What Celeb Apprentice Can Learn from Home Stagers

So I don't know if you caught this past Sunday's episode, but the two teams of celeb apprentices had to makeover and furnish these vacant condos in a short span of time to show as model homes. (Hmm, sounds awfully familiar...) It was interesting to watch for sure to see the transformations and the processes that both team went through. Both teams were given the same exact condo and below are the side-by-side comparisons from the teams. The photos on the left were from Tenacity, the photos on the right were from Rock Solid:

"Living Rooms" from Celebrity Apprentice. Tenacity is on the left, Rock Solid is on the right. (Photo courtesy of NBC.com)

"Bedrooms" rom Celebrity Apprentice. Tenacity is on the left, Rock Solid is on the right. (Photo courtesy of NBC.com)

Who do you think won the challenge? Rock Solid won!

The Rock Solid team won largely because:

• The judges felt there were too much going on in the space for Tenacity and all of it actually made the apartment look and feel smaller
• The seafoam green color that Tenacity picked was too strong for most people's taste. Something neutral and soft is the key when it comes to staging spaces, especially the small spaces.
• The props and decor that Tenacity used made the space feel cheap.

So.. How does this translate into staging homes for sale?

Do:

• Use pieces that are appropriate to scale
• Less is more. I see very often that the home owners feel like staged homes are missing a lot of accessories and they will go back and add more stuff. Realize that we are not in the business of selling stuff, we are in the business of selling space. And buyers can't see the space with all this stuff in the space! Accessories are, after all, accent pieces: use sparingly.
• Pick neutral colors that are pleasing to the eyes. This does not mean the staged homes have to look boring, there are definitely color choices that can add color and brightness to your space.

Don't:

• follow what the Tenacity celebs did!

This post kicks off a Weekly Style Tip we will be running on our blog. We will cover latest trends, colors, and style tips in this series. So stay tuned!