Home Staging Tips From a Roswell Job

A few months ago I was called on to stage a beautiful townhouse in Roswell.  This lovely home had all the bells and whistles — hardwoods, granite, nice tile, coffered ceilings, tray ceilings, faux finishes, and on and on.  In addition, the homeowner had nice, quality furniture and upscale accessories.  So what was the problem?  There was way to much to look at!  All of those pretty furnishings distracted the eye from the great selling features of the home.  With that in mind, here is today’s first home staging tip:  always keep in mind what you are selling.  Your goal in home staging is to show off the property, space, architectural detail, nice finishes and views.  Everything you do to stage the home should work toward supporting that goal.

For example, take a look at the “before” photo of the dining room:

Dining Room - before

As you can see, this is a beautiful room with the glorious chandelier, domed ceiling with faux finish, hardwoods and furnishings, but it was much too packed with furniture.  As this was the first room you saw upon entering the home, it was especially important that this room show well.  We removed the rug, two chairs, a section of the table-top, and a number of accessories.  Shown below is the “after”:

Dining Room - after

Isn’t it amazing how much larger this room looks?  (Of course, agent Mark Mitchell’s great photos taken with a wide-angle lens helps!)  In hindsight, I should’ve also removed the ferns in planters, but they weren’t nearly as imposing in person as they seem to be here.  Regardless, the features of the room now show much better than before, which leads me to home staging tip #2:  rugs take up lots of visual space.  Use them sparingly.

Next, on to the family room.  Here’s the “before” shot:

Family Room - before

The family room has so much going for it — great built-ins, fireplace, coffered ceiling, hardwoods, furniture and accessories, but there was just too much going on.  Also, the room seemed over crowded and did not have good traffic flow.  Shown below is the “after”:

Family Room - after

Does this look better, or what?  As you can see, we removed furniture pieces and lots of accessories.  We also rearranged the furniture to open up the room.  In this case, I didn’t think it was necessary to remove the rug, as you can still see the great hardwoods on approach in the hallway and adjoining kitchen, and also around the rug edges.  Ready for home staging tip #3?  Arrange the furniture in such a way as to allow the room to “breathe.”  Less is always more when it comes to home staging!

And, finally, the “before” and “after” shots of the master bedroom:

Master Bedroom In Transition

Master Bedroom - after

In answer to your question, no, the bedroom did not look like the “before” shot when we arrived.  I forgot to take a picture until the staging of this room was already in process.  The bed was made and the room was in good shape, but the accessories (in red, white and blue) did not go with the rest of the downstairs décor, so the bed coverings and throw pillows along with a few accessories were swapped out for those in an upstairs bedroom.  Once again, the room here looks huge with the rug removed.  This is probably my favorite shot of the home.  Home staging tip #4 is this:  remove, remove, remove, remove until what’s left showcases the room instead of its furnishings.

If you want your home to glow, the colors to flow and the clutter to go, contact Patsy Overton Interiors.  770-843-2307  Accredited, Licensed, Insured.