Want to Know What Home Staging is? Well Let Me First Tell You What It Isn't.
This is a great post on Home Staging and what it should not be, a good approach to finding out what it should be. As Kathy points out, this is a way of allowing a Buyer to see all possibilities of the house. This is a great post if you missed it the first time.
Want to Know What Home Staging Is? Well Let Me First Tell You What It Isn't!Home Staging is often misunderstood... what exactly does it mean? To some it means “moving furniture around”... at least that’s what people usually say to me when Itell them I’m a Home Stager.
Others, thanks to certain cable television shows, think that a Home Stager comes in and begins ripping out, knocking down and removing everything in sight. Not necessarily true, although there are times when we wish we could.
And some think that Home Staging is about trickery, deception and dare I say “fraud”.
And it is this last misconception that needs some addressing. A recent post may have left some people with the notion that Staging is something akin to the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. I honestly do not think that the author meant to imply that Home Staging is about pulling the wool over a Buyer’s eyes. I think/hope the point was to alert buyers to the need to see a property as it is.
And in a sense, that is what our goal in staging is... to allow a Buyer to see ALL of the possibilities of a house.
So, please indulge me while I address some issues mentioned in the post.
Furniture- Stagers do not use “small furniture” to make the room appear larger. And in fact, we are often left to deal with over-sized/over-stuffed furniture that the Seller has... furniture that they bought for their next larger home, but now makes their room appear too small. When we do bring in furniture, it is size appropriate for the room.
In Staging a Master Bedroom, I use nothing smaller than a queen sized bed so that a Buyer will be able to see that their bed will fit. I’m not sure who would stage a Master Bedroom using a single bed, but if you see a room that has a single bed in it, it is most likely being shown as a child’s room or... it’s a really small master bedroom.
Camouflage or Cover Up- I tell my Sellers AND Realtors that baking cookies, simmering cinnamon sticks or lighting candles is no longer done. Buyers are wise to this and that the best scent is the scent of CLEAN.
I also tell my clients to have all of the lights on and shades or drapes open. And, what most sellers don’t want to hear but I tell them is that... Buyers will look in their closets and pantries. This space is important to Buyers so Sellers need to pack up, donate or throw out items they don’t need. It’s not about creating space that isn’t there... it’s allowing the space that IS there to be seen.
Activities and Props - Stagers show the possibilities of a space. If the demographics show that Buyers for this property will more than likely have young children, we may show a bedroom as a child’s room, with toys and appropriate bedding. If on the other hand, the Buyers may be empty nesters or retired, we may show a third bedroom as an office.
Items that are there for Appearance Sake- All reputable Home Stagers will not be party to or suggest covering up a flaw. But these are items that are also addressed by the Listing Agent. Mirrors and paintings are placed in areas that are aesthetically appealing and probably in the same places where a new home owner would place some artwork. And, we will often use the same design principles and practices that the new owner would use when they move in.
Yes... Buyers should take photos and take a tape measure when they’re seriously considering a property. Yes.... drive by to get a feel for the neighborhood, but this has very little to do with staging. Yes... go back more than once to view a house.And yes, we as Stagers have sometimes added to the misconception by our choice of phrases....
“Let’s do this to make the room look larger.”
No... our goal is to show the room and all it has to offer not to deceive anyone into thinking the room is larger than it is. After all, the size of the room is what it is.Staging is really more like Home Marketing or Home Styling. We’re there to take what the property has and show it in its best light.
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