THE TEST OF TIME

Spade and Archer was founded on November 12, 2009. Since then we have staged roughly 2,500 homes. Last week we had the privilege of staging a home in Portland, Oregon that we originally staged in 2012. Take a look at how our work has changed:

LIVING ROOM

On our first go round we used neon yellow and red to liven up the space. Looking back, it was not our best decision. The house has amazing windows, super cool ceilings, and an awesome fireplace. On the second go round we decided to use a much more neutral palette and emphasize the fire place. We used an art hanging technique called the "wrap around" where the art work wraps around the side of an architectural feature. And really, who doesn't love a good wrap around?

DINING ROOM

In both versions of the dining room we carried the color story of the living room into the dining room. While the first version was a bold and colorful staging, the second was much more subtle, letting the beauty of the wood framed windows and doors shine.

KITCHEN

When you have a teal kitchen with a small eat-in space there are not many staging options. In both cases we worked with the blue. However in the new staging, we used a smaller scale table, which I think works better.

MASTER BEDROOM

When we first started we only carried full and queen size beds in our inventory. Within a few years we found a greater need for twins and kings. The first staging of this room utilized a full size bed and very small nightstands. Strangely enough the room looks rather small. For the second round of staging we filled the room to capacity with larger nightstands, a king size bed and a rug. The overall effect is great. The room seems huge and potential buyers will feel assured that they can fit a king size bed in the room.

FULL BEDROOM

Well this room has certainly stood the test of time. Short of a color emphasis change, it is practically the same. Both options are staged using a full bed with white sheets, two small nightstands and a headboard. Why mess with perfect, eh?

TWIN ROOM

I love that both times we staged this room it was green. Not planned at all the second time, but the first time the staging had to work with the green walls. Our one big change was the addition of twin beds to our inventory. It's a good size room and twin beds open our potential buying demographic to folks that have more than two kids.

BASEMENT

The first time we were asked not to stage the basement. No problem, but the only thing the room had was a giant pool table. We tend to find that more folks spend time watching TV than playing pool, so when we where given the opportunity to stage this room the second time around, we set up a media room / wet bar / game space in the basement. Winner!