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5 Insider Tips on Home Staging

May 20, 2020 by Kate Lewis

Do you know these veteran tips on home staging?

5 Insider Tips on Staging a Home

Rave Home Staging has been working with the area’s top realtors, flippers, and builders, as well as everyday home sellers, for many years. At this point, we’ve seen it all, from yucky, cluttered kitchens to luxury, million dollar homes. Here are our top 5 little-known tips on home staging for properties of all price ranges.

“Lived-in” vs “I could live here!”

Our first tip for staging a home is to add a personal touch for buyers

One of the goals of staging is to make a buyer feel like they’re walking into their new home. That’s why adding small, personal touches can be so powerful. Consider setting out a board game in the family room or putting up a “chore list” chalkboard in a home designed for young families. In a property more likely to be bought by a millennial couple, you could arrange a bar area for entertaining guests or place faux plants where a porch garden could go.

Show your target buyer that you don’t just know who they are, you also understand exactly how they’d use this space. But remember, you can also make a home look a little too “lived-in.” Hanging up “family” portraits or putting too much clutter out on the tables might just make buyers feel like they’re in someone else’s house, not their future home.

Shower Curtains

One of our favorite tips for staging a home is to always leave shower curtains open!

Should you leave shower curtains open or closed? This question comes up again and again, because it’s such a good one!

Yes, you should always leave your shower curtains open. If they’re closed, it implies that there might be something (stains, or even worse, mold) to hide. A closed shower curtain is very tempting to open, and will bring much closer scrutiny than an open curtain.

Still not convinced? Most small defects in a tub or shower won’t be visible from a distance, and if there are major issues, you don’t want to mislead your buyers by hiding them behind a curtain. Plus, keeping the curtain open increases the visible space and makes the room look bigger!

Handheld Steamer

A handheld steamer is a must to create looks like this in a staged home!

Every stager needs a toolkit. If you’re putting up art, you need a hammer and nails. And if you’re putting out plush furniture, pillows, and bedding? You need a steamer!

A handheld steamer can make frequently recycled comforters and covers look fresh again. And they fight the inevitable wrinkles that come from moving and storage. It may seem like a tedious tool to use, but it really makes a difference when you see the final result!

The X Formation

Use an X formation when you're staging chairs around a circular table!

How do you place chairs, which typically have a square or circular footprint, around a circular table? It’s tempting to place the chairs in a “+” formation, where the backs of the chairs are parallel with the four walls of the room. That would make the room feel symmetrical and balanced, right?

It might but with a crucial drawback. Dining rooms are usually connected to kitchens and/or living spaces. When you place chairs in a “+” formation, they block the line of sight through the room. But if you angle the chairs so that the backs face the corners of the room instead—an “X” formation—the room still feels balanced, and you can clearly see past the chairs through the rest of the room.

Bar Stools vs Counter Stools

Make sure you use the right size bar or counter stools when staging a home

A common theme in professional home staging is that you don’t want the home to just look good; it should appear functional as well. If something seems off about the scale or utility of the room, that won’t sit well with a buyer. We see this a lot with bar stools and counter stools.

If you haven’t heard of a counter stool before, you’re not alone! But they’re important to use in some homes, and here’s why. Bar stools are typically much taller than counter stools, and some counters aren’t tall enough to accommodate them. If there’s only a couple inches between the bottom of a bar or counter and the top of the stool, it’s clear to the viewer that it would be impossible to actually sit there comfortably. When you’re selecting kitchen stools, be sure you’re using the right kind. It’s best to maintain about ten inches of clearance above the stool.

Want more tips on home staging?

Every Tuesday, we share a new home staging tip on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages! For more in-depth information, check out our YouTube page and our main blog. If you’re just getting started as a home stager and looking for advice, consider joining our Mastermind mentorship group.

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melissa marro on jacksonville morning newsOwner of Rave Home Staging, located in Jacksonville, FL, Melissa Marro is one of the best known stagers in the industry. Formerly the Chairman of the Board for the Real Estate Staging Association, she keynotes at International staging conventions annually. Having grown not one, but two large home staging companies, one in FL and one in SC, in the last decade, her no-nonsense marketing techniques can help transform any staging business into a top producing local brand. Marro is also one of the only staging training providers to actually successfully build a staging company. With over 500 residential homes staged in 2019, and gross sales in excess of $1.25 M annually,  Rave is one of the largest staging companies in North America.

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