Staging a house with children

Staging a house with residing children under the age of 5

How do you do it you may be asking?  I recently experienced the situation first handed in a raised cape cod in Toms River New Jersey -I was greeted by a four year old boy, a two year old girl and a mother that was due on the day that I arrived for the staging and dad running around with a list of to do's a mile long.

The situation was the house is too small for the growing family....they found a home that was under attorney review and they are desperate to sell for the bigger home.    Most of the house was not a huge deal, the normal procedure took precedence.  Until the "TOY ROOM"...the four year old followed me as if I was a thief.    The mother and I spoke in code so as not to upset the children.  We need to reinforce to the prospective buyer that this room can serve as a library, office, etc....but how do you stage a "TOY ROOM" with four sets of ice blue baby eyes staring at you??

We opted to keep a beautiful wicker chest in this room that would serve a coffee table between the two wing back chairs that we brought in to stage the room - we loaded the shelves with books and a few reading lamps and ..Wa la ... toy room transformed to a study. 

The solution was the wicker chest which held at tops 20% of the most played with toys which included crayons, match box cars, a few dolls, legos and Mickey.   Mom and I discussed in code what toys were in reality utilized the most and it really boiled down to merely a few that would occupy that room.  The remaining were placed in the basement.  Which was a entirely new territory to play in....so it was a win win situation?

 They had the run of the basement...Mom had the room that made the most sense for prospective buyers...the wicker chest served as a quick clean up when buyers arrived.  

When staging a home with Children

•·         Remember the children and how disruption of their routine can be difficult.

•·         Keep the children's rooms in somewhat of a theme - less is more - tastefully done.

•·         Areas where they play should have an attractive container to place the toys in.

•·         Keep reinsuring the children that their toys are safe and will have a bigger better home in the near future.

•·         Try not to stress.....people do understand that children do live in the  house

Oh, Mom gave birth to a new baby girl 9 lbs 10 oz Maggie Lou....Congrats!