So Bob and I just finished staging a listing of ours…a truly lovely home. And I can’t help but jump up and down with excitement just a little bit. I love to stage a house. There is nothing so rewarding as spending a couple of hours, sweating it out, rearranging existing furniture, lighting, and artwork to create a streamlined, simple and clean traffic flow that truly shows off the space we are selling. Awesome! Some tips that I can pass along:
Pick up and put away all the little throw rugs (they make your floor seem cluttered and small).
Never, I repeat never, use a furry toilet seat cover. Consider purchasing an inexpensive new seat if it is unsightly.
When we say de-clutter, we mean it…think “hotel.” That means that all the little “this and that”s can be packed away so that your house shines and not your stuff. (Its also alot easier to clean an empty dresser top than one that is covered in dusty knick knacks.)
Let there be Lights. Open blinds, shades and curtains.Make sure all fixtures have lightbulbs that work, and use floor,table and desk lamps to layer the light.
The finishing touches do not have to be elaborate, but attention to detail is key…a bowl of lemons, or green apples looks fresh in the kitchen. A bright throw or pillow can dress a couch or a bed. Clean towels in good condition (notice I didn’t say new), an empty vase or bowel on a shelf or table.
As a home stager, I am a recycler, meaning, I like to use what is already in the home in a re-invented arrangement. In many ways, using “what you got” is easier than staging an empty home…there is really no need to re-invent what works, or to purchase show-room new furniture.(Remember, we are selling the square footage and potential in a home, not the furniture.) Of course, updated and sparse help to create a feeling that buyers will be attracted to, but a staged home does not have to be a perfect home. A well-staged home can have a similar impact as a total make-over without the expense of purchasing anything new. This can be very rewarding…
Whether your home is on the market or not, decorating for the holidays can be overdone, overwhelming and overly complicated. It need not be. My ideas for keeping your home festive without too much effort, expense, or fluff:
Home Staging and the Seasonal appeal… “I can’t believe that Thanksgiving and the holidays are just around the corner.” It shouldn’t come as a surprise. Every year, retail displays remind us of “back to school” starting in July, followed by Halloween reminders starting in September, and finally Holiday madness beginning the day after Halloween…God forbid you need a sun umbrella in August. (We did and could not find one live and in-person in a store). Whether you have your house on the market or just want to be festive, fun and timely,mid-November really is time to get your Holiday on. At least in those empty pots on your front step. Fill those empty urns, compost your dead mums and rotting pumpkins, and go green (and brown and red and white…): Cut some redwood twigs from your dogwood bush; Snip a few swags of evergreen, and mix it up with cedar, pine and spruce; Use a branch of birch, some sprigs of berries from your hibernating garden, or dried brown hydrangea blossoms; Nestle some pine cones, sticks or grasses in and “Tis the season”…all of these natural, long-lasting items make for a great winter pot. Do it now while the weather is still without wind chill!
Home Staging and the fall leaf project: never ending until the snow blankets the lawn!!! Which brings me to another subject I often visit—those front step pots. My mums and pumpkins are ready for the compost bin. With this morning’s snow, I am ready to dive into the winter greenery, berries, and sticks. I like a lot of texture in my greens: spruce, fir, cedar, boxwood, pine. I also like contrasting twigs: white birch, redwood dogwood, yellow curly willow. Berries are great for color accents, however come January they are usually squashed into my welcome mat…citron, red, deep purple,…some years greens and twigs are just enough.
I just wanted to share the simplest of home staging “rules.” Never line up the furniture around the perimeter of the room, pushed right up to the wall. It would seem that this would be the best way to maximize space, especially in smaller rooms, BUT it is not! Always leave a little room between the furniture and the wall. Just that little shadow of space allows the feeling of ample room and breathing space, instead of congested and backed against the wall. Following this same line of thought, even in a tight bedroom, there should always be room on both sides of the bed for that feeling of ease and peace.
As a realtor representing both buyers and sellers, I see the sale/purchase of a home from both sides of the transaction.
I love the fall. Bright, blustery, nippy…apples, sunflowers, and pumpkins…bonfires, homemade chilli and hot tea…blue sky, warm sun and cool fingers. There is something comforting about mowing for the last time of the year, putting the garden to rest, and aerating and over seeding in preparation for next spring. There is something bittersweet about those end of the season chores. It’s nice to know that yard work is coming to an end, with more time for indoor exploits. It is also great when I can truly relish in the glorious feeling that comes with working outside in the fresh air. It is the juxtaposition of these two feelings, the in-between summer and winter that makes fall so special. Every year I have a similar fall moment…a moment of frustration and elation…raking on a windy day when all your leaves are swirling about your head like a personal tornado, and you just have to laugh at your sweaty, ineffectual self. That is the moment to relish the out of doors before we all head inside for hibernation.
This is both a word of warning and a fix for the already afflicted…
Staging has become such a buzz word in today’s real estate market. The word is thrown around a lot, but at the end of the day, what does it really mean? I look at staging almost literally…when you “set the stage” for a theatrical production, you are setting the tone, conjuring emotions and suggesting a place in which something happens. Similarly with staging, we are setting the scene…hopefully a clean, well-cared for, updated, easy to live in and visually pleasing home. This staging does not necessarily mean completely furnishing (in the case of a vacant home), nor does it mean interior designing (a lived in home). A good stager knows that there are degrees of staging…and every home/owner/situation calls for differing degrees of staging depending on time/money/and return on investment. I like to break staging into two parts:
