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It was simply the kind of undertaking that house stager and Realtor Molly Marino loves most: an area calling out for artistic options with a hands-off house owner who trusts her to determine it out. The consumer, who’d lived in his one-bedroom bachelor pad for years, wanted to get probably the most cash he might from promoting his apartment as a result of he deliberate on sizing up right into a single-family house. Marino, the proprietor of Residence by Molly Marino, was decided to make that occur.
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On the plus aspect, the apartment was situated in Chicago’s Logan Sq., a neighborhood Marino describes as, “sizzling, sizzling, sizzling,” however the inside undoubtedly wanted some sprucing up. As a result of the proprietor hadn’t put a lot work into the property, and since it was a below-grade backyard apartment — which is commonly tougher to promote in Chicago — Marino fearful that his worth wasn’t going to be as excessive because the $199,000 neighborhood comps.
As Marino assessed the apartment’s super-spacious most important dwelling space, she realized that with the scale, electrical plan, and window structure working of their favor, including a second bed room can be pretty simple and will considerably enhance the house’s worth for a comparatively modest funding. After sketching out her imaginative and prescient and operating the comps, she felt assured a further bed room might enhance the promoting worth to about $300,000.
Over the course of two weeks, and with an all-in price simply shy of $20,000, Marino and her go-to contractors not solely carved out a bed room from the dwelling space (they eliminated the cumbersome hearth to make means for the brand new wall) but in addition modernized the remainder of the apartment.
Brightening up the below-grade house was a high precedence. The drab wall shade was changed with a cooler greige tone that contrasted properly with the house’s brick accent wall and hardwood flooring. Whereas including partitions can usually make areas really feel darker, on this case, simply the alternative occurred. “Including the second bed room created one other wall which we painted a light-weight shade,” says Marino. “This allowed gentle to stream by way of the entrance window, mirror off the brand new wall, and brighten the house.”
Paying additional consideration to fixtures additionally helped enhance the persona and quantity of sunshine within the apartment. Somewhat than busting the finances by chopping into drywall, Marino caught to changing current lighting fixtures with fashionable, wallet-friendly options. Within the dwelling space, she swapped out the ever present “boob gentle” for a extra trendy fixture and added a trendy chandelier over the eating desk. The primary bed room received playful starburst sconces on both aspect of the mattress. “The costliest fixture I added was the $129 eating space chandelier. Most fixtures have been beneath $65,” says Marino. “Lighting is important and so cheap to replace!”
Within the kitchen, a coat of paint breathed new life into the cupboards and labored properly with the present black counter tops. Changing the too-small eating desk with a bigger one gave the world a extra expansive really feel. Again in the lounge, classic items added heat, whereas a cool turquoise guitar impressed the house’s shade palette. With the house’s new eclectic, hipster vibe, Marino pictured the long run house owner internet hosting associates for craft cocktails. And with the apartment promoting in simply three days for $305,000, the present house owner was little question toasting the result too.
Supply: House Remedy
