When one thinks of home staging, your mind goes to furniture placement and wise space usage. There’s a bit more to that, actually. There was a study completed by Duke University that shows the top staging principles, and they are:
- Removing personal items from bathrooms (soap, toothbrushes, razors…)
- Use rooms as their intended purpose. EX: Dining rooms not used as offices.
- Remove evidence of pets (bowls, leashes, toys, litter boxes..)
- Turn on all the lights in home.
- Put some furniture in an empty home.
- Remove garbage cans.
- No personal photographs on walls.
- Remove art or accessories that are attention grabbing from walls. What does this on mean, you ask? Here are 2 examples from different homes I have shown in the past:
Niiiiiice, right?
9. Paint walls a neutral color
10. Remove items from kitchen counters (coffeemakers, toasters…)
11. Don’t have backs of furniture facing doorways to rooms.
12. Set your staging to tell a story. EX: breakfast tray with coffee mugs on the bed
13. Windows either have sheer coverings or no coverings at all.
14. Scented candles or glade plug-ins.
15. Have chocolate chip cookies freshly baked.
Do I agree with all of these? Of course not. But most are pretty good. The cookie thing though, I really disagree with… you’ll have 2 scenarios with those. Either no one will eat them because of gluten, GMO products, sugar – whatever the toxin flavor of the month is, and you’ll have uneaten cookies. Or you’ll have the family with the kids stuffing their faces making a crumbly chocolate mess.
Mainly use your best judgement, and ask your Realtor! You pay them the big bucks, they are here to guide you!