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17 Comments on At the end of the day, think . . . MEMORY POINTS!
Hi Jeannene - I loved your ideas. I agree that after you view a few homes, they all start to blur. One more idea I have is to stage one room as a nursery or young childs room if the target market is young couples. Even if you are an empty nester, this will help a couple see this as a home that would fit their lifestyle.
Maureen Graziano
Jeannene - I too love these ideas. And you're spot-on with respect to leaving the prospective buyers with a "memory" of the home. As stagers, we're constantly putting a theme in areas of the home (i.e., the dining room table, the chair in a corner with a book, reading glasses, cup of hot choc., etc...) but, I personally have never even thought of a guest room with a travel theme. That's awesome!
Thanks for sharing these wonderful ideas.
Kathy
Jeannene I read with great interest your post and I can't help wondering about the kids rooms and I was questioning how you get around the fact that this might be dangerous in that with certain scenes you might offend the potential buyer. Take Sponge Bob, for example, Now I profess to know nothing of this character- I have never seen this figure either on TV or anywhere else but I do recall that there was a campagin against this character due to some group's belief that he was promoting a certain sexual lifestyle. Now, even without seeing the figure, I can imagine this to be a fanatical fringe group but it does bring up the question If we are trying to neutralize a home to appeal the maximun number of buyers, do we take a risk when doing somethinng like a specific themed character?
Take the Walt Disney figure of Bambi (I know I just dtaed myself) I would be very reluctant to use this figure because it brings up so much saddness for people- many people remember Bambi as their first experience with death, albeit on film. I would not want to be invoking feelings of saddness to potential buyers. How can you be certain that you are being as neutral as possible?
On the other hand, I love your travel theme guest room idea- maybe because I love to decorate this way anyway and I love travel. Just some thoughts.......
I have to agree with James. I think you have to be careful with the themes in regards to characters. In a less controversial example, I recently did a consultation at a very nice home. The boys room was adorable - it was blue with multi hued blue and green horizontal stripes as a border and directly above were the peal and stick characters from cars. Very tastefull done, but IMHO too age specific. When the characters were removed, it was suitable for a boy of any age.(Very sporty and so versatile)
As a mother of two girls, I would be turned off by a theme that I felt was too young (or in the case of spongebob, too dumb) for my girls. One is 11 and the other is 7. Dora would make them both roll their eyes.
With kids rooms, I think the key is to pick a trendy color scheme and make it non-age specific. Make it really hip so that the kids will think it is cool and the parents are impressed with the how it could suit any age range - that they will remember.
Ohhhhh good post Jeannene - you must be talking about vacant homes. Most kids have themes already but in vacant homes, like model homes, after decorating hundreds it came down to ballerina shoes hanging from a door knob and sports paraphernalia. This is a poor example with the black wire hanger but you get my drift.
One of my secret weapons was putting cast iron garden birds or rabbits or whatever animal on the hearth of a fireplace. Everyone just seemed to love it and they bring life to a space (no roosters of course) but cute sweet animals.
I LOVE that concept.
"Memory Points"... a VERY markatable concept for sure!
Me
To Maureen and Kathy: Thanks for the nice comments. I agree . . . everything you've seen does start to blur and I think we're all on a perpetual quest to come up with something new!
To James and Kimberly: You were both absolutely right. You have to be very sensitive to market perception when picking your themes. What could be offensive. What is timely and currently popular with kids of all age brackets. This is where the importance of knowing your demographics comes in. I just threw out a few examples to make a point . . . but your point is certainly well taken!
To Sheron: I too have done hundreds of model homes and you are right . . . how many different sports themes and cheerleading themes can one come up with?!! But I've loved doing it! For vacant homes it's nice because you're starting with a blank slate, but even in existing homes it's nice to theme a room, age appropriately, to give purpose and make some kind of sense out of the space. I'm sure you have done them all - his and her hobby rooms, media rooms, play rooms etc., etc., etc! And yes, my signature piece in models has been to use animals also . . . a kitten curled up on a throw at the end of a bed, Fido laying on the hearth or standing by his food bowl, bird feeders, bird seed, set of binoculars hanging in the laundry room . . . . . . . . . . ............oh, I could go on and on. It's been fun hasn't it?!
And to Margaret: I agree Sheron. Why no roosters?! ha!
Ostrich's and flamingo's...now those are real birds! I still see flamingo's and gawk when I see the real ones but hey, there's an idea...a flamingo room!
Don't forget about "Memory Points" on the outside. How about a red front door? Depending on the color of the front of the house, but I always try to use something that pops right from the curb appeal as they may have a flyer that only shows the front of the house and that red door, or beautiful colored flowers that lined the walk-way, the unusual wreath hanging on the door, or the table setting with the colorful outdoor pillows and tray of lemonade.
Start making memory points from the second they pull up to the house!
Reece
Simplicity Home Design
Alyse . . . of course use it . . . it really works!
Reece . . . absolutely! Creating memory points on the exterior is just as important as the interior. Good point!