Tree Lights by joshuahinds, on Flickr
Home Staging should be timely and seasonal. I believe that February marks the official and final end to the prolonged holiday season…this means that indoor Christmas trees should come down, seriously! And outdoor, lit up decorations of the elf and reindeer variety must remain dark. Our backyard boasts a beautifully tall evergreen that we enjoy lighting up with old fashioned colored lights. We have not been lighting it since the middle of January. It seems wrong, somehow. And now, some wild animal (perhaps the same overgrown mutant rabbit that has been eating all the bark off of all our bushes) has pulled a portion of the string of lights off the tree. It now lays in the snow across our backyard…another hint that holiday decorations should be put away until next year. The pots of green and brown can stay, just no colored lights please!
Home Staging should not entail buying much of anything, unless you are planning on purchasing regardless of the move. If you are in the market for new furnishings, what should you spend your hard earned money on, and what can you scrimp on? With all of the television design shows that redecorate on a budget, the question comes up over and over again, where should you really spend when it comes to furnishing and designing a home. In my opinion, it makes sense to splurge on the big pieces (couch, bed, dining table). Typically you are going to have these for the greatest number of years, so pick the highest quality that you can afford. Be careful to choose something more timeless than trendy. Think comfort, durability, functionality and versatility…So put your money where you put your body and scrimp when it comes to accents and trends.
Home Staging and the rules of arrangement.
When staging a room or a house its important to think about the mood or desired effect of the room on ones mood. (What feeling does this room evoke?) Mood can be affected by so many things. Questions to ask yourself or your stager…what mood is my kitchen (or living room, or bedroom) in? How do the colors, natural and artificial light and arrangement of things create a mood of ease, coziness, cleanliness, hospitality, abundance? What can I change to help potential buyers see how easy and comfortable my home is to live in? This is yet another way for you to look at your home and stage it.
After I had spent years cleaning, bleaching, lime-away-rust-be-gone-ing, scouring, and soaking my yucky old toilet seat, my dear sister suggested that I splurge. “Go ahead and spend $10.00 on a brand spanking new toilet seat.” What a revelation! The limitless choices in the Home Depot potty aisle were so inspiring (and so clean). My then young son really wanted a plastic cushy one, which I do not recommend under any circumstances, but WOW…wooden, plastic, porcelain, stainless. Who knew such a toilet seat treasure box existed. Please, replace your toilet seats when they are old and stained. Treat yourself!
One of the first steps in readying a home for show and sale is fresh paint…usually the suggestion is to use neutral tones. I agree with sticking with colors that are more of a backdrop than a statement, however, I am not a fan of white or pale off-whites. These very light colors can seem cold and institutional, leaving no room for inspiration. I prefer to use slightly darker shades of taupe, tan, brown, and green with trim colors in the light-to-white range. This creates contrast which appears fresh and clean. The darker colors give depth to a room and often show off furniture much better than the lighter shades of pale. Accessories look neater, cleaner and are not lost in a sea of beige…
You hear these elusive, almost upper crusty terms…”focal point” “balance” “sense of ease” “spatial harmony” “traffic flow” …what? To some of us these terms mean something real, but hard to pin down in a formula for success. For me, trial and error is my most tried and true method for furniture and accent arrangement. These initial staging steps are easy…
I love the word “treatment” for window coverings…like they are a prescription to make the window healthier, a cure, a fix. Window shades, blinds, curtains and draperies can indeed save a room from a less than ideal view, and they can mask the dirty window problem. My issue, however, with window treatments is that they block light and can be fussy. I am a big fan of simple, simple and more simple. I would love all of my windows to sparkle with the sun shining through, completely naked of treatment. Unfortunately that is not always practical from a privacy point of view. The summer’s heat can also be an issue in untreated panes. Here are my suggestions: Simple drapes that can be drawn open and shut; neutral shades that go up and down, blinds that are wide enough to make cleaning possible. Stay away from multiple layers of heavy draperies (dusty, heavy, yucky), and also those mini-plastic blinds (also dust collectors).
