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Home Staging Tips From A Showhouse - Part 4!

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Home Stager with Nestings: Connecticut Home Staging and Model Homes

Home Staging Tips From A Showhouse - Part 4!

We toured the gorgeous Designer Showhouse of Westchester last week.  This second annual event was located in Bedford Corners, NY, and benefits Cerebral Palsy of Westchester

In Part 1, recurring motifs and traffic patterns were covered.  In Part 2, we looked at built-ins.  Part 3 demonstrated working with a monochromatic palette.

Part 4:  Inspiration:  Where does it come from?  How can I get it?

When it comes to Home Staging, the best inspiration can come from the house itself.  Specific architectural details, period details and styles, and the neighboring area can all provide starting points.  The idea is to highlight the house and sell it quickly.

If you're decorating, inspiration can come from anywhere, but should fit your personality!  That's the big difference between decorating and Staging.

Take a look at these ideas by Safavieh Home Furnishings.  Beautiful family room space, nicely laid out, with the orientation towards a fab stone fireplace. 

Nestings Home Staging Tips

Love, love love the drapery in the Showhouse family room!  Horizontal stripes are so fresh.  These are made from pieced fabrics, so any size stripe is possible.  What dictated these measurements?

Nestings Home Staging Tips

The built-in bookcases were the inspiration for the striped drapery!  These drapes would be wonderful for Staging, because they echo, and call attention to, a major feature of the house - something that will remain, long after the seller's furnishings are moved out.

Nestings Home Staging Tips

Need color inspiration?  Designer fabric books are a wonderful place to start.  It's a great opportunity to look at color combinations you may never have thought of.  In one book, you can see various combinations of a color story in stripes, florals, patterns, solids, tweeds...

That may well be where this wack-a-doo (just kidding - it's very adventurous!) color palette came from:  burnt orange, pewter and aubergine...OK, orange, grey and purple!  You could also dial it back a little by changing the wall color to a paler dove grey, and only using the purple as an accent color, not in the upholstery, which would be a good way to go when Home Staging.

Ralph Gorgoglione
Metro Life Homes - Palm Springs, CA
California and Hawaii Real Estate (310) 497-9407

Wow, these are really great tips! You are definitely right about the architectural design providing a great starting point. Thanks again!

Jun 13, 2011 05:42 AM
Kathy Burke
Sensational Home Staging~~Danville, CA - Danville, CA
S.F. East Bay Home Staging

LOVE the colors in this room......coral looks fantastic as the backdrop of the bookcase!!  And love the coordination with the plum!!  VERY cool room....I want it!

Jun 13, 2011 05:53 AM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Julia- who wouldn't love that bookcase and those windows.  I like painting the back wall of bookcases.  I think it shows off the accessories that are in it much better.

Jun 13, 2011 06:00 AM
Maria Tobin
Staged For Success - Huntersville, NC
ASP, IAHSP

Julia - I love the bookcases!  I often advise my clients to paint the back of their bookcases so their treasured possessions will stand out.  I love orange, but I fear the orange and white striped curtains would drive me a little batty!!

Jun 13, 2011 06:10 AM
Peter Schattenfield
Turning Point Estate Services LLC - Wilton, CT
Estate Dissolution and Preparation (203)388-8092 CT.

Julie, I think the repetition of the horizontal throughout the house is a great touch.

Jun 13, 2011 12:55 PM
Pamela Smith
Ventura County Home Staging - Thousand Oaks, CA

Julia - I do love an orange/grey color scheme ... love it so much I used it in my home. But this is a bit "decorator gone wild" for my taste!! :-) I think the essence of your post here - use inspiration from the architecture when you stage - is brilliant and this room is a great example. Those windows are killer!! And adding the orange to the back of the white bookcases is fantastic. Those are two elements any stager could have fun with!!

Jun 13, 2011 01:58 PM
Anna Dovger
Add Value Home Staging LLC, 281-704-6607 - The Woodlands, TX
Home Staging -The Woodlands, TX

Julia, I really enjoy your series. Bookcase looks very elegant and I just love purple/orange/gray color combination.

Jun 13, 2011 02:40 PM
Ginger Foust
Certified Staging Professional - Oakhurst, CA
Home Stager Oakhurst CA, Dream Interior Redesign & Staging

Wack-a-do is an interesting way to put it Julie, especially for staging.  For living...go for it and create your own style, my adage. 

Jun 13, 2011 03:50 PM
Julea Joseph
Reinventing Space - Chicago, IL
Julea Joseph House Stager - Reinventing Space

Love the color combos - These are are great lessons in design and looking at how the pros use their tools of the trade to make an impact in a space!

Jun 14, 2011 12:32 AM
Janet Jones
Just Your Style Interiors, LLC - Kihei, HI
Home Staging, Interior Redesign Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

Julia--I love the orange back of the bookcases, but can't see myself living in the rest of this room.  However, your point is well made--when you are decorating go for what you love and enjoy living in it. 

Jun 14, 2011 01:08 AM
Julia Maher
Nestings: Connecticut Home Staging and Model Homes - Fairfield, CT
Connecticut Home Stager

Thanks, Ralph, Peter & Pamela - the architecture of the room is a great place to start.

Kathy B., Anna & Julea:  The color combo is an acquired taste, but tasty!

Janet, Maria, Kathy S.:  I like painting out the backs of  bookcases too!  One of my design clients did it, on my recommendation, as a way to bring another color (vermillion) into a small space. 

Ginger:  That's why these designer showhouses are so much fun - designers can go over-the-top if they want!  Just like home owners can! 

Jun 14, 2011 01:24 AM
Shar Sitter
Rooms With Style - Minneapolis, MN
Home Staging and Redesign Minneapolis/ St. Paul, M

The drapes are my favorite part too Julie. How fun to go and see these homes! I also like the back of bookshelves painted or fun wallpaper.

Jun 14, 2011 01:39 AM
Sally Weatherley
EXIT STAGE RIGHT - Vancouver, BC
Vancouver Home Staging, Home Stager Vancouver, B.C

Julie - I'm loving the colour combination - delicious!  The cushions are just dreamy.  Thank you so much for sharing this field trip with us.  As Julea says, we can learn so much and pick up tips that might work for us in our own designs.  Hope there's more...

Jun 14, 2011 03:33 AM
Julia Maher
Nestings: Connecticut Home Staging and Model Homes - Fairfield, CT
Connecticut Home Stager

Hi Shar - wallpaper and fabric are also great alternatives to paint, and can provide additional pattern and/or texture.

Oh yes, Sally, there's more!

Jun 14, 2011 03:40 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Much too edgy for me....I guess I'm more traditional, LOL!  

Jun 14, 2011 12:57 PM
Leanne Allen
Center Stage, LLC - Burlington, IA

Hi Julia,

Just wanted to congratulate you on your beautifully-written blog posts (all of them, not just this series)!  I always learn so much from you and appreciate the quality of content in your posts, as well as your added dose of humor/fun!

Jun 17, 2011 01:30 AM