Home staging is the process of setting up a home to make it "buyer friendly."

This consists of cleaning out clutter, cleaning it until it shines, making repairs and updates, furniture arrangement and accessorizing.

Here are some before and after shots of a listing I recently staged:

Removed extra furniture & heavy, dated drapes. Result: Rooms felt larger by exposing more wall space covered by drapes, better traffic flow by moving the furniture, dining room feels larger not blocked by living room furntiure.

Removed large tv on the left and replaced with smaller sofa table from adjacent wall. Moved chair away from blocking front door & closer to sofa. Result: Room feels almost twice as large, tv was now available to put to use in the empty rec room, front door no longer felt crowded. Sofa table no longer blocks hallway traffic.

New light fixture, window treatment and accessories. New tablecloth.  Result: Room no longer feels cramped, dark and dated. Damaged, worn furniture makes the room feel the same way - old & worn. New tablecloth blended in with the table set - not to call attention to itself - but to cover the damage.

Removed microwave cart and other clutter, added wall art. Note living room wall in background - no longer filled with a large tv and tiny clock. Hip, oversized clock covers awkward wall outlet near ceiling. The floral arrangement is actually made of faux flowers, vase and glass stones from Walmart! The "water" is actually clear liquid potpourri, which adds a fresh scent to the room - double duty! Result: Dramatically opened the space, made the kitchen feel larger and more efficient (microwave cart had implied not enough counter space), made the spaces feel fresh and new and appeal to younger tastes.

What a difference! New floor, light fixtures & nickel cabinet knobs. Cleared off the counters for pretty accessories. The ceiling light was replaced with a dropped light to highlight the movable island and make it a "feature." The island shelves were cleared of food items such as cereal boxes, then the whole thing turned around to feature fruit & a cookbook. New towels match the new wall art from Marshall's. Result: Takes the kitchen from a major expense in the buyer's mind (and a price reduction of $10,000-$20,000) to "this is nice!" Actual cost was less than $2,500. Buyers love nice kitchens and this not only added value, it helped it sell faster.

A dresser was removed so the bed could be turned to the adjacent wall. This showed off the spaciousness of the room. Bedspread was worn and faded and two flat pillows looked lifeless. Added bright, soft throw, new fluffy pillows and new shams with similar colors as the bedspread. Result: Master bedroom feels 30% larger and showed off the king-size bed space.  Linens feel more luxurious, comforting and attractive to buyers. Even though the items won't stay, it allows the buyer to picture themselves in the room.

Bed was turned, dresser was pushed away from right by the door and toys/books moved to fill up the rec room shelves. Result: Made this tiny bedroom feel much larger, helped stage another room.

Since a remodel was out of the question, due to time constraints, we had to accessorize. The wallpaper was reglued, light fixture updated, old linens replaced with crisp white "spa" linens (only need to buy a couple for display), old soap bottle replaced with fancy ones (from Marshall's for $5), a basket and potpourri with pink & white colors to replace the tissue box on the back of the toilet and a sharp, crackle-glass candleholder with white candle to complete the picture. Result: Adds a feel of luxury and relaxation - even in a dated bath. Comforts the buyer that they can "live with it" until they can remodel themselves. Gives a feeling of maintenance, which reassures that the property has been well cared for overall. 

The great rec room had hand-me-down furniture and empty bookshelves. The furniture was rearranged to add the tv system from the living room and the empty bookshelves were restocked with toys , books & games. The new flooring in the kitchen was continued down the stairs and up to the rec room door. Fish tank was turned on to create a focal point. Result: The once empty-feeling, ho-hum basement feels like a usable & bonus feature to the house! Buyers can now see themselves using the space and feel the space is connected to the main floor.

The whole picture:

On my recommendation, the seller changed out the dated, brass light fixtures for brushed nickle ones, replaced the kitchen floor (all the way to the basement rec room) and the 60's kitchen knobs.

Once that was done, they cleaned, cleaned, cleaned - especially the carpet, windows, kitchen & bathrooms.

Then we moved the huge tv out of the livingroom and into great rec room - which the seller remodeled but never used. Doing this made the living room more spacious and made the rec room a huge asset. Had the buyers seen the ugly floor and half empty rec room, they would have thought, "If they don't use it, I won't either." Now it is a "Wow!"

The potential buyer would most likely be a first time, younger buyer, so the heavy, old-fashioned drapes had to go, too. An extra chair and table were moved to other parts of the house.

New accessories included the plants, flowers, wall art, extra pillows & soft throw for the master bedroom, candles and bathroom accessories, pretty bottles, fruit and cookbook for the kitchen and new white linens for the bath.

The bath may appear dated, but it looks much better than before - the curling wallpaper reglued, fresh white linens, candles & potpourri and new lightfixture make it all cohesive.

The furniture was rearranged in both bedrooms - move big furniture away from the door to open up the floor and make the room appear larger. Master bedrooms should feel like a haven - extra pillows and candles are a must. Since it wasn't practical to replace the entire elsemble, I found fresh & pretty pillow shams and a soft throw to distract the eye. New pillows were only $3 a piece and added needed luxury to the king-sized bed. They weren't a part of the original bedding, but they matched close enough to tie everything together.

This property sold in 22 days, in a buyer's market, at 98% asking price and for $10,0000 more than the sellers thought they could originally ask. They had a house sale contingency on another property and had to sell fast! Staging cost approx. $1,500, including new flooring, 7 light fixtures, carpet cleaning, cabinet knobs, window shades and $450 of decorative accessories like wall art, plants and candles - which the sellers get to keep! Properties in a similar "before" condition sold for $5,000 to $20,000 less than this property's sale price. So the sellers made back at least 4-5 times their staging investment and shortened their days on market - allowing them to buy their dream home!

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