Staging tips: what little things made you fall in love with your home?

[Anonymous]

All buyers think they are the ones who can see past staging. Me included! We’re probably not all right.

I hired a stager and I think it was money well spent. Here are the tiny things I did in the run up that I don’t know if they helped, but I feel like maybe they did:

I replaced anything at all yellowed or rusted. This was air vents, a bathroom fan, light switches, a thermostat, can lights (replaced with led conversion kits. Warm white, dimmable). When you remove most of these kinds of things, there’s a number on the back you can type into amazon to order a fresh replacement. Easy peasy. One that made a huge difference was the little phone that talked to the front door (it was a condo). It was all yellow and sad looking and the fresh white one made a subtle but helpful impression.

I patched all the walls, door frames, etc and fixed cracked or peeling caulk before the painters came. Watch YouTube, it’s not difficult and it’s even easier if you have time to let things dry and sand a few times. Use wood filler for the trim obviously. I think I did a better and more thorough job than the painters would have. So worth DIYing if you have time.

Realign any kitchen cabinets that are off. Look at your hinges and consult YouTube.

Take screens or storm windows off the windows. Label them with painter tape as you go. Wash the windows. Huge difference.

If you’ve had pets or the place is old, clean above cabinets and door frames with something grease cutting, like Mr Clean.

[Anonymous]

I prefer it empty so I can see the walls, floors, electrical, plumbing and know they aren’t hiding stuff.

[Anonymous]

Just bought a house, and have been going to open houses every weekend. One small thing that I noticed was that almost every professionally staged house seemed to have a cookbook on the counter in the kitchen. Like not lying on the counter, like displayed in one of those holders that holds the cookbook up. I noticed it, and there was something about it that made me want to be in that kitchen. I’m not sure what it is, psychology-wise, but the professional stagers have figured it out and are all doing it.

The other thing that I would say is pay attention to the size of the furniture. For example, you want to use a king bed in the master bedroom if you can without crowding the space, because a lot of people have them and want to look at the space and know that their’s will fit. But, if it’s going to crowd the room, then you want to use a smaller bed, because it’s worse to show a crowded room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TV above the fireplace

This would turn me off, I’d purposely offer less money or make them fix the wall where tv damaged

Yeah I was trolling to be honest, I hate this trend of people doing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The owner’s little cat followed us around during our showing and it made me feel cozy and at home. It just seemed like a happy home.

And see we would have avoided this house because we have very serious cat allergies in our family!

[Anonymous]

Fresh flowers around the house during showings. Kitchen sparkling clean, hid as many appliances as possible even if I stored them in suitcases in the basement. I removed all clutter, left some kids artwork in frames on easels, think tabletop. Also fresh linens. I actually had towels used just for showing. Removed the eleven bottles of whatever off of shower sills and such and left only two with soap. Not a pillow person but I put pillows everywhere for pops of color on suggestion from a decorator friend. Seriously I e sold three houses and usually the first showing or two. I turned it into eye candy. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Mine was a smallish 2 bedroom condo, but I was actually shocked by how MUCH furniture the stager used in our vacant condo. I think I had internalized “declutter” to mean not much furniture but she had a lot of clever very small scale things to demonstrate different functions, I guess, that could theoretically fit in a room.

This is who we used, fwiw. I thought it was worth it. I didn’t totally get it, but I trusted their expertise.

https://www.welshinteriors.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All buyers think they are the ones who can see past staging. Me included! We’re probably not all right.

I hired a stager and I think it was money well spent. Here are the tiny things I did in the run up that I don’t know if they helped, but I feel like maybe they did:

I replaced anything at all yellowed or rusted. This was air vents, a bathroom fan, light switches, a thermostat, can lights (replaced with led conversion kits. Warm white, dimmable). When you remove most of these kinds of things, there’s a number on the back you can type into amazon to order a fresh replacement. Easy peasy. One that made a huge difference was the little phone that talked to the front door (it was a condo). It was all yellow and sad looking and the fresh white one made a subtle but helpful impression.

I patched all the walls, door frames, etc and fixed cracked or peeling caulk before the painters came. Watch YouTube, it’s not difficult and it’s even easier if you have time to let things dry and sand a few times. Use wood filler for the trim obviously. I think I did a better and more thorough job than the painters would have. So worth DIYing if you have time.

Realign any kitchen cabinets that are off. Look at your hinges and consult YouTube.

Take screens or storm windows off the windows. Label them with painter tape as you go. Wash the windows. Huge difference.

If you’ve had pets or the place is old, clean above cabinets and door frames with something grease cutting, like Mr Clean.

That is a really good one. We had an electrician replace all the yellowed beige outlets and switches in our house and got new switch plates and it was amazing how “new” it made the whole thing look. Well worth the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All buyers think they are the ones who can see past staging. Me included! We’re probably not all right.

I hired a stager and I think it was money well spent. Here are the tiny things I did in the run up that I don’t know if they helped, but I feel like maybe they did:

I replaced anything at all yellowed or rusted. This was air vents, a bathroom fan, light switches, a thermostat, can lights (replaced with led conversion kits. Warm white, dimmable). When you remove most of these kinds of things, there’s a number on the back you can type into amazon to order a fresh replacement. Easy peasy. One that made a huge difference was the little phone that talked to the front door (it was a condo). It was all yellow and sad looking and the fresh white one made a subtle but helpful impression.

I patched all the walls, door frames, etc and fixed cracked or peeling caulk before the painters came. Watch YouTube, it’s not difficult and it’s even easier if you have time to let things dry and sand a few times. Use wood filler for the trim obviously. I think I did a better and more thorough job than the painters would have. So worth DIYing if you have time.

Realign any kitchen cabinets that are off. Look at your hinges and consult YouTube.

Take screens or storm windows off the windows. Label them with painter tape as you go. Wash the windows. Huge difference.

If you’ve had pets or the place is old, clean above cabinets and door frames with something grease cutting, like Mr Clean.

That is a really good one. We had an electrician replace all the yellowed beige outlets and switches in our house and got new switch plates and it was amazing how “new” it made the whole thing look. Well worth the money.

Yes but just in case anyone has never done this, you really don’t need an electrician. I’m a person who is very cautious about electrical and plumbing, but changing out outlets and switches as long as you have modern wiring is easy and uncomplicated. If you do hire someone, it can be a handyman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All buyers think they are the ones who can see past staging. Me included! We’re probably not all right.

I hired a stager and I think it was money well spent. Here are the tiny things I did in the run up that I don’t know if they helped, but I feel like maybe they did:

I replaced anything at all yellowed or rusted. This was air vents, a bathroom fan, light switches, a thermostat, can lights (replaced with led conversion kits. Warm white, dimmable). When you remove most of these kinds of things, there’s a number on the back you can type into amazon to order a fresh replacement. Easy peasy. One that made a huge difference was the little phone that talked to the front door (it was a condo). It was all yellow and sad looking and the fresh white one made a subtle but helpful impression.

I patched all the walls, door frames, etc and fixed cracked or peeling caulk before the painters came. Watch YouTube, it’s not difficult and it’s even easier if you have time to let things dry and sand a few times. Use wood filler for the trim obviously. I think I did a better and more thorough job than the painters would have. So worth DIYing if you have time.

Realign any kitchen cabinets that are off. Look at your hinges and consult YouTube.

Take screens or storm windows off the windows. Label them with painter tape as you go. Wash the windows. Huge difference.

If you’ve had pets or the place is old, clean above cabinets and door frames with something grease cutting, like Mr Clean.

That is a really good one. We had an electrician replace all the yellowed beige outlets and switches in our house and got new switch plates and it was amazing how “new” it made the whole thing look. Well worth the money.

Yes but just in case anyone has never done this, you really don’t need an electrician. I’m a person who is very cautious about electrical and plumbing, but changing out outlets and switches as long as you have modern wiring is easy and uncomplicated. If you do hire someone, it can be a handyman.

True. He was doing other work so we just added it on. I am paranoid about electrical stuff though so it worked for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I don’t think you’ll get good answers on this forum. The responses here are self-selected to people who spend a lot of time thinking about and looking at real estate, and are experienced enough to look past staging. But reality is that many home shoppers ARE affected by staging, even if they can’t articulate it. Good staging affects your mood the second you walk in the door.

Think about houses that make you feel good. Furniture is filled enough to look lived-in and reduce echoes, but not cluttered. Dining table is right-sized for the room. Decor matches the tone of the house and has a consistent theme.

These things may not affect every buyer - and are probably less likely to affect the kinds of buyers who spend their free time on a real estate forum - but they will affect enough people to matter.

I had the same thought. Answers here likely don't reflect the reality that staging works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like PP, I notice the condition of the house more than the decor.

Although one pet peeve I have of staging is when a room such as the main family room is staged with just a couple chairs and no tv. Or a bedroom with no nightstand or dresser. It makes me feel like the room is too small for its intended purpose.

+1 we just bought a house that has a fairly small living room (1940s cape cod) but it was staged with a generously sized sofa and chair so we could see that you could actually furnish it comfortably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The owner’s little cat followed us around during our showing and it made me feel cozy and at home. It just seemed like a happy home.

Aw I love that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TV above the fireplace

This would turn me off, I’d purposely offer less money or make them fix the wall where tv damaged

I currently have two homes and in both the only place for the tv is actually over the Fireplace. One is a condo, so the exterior walls are literally ceiling to floor windows. So the only place for a TV that doesn't waste space and block major views is on top of the fireplace. Add in the permanent structural posts and the logical place to put the sofa is bingo, 15 ft from the fireplace so you can see the TV on top of it. So basically, you wouldn't like my condo---or it's amazing water and mountain views

2nd house the family room is once again ALL windows except for area over fireplace. Once again, all the windows are for the amazing water views.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I ignore staging completely because I know it won't be there later. I pay attention to how clean the house is (on a very deep level), how new the appliances are, the water pressure, how much replacing I'll have to do (linoleum floors, loose bannisters, wobbly toilet, vanity not flush against the wall, etc.

I don't care if you baked cookies to make the house smell good, or put up peaceful landscapes.

+1

Also, I care about layout/flow and good bones with inoffensive/anodyne decorating choices.