Most families spend more time in the kitchen than in any other room of the house. When buyers are making offers they are buying the “whole house” so every square inch matters but Kitchens and Baths get the most scrutiny. They are the most expensive rooms to renovate so buyers care about how they look and how recently they have been updated.
BjtO Designs and Easton Kitchens and Baths teamed up to make this kitchen a “wow”! The new layout, addition of a center island, new stainless steel appliances, granite counters, colorful tile backsplash coordinating with the fireplace tile gives this kitchen the edge. Upstaging the kitchen has made it competitive with other houses for sale in the neighborhood. It is a kitchen appointed with all the latest appliances ready for gourmet cooks and a family of any size.
This view showing the enlarged opening into the eat-in area made sense out of the space and offers up a place to sit down and enjoy an informal meal or a cup of coffee overlooking a bright and sunny backyard patio. The newly refinished floors and addition of crown molding tied these two rooms together with the rest of the house.
It all started last spring when I received a phone call from a potential client in Chestnut Hill saying she and her husband were thinking about putting their home on the market. They were doing research to figure out what needed to be done to their house so they could protect their investment. They purchased the house five years ago for more than the house would sell for today. What to do?
Collectively the home sellers and I agreed that the kitchen and master suite needed the most attention so we came up with a design and a plan to put in motion. Today, I am focusing on the kitchen and eat-in area. More to follow in upcoming blogs on all the other aspects of the upstaging. In today’s market buyers do not want to do work, particularly in a home that is selling for over $1,000,000. “Let the next owner make their own changes” does not exist and if your broker isn’t telling you this – find a new broker. This is reality and these sellers believed and understood reality and made some real changes.
Here is what we started with…
Nice bright kitchen but very dated. The last update was in the 90s and just too modern for the 1920s style home. Awkward layout, not enough room for a table and chairs, stove jammed in on a wall which separated the kitchen from a small ill defined room. The debate was whether it should be an eat-in area or a teeny tiny family room. We opted to enlarge the opening between the rooms and build a center island that would allow for a cooktop, more counter space and even a perch to read the paper. Then we added the wall oven, microwave and warming drawer to the right of the refrigerator. We built one more under-counter cabinet in the area where the L for stove had been to off- set the storage we gave up for the built-in ovens.
The house officially went on the market this past Monday, listed with Sharyn Whitman in the Brookline office of Hammond Residential Real Estate. Give her a call 617-731-4644 x287. The photographs of the finished upstaging were taken by Kimberly Hallen of Boston Virtual Imaging.
Upstaging the competition is just that, making your house better than all others for sale in your area. Buyers make offers most often based on pure emotion. You need to add the “wow factor” so buyers are awed the minute they walk in your front door and continue to be impressed.
Stay tuned, more to follow on dissecting a successful upstaging project.
