What Home Staging is NOT

Alyse, I went to an open house a couple of weekends ago which had been staged. It was fabulous. It had been done very well. The realtor was late for the open house (another story) so the owner showed us through. My daughter commented on the beautiful ceramic tile floor. The home owner said they had replaced the floor and done some other things like that at the suggestion of the home Stager. The flyer we picked up about the house said it had recently had $30,000 worth of upgrades. I guess it depends on the the price range of the real estate and the vision of both the stager and the seller.

I agree with you. I was just mentioning it because it blew me away. I've never had the pleasure of saying to a client, "You got about $30,000 to put into this?" At this point I don't have that kind of expertise. Maybe someday.

Alyse -

I agree that staging is exactly what you described.  Beyond that, it is redesign.  I do some redesign work for staging purposes, but it is really based on the pricepoint, condition and willingness of the seller.  Usually if there is redesign work involved, they have asked for it.  Here's an example of what I am talking about:

 

This house had been on the market for 15 months when I arrived.  It was listed at $689,000 in a very upscale gated golf course community.  You cannot tell in the picture, but the accent tile in the counter and backsplash has mushrooms on it.  They kept asking the original agent for a stager and she kept saying it was not necessary.  In reality, it needed more than staging, but she would not tell them that.

The countertops and backsplash were replaces with a manufactured solid surface.  In the case of the countertops, they were removed completely and the backsplash was covered over with a thinner sheet of the material. 

They were leaning toward granite at $6,000 for countertops only. This quartz based surface with backsplash was $3400 installed, I believe. This company even threw in a $300 undermount sink for free. I LOVE those guys!

I love that color, too.  It is Grass Cloth by Behr.  I love fresh greens in a kitchen.

Wow, great transformation Kim. Alyse, I agree. Painting and offering suggestions... absolutely.  I do recommend upgrades if the home really needs them. I recommend changing the lighting and hardware all the time if the homeowner can do it. I have several tradesmen that often work with me.  I have no problem referring them out.  I do not profess to be an Interior Designer, you are right, we are Stagers.  I have a great Designer/remodel person that I use who I know will do a great work. I feel much better about having a professional trained in that area do the job. And................ you always need to have the client hire the referral. If there is a problem, you do not want your name on that work.