The Basics of Staging

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

11 Jan 2007 03:07 PM

In an earlier blog, Do It Yourself: Staging Your Home to Sell, I talked about our decision to forego a professional staging expert and stage our home ourselves. In getting ready to show our home, we first needed to get down to basics.

Here are some of the first things, the very basic things we did to stage our home:

De-personalized: We needed to give the sense that no one actually lived in the home; that it was just waiting for the right people to simply move in. Anything personal that could connect our house specifically to us was removed and boxed up. This not only included photos, certificates and religious objects but also any books that were not specifically related to cooking, gardening or crafts. The boxes placed in the garage. You can also rent a storage facility. Renting storage a great idea, since it will keep the garage looking spacious and de-cluttered, which brings me to our next step.

De-cluttered: Anything we didn't absolutely need or love was given away on freecycle, given to friends, donated to the thrift store or sold. We were completely brutal, knowing that if we didn't de-clutter we would have to pay for storage. For example, while I enjoyed that nifty candle holder that looked like an adirondack chair, it simply didn't fit in with our goal of having a well-staged house. I knew it wouldn't fit in with the decor I wanted for our new house, and I didn't love the candle holder enough to pay its storage upkeep while we were in transition. De-cluttering instantly helped the house look as spacious and open as it really is.

Hid the Mundane: When you look at a show house in a magazine, you never see anything that makes it look like people actually live there. There are never any cute refrigerator magnets holding notes and children's drawings in the kitchen. There isn't even a toaster. We attacked every bit of clutter, from the collection of pancake mixes and bowls on top of the refrigerator, to the loaf of bread on the counter. We removed everything we could from the general traffic of the house and put the items neatly in the cabinets, closets, etc. Since we did such a great de-cluttering, finding cabinet space was easy. We even went as far as hiding the garbage can down in the basement during showings.

Would you stage your house to sell it?

Related Articles:

Do It Yourself: Staging Your Home to Sell

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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jonesx6 (1606) 12 Jan 2007 06:54 AM

Mary Ann, We did stage our house but we did leave somethings out. If we had a showing we would make sure the towels that were hung up on the back of the door in the boys room were put away. I actually would fold the towels up and put them back in the linen closet. lol I am not a clutter person so it was pretty easy for us. We did have to put stuff in our friends garage until the house was sold. Selling our current home may be a different story. lol I am still not a clutter person but we are much more spread out in this house. Would I pay someone to stage a house? No WAY!!! lol You can watch shows on cable that help you learn how to stage house. Blessings, Laura

Mary Ann Romans (26876) 13 Jan 2007 03:59 AM

I find myself hiding things in the microwave. One time a showing showed up unexpectedly (40 minutes after the appointment, and I hid my half-eaten lunch there.

Theresa Van Meter (55) 26 Jan 2007 10:58 AM

Wow! Your article contains some fantastic advice. I wish I would have known how to stage a home in 1998. We sold our home that year but it took several months. I think if I would have staged the home, it probably would have sold faster. Theresa Van Meter

Mary Ann Romans (26876) 26 Jan 2007 11:52 AM

thanks for the comments Theresa! I am happy to report that our house is under contract!