Holly Alderman, Home Stager and Designer of Custom Home Blogs

"Holly - Did I tell you that my mother's house sold the day of the first open house? I signed the offer...

...within two days, the house inspector came, we re-negotiated and today the lawyers agree on the terms of the P & S ... I couldn't have done it without you! I am SO appreciative of all the ideas you gave me! Gratefully, Zonda  P.S. At some point I need to get your andirons back to you..."

Welcome to Dreamhouse Home Staging! 617-733-5493

Welcome to Holly's Home Staging blog for sellers and brokers. I'm Holly Alderman, ready to give immediate attention to your home staging questions or concerns over the phone, and/or to schedule an on site consultation. I look forward to speaking/emailing with you, please don't hesitate to call me at 617-733-5493 or email link at right. My blog is now under construction, with more before and after photos to appear on the weekend of November 1, and the 7 essentials of home staging, getting all info in shape for your reference asap. Stay tuned! Thank you for visiting!

Staged House Sold at First Open House

Home staging is good strategy to reduce days on market and maintain the price. For example, after home staging consultations and considerable preparations over the summer, this house in Waltham brought an offer from the first open house that was accepted in 2 days in the fall. The owner is totally pleased and relieved. To make a plan for home staging may seem overwhelming at first but it is very worthwhile to attract good buyers, prevent problems in negotiating later, and ultimately save the seller's time and money.

Greetings from Holly Alderman

Greetings. May I introduce myself? I'm Holly Alderman, a designer and consultant on how to stage a home to sell. I enjoy home staging strategy, crucial to make a property stand out in today's buyers' market. If you plan to sell a home, or are having a hard time selling, you may call me for a consultation to put my decades of design experience to work for you!

    I work as a consultant with sellers, brokers, and buyers and offer consultations in home staging, on site in person -- and also online, where I offer innovations in marketing. I teach workshops on How to Stage Your Home to Sell at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and at Keene State College Continuing Education. My real estate experience includes being a licensed broker affiliated with Coldwell Banker since 1995 and now independent, with recent real estate referrals in Cambridge, Belmont, Dublin and Keene. (I also design custom interior decor for show houses and private residences.)

    I believe the time has arrived to stage houses online! I design blogs with beautiful photos of interiors and exteriors and grounds. I write the advertising copy with care and pizzazz. I offer architectural photography and expert photo-editing. I originated the idea of a custom home blog to improve real estate marketing online, with virtual home staging for premiere properties, as a new way to link large pop-up photos (instead of thumbnails) to MLS listing sheets, which you can see here. I also stage interior photography for decorator magazine articles.

    I am available for home staging consultations and residential real estate referrals in Cambridge, Belmont, Somerville, Watertown and Greater Boston as well as the Monadnock region of New Hampshire.

     My next home staging workshop is February 20 at Keene State College Continuing Education, 11-1, and then on March 7 at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education with Paula Ogier, consultant and owner of Metropolitan Style Home Staging (link here soon) and director of programs at the Center, also 11 to 1.

    For a home staging consultation or a real estate broker referral, contact me at 617-733-5493.

House & Garden Portraits for All Seasons

    For anyone who lives in an historic home or grew up in a house fondly remembered, <br>a house portrait is an ideal gift and keepsake.

    An original work of art to commemorate a beautiful home and garden is ideal for someone changing places, downsizing or upsizing.

    House portraits for all seasons -- and garden and landscape paintings -- come in all sizes from

• miniatures, for table top easels or dollhouses,
• paintings, small for a favorite hallway or large enough to be framed as a focal point over a mantel or sofa,
• murals and room screens, and even
• woven tapestries.

    Garden paintings bring the glory of the garden indoors, to complement house portraits, murals or screens.

    Alderman's house portraits and garden arts have appeared at major flower shows including the Chelsea Flower Show in London, as well as decorator show houses and in magazines and historical exhibitions. For more views or to commission a house portrait please contact the artist.

historic photos

second floor rooms

Better Marketing on Web with Large Pop-up PhotosExclusive design links with MLS listing sheetsI. The home outside: an architectural gem

Stonlea: The home outside
A house of 17 gables and 5 tall chimneys,
4 floor-to-ceiling bay windows, a new roof
in 2005 -- surrounded by fields with beds
of ornamental grasses, specimen trees...

II. An historic country house of old style elegance

Stonlea: The home inside
Enter The House for All Seasons and enjoy
exquisite rooms -- discover rare wallpaper,
7 fireplaces, hand painted woodwork, and
upstairs, 12 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, more

        Click to enlarge 29 interior photos

III. A panorama and shoreline of infinite mystique

Stonlea: Vistas & fun stuff
Private landscapes and enchanting views
across 20 acres of lawns, fields, glades
and forest, plus 50 feet of lake shore
by the "mountain that stands alone"