Most of the time the way I stage a property comes naturally, due to the fact that most floor plans don’t allow you to arrange the furniture in too many ways. However, sometimes I encounter true challenges, especially when the rooms are bigger and open to other rooms. Take this family room for example:

This room opened to the kitchen (which is right behind the sofa), and the angle from which this photo was taken was the one that buyers would have seen. Not too bad, right? But what about the other point of view, the one from the kitchen? Here it is:

This, obviously, is a no-no. First, it isn’t nice to see the back of the furniture (most of the time at least); and second, the sofa is interfering too much with the flow from one room to the other (there was really little room on both sides of the sofa to walk from the family room to the kitchen).

This is what I decided to do:

And now, the view from the kitchen:

What I was trying to accomplish was:
1. To see a nice view of the family room from both the hallway and the kitchen.
2. To avoid to show too much of the back of the furniture. This is why I placed the sofa in an angle by the window and used a throw for the back of the chair.
3. To create more room and flow between the two rooms.
4. To facilitate the task of the photographer and allow him to take photos that would have highlighted the room (and not the furniture).
5. To show that with this arrangement it was still possible to comfortably watch the TV (never underestimate this, especially when it comes to family rooms).

As you can see, home staging is pure marketing after all!

Home staging tip: “When staging a room, think about every aspect of it: the functionality, the first impression, the space, the flow, the photos and so on”

First, let me start by saying that what you read in the title is correct: I said VA (not WA). And let me also add that I wasn’t so lucky to be hired by a client in Virginia (even though I would have loved to!). What you are about to read (and see) comes from one of the blogs I am following, which also happens to be one of my favorite one: Young House Love. The reason why I want to share these photos with you is because the last project this great couple worked on applies also to home staging, and particularly to the the very first thing buyers see when they come to see your house: the exterior. Barb Schwarz, president of Staged Homes, in her home staging class taught us that “If you can’t see it, you can’t sell it”, which means that you need to pay attention to the vegetation surrounding your house, and, if it is too thick, you need to either trim it or remove it. Look at these photos to get a better understanding:

And…

You can see more photos and read more details here.

Staging tip: “If you can’t see it, you can’t sell it”

You probably already know that one of the main rules of home staging is to neutralize as much as you can. And this is not just about depersonalizing your home, for example by removing your very personal items like photos, but it also refers to color. Neutral colors are appealing to the vast majority of people, which is why they are our first choice when we stage a house.  People react to color, and especially to bold colors. While sometimes the reaction is positive, some other times it can be negative, and it could really turn down the buyer. First, they will remember your house as the one with horrible colors (even though you love them), second, in case they still consider your house, they already know in advance that they will need to repaint. And this translate into money to spend in a time consuming job, and, as a result…. your house gets a lower “score” in their mind.

Here’s an example of a bedroom which had (fortunately) only one wall painted in purple.

And here’s how the bedroom looks after they repainted it:

As you can see I also suggested to move the bed against the adjacent wall in order to give access to the window (but that’s another post…).  Now, back to the color issue, don’t you think that by switching from purple to off white the room looks more appealing, brighter and, most importantly, is more likely to please the eye? And I mean any eye.

Home staging tip: “Choose neutral colors for the walls”.