Picture It Designed puts the best face on homes

To best explain her work as a home stager, Heather Cole evokes a scene from the movie “Titanic.” A fancy stateroom is shown after the devastation of water and age, when it suddenly transforms into its former glory.

“I can walk into a room and see what can be done,” she said. “I can then pull resources from different areas, and will put the money where it will do the most good.”

Cole, 37, lives in a classic downtown Port Orchard house she restored herself. Her business, Picture It Designed, includes a two-hour visit to a specific home intended for sale. She then prepares a detailed report, separating each aspect of the house and itemizing exactly how much it will cost to implement the changes that will make it appealing to the average buyer.

Sometimes a change is simple and costs nothing, like the removal of family knick-knacks and themed portraits from a hearth. Other changes may be more costly, like a kitchen remodel.

Taken together, they can substantially increase a home’s selling price.

Cole said today’s depressed real estate market makes her service especially valuable.

“I can help set a home apart from everything else that is now on the market,” she said. “I can make a home sparkle. This is particularly important today, because there are more homes competing for a smaller number of buyers. And most of the buyers don’t have the imagination to see a home’s possibilities.”

Cole charges $300 for the service, which includes an itemized report that indicates the cost and priority of each action.

Many are purely cosmetic, like adding wine into a wine rack or a computer on a desk — even if it doesn’t work.

Most of the improvements can be accomplished by the home owner, while Cole will make free referrals to contractors who will complete the task for the price listed on her report.

The service is available to individual homeowners, even those who do not want to sell their home and just want to make it more livable. But Cole is targeting realtors as clients, and expect that her service will become part of the service.

“If they follow these recommendations it will increase the selling price of the house along with the commissions,” she said. “So I don’t expect them to pass on my fee to the homeowner.”

Cole admits increasing a home’s saleability isn’t anything the realtor or the homeowner can’t do themselves. But realtors don’t have the time or the training, and homeowners “often need another pair of eyes to see where things can be improved.”

The service is one of three small businesses Cole is currently running, along with a kid’s clothing shop and a vacation rental service. It is also a combination of her learned skills, since she has worked as a loan officer and mortgage broker, and did room design as part of her last retail venture.

Cole, a Gig Harbor native, moved to Port Orchard two years ago after a divorce and a leukemia diagnosis (the disease is now in remission).

She chose Port Orchard over other locations because she could get a good deal on the house, which has been transformed from shambles to a showplace.

“I love doing this,” Cole said about home design. “I would do this for free if I could.”