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Fabulous panoramic photos? No thanks.

Art in Staging.

Back to this magazine shoot last week - Lessons Learned on a Magazine Shoot - the photographer does really wonderful panoramic shots as another revenue stream (and art form, presumably).

His name is Stuart Tyson and he's a remarkably talented man.

He said a friend of his had borrowed 10 of his photos to decorate his home while on the market, and how much would that cost if a non-friend had rented them. When I told him, very approximately, he then asked if I were interested in renting them also.

NO.

Heavens, NO.

Oh, goodness, no.

He looked a little unnerved, and offended, too, but startled mainly. Er... whah?

"Well, the LAST thing we want is someone to walk into a room, have their breath taken away by a beautiful photo, walk towards it, really study and relish it and then move on to the next room. A la museum mode. They've enjoyed the picture(s) but missed the room... and likely the house, since the photo is what they'll remember most.

Now, I personally would love to own one, or several, don't get me wrong, but we need generic bland stuff that adds a splash of color on the wall, not something that steals the show."

Huh! he said. I hope he understood and didn't write me off as a loony. It's an important point -

keep your art simple, elegant and unobtrusive, unassuming, subtle.

Great art is too distracting.

In Owner Occupieds, I always ask the homeowner to take down the nude paintings. (and religious stuff, if you can) Art in staging is all about adding color, style and texture, moving the eye left and right, NOT drawing the eye in and keeping it all to itself.

THIS is why I think it doesn't work when you get furniture stores giving you furniture for free in exchange for letting ti be for sale aswell. With price tags or without, it doesn't matter. People then find themselves looking at the furniture instead of what the room can offer them. You miss the forest, you're too busy trying to ignore the numbers on the trees.

Juliet Johnson Staging provides NJ Luxury Real Estate with staging and online promotion services, and been successfully home staging nj for the last 7 years.

Posted by Home Staging NJ - Juliet Johnson on 10/11/2007 12:13 AM

Comments (38)

use of art in staging, furniture stores in staging

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38 Comments on Fabulous panoramic photos? No thanks.

OCT

2007

Wow...great post. Great views. On first glance I thought it was Chicago....but it is a nice pic...

Juliet, So I should stop lending out my original, priceless Monet to my seller-clients? Ha ha Seriously, you make a very compelling point -- don't overwhelm the visitor with artwork that creates a visual vacuum so no one recalls the room's beauty or utility.

Juliet - I recently had a consultation with a client that had beautiful original artwork all over the house and as we moved from room to room I admired and made particular note, discussing it with him. At the end of the consultation I strongly suggested they remove most of the artwork. He was shocked and couldn't quite figure it out - I and the REA had to explain to him that though YES, I did admire his artwork collection, I was also making a point - the prospective buyers would hopefully be there to view the house and come to view it as "home" to them - NOT to admire the art collection of originals he had. The artwork would be distracting, it was definitely for the pack and store pile.

I do use framed and matted architectural photo's in my staging's though. Mostly B&W with a few color as well - I've found them to be unobtrusive, simple and yet provide an element of elegance. - Of course it depends on the property too!

Jackie

OCT

2007

Exactly. Really good art as you describe and also family photos and such. People need to get the family photos all out. The grandkids are adorable, but people need to see the house, not the cute grandkids.

It is difficult to discuss this topic with sellers. They do not see it from the buyer's perspective. I once sold a condo that had very heavy religious symbolism all throughout every room - the seller was high up on the staff of a religiously affiliated university. My buyer was not put off by any of it but another agent who called for feedback on her unit in the same complex was surprised we were considering that property because of the heavy religious tones, as if any of it were going to stay with the property when it sold. Ultimately we wrote an offer for what the buyer could afford, "the stupid offer", per the sellers, that was way below asking price. It was countered and he countered the counter by barely budging on price. It was accepted. That's a lesson for all of us.

Juliet,

I love this :) Also, on another note, everytime I go into a house I politely explain why I need to remove the family pictures from my pictures...

Family pictures need to be kept out of the MLS pictures and/or Virtual Tours so that the viewers can imagine themselves in that house, as opposed to get a feeling that they are in someone else's house...

Interesting point. I had never thought of how art could end up sabotaging a good showing.

That is a great photo. I agree when I go to a house for the first time the pictures on the wall are usually what I notice first.

Hi Juliet,

You've brought up a very good point. As stagers we are constantly walking a very fine line between being neutrally elegant and flat out boring. You need to capture the buyers attention just long enough to hook them into experiencing the home. Sometimes I think decorating is easier.

I agree to a point but I have rented "real art" in a few scenarios where the calliber of the home called for it. In cases where there is a critical spot (such as over a mantle in a "grand" living room) where the real thing does add to the overall look. I think the problem is more when you consider a quantity of one artitsts work that you risk the "museum" effect.

I'm sorry...were there words in your post? I was too busy looking at that beautiful panoramic! ;)

Good comment. You wouldn't want to to have them memsmorized by the picture and nt by the house. I know when I took a feng shui class they talked about actualy keeping the back curtains closed that lead to the beautiful scenery in the background so the energy and the focus doesn't leave the house. Then after they have taken in the home then open them up and show them the bonus.

Art is so personal but I tend to agree with you about this artist's photos. They are outstanding but perhaps in a different type of building than a home.

WEll done, Sus. that's the point exactly. Recently a realtor said to me after the consult, "Gosh I understand what you mean, once we got the Master Bedroom, I was so transfixed by the painting (a ballerina, could have been a Degas) that I didn't hear what was said for the next 5 minutes."

Yeah, it's that distracting.

Someone said here, on AR, that we remove family photos here for 2 reasons:-

1. as humans we are naturally drawn to faces, so that's what we look at first,

2. the house needs to look like anyone's house, not yours alone.

To which I add,

3. You need to start packing up and leaving. The house is ready to go to market when you're ready to sell it.

Great point! We are trying to sell the house, not the furniture, artwork, accessories or even the family dog. But a house should always retain it's personality and not go too bland.

I truly enjoyed this post. It makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing.

Very neat picture! Good post! So many times we have to educate the client about how and why

congrats on getting fetured, It is always nice when hard work is recognized.

I agree Juliet. But I have had great results with smaller photos of our the local area. (beaches, marsh, shrimp boats, etc.) The subject in the photos becomes a selling point of the house.

Guess my picture of Dogs Playing Poker really isn't helping huh?? lol, great point, and I've heard this before, but never fully thought out the concept from a buyers point of view. A lot of times a unique feature or object in a home distracts me from remembering something about it later on.

Very interesting post, I really never though of it that way but I must agree I have walked through homes and all I noticed was the photography and art work on the walls.

Juliet - I have had a lot of things sabotage a showing, but never great art. That said, I completely see your point. Personally, I love dramatic panoramic photos. However the key to selling a house is for people to fall in love with the room, home, property and the area. Nice post and nice photo too.

Juliet, Great post, thanks so much for the good tip, great photos too, wow.

Good post! I always tell my Seller Clients to de-personalize the property as much as possible so potential Buyers can envision the property decorated to their taste- not the sellers taste!

Another good reason to take photos of family down. We viewed one home were the owners daughter had died around 12 years old. We knew this because in almost every room there was some type of memorial for the daughter either through photos, paintings, etc. I can tell you right now I cannot remember anything about the house,but I remember they had a little girl who died before her time.

Juliet

Great post! It is amazing that such beautiful artwork can be such a deterrence.

Lynette

Great post. I agree with you completely. The goal of staging a home, is to draw out the homes best features, not hide them.

I want to thank for for your posts, they are informative and make a valid point, We as Realtors need to get these points across to the sellers: price it correctly and stage it to make the home sellable.............Mike Norvell Sr

Great post and a good point to always remember and pass on.

Excellent point! Thanks for some great advice to keep and easier way to explain "why" to our clients.

What a brilliant blog!! I love it!

Cheers,

Cindy

OCT

2007

Juliet thank you for another great blog. I never really thought about the point you are making. Margo and I are on the hunt for artwork tomorrow and I will definitely keep your advice in mind. Congrats on the feature and love the panoramic picture. Stuart Tyson is very talented. BTW - what city is pictured? Betty

Betty - it's New York, taken across the Great Lawn in Central Park, I think during that exhibit by the Christs.

The Gates in Central Park

It has been more than 25 years in the making, but this past weekend the husband and wife artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude finally unveiled a vast public art project in New York City's Central Park.

It was envisioned as a river of color, enlivening the monochrome gray of Central Park in the depths of winter: 7,500 tall gates of billowing fabric framing the paths of this enormous park. The color of the banners is a bright saffron-orange, the same hue as Christo's wife Jeanne-Claude's own hair.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Interviewed in the park a few days before the exhibit opened, the couple, who both turn 70 this year, said they had no idea how people might respond to the work. "We do not [think about that]," said Jeanne-Claude, "because we create this work of art, of joy and beauty, for us. In that sense, we are like every true artist: create for oneself -- if afterwards somebody else likes it, it's a bonus."

Christo added, "You should like art to understand. You should enjoy color, proportion, volumes, and movement. It's not difficult. Look there, and you see what is done -- it's like asking what is the message of a Mozart sonata. What is the message? I don't know. You should have the ear to enjoy it -- while this project is a visual art [work]."

Asked whether the color of Jeanne-Claude's hair had inspired the exhibit's, she laughed and answered, "No, my hair has been this color since 1986 -- when Christo's hair turned gray, mine turned red!" Her husband explained the reason: "We do the project in winter, because this is the only month where we should have the leafless trees, you can see from very far away The Gates. And in this monochromatic landscape of silvery-gray leafless trees, we love very much that color, and it is very resourceful, with the gray, with the sun, with the snow, and with the rain."

It's beautiful!

Visitors on opening day had varying reactions as The Gates were finally unfurled. "It's beautiful," said a woman from Long Island. "I've been watching them on television opening up this morning, and coming down here, it's just so very pretty!"

Another visitor, a long-time Christo fan, agreed: "It surpasses for me what I was imagining," she said. "I saw the drawings, and I thought they were extraordinary, but seeing the scale, and how it mimics the terrain of the park, and then the interaction with people, and the light through the fabric as it changes color -- it's just extraordinary."

I don't see it

But a New York man dissented. "They tried to design something that would conform with the park, and I don't think they've done that. The color really isn't out of nature. The way they've suggested they were mimicking nature, I don't see it -- the color is simply too bold."

"It's gorgeous, it's spectacular," said a woman who'd traveled from California expressly to see The Gates. Her husband agreed, adding, "What amazes me is, why did it take 25 years for the city to decide this was a good idea?"

The Bulgarian-born Christo and French native Jeanne-Claude have lived in New York for 41 years. They first proposed the Central Park Gates in 1979, and made countless presentations to city leaders over the years. But the project was not approved until Michael Bloomberg, a fan of their work, was elected mayor.

Remarking on their long struggle to win approval for the project, Jeanne-Claude said there were moments when they thought it might never happen. "26 years!" she exclaimed, "Yes, there were times-- " "Critical points--" her husband interjected. "But," Jeanne-Claude said, "it always remained in our heart."

As with all their work, the artists paid for the entire $20 million project themselves by selling Christo's drawings -- the smallest goes for $30,000 -- and their more affordable books, as this recent event at New York's Strand Bookstore, where people lined up for hours to have their books signed by the authors.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude say the only point of their art, which is always temporary, is to create a startling new perception of everyday landscapes.

German Parliament building, the Reichstage

In their most famous project, in 1995, they wrapped the Reichstag, the German Parliament building in Berlin. Shrouded in silvery fabric, the imposing building had the air of a castle under a spell in a fairy tale. In Paris, they wrapped the Pont Neuf Bridge across the Seine.

The two have said that some of their ideas are Christo's, while others are conceived by Jeanne-Claude. Which one first thought of The Gates? "Both of us," said Christo. "We tried to do a work of art that would involve simply people walking [through the park].

Although the couple first began to acknowledge Jeanne-Claude's contribution only ten years ago, they say they have always worked as one. Married for 45 years, Christo and Jeanne-Claude refuse to be apart even for brief interviews, and rarely use any pronoun but "we." Even their conflicts seem something to be cherished in this long marriage.

Asked whether they have artistic disagreements, Christo smiled, and said, "All the time! We are fighting all the time, and actually Albert and David Maysles did so many films about our work, and you can see in these films, we argue and scream." And Jeanne-Claude added with similar enthusiasm," We're screaming at each other!"

But they're never separated. Christo reminds us, "We're together since 1958."

The Gates will be up for only 16 days, though the work is expected to generate a tourism windfall for New York City in those two weeks. Christo and Jeanne-Claude are already planning their next project, "Over the River," which they hope to mount over a segment of the Arkansas River in 2008 or 2009.

For some reason my last comment came up with only my initials. is the name box new? Plus, it seems you can no longer edit your comments?

OY! that's worse! We have to add our names again? How do I do it with the link involved? I'm so confused.

OCT

2007

Juliet, their art project is absolutely stunning. Thank you for going to the trouble of letting all of us know more about the artists. My daughter will be in New York this week, do you think it will be still be up? She would love to see it. Betty

I absolutely, positively agree with . A splash of color and nothing more. If they are studying the artwork they might miss the beautiful arched doorways or hardwood flooring. Hey we are selling the SPACE not the STUFF, will they ever get it?