "chest" at the end of the bed should go. I like your white pillow idea - are you thinking of a couple of Euro shams in a fairly heavy fabric?

I'll have to try a couple of chairs arranged by the fireplace to see how that looks. I'm concerned that there's not enough room for 2 if one has to go in front of the book case. Clear stuff off all tables and dresser: yes. Your idea for the book shelves was more radical than I'd been thinking but it's a point well taken. One or two things on each shelf sounds fine.

For the kitchen, I'm not clear where the pictures should go? On the counter itself, or on the painted part of the backsplash? The backsplash tiles are about 8 inches high.

I've been thinking about the other bedrooms and have decided to start off by painting son #2's and the guest room, with son #1's next on the list but slightly lower priority. A light beige sounds like a good choice. The entrance hall and upstairs hallway are SW Ivoire, which is a light yellow that I like a lot. I'd need a beige that wouldn't clash with it.

As far as green goes, I've got it now in the master bedroom, the downstairs office (no pic yet, but same color as master which is RH Sycamore Green), and the kitchen, plus the powder room wallpaper is a light green. Too much? I looked more carefully at the wallpaper today and while I think it's beautiful (it's almost like a fabric) it does seem a little worn and should be taken off. This is a room that is next to the Ivoire hallway, so whatever color I paint it would have to blend. It also doesn't get any sun despite the window.

I hesitated to post a dollar amount because this is Silicon Valley and it's insane. However, we're talking well into 7 figures, and houses are selling here that are priced aggressively.

annkathryn, when you stage, stage for the pictures and open house. I would not advise trying to live in a staged house with small children unless you are in an area where the DOM is under 30. It will wear on your nerves.

xamsx sounds like you're speaking from experience! And not good experience!

Fortunately my sons are older, with Son #1 off at college. Son #2's usual location is sprawled out on the couch in the living room, his laptop and the cat on his lap. He spends no time in his room other than to sleep. That's why I'm going to focus on the 3 smaller bedrooms first, since it will be less disruptive to paint and rearrange them.

LOL, ZAMSX is right. That goes for everybody living in the house. It is a pain to live staged.
I used to spray the closets with Fabreeze "Linen & Sky", pour Pine Sol down the bathroom drains, and mop all the way out the door for every showing. Yup, certifiable. LMAO today.

When we were selling a staged house my DH kept asking: When am I going to have my stuff back?!!! I'd say: Soon Dear. As soon as we sell. Soon. LOL

Silicon Valley. Wow. I'm in NE. Two different worlds. How's your market?

MB- Euro shams would be nice, and 2 regular, with the purple one popping the finished look.
-Do you have a couple of white or light slipcovered Parson's chairs for the FP area? Borrow them. Any small chair slipcovered for warmth(Target has slipcovers) will work.

Kitchen- Stand the 3 paintings (12x14 or so)leaning against the backsplash wall, vertically , but not completely straight. If you have lights shining on them from lights under the cabs would be nice.

The reason I mentioned BM Silkien Pine in the kitchen is because its considered a neutral green. Some buyers are sensitive to green, some are sensitive to blue. You can't win. A couple of light rooms with pale grey/blue, or pale grey/green are fine. The rest should be in the off-white/ cream/beige family. You shouldn't have a problem finding paint to go with Ivoire. Any BM Neutral Whites will work.

BTW- I read where you're considering making one of your sons' bedrooms into an office. Don't do it. Leave it as a bedroom. One den downstairs is enough.

Keeping a house clean for selling sounds like no fun at all. My last house sold in a couple of days - that was 6 years ago, also in Silicon Valley. The market here is doing fairly well, all things considered. My neighbor's house (not a comp, unfortunately) sold in about 48 hours with 7 offers a couple of months ago. A house with my same floorplan (renovated kitchen but original small master bedroom & bath) has been on the market about 6 months although it started out priced way too high. I've heard it's under contract and will be interested to know how much it ends up selling for because it will be a good comp.

Silken Pine is a sage green, really? On my monitor it looks beige:

http://www.myperfectcolor.com/Benjamin-Moore-2144-50-Silken-Pine-p/mpc0005030.htm

I have BM Adobe Beige in my master bath and have to say I'm not that crazy about it - it's a little too peach in some light.

http://www.myperfectcolor.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=adobe+beige&Search.x=&Search.y=

Good point about having too many home offices. I remember now when I bought the house, the downstairs bedroom was set up as a home gym, and the office was upstairs.

I don't have any Parson's chairs at all. I was going to try a couple of my dining room chairs in the space for size, and go from there.

Ahhh, Silicon Valley. I live along the southern California coast. In that case, I change what I said about the kitchen. Californians, even those who do not cook (especially those who do not cook??), want a beautiful kitchen with stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, custom cupboards, and wood floors. Again, though, I do wonder if you would find it worth doing over yourself as a major pain, inconvenience and cost. Is there still a shortage of houses for sale up there? If so, that will be a big help.

sheilajoyce it would probably cost close to $100K to bring my kitchen up to the standards of my town, money that I don't have to spend. There's not a shortage of houses here, but there's a shortage of land as my town is completely built out. It's not uncommon for people to spend over a million dollars on a tear-down and rebuild. The land is very expensive, as are labor costs to remodel/rebuild.

jane_ny I saw your post last night and didn't have a chance to respond before it disappeared! You really worked hard to stage & sell your house. Thanks for your thoughts, and I will take your advice about posting for help on the decorating forum.

That is my daughter's experience in West Los Angeles, Ann. Dumps are around a million dollars, and it is the cramped lot that people are buying. They knock down the house and rebuild almost to the lot line.

I don't know that it is worth redoing the kitchen anyhow as so many people here just gut the kitchen and redesign it to their preferences after they move in. You have a nice, reliable kitchen that's move-in ready and that allows them to live in the house till they know what they want to do in a remodel.

I wonder why my long post disappeared? Maybe because I gave the name of stores I used?

Jane

Gardenweb had some problems so they had to restore it to the previous day's files. That is why several posts are missing.

I wonder why my long post disappeared? Maybe because I gave the name of stores I used?

No, that wasn't it. This forum has been having problems.

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