Design by Marla- Home Staging,'s Blog

Just staged: 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath home in Burbank, 1022 Grinell Dr.   Beautiful home on one of the best streets in Burbank3 bedroom, 2 bath home in the hillsides of BurbankDesign by Marla has just finished staging a wonderful home in Burbank. This home is located on one of the best streets in Burban...

It's coming.  Like it or not, the holiday season is here.  We've made it through Halloween, on its heels is Thanksgiving and then with a blink of the eye , we have Hanukkah and Christmas.  It always seems that we pack about 3 or 4 months of effort and activities into about 2 months.  We have a so...

The world today is stressful- politics, finances, real estate!?!?! In this world of chaos and financially challenging times we all need to remember to relax.  At the very least, find something relaxing to do every day.  At the end of the day, my favorite relaxation is to sit down to dinner with m...

Spring is in the air.  There seems to be a new vitality for living about this time every year- even in Southern California.  The home improvement stores seem more crowded with people buying outdoor furniture and plants.  Even the birds seem to chirp more.        I wrote a blog a couple of months ...

Wine trip to Ojai, Ca. My husband and I decided to take a mini-getaway to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary.  We thought about going to Temecula to do a couple of our favorite things- wine tasting and golf.  However, we decided to go north from L.A., instead, to Ojai (pronounced "Oh-hi").  W...

In this slower real estate market, agents and buyers are trying hard to make their homes stand out from the rest.  A few (I'm glad to say this is not a trend.) are accentuating the negative, instead of the positive!An agent in Columbus, MO. advertised a listing in this way: "It's not pretty.  It'...

I was recently talking to a man from Sweden.  He asked me what I did and I told him I was a Home Stager and gave him my "30 second elevator speech".  He said in Sweden they are called "stylists".  Do they call them stylists anywhere else?  I like the name.  The name has a more creative feel than ...

 I'm sorry to say that the home stager wasn't Design by Marla but I'm still glad that we are getting positive exposure. I got a call last week from a woman at KCAL (local)/ CBS news.  She wanted to do a feature on Home Staging and the importance of it in today's real estate environment.  I wasn't...

We are so blind...We look but we don't see. How many times per week do we walk up to the front door of our house?  Do we really see how it looks?  Probably not. I will take my own front entry as an example.  I started to repaint the front door- oh, about 5 years ago.  The door is 80% green, 15% b...

Many of today's buyers and real estate agents use the MLS listing online to preview homes.  Your homes first impression is created when someone looks at its pictures.  The decision of whether or not to view the home is made at that point.  For me, the biggest turn-offs are MLS listings with no pi...