Pair Home Design

Pair Home Design: home staging consultants offer solutions to help you market your home

LOUISE HENRY of Pair Home Design with her husband Joseph Backstrom.

by CATHOLINE BUTLER http://www.celtic-connection.com/about.html

VANCOUVER – I recently spoke with Sandycove, Co. Dublin-born, Louise Henry. She and her husband Joseph Backstrom are the owners of Pair Home Design – home staging and redesign consultants.

Before meeting with Louise, I thought that home staging might be consulting an expert how to best to arrange furniture, but now I realize that’s only a small fraction of their work.

Pair Home Design offers a valuable service to anyone thinking of putting their home on the market. If you are getting your home ready for sale, Pair Home Design will come in and assess the street appeal of your home.

They will inspect the interior of your home and provide a professional opinion on repairs and suggest enhancements which will make your home much more attractive to buyers.

Louise said, “What we want to do is create what is called ‘broad buyer appeal’, so that your house will appeal to the maximum amount of people.

“For instance, if you have pink walls, that may not appeal to a lot of people. So we would choose more neutral colours to make your home more attractive. We would also talk about flooring and anything else that might be cause for price concession on behalf of the home owner.”

I asked Louise how she got into the business and how does home staging benefit someone selling their home?

“Well since 2003, I had been buying, renovating, and selling properties in Vancouver,” said Louise. “In 2006, Joseph and I bought a 1934 character house in Chilliwack. We restored the home back to its former glory with the original hardwood floors. It was a real labour of love and that’s where we live now.

“We still have a large client base in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley from when we lived in Vancouver. We also service the Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Coquitlam and Surrey area.

“I look after the home staging and redesign aspects. As a starting point, one of the first things that you need to do is de-clutter your home in getting it ready for sale.

“We talk about de-personalizing your home, such as putting away family photos, or any other collections around your home. These are actually distractions for the potential buyers coming through your home. Buyers will end up spending more time looking at your personal things than at your house.

“We will also go into your home and create focal points to show off the better features of your home. For instance, a fireplace in your living room is a good focal point. But if there is no focal point, we can create one through art.

“Editing your home is very important. You need to create a more minimalistic look. For instance, if you have too much furniture, then I will suggest removing some of it, maybe into storage or a family member’s home. De-cluttering also gives you an opportunity to pre-pack so that when your house is sold, there is less for you to pack.

BEFORE AND AFTER photographs of a kitchen renovated and staged by Pair Home Design. The top before photo shows a dark and confined space. The bottom after photo shows a bright and open kitchen area giving the impresson of a much more spacious unit.

“When your home looks well, then it’s easier for people to move around, and it’s also easier for realtors to show your home.”

Since there are costs involved in just getting your home ready for sale, Louise spoke about some of the money-saving ways they can use your existing art, furniture and items.

“The fact that we can use your existing items is a lot more cost effective than renting furniture,” she said. “If your home is vacant, we will talk about bringing in rental furniture, art and accessories. Of course, we always take into consideration your budget.”

Pair Home Design aims to enhance the marketability of your home by highlighting its strong points.

“There are so any different factors,” said Louise, “but we look at the overall picture for you as a home owner and how we can better showcase your home.

“For instance, if you have a traditional home, then we will put in traditional furniture, or contemporary furniture in a contemporary home. If it’s a downtown condo, then we would put in smaller furniture.

“Recently, we were asked to stage a home that had been on the market for six weeks. Many potential buyers had been through the home but there was no ink on the contract. After we staged the home, the realtor held an open house and within two days the house was sold.”

Home staging is like a theatre production according to Louise. Everything must be in sync from the theatre backdrop to the lighting.

It has been the experience of Pair Home Design that after they have staged a home and it has sold, the client is very excited and often wants them to stage their new home with suggestions on furniture and accents.

Louise Henry is available to groups or organizations for public presentation on home staging. For more information about Pair Home Design call, toll free: or . See their website at: www.pairhomedesign.com. or cellular 778-834-7247 or toll free 1-877-778-7564