Monday, July 28, 2008

Real Estate Staging: Keep the kids; sell the house

Before you know it, summer will be over, kids will be back in school (where did that confetti come from? Did you throw that?) and the real estate market will start to wake up.

As a professional real estate stager, one question I get a lot is: How important is it to stage (rearrange furniture, accessories etc. to make a room more attractive to a buyer) children's bedrooms?

Here's my take on that. They are not the most important rooms in the house when it comes to staging, but there are some simple things you can do to make a good impression with buyers.

Put away (or get rid of) as many toys, clothes and kid stuff as possible. That way you give potential homebuyers an idea of how large the room is, what sort of shape the floor and walls are in, and how much closet space there is.

It's also a good idea to arrange the room to show off its best features.

Check out these two examples of children's rooms that I staged:

In this case, I placed the bed kitty corner. That takes up a bit more room, but it highlights the two windows. Who knows what the new homeowner will use the room for? Could be an office; could be a guest room. But hopefully the potential buyers will remember the nice windows when mulling over the house.

I also removed some of the furniture, leaving only what was absolutely necessary while the home was on the market.

I did much the same thing in the next child's room. Aren't you more drawn to the windows in the after photo?

And I recommended the homeowner stash the giant gorilla that is under the windows in the before photo... You want potential buyers to remember a bright and airy room...not a giant primate, you know, when you can help it.

P.S.: Remember to enter my contest for a fun art project by leaving a comment on Saturday's post!

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18 comments:

Unknown said...

The way you moved the furniture around really does draw your eyes to the windows. It's amazing how doing little things like that change the whole feel of the room.

Carissa(GoodnCrazy) said...

Thanks I'm off to see others in your real estate staging category...

We are moving in 6 weeks...Argh!!!

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

I missed a few days on your blog and wow...some fabulous ideas. Just a few changes in those kids room is amazing. Love the chair monograms!

Brenda said...

You really highlighted the best features of the room!

Nicol said...

we are actually getting ready to put our house on the market in the next few weeks. We have a couple of projects to finish before we do. we are having a designer to come in and stage our house. I can't tell you how many houses I looked at this past weekend that were in horrible shape. I kept thinking you want that much for that house. I don't think so! There was one house that was so dirty and reeked of urine that there would be no way that I would even consider it. It was in a prime neighborhood too!

Nik said...

I find what you do COMPLETELY interesting and exciting! I would LOVE to do something like that.

You really did emphasize the great features of the room.

I may just have to virtually hire you when we go to sell this house in a year or so.

Sweetie said...

I love your before and afters. Your ideas are great.

The Mom of 'em said...

MAN I wish you lived here.....and that you are right about the market waking up soon....right about the time we'll be ready to list. do you do online consults? where people send you pics and you virtually rearrange for them? =-)

Jenny said...

thanks for leaving me a comment!

I love the way you staged to rooms! they look great now!!

TupeloLove said...

Great job on these rooms! You continue to impress!

Brad Smith said...

Great Blog!

It's good to see local businesses on the web. Check out my website when you get a minute, maybe I can be of help to you sometime.

Thanks!
Brad www.smithbrad.com

Thriftin and Craftin said...

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, and leaving such a nice comment. Your blog has so many interesting posts. What a great job you have-getting paid to do something you love-what a dream come true!

Anonymous said...

You really have some amazing ideas for making the rooms look bigger. I think getting rid of my childrens toys would do more than just open up the space. (In a good way, they have too much toys)

Great post, thank you!

Anonymous said...

Let me just say, I LOVE what you do. If I weren't a teacher, I would want your job (in Iowa, no territory squabbles!). Please keep posting before/after shots. They're so lovely!

Kim said...

That amazes me!! What a difference!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for these tips. They really do make a difference!

Mary said...

Hi the Mom of 'em:

I actually can do virtual consults. If you are interested in checking out my services...my website is www.AtHomeRedesigns.com and my email is Mary@AtHomeRedesigns.com

Thanks!
Mary

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