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How to Add Visual Energy (Interest) to Your Home When Selling

How to add visual energy to your home when selling:

One of the greatest opportunities a home seller can do is to ensure their home has "visual energy."

What is "visual energy" you ask? It's the energy a room generates visually to a prospective buyer.

Visual energy can be:

Features within the home. For example, crown molding can actually add visual energy to a room.

Furniture and accessories. Yes, the pieces that reside within the home can and do add visual energy. One without the other, however, may seem out of place. Here's an example:

As you can see in the above picture, we have a combination of some furniture pieces (coffee table and TV) and a few scattered accessories (floor plant, candles and mirror on the mantel and rug). While there's some degree of visual energy within the home, the missing pieces (i.e., sofa) are really throwing the energy off Not good for prospective buyers.

Now here's the same room with all of the right components (furniture and accessories).

Can you feel the difference? The energy comes from not only the pieces added but how they are laid out.

Now let's get to the "how":

If the home is vacant - consider bringing in furniture and accessories. Yes, I meant to underline the word "and". Furniture alone isn't going to get us the same level of visual energy needed when selling. As for how the room should be laid out - let's use the after picture as an example. I snapped this picture from the front entrance. With the TV being on the wall to the right, that left us with two options for the sofa 1) facing the fireplace or 2) on the wall on the left. Given that this house is on the market and we're selling the REAL ESTATE (said another way, square footage the home has to offer), the best solution is the wall on the left. In placing the sofa on that wall, we have a ton more "visual space."

If the home is occupied - considering paring down on the number of furniture items. Your objective is to add as much "visual space" as possible. Be careful with the accessories. A common mistake made by many (and you can see it in the "before" picture above) is to place a mirror on the mantel. While it may look appealing, the reflection may not. In this case, it was reflecting the balcony railings on the 2nd floor. The best rule of thumb when it comes to accessories is to find the right balance. Start by taking all of the items out of the room and adding in a few at a time.

And if in doubt.... always contact a professional home stager. Whether the home is vacant or occupied, they'll share sound advice and are pros at creating the right "visual energy" needed to help sell a home more quickly.

Here's a close-up of the orchids on the table. The home pictured, by the way, was professionally home staged by Georgia Interior Solutions, LLC.

Picture of Orchids used in a home staging

Georgia Interior Solutions (GIS), LLC is Atlanta Georgia's Premier Home Staging Provider. Owner and Real Estate Staging Expert, Kathy Nielsen has appeared on the pages of Atlanta Magazine, Atlanta Home Improvement; Atlanta Business Chronicle and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. You can also see one of her staged homes on HGTV's hit show Sleep On It.

With their extensive home staging portfolio, you'll quickly learn that they have the experience and knowledge on what it takes to make your home and/or listing appeal to the prospective buyers. Contact them today for your free no-obligation appointment: 678 522 8392.

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About the Author: Kathy Nielsen, a nationally recognized leader within the home staging industry, offers affordable home staging solutions to help sell your home more quickly. Kathy can be reached via email at info@homestagingatlanta.com or by phone at 678 522 8392. Their Atlanta Home Staging services offer a variety of options to accommodate all budgets. For more tips on how to showcase your home, visit our AtlantaHomeStagerInfo blog.

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Posted by Kathy Nielsen Atlanta Georgia Home Stager on 05/01/2009 03:16 PM

Comments (32)

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Originally posted at: Atlanta Georgia Home Staging : How to Add Visual Energy (Interest) to Your Home When Selling

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32 Comments on How to Add Visual Energy (Interest) to Your Home When Selling

APR

Kathy; the first picture made me want to spin around and find something that said "I'm home". The second picture made me want to step in and live in it! The first picture looked like the draperies were way too "much", but with the added furnishings it became "just right". Utterly beautiful staging!

Interesting what a difference taking out the rug makes. Love the orchid, I've been eyeballing a huge orchid, at one of our local stores, it's really pricey!

That is what I call "beautifying a home!

Kathy, the first thing that distracted me were the window treatments...now the room says, welcome home! What wonderful energy!!!

Hi Kathy, In the first photo it looks like the wife moved out and left the ex with the big screen t.v. and not much else! Love what you did with this room. It's very sophisticated and clean looking. I also love that tall plant I've seen you use in previous stagings. Another great staging by Kathy! (When I start to call you "Kathy, dude..." you know I've been watching too much American Idol and Randy Jackson!)

APR

Kathy,

I love your visual energy photos, what a difference!!! The rooms now look warm and inviting. Great job!!!

Kathy ~ What superb furniture selection and placement you did! Wow those are some high windows .... great photos as always.

Thanks, Peg! The initial plan was to remove the drapes. However, I wanted to wait to see what look/feel they had when we brought the furniture and accessories in. After we had everything in place, I too thought they looked just right. Thanks!

Cindy - The rug covered way too much of the hardwood flooring which, as you know, is a feature of the home. So, exposing more of it made much more sense. I too love that orchid. And you're right, they are pricey.

Thanks, Cathy.

Donna - When I first saw the house, I too was a little overwhelmed by the drapes. In the end, they worked.

Diana - you are so observant. Yes, I've used that plant in another staging. Feel free to call me "Kathy Dude" any time (smile).

Thanks, Linda.

Maureen - Thanks! The sofa and chair used in this staging is one of my favorite.

Kathy

Kathy, That is just a fabulou transformation. The windows are gorgeous and just taking the ties off he curtains and opening them made a huge difference. Beautiful!

Looks wonderful Kathy! The window coverings certainly do look better after you performed your magic. On a side note, I used those exact tables today in a vacant. Love them! I really like that planter too.

MAY

Kathy, the changes were wonderful. The room is inviting and warm. Great pictures too.

Hi Kathy, great example of visual energy in a room. The mirror reflection is always a bug a boo isn't it? I agree, artwork is the way to go for above fireplaces. I have started using artwork, a small round mirror and a couple of mid height accessories for fireplaces. The furniture placement you chose is ideal in this application. Great work!

Kathy:

Those are two pretty awesome photographs technically speaking, my only suggestion to you (and others) is make sure your lights are on in ALL rooms before you start to photograph. That will help bring up the light levels and add some interest in some of your "dark corners" like the room at the far left and the hall/entry at the far right. Also, having the lamps on will also add a little pop too. Just my $0.02.

While I like the elevation of the shot, you may try lowering yourself to be just over the top of the height of the sofa. That will bring your perspective down a bit and make the room feel a little cozier as well.

Oh, the room was staged beautifully too. =)

Hi Kathy ~ Fantastic job on this transformation! Looking at the first photo, it's hard to see anything but the TV and the drapes. When you balanced the energy by adding the appropiate furniture, lighting and accessories and adjusted the drapes, the wonderful features of this home became so much more visible. Great job--thanks for sharing!

Visual energy!!! I like this. Thanks for the useful tips. Have a good day!!!

wow I love what you did with visual intrest, you can definately feel that visual energy, just chaning curtain drapping style it makes such a huge difference. thanks for the pictures they are great.

Shobha

Great tips...What a difference! Love it!!

Positively gorgeous! I just posted on a different thread that sometimes the right artwork in an otherwise unfurnished room can make a big difference, too.

Kathy, Kathy, Kathy: The transformation from the before photo to the after shot is jaw dropping. One of the best examples of the difference home staging can make. In the first photo the room looks dead. In the after photo the room is alive with "visual energy". Great job and great post.

Great job as always Kathy! So glad you did something different with the diamonds at the window in the first pic. Love the energy!

MAY

What a difference removing tiebacks can make! Love the height of the space, but that can produce challenges. Adding that tall planter, draws the eye back up and around to all the features of the room. The different carpet brightens up the whole room. Great transformation!

Kathy - You are so right, a room has to have balance to be successfully staged.

This is a clear example of why furniture alone does not make a home. It has to have the same energy whether its occupied or vacant. Your example looks like the owners just stepped out of the room! And beautiful photos too.

MAY

I love your term visual energy Kathy - so right on in how one feels when viewing something that inspires and ignites something inside. Amazing transformation!

Kathy, I really like that you replaced the Oriental rug with a neutral Sisal rug, it really updated the space and just makes it look so much brighter!

MAY

Along with a lack of visual energy, there is nowhere in the room to sit down with friends and have a conversation or even watch TV. If I were a buyer, I'd be scratching my head, trying to figure out what the room was supposed to be used for.

After Staging, the room is so warm and welcoming. I also like the fact that the large TV is downplayed in the room. Beautiful work!

Before the room looked old and tired, in the after it's beautiful..............inviting, soothing, interesting and just makes you want to sit and look at everything and admire. It even looks like it feels better!!

Great job Kathy and perfect example of professional home staging!

Kathy; You are so right, that every room, and photos should strike the right balance of visual energy and perfect balance... It makes for a great work of art.

MAY

Outstanding! The carpet swap is dramatic.

This is a really great visual for getting the point across. I always love seeing what you've done recently!

MAY

LOVE your afters!!! Very good post, illustrating your points.

Kathy, GREAT post! I especially like your point about bringing in furniture AND accessories. I have seen so many homes where the agent or seller recommended renting furniture to save money (instead of Staging). It ends up looking like the moving truck dropped off a load of furniture but left everything else behind - completely lifeless and very little improvement over just showing it empty. The furniture can solve problems & answer questions for buyers, but accessories are what create the emotion and bring the home to life. Amazing work!

MAY

WOW LOVE IT!! Nothing like a buyer coming home to their nice comfortable FLOOR BOARD to relax and unwind at the end of the evening. Makes your favorite TV show a lot more fun that way...sorry!!

The room looks fabulous, warm and inviting. Much larger and not so LONG AND NARROW, I might add. Love what you did with the drapes. so simple, just remove the tiebacks and WALLA, whole new, updated look.

As always great job! A stager will always BRING THAT WOW FACTOR TO THE HOME and you did just that

Phyllis Pafumi

JUN

The mirror reflection is so true. Most homes dont have the best reflection coming off of the mantel.

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