The first in a series of articles by our guest author – Natalie Pinson
Natalie Pinson has a B.S. in Interior Design and has helped many St. Louisians with design consultations, space planning and home staging. Contact her with any design or staging questions!
She can be reached at 314-961-5888 or createyourlife@charter.net
What is Real Estate Staging and is it really an art? Contrary to popular belief, staging a home is not the same as decorating your home. Although both create an inviting environment, the end result is completely different. Proper staging will create more open spaces while highlighting the homes strengths and downplaying its weaknesses. “How is this done?”, you may ask. The first step is calling in an expert- and no, your best friend who has a good eye may not be the right person for the job. Typically, you want a professional to come in with fresh eyes to view your home. This person’s primary objective is to make your home appeal to the largest segment of buyers. Which brings me to my next point; If a seller truly wants a speedy turn-around on their property, they must remember that the professional stager is working for “the house” not “the occupants”. Although this statement may sound odd, it is the right way to approach the job. (i.e. It is more important to showcase your fireplace vs. your big screen TV!) A good stager will let “the house” tell them where to place furniture and accessories. So many times when we allow friends to help us they see our emotional attachment to our belongings and this interferes with the editing and placing of furniture. What a seller truly should be seeking is objectivity. By using objectivity and “listening” to the house the expert then begins the staging process.
Barring any major updates or repairs, the next step is eliminating clutter and editing furniture. What does this mean exactly? Start packing early!! Begin by boxing up your endless paper trail and a lot of your personal photos and memorabilia. You want potential buyers to look at the beautiful staircase not your baseball collection. The second phase of staging is proper furniture arrangement. This is probably the most important aspect of home staging. It never ceases to amaze me when we move a sofa over 6″ to the right or angle a table to the left- the impact that this creates. This part of the job truly is “art”. You can’t tell someone how to do this, its something you do by trial and error. when it feels right, you know when to stop. A masterpiece is created! The correct furniture placement will showcase a homes architectural features, create an open feel and emphasize the selling points of your home. I should also note at this point that it is very important to define areas within your home. Your home office that serves double duty as a playroom and laundry room won’t go over big with buyers. Pick a use for each room, and keep it simple.
It is often difficult at first for the occupants to come to terms with these first phases of staging. This is mainly because we are creatures of habit. We get used to seeing things and having things a certain way. Although the staging process may have you feeling out of your element for a while, it is truly worth it in the long run! It allows you to remove clutter from your life, not to mention it forces you to begin early packing. In most cases a staged home will feel “empty” to its residents. If that’s the case- your expert stager did a great job! The longer you live in a home, the more you accumulate. You surround yourself with items and keep sakes that are important to you. Unfortunately, these items and furnishings often get in the way of letting “the house” be seen. So perhaps moving your grandmothers hutch to storage, packing up your excess office supplies and finding a new home for your TV may throw you for a loop. Is it worth the slight aggravation? Having a contract in your hand makes everything better! Funny how that works.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 at 10:41 am and is filed under For Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Could you tell me what you can do for an empty house? I have heard about this staging and thought I would inquire. Is there a consultation, fees, etc? Its a large house in Lake St. Louis, starting process to “clean it up” for selling.
Thanks, Vicki
Hi Vicki,
Natalie is our expert home stager, she can be reached at 314-961-5888 or createyourlife@charter.net I’m sure Natalie can fill in the blanks for you.
Be sure to catch her next post titled “How to hire a home stager” which will be posted this week.
http://www.stlouisrealestatevoice.com
Doug Aegerter
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