Synergy Staging - Portland Home Staging Blog

I'm sure many of you stagers (and others readers) have come across a rug or carpet that has dents from a heavy piece of furniture sitting in place for a long period of time.  What do you do when you want to use the rug in another home - or rearrange the furnishings in your own home? 

You vacuum over and over and it seems to have no effect except making your back sore!  Keep the vacuum out for later, but there is a secret step that will rid the dents once and for all...

That secret is ice!

Take an ice cube and place it directly on the dented area of the carpet.  Now you'll need to wait until it melts.  Once it has melted you should wait for it to dry.  At that point vacuum the area where the dent is and the carpet should raise and look even again.  If it is still matted down, you may need to pull up the carpet, but the ice will have loosened the fibers enough to do that.

For larger dents you may try using several pieces of ice, but try not to get the area overly wet so the carpet gets soaked.

We just staged a home with a rug that had had a dining room table on it for some time.  We were now using it in the living room, and the coffee table was not large enough to cover the dents.  We put ice on the four dents after we unrolled the rug.  By the time we had the furnishings arranged in the room, the ice had melted, we vacuumed the spots, and the dents were gone.

Hope this secret works for you too!

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Join the Realtors and homeowners who call Synergy Staging to make their properties irresistible.  Please call us at (503) 557-2244 for a free no obligation quote.

While homes can certainly take longer to sell in the current market, home staging gives a property the edge it needs to succeed.   Bringing in a professional home stager allows a home owner to understand how a potential buyer will see their home.  Someone with a perspective and experience specifically geared to what the current buyer is looking for to ensure a home shows the best it possibly can.

We all know about de-cluttering, and de-personalizing, but more and more, the move-in condition of a home is additionally critical for a successful sale.  If an owner is showing a home that needs work (from as simple as painting, to a cosmetic fix, to a major eyesore) they will be at a disadvantage from the first impression.

Bathroom re-painted and neutralized by Synergy Staging

Showing a bathroom without a mirror and backsplash won't increase the offers

Home stagers can point these areas out to a homeowner and help them make the changes necessary to create the most buyer appeal, hopefully before the home is on the market.   Remember, if your home isn't move-in ready, chances are there is another one in the neighborhood that is.  And competition has never been stronger.

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Let Synergy Staging help turn your property into one buyers will want to call their new home.  Please call us at (503) 557-2244 for a free no obligation quote.

Art and Mirrors are my favorite part of the staging process.  They bring a room to life and breathe an energy that is necessary for each space to feel complete.  Of course there are specific ways to hang art on a wall for the best look and feel, but this post isn't about that.  This blog is about speeding up your process to get your art hung straight.

We have used a Picture Plumb for hanging art ever since we started staging.  The same one in fact.  If you are not familiar with this tool you should be.  You simply hang the art on the hook on one side, place it on the wall where you want it, and press to make a small hole where your picture hanger will be placed.  This is not our secret!

This tool works well, but not all art is created equal!  The back side of art and mirrors is always an adventure - from picture wires, picture rings, small holes, sawtooth hangers, etc.  Having a wire certainly makes hanging easier, but we find that most art has two rings on each side.  We've added wire, but that can be very time consuming and the pictures often get crooked over time.

With picture rings, using the picture plumb was also slow process as we'd put the picture up and use it to mark one side.  Then we'd take the picture down and hammer in the nail or picture hook.  Next we'd hang the picture on one side and then use the plumb to mark the other side.  Then we'd hammer in the other nail and stand back and hope it was straight.  If it wasn't straight, that meant moving one side up or down and creating another small hole in the wall.

Well, we had an incident where we were hanging a large mirror and our picture plumb broke.  Unfortunately the mirror went crashing to the ground and shattered, but luckily it didn't damage the wall in the process!  We couldn't be too upset as it had certainly served us well.  Since we had to order another one we figured we would get two just in case one broke again.

OUR LITTLE SECRET

At our next staging we were hanging art and realized that we could use two picture plumbs at the same time!  Two people each take one side of the art while a third looks on and adjusts for placement.  This allowed us to not only hang the art perfectly straight the first time, but we could also put in both nails at once instead of having to do each one separately.  Now after putting in the nails the art is always straight and it moves the process along twice as quickly.

Of course there are other similar tools, and we are not endorsing the Picture Plumb, but just sharing our experience and what we have found that works best to hang art.

Do you have any picture hanging tips to share?

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These vacant properties were staged by Synergy Staging.  Let us help you make your property picture perfect.  Please call us at (503) 557-2244 for a free no obligation quote.