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No outhouses in home staging!

By Cheri Dueker

Home Stager with Transitional Designs, LLC

September 10, 2007 03:44 PM

How do you decorate for Halloween? While on a staging site yesterday, the seller asked if she could put pumpkins out in front. She had recently planted mums so the response was "of course." Then she stated that the pumpkins would be plastic! Okay, maybe not....This conversation brought up the issues of having homeowners decorate for the next holiday while the home is on the market. Here are some suggestions:

No outhouses on the front porch

No tombstones on the front lawn

Avoid inflatable or plastic ornaments inside or outside

Avoid putting static stickers on the front windows

No orange holiday lights

Avoid spiders, skeletons (especially in closets)

Ghosts and frogs

So what can you do?

REAL pumpkins are welcome (don't carve and they will last longer)

Mums add to your landscape

Decorative leaves and multi colored corn on wreaths add to the holiday feel

Gourds can be placed in a bowl for a centerpiece

Miniature colored corn can be added to potpourri

Apples can also be used to give your home a "fall" feeling

Your home staging professional can assist you in staging your home but including a feel of the holiday spriit!

Transitional Designs, LLC is a full service home staging service. Contact us with your decor questions.......Redesign, Reorganize, Redecorate

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Debbie Malone

Londeree's Real Estate & Property Management - Lynchburg, VA

From Lynchburg To The Lake (434) 546-0369

Great tips Cheri, mums are always so cheery.....(if you live in Maine or New Hampshire, you may want to decorate your outhouse- seriously!)LOL!! I'm looking forward to decorating and I think I may put the "skeleton in the closet"......It would be good for a laugh!

Sep 10, 2007 04:00 PM

Betty Haney

Haney Consulting - Calgary, AB

Cheri, I was a little afraid to read your blog after viewing the title. Thank goodness it was about Halloween! I know this is a little early - but do you have any tips for Christmas? Betty

Sep 10, 2007 04:01 PM

Cheri Dueker

Transitional Designs, LLC - Saint Louis, MO

Transitional Designs, LLC, Home Staging St. Louis

Debbie: We live in Missouri-we always have the outhouse fear too. LOL

Betty: I haven't even started on my turkey list yet but I will post as we go along.... The plastic pumpkin comment just made me think that a warning might help so we don't end up packing away items our sellers just purchased and set out...I think I am going to send the list to my REA contact list...

Sep 10, 2007 04:07 PM

Janice Sutton

1st Stage Property Transformations - Murrieta, CA

Home Stager - Temecula Murrieta

Cheri - Great suggestions! I always cringe when I am putting up the spider webs on my house for Halloween. I am such a perfectionist that it takes me forever to get them looking just right!

Sep 10, 2007 04:18 PM

Cheri Dueker

Transitional Designs, LLC - Saint Louis, MO

Transitional Designs, LLC, Home Staging St. Louis

Janice: I adore the spider rings that kids get at Halloween but have a fear a child will drop one in astaged home and the buyer will think the house has spiders! Some of these suggestions might be hard for sellers with children-especially not carving the pumpkin!

Sep 10, 2007 04:23 PM

Patricia Kennedy

RLAH@properties - Washington, DC

Home in the Capital

I held an Open House over Halloween one year, and they had a witch somewhere in the house that set off a really scary witchey noise whenever anyone walked by it. It took me half an hour to find and disarm the thing!

Sep 10, 2007 09:44 PM

Karen Dembsky

Peachtree Home Staging LLC, Home Staging in Atlanta, GA - Peachtree City, GA

Atlanta Home Staging

Hey Cheri -- great post -- these decorations coming up with Halloween, thanksgiving, and Xmas and the new year, can really distract buyers from the true picture. Thx for sharing.

Sep 10, 2007 11:04 PM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Cheri ~ Excellent do's and don't's! This is a great list to keep handy for this time of year. Thanks!

Sep 10, 2007 11:18 PM

Cheri Dueker

Transitional Designs, LLC - Saint Louis, MO

Transitional Designs, LLC, Home Staging St. Louis

Patricia: I forgot about all the noise makers! We need to add those to the don't list!

Karen: Yesterday I was at Linens N Things and they had Christmas music playing! I was shocked but I think since they were putting out thjeir Christmas stuf it may have been to help motivate the staff. I thought it was bizarre since this is the first week in 5 that the temp is under 100!

Kathy: Thanks-I think we will all face at least some of these things!

Sep 11, 2007 01:13 AM

Amanda Woodall

Transistional Designs, LLC - O'Fallon, IL

Transitional Designs, LLC

I love the comment about the noise makers. I hate those things (my husband loves them!). Trying to stage or show a house with witches cackling in the background would make me crazy!

I would also avoid the bales of hay on the front porch. It gets picked up on shoes and then carried into the house. It is hard enough to keep the house "show-ready" without having to run around picking up straw all the time.

Gee, those are cute kids in your picture! :) :)

Sep 11, 2007 01:37 AM

Lori Kim Polk

Premiere Home Staging : Home Staging Services - Roseville, CA

Home Stager - Roseville, Sacramento

This is a great post and very timely. I might be in the minority here but I have always adviced against any decorating during the Holidays. Maybe one or two "seasonal" things... but no Holiday theme. Christmas is a tough one. I suggest a wreath, minimal decor and 1 tree to add to the spirit. Many people go over board with their decor, which seems to me the opposite of minimizing the clutter. If they are needing to sell their home over the Holidays... they need to SELL the home, not decorate it. If they want a Staging to Live for the Holidays... well, then I am all about that! Am I still in the minority? :)))

Sep 11, 2007 03:10 AM

Cheri Dueker

Transitional Designs, LLC - Saint Louis, MO

Transitional Designs, LLC, Home Staging St. Louis

Amanda: I thought the pic was appropriate-even if they are your children!

Lori Kim: If my home was for sale I would not do much to decorate-maybe seasonal welcome mats but I don't have small children either. I think homeowners with children just need some direction and balance so they can please the children without SCARING away buyers!

Sep 11, 2007 04:07 AM

delete account

Clayton, MO

Hi Cheri! Great post and a great idea for people selling their home during this ghoulish time of year. No coffins on the front yard?! :)

Sep 11, 2007 07:04 AM

Cheri Dueker

Transitional Designs, LLC - Saint Louis, MO

Transitional Designs, LLC, Home Staging St. Louis

Hi Pamela: Wonder if we could get neighbors to eliminate theirs too so the neighborhood appeals to more buyers?

Sep 11, 2007 12:42 PM

Yvonne Root

rooms b.y. root - Prescott, AZ

Home Stager - Northern Arizona

Cheri, This is an excellent post! It reminds me of the time we stopped in to see from friends and noticed a tacky blow up reindeer in their front yard. We thought we knew these friends well enough to know they wouldn't have done that. When we went in they laughed and asked us when we had the time to play the practical joke on them. Imagine their faces when we declared, "Not us!" Then they didn't know whether to laugh with a different friend or to "thank" a neighbor.

I agree, NO PLASTIC anything in your yard!!!

Sep 15, 2007 03:56 PM

Cheri Dueker

Transitional Designs, LLC - Saint Louis, MO

Transitional Designs, LLC, Home Staging St. Louis

Yvonne: In my stage this weekend I had to use a little fall to go with the mums i placed on the front proch but only 2 little items. fall I couldn't resist the wire pumkin and the orange glass candle holder. I love fall! Thanks for stopping by...