Tips from Paula Ogier, Metropolitan Home Style Staging
Once you get past de-cluttering, cleaning, and painting, you have a fresh canvas to work with. You can start to think about the furniture in your rooms. Because buyers so often aren't able to visualize a room's potential, it's important to be clear about the purpose of each room. If you've been using
your dining room as an office, it's time to turn it back into a dining room. If you keep your exercise equipment in the master bedroom, it's time to take it out and make it solely a bedroom, without any extra purpose thrown in. It'll show better that way because it's less cluttered and because it offers a clear vision of what it is when someone walks in.
Part of what you're selling is the dream of an attractive lifestyle. You're romancing the whole notion of a master bedroom that is a restful place to enjoy at the end of a long day. When it comes to furniture, less is more. Even if you don't think there is a lot of furniture in a room, look at it again and consider that it might show even better with just one more piece taken away. It's very possible. Buyers are paying for square footage, so let them see it! Your furniture should always be clean, it should look crisp as opposed to frumpy or saggy, its size should be in appropriate scale to the room, and it should be of a quality that reflects the asking price of the home. If you're selling a million dollar or close to million dollar home, and you need the appropriate furniture but you don't want to buy anything new yet, there are furniture leasing options. Below are links to a couple of different furniture rental companies who are experienced in helping people who are trying to stage their properties appropriately. These places lease a wide range of furniture, accessories, and art. When considering how to lay out furniture, there are a few things to pay attention to:
1) Balancing the room -- you don't want it to feel lopsided or off kilter.
2) Traffic flow -- keep walking paths between furniture, and between furniture and walls, at
least three feet wide. Keep bulkier pieces of furniture away from entrances to rooms and away from the paths to windows.
The two most common furniture arrangements are the L-shaped arrangement and the U-shaped arrangement. It's helpful to understand the shape of each room, and if there are elements of the room
that make that confusing, you can look at the ceiling to determine the room's shape. A U-shaped arrangement is good if you don’t have a focal point.
Draperies and window treatments fall into the realm of furnishings, and I’ll say a few things
about them. Keep them neutral, and keep them in scale to the room and the amount of natural lighting. They should not be the main attraction in relation to the window. The same goes for furniture. It should be attractive and interesting, but you don’t want people there to look at the beautiful furniture. Any furnishings or window treatments should show off the features of the home itself.
