I am an artist at heart. So I'm more drawn to "decorating" rather then staging. However, I understand and have been professionally taught how to reach a homes maximum potential for price and sale by staging appropriately. And I must admit that I am amazing at it. You can say anything bad about me that you want as I tell others in a joking way -but you can never say I'm not fabulous cook, artist and I can really, really, really stage a home....
Thanks to shows like HGTV, many sellers are now aware of the concept and its important to know that it originated in California- and if you are selling there, you wouldn't consider not staging(both selling and staging go hand in hand).
What makes me good at staging? First and foremost I am an artist. My hobbies are painting , sculpting, refinishing furniture and creating. It actually goes as far back as my days as a dorm student at Niagara University. An artist needs to wake and surround herself to beauty. So needless to say I had a challenge as a broke college student. But I met that challenge with desire and creativity. I would "garbage shop"(rummage through people's garbage), paint, recreate and next thing I knew people were actually offering to buy my recreations.
Fortunately I have created a great lifestyle now and can actually buy my art and furniture at my discretion, but I have to admit I love to estate sale shop (Kottage to Castle-NJ a great find!) and find "pet projects" although my husband gets quite upset when I buy anything "used" or damaged". My reply is beauty is in the eye of the beholder - my eyes....and I can make anything beautiful. Which brings me back to the point of this blog.
Staging is NOT about decorating. I just staged a home this past Saturday. Because it requires me to remove emotional items from the owners eye it becomes challenging. I'm not there to insult your taste in design. As a matter of fact the home that I staged this Saturday did not need to be decorated and if they were selling it with furnishings, we could have left it as is. The point of staging is to create a visual palette for others to imagine the placement of their own furnishings. We are selling a house, not a home and its square footage. Do do so we need to "empty" all unnecessary items. And this scares many folks. I try to convince them that this just gives them a head start on the packing process, but regardless its personal to see someone attack their style and belongings and hard on the stager many times.
So now I've taken on a new job. Virtual staging. Id like to say its easier, but its not. Graphic design requires time and patience. To make a photo "perfectly enhanced" you are talking hours of labor. But I've gotten it to where I can highlight and draw attention within a reasonable time. You can see some examples at http://njtopbroker.com/virtualstaging.html. But unless I'm being paid by the hour rather then doing this in good faith and as a courtesy , you wont see perfection - but you will see results; and that's what this is all about!
A few tips on staging yourself....
remove anything that insinuates illness (diabetes reminders on kitchen fridge e.g., needle boxes) - people insinuate this as a taboo or actually feel guilty about taking a home from a sick person
remove religious items - another taboo to some unfortunately
remove any and all signs of pets
empty all surface and clear corners- this makes rooms look larger
remove dying, dead and artificial plants
find focal points of each room and highlight them by removing competing objects
In closing as boring as this may sound - Keep it plain, boring and bland. Many buyers don't have imaginations so we need to create a bland surrounding to help them out. Your style will only compete with their intentions!
Thanks to shows like HGTV, many sellers are now aware of the concept and its important to know that it originated in California- and if you are selling there, you wouldn't consider not staging(both selling and staging go hand in hand).
What makes me good at staging? First and foremost I am an artist. My hobbies are painting , sculpting, refinishing furniture and creating. It actually goes as far back as my days as a dorm student at Niagara University. An artist needs to wake and surround herself to beauty. So needless to say I had a challenge as a broke college student. But I met that challenge with desire and creativity. I would "garbage shop"(rummage through people's garbage), paint, recreate and next thing I knew people were actually offering to buy my recreations.
Fortunately I have created a great lifestyle now and can actually buy my art and furniture at my discretion, but I have to admit I love to estate sale shop (Kottage to Castle-NJ a great find!) and find "pet projects" although my husband gets quite upset when I buy anything "used" or damaged". My reply is beauty is in the eye of the beholder - my eyes....and I can make anything beautiful. Which brings me back to the point of this blog.
Staging is NOT about decorating. I just staged a home this past Saturday. Because it requires me to remove emotional items from the owners eye it becomes challenging. I'm not there to insult your taste in design. As a matter of fact the home that I staged this Saturday did not need to be decorated and if they were selling it with furnishings, we could have left it as is. The point of staging is to create a visual palette for others to imagine the placement of their own furnishings. We are selling a house, not a home and its square footage. Do do so we need to "empty" all unnecessary items. And this scares many folks. I try to convince them that this just gives them a head start on the packing process, but regardless its personal to see someone attack their style and belongings and hard on the stager many times.
So now I've taken on a new job. Virtual staging. Id like to say its easier, but its not. Graphic design requires time and patience. To make a photo "perfectly enhanced" you are talking hours of labor. But I've gotten it to where I can highlight and draw attention within a reasonable time. You can see some examples at http://njtopbroker.com/virtualstaging.html. But unless I'm being paid by the hour rather then doing this in good faith and as a courtesy , you wont see perfection - but you will see results; and that's what this is all about!
A few tips on staging yourself....
remove anything that insinuates illness (diabetes reminders on kitchen fridge e.g., needle boxes) - people insinuate this as a taboo or actually feel guilty about taking a home from a sick person
remove religious items - another taboo to some unfortunately
remove any and all signs of pets
empty all surface and clear corners- this makes rooms look larger
remove dying, dead and artificial plants
find focal points of each room and highlight them by removing competing objects
In closing as boring as this may sound - Keep it plain, boring and bland. Many buyers don't have imaginations so we need to create a bland surrounding to help them out. Your style will only compete with their intentions!
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