#kitchenmirror Archives

How To Stage Your Kitchen Like A Pro

Posted on October 2, 2020October 22, 2020 by admin

I have officially reached the end of Pinterest. I have saved every kitchen that I love in my kitchens folder. I AM NOW READY TO START RENOVATING MY KITCHEN. (Do you think he heard me?)

As you already know: I am ALWAYS in design mode on my own house and looking for ideas for clients. I’m also sort of a real estate junkie and I make it my business to know the local market and am always scouting for real estate deals! What do those things all have in common? KITCHEN OBSESSION. (Yes, I love that million dollar home but the kitchen… IS… AWFUL).

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see full disclosure at the end of the post.

Yes, I am obsessed with kitchens. Recently, as I was staging for photographing our project in Vermont, something occurred to me: STAGING IS EVERYTHING.

Check out the before and afters on our Vermont Kitchen Project!

Whether you’re entertaining or showing your house that’s on the market, staging is the make it or break it of beautiful (or even MEH) kitchens. If you sift through your Kitchen board on Pinterest, what you’ll discover is that the ones you REALLY love are staged really well (which is why you saved it, whether you realize it or not!). They have been tricking you all this time… You saved a beautiful flower or branch arrangement that happens to be in a kitchen. But, you saved it, which is the important take away!

Don’t believe me? I’ll show you!

This kitchen, though probably stunning in person, would be a washed out BLAH in photos without the greenery and fruit. Notice how the big tin bucket with branches anchors the right side of the photo.

Just like the photo before, this kitchen is stunning. However, it has the potential in photos to appear too monochromatic and kind of cold. The branch arrangement, once again, anchors one side of the photo.

Look carefully… If you removed all of the accessories, would this space be very memorable? It’s not that it’s not an amazing kitchen, it’s breathtaking. But, in photos, it really needs some visual interest to look like a DREAM kitchen… which it certainly does here. They have arrangements on both sides here providing an interesting frame.

Would you save this photo? Of course you would!

And, wait, if you saved it… SO WILL YOUR FUTURE BUYERS! They’ll save it to their Pinterest board and obsess about it until they make you an offer over asking price and want to move in, like, yesterday!

So, how do we do that, Campers? Well, I’m going to tell you. I promise.

Step one: take everything off the countertops. Take everything off the shelves. Then add a few, specific things and shop your own stuff!

It’s really that easy: I’m going to show you how and provide links for everything we used here! Altogether, we spent $350 on staging, not including dishes (shhh, don’t tell!!!) and here is how it turned out:

Before and After Pictures of Grandma's New Vermont Cottage Kitchen: Sponsored by Lily Ann Cabinets and designed by @callsigndesign on Instagram and @slavetodiy on Pinterest. — Before and After Pictures of Grandma’s New Vermont Cottage Kitchen: Sponsored by Lily Ann Cabinets and designed by @callsigndesign on Instagram and @slavetodiy on Pinterest.

A mirror in a kitchen you say? I say YES. A blank wall in between two windows was begging for a mirror. Mirrors brighten small spaces and reflect light. Win, win. Scale it BIGGER! (Unexpected can be GOOD and in this case, it’s kind of awesome). If you have a tiny kitchen, or a dark kitchen, I’m talking to you.

This mirror we found on Craig’s List for $60. (“If you stalk long enough, you will have success,” I always say!)

Kitchen Herb Kit from IKEA: The Complete Kit For Staging Your Kitchen Like A Pro

Don’t judge me. I have a thing for herbs in the kitchen, and this one wasn’t going without! The rails and bins are from the Kungsfors IKEA Collection. They are both beautiful and functional, and make the kitchen feel that much more cozy. The window is wider than the rails so we used scrap lumber and a Kreg Jig to install them.

Fresh herbs in the kitchen say, “There is some serious professional chef level cooking going down in this kitchen. You must buy this house.”

Don’t want to deal with hanging all those spice racks? Some fresh herbs tied with ribbon on the counter (in front of the chopping block) serves the same purpose for photos.

HOW CUTE IS THIS???

Demijohn: I’ll admit, I’m a little bit of a demijohn snob. What is a demijohn, you ask? I’ll tell you: What is a demijohn and how to use it in your decorating… I like them enough I wrote a whole post about them, because I’m an obsessive nerd. We found this perfect little demijohn at Hobby Lobby for around $20 and it’s perfect for this application!

Candlesticks: Also shown here, these TOTALLY AWESOME real Iron Candlesticks from Hobby Lobby are about $20 each (which I just went on and purchased more of because they’re on sale). Score!

Tree branch: Scalped right out of the woods on the kitchen property. FREE! (Visualize the clients AND Rainman looking at me sideways on staging/photo day walking toward the woods with pruning sheers in hand… “Where are you planning on putting a branch that big, Griswold?” But, I’ll leave it there, and keep it PG).

And that’s all you need for the corner of the island! As the photographer moves around, move your arrangement around so it’s anchoring the outside frame of the picture.

For this next corner I borrowed some items that belonged to the client (shop your own house!)… The little silver tray I used to hide the cord from the lamp. The little vases and tiny plant were also hers, and they look adorable in the spice cabinet!

And that lamp? I looked at about 500 lamps before I found this one with just enough fancy and just enough cottage-style to be convincing. And after I spent hours looking… I finally found it no place other than Amazon: The Perfectly Sized French-Style Countertop Lamp for around $30. (Some of the other sites are REALLY proud of their lamps and I’m just trying to be reasonable here).

The little oil paintings with gilded frames were a bit of a splurge and I found them on Ebay. I’m pretty sure there are some fairly convincing knockoffs at Target if you don’t want to be too extravagant and you’ll ultimately achieve the same look.

Notice how we moved the demijohn and candles for this shot? We moved them just enough so they’re anchoring an uninteresting side of the room and creating balance.

Every time we changed the camera angle, we repositioned the candles and spun the branches so they looked nice and full, but also just wild enough to be wonderful and daring.

Another angle for good measure! (Aren’t those fat candles just the coolest? Also on Hobby Lobby, if you’re looking).

Now, if you haven’t mastered the art of the shelfie, here’s a quick crash course:

Arrange in threes and in triangles. Okay, so we have a couple “twos” but it’s all about balance.

Here, everything but the new blue stripe dish towels and the White Pantry Soup Bowls and Plates from Williams Sonoma the client already had! It’s just a matter of arranging them in a pretty, uncluttered way.

There is a triangle of “tall items” and a triangle of bowls and a triangle at the top of crocks and teapots.

Believe it or not, those shelves used to be the temporary stair treads to the basement. You can find the black metal shelf brackets here if you’re looking to open up some space on your own wall!

Is your kitchen atrocious and preventing your house from selling? Check out our ideas on The Best Ways To Transform An Outdated Kitchen On A Tiny Budget.

Butcher block, cutting boards, and charcuterie boards, (Oh My)… How To Stage Your Kitchen Like A Pro. Designer: @callsigndesign (Instagram). Photographer: @loganbspring (Instagram). Cabinets @lilyanncabinets_ (Instagram)

The perfect cutting/charcuterie board corner: every one of these the client already had!

The Cambria Stoneware Kitchen Utensil Holder was from Pottery Barn but I think they may have been discontinued in that color. We displayed her wooden spoon collection in them and I think they look perfect!

Shades of blue created perfect, subtle pops of color in our staging. Wouldn’t you like to do some cooking in this kitchen?

If you’re in the market for quality RTA cabinets go to Lily Ann Cabinets and use offer code SDIY2018 to get 5% off! (The cabinets pictured are Grey Shaker Elite).

Have a house on the market? Download The Ultimate Home Showing Checklist FREE on how to get ready for and nail your real estate showings!

Can you think of some other important parts of staging a kitchen? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks for hanging out today! Cheers!

*All photos by @loganbspring on Instagram

*Legal stuff:

I am honest about my experiences with different products and write because I enjoy it. I do however, have the opportunity to earn money for my writing, also.

Slavetodiy.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Amazon offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports our cause at no additional cost to you.

If a blogger links to an Amazon product (with a special code for affiliates embedded in the link), and a reader places an item in their “shopping cart” through that link within 24 hours of clicking the link, the blogger gets a small percentage of the sale. Amazon links are not “pay per click.” If you click on the product link and stay around Amazon and purchase something else, however, I will get a commission on that sale.

Slavetodiy.com is also a VigLink affiliate advertiser which works similarly.

Before and After: Grandma’s New Vermont Cottage Kitchen

Posted on September 27, 2020October 5, 2020 by admin

Who doesn’t love a good before and after reveal??? We teamed up with Lily Ann Cabinets to do this awesome project for my mother’s forever home and I’m super happy with how it turned out. We used their RTA Cabinets, Lily Ann’s Grey Shaker Elite (and you’re going to love them!).

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see full disclosure at the end of the post.

The kitchen turned out beautifully and the carpenter was super impressed by the quality of the RTA cabinets. That helps a LOT when the carpenter happens to be your brother AND he’s a meticulous and dyed-in-the-wool wood snob.

Quick story:

My family has been playing musical houses for almost my whole life (I’m an army brat). So, when my mom finally decided to pick a house and stay in it, my sister reached out to me to help with the kitchen design (they were really busy renovating the whole rest of the house). The place had great bones, but was really ugly. One little problem: I am in North Carolina and they are in Vermont. To any lesser team this would’ve been a problem (working with family and from a different state… what could go wrong???).

I sent my initial design which was nixed by my incredible carpenter brother who wanted to knock down walls and move stairs (who am I to argue with that?). So, I worked up a moodboard and completely new design and sent it to my sister and brother.

Then there was the issue of finding a cabinet company that wasn’t going to break the bank. I looked and looked, but everything I liked was super expensive! And since I had added a huge island, the cabinet total had about doubled. Then I stumbled across RTA (ready to assemble) cabinets. I found them on sale (even though they were already significantly cheaper than the other cabinets I had found before the sale), and I sent the company my design. My brother said, “that’s fine, but you guys are putting those cabinets together.”

Almost ALL of this was carried out without me physically at the property because suddenly there was a pandemic. Yup. Perfect timing. I corresponded with a Lily Ann kitchen designer in Michigan that was working from home and had the details and 3d renderings in just a few weeks. A skeleton warehouse crew got our order out and it was delivered about a month and a half after we first contacted them.

Back to the house: imagine my delight when my brother (who had said NO WAY was he assembling RTA cabinets) called me to say he had assembled and installed them and the quality was amazing. Oh, and they went together super fast. I was in shock. I will save the rest of that story for another post. This is a simple before and after, remember?

If you love this look, you can find these cabinets from Lily Ann Cabinets. My readers can get a 5% discount by using the offer code: SDIY2018 at checkout!

Grandma got to see her almost finished kitchen on her birthday in July and I think you’ll appreciate the video (it still makes me cry every time):

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYK1UD7tQXY&w=560&h=315]

All that was left (after the first reveal) for install when we arrived in Vermont (two months later and on re-scheduled trip number three) was hardware, the backsplash, the shelves, and crown molding. Still, five full days of install while trying to persuade my six year old to do her virtual school independently was a bit challenging. And, to be perfectly honest, my brother had told me the quality was good, but the cabinets were even better in person. The finish was beautiful and I quickly realized there was nothing “discount” about these cabinets other than the price.

The after photos were all taken by @loganbspring on Instagram, so give him a follow! I think you’ll love his work as much as we do!

Drumroll please!!!!

This is looking through the front door at the door that went down to the basement:

Before and After Pictures of Grandma's New Vermont Cottage Kitchen — Before and After Pictures of Grandma’s New Vermont Cottage Kitchen: Sponsored by Lily Ann Cabinets and designed by @callsigndesign on Instagram and @slavetodiy on Pinterest.

Here is the front door now:

This is looking from the corner of the kitchen back at the front door:

We couldn’t REALLY get this “before” shot because of the wall, but you can see where the new front door is now (the wall started roughly where the island begins):

This is standing by the front door, looking at the kitchen.

And here is the after:

This is a shot of the space after the walls came down, but before the staircase was moved:

And after:

And just for fun, here are some more detailed shots of the kitchen we took during staging:

This was quite the journey, but it was all worth it to see how happy my mom was at the end. What do you think of our design and renovation? What is your favorite part? Please let us know in the comments below!

Once again: If you love this look, and want to pay less for awesome cabinets, you can find these cabinets from Lily Ann Cabinets. My readers can get a 5% discount by using the offer code: SDIY2018 at checkout!

Special thanks to my brother and sister for all of the hard work and making it so easy for us to look good!

Thanks for joining us on our adventures! Cheers!

*Legal stuff:

I am honest about my experiences with different products and write because I enjoy it. I do however, have the opportunity to earn money for my writing, also.

Slavetodiy.com is a paid affiliate for Lily Ann Cabinets and received discounted products to provide this review. As always, our opinions are honest and we promote only quality products that we use ourselves.

Slavetodiy.com is also a VigLink affiliate advertiser which works similarly.