Home Staging Helped This Home Sell In Just Over 7 Days!

A few weeks ago I was called by a realtor to help get a property sold quickly. It had been on the market for 186 days in 2007 and had not sold, and the owners were anxious to get on with a new life in another state. It was a beautiful home, with lots going for it, that needed decluttering, removal of extra furniture, and some rearranging to draw attention to the home's focal points. I was lucky that I was able to showcase the home using only the homeowner's furnishings, so there was no need for the extra expense of furniture rental.

 

I spent 7 hours going through the entire home and had the help of the owner and the realtor to speed things up. I did characteristically forget my camera, so I will be relying on limited current and old listing photos to describe what I did. The furniture that was removed was on the second floor, where I have no pictures.

 

It may be difficult to see the differences between the "before" and "after" views below, but look closely. In the first "before" picture below we see the following problems:

• all of the seating is right up against the walls
• the beautiful arrangement of windows on the front of the house is not highlighted as the focal point
• the tables are too far from any seating to be used
• the rug is floating alone and does not go well with the green wall color
• the lower windows have white sheers on them which block light and a beautiful view

 

The "after" picture below is the staged room.  To stage the room I did the following:

• shopped for the best rug in the house that would work with the green walls
• removed the sheers for more light and a view of the yard (a feature for this home)
• floated the large couch in front of the windows a good 6 feet away from the window so that it would be part of the conversation area, and, centered it to help draw the eye to the focal point
• added a large tree in one corner to add height and color to the corner
• placed the 2 small side tables and the coffee table within reach of the seating

 

 

 

After the staging, room still looks large and airy (15x19), but is also looks cozy enought to sit down and visit a friend with a cup of tea.

Now in the "before" picture of the family room below, you might say that it looks wonderful and clean. The argument would be that from the couches you can see the fireplace and the TV at the same time, and the couches are at angles in the corners aligned with the TV leaving plenty of space in the middle of the room, making it look larger.

 

I have a different point of view -- I would say that buyers fall in love with  "cozy and warm" feelings, architechural details, and views.  The fireplace and french doors are the focal points which need to be addressed.  The furniture needs to be floated in the room to draw attention to the fireplace, and the TV needs to be moved to a place where it does not compete with the french doors which afford a view of the lovely screened-in porch and beautful yard behind it. 

To stage the room I did the following: 

• moved the armoire to another corner so it does not compete with the french doors -- it is in a corner that is not often viewed first when you enter a room
• floated the seating in towards the fireplace
• centered the larger couch facing the fireplace to draw your eye there
• placed the shorter couch on the back side of the room, centering it on the french door to draw your eye there
• removed the too-large mirror over the fireplace and replaced it with the appropriate sized art

 I don't have a "before" of the porch, but look how we arranged it to look like a place the a buyer would want to spend his entire summer!  If you have a small square porch you could use this arrangement too.