Staged for Success
By Logan Stirling
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HOME & DESIGN

Arthur McLaughlin is the king of the quick makeover.
He has been dubbed San Francisco's very own "house plastic surgeon."

You own a pretty little Victorian on Russian Hill, or a nice big Tudor in Pacific Heights, or perhaps a Sea Cliff Spanish-Colonial. You've done it just the way you like it and you expect to live there forever or until the next earthquake, whichever comes first. And then suddenly your husband is transferred to Outer Mongolia, or worse, Cincinnati.

Step one is to sell your dream house as quickly as possible. You engage one of the top real estate agents in the city who comes out to look the property over. And that's where you come down to earth with a nasty thump. "I don't think we'll get top dollar for it," he or she says sweetly, "looking like this. And it will take quite a while to sell."

A quick glance around and you have to admit that dead snapdragons by the front door, roller skates in the hall, and that splodge on the dining room wallpaper where the turkey skidded off the platter when Uncle Ralph was carving, don't really make the place look its best. But before you can hurriedly reassure the agent that of course you'll clean up before you leave and naturally all of the furniture will be out, it turns out that that was not really what he meant at all. He meant far more fundamental things, like the master bedroom is much too dark, the view from the dining room window of the house next door is uninspiring, and curried spinach is no longer a really fashionable color for wall-to-wall carpeting.

"But I can't fix all those things," you wail. "I'll be in Cincinnati looking for a new house, new schools, new ... everything."

Finally, the agent imparts some words of comfort and joy. "You don't have to do a thing. We'll have your house staged by an expert. In a way it won't cost you anything, because we can ask a higher price for it and sell it much more quickly when it looks really inviting."

The house stager is Arthur McLaughlin and luckily for you, he just happens to be the best in the business. He and his crew decorate, furnish and furbish your house down to the table setting for a dinner party. Most of McLaughlin's makeovers sell within 24 hours after they go on show, often with multiple bids, pushing the final selling price above the original asking sum.

Asked how long the transformation can take, McLaughlin states, "If the house is empty and we don't have to spend valuable time stashing away the owners things, or even putting a lot of the furniture into storage, it takes between three and four days to stage a two-bedroom house. A multi-room mansion usually takes five to eight days. But no matter the size of the house, my first job is to lighten it up, make it look bigger and open it out. Sometimes its just a matter of the right furniture and accessories; but often it involves repainting walls, sanding floors, or pulling up outdated, dreary wall-to-wall carpet. Sometimes we even do serious carpentry, like moving or taking out a non weight-bearing wall, to make a room bigger. Outside, I've hung shutters, put up flower boxes, and rearranged a garden. Don't forget, you have exactly ten minutes to establish a first impression; and we know from client surveys that the majority of buyers decide whether or not to buy a house on their first impression. That's why I'm careful not to decorate a house with my taste, or the owner's taste, or the real estate agents. I have only one goal, and that is to make your house sell for the largest amount of money in the shortest possible time."

In spite of his youthful looks, Arthur has been a designer for over twenty years. California born, he interned with James Northcutt in Southern California, and later worked with Daphne Thrasher on the Bel Air Hotel. He has worked in San Francisco for the last fifteen years.

When asked to reveal some of his trade secrets, McLaughlin responds, "Well, some of them are just good sense. If you want a house to be immediately friendly and welcoming, stay away from cold and unflattering colors like gray and olive green. I paint walls subtle shades of peach, cream or beige with rose in it. You'd be surprised how a too-bright or trendy wall-to-wall carpet can date a house. Keep carpets pale and neutral. If the house has a nice wood floor, I like to keep the dining room bare of rugs or carpeting. Your attention should focus on the table, which I always set elegantly for a dinner party so that people can visualize entertaining there. I like billowy translucent curtains to let in the light, too. I use lots of plants; they can be very dramatic if you backlight them. And crystal chandeliers always give a formal elegance.

"Occasionally, I hire outside painters and carpenters if I need them. I even have two fabulous artists in my little black book who can turn out a Dufy watercolor or a Monet oil of a particular size in forty-eight hours. McLaughlin says that the single most important factor in making a house saleable is light. "It's so important to a first impression that I put all the lights on timers in every house I stage, so that no matter what time of day the agent wants to show the place, the client walks into a house full of light. If that isn't practicable, I patch the lighting into one switch that the agent can flick as he opens the front door."

For all this legerdemain, the price is surprisingly reasonable. A two-bedroom house costs between $6,000 and $12,000 to stage; while a mansion, which will sell in the millions, never goes over $30,000, and is more likely to be in the $15,000 to $20,000 range. A consultation in your own home (whether or not you want to sell), costs $110 an hour.

It may sound like expensive packaging, but to many Bay Area homeowners, it's a package that promises a nice present the end.

Reprinted from the Northern California Home & Design magazine.