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

Back to the Basics – Flow

We continue with our back to the home staging basics.  Today, we discuss Flow.

Flow generally refers to the even pace in which one moves from space-to-space and room-to-room in a house.  Flow can be a subtle characteristic of a house if done well -- but can be jarringly obvious if not done well.

·         Do the rooms and spaces feel connected? 

·         Is there a choppy and broken feeling as you move from room-to-room? 

·         Does the eye flow across a room?

·         Are there things like furniture placement, colors or clutter that get in the way? 

·         Are the colors consistent from room-to-room?

While poor flow is obvious, I believe that creating an even pace with movement from space-to-space takes the experience and expertise of a professional home stager. 

For some clients, I provide paint consultation and carpet selection assistance because the existing paint colors are inconsistent, dated or dirty and the same is usually true about the carpeting.  In other cases, the first phase of home staging involves major de-cluttering.  And in many instances, I advise with furniture places as both furniture placement and scale affect “Flow”.

Building subtle flow is a clear example of the art of home staging.

In summary, when attention has been paid to this concept of “Flow”, a house has a peaceful, easy feeling (Do you hear The Eagles singing in the background?).  Isn’t that what we all want in our home?

Home staging helps set each house apart from the competition for all of the right reasons.  When it is done well, home staging accentuates the home’s best features and provides a nice, easy and consistent use of space and movement.  Then buyers can experience the real possibilities of that home.

Dwell in possibilities!

Cindy

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

Back to the Basics – Entry (Entrez, Sil vous plait!)

We continue to kick start 2012 with our Back to The Home Staging Basics.  Today, we discuss the most critical staging area of concentration – the Entry.

It is pretty simple why I believe the Entry is so critical to a well-staged house.  I know that buyers make up their mind in the first 30-60 seconds upon entering a house.  The rest of the time in the house is spent justifying their first emotional reaction. 

Entries come in all shapes and forms.  From the small closed off “hallway” to the magnificent with a grand stairway.  No matter what you have to work with, the Entry has to look great.  And in my experience, it can always be done!

As a stager, I must make sure that an entry space makes that all important first impression. I ask questions that relate to the senses:

·         Are all areas within sight of the entry visually appealing and is the room well and softly light?

·         Is there a clean and fresh smell?

·         Does the front door hardware have a nice feel and is the air temperature comfortable?

·         Is there a relaxed, warm and peaceful feeling? 

If I could only stage one room in a house, that room would be the Entry.  The entry is where the action begins and where professional home stagers earn their fees!  The objective is to say to the potential buyer – “Entrez, Sil vous plait! (Enter, if you please!). 

You can view examples of staged entries on our Transitions website at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Entry-Ways-I.html  

The professionally staged home speaks to the potential buyer - “Enter, if you please!  Imagine your best self in this house.  Envision living the next chapter of your life adventure in this inviting home.”   

Dwell in possibilities! 

Cindy