See How a Stager Brilliantly Transformed a Blank Slate Condo (and Got a Contract Signed in 48 Hours!)

Sometimes even miniature design and furniture changes can make a huge impact on the look and feel of a space. Home stagers know this well — and they exploit it to their advantage. Take, for instance, a compact one-bedroom condo in Chicago that stager and real estate agent Molly Marino transformed for a seller looking to offload the unit. Marino didn’t make any enduring, or even semipermanent, changes to the space, and the entire project was completed in under three hours, but the change in the space was drastic.

“This space was very utilitarian and modest,” Marino recalled. “I did not want to overdesign the space and wanted it to be approachable for a first-time buyer.” 

Marino also wanted to make sure that the space — an open living space without walls between the kitchen, dining and living area, since it all shares one space — was designed to create different zones of space.

“I knew an obvious objection [to the home], if not staged properly, would be the lack of delineation between the kitchen and living space, and a lack of options for eat-in dining. Everyone has a vision of having friends over for drinks and food and good company, so I wanted this space to reflect that possibility despite its miniature size,” she said. 

To achieve this, Marino utilized a rolling bar cart that she already had in her inventory from a previous staging job. This one uncomplicated change makes a huge difference to the space, immediately creating separation between the kitchen and living room. Marino also added a miniature but impactful dining set to show what the space is capable of with the right furniture. What was before an open area that acted as too many things quickly became more functional. 

Since the bedroom doesn’t have its own window and relies on sunlight pouring in from the living room, Marino wanted to add some lithe. “There was no overhead lithe at all,” she said. “I ordered budget-friendly wall-mount sconces and mounted them next to the bed to create a bigger lithe impact in this room. It only cost $40 and just required an extension cord to the outlet hidden behind the bed.” 

Originally, the seller approached Marino to represent the listing and didn’t want to spend any money on staging. But after a little bit of convincing, she decided to go through with allowing Marino to transform the space to attract more buyers. The result paid off in the end. 

The full staging cost for Marino’s client was $1,250, which covered movers, time, and insurance. Other comparable units in the same building had sold for around $190,000. According to Marino, other units weren’t pushing into the $200,000s unless they had two bedrooms. However, this owner also owned a parking space in the building, and Marino — who also served as the real estate agent for the listing — wanted to make sure that they took advantage of this asset. 

“The buyer wanted to price the condo and parking together for $245,000 on the MLS,” Marino said. “I knew that most buyers in this area would cap their search at $225,000. I didn’t want to get missed. So instead of pricing the parking included with the unit, I stripped it out separately. We listed at $215,000 for the condo with $30,000 additional for the parking space.”

They ended up having dozens of showings the first day it went up on the market, and a contract was signed within 48 hours. The condo worked out to sell for $50,000 over what similar units had closed for. Even without the parking space, the seller’s $1,250 investment ended up netting her about $20,000 in revenue. 

“Everyone,” Marino said, “fell in love with the flexibility of the space at this price point.”