Chip and Joanna Gaines have finally unveiled their most ambitious project in the finale of their miniseries “Fixer Upper: The Castle.” And it certainly is fit for a king!
In the episode “A Royal Reveal,” the couple have finished renovating this 1913 estate and simply need to stage it before it goes on the market.
“I’ve got two weeks to get it completely decorated, and there’s really no room for error on these two weeks,” Joanna says. While she is experienced when it comes to staging houses, this castle is massive, with four bedrooms, three stories, and multiple living spaces.
Joanna admits, “I’ve never really staged a house like this.”
Read on to see how the castle has turned out, and learn some of Joanna’s best moves on staging a home.
Prioritize staging the bedrooms—especially the primary suite
Joanna Gaines made sure to put extra care into the castle’s main bedroom.
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Joanna and her team know that it’s important to stage a home before putting it on the market. In fact, staged homes sell 88% faster and for 20% more than unstaged homes, on average. Still, this home is huge and it requires furniture that will highlight its history. The staging needs to be done both carefully and efficiently.
Joanna decides to start with the second floor, work her way down to the first floor, then decorate the basement. This is because she wants to make sure the rooms upstairs get a proper amount of care and focus.
“Upstairs is going to be the most personal floor for the homeowner,” she explains. “This is where their bedrooms are, their bathrooms. So I’m glad we’re doing this first ’cause this needs to feel a lot more thoughtful.”
She focuses on the main bedroom first, making sure it’s perfect. Indeed, the main suite ends up looking beautiful, with a cozy bed and charming nightstands to make the space feel homey.
It’s a good reminder that certain rooms, such as the main suite, will seem more important to homebuyers. Spending extra attention to staging the main suite can make a big difference.
Don’t make every room feel the same
The “girls’ room” is filled with soft, elegant furniture to match the wall color.
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While Joanna stresses the importance of staging bedrooms with care, she also points out that each room should have “its own distinct look and style.” In order to do this, she suggests finding inspiration in the rooms themselves and their intended use.
She explains that, in this stage of her process, she needs to give “each room its personality that was intended and then adding those layers.”
For example, in the girls’ bedroom with light pink walls, she fills the space with elegant, feminine furnishings that give off a dollhouse vibe. The furniture helps the room seem complete and makes the wall color seem like a wise and well-planned choice.
Portraits can be OK if they give a sense of history
This portrait is a nice addition to the bedroom.
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While staging, Joanna is sure to include artwork that looks beautiful and matches that castle aesthetic. While many real estate agents tell home sellers to put away family photos before a showing, Joanna bends the rules by commissioning a portrait.
“A local artist did this painting of Roy Lane, the architect of the castle, and I think he looks perfect,” she says.
She hangs the painting in one of the bedrooms upstairs, where it fits in perfectly over the fireplace. It adds a personal touch to the castle by highlighting its history without making the space feel like someone already lives there.
Don’t be afraid to replan and rearrange
Before: This table made the conservatory seem crowded.
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Staging is usually straightforward: Put a bed in a bedroom, a dining table in the dining room, and so on. But there’s one room that gives Joanna some trouble: the conservatory.
Originally, she wanted to fill this long, narrow room with a long table covered with plants, but once the furnishings and greenery are in, she doesn’t like the look.
“I want it to feel more European than kind of crazy plant lady,” she says, adding that she hates how the giant table seems to block the flow of the room.
After: Now, the conservatory is a comfortable place to entertain.
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She has her team replace the table with a more defined sitting area and place plants around the room more organically.
“The original concept was to go from the dining room and then you would come into this room and maybe have a glass of wine and talk. So now it is set up more for that,” she says. “So this space has evolved, but I think we’ve finally landed where it needs to be.”
Brighten the exterior with lots of greenery
Before: Before renovations, the castle looked old and tired.
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Staging the inside of a home is an important part of preparing it for sale, but the exterior should also be made pretty for buyers.
While Chip and Joanna didn’t do much to change the exterior of this castle, the chemical treatment they put on the brick has brightened the home, and now, Joanna wants to continue that welcoming theme by adding lots of greenery.
“Let’s go happy, and let’s incorporate some color where we typically wouldn’t,” she says to the head of her gardening team.
With the added shrubs and plants, this old building looks like it’s full of life. Budding colors give it a fresh, youthful look that buyers will undoubtedly love.
After: The new plants make this home look welcoming.
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By the end of the episode, the team manages to get the work done on time, and Chip and Joanna are ready to list this elegant castle. Hopefully, they’ll find homebuyers who will love the house as much as they do.
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