First Impressions: Entries

Whether your home is a castle or a condo, a California ranch or Spanish Colonial, the entry to your home is the first step in establishing the impression guests will take home with them.  If you are staging your home to sell this is especially important.  Make sure it is the impression you want to make!

This entry was a disaster.  With stains on the concrete and nothing of interest to catch your eye, it is way beyond boring and well on the way to depressing!  Susanne Vaughn of SVA Home and Garden painted in saltillo tiles on the diagonal, added a new mat, topiaries  and a seasonal wreath to provide  a warm welcome.

Staging: Show rooms with original purpose in mind

We may make use of a space in many ways, but to show your home to prospective buyers, try seeing your home through a stranger's eyes.  Is it clean and uncluttered?  If you were touring homes to buy, how would it measure up to the competition?  Does each room show to its best advantage?


This dining nook had become a cluttered home office - practical perhaps for its current resident, but not a pretty picture when first entering the house.  By returning it to a dining room, with fresh paint, updates to the windows and cabinetry, the room is transformed!


Showing it at its best will ensure that it appeals to the greatest number of prospective buyers.

Kitchen tranformation: heart of the home

When friends bought their new home in Malibu, the first  room needing attention was the kitchen.  Sorry, no "before" pix, but it was a rabbit warren of small spaces, cupboards, unnecessary walls and the furnace was boxed in in the middle.  By moving the furnace to a less invasive location, blowing out all interior walls, exposing the ceiling, adding a skylight the kitchen grew to a spacious gathering place open to the Dining and Family Rooms with spectacular views of the Pacific.  The dramatic granite of the island blends with that on the other counters, but provides much more interest. With a coordinating tile backsplash and carefully thought out lighting, day and night this is where family and guests tend to congregate.