| Home staging is like being a backup singer to the house, the star. As a backup singer, you have to be good, but—you cannot overshadow Lady Gaga. |
| To the rescue: HOME STAGING. Staging isn’t as easy as one might think, and possible for it to go desperately wrong, even when you think it looks right. It’s like a professional makeover a person gets before the big dance. If done correctly, it’s fabulous, but if not…it’s as useless as a hairstylist in a hurricane. Here is what not to do: |
1. Overdoing the spaceNo one likes an empty house. (It’s an old line from way back in time. Take it from me.) The goal of home staging is to help buyers visualize what the house could look like once they own it, presenting a subtle, welcoming feeling, not smacking them in the head with design, decor, details as soon as they open the front door – a muffin top of unpleasantness. Sucessful staging should boost the selling features of a home, not the other way around. Every nook and cranny should not be overfilled, nor should it look sterile, devoid of warmth. A little lost, a little aimless. Vaguely dispirited. |
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2. Displaying fake thingsIf someone suggests a nice bowl of plastic fruit, washable flowers, silk plants, fake television, or anything inflatable, run in the other direction. It does not spark joy, and is just plain tawdry. And well, fake. But more importantly, it will distract and derail the buyers’ imagination. It will be a reminder that this is not real, signalling that the home isn’t, for example, hospitable to plants, making them wonder, “Do live plants not get enough sunlight in this home?” These thoughts could lead buyers to wonder what else is wrong, maybe even point to poor home maintenance, or thinking that other areas were possibly ‘faked’. |
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3. Not staging rooms to scaleWhat home seller doesn’t want to create the illusion of space? To do that, one might assume to use smaller, lighter weight items.Au contraire! That tactic can actually dwarf a home. Instead, the furniture and accessories need to match the room in scale and proportion. In other words: If there is a huge family room with a vaulted ceiling, don’t use a two-seater sofa and tiny coffee table. Or a four person table in a dining room. (Depending on the room size, it should seat at least six.) If the furniture is too small or out of porportion, the space will scream “not enough room for life in this house.” Just because it fits, doesn’t mean it actually fits. |
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4. Staging the entire home in one aestheticEven if you’re selling a restored Victorian, buyers might not want to see oil lamps and fainting couches in every room. They are trying to envision themselves—and everything they already own—in the space.To help them get there, showcasing eclectic furniture proves to buyers their mismatched furniture will also go great in the house. The goal is to create the feeling of home, not a bewildered walk through a museum. |
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5. Keeping doors closedDoors were made to be opened. Having buyers able to walk through the house without thinking is hugely important. I have seen entire rooms missed because a door was closed, as the buyer assumed the door was a closet rather than a door into another room. Something that has baffled scientists to no end. |
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6. Going too neutralI know some may be clutching their pearls at the idea of gray (and white) going by the wayside – as the two (seemingly timeless) tones have been at the forefront of decorating agendas for decades. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with a neutral colour scheme, but if everything is ivory and beige, or gray and white, it won’t make the home stand out from the competition. Scheduled to appeal to the largest swath of anybody who might buy it within the next 25 years and essentially as vibrant as a bowl of cold porridge, it could also make buyers want to pull a duvet over their head and go to sleep. I’m not saying the home should look like it jumped out of a Crayola box of crayons, but it should have a bit of appeal—pops of colour here and there, and one or two rooms that don’t look like every other room in the house (and on the planet). They become little gifts— small infusions of warmth and life. The result? After a potential buyer has seen 10 houses—in one day—they will have an easier time recalling your listing. |
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| There are three responses to a well staged home. Yes, No, and WOW! Wow! is the one to aim for.If the buyer says, “I have no idea who lives here, but it has to be me“, then you both win.Well, that’s all I have for today, unless you want to know more about plastic fruit, and I’m going to assume that’s a no. |
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