Home Staging Each Room of Your House
Each room in the house that is on the market must clearly define what its primary function is. The kitchen is no exception. Although staging a kitchen may feel simple enough, several factors are involved to grab the attention of the prospective buyer. They include:
A comfortable and inviting eating area (breakfast bar, table)
Pantry for storing food and items
Substantial cabinet space for storing food and essentials
Generous counter space for preparing meals
Overall size (note that dark cabinetry, clutter, and lots of throw rugs can diminish the look of size in a kitchen)
Cleanliness, organized, and clutter-free
Staging kitchen counters is creating a ‘less is more’ look. Invariably there are a myriad of appliances and kitchen paraphernalia scattered cross kitchen counters: toasters, blenders, toaster ovens, coffee pots, cookbooks, and crockpots.
All of these are necessary cooking tools for a practical and workable kitchen, but not required when marketing your home to the public.
In real estate sales, the kitchen is 30% of the buying decision of the entire house. This important and functional room should reflect good taste, updated conditions, cleanliness, and empty spaces on kitchen counters.
Staging kitchen counters is about creating an emotional appeal to the prospective buyer. A kitchen thoroughly cleaned of grime, dirty dishes, decluttered of objects, with lots of open counter space speaks volumes.
A kitchen in this condition allows the prospective buyer to imagine the kitchen will always look this way. In their mind, this means they never have to cook or do dishes if they buy this house. Think about going into a perfectly furnished model home – consider the feelings it emanates:
Perfection – every item is beautifully staged
Never doing dishes – not a dirty dish or cooking pot in sight
Freedom to do more enjoyable things – a lifestyle change
Pride of ownership
Simple décor accessories on the kitchen counters will be more than adequate to stir buyer’s emotions. Vases of greenery, cookbooks open to enticing pictures of fabulous meals, a bowl of lemons, and a French press with coffee cups waiting to be used will help stimulate the buying appetite of the prospective buyer.
Staging a Bedroom to Sell
In staging a bedroom to sell a house, the main bedroom is always the first place to position a luxurious bed with sparkling linens, pillows, and soft throws, to create a home sanctuary of relaxation. Symmetry establishes a feeling of calm.
Placing matching nightstands and lamps on either side of the bed allows for this euphoric mood setting. Calm colors, cozy corners to read with ample lighting, and a comfortable chair help to create a feeling of peace and tranquility.
Keep in mind that in today’s new world of COVID-19, lifestyles are changing dramatically. Staging just one bedroom to sell no longer is reflective of a bed and end tables with lamps.
People are staying home more, companies are having employees work from home, and buyers want the ease of comfort of specialty rooms including:
Workout room
Nursery
Children’s playroom
Office
Hobby room
Extra TV room
Study room for kids to do homework
A staggering statistic from a Homes Staging Resource survey of 4,270 staged homes showed that 85% of these homes sold for 6 to 25% more than the homes that were not staged.
Also, it was determined that “when stagers charged less or stopped short due to the seller’s tight budget, the results were not as good.” Professional stagers who charged more actually got the best results in the sales price of the house.
Living Room Staging
Living room staging is placing attention on positioning furniture and décor accessories that invite people to come in. It’s a “living” room to welcome, entertain, relax, and gather as a family.
Staging a living room includes appropriate seating for good conversation, lighting for ambiance and task use, a coffee table that reflects personality (art book, florals, game table), and overall a feeling of comfort and interest.
In the average home, gone are the days where a living room is strictly formal. Homes are reflecting the lifestyles of families, including children’s toys, teenagers’ computer games, dad’s golf reading material, and mom’s crafts.
The big challenge in living room staging, especially while occupying the house while it is on the market, is getting rid of the cluttered look and feel of everyday living. To help with this, here are some options to help organize and tidying up the main living room in the house where there are so many different activities:
· Remove any items that need to be donated or that can be packed early
· Remove all magazines, newspapers and stacks of reading material
· Place remotes and any small paraphernalia in a drawer
· Use matching baskets to place under a bench or on a lower book shelf to neatly store children’s toys
· Eliminate extra blankets/throws, and tired pillows on sofa and chairs
· Walls should reflect artwork only – no personal pics, plaques, or awards
· Clear coffee table of everything except 1-3 decorative items
Staging a living room means keeping only what is absolutely necessary. Clutter won’t sell your house, it will distract from it.
Staging a Bathroom
The bathroom is a very personal room in the home. Staging a bathroom is more about removing items, then staging with a lot of unnecessary décor. Remove everything off bathroom counters, especially:
Sticky soap dishes
Toothbrushes
Prescriptions
Hairbrushes
Personal items
Decluttering a bathroom is essential to showcasing it. After staging a bathroom, the room will include a set of fresh white towels, greenery or plant, and artwork over the toilet, or another appropriate wall.
Dated bathrooms will help to lose a sale. The easiest and most economical way to update a bathroom is to paint it. Bathrooms should be painted in lighter colors, to create a feeling of cleanliness.
If you are looking for a professional home stager in the Orange County, California market, please visit www.AliciaStaging.com and click Services for a free estimate.
Warmest regards,
Alicia Bausley
Certified Staging Design Professional™
Decorating Solutions by Alicia
