3 Must-Do’s When Staging Your Next Property
Staging is important if you are putting your property on the market to rent or sell.
We think that staging takes properties from looking finished to looking their very best.
For those who aren’t fully versed in staging, it is the process of filling your property with furniture and soft furnishings so that it looks lived in.
Staging helps your prospective buyers to imagine themselves living there. It also helps to alleviate any concerns a buyer might have about what furniture they can fit in a space and how the area can be used. Staging visually displays how your property can work for a buyer’s lifestyle.
I can feel you wondering whether staging is worth your time.
Well, surveys have shown that staging increases the number of property viewings, increases offer prices and reduce the time a property stays on the market.
All of the above sounds like a no-brainer to me.
If you’re entirely new to staging or want expert advice, here is where you’ll find our 3 must-do’s when staging your property.
1) Tell a story with your staging
This might need a little explanation; everyone loves a story, right?
We can use that in our staging to tell a story about the fictional person we are creating to live in the home.
I like to think about how our person (let’s call her Sally) spends their time in the house. Then, we can use that to create some scenes.
Sally might like to host dinner parties at the weekend, so her dining table would be all laid out and ready for her guests. She would likely have a recipe on the book stand in her kitchen. Sally might even have a glass of wine poured to enjoy while cooking.
In the bedroom, Sally might enjoy reading a book before bed (Sally doesn’t have children yet, so she still has time for reading). A book would be on her bedside table next to her reading glasses and her nightly glass of water.
If the property has an office, then Sally’s laptop and notebook would be on her desk, ready for her to write this week’s to-do list.
You probably get the point by now. I find this is a great way to connect all of the areas of a home. Once you have a target market in mind, you need to ensure every space of the house or property is tailored to your chosen demographic.
Creating your ‘Sally’ is a nice and easy way to generate ideas for each area and design scenes in your home for your photographer to focus on.
2) Make sure your staging equipment matches the interior design of the home
You’ve spent a lot of time and effort creating a beautiful interior for your property. So, the last thing you need is for your staging equipment to clash and ruin all of your work.
With that in mind, you’ll need to ensure the furniture and soft furnishings you plan to use will match the style you’ve created (e.g. industrial interiors need industrial styling pieces).
Staging is your opportunity to bring the whole property together. You can be as playful or as subtle as you like.
If you have a ‘themed’ interior, such as industrial or 1920s, this is a great chance to pick some key pieces that match your theme and bring the property to life. These pieces are perfect subjects for your photographer or videographer to focus on.
If you’re unsure how your staging pieces will look against your decor, then a mood board is a great tool to try out some options. First, add photos of your furniture pieces for each room onto one page and see how they look. Then, you can swap different images to try various combinations until you’re happy with your choices.
3) Make sure your staging equipment matches your buyers
This third point is crucial. We all know that different generations of people have widely different tastes. Families will also have their own requirements. So, it’s essential to match your staging equipment to the people you think will buy or rent your space.
Some things to think about are whether your target market is a couple, a single person or a family.
For example:
If they are a family, they will be thinking about storage solutions for shoes and coats by the front door, space for their children to play and, ideally, in the view from the kitchen for mealtimes. Finally, a dining table for a family is critical.
If they are a young couple, consider whether they might want to host parties. How will they use the spare rooms if there is lots of space? We can get creative here and maybe put a little bar trolly in the main living space and a games room in one of the bedrooms. Again, it’s all about showing the possibilities within the spaces.
If your target market is an older audience and your property is an ideal home to grow old in, you’ll want to style your pieces more traditionally. Depending on age, you also need to keep mobility in mind, so bar stools might not be a good idea.
Finally, consider whether your audience is someone who will likely be working from home. Could this be a consideration for your staging? For example, if a nook needs filling, a desk could be a great addition to show how their work life can fit in with the home.
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There you are, our 3 must-do tips for staging your next property!
If you found these helpful but want even more help, then be sure to check out our FREE Property Staging Checklist here for a complete list of everything you might need for each room of your property.
Also, if you’d like us to take the pressure off and do the leg work for you, then book a Discovery Call with us so that we can get cracking!
