Home staging: what it is and what it isn't...

As a home stager, I get all sorts of questions and sometimes demands from clients and I always feel the need to explain to clients what home staging is and more importantly, what it isn't.

You see these beautiful before and after shots on TV and in magazines of homes before staging and once they have been staged and the end results are always amazing!  But what you are seeing in the media isn't always what you should do with your home.  What you see in these shows and magazine articles can be a bit deceiving...

In my opinion, a lot of these shows tend to make these homes more into interior decorating projects than staged homes. A lot of times, the homes are stuffed (every corner and every wall) with art, furniture, accessories etc...and that can be very overwhelming for a buyer entering a home.  it is so important to have some room (certainly 'paths') so that the buyers can move freely without worry of knocking something over.  Also too much stuff (even beautiful furniture pieces and art) can still make a home feel crowded and cluttered, which is what we don't want!

You also see the odd show where they have used bright wall colours, usually just as an accent but still even a small section of bright colour can turn off a buyer! It is always best to stay neutral.  the future home owners can make any changes they like to the space...

As a home stager, I usually like to only deal with the realtor and some sellers think that I am unfriendly but that's not the case.  My role is to work with the agent to get your home sold.  Home staging is a selling tool to get you the most money in the least amount of time.  When a seller want to meet me and my team, they usually want to tell us how they see the home being staged or how they used to have their home set up.  Although it is hard to do, sellers need to emotional detach from the home (and unless you are being forced out - it shouldn't be that hard you've found a place that better suits you anyway).  I always recommend that sellers focus their energies and ideas on decorating their next home!  a home stager, isn't emotionally attached to the space so they can objectively see the positives and negatives and present the features of this home and help you get it sold!

Home staging is all about presenting the home in the best light, highlighting the positives and getting it sold for the most amount of money in the least amount of time.  This happens when we work with your real estate agent to market the home for the target buying group for the property.  Will it a family? Will it be a young couple without children? Will it be a single person? How we stage your property will really depend on that target group.

We sometimes have clients say to us that they like ' white leather furniture and glass' and they 'don't like colour just black and white' .  Well, that's fine! But in your next home.  We want to stage the home so that it appeals to buyers when they view the property online (that's where most people start their search) in photographs.  We know which colour combinations to use and what not to use.  What looks fresh and clean and what looks tired and old.  It has to have good traffic flow. Enough furniture so it feels inviting but not too much so it feels crowded.  Again, we also need to appeal to broad group of buyers, so we can't get too specific with the style in the property.

Remember, the home stagers are working with your agent to help you sell your home, they are not your personal decorators catering to your taste and style.  They are there to help make the sales process as pain-free as possible!