There is something wonderful about walking into a well staged home and just knowing this is it.

February is all about LOVE, and sometimes that love starts with a stunning front door creating amazing curb appeal, and a feeling of welcome home. A stunning front door invites you to walk through and explore the home.  A well staged home will allow your potential buyer create those feelings.

The home is filled with natural light, the rooms are soft warm and comfortable. Everything is just as you imagined it would be. Suddenly you imagine family dinners at the beautiful dining table.

Buyers will envision themselves enjoying their morning coffee at a comfy nook, milestones and memories yet to be created. Staging your home to sell will showcase the layout of the home and buyers will imagine how it fits their lifestyle.

Give us a call and receive a quote to stage your home to sell.

Anna Topolinsky

905.980.4962

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This is a question I have asked myself and have had quite a few clients asking for my opinion. I will give you some pros and cons to whether you should use it for your home.

Pros of virtual staging:

Cost: Virtual staging is cost-effective ($25.00-$35.00) per photo, where as traditional staging services can cost thousands of dollars depending on the size of the home or if its a vacant or occupied home being staged.

Speed and Versatility; Using virtually staging can also be a fast alternative to traditional staging. Virtual staging pictures are produced quickly. This makes the availability for the home to be market ready faster. There is greater versatility with virtual staging than real staging by allowing you to digitally manipulate a space without the logistical constraints of physically working with furniture.

Cons of virtual staging:

Cons for using virtual staging: Key drawbacks to using virtual staging include creating unrealistic expectations.  Although programs are better than they used to be, they are still not high quality. Many times, the virtual pictures that are used for staging do not fit the correct scale of the the space, leaving a false idea on the correct size of the room

Misrepresentation: Other drawbacks are that it is creating unrealistic expectations for potential buyers disappointment. Buyers may feel “catfished” when visiting an empty home that appeared furnished online. Virtual staging can also masks flaws, such as tight awkward spaces that feel larger in photos, causing issues with buyers.

Cons of traditional staging;

Cost: Real staging is expensive, often costing thousands of dollars, which can significantly reduce net profits-margins. Staging companies have to invest $$$ to stage with up to date modern, contemporary furnishings.

Logistical inconvenience: In Real staging services, the stager has to review the home, create a design plan, pack, deliver and set up the home.  This can take up to 3-5 days. When the home sells, the stager  returns to pack, and remove the items. Staging an occupied home can be challenging for sellers who are still living in the home.

Pros for Traditional Staging: 

Costs; Although there is a higher cost involved with real staging, it can often increase sale prices by 6%to 15%(up to 20% in some cases). Staged homes often sell 3 to 30 times faster than non-staged homes and can command higher offers.

Speed and contact: Although virtual staging is faster to offer, using a professional stager,  they can still provide the service in a timely manner. Typically the stager will view the home, create a design plan, pack, deliver and set up.  This process usually takes about 1-3 days. Buyers can touch the furniture, walk through the rooms fostering an emotional connection that is difficult to replicate with virtual staging.

Summary:

The National Association of Realtors state that 82% of buyer agents say that home staging helps clients visualize a property as their own and makes it easier for them to emotionally attach to the home.

Real staging is superior to virtual staging because it creates an authentic, emotionally connection to the home. This allows buyers to experience true scale, flow, and ambiance of a home.  While virtual staging only improves online photos.

Many Realtors,  say that when touring a virtual staged home with potential buyers, they were very disappointed. They felt the rooms scale was off, they would argue that the virtual furniture would never fit into the actual rooms they were viewing.

As a homeowner, consider this when using virtual staging.  Realtors also consider this when trying to build trust with your buyers and sellers.  In reality if that home sells faster, than a virtual staged home, you have just made the buyer and sellers happy.

We have staged over 2000 homes in the last 18 years, we offer modern contemporary home staging, working with some of the top Realtors, Home Builders and homeowners,  in the Niagara area. Please give us a call and find out how you can offer this service to your clients.

Anna Topolinsky

Images Staged with Flair

905.980.4962

The post Virtually staging and should I use it when selling my home? appeared first on Images Staged with Flair.

Another amazing year has passed, wrapping up a year in the home staging business is more than just closing the books.

Its about reflecting on the transformations we created for our clients, managing inventory, and prepping for the upcoming spring market.

Lets take a moment to look back at the impact our business made this year. We staged 167 homes. Most of these homes were vacant properties and some were occupied homes.  Fortunate to work  with some of the top Realtors in Niagara area,  we made a huge impact on a number of sales they were able to close.

This  definitely was a difficult year to say the least. Homes we staged were listed for a longer period of time, which affected our inventory supply. Throughout the year, while still receiving requests to stage new properties, without having the inventory to complete the job. We made new purchases to fulfill the demand, knowing that if all the homes we had under contract sold all at once, there would not be space in our 2500sq warehouse.

Somehow we made it through, and out stats came back with amazing results, 167 homes staged 92% of the homes sold firm, which confirms that staging your home still gives you amazing  ROI. The National Association of REALTORS state that 82% of buyer agents say staging helps clients visualize a property as their own.

This year, we continued to offer our clients Christmas holiday décor services,  transforming clients homes, and commercial spaces into warm cohesive and inviting spaces by blending festive cheer with elegant simplicity. During 2025, our short Term rentals design services grew as well. We were able to offer our clients  short term design set up to maximize revenue and increase their bookings by transforming properties into highly appealing spaces.

We look forward with new and existing clients and we hope to make 2026 ours and your best year yet!

Anna Topolinsky

Images Staged with Flair

905.980.4962

The post Another year has passed and what a year it was! Welcome 2026! appeared first on Images Staged with Flair.

Relax and take a break with your favorite book and a glass of wine. This is la Bella vita…

This home is steps to Lake Ontario! Relax with your favorite book! This is a beautiful home with water access located steps from Lake Ontario Remarkable water views in this 3 large bedrooms, with  2 baths, and main floor laundry beach home. Boasting a  full cosmetic make over and decor plus finishing touches that will impress!

You will love coming home every single day and enjoy the panoramic views! Only steps to a secluded Port Dalhousie sandy beach. Very bright and spacious, open concept main floor with Lake Ontario water views as well as the Toronto and Burlington Skylines from the living room.

Charming design and layout with stainless appliances and a cook’s kitchen just off the dining room and plenty of sitting areas maximizing the brightly lit serene window views.

The master bedroom features the same lake views and has an updated ensuite bath and walk-in closet. Laundry and a 4 piece bath on the main makes for easy day-to-day living as well.

Whether it’s a year round home or weekend getaway that you are looking for, this lake house is absolutely perfect and will allow you feel like you are always on vacation!

Please give a call for all your home staging needs!

Images Staged with Flair

905-980-4962

www.imagesstagedwithflair.ca

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If your countertops are damaged, no matter the price point of your home, they should be replaced. No one will purchase a home that is not well cared for. If they do, they expect a much lower purchase price. It would cost less to replace the countertops.

Another downside to not replacing them is that most potential buyers are in the market for a move-in ready home. So listing the price lower, you are more likely to lose some potential offers altogether.

The next question is, “What do I replace the counter with?”

Will updated Formica do?  There is granite, quartz, Butcher block, and so many, many choices.  The answer is based on a few questions about the property and your budget.

What is the condition of your home? What is your listing price, what is your budget?

If your home is well maintained and  had many upgrades throughout ,then having updated counters will give you the edge to show your home as move in ready.

There are many grades of granite at different price points, so your choice should depend on the price point of your home. and your budget. Lower priced homes,  stone countertops are not typically expected but would give you the edge over your competition. Higher priced homes, installing a stone finish is a must! Just remember that this is a big investment so if you are selling, choose a neutral stone finish to please the masses.

Last consideration when  replacing countertops is the condition of your kitchen cabinets. They should be solid and in good condition. Shiny new counters, especially a higher-end countertop like granite, added on top of dated old cabinets makes those cabinets stick out like a sore thumb and just serves to highlight how awful they really are.

So clean them up, replace the hardware, re-stain and/or paint the cabinetry, or replace the cabinets all together, this it will compliment those beautiful new stone countertops and make your investment shine.

If you have a question for “Ask The Home Staging Expert”, please contact 

Images Staged with Flair

905-980-4962

www@imagesstagedwithflair.ca

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The 34th annual Junior League Holiday House Tour includes three beautiful homes, located in Burlington and Ancaster. I am so excited to announce that once again Images Staged with Flair  was asked to join the team of designers once again.

Last year I was honored to be one of designers and fortunate to decorate the master bedroom and master bath area. I met some talented designers that like myself were excited to participate in helping The Junior League achieve their goals.

It was a lot of work, 3 days driving back and forth, time to come up with a design plan, sourcing for all the decor, pack and deliver all the items to the home,  but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! I was also amazed at some of the fantastic work that all the designers and decorators offered, I was lucky enough to work with some pretty talented people and  it was magical!

This year guests will be inspired by a great mix of innovative creations and a variety of styles and homes, ranging from traditional to contemporary. Three beautiful homes will grace this year’s tour, all with a theme of “renos”. These three homes will fill everyone  with great ideas for both home renovation and holiday decorating!

The annual Holiday House Tour of Distinctive Homes generates funds to carry out the Mission and Purpose of the Junior League of Hamilton-Burlington: developing the potential of women, improving the community and promoting voluntarism. The Junior League of Hamilton Burlington has been committed to voluntarism for over 80 years. For the last six years their  focus has been on improving  the educational success of young women affected by poverty which is very dear to my heart.  I believe that no one should be living in poverty. If I can help one person, then I will do all I can to help an association that will make that happen. The League members work on projects and programs throughout the year with the Holiday House Tour being one of the largest fundraiser.

Funds raised go directly to the community, guided by the League’s careful study of the most critical needs. The focus is also carried out in the disbursement of Discretionary Funds each year, providing support to various organizations.

Their needs and programs align with the Junior League mission of developing the potential of women, promoting voluntarism and improving the community.  Recent recipients include Drummond House LARCH After School Program, Liberty for Youth and FitActiveBeautiful Foundation just to name a few.

Meeting some of these women volunteer their time was humbling.  They work extremely hard for this event to come together. They are very passionate about helping young women in poverty and empowering them to rise above it.

The Holiday House Tour is a huge undertaking and it takes a team of determined women to pull it together and make it happen successfully!  For example, last year they  required about 500 hrs. of volunteering  as the homes were more expansive. This year they will require 260 volunteer hours to cover 3 days of multiple shifts. The attendance of people touring the homes is usually around 4,000.

I am looking forward to this event and cant wait to share the details and the before and after pictures. Of course if you would like to attend you can purchase tickets, please follow the link Junior League Holiday House Tour. There you will see all the homes from previous years. Hope to see you there!

Would you like to join the membership please follow the link Junior House League Burlington

Anna Topolinsky

Stage Your Home! Sell Your Home!

Images Staged with Flair

905-980-4962

www.imagesstagedwithflair.ca

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Major renovations usually include plans for updating  the bathroom, so it makes sense when you’re home staging to pay careful attention to these areas. Even though they are utilitarian in nature, these rooms will have special appeal to prospective buyers and winning here can make a big difference in your sale.

Some definite no-no’s when staging your bathroom include, getting rid of the matching toilet covers and rug. Those items scream, “20 years ago” so loud that the neighbors will be able to hear.  Replacing old socket covers, pitted

faucets and outdated light fixtures. Your prospective buyer will only be thinking of how much they are going to cost to replace and getting rid of the plastic shower curtain and all the water stains with it, should top your to do list.

You may love the ruffled crochet toilet paper cover with a doll’s figurine that has been in your family for years and you are welcome to take it with you when you move, but please pack it away now before the first walk through.

Check out “Unique Towel Folding” by curbnotes.com on YouTube. The almost half a million views are a testament to how important this exercise can be. Since your buyer will be checking out the linen closet, we spend some time here folding, rolling and otherwise organizing the shelves, uncluttering them to make the closet look as spacious as possible.

Since the old plastic shower curtain is now a drop cloth for painting, hang a new cloth shower curtain with a liner. Like all things in the bathroom, choose neutral colors and match them or select the occasional complementary color for a bright, but subtle “pop”. Leave the shower curtain open a little if it makes the room look larger.

A quick wipe-down of the bathroom before anyone enters is required; and replacing old slivered, soap bars with fresh ones is a matter of good housekeeping, but making sure that everyone in the house is obeying the golden rule of bathroom etiquette is a crucial step for preparing your home for showing and that one truly universal step is to always, always keep the lid down!

Images Stage with Flair

905-980-4962

www.imagesstagedwithflai.ca

The post Renovating your bathrooms, how to choose finishes. appeared first on Images Staged with Flair.

Dad’s La-Z-Boy.

It was probably hard enough to peel Dad out of his favorite Lay-Z-Boy for the open house, but trying to avoid out-and-out mutiny over the fate of the dated and worn-out furnishing might mean that it is staying in your home.

The people that are interested in buying your home are going to assume that if you don’t take care of your furnishings, that the same goes for the rest of your home.

If you can’t live without your La-Z-Boy, and the chair (not the man) must stay in the house while you sell it, use a slipcover like the picture above. Available from most department stores, the slipcover will take attention away from the worn out chair and put the focus back onto the rest of your beautiful home where it belongs.

Grandma’s Lampshade

Your Grandma may have had exquisite taste in her day and as homage to her obvious refinement, you may have let the lamps linger in your house a little too long. If, by now the shades have dis-colored and collected too much dust, they will dim the appreciation that your potential client will have for the room. And they will also dim the room.  Replacing old  outdated light fixtures is a minimal investment and can make a huge impact. Take a look at the light fixtures in the picture above.

Your University Textbooks

Whether for nostalgic purposes or to impress your guests, you know that never again will you open your copy of The Development of Meteorological Theory in Post-war Vienna. And why do you still have the all the papers that you wrote, when they were middling at best?

If donating your papers to the Alumni Library is out-of-the question you still need a way to de-clutter your bookshelves.

You don’t want your sale to rest on a buyer that needs lots of space and have them believe you don’t have any because you couldn’t bear to part with the 60 Can-Lit novels you read one terribly lonely summer making up extra credits in your elective, do you?

Of course not.

Donate them or foist them upon an unsuspecting undergrad as you like, but ensure that your shelves are rearranged to allow for at least one open shelf per case. Because like a closed mind, you can’t put anything into a full bookcase. Take a look at the de=cluttering that took place in the space below.

Sweepings under the carpet

Old worn out area rugs should be removed and replaced with new clean current carpets which will automatically revive a tired room

W.C. Fields was right.

Not everyone loves pets. They may love their pets but not your pets. Lingering odors from someone else’s pets can turn some people off.  Short of putting your progeny up in a motel for the duration, remove obvious signs of pets  and then you have at least one less reason for the potential buyer to think of moving on and one more for them to think of moving in.

Images Staged with Flair

905.980.4962

Stage your home! Sell your home!

The post Don’t Look under the Rug and Other Practical Tips for Staging your Home. appeared first on Images Staged with Flair.

Written by Anna Topolinsky

De-cluttering and cleaning jobs are high on the list that real estate professionals recommend to home and property sellers.

But did you know that there are costly mistakes that can be made, which might mean that your house does not sell for as much as it can or as fast as it can?

Here are six costly staging mistakes you can make when preparing your home for a quick sale and high profit.

1: Not thinking about curb appeal.

You may think your landscaping is perfect and you probably love it. That love-blindness may make seeing things that are not adding to curb appeal impossible for you. The first unsightly mess is overgrown shrubs and trees. They should be mercilessly trimmed back. It may be hard at first but this is a sure-fire way to actually “spruce” up the landscaping.

The second problem is grass. In a dry hot summer your grass can look brown and unappealing. Worse are bare patches that indicate the property was not cared for.

Deep watering your lawn (once a week for 4 – 5 hours over night) will keep it green and healthy. And add some sod to those bare patches.

Your entrance should be inviting so take a broom to the cobwebs that may be there and while you are at it have a look for nails, hooks and other hardware that at one time were used for seasonal decorating but now just empty and bare.

2: Not passing the smell test.

Don’t under estimate the power of the nose to put buyers off of loving your property as much as you do. Your home or property ought to be free from odors.

If odors are present, don’t try and mask them with perfumes or other heavy scents. You really should get rid of the odours at their source.

Odors from cooking might be eliminated with a fresh coat of paint. If there was heavy smoking in the house, a deeper cleaning will be required.

3: Inconsistent improvements

If it is in the budget, remodeling the bath and kitchen is usually sound staging advice, but how would it look if you did the kitchen and bah in a totally modern look but neglected the 80’s wallpaper in your living room and the 90’s sisal carpet in your den?

Where possible dedicate some time and expense to decorating the whole house. Take up that old carpet; give those walls a fresh coat of paint. A mid-level renovation in the kitchen and bath should leave some budget left for the rest of the house.

4: Ditch the kitsch

One thing to keep in mind is that you want your prospective buyers to be able to imagine themselves living in the home you have for sale. That means that family photos have to go.

Bric-a-brac, gewgaws and knick-knacks all need to be cleared out too. Personal favorite like island art and other souvenirs don’t hold any meaning for your potential buyer and that goes for bold style choices in decorating, too.

A deep oxblood painted feature wall may appeal to you, but it won’t appeal to everyone. Go neutral.

5: Going overboard

Large items like beds and sofas and dining sets should not be removed. The scale of a room and what can actually fit in it is better shown when there are pieces to help with the perspective. Having a larger bed in a room easily show what works in the space. An empty room is harder to gauge.

6: Cut the Clutter

Golf clubs in a closet and toddlers toys are obvious types of clutter that need to go. You home will photograph better when all the corners of the rooms can be seen.

There is other clutter that you might overlook and that includes collections that clutter. Do you like porcelain elephants? If you have been collecting for years they probably take up a lot of space.

When photographed, collections tend to confuse the eye and are not helpful in getting the buyer to see potential in the room.

Less obvious yet might be paintings and posters that are clustered together. They may be artfully displayed but in a photograph they look like clutter.

A small self-storage unit will serve you well as a lace to keep your treasures until you can display them once again.

Staging a home is not a new practice. We all know that you will get a higher price which usually will result in a quick sale when you stage your home. A professional stager can help you avoid these and other costly mistakes. Why not call Images Staged With Flair now to discuss your staging project?

Images Staged with Flair

905-980-4962

The post Six costly staging mistakes in preparing your home for a quick sale and high profit. appeared first on Images Staged with Flair.

Real estate sales in Niagara is hot news. Prices are up, units sold are up and the trend is not likely to stop anytime soon.

With homes selling within hours and some selling above asking price, it seems reasonable that in this market, going the extra step of having your home professionally staged seems less important than when the market is down, competition is high, and you need every advantage to make the sale.

In a hot sellers market like this one there are compelling reasons to still make that effort and stage your home or property. The first reason, and the best reason as always to do everything you can, is to ensure that your home is fetching the highest price possible.

Consider this: A home valued at $300,000 that sells for 5% above asking earns $15,000 extra for the home owner, but if that home is staged and listed for $330,000 then sells for 5% above listing, the earnings above listing is $16,500 PLUS the $30,000 asked over the valuation. That’s a total of $46,500 in your pocket, less the cost of staging.

Vacant homes left bare will stay on the market longer. Much longer than they should. With all the renovation shows out there, flipping houses no longer an insider’s secret, buyers are savvy to “flips”. A staged property changes the buyers perspective from, “what reno’s were done?” to “I love how this room looks” and “I can see myself living here”.

Real estate investors will realize top dollar by staging a home and can sell the home faster, meaning they can move on to the next project more quickly.

Showing your property at it best is the objective in any market, but the time to pass up the opportunity to stage is not in this hot sellers market. Home owners and real estate investors alike need to not only work with a Real Estate Agent that offers a great marketing plan but also one that works with a professionally certified stager to make sure the home is “market ready”

“I don’t need to stage my house”, is a statment that can cost thousand of dollars in unrealized profits. Even in a hot market like this one.

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