Back to the Basics – Focal Points

We continue with our Back to the Home Staging Basics series.  Today, we will examine Focal Points.

After examining the house’s curb appeal and entry area, I focus my attention on those factors that make this house unique and distinct from the other homes on the market in this price range.  Typically, a focal point is a permanent element of the house. 

In trying to identify the focal points, I ask myself these questions:

·         Does this house have a great view? 

·         Is there a fireplace and how can we draw the buyer’s attention to this unique feature of this house? 

·         Are there hardwood or marble floors that accentuate a dining room or master bath? 

·         What about the kitchen?  Does it have special cabinetry, granite countertops, or a unique layout?  Is the kitchen designed to be a gathering space as well as a place to cook?

·         Are there any other architectural features that we want to highlight?

Once the house’s focal points are identified, the home staging task is to show off the house’s potential by drawing the potential buyer’s attention to them.  And this is where my creativity, experience, resources and inventory can be invested in helping sell the house quicker and for the highest price possible.

Check out our Transitions website for examples of focal points in Kitchens, Living Rooms and Family Rooms that we staged - http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Staging-by-Room-Type.html

Focal points provide a house’s emotions, dreams and possibilities.  As a Realtor partner shared with me, “If all we were buying are bricks and mortar, just about any house will do.  Instead, we are buying emotion, dreams, and possibilities.” 

Think about it - in buying emotion, dreams, and possibilities, we want to envision comfort and care; laughter and joy; simplicity and ease.  And we most often find those dreams in the flames of a fireplace, the warmth of a kitchen and the views out the window (all focal points to be shown off to their best advantage). 

With a professionally staged house, buyers do imagine living in that house and making it their home.   

Isn’t this why we staged the home in the first place? 

Remember to dwell in possibilities! 

Cindy