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Cleaning and Decluttering does not equal Home Staging

By Michele Kurelich

Home Stager with Triangle Home Staging & Design/Lasting Impressions

January 25, 2009 10:29 AM

You have probably heard about home staging if you are trying to sell your home. Many homeowners believe that home staging is the process of de-cluttering and cleaning. Truthfully, cleaning & de-cluttering is only the first step to staging your home right. You can easily de-clutter your own home, but you have to know when enough is enough. It is very common for Homeowners to go to far when neutralizing the decor. It is very important to strike a balance in every room.

Your local Professional Home Stagers are fast & efficient when it comes to de-cluttering, but once that is done then the real work begins. We look at the house as a whole and each room should have a defined purpose. An experienced Professional Home Stager considers furniture placement, scale, balance, color schemes, light, views and traffic flow while enhancing selling features of the home to make it picture perfect. A good Home Stager will be creative, working with what you already have to create optimal appeal for home buyers.

For example, take a look at the two rooms below:

1-10-08-0011 1-10-08-021

1-10-08-008 1-10-08-0141

We were able to open up the rooms and make them appear larger. Before, it was difficult to distinquish the living room from the family room. We were able to clearly define the rooms using what the homeowner already had. By moving the sofas around we were able to make the formal living room appear twice as large. Now when you enter and the family room you can see the view out to the pool, which was previously hidden by the sofa.

To sell your home faster and get Top Dollar Home Staging can make the difference, but don't stop at de-cluttering, that is really where the true work and creativity begins. Buyers are savvy and first impressions are everything, so make sure you get it right before the first buyer comes knocking. We are creative in using the homeowners existing furnishings and accessories, or with the help of our accessory and furniture rental program we artfully achieve a designer look. Visit www.raleighstager.com or www.TriangleStaging.com

Raleigh's Premier Home Staging Company, Lasting Impressions Staging & Design can assist you will all your home Staging and Design needs. Whether new construction, vacant or occupied, we have the experience, expertise and resources to showcase your home. Visit our website at http://www.raleighstager.com/

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Pangaea Interior Design Kitchen & Bath Design, Remodeling

Portland Oregon - Portland, OR

Very good post. This is the difference between amateur and pro. It's the rare individual seller who gets any further than the clean & declutter point without the assistance of a professional stager.

Jan 25, 2009 11:59 AM

Tanya Venable

Orlando, FL

SEO, Mobile SEO, and Internet Marketing Consultant

Michele - great post! You are so right, cleaning and de-cluttering are just the tip of the iceberg.

Jan 25, 2009 02:00 PM

Kathy Nielsen

http://atlantahomestaging.net - Marietta, GA

Atlanta Georgia Home Stager

Michele - Great job. I especially liked the living room layout in the first set of pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations. Your post is being featured in the grup Staging Before & After Pictures.

Kathy

Jan 25, 2009 10:59 PM

Michele Hess

Simply Staged Inc. - Rockford, IL

Home Stager Rockford - Simply Staged Inc

Great post! The title says it all. Often times those that are under this misconception pack everything away to the extreme. A professional stager will guide sellers in what to leave out and what to pack. Clean and vacant feeling does not equal a staged home. Although, clean is a great starting point :)

Jan 26, 2009 12:14 AM

Anne West

Coldwell Banker - Chicago, IL

Your Guide to Real Estate on Chicago's North Shore

Couldn't agree more...decluttering and cleaning are important but it takes a lot more to create that emotional connection with the buyer and to give them a glimpse of the lifestyle that home will provide. That's where the professional stager really earns their fee. Anne

Jan 26, 2009 07:09 AM

Michelle Pimentel

Empire Home Staging Solutions - Upland, CA

ASP, IAHSP Empire Home Staging

Michele,

Very well put! Preparing a home for sale takes so much more than just cleaning and de-cluttering! Sellers always seem to be amazed at the final transformation of their home after hiring a professional home stager!

Jan 26, 2009 10:30 AM

Allegra Dioguardi

Styled and Sold Home Staging and Staging Training - Westhampton Beach, NY

Home Staging & Training, Suffolk Co. Long Island

All I can say is: Thank You!

It's all about educating the public and your point is one of my pet peeves!

Jan 26, 2009 12:32 PM

Home Staging

Showhomes - Nashville, TN

Decluttering is a good first step but improving the flow of the rooms so buyers spend more time in each room is what really makes the difference in sales price and time.

Jan 27, 2009 01:11 AM

Michele Kurelich

Triangle Home Staging & Design/Lasting Impressions - Raleigh, NC

Raleigh Home Staging and Design

Pangaea ~ You are right many times they stop at decluttering....exhaustion sets in and they can't see the end product. I think that is what makes us professionals is that we can see they way I should be and how to get there!

Tanya ~ Iceberg is right and it's standing in the way of a SOLD sign!

Kathy ~ Thanks, this particular homeowner was PEACOCKS (hers) meets CABELLA's (his). Any anyone who's husband is a duck hunter will know what I mean. We had to make the two extremes work and by grouping things together, it made sense.

Allegra ~ You are welcome! It is a pet peeve of mine as well. I hear so often from homeowners that they were given a list of how to stage their homes from their agent, which may have been updated 5 years ago.

Thomas ~ Flow is a major factor that most don't consider

Jan 28, 2009 01:15 PM

Dan and Amy Schuman

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services - Solon, OH

Luxury Home Specialists

Great post Michele. "An experiencedProfessional Home Stager considers furniture placement, scale, balance, color schemes, light, views and traffic flow while enhancing selling features of the home to make it picture perfect" ---this is great copy to really drive home the point of what a home stager does. Very well articulated.

Jan 30, 2009 01:40 AM

Anonymous

Janine Varney, Well Dressed Homes

Great post Michele. I love re-purposing furniture. Most home sellers aren't aware of how a carefully placed room of furniture can help make their home look more open, larger and welcoming. Thank you for helping to educate our audience.

Feb 02, 2009 04:30 AM

#11

Sandi Gerrard

Toronto, ON

Excellent post - I will re-blog it. I especially like that you used the homeowners possessions for this staging. It is more challenging but definitely more cost effective.

Feb 03, 2009 01:33 AM

Annie Pinsker-Brown

Stage to Sell - LA Home Staging - Los Angeles, CA

Stage to Sell, Los Angeles Home Stager

Great post Michele. It's so true that many agents think they have Staged their clients' homes just because they told them to clean it and remove their personal photos and clutter. Most have no idea what goes into real Staging and are amazed when I do a consultation and name 50 things they can do to enhance the value of the home...most of which they hadn't thought of before!

Feb 03, 2009 09:39 AM

Cindy Bryant

Redesign Etc. Home Staging - Houston, TX

"Houston Home Staging Pros"

People have the wrong idea of what staging is, I call that pre-staging.

Feb 03, 2009 03:05 PM

Michele Kurelich

Triangle Home Staging & Design/Lasting Impressions - Raleigh, NC

Raleigh Home Staging and Design

Annie & Cindy ~ You are so right! I always tell people those checklists are what should be done before we even show up! I think if we put down everything that we actually do on paper, people would be so exhausted from reading it that they would have to hire us from pure exhaustion from just reading.

Sandi - Thanks for the reblog

Janine - Thanks for the support, Partner:)

Feb 03, 2009 03:13 PM