Back to the Basics - Accessories

Truly memorable images - Audrey Hepburn’s string of pearls and black gloves, Audrey Hepburn’s sunglasses, Audrey Hepburn’s long black dress. 

Yes, the costumer started with near perfect beauty but added elegant touches and flourishes to make immortal the images of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  

In a similar vein, staging accessories can be the jewelry that brings color to the simple, yet elegant master bathroom.  They can be the sunglasses that draw the potential buyers’ eyes to the fireplace focal point.  Staging accessories can make the sterile kitchen appear to be the place for fun cooking and entertaining.

Today, we finish our Back to Home Staging Basics with an examination of Accessories.

With home staging, the furniture arrangement takes on the utilitarian tasks of making sense of each room and facilitating flow.  The home staging accessories take on the fun tasks of bringing out color, feeding the imagination, and creating the “Wow!” factor of the house.

Think about the possibilities that accessories suggest in the following rooms and spaces:

Kitchen – open cookbooks, bowls of fruit and vegetables, cheese and bread on a cutting board, copper pots and pans, apothecaries loaded with pasta and dried beans, http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/JeffersonStaging.html

Dining Room – table set with color dishes and glasses along with yellow sunflowers http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Pepper-Grass-Staging.html

Master Bedroom – luscious, colorful and fresh bed linens accented by floral print and bedside tables http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Birch---Catoosa.html

Master Bathroom – elegant hand towels, painting above bathtub, greenery accenting the tub, http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Camelot-Court-Staging-2.html

Bookshelves – matching colored books like an English library, Toby mugs, sports trophies, bocce balls http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/76th-Place-Plus.html

The art of staging involves the placement of accessories to help the potential buyer understand the function of the space, to feel comfortable being in the space and most importantly, to imagine living the next chapter of their life in that house.  Accessories bring out the possibilities of the house – and when they work their magic, great results happen.

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

Back to the Basics – Furniture Arrangement

We continue with our back to the home staging basics with an examination of Furniture Arrangement.

Furniture arrangement can help define the focal points and deliver the easy flow of a home.  It can make the house feel neat, ordered and in proper perspective.  Furniture arrangement can help make sense of the house and its functions or it can create questions and confusion.

A couple of important questions that I ask as I am assessing a house for the furniture arrangement include:

·         What role does this room play in the house? 

·         Does the furniture make sense for this space?
·         Are there pieces of furniture that are inconsistent with the purpose of the room? 
·         Does the furniture arrangement enhance or detract from the room’s best features?

Each room in a home should have a clear purpose and be staged to enhance its original intent.

We use photos today of a past staging project (Evergreen).  As you can see from the “before” pre-staging picture, this room was used and furnished as a home office. 

To get a perspective on the situation, think of a traditional home built in the 1970s. You enter the front door, and you notice the formal living room off the small entry to the right.  Then you look left and see the…… home office (?) or is it the dining room (?).  If it’s the home office then where is the dining room (?)  This arrangement created questions and confusion, immediately upon entering the house.

As you can see from the “after” staging picture, this room is now staged to enhance the original intent as a formal dining room.  We brought in a dining room table and chairs and placed it on a more proportional rug, accessorized the table, hung some silk drapery panels, added some artwork and positioned the chandelier over the table. 

Voila!  The room looks ready for a dinner party!  The furniture is arranged to enhance the room’s original intent. 

You can experience the full impact of professional home staging on this Evergreen house by visiting our Transitions website at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Evergreen---Bartlesville.html. 

Furniture arrangement is another area in which the art of professional staging is on display.  Furnishings should complement the space, not take it over.  It is not simply a matter of moving a couch and chair.  And it takes skill and experience to create that effect in most houses. 

With a professionally staged house, buyers do imagine living in that house and making it their home.  And, isn’t this why we staged the home in the first place?

Dwell in possibilities!

Cindy