When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade!

Installing Model Home Transfers as an Affordable Alternative

Do you ever get that scrunched-face feeling after tasting a strong sour lemon? Many of us feel that same way right now from the "sour taste" of our economic conditions. But rather than scrunching our face at today's economic conditions, we are adjusting by taking the "lemonade" approach! We understand our builders' needs, and we're responding. One of the solutions to reduced budgets, yet increased sales and marketing need for new home communities is model home transfers and refreshes.

What's Old is New Again - at only a percentage of the price!

So here's the scenario. You're a builder and you just closed one model home, but you would like to merchandise another model home. Perhaps you're trying to entice sales in another community, or it might be that you want to show the model home with fewer upgrades to appeal to today's more financially conservative buyer. While you may not have the budget for full furnishings, custom window treatments, new accessories and artwork, you realize that some of your previous model's furniture is still current and in good condition. Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to leverage what you have and supplement important design elements that allow your current furnishings to match your new model home's target market and fully function in the new floor plan.

Since every model home transfer is very unique, here are some smart guidelines we have used to make this mix a success:

• Replace all furniture that looks worn or has been damaged. This is especially important for furniture that has been moved into a storage unit.
• Ensure that the furniture size is appropriate for the new space. When moving furniture from a large model home into a small condo, the size is likely to be too large and overpower the new space.
• Shift the furniture around to ensure smooth traffic flow and maximized function in each room throughout the entire home. Group two upholstered chairs together with a small table, for example, rather than placing them alone in separate corners to just fill space. This arrangement "feels" and functions better and will allow buyers to envision themselves living in the space, spending time together with friends and family.
• Watch out for faded fabrics on upholstered furniture. Be sure not to reuse worn or faded items in a new model that might send the wrong signal. You might not catch this until the furniture is placed under new lighting.
• Be cautious not to mix and match too much, or the final product will be an eclectic hodge podge without any central design concept. This is disorienting to buyers walking through the space, but could easily be fixed by adding appropriate new pieces where necessary.
• To freshen the interiors of a model home, update the colors by applying trendy accent paint colors and using new window treatments, bedding and throw pillows.
• Most importantly, set your model home apart with merchandising rather than just decorating. Incorporating background treatments such as applied moldings and ceiling treatments is critical for a model transfer to succeed. For entry level buyers, these applications should be simple and easy to duplicate.
• Finally, renew and replace dusty fake floral arrangements and trees. These can gather lots of dust over time, and even some bugs!

Theme Your Way to Your Buyer's Heart

Ultimately, the goal of your model home is to leave a lasting impression on your buyers. Evoke their emotions and embed heartwarming memory points in their minds by illustrating your buyer profile. A great way to apply this is through the creation of themes. In one model home transfer that we implemented, we created a photographer theme in the guest bedroom by accessorizing with camera boxes and framed black and white photography.

Case in Point: On the Up and Up With Fluffing

Let's look at a before and after on a model home that we "fluffed" (brought the interiors up to date without doing a transfer from one home to another) for the builder.

The master suite in this home needed some color and warmth. So for a very minimal design cost, we infused some drama and passion into the space by adding custom window treatment panels, a backsplash color, attention-grabbing artwork and some masquerade ball theming - what a way to generate intrigue!

BEFORE	AFTER

In another model, we refreshed the interiors to better portray a nautical theme with some simple but effective techniques. First, we painted some neutral accent paint stripes to give the original walnut hued wall color some depth. By replacing the existing artwork with framed sailboat prints and nautical maps, we brought out the imagery more vividly. Finally, a model sailboat accessory completed the room with a memorable, refreshed theme and very minimal cost to the builder.

BEFORE	AFTER

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Kay Green, MIRM is a nationally recognized Interior Designer & Merchandiser. She founded Kay Green Design in 1975, and since then, the firm has delivered the highest in design excellence in a range of interior design specializations.

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