This 1,600-square-foot, 2-bedroom, 2.5-bath, White Plains, NY, townhouse sells in just three days, with at least six offers, leading to a final all-cash sale of $10k over the asking price of $450k.

My wife and I connected with Atwell Staged Home through our real estate broker, who was certain that Susan could help us with our goal of staging our condo to sell. Over the 18 years we lived in the townhome, it had become noticeably worn and tired looking, sacrificing form for function in many areas such as the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, etc., as typically happens with day-to-day life.

We had never worked with a professional home stager before and didn’t quite know what to expect. So when Susan first came to our home, we were a bit nervous about how she might react to how our place looked and braced ourselves, but we soon learned that Susan never criticizes or judges.

She spent a good deal of time listening to us, surveying the “canvas” of our condo, and then went to work. This was by no means a brief, light, or “fluffy” session of general pointers; she came with her furniture sliders and paint samples and got to work!

To keep our costs as low as possible, she enlisted us to help. We went from room to room, taking extensive notes on the changes that would ultimately transform our rather dull and uninteresting place into a truly stunning showpiece!

At the end of the 6-hour visit, we had 13 pages of concrete directions to implement.

Susan is all about getting a lot of bang for very little buck. She taught us to be aware of subtle things that we tend not to notice, like the lack of consistent color and brightness among the light bulbs in a room, how books are arranged on shelves, how to match pictures to more appropriate wall spaces based on size, shape, and colors, as well as many other details. Small things make a big difference.

We liked that she did not have a “heavy hand.” She made both big and small suggestions, but these were feasible and worthwhile ones that would ultimately maximize value.

There were a few things we expected her to have us change, but instead, she advised against them if they were not worth the time or expense.

Finally, it was up to us as to which endeavors—large or small—we were comfortable tackling: large ones such as repainting and removing extra furniture (like an extraneous couch!) or small ones like swapping out a light fixture.

Her job was to give us the direction to make everything happen. For example, part of the value she provides is helping to narrow down the dizzying array of colors, patterns, and materials available to just a reasonable few. Then it was up to us to decide which changes to make, taking into account her years of experience and expertise with art, color, and design.

When Susan left, our home looked entirely different. Furniture was moved all over the place, pictures had been taken down, and surfaces that had been cluttered for years were now clear. We definitely had our work cut out for us, but we also had a detailed plan of action, confidence that we could get the job done, and the ability to reach out to Atwell Staged Home if we felt overwhelmed.

Over the next several weeks, we slowly implemented her suggestions.

They say that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”—that was our experience! This was the work that needed to be done in order to transform our dull, nondescript space to one that caught the eye and made people say, “WOW!”

During the course of doing this work, we reached out to Susan on more than one occasion for clarification and to answer questions that popped up. She responded quickly in every case, including a time-sensitive instance where she had to call us back right away about a paint issue before the vendor bought the wrong paint—even though this interrupted her attendance at a business conference on the West Coast! This is just one example of how she went above and beyond for us.

After we had completed everything, including repainting based on Susan’s color choices and paint types, recarpeting aided by Susan’s suggestions, and rearranging furniture and every other visible object to create a bright and aesthetically pleasing composition, we moved forward with listing our unit.

Our broker took one look at our dramatically changed condo and said, “This one is going to go fast!” … and it DID!

Before we knew it, shortly after the first (and only) open house, we had a string of offers and ultimately sold above asking! All in a remarkably short amount of time. That was the goal we had hoped for and that is exactly what we achieved, and we credit Susan with providing the needed direction to accomplish it!

Of course, we were extremely pleased with the outcome and constantly pointed out to our friends and family how we couldn’t believe how great our place could look and wondered why we had lived with it the way it was for so long!

Realizing this, shortly after we moved into our new townhouse, we decided to ask Susan again for her expertise. This time to help us transform our new space with a focus on living here for the long term.

Now as veteran clients, we enjoyed another thorough session with Susan and came away—again—with a wealth of notes regarding changes and options and fresh images of how we could elevate and transform our new home with a feeling of luxury and beauty and comfort!

Thanks for everything, Susan!

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