Many clients think that home staging is an expensive investment. They imagine truckloads of furniture and accessories being brought into their home and even more truckloads of their personal items being removed before their home can be shown. The truth is that for most furnished homes, home staging is not about what is added to your home. It is about how you can enhance your home's selling features and showcase the space your home offers by removing personal items and rearranging some furniture items to create more flow with in the home.
Last week our team helped a client near Philadelphia in Gladwyne Pennsylvania get his resale home ready for sale. This home had previously been on the market for 9 months and now he was considering staging to give it a new look. The client preferred his home to have a "historically accurate look" and a lot of his items did not have the "on-trend" look buyers prefer. Instead of bringing in new items, we removed a lot of his personal treasures to better highlight his home's architectural features.
He was very similar to most of our clients- he had lived in his home for over 40 years, had amassed quite a collection of items and lived in his home the way that worked best for his needs. Now that he was downsizing we needed to show younger families how his home would work for them.
We arrived at the home at 9:00 am and completed the job by 3:00 pm. The results were amazing! We used what he had, decluttered the rooms to remove his personal items, and created spaces that had a new purpose such as turning the once cluttered guest room below into a child's room (using antique toys!)
He was pleased and surprised by the results. He had loved living in his home the way he lived there but understood why we made the changes we did. The home goes back on the market today and I will keep you posted on when he gets an offer.
Kate - love the transformation. You make a good point. Often sellers think staging will be a costly undertaking. Staging an existing home utilizing their belongings, when possible, is the most cost effective way to go. You did a wonderful job repurposing furniture and accessories and removing the clutter.
Thanks Michelle- this was a unique challenge since the client was older and moving to a retirement home and did not want to part with a lot of his items. We also has to use the antique pieces but still make it appealing to younger buyers. I just went back to the roots of staging- less is more, arrange the space to showcase the room and keep things streamlined. KH
Kate this is so true. Simple changes always add up and it doesn't have to cost alot.