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From Empty to Extraordinary: Marisa Salas & Showhomes Featured in the Miami Herald

From Empty to Extraordinary: Marisa Salas & Showhomes Featured in the Miami Herald

At Showhomes, our ultimate goal is to leave every listing elevated, memorable, and market-ready in communities across the nation. When a luxury home sits empty, even the most breathtaking architecture can feel cold and disconnected to prospective buyers. In South Florida’s competitive luxury market, strategic staging can transform an impressive property into an inviting experience, helping buyers envision not only the home, but the lifestyle it offers.

That impact was recently showcased in the Miami Herald, which highlighted Showhomes Premier Miami and studio owner Marisa Salas for the transformation of a $16 million Pinecrest estate. The project offers a compelling example of how a thoughtful staging design can bring scale, architecture, and design together to create a property that resonates with today’s luxury buyers.

The Challenge: A $16 Million Pinecrest Mansion Sitting Empty

The feature focused on 6290 Chapman Field Drive, an expansive newly built estate in one of Miami’s most sought-after neighborhoods: Pinecrest. Built by local developer Fouad Kraishan, and listed just above $16 million, the 11,670-square-foot property features dramatic windows, soaring ceilings, and an open floor plan designed to bring the surrounding landscape into the home.

Yet, despite its scale and grandeur, the home sat on the market for several months without receiving an offer. For a home of this size, an empty interior can make it difficult for buyers to understand scale, define how rooms might be used, and ultimately lead to hesitation. As Marisa Salas explained to the Miami Herald:

Empty rooms and blank walls, especially in a large home, often leave buyers overwhelmed, wondering how they’ll fill the space and struggling to visualize living there.

The challenge was not simply to furnish the home, but to create a sense of proportion, purpose, and possibility throughout the property.

The Transformation: Defining Space & Warmth

In just 5 days, Marisa and her team completely transformed this luxurious residence with a carefully curated selection of furniture, artwork, lighting, and accessories designed to give every room a clear purpose and an inviting lifestyle narrative:

  • The Foyer & Entryway: To soften the high ceilings, the entryway included two curved, ivory couches facing each other across a styled coffee table topped with design books and fresh greenery.
  • The Dining Room: A light wood table paired with velvety, chocolate-brown chairs brought texture, rich contrast, and rich elegance to the space.
  • The Kitchen: Small intentional details, like bottles of fine olive oil and artisan pasta jars, helped give the kitchen a refined, lived-in quality while maintaining the clean aesthetic of the newly built home.

Together, these details brought to life the high-end finishes and architectural elements hand-selected by Fouad Kraishan. The result was a home that finally felt complete, allowing its craftsmanship and scale to take center stage while giving buyers the opportunity to see themselves living within it. The first prospects to walk through the newly staged home felt that connection immediately, ultimately submitting an offer and becoming its new owners.

A Rising Demand for Luxury Staging in Miami

The Pinecrest project is part of a larger shift in South Florida’s luxury real estate market. Since opening the Showhomes Premier franchise in 2009, Marisa Salas has built a business focused on helping sellers, developers, and real estate professionals position properties for the market through impactful, design-driven staging. As Miami’s luxury market has continued to grow, so has the scale of the properties Showhomes Premier stages.

  • Since 2019, the average value of homes staged by the franchise has more than doubled from approximately $2.5 million to more than $6 million today.
  • To keep pace with this rapid growth, Marisa is currently upgrading to a larger facility to accommodate its growing collection of luxury furniture, lighting, artwork, and décor

Whether it’s an $16M modern mansion in Pinecrest or an award-winning historic restoration in Coral Gables, the mission remains the same: transforming empty square footage into unforgettable walkthrough experiences.

Building a Business and Making a Local Impact

The growth of Showhomes Premier Miami also reflects the opportunities that come with building a business through franchising. What began as a local staging company has grown alongside Miami’s real estate market, creating lasting relationships with local agents, developers, designers, and homeowners while helping shape the way properties are presented across South Florida. For entrepreneurs, a Showhomes franchise offers the opportunity to build a business of their own while becoming part of an established brand and making a meaningful impact in their local market. The story of Showhomes Premier Miami is one example of how a franchise can become more than a business, it can become a lasting presence in the community it serves.

To read the original feature 🔗check out the full article here!

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