Jumat, 02 Maret 2007

Staging it Wright in the Architecturally Historic Oak Park / River Forest Areas of Illinois

(This is Part 2 of a 4 Part Series on Home Staging Transformations. Links to posts 1, 3 & 4 are below.)

When one of the most architecturally significant areas in the world is right here in Illinois… in the Oak Park / River Forest area! For it is there that Frank Lloyd Wright had his first "studio" and created his famous and easily recognizable architecture design known as the Prairie Style. When touring the area it is easy to spot amongst the gorgeous mansions and tree lined streets the historic Architectural masterpieces, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

However, due to this area’s close proximity to Chicago, builders find it profitable to tear down less pleasing older homes and replace them with new homes featuring all the amenities today’s homebuyer expect and enjoy. And it is at this point that my staging story begins.

Real Estaging was recently contacted by a builder who last fall completed building a totally new home in River Forest. But this home was no “ordinary” home. From inside to out… the builder built with accurate attention and detail his own Frank Lloyd Wright style masterpiece. Built-in handmade cabinets, inlaid woods, barreled ceilings, etched glass hutches where just of the few prairie style elements that were designed into this new home. In fact, the home even has a cozy inglenook fireplace. (How COOL is that?) This home of “yesterday” that was built “today” is a magnificent feast for the eyes. Unfortunately it wasn’t selling.
Real Estaging know that a home on the market MUST appeal to the LARGEST buying audience as possible. Working against this beautiful Prairie Style home’s sale was the fact that it was TOO Prairie Style. For while potential buyers liked the home… they could not understand or envision how their lives (and their stuff) could fit into a home with such a strict architectural style.

In fact our Services Specialist in the Oak Park / River Forest area, Susan Hamaj, had to explain to the builder that it was NOT in his best selling interest to stage the vacant home with Prairie and/or Mission style furniture. WHY not? It is because the average consumer does NOT typically own that type of furniture... and might just feel a home in that manner would be too hard (expensive) to appropriately furnish.
So we at Real Estaging went to work, staging this vacant home to help SELL it. I have to admit this was a bit more of a challenge than I thought it would be. However, here are the results of our staging efforts... to which the builder was quite pleased. It is important to note that while we created a look that HONORED the style of the home... we were far from being Prairie Style purists. Our ultimate staging goal was to create an appealing home the AVERAGE home buyer could see living in.

Now we can say when it comes to Prairie Style homes... Real Estaging stages it Wright!
POST SCRIPT: This is the 2nd blog in a series. The other 3 blogs can reached by clicking on the links below.

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