Our Great Pivot: Remodeling and Staging

by Barbara Schmidt, studiobstyle

I’ve always been an interior designer. I have designed spaces for major national brands my entire career and I hope to continue those types of projects when we come out of the current depression.

There, I said it, d-e-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n. Yes, that’s right, we are going through an economic depression together. That means a lot of different things for a lot of people. For our firm, it means a pivot to work close to home in our Lake Minnetonka and Minneapolis, Minnesota neighborhoods.

We are currently working on a remodeling and staging project out on Lake Minnetonka. What we’ve found is that our resources for major national branding projects are coveted for local design as well. We are redesigning spaces with new countertops, tile backsplashes and lighting with our favorite clients and vendor partners.

We use smart design to build high and low resources into spaces for cost effective budgeting. We’ve had to source and ship just about everything because the stores weren’t open. Thank goodness for Wayfair and other manufacturing partners that could ship us products so that we could keep our project on track.

As we reveal our progress here are a few ways we cut our budget and increased the value of the design at the same time:

1)

Look on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist for designer finds. We found a pair of leather chairs that retail for over $2000 each for $80 a piece. They were brand new with a couple of scuffs. They work!

2)

Look at Menard’s for designer decor at very reasonable prices. We found the most spectacular lighting for both interiors and exteriors. Even the electrician said, “Menard’s? No kidding?” Yes, and they are great quality, too.

3)

Need just a countertop or two replaced? Guess what? Menard’s is also the go-to for ordering your countertops fabricated. Tell your builder or installer to check there for unbelievable quartz, solid surface, and laminate countertops. Menard’s supplies templates that are easy to check in place on the job site. They are super helpful, too.

4)

Replacing backsplash tile was simple with our friends at Jeffrey Court Tile. We needed some consistency and went with marble herringbone and marble brick patterns. Local orders can be made easily through Tile by Design. This was the touch of luxury our design needed to elevate the existing cabinetry.

5)

We repainted the entire house inside and out. We also recarpeted the entire house in a neutral loop carpet. These are must do’s for resale. Home buyers expect that everything is clean and in good working condition.

6)

Upgrade all the electrical you can. We replaced all dated lighting with LED fixtures or bulbs. We also upgraded a lot of the toggle switches to paddle switches. Fresh white switch plates are a welcome sight over the dingy almond switches from the 70s.

7)

We sourced area rugs from our staging inventory and then also bought a few new rugs from West Elm. Honestly, their rugs are a value because they look high end and often are on sale.

8)

Recover! We ended up recovering some custom furniture pieces such as the counter stools in the kitchen. Luckily for us, Omforme was able to pull some fabric from their inventory and recover the stools in record time. Carter Averbeck is a miracle worker!

9)

Refinish! We worked with a local refinisher to bring a beat up Julien Chichester table top back to life out of our staging inventory. Wow - what a difference that table made in the gorgeous dining room.

We are now working on the exterior for next week or so and then we will have two teams of professional photographers coming in. Our team will shoot the home for editorials and the realtor’s team will shoot the home for sale. Can’t wait for the reveal!